Thirty-one Late Models helped fill the pits tonight, considerably better than the low-twenties count that this event had last year and I feel that this shows that the changes that IMCA made with scheduling this year have been good for the series. The four qualifying heats and the two B-Mains saw plenty of high-speed action and the stage was set for the thirty-five-lap main event. Mark Preston and Charlie McKenna drew the front row with McKenna rocketing out to lead at the drop of the green. Andy Eckrich quickly moved in to challenge on the inside, but McKenna rode the cushion off turn four and squeezed into the minimal space between Eckrich and the outside guardrail to maintain the lead into turn one. Following a lap eight restart it was now Ray Guss Jr. who was working on McKenna and on lap ten we saw the same scenario as the two raced off turn four. This time there was even less space between Guss and the guardrail, but McKenna kept the hammer down and again fought off the challenge. But on the next set of turns Guss showed his power and drove under McKenna in turn three to become the new leader.
With Guss opening up a comfortable advantage, the crowd had plenty of other battles to marvel at as several drivers ran side-by-side or even three-wide while racing for position. With only seven laps remaining Eckrich had again worked his way into second and was noticeably taking a nice bite out the distance between he and Guss until he appeared ready to make a challenge with three laps remaining. As Eckrich made his bid, the center of the right rear wheel on McKenna’s car broke as he entered turn three and he slammed into the fence head on at full speed. Ryne Staley immediately displayed the red flag and we all let out a sigh of relief a few minutes later when a dazed, but otherwise uninjured McKenna climbed out of his used up Late Model.
On the restart Eckrich appeared to have a good run on Guss going into turn one, but the wise veteran changed his lane up just a bit over what he had been previously running and that seemed to make Eckrich hesitate for a split second. That was all that Guss needed to put enough space between himself and the talented youngest member of the Eckrich family to maintain the lead over the final three laps and take the $2,000 top prize. Jay Johnson made a late charge to finish in the third position with Terry Neal fourth and Jeremiah Hurst fifth. Drivers crossing the stripe sixth through tenth were Tom Darbyshire, Jeff Guengerich, T.J. Criss, Jeff Aikey and Darrell DeFrance.
The extra people who were in attendance Wednesday night, either due to the Fair or because of the Late Models being on the card, should have gone home impressed with the four weekly divisions as well and hopefully they are planning a return trip in the near future. The Sport Mods kicked off the order of feature races and while they had to fight through some early cautions, the twenty-three-car field put on some good racing. Mike Wanders was the early leader and he was being stalked by Grandpa Jimmy’s boys as both Carter VanDenBerg and Cayden Carter were right on the leader’s rear bumper. Cayden made the move to the lead on lap five and then proceeded to drive away from the field as the fourteen-year-old redhead collected another trophy for his room. Last week’s feature winner Jason McDaniel tried to keep pace on a late restart, but would have to settle for second tonight while Bill Gibson finished third. Most teenaged boys try to show off for the cute girls at the county fair by winning the ring-toss game or ringing the bell with the sledgehammer, but winning and running fourth in the feature race works much better for these two cousins as VanDenBerg finished ahead of the early leader Wanders who completed the top five.
The Hobby Stocks were up next and what a great race this was upfront in a non-stop fifteen-lap affair. Todd Reitzler and Donovan Nunnikhoven battled back and forth and side-by-side over the first four laps before Derek Kirkland closed in to make it a three-car tango for the top line on the scoreboard. On lap seven Nunnikhoven gained the advantage and when Kirkland moved to second those two now went at it wheel-to-wheel for the next few laps. Kirkland nosed ahead to lead lap ten before Nunnikhoven regained the point a lap later and appeared to be on his way to a win only to have his right rear tire blow out when he leaned on the cushion too hard in turn one with two laps to go. Kirkland inherited the lead, but after taking the white flag he went into turn one too low and clipped the implement tire tearing the left side of his nose piece off in the process. Luckily for Kirkland the damage was only cosmetic as he maintained control and completed the final lap for the victory ahead of Reiztler, Kris Walker, Steve Allen and Craig Brown.
