Anderson Returns To Form At Osky

Not that long ago John Anderson was a regular visitor to victory lane on the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Model tour. He won seven races in 2007 and then followed that up with four wins and a series championship in 2008. Four more victories were tallied in '09, two in 2010, three in 2011 and four in 2012 and once again he was the series champion in 2011 and 2012. Things dried up from there though. Sure, the veteran driver out of Omaha, Nebraska, still posted a solid fifth place finish in the 2013 MLRA point standings, but it was the first time since 2005 that he had not tasted victory on the tour and at the end of last season he parted ways with the ShopQuik #2 team.

Fellow Omaha driver Billy Koons stepped up though and asked Anderson to join forces with him for 2014 going back to John's old car number 21x and sponsored by Billy's Cafes. That new combination has gradually become faster each night out and on Thursday John Anderson returned to the MLRA victory lane in the tour's first-ever visit to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.

The feature field is ready to rumble at the Southern Iowa Speedway - Dave Hill photo

The field of twenty-eight was whittled down to twenty-five starters for the thirty-lap main event with the two drivers who scored the most passing points during heat race action, Chris Simpson and Anderson sitting on the front row. Simpson darted quickly to the front and as he raced past that starter's stand to score lap number one, chaos broke loose behind him at the beginning of the front straightaway. Eighth starting Denny Eckrich had turned sideways in the middle of the track and the rest of the field scrambled to either find an opening or slide to a stop without making contact. Some were successful, several were not as the track ended up looking like a Wal Mart parking lot on Black Friday as the red flag waved.

Eckrich, Terry Phillips and Mark Dotson were all eliminated from competition and several other drivers would restart after suffering moderate to severe body damage. On that restart the outside pole-sitter Anderson would get the advantage at the drop of the green and lead the field into turn one where more trouble would come for the Eckrich family as third-starting Andy went high and smacked the guardrail breaking the right front on his car. He was able to limp off the track and head back to his pit off the back stretch though and the race stayed green as Anderson has the Simpson brothers, Chris and Chad in hot pursuit of him.

A cool and gusty wind throughout the afternoon and evening had sucked the moisture from the racing surface and despite the extra efforts of promoter Mike VanGenderen to keep the big and fast half-mile in its usual racy condition it only took a few laps before the Late Models were laying down rubber and running locked down on the bottom groove.

As Anderson closed in on lapped traffic on lap nine, Chad Simpson decided to give the topside of turns three and four one more shot and when he found nothing up there it allowed Matt Furman to drive under him into third. Chad fought back though and when Furman left the door open in turn one several laps later Simpson squeezed past into second. As the leaders ran single file Ryan Gustin was still doing some passing after starting 20th (more on that in the notes section), but even he came to a point where he could no longer make a pass and his final two position gains came when Spencer Diercks dropped out while running seventh and when Travis Dickes slowed and pulled off the track with four laps remaining while running sixth.

John Anderson back in familiar territory; Victory Lane - Dave Hill photo

After the red flag incident, the race went non-stop and Anderson was very excited to be back in victory lane while runner-up Chris Simpson had some words for an MLRA official afterwards. Chad Simpson kept a solid grip on the point lead by running third, Furman an Iowa City native who now lives in Ohio finished fourth while Jason Utter made it a solid night for the eastern Iowa guys by taking fifth. Gustin who restarted the race in 15th finished in sixth, rookie-of-the-year contender Scott Lewis was seventh, Dave Eckrich took eighth and Jake Meier nipped Jeremy Payne at the line for ninth.

MLRA SIS Notes.......The passing points system was used to set the field tonight and that made for some exciting heat race action. In the first heat recent Modified graduate Austin Seibert was leading until lap seven when Chris Simpson made a spectacular move to the outside of him in turn four to take the lead. Seibert was so caught off guard that he then spun in turn one, completing a full 360 and he still finished ahead of series points contender Jeremy Payne.....In the second heat Ryan Gustin tore off from the pole position and we appeared to have a runaway on our hands, but after slipping high off of turn four two straight laps Andy Eckrich seized the opportunity and took the lead. Gustin then put the pressure on Eckrich sticking a nose under him a couple of times until the final lap when his motor went up in a cloud of smoke entering turn three. Ryan was still able to coast to the checkers in fifth giving him the 15th best point total of the evening and locking him into the A-Main. Rather than changing engines the Gressel Racing crew decided to roll out the backup car and the series rules would then allow him to start behind the B-Main qualifiers, but ahead of the provisional starters or 22nd......Colorado driver Scott Lewis enjoyed a comfortable lead in the third heat until the caution waved on lap six for a Jason O'Brien spin. The restart allowed John Anderson to make the pass and score the win thus giving him the points that he needed to land on the front row of the main event. See how one caution flag in a heat race can effect the outcome of the night's feature event?.....The top six automatically transferred out of the B-Main and it was Billy Koons who led early before Dave Eckrich went on to win. Mike Fryer dropped out late while running third and Todd Frank edged out fellow Wisconsin driver Bob Cullen for the final transfer spot. Both Fryer and Cullen were awarded Corn Belt Clash provisionals, but Fryer was unable to make the feature start......Koons was the first lapped car that Anderson encountered in the feature and on his first attempt to pass him the car owner shut the door on his star driver in turn three causing Anderson to get on the binders and sending Chad Simpson searching up top. Two laps later Anderson was able to show his nose and Koons gracefully moved up the race track to allow all of the leaders to race by......During his post race interview Chris Simpson revealed why he wanted to make a point with the MLRA official when he stated, "I thought that the pole-sitter started the race"......Jeremy Payne was the winner of the last Super Late Model race held here back in 2010 and this year he has the GRT house car in the points race of the MLRA, but on this night he was uncharacteristically slow. Payne was the last car to finish his heat race coming in right behind Austin Seibert who had executed a full spin earlier and he was one of the last two cars on the lead lap as the checkers waved in the feature. As he came down the front stretch that final time Payne slowed and allowed Jake Meier to nip him at the line for ninth. Look for a much better performance from Payne tonight as the Lucas Oil MLRA Series visits another new track, this time at the Lee County Speedway in the small southeast Iowa town of Donnellson. It is one of my favorite race tracks anywhere, enhanced by the fact that it is only 22 miles from my home, and I cannot wait to see the Super Late Models attack the D-shaped 3/8-mile track.

John Anderson prepares for action at Osky - Dave Hill photo

All five of Osky's IMCA sanctioned weekly divisions were also in action Thursday night each with a few extra drivers in attendance. And to give you the details on those I am going to refer you to my colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele with the 4dFan Report.

Thanks to Mike VanGenderen and his crew for another great mid-week show and to the two guys calling the action, track announcer Tony Paris and MLRA voice Trenton Berry for their extra publicity. I fear that as an "encyclopedia" I am becoming obsolete! I look forward to seeing the two of you again tonight and I hope that many of you will join us as well on the Back Stretch!

P.S. A big thank you to Dave Hill for providing the photos above!!