As we close out the month of July let's take a look at the standings in the All Iowa and All Missouri Points with one more month of weekly racing and then a full slate of autumn specials sill to be tabulated. The full rundown can be found on the Points page at www.PositivelyRacing.com.
Starting with the All Iowa Points, the Late Model division is as tight as any as "The Wildman" Kevin Blum has moved to the top of the list the past two weeks. Terry Neal is now second, longtime leader Mark Burgtorf is third and Andy Eckrich has hit his stride now moving up to fourth. Only seven points seperate these four drivers, but keep your eye on the driver in fifth as Ray Guss Jr. is coming on strong.
Jeremy Mills could probably take the rest of the year off and still win the All Iowa Modified Points as he has now opened a 68 point advantage over Adam Larson. That is the equivalent of fourteen feature wins! We wish Jeremy the best of luck as he shoots for the IMCA Modified National Championship. Max Corporan has had a breakout year and ranks third ahead of Harris Clash winner Jay Noteboom.
Kevin Sather is starting to pull away from the Limited Modified field as he now has 34 markers between he and Jesse Sobbing. Austin Kaplan, Scott Davis and Adam Ackerman fill out the top five.
Dustin Smith is looking to repeat his championship in the Stock Cars and he currently has a 22 point cushion over the second ranked driver Kevin Opheim. Mike Jergens has had quite a hot streak lately and has surged into the third spot with Trent Murphy and Andrew Burk next in line.
The biggest lead in any division belongs to Shannon Anderson as he holds a 76 point bulge over Devin Smith. Anderson too could probably park the car for the year and win the All Iowa Points, and we wish him the best of luck in chasing the IMCA Hobby Stock National title. Dustin Larson is one point of Chris Hovden for third while Hovden is only one point ahead of fifth ranked Chad Gentz.
Gary Peiffer continues to set the pace in the Four Cylinder division, but he has several drivers poised to make a move over the final three months of the season. Jeremy Campbell is just six points back in second, Nate Coopman sits third and the Chandlers, Nathan and Brad round out the top five.
In the three Sprint Car divisions Terry McCarl looks like he'll be tough to catch in the 410's, the standings in the 360's are tight with Mike Boston, Jody Rosenboom and Jack Dover separated by just five points and, while his lead is shrinking a bit Bobby Mincer continues to lead the 305 standings.
Moving south to the All Missouri Points, Randy Korte and Donnie Timmerman, two drivers who race on opposite sides of the state have swapped the lead back and forth over the past three weeks. Korte is on top for now, but by just three points. Jack Simmons, Jeremy Payne and Eric Turner are not far behind either.
Kyle Berry continues to pace the Limited Late Model group with defending champion Billy James in second. Darin Walker and Shawn Rayfield are tied for third right now.
2008 All Missouri Points champ Tim Setzer has returned to the top of the Modified standings just four points ahead of three drivers, Curt Rackers, Shawn Walsh and Tony Patterson, who are currently tied for the second spot. The fifth-place driver, Vance Wilson, is only six points away from the lead.
Brad Smith continues to lead the Limited Modified standings as he tries to hold on to be the first champion for this division. His closest competition is Mickey Burrell who is just six points behind, while J.C. Morton, Kyle Stolzer and Billy Street are further back.
Jesse Hockett still leads the Sprint Car standings as Josh Fisher and Randy Martin try to reel him in. Those two are tied for second with early leader Jerrod Hull in fourth.
Currently the final All Iowa Points event on the schedule is the 11th Annual "Shiverfest" at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on October 24th while the final points-paying All Missouri event is slated for November 28th as the 3rd Annual Turkey Classic will be run at the Springfield Raceway.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Final Lap Pass Nets $5,000 for Yeley at US 36 Raceway; Starmer and Albright Also Take Thrilling Wins
Our first trip to US 36 Raceway near Osborn, Missouri, will definitely not be our last as we were treated to a great night of racing Sunday night during the “Hotter Than Hell” event featuring the POWRi Midgets along with the Modifieds and Sport Mods. I have had several people tell me over the years that this high-banked 1/3-mile more often than not offered up three and four wide action and the perfectly prepared track did just that with all three feature races coming right down to the wire.
A stout field of 34 midgets filled the pits including some of the top names in the sport and they did not disappoint. The thirty-five lap finale saw Josh Wise dive to the bottom of turns three and four on the first lap to come from row two to take the lead at the stripe only to have that effort wiped out when Kellen Conover spun and collected Chris Deshon just before the flagstand. On the restart pole-starter J.J. Yeley used the Wise line in three and four to establish himself as the leader. On lap two Bryan Clauson tried to make a move on another competitor going into turn one, but when that driver also chose the same line Clauson had to lock it up and he slid to a stop to bring out the second caution of the event.
With the return of the green Yeley took off like a rocket and looked like he would run away with the event. As Yeley entered traffic though the second-place car of Brad Kuhn appeared to be making up some ground and when Joe Boyles coasted to a stop on lap fourteen Yeley was happy that the traffic was eliminated and Kuhn was happy that the lead was erased. As Kuhn was making up the ground on Yeley he had discovered that the cushion in three and four and the middle groove of one and two was the way to go so when Yeley went back to work on the bottom at both ends it only took two laps before Kuhn slipped by him on the outside to become the new leader. Tracy Hines cleared Jerry Coons Jr. for third and then went to work on Yeley briefly taking the second spot away from J.J. on lap twenty-two. With Kuhn now driving away the battle for second was the one to watch as Yeley, Hines and Coons Jr. diced it out through traffic until lap thirty-one when Hines, driving the Parker #24 tonight, slowed and coasted to a halt with just four laps remaining.
As the field lined up for the restart there were three lapped cars between Kuhn and Yeley, but just like earlier in the event the second-place driver had searched out a new “fast line” around the speedway as Yeley was now getting a great run down the backstretch by banking off of the turn two cushion. Yeley cleared the traffic in the first lap and quickly closed in on the leader Kuhn. With the white flag waving the huge crowd came to their feet as it was now obvious that Yeley had a run on the leader. Yeley caught the cushion just right in turn two, drove to the inside of Kuhn down the back straightaway and then slammed the door in turn three as he claimed the $5,000 victory. As Kuhn climbed from his car on the frontstretch he acknowledged the cheering throng with a bow while Yeley emerged from his midget with both fists in the air and he then climbed to the very top of the frontstretch fence to celebrate the victory with his many fans.
Jerry Coons Jr. joined the talented duo on the podium in third, Bryan Clauson put on quite a drive coming from the back after his early spin to finish in the fourth spot while Brady Bacon rounded out an impressive list of names in the top five. This race alone was more than worth the three and a half hour drive on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and it followed two very entertaining feature races in the Modified divisions that served as support for the evening.
The Sport Mod division needed five heat races and a B-Main to trim the large field down to twenty-four cars for the feature event with front row starters Cody Graham and Bob Penney battling it out for the lead through the early laps. Jeff Albright made the trip up from Lebanon and quickly moved from the outside of row six to the front to take the lead from Graham mid-race. As the leaders started working traffic, on two occasions Graham made the right choice of lines and was able to regain the lead when Albright would have to check up, but on both occasions Albright was able to storm right back to the front a lap later. With a late green-white-checkered restart clearing the track in front of the leaders Graham made one last bid that came up short as Albright picked up the victory. Royce Stanley started fourteenth and finished third, Blake Peeler came from row six to take fourth while Tim Eaton recovered from a first lap incident to round out the top five.
Jeff Albright races under Cody Graham to take the eventual win in the SportMod feature - Barry Johnson photo
The Modified main event had some controversy and a photo finish to set the stage in fine fashion for the midget headliner. Steve Starmer started from the pole and quickly opened a comfortable lead while a thrilling four-car battle for second went on behind him. Dennis Elliott, Jason Estes, Mark Dotson and Jim Moody were working every inch of the racetrack and were changing positions amongst themselves lap after lap until a caution flag slowed the field. On the restart Estes went to the cushion, Dotson drove to the middle and Moody dove to the bottom in turn one. As Moody drifted up the track in turn two his right rear caught the left front of Dotson, which then shot him up into Estes who then jumped the cushion. The race continued for a couple of laps until Estes had a left front tire go down and Dotson slid up the track and into the guardrail in turn two.
Under caution Dotson showed Moody what he thought of the move by driving his front bumper directly into the drivers door and both drivers were sent to the pits where, naturally, a scuffle then ensued. Security personnel did a nice job of not letting the situation escalate, plus with the green flag coming back out it drew the attention of those not directly involved back to the exciting racing action. Steven Glenn had been leading his heat race earlier in the night only to have mechanical issues drop him to the B-Main that he would later dominate. This started him on the inside of row nine and with Dotson, Moody and Estes now sidelined he found himself restarting third behind Starmer and Elliott. Glenn disposed of Elliott in one lap and then went to work on cutting into Starmer’s lead. When the lead pair took the white flag Glenn pulled a clean slider on Starmer by driving into turn one low and then sliding up to shut the door on him in turn two. Starmer would not be denied though as he kicked his right rear off the cushion and drove to the inside of Glenn down the back straightaway and when he entered turn three, he also tried to slide up the track to shut the door on Glenn. Just as Starmer did off turn two, Glenn made the same effort as he had the momentum coming off of turn four. The two came across the start-finish line nearly wheel-to-wheel with Starmer prevailing by less than a foot at the checkers. Doug Keller who had started twelfth would follow the lead duo in for third, Elliott would take the fourth-place money back to Mount Ayr, Iowa, while Joey Lile who started next to Glenn in row nine would round out the top five.
A fantastic night of racing was spiced up even more for me when POWRi series announcer Jim Childers stated after the opening ceremonies that the local announcer had failed to show and that he would do his best to announce the two Modified divisions. Never the one to shy away from a microphone I went to the booth and introduced myself to Jim and told him that I would be happy to handle the support divisions if he would like. I hope that I didn’t butcher too many of the names as I was surprised at how few of the Modified drivers that I actually knew, but with the exciting action in both divisions I had a great time providing the call.
The track runs a “specials only” schedule and you can check it out at http://www.us36raceway.com/. My son Morgan was already plotting how he could convince me to return for the Wednesday’s All Star Sprint Car show at US 36 Raceway before we headed for the car, but he settled for a promise that we would absolutely return for the next midget show here. I think we’ll make it back here even before then.
A stout field of 34 midgets filled the pits including some of the top names in the sport and they did not disappoint. The thirty-five lap finale saw Josh Wise dive to the bottom of turns three and four on the first lap to come from row two to take the lead at the stripe only to have that effort wiped out when Kellen Conover spun and collected Chris Deshon just before the flagstand. On the restart pole-starter J.J. Yeley used the Wise line in three and four to establish himself as the leader. On lap two Bryan Clauson tried to make a move on another competitor going into turn one, but when that driver also chose the same line Clauson had to lock it up and he slid to a stop to bring out the second caution of the event.
With the return of the green Yeley took off like a rocket and looked like he would run away with the event. As Yeley entered traffic though the second-place car of Brad Kuhn appeared to be making up some ground and when Joe Boyles coasted to a stop on lap fourteen Yeley was happy that the traffic was eliminated and Kuhn was happy that the lead was erased. As Kuhn was making up the ground on Yeley he had discovered that the cushion in three and four and the middle groove of one and two was the way to go so when Yeley went back to work on the bottom at both ends it only took two laps before Kuhn slipped by him on the outside to become the new leader. Tracy Hines cleared Jerry Coons Jr. for third and then went to work on Yeley briefly taking the second spot away from J.J. on lap twenty-two. With Kuhn now driving away the battle for second was the one to watch as Yeley, Hines and Coons Jr. diced it out through traffic until lap thirty-one when Hines, driving the Parker #24 tonight, slowed and coasted to a halt with just four laps remaining.
As the field lined up for the restart there were three lapped cars between Kuhn and Yeley, but just like earlier in the event the second-place driver had searched out a new “fast line” around the speedway as Yeley was now getting a great run down the backstretch by banking off of the turn two cushion. Yeley cleared the traffic in the first lap and quickly closed in on the leader Kuhn. With the white flag waving the huge crowd came to their feet as it was now obvious that Yeley had a run on the leader. Yeley caught the cushion just right in turn two, drove to the inside of Kuhn down the back straightaway and then slammed the door in turn three as he claimed the $5,000 victory. As Kuhn climbed from his car on the frontstretch he acknowledged the cheering throng with a bow while Yeley emerged from his midget with both fists in the air and he then climbed to the very top of the frontstretch fence to celebrate the victory with his many fans.
Jerry Coons Jr. joined the talented duo on the podium in third, Bryan Clauson put on quite a drive coming from the back after his early spin to finish in the fourth spot while Brady Bacon rounded out an impressive list of names in the top five. This race alone was more than worth the three and a half hour drive on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and it followed two very entertaining feature races in the Modified divisions that served as support for the evening.
The Sport Mod division needed five heat races and a B-Main to trim the large field down to twenty-four cars for the feature event with front row starters Cody Graham and Bob Penney battling it out for the lead through the early laps. Jeff Albright made the trip up from Lebanon and quickly moved from the outside of row six to the front to take the lead from Graham mid-race. As the leaders started working traffic, on two occasions Graham made the right choice of lines and was able to regain the lead when Albright would have to check up, but on both occasions Albright was able to storm right back to the front a lap later. With a late green-white-checkered restart clearing the track in front of the leaders Graham made one last bid that came up short as Albright picked up the victory. Royce Stanley started fourteenth and finished third, Blake Peeler came from row six to take fourth while Tim Eaton recovered from a first lap incident to round out the top five.
Jeff Albright races under Cody Graham to take the eventual win in the SportMod feature - Barry Johnson photoThe Modified main event had some controversy and a photo finish to set the stage in fine fashion for the midget headliner. Steve Starmer started from the pole and quickly opened a comfortable lead while a thrilling four-car battle for second went on behind him. Dennis Elliott, Jason Estes, Mark Dotson and Jim Moody were working every inch of the racetrack and were changing positions amongst themselves lap after lap until a caution flag slowed the field. On the restart Estes went to the cushion, Dotson drove to the middle and Moody dove to the bottom in turn one. As Moody drifted up the track in turn two his right rear caught the left front of Dotson, which then shot him up into Estes who then jumped the cushion. The race continued for a couple of laps until Estes had a left front tire go down and Dotson slid up the track and into the guardrail in turn two.