Nine Stock Cars were on hand tonight and with three of them racing each other in tight formation for nearly the entire feature event, who cares what the car count was! Mike VanGenderen paced the first ten laps of the fifteen-lap finale with Shane Weller and Nathan Wood in hot pursuit. Both took their turns at pulling alongside VanGenderen, but “The Flyin’ Dutchmen” shook them off until lap eleven when Wood finally made a move stick. Nathan would then pull away for the win while VanGenderen and Weller continued to run door-to-door for second. At the line it was Weller by a bumper with Kyle Harwood not far behind the duo in fourth and Corey Stout, who fought the county fair traffic to come from across the street finished fifth.
The USRA Modified feature was up next and with a couple of USMTS regulars on hand in Kelly Shryock and Zack VanderBeek I would have put my money on one of those two to wind up in victory lane. Current point leader Steven Blattler had other ideas though as he rocketed to the lead at the drop of the green and started to run off and hide from the other thirteen competitors. It took a few laps for Shryock to make his way around VanderBeek for second and he then set his sights on the leader, but despite his best efforts there was just no catching the youngster from Osky as Blattler chalked up his first feature win here in convincing fashion. Shryock and VanderBeek were next in line while Ryan Peckham was impressive in fourth. Josh Truman would round out your top five and that is why I don’t put money on the races.
SIS Deery Notes…..The track was lightning fast and very racy with drivers able to run from the bottom all the way up to the moist cushion. This of course had our buddy Fasttrackfan Craig in high heaven and he is letting everybody know about it on the message boards today I see! The Late Models heats saw Ray Guss Jr. come from eighth to finish second to Boone McLaughlin in the first one, and “Chargin’ Charlie” McKenna came from eighth to finish third in the second heat. The action had me on the edge of my seat and my heart was a pumpin’ with the high-speed moves that the drivers were making to maintain their momentum…..Mark Burgtorf, who came into the night trailing Guss by twenty-five points in the Series, had his motor let go during the fourth heat and was through for the evening. There are still several events left on the schedule, including next Wednesday’s Harris Clash at the Knoxville Raceway, but the battle for the championship may be all but over as Guss will now enjoy at least a fifty-five point advantage. Of course, something similar could happen to him as well, so stay tuned…..Jeremiah Hurst started fourteenth and was moving quickly toward the front before leveling out in fifth……T.J. Criss made the feature with a provisional and then thrilled his hometown fans by coming from row eleven to finish eighth……B-Mod point leader Tyler Groenendyk popped his motor in the heat race, but then climbed aboard his dad Leroy’s car to run the feature and I believe he was right around tenth at the checkers…..With the low counts of late in the Stock Car division, T.J. Henderson strapped on the bigger tires to his Hobby Stock and joined the field tonight…..Jim Hughes is out of retirement and getting faster every week in his Hobby Stock #558, but he might have hit a setback this night as his motor appeared to let go while running a strong fourth at the mid-point of the feature….. I enjoyed visiting with promoter Todd Staley who was already talking with Nathan Wood about racing the following night at the fair in Webster City. Staley has a Stock Car that he races when he has the chance. I also enjoyed seeing Todd’s partner for the night Mick Trier who is very busy over this week and next running something like sixty-seven events (actually I think it is thirteen) in eleven nights between Osky, Indianola, Des Moines, Vinton and other parts unknown. I got a kick out of listening to Mick on the pre-race radio show with announcer Tony Paris stating “come on out and enjoy the races. I hope we have a big crowd tonight because my kids need new shoes!” Always the promoter!
There are a bunch of specials running tonight (Thursday) and a full weekend of action up ahead. Get out and support the track of your choice!
Enjoy the photos below by our own Barry Johnson:
Charlie McKenna was fast all night, but his right rear wheel gave way and he crashed hard with just three laps remaining.
Kelly and Zach who? Steven Blattler was the man to beat in the USRA Modifieds tonight
Derek Kirkland (2K) and Donovan Nunnikhoven (2N) do battle in the Hobby Stock main event
Cayden Carter on cruise control to another B-Mod feature win 
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