Yes, it is my word of the day, so I have to use penultimate in a sentence......or a headline I guess. Either way, last night's show at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa was the next to last season championship event to be held in Iowa this year. The final one will be this Saturday night at the Clarke County Speedway in Osceola and then of course we are already firmly into the Fall Specials season, but I digress.....perhaps I need to stop wordsmithing like a Poindexter or this could be the penultimate Back Stretch blog that you will ever read, because after all you will have to check back once more just to see if I was drunk or something when I wrote this one. There, I used "penultimate" in a sentence!
It was a perfect night for racing in mid-September with comfortable temperatures and a beautiful sunset just as hot laps concluded for the 68 cars in attendance. Heat races for the five divisions were run off in quick order and, even though the features were lined up using the normal average points invert method, the drivers were to park their cars on the front stretch in point standings order for on-track introductions prior to each main event.
The seven car Sport Compact feature was up first and as many time winner, and newly crowned track champion Bill Whalen Jr. worked to get around his brother John for second, leader Matt Girdley was walking away from the field. Once Bill made his way into second on lap four Girdley had built nearly a straightaway lead and the champ did not have much luck cutting into it as the race went non-stop and Matt Girdley scored his first feature win in nineteen years. John Whalen, Matt Moore and Nicholas VanHemert completed the top five.
Jeff Waterman, Troy Cordes and Ryan Maitland were visitors in the IMCA Modified division with eleven cars taking the green on the lightning fast racing surface. Veteran driver Jerry Pilcher who is in his early sixties age wise established the quick pace while one of the younger set, Andrew Schroeder, gradually picked his way to the front from his fifth starting position. With four laps remaining Schroeder drove past Pilcher for the lead and then pulled away as he clinched his first ever track championship in a convincing fashion. Pilcher who has had many battles over the years with Andrew's father, Randy, was very impressive in second while A.J. Johnson prevailed in a back and forth battle with Tyler Groenendyk for third. Brandon Banks completed the top five while Cordes was the best of the visitors in sixth.
Sixteen Hobby Stocks took the green for fifteen laps with Mike Kincaid holding the early advantage. The caution waved on lap two when top contender Mike Hughes tangled with Adam Bonnett in turn two and both drivers were able to restart from the rear with some body damage. Once back to racing it was a tight pack up front with Kincaid, Brad Stephens, Craig Brown, Danny Thrasher and Dustin Griffiths racing hard and at least a couple of times they stacked up three-wide. Brown nosed ahead Kincaid at the line to lead lap seven only to give it back the following lap, then on lap nine Craig Brown completed the pass that clearly put him ahead of the pack. With the laps winding down a hard charging Mike Hughes joined the mix and as the white flag waved Hughes was within striking distance of the leader. Brown was strong though and did not falter over the final lap to take the victory with Hughes, Stephens, Kincaid and Griffiths close behind.
As the solid field of twenty-one Stock Cars lined up on the front stretch, with the introductions and the accompanying interviews, I figured that this race would run me past my self-imposed ten o'clock curfew so I headed for the gates. Just as I was getting into my car I heard Todd Phillips say "every time this guy flags, I win" referring to the gentleman who was filling in for regular starter Ryan Bergeson. Phillips was right, he went on to win in what was reported to be a very entertaining main event. Damn those self-imposed curfews!!
One of my favorites, Curtis VanDerWal closed out the evening with a victory in the Sport Mods.
Next up for the Southern Iowa Speedway will be the annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge on Friday and Saturday October 3rd and 4th.
Looking ahead for myself, there are a lot of great choices this weekend but with a birthday bash to go to on Friday night and a family commitment on Saturday my next event will be this Sunday the 21st as the MOWA 410 Winged Sprint Cars visit the Quincy Raceways. The Sport Mods will also be racing for a $1,003 top prize with the Titan Wheel/Dunker Concrete Shootout. UMP Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Sport Compacts will also be in action. Perhaps I'll see you there!
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