Under caution Dotson showed Moody what he thought of the move by driving his front bumper directly into the drivers door and both drivers were sent to the pits where, naturally, a scuffle then ensued. Security personnel did a nice job of not letting the situation escalate, plus with the green flag coming back out it drew the attention of those not directly involved back to the exciting racing action. Steven Glenn had been leading his heat race earlier in the night only to have mechanical issues drop him to the B-Main that he would later dominate. This started him on the inside of row nine and with Dotson, Moody and Estes now sidelined he found himself restarting third behind Starmer and Elliott. Glenn disposed of Elliott in one lap and then went to work on cutting into Starmer’s lead. When the lead pair took the white flag Glenn pulled a clean slider on Starmer by driving into turn one low and then sliding up to shut the door on him in turn two. Starmer would not be denied though as he kicked his right rear off the cushion and drove to the inside of Glenn down the back straightaway and when he entered turn three, he also tried to slide up the track to shut the door on Glenn. Just as Starmer did off turn two, Glenn made the same effort as he had the momentum coming off of turn four. The two came across the start-finish line nearly wheel-to-wheel with Starmer prevailing by less than a foot at the checkers. Doug Keller who had started twelfth would follow the lead duo in for third, Elliott would take the fourth-place money back to Mount Ayr, Iowa, while Joey Lile who started next to Glenn in row nine would round out the top five.
A fantastic night of racing was spiced up even more for me when POWRi series announcer Jim Childers stated after the opening ceremonies that the local announcer had failed to show and that he would do his best to announce the two Modified divisions. Never the one to shy away from a microphone I went to the booth and introduced myself to Jim and told him that I would be happy to handle the support divisions if he would like. I hope that I didn’t butcher too many of the names as I was surprised at how few of the Modified drivers that I actually knew, but with the exciting action in both divisions I had a great time providing the call.
The track runs a “specials only” schedule and you can check it out at http://www.us36raceway.com/. My son Morgan was already plotting how he could convince me to return for the Wednesday’s All Star Sprint Car show at US 36 Raceway before we headed for the car, but he settled for a promise that we would absolutely return for the next midget show here. I think we’ll make it back here even before then.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Six Winners Beat The Rain and Their Competition at Lee County
With distant lightning gradually becoming not so distant, the Lee County Speedway ran off a six division 101 car program in just under three hours Friday night with the final checkered flag falling just five minutes before the first raindrops hit. Elder Implement and Summy Tire sponsored the evening’s events and race fans who wore John Deere attire were admitted for half price.
A high standard was set by the first feature race of the night as the IMCA SportMods went fifteen laps caution free to end in a photo finish. Jacob Smith who moved to this division this season from the Hobby Stock ranks built up a nice cushion after taking the lead from his row two starting spot and he would need every inch of it. Rodger Dresden was working his way to the front from a fifth row start and with seven laps to go he made the pass for second, but found himself nearly a half straightaway behind the leader. Lap by lap Dresden made up ground and on the final circuit he was within striking distance. Dresden dove low in turn three and powered off the bottom of turn four only to come up just inches short at the finish line as Smith claimed the victory. Thad Gaylord came home third followed by Rod Staats and Rick Barlow Jr. The SportMods will have extra money on the line next Friday night for the Steve Kirchner Memorial event.
The Pilot Grove Savings Bank/Ideal Ready Mix IMCA Late Model main event was up next and Sam Halstead owned lap number one before Tony Fraise blew by him on the second trip around the 3/8-mile oval. Fraise, who has numerous career wins driving a Modified, purchased an IMCA Late Model for this season after the series was announced last October, but has struggled by his standards up until tonight. In this race he looked like the same driver that ran off and left a lot of strong Modified fields in the distance over the years as he opened up nearly a half-lap advantage by mid-race. Tom Goble who won two feature events last weekend took second away from Halstead and was able to cut into the lead a bit when Fraise encountered lapped traffic, but there was no stopping the hometown hero tonight. Many in the crowd stood and cheered as Tony Fraise earned his first-ever IMCA Late Model feature win. Goble had to settle for second with Mark Burgtorf slipping past Halstead late to finish third and build upon his point lead. Jeff Aikey rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Modified feature was one of those races that kind of drove you nuts. There was a fantastic battle going on up front involving five or six cars with all of them running different lines and swapping positions back and forth. The rub was that they were only able to do it for two or three laps at a time as drivers in the back of the field kept spinning out and causing cautions. In the end it turned out to be a two-car battle for the win featuring Rich Smith on the low groove and defending track champion Josh Foster on the cushion. These two traded the lead at least four times over the final few laps before Smith prevailed at the checkers. Rob Kirchner who ran out front early finished in third followed by another early leader Brad Ford in fourth while Andy Krieger completed the list of the top five.
The Hobby Stocks suffered a few early cautions of their own before they settled in and ran the final ten or so laps under green. Sixteen-year-old Derek St. Clair has become the driver to beat in this division in this area and he proved that once again tonight starting twelfth and driving to the front to pick up the feature win and pad his point lead here. Running only two nights a week St. Clair’s eight wins on the season has him flirting with the top ten in the All Iowa Points. The father-son tandem of Dan and Jake Wenig were next in line with the kid, Jake, taking runner-up honors while Dan put on quite a show after spinning early and restarting from the rear. Defending track champion Dean Kratzer finished in the fourth spot with Brent Hartley taking fifth.
Jeff Mueller’s #77 Stock Car had an oil leak develop in hot laps and it lasted all night as the crew kept adding lubricant prior to each event. Whatever the issue, it sure didn’t hamper his performance tonight as the driver from New London hugged the bottom groove and drove from the tenth starting spot to take the win. Corey Strothman, who picked up his first career feature win here last Friday night did his best to hold off Mueller, but would end settling for second. Aaron Brocksieck, Jason Cook and Paul Lawson would fill out the top five.
With the lightning getting closer and closer the Wild Thing Four Cylinder feature took to the track and there was a swarm of bumble bees racing four and five wide at the front of the pack. Seth Woodruff paced the field early, but with smoke pouring from his car he soon slowed and later retired from the event. Gabe Harrison then emerged from the pack and pulled away for his first career feature win. Young Kimberly Abbot looked like she had her first heat race win of the year in the bag early in the night before another competitor dumped her on the final lap. She must of used the frustration of the incident as motivation at feature time as she started seventeenth in the twelve-lap main event and drove all the way through to finish second to Harrison. Dakota Fenton picked up the third spot, while Jacob Darbyshire faded to fourth when his engine started smoking in the final laps. Chris Loring Jr. would round out the top five as the remaining crowd headed for their cars to beat the impending rain.
The Lee County Speedway will have two nights of racing action this coming week as on Wednesday night July 29th the 360 c.i. Sprint Cars will headline Budweiser Night at the speedway and weekly racing action returns on Friday night July 31st. For complete details visit http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/
A high standard was set by the first feature race of the night as the IMCA SportMods went fifteen laps caution free to end in a photo finish. Jacob Smith who moved to this division this season from the Hobby Stock ranks built up a nice cushion after taking the lead from his row two starting spot and he would need every inch of it. Rodger Dresden was working his way to the front from a fifth row start and with seven laps to go he made the pass for second, but found himself nearly a half straightaway behind the leader. Lap by lap Dresden made up ground and on the final circuit he was within striking distance. Dresden dove low in turn three and powered off the bottom of turn four only to come up just inches short at the finish line as Smith claimed the victory. Thad Gaylord came home third followed by Rod Staats and Rick Barlow Jr. The SportMods will have extra money on the line next Friday night for the Steve Kirchner Memorial event.
The Pilot Grove Savings Bank/Ideal Ready Mix IMCA Late Model main event was up next and Sam Halstead owned lap number one before Tony Fraise blew by him on the second trip around the 3/8-mile oval. Fraise, who has numerous career wins driving a Modified, purchased an IMCA Late Model for this season after the series was announced last October, but has struggled by his standards up until tonight. In this race he looked like the same driver that ran off and left a lot of strong Modified fields in the distance over the years as he opened up nearly a half-lap advantage by mid-race. Tom Goble who won two feature events last weekend took second away from Halstead and was able to cut into the lead a bit when Fraise encountered lapped traffic, but there was no stopping the hometown hero tonight. Many in the crowd stood and cheered as Tony Fraise earned his first-ever IMCA Late Model feature win. Goble had to settle for second with Mark Burgtorf slipping past Halstead late to finish third and build upon his point lead. Jeff Aikey rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Modified feature was one of those races that kind of drove you nuts. There was a fantastic battle going on up front involving five or six cars with all of them running different lines and swapping positions back and forth. The rub was that they were only able to do it for two or three laps at a time as drivers in the back of the field kept spinning out and causing cautions. In the end it turned out to be a two-car battle for the win featuring Rich Smith on the low groove and defending track champion Josh Foster on the cushion. These two traded the lead at least four times over the final few laps before Smith prevailed at the checkers. Rob Kirchner who ran out front early finished in third followed by another early leader Brad Ford in fourth while Andy Krieger completed the list of the top five.
The Hobby Stocks suffered a few early cautions of their own before they settled in and ran the final ten or so laps under green. Sixteen-year-old Derek St. Clair has become the driver to beat in this division in this area and he proved that once again tonight starting twelfth and driving to the front to pick up the feature win and pad his point lead here. Running only two nights a week St. Clair’s eight wins on the season has him flirting with the top ten in the All Iowa Points. The father-son tandem of Dan and Jake Wenig were next in line with the kid, Jake, taking runner-up honors while Dan put on quite a show after spinning early and restarting from the rear. Defending track champion Dean Kratzer finished in the fourth spot with Brent Hartley taking fifth.
Jeff Mueller’s #77 Stock Car had an oil leak develop in hot laps and it lasted all night as the crew kept adding lubricant prior to each event. Whatever the issue, it sure didn’t hamper his performance tonight as the driver from New London hugged the bottom groove and drove from the tenth starting spot to take the win. Corey Strothman, who picked up his first career feature win here last Friday night did his best to hold off Mueller, but would end settling for second. Aaron Brocksieck, Jason Cook and Paul Lawson would fill out the top five.
With the lightning getting closer and closer the Wild Thing Four Cylinder feature took to the track and there was a swarm of bumble bees racing four and five wide at the front of the pack. Seth Woodruff paced the field early, but with smoke pouring from his car he soon slowed and later retired from the event. Gabe Harrison then emerged from the pack and pulled away for his first career feature win. Young Kimberly Abbot looked like she had her first heat race win of the year in the bag early in the night before another competitor dumped her on the final lap. She must of used the frustration of the incident as motivation at feature time as she started seventeenth in the twelve-lap main event and drove all the way through to finish second to Harrison. Dakota Fenton picked up the third spot, while Jacob Darbyshire faded to fourth when his engine started smoking in the final laps. Chris Loring Jr. would round out the top five as the remaining crowd headed for their cars to beat the impending rain.
The Lee County Speedway will have two nights of racing action this coming week as on Wednesday night July 29th the 360 c.i. Sprint Cars will headline Budweiser Night at the speedway and weekly racing action returns on Friday night July 31st. For complete details visit http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Emotional Win for Aikey at Osky
With a huge Southern Iowa Fair crowd filling the stands to watch, Jeff Aikey dominated the field of Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Models Wednesday night in Oskaloosa to earn a victory that he dedicated to his mother. Brad Pinkerton, Nathan Wood, Brian Edel and Shane Weller also picked up wins on a beautiful night to enjoy a county fair in the great state of Iowa.
The current Deery Series point leader, Aikey drew the pole position for the thirty-five lap main event and ran the first lap side-by-side with fellow front row starter Jay Johnson. Aikey established himself as the leader on lap two as Tommy Elston used the low line to drive by Johnson for the second spot. The caution waved with three laps completed when Ray Guss Jr. slapped the guardrail between turns one and two and left his right rear quarter panel wedged between two rails. On the restart Elston went to work on Aikey taking the lead down the backstretch of the fast half-mile on lap seven, but Jeff stormed back on the outside of turn four to regain the advantage at the line. The score sheets will show just one leader in this event as Aikey gradually built a cushion over Elston and by the time the checkers flew he had a full straightaway advantage. Elston was comfortably in second at the conclusion while Jason Frankel, who started the race in tenth, passed Boone McLaughlin on the final lap to finish third. The battle for fifth was decided on the final lap as well with Johnson fighting off a challenge from Rob Toland.
The winner was emotional in victory lane as he dedicated the win to his mother who has supported him throughout his twenty-eight year racing career and is not in good health at this point. Congratulations to Jeff Aikey and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his mom.
The Modified feature followed a similar storyline as the week before with Scott Dickey looking like a rocket out front before Brad Pinkerton chased him down to take the lead mid-race. Then, just like last week, Dickey’s night came to an early end with mechanical woes as this time his #40 belched out a thick cloud of white smoke as it slowed to a halt below the flagstand. Pinkerton went on for his second win in a row followed by fellow New Sharon resident and Pro-Line Building sponsored driver Zack VanderBeek in second. Colt Mather ran a solid third with Josh Truman and Ron VerBeek completing the top five.
Brian Edel tried to return to action in the B-Mod division here at Osky last Wednesday night only to have mechanical problems put him on the trailer early in the night. His story was completely different tonight as he drove by early leaders Paul Underwood and Mike Shelton on lap six to take his first feature win of 2009 over a solid field of twenty-four competitors. Shelton would take home the runner-up laurels while Tyler Groenendyk was impressive coming to third from a sixth row starting position. Last week’s winner Andrew Schroeder moved from tenth to fourth while young Brett Moffitt turned a cameo appearance into a fifth-place run after starting thirteenth.
Bobby Greene paced the field for lap one of the Hobby Stock headliner, but when he jumped the cushion in turn two the following lap that was all that Nathan Wood needed as he drove away to a dominating victory. The race for second was interesting as five contenders seemed to settle in to running nose-to-tail around the top groove, but in the closing laps Jason McDaniel broke formation and was able to pick up a couple of spots to finish fourth behind Wood, Kris Walker and Green. Donovan Nunnikhoven rounded out the top five.
There was no doubt who had the fastest Stock Car tonight as Shane Weller started inside of row three, drove past early leader Nathan Wood on lap three and then cruised to victory in a dominating fashion. Wood, Brian Mitrisin, Zack VanderBeek and Mike VanGenderen were next in line well behind Weller.
Weekly Wednesday night racing action continues at the Southern Iowa Speedway on July 29th, then on August 5th the United States Modified Touring Series returns to town featuring appearances by NASCAR drivers Kenny Wallace, Bobby Labonte and, just announced last night, Michael Waltrip. With Wallace and Waltrip on hand, the voice of the speedway Tony Paris may just want to hand them the microphone, step back and enjoy the fun! Hope to see you there.
The current Deery Series point leader, Aikey drew the pole position for the thirty-five lap main event and ran the first lap side-by-side with fellow front row starter Jay Johnson. Aikey established himself as the leader on lap two as Tommy Elston used the low line to drive by Johnson for the second spot. The caution waved with three laps completed when Ray Guss Jr. slapped the guardrail between turns one and two and left his right rear quarter panel wedged between two rails. On the restart Elston went to work on Aikey taking the lead down the backstretch of the fast half-mile on lap seven, but Jeff stormed back on the outside of turn four to regain the advantage at the line. The score sheets will show just one leader in this event as Aikey gradually built a cushion over Elston and by the time the checkers flew he had a full straightaway advantage. Elston was comfortably in second at the conclusion while Jason Frankel, who started the race in tenth, passed Boone McLaughlin on the final lap to finish third. The battle for fifth was decided on the final lap as well with Johnson fighting off a challenge from Rob Toland.
The winner was emotional in victory lane as he dedicated the win to his mother who has supported him throughout his twenty-eight year racing career and is not in good health at this point. Congratulations to Jeff Aikey and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his mom.
The Modified feature followed a similar storyline as the week before with Scott Dickey looking like a rocket out front before Brad Pinkerton chased him down to take the lead mid-race. Then, just like last week, Dickey’s night came to an early end with mechanical woes as this time his #40 belched out a thick cloud of white smoke as it slowed to a halt below the flagstand. Pinkerton went on for his second win in a row followed by fellow New Sharon resident and Pro-Line Building sponsored driver Zack VanderBeek in second. Colt Mather ran a solid third with Josh Truman and Ron VerBeek completing the top five.
Brian Edel tried to return to action in the B-Mod division here at Osky last Wednesday night only to have mechanical problems put him on the trailer early in the night. His story was completely different tonight as he drove by early leaders Paul Underwood and Mike Shelton on lap six to take his first feature win of 2009 over a solid field of twenty-four competitors. Shelton would take home the runner-up laurels while Tyler Groenendyk was impressive coming to third from a sixth row starting position. Last week’s winner Andrew Schroeder moved from tenth to fourth while young Brett Moffitt turned a cameo appearance into a fifth-place run after starting thirteenth.
Bobby Greene paced the field for lap one of the Hobby Stock headliner, but when he jumped the cushion in turn two the following lap that was all that Nathan Wood needed as he drove away to a dominating victory. The race for second was interesting as five contenders seemed to settle in to running nose-to-tail around the top groove, but in the closing laps Jason McDaniel broke formation and was able to pick up a couple of spots to finish fourth behind Wood, Kris Walker and Green. Donovan Nunnikhoven rounded out the top five.
There was no doubt who had the fastest Stock Car tonight as Shane Weller started inside of row three, drove past early leader Nathan Wood on lap three and then cruised to victory in a dominating fashion. Wood, Brian Mitrisin, Zack VanderBeek and Mike VanGenderen were next in line well behind Weller.
Weekly Wednesday night racing action continues at the Southern Iowa Speedway on July 29th, then on August 5th the United States Modified Touring Series returns to town featuring appearances by NASCAR drivers Kenny Wallace, Bobby Labonte and, just announced last night, Michael Waltrip. With Wallace and Waltrip on hand, the voice of the speedway Tony Paris may just want to hand them the microphone, step back and enjoy the fun! Hope to see you there.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Pearson Holds Off Owens for Ten Grand in Wheatland
On a night when Forrest Lucas welcomed a large crowd to the Lucas Oil Speedway for an appearance by the Lucas Oil Late Model Series, it was only fitting that the Lucas Oil sponsored #44 would wind up in victory lane. Earl Pearson Jr. fought off a late charge from Jimmy Owens to claim the $10,000 top prize in the car owned by NASCAR star Bobby Labonte.
Forty-seven Late Models were on hand and the 3/8-mile oval was lightning fast tonight as Shannon Babb broke into the fourteen second bracket to take quick time. When Babb spun the number four for the invert you knew that it would be tough for the fast qualifiers to get to the front of their heats as the track was so fast with the preferred line right around the cushion that passing would be at a premium, at least early in the evening. Pearson was the only one of the four fastest qualifiers to work his way up to second in his heat race and that landed him on the outside of row four for the fifty-lap main event. The seven drivers starting ahead of him, including current series point leader Scott Bloomquist had yet to visit victory lane on the 2009 tour.
Defending MLRA champion John Anderson raced away from the field early before a caution on lap six brought the field back to him. On the restart Anderson, pole-sitter John Blankenship and Wendell Wallace waged a thrilling three-wide battle with Wallace claiming the lead on lap eight. Anderson charged back to the front a lap later and Wallace suddenly slowed and stopped on the topside of turn one to bring out another caution. Working the very bottom groove of the racetrack Pearson was on the move and would now restart in third and in two laps he would drive past Anderson for the lead.
With Pearson pulling away it was now Jimmy Mars who was on the move coming from row six up to second while also using Pearson’s preferred line and from row five it was Jimmy Owens racing his way up to third using the cushion that had now been pushed way up to the top in both sets of turns. A caution for Will Vaught on lap thirty-four wiped out a full straightaway advantage for Pearson and the crowd buzzed as they anticipated a three-car battle for the lead on the restart. They had to wait out one more caution though as the fifth-place car of Don O’Neal, who won the Lucas series event the night before in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, got turned around in turn one two laps later.
When the green flag returned it was obvious that the race would be between Pearson and Owens as the two drivers worked completely opposite lines around the speedway. With five laps remaining Owens nosed ahead of Pearson at the stripe only to have the soon-to-be-lapped car of David Breazeale just ahead of him also working the cushion. When Owens went to the middle in turns three and four, Pearson charged by him once again for the lead only to have his own lapped car challenge ahead of him in Dan Schlieper. Schlieper was hugging the bottom as well and as the leader took the white flag it appeared that Owens would be able to sweep past him on the final lap. Coming off turn two though Pearson nosed under Schlieper to make the move that he needed to secure the victory by about four car lengths at the checkers.
Owens would have to settle for the runner-up honors with Mars coming in for third and John Anderson flew the MLRA colors in fine fashion by taking home fourth-place money. Back in May Dale McDowell went to a backup car, started twenty-sixth and finished second to Brian Birkhofer in the Diamond Nationals here. On this night McDowell had to win the first B-Main to start seventeenth and he drove the Clint Bowyer owned #17m to fifth. Birkhofer started sixteenth and finished sixth tonight while Scott Bloomquist was consistent starting sixth and finishing seventh. Steve Casebolt Jr. was an early mover after starting next to McDowell in row nine before settling in for eighth with Shannon Babb and Brad Neat completing the top ten.
Lucas Notes…..Both of the B-Mains saw drivers make passes on the final lap to claim the third and final transfer position. In the first one it was Ray Cook who surprised local favorite Eric Turner with a move off the low side of turn four coming to the checkers. In the second B Chris Smyser and Jeremy Payne put on a thrilling battle over the final five laps before Payne prevailed for the final transfer……Speaking of Smyser, he was forced to run six laps of qualifying earlier in the evening before his transponder would finally register a lap…..John Blankenship won the first heat race to put him on the pole position for the main event, but if his heat would have been one lap longer he would have been running a B-Main as his right rear tire went flat just past the checkers…..Modified star Jason Hughes of Westville, Oklahoma, was behind the wheel of the Flynn Racing #23 Late Model tonight and was very impressive. Hughes started in row three of the first B-Main and drove past Cook and Turner before coming up just inches short of beating McDowell to the checkers. You could tell that he was enjoying himself as he pumped his fist in jubilation heading to the pits. Hughes retired early from the feature……The Pitts Homes A-Modifieds, thirty strong, provided some exciting support action on the night but since we had a bit of a trip home we left before their main event closed out the program.
A big “thank you” to the staff at the Lucas Oil Speedway as they honored their first-class facility in fine fashion by putting on another first-class program. If you have not yet visited this place, check out their schedule at www.lucasoilspeedway.com and plan your trip.
Forty-seven Late Models were on hand and the 3/8-mile oval was lightning fast tonight as Shannon Babb broke into the fourteen second bracket to take quick time. When Babb spun the number four for the invert you knew that it would be tough for the fast qualifiers to get to the front of their heats as the track was so fast with the preferred line right around the cushion that passing would be at a premium, at least early in the evening. Pearson was the only one of the four fastest qualifiers to work his way up to second in his heat race and that landed him on the outside of row four for the fifty-lap main event. The seven drivers starting ahead of him, including current series point leader Scott Bloomquist had yet to visit victory lane on the 2009 tour.
Defending MLRA champion John Anderson raced away from the field early before a caution on lap six brought the field back to him. On the restart Anderson, pole-sitter John Blankenship and Wendell Wallace waged a thrilling three-wide battle with Wallace claiming the lead on lap eight. Anderson charged back to the front a lap later and Wallace suddenly slowed and stopped on the topside of turn one to bring out another caution. Working the very bottom groove of the racetrack Pearson was on the move and would now restart in third and in two laps he would drive past Anderson for the lead.
With Pearson pulling away it was now Jimmy Mars who was on the move coming from row six up to second while also using Pearson’s preferred line and from row five it was Jimmy Owens racing his way up to third using the cushion that had now been pushed way up to the top in both sets of turns. A caution for Will Vaught on lap thirty-four wiped out a full straightaway advantage for Pearson and the crowd buzzed as they anticipated a three-car battle for the lead on the restart. They had to wait out one more caution though as the fifth-place car of Don O’Neal, who won the Lucas series event the night before in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, got turned around in turn one two laps later.
When the green flag returned it was obvious that the race would be between Pearson and Owens as the two drivers worked completely opposite lines around the speedway. With five laps remaining Owens nosed ahead of Pearson at the stripe only to have the soon-to-be-lapped car of David Breazeale just ahead of him also working the cushion. When Owens went to the middle in turns three and four, Pearson charged by him once again for the lead only to have his own lapped car challenge ahead of him in Dan Schlieper. Schlieper was hugging the bottom as well and as the leader took the white flag it appeared that Owens would be able to sweep past him on the final lap. Coming off turn two though Pearson nosed under Schlieper to make the move that he needed to secure the victory by about four car lengths at the checkers.
Owens would have to settle for the runner-up honors with Mars coming in for third and John Anderson flew the MLRA colors in fine fashion by taking home fourth-place money. Back in May Dale McDowell went to a backup car, started twenty-sixth and finished second to Brian Birkhofer in the Diamond Nationals here. On this night McDowell had to win the first B-Main to start seventeenth and he drove the Clint Bowyer owned #17m to fifth. Birkhofer started sixteenth and finished sixth tonight while Scott Bloomquist was consistent starting sixth and finishing seventh. Steve Casebolt Jr. was an early mover after starting next to McDowell in row nine before settling in for eighth with Shannon Babb and Brad Neat completing the top ten.
Lucas Notes…..Both of the B-Mains saw drivers make passes on the final lap to claim the third and final transfer position. In the first one it was Ray Cook who surprised local favorite Eric Turner with a move off the low side of turn four coming to the checkers. In the second B Chris Smyser and Jeremy Payne put on a thrilling battle over the final five laps before Payne prevailed for the final transfer……Speaking of Smyser, he was forced to run six laps of qualifying earlier in the evening before his transponder would finally register a lap…..John Blankenship won the first heat race to put him on the pole position for the main event, but if his heat would have been one lap longer he would have been running a B-Main as his right rear tire went flat just past the checkers…..Modified star Jason Hughes of Westville, Oklahoma, was behind the wheel of the Flynn Racing #23 Late Model tonight and was very impressive. Hughes started in row three of the first B-Main and drove past Cook and Turner before coming up just inches short of beating McDowell to the checkers. You could tell that he was enjoying himself as he pumped his fist in jubilation heading to the pits. Hughes retired early from the feature……The Pitts Homes A-Modifieds, thirty strong, provided some exciting support action on the night but since we had a bit of a trip home we left before their main event closed out the program.
A big “thank you” to the staff at the Lucas Oil Speedway as they honored their first-class facility in fine fashion by putting on another first-class program. If you have not yet visited this place, check out their schedule at www.lucasoilspeedway.com and plan your trip.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Schroeder Takes Extra B-Mod Money; Pinkerton, Greiner and McDaniel Also "Licensed to Thrill" at Oskaloosa
The Southern Iowa Speedway returned to its "Licensed to Thrill" weekly racing action Wednesday night with extra money on the line in the B-Modified division. The big half-mile oval was tacky and fast this night causing drivers to hold on tight and for engines to wind up tight with several showing signs of the stress throughout the quick night of racing.
The B-Modifieds were racing for extra money with $700 going to the winner of the fifteen-lap finale and after drawing the pole position you had to think that Andrew Schroeder would be the favorite to take the win. As expected Schroeder took to the early lead with fellow front row starter Carter VanDenBerg giving chase. It seems that whenever extra money is on the line for this division, Cayden Carter rises to the occasion and that was the case again as the young redhead moved quickly toward the front from a row five starting spot. As Schroeder tried to pull away, the race was now for second as Jimmy Carter's two grandsons battled it out with Cayden overtaking Carter at the mid-race point. Cayden tried to reel in Schroeder over the final laps, but he could not get the job done tonight as Andrew Schroeder collected the $700 top prize. Cayden Carter was second with Carter VanDenBerg third, rookie driver Drew Lawson came home fourth while Geoff Olson of Ames was fifth. Olson also started in row five and was the only one of the field of twenty-three that would not be considered a SIS track regular in this division.
Adam Bell enjoyed the early lead in the USRA Modified headliner while the action was furious not far behind him. Scott Dickey made a thrilling move to shoot through the middle of a three-wide pack in turn four to take over second on lap five and it was not long before he chased down the leader Bell. Dickey stormed by on lap eight with Brad Pinkerton coming along as well past Bell into second. Pinkerton made a bid on the low side of Dickey with five laps remaining and with four to go Brad had a run on Dickey using the high side in turns three and four. Just as Pinkerton took over the lead Dickey slowed and retired to the pits with what looked like a very hot engine. With a full straightaway advantage there was no stopping Pinkerton as he cruised to the popular victory as race fans from his hometown of New Sharon were admitted free to tonight's races. Brandon Banks took home the runner-up honors with Zack VanderBeek, Adam Bell and Josh Truman rounding out the top five. Austin Jones was a surprise entry making the trip up from Columbia, Missouri, and he finished in the sixth position.
Two former USRA Hobby Stock National Champions who were doing double duty on the night dominated the Hobby Stock division as Jason McDaniel fought off the challenges of Nathan Wood to take the win. Don Nunnikhoven picked up the third spot while T.J. Henderson, the owner of Wood's Hobby Stock, finished fourth after starting tenth. Kris Walker completed the top five list.
While the Stock Cars had a short field with just nine, their feature proved that it only takes two to put on a memorable race. Matt Greiner looked like he would have a cakewalk to victory starting from the pole position, but Nathan Wood had other thoughts as he moved into challenge after Mike VanGenderen dropped to the wayside with a smoking motor. Wood tried for several laps before finally nosing past Greiner for the lead on lap ten of the fifteen lap distance. Not about to give up Greiner came right back at Wood and the two drivers ran the next three laps virtually side-by-side around the half-mile until Greiner regained the lead with two circuits remaining. Wood made one last bid coming to the white flag, but could not get by as Greiner earned the thrilling victory. Wood slowed dramatically coming to the checkers off four but he still had enough to take second ahead of Shane Weller. Brian Mitrisin and Kyle Harwood brought their John Deere Green machines home in fourth and fifth.
A couple of notes of interest from earlier in the night.....Jason McDaniel started ninth in the second Hobby Stock heat race and by the time the field made it around for the completion of lap number one, he was already in first.....Colt Mather was flying in the first Modified heat race before his motor popped.....Ryan Schaffer and Jesse Dennis, two regulars at the Adams County Speedway in Corning brought their Modifieds over for the night and while Schaffer loaded up and left after the heat race, Dennis looked like he would finish fifth in the A-Main before his motor started smoking as well.
Todd Staley and his crew ran off another great mid-week show with the final checkered flag waving at 9:23 p.m. Next week will be the annual Southern Iowa Fair race featuring the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models along with the track's weekly divisions. Then on Wednesday night August 5th the USMTS Modifieds will be in town with special appearances by Kenny Wallace and Bobby Labonte. Hope to see you there!
The B-Modifieds were racing for extra money with $700 going to the winner of the fifteen-lap finale and after drawing the pole position you had to think that Andrew Schroeder would be the favorite to take the win. As expected Schroeder took to the early lead with fellow front row starter Carter VanDenBerg giving chase. It seems that whenever extra money is on the line for this division, Cayden Carter rises to the occasion and that was the case again as the young redhead moved quickly toward the front from a row five starting spot. As Schroeder tried to pull away, the race was now for second as Jimmy Carter's two grandsons battled it out with Cayden overtaking Carter at the mid-race point. Cayden tried to reel in Schroeder over the final laps, but he could not get the job done tonight as Andrew Schroeder collected the $700 top prize. Cayden Carter was second with Carter VanDenBerg third, rookie driver Drew Lawson came home fourth while Geoff Olson of Ames was fifth. Olson also started in row five and was the only one of the field of twenty-three that would not be considered a SIS track regular in this division.
Adam Bell enjoyed the early lead in the USRA Modified headliner while the action was furious not far behind him. Scott Dickey made a thrilling move to shoot through the middle of a three-wide pack in turn four to take over second on lap five and it was not long before he chased down the leader Bell. Dickey stormed by on lap eight with Brad Pinkerton coming along as well past Bell into second. Pinkerton made a bid on the low side of Dickey with five laps remaining and with four to go Brad had a run on Dickey using the high side in turns three and four. Just as Pinkerton took over the lead Dickey slowed and retired to the pits with what looked like a very hot engine. With a full straightaway advantage there was no stopping Pinkerton as he cruised to the popular victory as race fans from his hometown of New Sharon were admitted free to tonight's races. Brandon Banks took home the runner-up honors with Zack VanderBeek, Adam Bell and Josh Truman rounding out the top five. Austin Jones was a surprise entry making the trip up from Columbia, Missouri, and he finished in the sixth position.
Two former USRA Hobby Stock National Champions who were doing double duty on the night dominated the Hobby Stock division as Jason McDaniel fought off the challenges of Nathan Wood to take the win. Don Nunnikhoven picked up the third spot while T.J. Henderson, the owner of Wood's Hobby Stock, finished fourth after starting tenth. Kris Walker completed the top five list.
While the Stock Cars had a short field with just nine, their feature proved that it only takes two to put on a memorable race. Matt Greiner looked like he would have a cakewalk to victory starting from the pole position, but Nathan Wood had other thoughts as he moved into challenge after Mike VanGenderen dropped to the wayside with a smoking motor. Wood tried for several laps before finally nosing past Greiner for the lead on lap ten of the fifteen lap distance. Not about to give up Greiner came right back at Wood and the two drivers ran the next three laps virtually side-by-side around the half-mile until Greiner regained the lead with two circuits remaining. Wood made one last bid coming to the white flag, but could not get by as Greiner earned the thrilling victory. Wood slowed dramatically coming to the checkers off four but he still had enough to take second ahead of Shane Weller. Brian Mitrisin and Kyle Harwood brought their John Deere Green machines home in fourth and fifth.
A couple of notes of interest from earlier in the night.....Jason McDaniel started ninth in the second Hobby Stock heat race and by the time the field made it around for the completion of lap number one, he was already in first.....Colt Mather was flying in the first Modified heat race before his motor popped.....Ryan Schaffer and Jesse Dennis, two regulars at the Adams County Speedway in Corning brought their Modifieds over for the night and while Schaffer loaded up and left after the heat race, Dennis looked like he would finish fifth in the A-Main before his motor started smoking as well.
Todd Staley and his crew ran off another great mid-week show with the final checkered flag waving at 9:23 p.m. Next week will be the annual Southern Iowa Fair race featuring the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models along with the track's weekly divisions. Then on Wednesday night August 5th the USMTS Modifieds will be in town with special appearances by Kenny Wallace and Bobby Labonte. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Anderson and Wilson Are Big Winners at Moberly's 24 Raceway
It has been way too long since I last visited the lightning-quick highbanks of Moberly's 24 Raceway and that was proven out by the great racing action that I witnessed here on Saturday night. I believe the last time that I was here had to have been back in the early 1990's as Bob Dominacki rode down with us for a Busch All Star Tour event when he was driving the Brannon-Neltner #75 car, although I did attempt to make one of their season ending events a few years back when it literally started raining as soon as I pulled onto the grounds.
Tonight it was the attractive combination of the MLRA Late Models along with the $1,000-to-win Oscar White Memorial for the Modifieds that lured me to town and with thirty cars in each of the featured divisions, this show did not disappoint.
The forty-lap Late Model feature was up first and the twenty-two car starting field barreled into turn one going at least four-wide on the perfectly prepared surface. Front-row starters Mark Voigt and Alan Vaughn battled for the lead down the backstretch only to have third starter John Anderson dive in low underneath them in turn three. As Anderson drifted up the track with the advantage Vaughn cut back low off four and was able to lead the first lap. That would be it though as Anderson used the same move into turns one and two, this time successful, and picked up the point on lap two. With Anderson pulling away Vaughn and Voigt put on an intense battle for second as other drivers tried to march their way to the front.
The first caution of the event flew on lap seventeen when the powerplant on Jeremiah Hurst's #29 let go and on the restart several drivers made some big moves on the bottom while current point leader Al Purkey got shuffled back several spots up on the high side. The scramble sent Jeremy Kelley into the front stretch wall the next lap ending the night for the MLRA's current top rookie-of-the-year candidate. On this restart it was Tommy Elston who made the big move going from sixth to third as he glued the Richard Realty & Auction #15 to the low-side of the speedway. Ricky Frankel was also on the move, but when he made contact with Mark Burgtorf while battling for fourth Frankel dropped back several positions.
The Shop Quik #2 of Anderson was in a class of his own tonight as he pulled away from the field again and when the checkers flew he held nearly a half-lap advantage over the runner-up Vaughn. Elston started eighth and finished third ahead of Burgtorf and Voigt. Frankel may have been the second fastest car at the end as he made up a bunch of ground late to take the sixth spot.
The Modified forty-lapper was up next with the two front row starters waging a battle for the front the entire distance. Vance Wilson is back in the Charlton #22c and looked very comfortable as he eased ahead of David Holder in the Collins Racing #746. For twenty-four laps Holder took measure of the leader before making his move on the highside of turn one to takeover on lap twenty-five. Wilson was not about to accept being second though as on the next lap he pulled even with Holder on the inside going down the backstretch and both drivers went way deeper into turn three than they should have. Somehow they both kept their cars off the wall and Wilson regained the lead. Kevin Blackburn, who is now in the #71 that Holder drove at the start of the year, moved into second only to have his right rear tire go flat heading into turn one causing a caution.
Another caution on lap thirty-two necessitated a fuel stop and on the restart it was once again Holder all over the leader Wilson. Scotty Roberts was now in third and looking to make it a three car battle for the lead only to have his right rear let go just three laps short of the finish. Roberts made it into the infield so the race stayed green as Wilson held off Holder to take the thousand dollar win. Gary Blackburn Jr. took home third-place money with Jason Bodenhammer in fourth and Steven Potter was fifth after starting back in row number eight. Kevin Blackburn used that fresh rubber on the right rear to charge back to sixth and Mark VanWinkle who also pitted and restarted at the rear came back to seventh.
24 Notes.....The Late Model feature field was lined up on the frontstretch and the on-track announcer did something unique. Instead of introducing the field himself he passed the microphone to each driver and allowed them to state their name and hometown themselves. Several drivers threw in a sponsor or two and also thanked the crowd for coming out to watch them compete. Now those of you who have heard me announce know that it is hard to pull the microphone out of my hand once I have it, but I really thought that this was a neat deal as it allowed the crowd to not only see the drivers, but to get a brief glimpse at their personality as well. I may just have to do this the next time I'm working an event that includes on track intros.....Shad Badder was running in the fourth and final transfer spot in the Late Model B-Main before retiring to the pits during a late caution.....The last car to arrive at the track, during hot laps, Brantlee Gotschall went out and won the fourth and final Late Model heat race.....I enjoyed meeting both Sam Harroun and Jeremy Kelley as they were early arrivals tonight. Harroun suffered a nasty rollover a few weeks back at Farley and said that without some extra help from his sponsors he would not have been back racing so soon. The twenty-three-year-old Kelley was very personable and looked great riding the very top groove of the track to finish third in his heat race. I was disappointed to see his night end on the hook.....The Modified feature was lined straight up by the finish of the heats and winning heat number two is what put eventual winner Vance Wilson on the front row. The outcome of the evening may have been completely different if Curt Potter's right rear tire had not exploded while he enjoyed a big lead in that second heat race.....Fourteen Hornets put on an entertaining feature that would have reminded you of a restrictor plate race at Daytona or Talladega. The little four cylinders ran in a tight pack of seven or eight cars through much of the race before Robert Winfrey passed Brook Hassler late for the victory. Mike Denslow shuffled Hassler back to third at the finish and the two traded some paint after the race as well......Tim Dawson dominated the twelve car Hobby Stock field while Derrick Agee, who usually drives a Sportsman car here on Saturday night's, drove the #32 to a second-place finish ahead of Darren Morgan.....To check out photos and full results from tonight's action check out http://www.heartlandmotorsports.com/ as Danny Howk was on hand to capture the action.
Thank you to the pit gate staff at 24 Raceway for their hospitality as this wanderer did not make the decision to end up in Moberly tonight until he was an hour from the track. I also want to thank track announcer Doug Mealy, who has one of the smoothest voices in the business, for the nice plugs that he gave for PositivelyRacing.com. I will make sure that my next visit to Moberly will come again soon. Check their schedule at www.24racewayinmoberly.com as the Winged Outlaw Warriors will be here this coming Saturday July 18th, the USMTS Mods are in town on August 8th and the MLRA Late Models return on August 15th.
Tonight it was the attractive combination of the MLRA Late Models along with the $1,000-to-win Oscar White Memorial for the Modifieds that lured me to town and with thirty cars in each of the featured divisions, this show did not disappoint.
The forty-lap Late Model feature was up first and the twenty-two car starting field barreled into turn one going at least four-wide on the perfectly prepared surface. Front-row starters Mark Voigt and Alan Vaughn battled for the lead down the backstretch only to have third starter John Anderson dive in low underneath them in turn three. As Anderson drifted up the track with the advantage Vaughn cut back low off four and was able to lead the first lap. That would be it though as Anderson used the same move into turns one and two, this time successful, and picked up the point on lap two. With Anderson pulling away Vaughn and Voigt put on an intense battle for second as other drivers tried to march their way to the front.
The first caution of the event flew on lap seventeen when the powerplant on Jeremiah Hurst's #29 let go and on the restart several drivers made some big moves on the bottom while current point leader Al Purkey got shuffled back several spots up on the high side. The scramble sent Jeremy Kelley into the front stretch wall the next lap ending the night for the MLRA's current top rookie-of-the-year candidate. On this restart it was Tommy Elston who made the big move going from sixth to third as he glued the Richard Realty & Auction #15 to the low-side of the speedway. Ricky Frankel was also on the move, but when he made contact with Mark Burgtorf while battling for fourth Frankel dropped back several positions.
The Shop Quik #2 of Anderson was in a class of his own tonight as he pulled away from the field again and when the checkers flew he held nearly a half-lap advantage over the runner-up Vaughn. Elston started eighth and finished third ahead of Burgtorf and Voigt. Frankel may have been the second fastest car at the end as he made up a bunch of ground late to take the sixth spot.
The Modified forty-lapper was up next with the two front row starters waging a battle for the front the entire distance. Vance Wilson is back in the Charlton #22c and looked very comfortable as he eased ahead of David Holder in the Collins Racing #746. For twenty-four laps Holder took measure of the leader before making his move on the highside of turn one to takeover on lap twenty-five. Wilson was not about to accept being second though as on the next lap he pulled even with Holder on the inside going down the backstretch and both drivers went way deeper into turn three than they should have. Somehow they both kept their cars off the wall and Wilson regained the lead. Kevin Blackburn, who is now in the #71 that Holder drove at the start of the year, moved into second only to have his right rear tire go flat heading into turn one causing a caution.
Another caution on lap thirty-two necessitated a fuel stop and on the restart it was once again Holder all over the leader Wilson. Scotty Roberts was now in third and looking to make it a three car battle for the lead only to have his right rear let go just three laps short of the finish. Roberts made it into the infield so the race stayed green as Wilson held off Holder to take the thousand dollar win. Gary Blackburn Jr. took home third-place money with Jason Bodenhammer in fourth and Steven Potter was fifth after starting back in row number eight. Kevin Blackburn used that fresh rubber on the right rear to charge back to sixth and Mark VanWinkle who also pitted and restarted at the rear came back to seventh.
24 Notes.....The Late Model feature field was lined up on the frontstretch and the on-track announcer did something unique. Instead of introducing the field himself he passed the microphone to each driver and allowed them to state their name and hometown themselves. Several drivers threw in a sponsor or two and also thanked the crowd for coming out to watch them compete. Now those of you who have heard me announce know that it is hard to pull the microphone out of my hand once I have it, but I really thought that this was a neat deal as it allowed the crowd to not only see the drivers, but to get a brief glimpse at their personality as well. I may just have to do this the next time I'm working an event that includes on track intros.....Shad Badder was running in the fourth and final transfer spot in the Late Model B-Main before retiring to the pits during a late caution.....The last car to arrive at the track, during hot laps, Brantlee Gotschall went out and won the fourth and final Late Model heat race.....I enjoyed meeting both Sam Harroun and Jeremy Kelley as they were early arrivals tonight. Harroun suffered a nasty rollover a few weeks back at Farley and said that without some extra help from his sponsors he would not have been back racing so soon. The twenty-three-year-old Kelley was very personable and looked great riding the very top groove of the track to finish third in his heat race. I was disappointed to see his night end on the hook.....The Modified feature was lined straight up by the finish of the heats and winning heat number two is what put eventual winner Vance Wilson on the front row. The outcome of the evening may have been completely different if Curt Potter's right rear tire had not exploded while he enjoyed a big lead in that second heat race.....Fourteen Hornets put on an entertaining feature that would have reminded you of a restrictor plate race at Daytona or Talladega. The little four cylinders ran in a tight pack of seven or eight cars through much of the race before Robert Winfrey passed Brook Hassler late for the victory. Mike Denslow shuffled Hassler back to third at the finish and the two traded some paint after the race as well......Tim Dawson dominated the twelve car Hobby Stock field while Derrick Agee, who usually drives a Sportsman car here on Saturday night's, drove the #32 to a second-place finish ahead of Darren Morgan.....To check out photos and full results from tonight's action check out http://www.heartlandmotorsports.com/ as Danny Howk was on hand to capture the action.
Thank you to the pit gate staff at 24 Raceway for their hospitality as this wanderer did not make the decision to end up in Moberly tonight until he was an hour from the track. I also want to thank track announcer Doug Mealy, who has one of the smoothest voices in the business, for the nice plugs that he gave for PositivelyRacing.com. I will make sure that my next visit to Moberly will come again soon. Check their schedule at www.24racewayinmoberly.com as the Winged Outlaw Warriors will be here this coming Saturday July 18th, the USMTS Mods are in town on August 8th and the MLRA Late Models return on August 15th.
Friday, July 10, 2009
A Great Night At The Davis County Fair!
Thursday night reminded me of how much I love living in small town Iowa.
As we approached the Davis County Fairgrounds in Bloomfield it was obvious that this was the place to be tonight. The midway was active, there was a smell of corn dogs and funnel cakes in the air, and parking was at a premium as we were forced to find a spot about a half-mile down the road. During the walk back to the track we could hear the first set of hot laps take the green at the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway and that prompted many of the fair goers to head to the ticket booth so that they too could take in tonight's grandstand entertainment, a full six division program of racing featuring a total of 104 cars!
While waiting in line for tickets I noted that the seats in the nearby shelter house were full with people ready for the bingo games to start. To my right I could see children of all ages enjoying the carnival rides and games, and there was a long line formed up at the Cattlemen's building waiting to enjoy a juicy ribeye sandwich. I have been to some county fairs around the area the past few years that almost seemed like ghost towns, but that was far from the case tonight. On this night the Davis County Fair was the place to be, and deep down that made me proud to be an Iowan.
The auto races drew a large crowd as well and they were treated to a great night of action on a perfectly prepared racing surface. Kudos to Ron Potts and his crew for doing such a great job on a night that is so important when it comes to capturing the "general fans", those who might otherwise only come out to the Speedway during the fair. I am going to bet that many of those people will be back to buy a ticket again later this season as well.
The Hobby Stock feature was up first tonight and this division boasted the top car count of the night with twenty-four. Derek Kirkland has won four main events at Bloomfield this year and he jumped to the lead from the pole position. He soon had company though with Don Nunnikhoven and Nathan Wood working their way to the front from the sixth and tenth starting spots respectively. The trio went three-wide down the backstretch on lap seven and Kirkland maintained his lead before the caution waved for Louis Lynch who had spun in turn three. On the restart Jason McDaniel made it a four-car battle for the point as Wood took the lead on lap eight. Kirkland's night ended a lap later when his motor sputtered and he retired to the infield, so that left us with only three cars running two and three wide for the win. This battle kept us on the edge of our seat for the final five laps as Wood fought off McDaniel by a car length to snare the victory with Nunnikhoven right there as well in third. T.J. Henderson, who owns the Hobby Stock that Wood drives, finished in the fourth spot while Craig Brown completed the top five. Lynch made an impressive run back through the field after his spin to finish in the sixth position.
A solid field of thirteen 305 c.i. Sprints took the green next for their main event with 63-year-old Bob Lamb pacing the field for lap number one. Kevin Hetrick slipped by Lamb on the second circuit and then held off Jayson Ditsworth over the remaining laps to have the 34 Raceway regulars finish one-two. Young Tasker Phillips came from row four to pick up the third spot with current Mid-America 305 Sprint point leader Dustin Clark taking fourth ahead of former All Iowa Points champion Matt Stephenson. One bit of info that I picked up tonight is that the young driver who started from the pole position, Brandyn Martin, is the grandson of longtime Sprint car competitor Galen Martin from Fairfield.
Seventeen A Mods checked in tonight, but we lost a couple to mechanical gremlins during hot laps. Mount Ayr's Dennis Elliott looked strong leading the first eight laps of the main event before Colt Mather made his move to become the new leader. A caution on lap eleven bunched the field and even though the now second-place driver Zack VanderBeek selected the inside position for the Delaware-style restart, he rocketed to the cushion in turn one and hooked it just right to fly past Mather in turn two. There was no catching the "Z-Man" over the final laps as he sped to victory with Mather and local favorite Jim Lynch next in line. Mark VanWinkle made the trip up from Hannibal Missouri to claim the fourth spot with Scott Dickey close behind him.
B-Mods were up next and Jason McDaniel made sure that he didn't come home the bridesmaid in this one as he passed Mike Shelton on lap six on his way to victory. McDaniel is quickly becoming one of the top drivers in the area in this division as tonight he started from eighth and methodically made his way through the field. Andrew Schroeder finished second with Shelton coming in for third. Mike Wanders and Bill Gibson rounded out the top five.
Sixteen four-cylinder "Mini Stocks" buzzed the crowd next with David Probasco setting the early pace before his right front tire blew out on him. Macon Missouri driver Andrew Hurley picked up the point from there and the driver who regularly competes at 24 Raceway in Moberly dominated for the win. A driver that you just might see anywhere in the state that is running the four cylinders, Bill Whalen Jr. took home the second spot while Mike Fisher, who has been dominant at Bloomfield this season settled for third. Jim Garrett and Larry Hopkins were next in line.
The Stock Cars were set to close out the night and while there were a couple of lengthy delays, one for a big wreck in turn one on a restart and another for a driver who got out of his car for a bit while it was still parked on the backstretch (thank goodness my view of this was blocked by the judges stand, otherwise I might have a more colorful description of this delay), the fans who stuck around were treated to a fantastic finish. Starting from the pole position the chances were pretty good that Nathan Wood would pick up his second win of the night even though he had Ben Jones starting right beside him. Jones, from Williamsburg, was making his first appearance of the season and has always been tough to beat at Bloomfield in first the Hobby Stocks and more recently the Stock Cars. The two raced side-by-side the first lap before a hard charging Mike VanGenderen who started sixth moved past Jones for second on lap number two. Wood and VenGenderen were putting on quite a show with both of them running up high and as the laps ticked away it became obvious that the low groove was coming around as both Kyle Harwood and Jason Cook were closing fast. With two laps to go you could have thrown a blanket over these four as they raced through turns three and four and they entered turn one running four different lines (remember when I said that Potts and his crew had prepped the track perfectly?). Cook, who had started from row five, edged ahead down the backstretch and held the lead by a nose as the leaders took the white flag. Harwood tried to stick a nose underneath the new leader in turn one, Wood was still digging on the cushion and VanGenderen was looking for racing room on the final trip around the 3/8th-mile oval, but there was no stopping "Big Daddy" as Jason Cook earned the victory in his first appearance for 2009 at Bloomfield. Wood would be the runner-up with Harwood edging out VanGenderen for third. Abe Huls, who raced near the front early, completed the top five in a race that sent the large crowd home in style.
One of the twenty-two Stock Cars on hand tonight was Adam Soltis from Ladysmith, Wisconsin. His car #9 is actually a WISSOTA Street Stock, a division that rules would put him at a bit of a disadvantage to the Stock Cars, but he raced hard all night and ended up mid-pack at the finish. A little research when I got home showed that Adam is currently ranked seventh in the Street Stock point standings at Eagle Valley Raceway in Jim Falls, Wisconsin, a track that races on Sunday nights and he was a feature winner last September at the new track in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. I wanted to go to the pits afterwards to find out what the heck he was doing in Bloomfield, Iowa, on a Thursday night, but I decided to head for home making the bold assumption that he too just wanted to experience what everybody in this country should at least once in their life; a hustling, bustling evening at a County Fair in Iowa!
A big thanks to the voice of the speedway Tony Paris for the plug and I enjoyed my brief visit with "the traveling flagman" Jeff Kropf. If you are in the Oskaloosa area on a Tuesday night make sure to tune in to their weekly radio show on 104.9 KBOE.
As we approached the Davis County Fairgrounds in Bloomfield it was obvious that this was the place to be tonight. The midway was active, there was a smell of corn dogs and funnel cakes in the air, and parking was at a premium as we were forced to find a spot about a half-mile down the road. During the walk back to the track we could hear the first set of hot laps take the green at the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway and that prompted many of the fair goers to head to the ticket booth so that they too could take in tonight's grandstand entertainment, a full six division program of racing featuring a total of 104 cars!
While waiting in line for tickets I noted that the seats in the nearby shelter house were full with people ready for the bingo games to start. To my right I could see children of all ages enjoying the carnival rides and games, and there was a long line formed up at the Cattlemen's building waiting to enjoy a juicy ribeye sandwich. I have been to some county fairs around the area the past few years that almost seemed like ghost towns, but that was far from the case tonight. On this night the Davis County Fair was the place to be, and deep down that made me proud to be an Iowan.
The auto races drew a large crowd as well and they were treated to a great night of action on a perfectly prepared racing surface. Kudos to Ron Potts and his crew for doing such a great job on a night that is so important when it comes to capturing the "general fans", those who might otherwise only come out to the Speedway during the fair. I am going to bet that many of those people will be back to buy a ticket again later this season as well.
The Hobby Stock feature was up first tonight and this division boasted the top car count of the night with twenty-four. Derek Kirkland has won four main events at Bloomfield this year and he jumped to the lead from the pole position. He soon had company though with Don Nunnikhoven and Nathan Wood working their way to the front from the sixth and tenth starting spots respectively. The trio went three-wide down the backstretch on lap seven and Kirkland maintained his lead before the caution waved for Louis Lynch who had spun in turn three. On the restart Jason McDaniel made it a four-car battle for the point as Wood took the lead on lap eight. Kirkland's night ended a lap later when his motor sputtered and he retired to the infield, so that left us with only three cars running two and three wide for the win. This battle kept us on the edge of our seat for the final five laps as Wood fought off McDaniel by a car length to snare the victory with Nunnikhoven right there as well in third. T.J. Henderson, who owns the Hobby Stock that Wood drives, finished in the fourth spot while Craig Brown completed the top five. Lynch made an impressive run back through the field after his spin to finish in the sixth position.
A solid field of thirteen 305 c.i. Sprints took the green next for their main event with 63-year-old Bob Lamb pacing the field for lap number one. Kevin Hetrick slipped by Lamb on the second circuit and then held off Jayson Ditsworth over the remaining laps to have the 34 Raceway regulars finish one-two. Young Tasker Phillips came from row four to pick up the third spot with current Mid-America 305 Sprint point leader Dustin Clark taking fourth ahead of former All Iowa Points champion Matt Stephenson. One bit of info that I picked up tonight is that the young driver who started from the pole position, Brandyn Martin, is the grandson of longtime Sprint car competitor Galen Martin from Fairfield.
Seventeen A Mods checked in tonight, but we lost a couple to mechanical gremlins during hot laps. Mount Ayr's Dennis Elliott looked strong leading the first eight laps of the main event before Colt Mather made his move to become the new leader. A caution on lap eleven bunched the field and even though the now second-place driver Zack VanderBeek selected the inside position for the Delaware-style restart, he rocketed to the cushion in turn one and hooked it just right to fly past Mather in turn two. There was no catching the "Z-Man" over the final laps as he sped to victory with Mather and local favorite Jim Lynch next in line. Mark VanWinkle made the trip up from Hannibal Missouri to claim the fourth spot with Scott Dickey close behind him.
B-Mods were up next and Jason McDaniel made sure that he didn't come home the bridesmaid in this one as he passed Mike Shelton on lap six on his way to victory. McDaniel is quickly becoming one of the top drivers in the area in this division as tonight he started from eighth and methodically made his way through the field. Andrew Schroeder finished second with Shelton coming in for third. Mike Wanders and Bill Gibson rounded out the top five.
Sixteen four-cylinder "Mini Stocks" buzzed the crowd next with David Probasco setting the early pace before his right front tire blew out on him. Macon Missouri driver Andrew Hurley picked up the point from there and the driver who regularly competes at 24 Raceway in Moberly dominated for the win. A driver that you just might see anywhere in the state that is running the four cylinders, Bill Whalen Jr. took home the second spot while Mike Fisher, who has been dominant at Bloomfield this season settled for third. Jim Garrett and Larry Hopkins were next in line.
The Stock Cars were set to close out the night and while there were a couple of lengthy delays, one for a big wreck in turn one on a restart and another for a driver who got out of his car for a bit while it was still parked on the backstretch (thank goodness my view of this was blocked by the judges stand, otherwise I might have a more colorful description of this delay), the fans who stuck around were treated to a fantastic finish. Starting from the pole position the chances were pretty good that Nathan Wood would pick up his second win of the night even though he had Ben Jones starting right beside him. Jones, from Williamsburg, was making his first appearance of the season and has always been tough to beat at Bloomfield in first the Hobby Stocks and more recently the Stock Cars. The two raced side-by-side the first lap before a hard charging Mike VanGenderen who started sixth moved past Jones for second on lap number two. Wood and VenGenderen were putting on quite a show with both of them running up high and as the laps ticked away it became obvious that the low groove was coming around as both Kyle Harwood and Jason Cook were closing fast. With two laps to go you could have thrown a blanket over these four as they raced through turns three and four and they entered turn one running four different lines (remember when I said that Potts and his crew had prepped the track perfectly?). Cook, who had started from row five, edged ahead down the backstretch and held the lead by a nose as the leaders took the white flag. Harwood tried to stick a nose underneath the new leader in turn one, Wood was still digging on the cushion and VanGenderen was looking for racing room on the final trip around the 3/8th-mile oval, but there was no stopping "Big Daddy" as Jason Cook earned the victory in his first appearance for 2009 at Bloomfield. Wood would be the runner-up with Harwood edging out VanGenderen for third. Abe Huls, who raced near the front early, completed the top five in a race that sent the large crowd home in style.
One of the twenty-two Stock Cars on hand tonight was Adam Soltis from Ladysmith, Wisconsin. His car #9 is actually a WISSOTA Street Stock, a division that rules would put him at a bit of a disadvantage to the Stock Cars, but he raced hard all night and ended up mid-pack at the finish. A little research when I got home showed that Adam is currently ranked seventh in the Street Stock point standings at Eagle Valley Raceway in Jim Falls, Wisconsin, a track that races on Sunday nights and he was a feature winner last September at the new track in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. I wanted to go to the pits afterwards to find out what the heck he was doing in Bloomfield, Iowa, on a Thursday night, but I decided to head for home making the bold assumption that he too just wanted to experience what everybody in this country should at least once in their life; a hustling, bustling evening at a County Fair in Iowa!
A big thanks to the voice of the speedway Tony Paris for the plug and I enjoyed my brief visit with "the traveling flagman" Jeff Kropf. If you are in the Oskaloosa area on a Tuesday night make sure to tune in to their weekly radio show on 104.9 KBOE.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Saldana Prevails as World of Outlaws Return to 34 Raceway
Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz thrilled a large crowd at 34 Raceway near Burlington Wednesday night with a lead swapping dual through lapped traffic, and at the checkers it was Saldana celebrating in victory lane along with his car owner Kasey Kahne. This was the second trip ever for the World of Outlaws to the high-banked 3/8-mile oval and while the crowd was just a bit off of last year's debut, this show was twice as strong.
Saldana quickly grabbed the lead from his pole position start with the evening's quick qualifier Terry McCarl in hot pursuit. Schatz started seventh but by the second lap he was up to third and giving McCarl all that he wanted. The first of three cautions in the event came on lap eight when the leader's teammate Craig Dollansky launched his right rear wheel over the fence and into the cornfield beyond turn three before smacking the wall. Schatz went to work on Saldana on the restart and on lap twelve he squeezed by Joey on the inside of turn two to gain the advantage heading down the back straight. Saldana matched the pace of the new leader and even mounted a challenge or two in traffic before the caution waved again with twelve laps remaining, this time for last year's winner Tony Bruce Jr. who had slowed on the front stretch.
When the green flag returned Saldana continued to work the cushion all the way around the track while the leader Schatz chose a low line through one and two and the topside in three and four. With lapped traffic soon back into play it looked as though Schatz's lower line through turns one and two suddenly went away and with just five laps to go Saldana had a run on the leader down the backstretch. As most of the crowd cheered their approval, Saldana drove the Budweiser #9 hard into turn three and slid up nicely in front of Schatz to regain the lead with just four laps to go. Schatz was not through though as two lapped cars racing side-by-side gave him the opportunity that he was looking for and as they raced to the white flag it looked as though Schatz might go back in front only to have the caution come out instead for a spinning Sam Hafertepe.
With a clear track ahead of him there was no stopping Saldana as he closed out the final two laps going away for his series leading twelfth World of Outlaw main event victory in 2009. Schatz will use his runner-up finish to maintain his point lead, McCarl held on for third with Danny Lasoski and Jason Sides completing the top five. The point lead will actually grow for Schatz as the second ranked driver coming into the night Steve Kinser had a tough evening. The first of 35 cars out for qualifying, Kinser's lap was only good enough for 17th quick, one spot out of making the invert in the heat races and then his own son Kraig passed him late in his heat to knock him out of the fifth and final transfer spot putting him in the B-Main. Last year "The King" established the track record during qualifying and then ran second to Bruce in the main event, but on this night he never did crack the top ten.
WoO Notes.....Jac Haudenschild was up to fourth and charging hard before he slipped off the top side of turn two late in the feature race......Outlaw Rookie-of-the-Year-to-be Brian Ellenberger came from out of nowhere to make a pass on Rager Phillips in the final turns to earn the fourth and final transfer position out of the B-Main. Phillips also missed transferring out of his heat in the final laps when Brooke Tatnell slipped by him late.....Last year Josh Schneiderman was the Hometown Hero finishing third in the main event here behind Bruce and Kinser, but on this night he came up a bit short taking sixth in the B-Main. Just behind him was a fast charging Joey Moughan who finished seventh after restarting 14th following an early spin over the top of turn two......After winning the Dash to put him on the pole of the feature, Joey Saldana's crew went to work to put a new powerplant under the hood.....Randy Hannagan and Jason Meyers waged one of the best battles of the night as they swapped sliders for at least four straight laps while racing for third in the second heat race. Hannagan prevailed.....Austin McCarl caused the only red flag of the night when he bounced the #17A into the fence protecting the back pit area off of turn two. The youngster came back later to run the B-Main.....The car count of 35 was up considerbly from last year's 23 and a lot has to do with the timing of the event. Last year the Outlaws came to town on the Wednesday night before Knoxville's 360 c.i. Nationals where several regional drivers opted to save their equipment for that. Non-regulars that I have failed to mention so far included Kerry Madsen, Johnny Herrera, Bronson Maeschen, Mike Moore, Ryan Jamison, Toni Lutar, Jack Dover and Australian driver Matthew Reed......Austen Wheatley was also on hand, but never was able to even turn a full lap before scratching for the night, a tough break for the young driver out of the state of Washington.....Eighteen 305 c.i. Sprints provided some good support action as Jayson Dittsworth blew by John Draper for the lead following a lap seven restart and then cruised to the win ahead of Bobby Mincer, Dustin Whiting, Draper and Matt Krieger. Dittsworth was a rocket coming from the inside of row number six.
It was a great night of sprint car action at 34 Raceway. Keep your eye on the 2010 Outlaw schedule and hopefully they will be back around the same date in July. If so, let's get back to filling this place up for this show!
Saldana quickly grabbed the lead from his pole position start with the evening's quick qualifier Terry McCarl in hot pursuit. Schatz started seventh but by the second lap he was up to third and giving McCarl all that he wanted. The first of three cautions in the event came on lap eight when the leader's teammate Craig Dollansky launched his right rear wheel over the fence and into the cornfield beyond turn three before smacking the wall. Schatz went to work on Saldana on the restart and on lap twelve he squeezed by Joey on the inside of turn two to gain the advantage heading down the back straight. Saldana matched the pace of the new leader and even mounted a challenge or two in traffic before the caution waved again with twelve laps remaining, this time for last year's winner Tony Bruce Jr. who had slowed on the front stretch.
When the green flag returned Saldana continued to work the cushion all the way around the track while the leader Schatz chose a low line through one and two and the topside in three and four. With lapped traffic soon back into play it looked as though Schatz's lower line through turns one and two suddenly went away and with just five laps to go Saldana had a run on the leader down the backstretch. As most of the crowd cheered their approval, Saldana drove the Budweiser #9 hard into turn three and slid up nicely in front of Schatz to regain the lead with just four laps to go. Schatz was not through though as two lapped cars racing side-by-side gave him the opportunity that he was looking for and as they raced to the white flag it looked as though Schatz might go back in front only to have the caution come out instead for a spinning Sam Hafertepe.
With a clear track ahead of him there was no stopping Saldana as he closed out the final two laps going away for his series leading twelfth World of Outlaw main event victory in 2009. Schatz will use his runner-up finish to maintain his point lead, McCarl held on for third with Danny Lasoski and Jason Sides completing the top five. The point lead will actually grow for Schatz as the second ranked driver coming into the night Steve Kinser had a tough evening. The first of 35 cars out for qualifying, Kinser's lap was only good enough for 17th quick, one spot out of making the invert in the heat races and then his own son Kraig passed him late in his heat to knock him out of the fifth and final transfer spot putting him in the B-Main. Last year "The King" established the track record during qualifying and then ran second to Bruce in the main event, but on this night he never did crack the top ten.
WoO Notes.....Jac Haudenschild was up to fourth and charging hard before he slipped off the top side of turn two late in the feature race......Outlaw Rookie-of-the-Year-to-be Brian Ellenberger came from out of nowhere to make a pass on Rager Phillips in the final turns to earn the fourth and final transfer position out of the B-Main. Phillips also missed transferring out of his heat in the final laps when Brooke Tatnell slipped by him late.....Last year Josh Schneiderman was the Hometown Hero finishing third in the main event here behind Bruce and Kinser, but on this night he came up a bit short taking sixth in the B-Main. Just behind him was a fast charging Joey Moughan who finished seventh after restarting 14th following an early spin over the top of turn two......After winning the Dash to put him on the pole of the feature, Joey Saldana's crew went to work to put a new powerplant under the hood.....Randy Hannagan and Jason Meyers waged one of the best battles of the night as they swapped sliders for at least four straight laps while racing for third in the second heat race. Hannagan prevailed.....Austin McCarl caused the only red flag of the night when he bounced the #17A into the fence protecting the back pit area off of turn two. The youngster came back later to run the B-Main.....The car count of 35 was up considerbly from last year's 23 and a lot has to do with the timing of the event. Last year the Outlaws came to town on the Wednesday night before Knoxville's 360 c.i. Nationals where several regional drivers opted to save their equipment for that. Non-regulars that I have failed to mention so far included Kerry Madsen, Johnny Herrera, Bronson Maeschen, Mike Moore, Ryan Jamison, Toni Lutar, Jack Dover and Australian driver Matthew Reed......Austen Wheatley was also on hand, but never was able to even turn a full lap before scratching for the night, a tough break for the young driver out of the state of Washington.....Eighteen 305 c.i. Sprints provided some good support action as Jayson Dittsworth blew by John Draper for the lead following a lap seven restart and then cruised to the win ahead of Bobby Mincer, Dustin Whiting, Draper and Matt Krieger. Dittsworth was a rocket coming from the inside of row number six.
It was a great night of sprint car action at 34 Raceway. Keep your eye on the 2010 Outlaw schedule and hopefully they will be back around the same date in July. If so, let's get back to filling this place up for this show!
Daytona, Rain and Chicken......
As I sit here anxiously watching the radar and hoping that everything stays east of 34 Raceway's World of Outlaws Sprint Car show I thought that I would try to calm my nerves a bit by sharing a few thoughts.
Back on April 28th I logged a blog following Talladega that included my wonder as to when a driver will finally decide that throwing a block and getting wrecked at the finish of a restrictor plate race is worse than just holding his line, mashing the gas to the floor and racing to the line even if it does mean finishing second or third. Obviously Kyle Busch doesn't buy into that theory. After destroying all of that equipment, including his JGR teammate's car of Joey Logano, and finishing 14th downright lucky to walk away uninjured, I just wonder if the thought went through his mind, "you know, second or third place with a good race car to put on the trailer and the extra points that might make the difference of me being in the Chase or not would have been a better move." My guess is that we'll see a similar situation at Talladega in October......if we are still under the green when the leaders hit the tri-oval for the final time.
For the second year in a row it seems like Mother Nature has even more wins around Iowa than Shannon Anderson, and he has 22 at last count! The latest "victory" for Ma came last night as one more storm built up over the Knoxville Raceway at 7 p.m. to wipe out the Tuesday night portion of the Harris Clash. The IMCA Modifieds will now be in action this Thursday night and hopefully most of the 105 cars in attendance will be able to make it back.
While the sun was still shining at 6:30 we ducked into a fast food franchise who has really hit a homerun with their new "grilled" chicken. I tried it the first week that it came out and I was sold! Tastes just like it came off the grill and apparently others felt the same as franchise locations were unable to keep up with demand. Well it has been a month now and I would have felt that the Management of each location would have a pretty good feel for how much grilled chicken would be needed at certain times of the day. Guess not as for the third time in the past week, and at the third different location, I was told AFTER I ordered and paid for my grilled chicken meal that they were out of grilled chicken and that it would be twenty or thirty minutes before they would have more. And in a classic bait and switch mode they would then ask if I wanted crispy or original instead. Come on now Burger King doesn't run out of burgers, Steak and Shake doesn't run out of "steak"burgers, IHOP doesn't run out of pancakes......oh well, I'll probably try it again on Thursday night!
Now that I got that of my chest I'm ready to go Sprint Car racing and as Johnny says "Burlington Iowa you wanted the best, you've got 'em four abreast, often imitated, never duplicated, the greatest show on dirt, the World of Outlaws!!!!" Hope to see you there!
Back on April 28th I logged a blog following Talladega that included my wonder as to when a driver will finally decide that throwing a block and getting wrecked at the finish of a restrictor plate race is worse than just holding his line, mashing the gas to the floor and racing to the line even if it does mean finishing second or third. Obviously Kyle Busch doesn't buy into that theory. After destroying all of that equipment, including his JGR teammate's car of Joey Logano, and finishing 14th downright lucky to walk away uninjured, I just wonder if the thought went through his mind, "you know, second or third place with a good race car to put on the trailer and the extra points that might make the difference of me being in the Chase or not would have been a better move." My guess is that we'll see a similar situation at Talladega in October......if we are still under the green when the leaders hit the tri-oval for the final time.
For the second year in a row it seems like Mother Nature has even more wins around Iowa than Shannon Anderson, and he has 22 at last count! The latest "victory" for Ma came last night as one more storm built up over the Knoxville Raceway at 7 p.m. to wipe out the Tuesday night portion of the Harris Clash. The IMCA Modifieds will now be in action this Thursday night and hopefully most of the 105 cars in attendance will be able to make it back.
While the sun was still shining at 6:30 we ducked into a fast food franchise who has really hit a homerun with their new "grilled" chicken. I tried it the first week that it came out and I was sold! Tastes just like it came off the grill and apparently others felt the same as franchise locations were unable to keep up with demand. Well it has been a month now and I would have felt that the Management of each location would have a pretty good feel for how much grilled chicken would be needed at certain times of the day. Guess not as for the third time in the past week, and at the third different location, I was told AFTER I ordered and paid for my grilled chicken meal that they were out of grilled chicken and that it would be twenty or thirty minutes before they would have more. And in a classic bait and switch mode they would then ask if I wanted crispy or original instead. Come on now Burger King doesn't run out of burgers, Steak and Shake doesn't run out of "steak"burgers, IHOP doesn't run out of pancakes......oh well, I'll probably try it again on Thursday night!
Now that I got that of my chest I'm ready to go Sprint Car racing and as Johnny says "Burlington Iowa you wanted the best, you've got 'em four abreast, often imitated, never duplicated, the greatest show on dirt, the World of Outlaws!!!!" Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Unique Sponsorship Opportunity, All Money Goes to the Drivers, Great Exposure and It Might Not Cost You a Dime!
For the third year in a row the season ending "Shiverfest" event will offer up bonus money to drivers ranked in the top 100 in either the All Iowa or All Missouri Points if they win their feature race at the event scheduled for Saturday October 24th. I just sent out the sponsorship proposal below to several prospects, but thought that I would include it here as well. If you are interested in becoming one of the sponsors for this event, or if you are a track promoter who would be interested in doing something similar at one of your late-season special events, please e-mail us at melmorris32@yahoo.com and remember that the the full standings for both the All Iowa Points and the All Missouri Points can be found on the Points page at www.PositivelyRacing.com
All Iowa/All Missouri Points Bonus
ShiverFest 2009
October 24, 2009
The All Iowa/All Missouri Points Bonus program provides an opportunity for drivers who have enjoyed success throughout the 2009 racing season to earn some extra cash at "Shiverfest".
This program was introduced for the first time at the 2007 event and the result was a record car count of 214 in five divisions! In 2008 this bonus program drew in two of the top three rated Modified drivers in the state of Iowa, both of whom towed in from over 150 miles away, and the Four Cylinder State Champion Brannon Bechen made the trip in from northeast Iowa and won the feature event in that division.
Here is how the program works:
Based upon the All Iowa/All Missouri Point standings through October 19th, drivers ranked in the top ten of their division will earn the top-level "Gold" bonus if they can win the "Shiverfest" feature in their division, drivers ranked 11th through 30th will earn the second-level "Silver" bonus if they win and drivers ranked 31st through 100th will take home the "Bronze" bonus with a feature victory. Each bonus is in addition to the winner’s purse already posted for the event.
For the 2009 "Shiverfest" we would like to offer the following bonus levels per sponsor*:
Division Gold Silver Bronze
Modified $500 $350 $200
Stock Car $400 $300 $200
SportMod $300 $200 $100
Hobby Stock $300 $200 $100
Four-Cylinders $200 $150 $100
* More than one sponsor will be accepted for any one division with the bonus paid to the driver multiplied by the number of sponsors for that division.
All Iowa/All Missouri Points Bonus
ShiverFest 2009
October 24, 2009
The Lee County Speedway is proud to once again present an auto-racing event in an effort to help raise funds for the Southeast Iowa Renal Dialysis Units, located in Mt. Pleasant, Keokuk, Fort Madison and Burlington. We would like to give you an opportunity to be a part of this event, the last race of the 2009 season in the state of Iowa, and in this unique sponsorship program you might just end up paying absolutely nothing to be involved!!
The "All Iowa Points" and " All Missouri Points" gather results from all race tracks in each state and awards points on a standardized point scale. This allows drivers and fans to see how they stack up against drivers that they may never compete against during the season with "State Champions" named in nine divisions in Iowa and four divisions in Missouri. The complete rankings for each division may be found online at www.PositivelyRacing.com.
The All Iowa/All Missouri Points Bonus program provides an opportunity for drivers who have enjoyed success throughout the 2009 racing season to earn some extra cash at "Shiverfest".
This program was introduced for the first time at the 2007 event and the result was a record car count of 214 in five divisions! In 2008 this bonus program drew in two of the top three rated Modified drivers in the state of Iowa, both of whom towed in from over 150 miles away, and the Four Cylinder State Champion Brannon Bechen made the trip in from northeast Iowa and won the feature event in that division.
Here is how the program works:
Based upon the All Iowa/All Missouri Point standings through October 19th, drivers ranked in the top ten of their division will earn the top-level "Gold" bonus if they can win the "Shiverfest" feature in their division, drivers ranked 11th through 30th will earn the second-level "Silver" bonus if they win and drivers ranked 31st through 100th will take home the "Bronze" bonus with a feature victory. Each bonus is in addition to the winner’s purse already posted for the event.
For the 2009 "Shiverfest" we would like to offer the following bonus levels per sponsor*:
Division Gold Silver Bronze
Modified $500 $350 $200
Stock Car $400 $300 $200
SportMod $300 $200 $100
Hobby Stock $300 $200 $100
Four-Cylinders $200 $150 $100
* More than one sponsor will be accepted for any one division with the bonus paid to the driver multiplied by the number of sponsors for that division.
Note: The only two divisions that will apply to the Missouri Points are the Modifieds and SportMods
During the 2008 event we awarded the Gold bonus in the Stock Cars and the Four Cylinders, the Silver Bonus in the Modifieds and the Bronze bonus in the Hobby Stocks. The SportMod feature was won by a driver outside of the top 100 in points, so in this case it would have been a sponsorship that would have cost you nothing!
During the 2008 event we awarded the Gold bonus in the Stock Cars and the Four Cylinders, the Silver Bonus in the Modifieds and the Bronze bonus in the Hobby Stocks. The SportMod feature was won by a driver outside of the top 100 in points, so in this case it would have been a sponsorship that would have cost you nothing!
As a sponsor of this bonus program you will receive the following:
-Initial Press Release announcing your involvement to area newspapers, local radio stations, Hawkeye Racing News and internet sites that cover racing in the tri-state area (PositivelyRacing, Heartland Motorsports, WhoWon, Iowastockcars, Stlracing, Racinboys, 4m and more)
-Name mentions on updated point standings released to the internet sites every other week leading up to "Shiverfest" (the earlier you sign on, the more exposure you will receive)
-A banner ad on the points page of the division(s) you are sponsoring on PositivelyRacing.com (the earlier you sign on, the more exposure you will receive)
-Four complimentary tickets to the event.
-Public address announcements prior to and throughout the event.
-Victory lane presentation of bonus to driver(s)
-Post-race press release summarizing the bonuses earned by the winning drivers.
All of this exposure and it may end up costing you absolutely nothing!
Choose a division that you would like to sponsor:
-The amount of the Gold Bonus is what you pay up front for the sponsorship
-If the race winner of that division earns the Silver or Bronze bonus we will refund you the difference after the event.
-If the race winner of that division does not rank in the top 100 of the points for either state, he or she does not win the bonus and your entire investment will be refunded!
-Sponsor three divisions and receive a 10% discount on your initial payment, or sponsor all five divisions and receive a 20% discount! And keep in mind that all of your sponsorship money goes directly to the drivers!
We hope that you will join us in presenting one of the Midwest’s most popular annual events through this unique sponsorship program.
Please e-mail us at melmorris32@yahoo.com with questions!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Mueller Improves By One, Long Dominates at Donnellson's Liberty Cup
One year ago, and one night after he lost a motor to a claim at Marshalltown, Jeff Mueller accepted a challenge that would have paid him an extra one thousand dollars on top of the one thousand dollar winner's check if he could start from the tail and win the inaugural IMCA Stock Car Liberty Cup at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Mueller thrilled the crowd with his charge to the front only to come up just short on the final lap as Abe Huls captured the victory. On this night his "challenge" came in the form of a larger and tougher field of cars than a year before and with a quick move to the front, there was no stopping Mueller from sitting in victory lane at the 2009 Liberty Cup.
Mueller started eighth in the main event and within three laps he was up to third watching Missouri visitor Rick Girard and Stock Car rookie Aaron Brocksieck swap the lead in front of him. On lap six Mueller stuck his nose under Brocksieck to take the lead and while Aaron made several attempts to regain that lead over the next ten laps, Mueller would not flinch or give up that bottom groove. With three laps remaining Mike VanGenderen moved into the second spot and looked like he might be able to mount a challenge over the final laps, but there was no stopping Mueller from taking that $1,000 top prize tonight as he pounded on his roof in celebration in victory lane. VanGenderen and Brocksieck were next in line while the defending champion Abe Huls used the high groove to move from row nine to finish fourth and Darin Thye completed the top five. Huls was caught up in a first lap accident in his heat race that forced him to his pits and he then started ninth before winning the first B-Main as the thirty-three car field was whittled down to twenty-four starters.
Mueller started eighth in the main event and within three laps he was up to third watching Missouri visitor Rick Girard and Stock Car rookie Aaron Brocksieck swap the lead in front of him. On lap six Mueller stuck his nose under Brocksieck to take the lead and while Aaron made several attempts to regain that lead over the next ten laps, Mueller would not flinch or give up that bottom groove. With three laps remaining Mike VanGenderen moved into the second spot and looked like he might be able to mount a challenge over the final laps, but there was no stopping Mueller from taking that $1,000 top prize tonight as he pounded on his roof in celebration in victory lane. VanGenderen and Brocksieck were next in line while the defending champion Abe Huls used the high groove to move from row nine to finish fourth and Darin Thye completed the top five. Huls was caught up in a first lap accident in his heat race that forced him to his pits and he then started ninth before winning the first B-Main as the thirty-three car field was whittled down to twenty-four starters.
Jeff Mueller, shown here the night before at Independence, picked up the $1, 000 top prize at the second annual Liberty Cup - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photoAlthough the track appeared to be locking down a bit on the bottom groove during the final laps of the Stock Car feature, several drivers made big runs to the front in the twenty-five lap finale for the IMCA Modifieds. Wyatt Lantz, Troy Cordes and Shawn Fisher crossed the stripe in a virtual dead heat for the lead on lap number one before Cordes, who started fourth, established himself as the leader on lap number two. Michael Long had started fifth and followed Cordes quickly to the front taking the lead on lap number five, a lead that he would build to over a full straightaway during the final twenty laps. As Long checked out the racing behind him was very entertaining. The 2008 track champion at Lee County, Josh Foster found himself starting seventeenth after winning the first B-Main and if someone would have had a camera on him tonight they would have had a twenty-five lap highlight reel as he went high, low and anywhere he needed to be to race his way through the field and finish a distant second to Long. After starting twelfth Dusty Kraklio's advancement to the front was a little more methodical and he was closing on Foster in the final laps before settling for third. Cordes and Nate Caruth, who moved quickly from sixth to second on lap number two, rounded out the top five. It was the ninth victory of the season for Long over a stellar field of forty-four that paid a handsome $1,500.
Michael Long also picked up a big money win a few week's ago at the Dick Hogan Memorial in Vinton - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photoDespite having a $500 winner's check on the line there were no "visitors" in the IMCA SportMod division and some of the track regulars even stayed home since there were no track points on the line. The ten drivers who did show up though put on some good racing action and at the end of the fifteen-lap main even it was Jason Cook in victory lane. Cook is the defending track champion in the Stock Car class at Lee County and this year he is doing double duty by driving Donnie Fenton's #3D Sport Mod. Although he is currently ranked second in the track's current point standings, this was Cook's first-ever Sport Mod feature win and he celebrated accordingly with his crew in victory lane. Jacob Smith would be tonight's runner-up followed by Rodger Dresden and Paul Underwood. The division's current point leader Phillip Cossell left his ride at home tonight and instead drove Lonnie McCarty's #64 to a fifth place finish.
With the strong car counts in the two headline classes, including some drivers who were quite a distance from home, the second annual Liberty Cup goes into the book as another big success. The longest pull of the night belonged to Robby Rosselli who had raced his Stock Car in the Hawkeye state the past two nights after leaving his home base in Minot, North Dakota.
The Lee County Speedway returns to action tonight, Friday July 3rd, with a program that features four different classes than were in action at the Liberty Cup. The IMCA Late Models will be the headliners along with the Mid America 305 Sprint Cars, Hobby Stocks and the Four Cylinder "Wild Things". For more info on the remaining schedule at the track that concludes with the 11th Annual "Shiverfest" on October 24th, go to http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Toland and Irvine Take Wednesday Wins at Independence
The IMCA and the Independence Motor Speedway served up the perfect combination Wednesday night with the Deery Brothers Late Model Summer Series and night number two of the Great American Shootout for the Stock Cars. Forty Late Models were on hand along with a stellar and diverse field of fifty-one Stock Cars, and the drivers did not disappoint as they raced hard throughout the night with minimal cautions.
Just making the twenty-four-car feature field for the Stock Cars was impressive and the parity of the field was obvious as despite only one caution in the thrity-five lap distance the leaders never did have to negotiate through lapped traffic on the 3/8-mile oval. Local favorite Jarod Weepie drew the pole and used it well to take the early lead while a fierce battle for second was being waged behind him. Brian Irvine, Jeff Joldersma and Mike Nichols ran three-wide for four straight laps before Irvine finally gained an advantage using the bottom groove. A consistent winner here with three victories already in 2009, Irvine then went to work on Weepie for the lead with Nichols and Joldersma still not far behind.
This three-wide battle lasted for four straight laps early in the Stock Car feature. Brian Irvine is on the inside, Jeff Joldersma in the middle and that's Mike Nichols riding the cushion - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo
On lap twelve Irvine drove to the inside of turn three pulling even with Weepie and when the two of them made just a bit of contact that was all that Nichols needed as he rode the cushion around both to become the new leader. Irvine settled into second and once again used the low line to chase down a leader and on lap eighteen he was able to drive past the former IMCA Stock Car National Champion Nichols. The only caution of the 30-lap event came on lap 27 when John Oliver Jr., Damon Murty and Steve Meyer got together in turn four and the field was lined up double-file behind the leader for the restart. As Irvine pulled away to take the $1,000 victory, the race for second through sixth became intense as Joldersma prevailed to take the runner-up honors a car length ahead of Justin Temeyer. Wisconsin driver Jesse Colwell who had started fourteenth passed Nichols in the final two laps to finish fourth and another Wisconsin shoe John Heinz was just inches behind Nichols at the stripe to finish sixth.
After the solid performance that the Stock Car drivers provided, the pressure was on "the boys of Summer" and as usual they delivered with a 50-lap finale that had plenty of action and just one caution period on lap seven. At that one and only break in the action it was front row starter Rob Toland out front, but the driver to have been watching during that first seven circuits was defending IMCA Late Model National Champion Jason Frankel. Frankel had problems during his heat and did not finish forcing him to start thirteenth in the second B-Main. In that twelve-lap race he drove through the field and finished in the fourth and final qualifying position earning him a start on the outside of row ten in the main event. In the feature it took him just seven laps to move up to the tenth spot and on lap thirteen Frankel moved into the top five.
Meanwhile back up front, the race for the lead was very entertaining as it took Terry Neal only two laps after the restart to take the lead from Toland only to have Rob battle back to regain the advantage on lap twenty. Ten laps later, once again Neal used the very bottom line out of four to drive under Toland and into the lead as they started to work in lapped traffic. Frankel was now up to third using a line that was just a bit higher than anyone else and he was coming. With around ten laps remaining Frankel drove around the outside to take second from Toland and it looked as if he was within striking distance of the leader Neal if he could quickly dispatch the lapped cars of T.J. Criss and Darrell DeFrance. Now keep in mind that the Deery Series does not use the layover flag so when DeFrance and Criss went side-by-side for a few laps in their own battle for position, it blocked off Frankel's groove and his momentum was lost.
There was no catching Neal now as he went on to victory, his third in three visits to Indee in 2009, and Toland was able to get back around Frankel with five to go to take home the runner-up honors. The Quincy-based Frankel surely picked up some new fans here tonight with his third-place run while the top two in points Ray Guss Jr. and the point leader Jeff Aikey completed the top five.
Terry Neal makes the winning pass of Rob Toland - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo
Indee Notes......The Stock Car field featured drivers from all four corners of the state of Iowa, plus representatives from Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Illinois.....Trent Murphy made an impressive run from row eleven to finish eight in the main event.....Dustin Smith who was claimed the night before by Wisconsin driver Larry Karcz returned the favor claiming Wisconsin's Colwell here tonight.....The second heat race was a thriller as the top five never had more than five car lengths from the nose of the leader to the tail of the fifth-place car throughout the entire eight lap distance with Oliver Jr. taking the win ahead of Weepie and Colwell while Smith and Abe Huls were forced to one of three B-Mains......Jeff Wollam was running second in the third heat when his right rear tire went flat on the final lap.....Wisconsin's Mark Schuenemann was the benefactor when Phil Holtz spun out of the third spot on the final lap of the fourth heat.....The three drivers who came up one position short of transferring out of the B-Mains were all pretty solid as Jeremy Christians, Dan Mackenthun and Jason Cook watched the feature from the pits......Ed Sanger was running a strong second in the first Late Model heat when he slipped off the banking exiting turn four and slammed the guardrail in front of the grandstand.....After several years in the Modifieds Chad Lerch is now a rookie competitor in the Late Model division and it looks like he will be making some noise there. Lerch was a heat race winner at the Deery show in West Union that was cut short by rain and will be made up on July 14th, and tonight he ran in the top five for the first half of the main event before Guss Jr., Aikey and Jay Johnson shuffled the rookie back to seventh.....
Just making the twenty-four-car feature field for the Stock Cars was impressive and the parity of the field was obvious as despite only one caution in the thrity-five lap distance the leaders never did have to negotiate through lapped traffic on the 3/8-mile oval. Local favorite Jarod Weepie drew the pole and used it well to take the early lead while a fierce battle for second was being waged behind him. Brian Irvine, Jeff Joldersma and Mike Nichols ran three-wide for four straight laps before Irvine finally gained an advantage using the bottom groove. A consistent winner here with three victories already in 2009, Irvine then went to work on Weepie for the lead with Nichols and Joldersma still not far behind.
This three-wide battle lasted for four straight laps early in the Stock Car feature. Brian Irvine is on the inside, Jeff Joldersma in the middle and that's Mike Nichols riding the cushion - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photoOn lap twelve Irvine drove to the inside of turn three pulling even with Weepie and when the two of them made just a bit of contact that was all that Nichols needed as he rode the cushion around both to become the new leader. Irvine settled into second and once again used the low line to chase down a leader and on lap eighteen he was able to drive past the former IMCA Stock Car National Champion Nichols. The only caution of the 30-lap event came on lap 27 when John Oliver Jr., Damon Murty and Steve Meyer got together in turn four and the field was lined up double-file behind the leader for the restart. As Irvine pulled away to take the $1,000 victory, the race for second through sixth became intense as Joldersma prevailed to take the runner-up honors a car length ahead of Justin Temeyer. Wisconsin driver Jesse Colwell who had started fourteenth passed Nichols in the final two laps to finish fourth and another Wisconsin shoe John Heinz was just inches behind Nichols at the stripe to finish sixth.
After the solid performance that the Stock Car drivers provided, the pressure was on "the boys of Summer" and as usual they delivered with a 50-lap finale that had plenty of action and just one caution period on lap seven. At that one and only break in the action it was front row starter Rob Toland out front, but the driver to have been watching during that first seven circuits was defending IMCA Late Model National Champion Jason Frankel. Frankel had problems during his heat and did not finish forcing him to start thirteenth in the second B-Main. In that twelve-lap race he drove through the field and finished in the fourth and final qualifying position earning him a start on the outside of row ten in the main event. In the feature it took him just seven laps to move up to the tenth spot and on lap thirteen Frankel moved into the top five.
Meanwhile back up front, the race for the lead was very entertaining as it took Terry Neal only two laps after the restart to take the lead from Toland only to have Rob battle back to regain the advantage on lap twenty. Ten laps later, once again Neal used the very bottom line out of four to drive under Toland and into the lead as they started to work in lapped traffic. Frankel was now up to third using a line that was just a bit higher than anyone else and he was coming. With around ten laps remaining Frankel drove around the outside to take second from Toland and it looked as if he was within striking distance of the leader Neal if he could quickly dispatch the lapped cars of T.J. Criss and Darrell DeFrance. Now keep in mind that the Deery Series does not use the layover flag so when DeFrance and Criss went side-by-side for a few laps in their own battle for position, it blocked off Frankel's groove and his momentum was lost.
There was no catching Neal now as he went on to victory, his third in three visits to Indee in 2009, and Toland was able to get back around Frankel with five to go to take home the runner-up honors. The Quincy-based Frankel surely picked up some new fans here tonight with his third-place run while the top two in points Ray Guss Jr. and the point leader Jeff Aikey completed the top five.
Terry Neal makes the winning pass of Rob Toland - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photoIndee Notes......The Stock Car field featured drivers from all four corners of the state of Iowa, plus representatives from Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Illinois.....Trent Murphy made an impressive run from row eleven to finish eight in the main event.....Dustin Smith who was claimed the night before by Wisconsin driver Larry Karcz returned the favor claiming Wisconsin's Colwell here tonight.....The second heat race was a thriller as the top five never had more than five car lengths from the nose of the leader to the tail of the fifth-place car throughout the entire eight lap distance with Oliver Jr. taking the win ahead of Weepie and Colwell while Smith and Abe Huls were forced to one of three B-Mains......Jeff Wollam was running second in the third heat when his right rear tire went flat on the final lap.....Wisconsin's Mark Schuenemann was the benefactor when Phil Holtz spun out of the third spot on the final lap of the fourth heat.....The three drivers who came up one position short of transferring out of the B-Mains were all pretty solid as Jeremy Christians, Dan Mackenthun and Jason Cook watched the feature from the pits......Ed Sanger was running a strong second in the first Late Model heat when he slipped off the banking exiting turn four and slammed the guardrail in front of the grandstand.....After several years in the Modifieds Chad Lerch is now a rookie competitor in the Late Model division and it looks like he will be making some noise there. Lerch was a heat race winner at the Deery show in West Union that was cut short by rain and will be made up on July 14th, and tonight he ran in the top five for the first half of the main event before Guss Jr., Aikey and Jay Johnson shuffled the rookie back to seventh.....
Rookie Late Model pilot Chad Lerch in action at Indee - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography photo
Guss was behind the wheel of the #58 all night, the car normally driven by Hershel Roberts......Brian Harris drove the Dirt Late Model Magazine's Legends Series car tonight, but was unable to get qualified.....The Independence Motor Speedway crew, along with some assistance by a new turn two official, did a fantastic job putting on a well organized and well presented program that started right on time at 7 p.m. and concluded with a checkered flag at 9:50 p.m........It was great to see my long-time friend Kevin Kemp as I checked in for the night. Kevin has handled the scoring duties at Indee for several years now and Positively Racing's own Ryan Clark (In Staging) did a great job on the microphone keeping the large crowd up to speed on who all these visiting drivers were and where they were from.....Sitting high atop the new grandstands gave me the feel that I was visiting a track for the first time despite the fact that I have been here many times over the years. I will look forward to returning to Independence soon.
The "Back Stretch" will be down in Donnellson tonight (Thursday July 2nd) for the second annual Liberty Cup featuring IMCA Modifieds ($1,500-to-win), IMCA Stock Cars ($1,000-to-win) and IMCA Sport Mods ($500-to-win). Make sure that you click on the two race ads on the home page at http://www.positivelyracing.com/ as the IMCA Late Models will be running for $1,200-to-win this Saturday night the Fourth of July at 34 Raceway in Burlington, then on Wednesday July 8th the World of Outlaw sprint car drivers return to the high-banks of 34 Raceway! We invite you to attend both events and while you are in the area stop in and grab a bite to eat at the Finish Line Restaurant in nearby New London. You can get more info on this great racing themed restaurant by clicking their ad on the homepage as well.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Halfway Through The 2009 Season; A Quick Look at the All Iowa and All Missouri Points
As we get set for a busy racing weekend around Independence Day, let's take a quick peek at the All Iowa and All Missouri Points at the mid-point of the 2009 racing season.
In Iowa it is still Illinois based drivers that are making noise at the front of the Late Model standings. Mark Burgtorf of Quincy still leads the way over East Moline's Kevin Blum. Terry Neal of Ely is the first Iowa driver in third while the 2008 IMCA Late Model National Champion Jason Frankel of Quincy is fourth.
The Modified standings stretch out a bit over the past two weeks as point leader Jeremy Mills has been on quite a tear including double feature wins this past Sunday night in Mason City. He now leads second place Max Corporan by a commanding thirty-two points, the equivalent of more than six feature wins. Adam Larson is in third with a pair of driver who call Hinton home, Jay Noteboom and Reese Coffee completing the top five.
Defending All Iowa Points champ Kevin Sather is back on top of the Limited Modified rankings, but by only two points over Austin Kaplan and six points over Jesse Sobbing who is a rookie in this division for 2009. Scott Davis and Luke Wanninger compete the top five as these five drivers have been in the top five nearly all season. Adam Ackerman, Jake Simpson and Brett Meyer are looking to change that soon.
Dustin Smith owns a sixteen-point advantage over Kevin Opheim in the Stock Cars with Trent Murphy not much further behind in third. Andrew Burk, who I believe is still undefeated this year at Dubuque, is up to fourth with Greg Gill and Jason Ward deadlocked for fifth.
Shannon Anderson has the highest point total of any driver in any division as he leads the Hobby Stock standings by forty-four markers over Devin Smith. Chad Gentz has made the move into the third spot dropping Chris Hovden to fourth while Sioux City driver Rusty Montagne completes the top five.
The top five names in the Four Cylinders have been pretty consistent this year and at mid-season it is still Gary Peiffer on top. Jeremy Campbell has moved to second with Nathan Chandler, Nate Coopman and Brad Chandler next in line. Sioux City's Zach Ankrum is making a charge though and is now in sixth.
In the Sprint Car divisions Terry McCarl added to his lead in the 410's by defeating the World of Outlaws at Knoxville last Saturday night, Mike Boston, Jody Rosenboom and Jack Dover are locked in a three-way battle for the lead in the 360's and Bobby Mincer continues to dominate the 305 division.
On the Missouri side of the border it is again an Illinois driver leading the Late Model points as Randy Korte sits on top with Donnie Timmerman moving into the second spot this week ahead of Terry Phillips.
Behind his success at West Plains alone Shaw Walsh continues to pace the Modified standings although defending champion Tim Setzer is closing fast and is now tied for second with Tony Patterson.
The Limited Late Model division is a tight race with Kyle Berry holding a one-point lead over Shawn Rayfield while Darin Walker is only two back.
In our first year of tracking the state points in the Limited Modified division it is Belton's Brad Smith out front followed by Mickey Burrell and Blake David.
Finally, in the Sprint Cars "the Rocket" Jesse Hockett has jumped to the top followed by Randy Martin and Josh Fisher.
The complete standings for all divisions can be found on the "Points" page at www.PositivelyRacing.com
In Iowa it is still Illinois based drivers that are making noise at the front of the Late Model standings. Mark Burgtorf of Quincy still leads the way over East Moline's Kevin Blum. Terry Neal of Ely is the first Iowa driver in third while the 2008 IMCA Late Model National Champion Jason Frankel of Quincy is fourth.
The Modified standings stretch out a bit over the past two weeks as point leader Jeremy Mills has been on quite a tear including double feature wins this past Sunday night in Mason City. He now leads second place Max Corporan by a commanding thirty-two points, the equivalent of more than six feature wins. Adam Larson is in third with a pair of driver who call Hinton home, Jay Noteboom and Reese Coffee completing the top five.
Defending All Iowa Points champ Kevin Sather is back on top of the Limited Modified rankings, but by only two points over Austin Kaplan and six points over Jesse Sobbing who is a rookie in this division for 2009. Scott Davis and Luke Wanninger compete the top five as these five drivers have been in the top five nearly all season. Adam Ackerman, Jake Simpson and Brett Meyer are looking to change that soon.
Dustin Smith owns a sixteen-point advantage over Kevin Opheim in the Stock Cars with Trent Murphy not much further behind in third. Andrew Burk, who I believe is still undefeated this year at Dubuque, is up to fourth with Greg Gill and Jason Ward deadlocked for fifth.
Shannon Anderson has the highest point total of any driver in any division as he leads the Hobby Stock standings by forty-four markers over Devin Smith. Chad Gentz has made the move into the third spot dropping Chris Hovden to fourth while Sioux City driver Rusty Montagne completes the top five.
The top five names in the Four Cylinders have been pretty consistent this year and at mid-season it is still Gary Peiffer on top. Jeremy Campbell has moved to second with Nathan Chandler, Nate Coopman and Brad Chandler next in line. Sioux City's Zach Ankrum is making a charge though and is now in sixth.
In the Sprint Car divisions Terry McCarl added to his lead in the 410's by defeating the World of Outlaws at Knoxville last Saturday night, Mike Boston, Jody Rosenboom and Jack Dover are locked in a three-way battle for the lead in the 360's and Bobby Mincer continues to dominate the 305 division.
On the Missouri side of the border it is again an Illinois driver leading the Late Model points as Randy Korte sits on top with Donnie Timmerman moving into the second spot this week ahead of Terry Phillips.
Behind his success at West Plains alone Shaw Walsh continues to pace the Modified standings although defending champion Tim Setzer is closing fast and is now tied for second with Tony Patterson.
The Limited Late Model division is a tight race with Kyle Berry holding a one-point lead over Shawn Rayfield while Darin Walker is only two back.
In our first year of tracking the state points in the Limited Modified division it is Belton's Brad Smith out front followed by Mickey Burrell and Blake David.
Finally, in the Sprint Cars "the Rocket" Jesse Hockett has jumped to the top followed by Randy Martin and Josh Fisher.
The complete standings for all divisions can be found on the "Points" page at www.PositivelyRacing.com
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