Usually I would be busy watching the weather forecasts as we are now one day in front of the IMCA Frostbusters and four days away from the season opener for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders, however an invitation last Fall to a destination wedding this weekend has me watching weather of a much different kind than what appears to be headed for the upper Midwest the next five days. Yes, I wish that I could be at all the events that are scheduled for the next four nights, but no I will not miss the new "drama" that seems to go with racing when less than perfect weather becomes a factor.
It literally made me sick to my stomach to see all of the comments on Facebook as Mike Van Genderen and the Lee County Speedway tried their best to beat the weather and get both days of the Spring Extravaganza into the books last weekend. First it was all of the naysayers preaching how there was no way that this show would be able to be run and sadly they were correct about Friday, but before they can go around saying "I told you so", they were wrong about Saturday. Yes, it was disappointing when they had to cancel Friday's racing shortly after 3 p.m. as it became obvious that the track was not going to iron in, but the only thing that management could have remotely been wrong about was being so confident in an earlier post stating that everything was going to be fine. I can understand that people were upset and there were some people who voiced their displeasure in a mature and respectful way, but some of the comments were just so incredibly stupid that it made me wonder if they were being made tongue in cheek. No, if the first night of a two-day show where both nights are separate shows gets cancelled, the second night does not pay double! Are you joking, or do you just not understand the concept of revenues and expenses?
Then on Saturday there were several people who must have earned their degree in Meterology overnight who implied that anybody who was planning on going to Donnellson that night must be an idiot who cannot read a radar. So how did that work out for you?
I was not able to attend Saturday's show, but I was so glad that Mike and the crew were able to race and that the pits were full and the stands were busy given all of the crap that was spewed on Facebook leading up to it. I have made a promise that I will not subject myself to reading the comments again or I may have a hard time looking at certain people in the eye.
Joe Kosiski and the folks at the I-80 Speedway didn't like the forecast six days out and so they pulled the plug on this coming weekend's Spring Meltdown featuring the MLRA Late Models. I don't blame him, I saw the forecast a few days ago as well and despite what all of the social media "experts" have to say not a single one of them have any money at risk in the decision. I don't like sitting in the stands at any kind of event when the wind is gusting up to forty miles per hour even if the temperatures are in the 80's, let alone the 40's or 50's.
Of course this then starts some people on the discussion of whether or not we should even have events scheduled before May due to the unpredictable Spring weather. Apparently these people have short memories or they just never heard that the Spring Nationals in Beatrice drew over 300 cars and that Saturday night's edition of the Thaw Brawl produced the biggest crowd ever at the LaSalle Speedway according to promoter Tony Izzo Jr.
It has been a long time since I have made it over to LaSalle and I was very impressed with the racing action on Friday night. After toying with some Sunday night racing last year the track that once ran a weekly Saturday night program has cut back to special events only in 2016 and hopefully the Thaw Brawl will be a nice start to a successful year on the balance sheet. Some tracks just are not in the right situation to have a weekly show so "specials only" may be something that we see more of going forward.
So by now I'm sure that you know the winners and the stories from around the region, but perhaps here are a couple of items that you might have missed.
Two of the best UMP Modified drivers in the country each recorded two victories over the weekend. Defending UMP National Champion Mike Harrison won both nights during the Thaw Brawl in LaSalle against solid fields while Quincy's Michael Long cleaned house around the St. Louis area winning Friday night at Tri-City Speedway and Saturday at I-55 Raceway.
There were only three UMP Late Models signed into race at the Clarksville Speedway in Tennessee Saturday night with veteran driver Richard Frost taking the win.
The NSL's move into the 360 Winged Sprint Car division got its start this past weekend with a double header at 81 Speedway near Wichita and it was Derek Hager of Marion, Arkansas, winning both nights. Saturday's show paid $10,000-to-win and he defeated the likes of Brian Brown and Danny Lasoski. Checking today's "Cash Bowl" standings though it would appear that only four drivers satisfied all of the requirements to earn points.
Jonathan Davenport won again this past weekend. That's not really big news any more, except he did it this time behind the wheel of Randy Weaver's car #116 to take the $4,000 top prize in Senoia, Georgia.
Other than the updated National Late Model Points below, that's all that I have this time around. Hopefully you will get to see some racing around here over the next five nights but, if a promoter should happen to make the decision to pull the plug, just remember that he paid for the right to make that call.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Shirley Solid In Thaw Brawl Opener
My plan for Friday was to leave Mt. Pleasant around five o'clock and make the twenty-five mile drive to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, but shortly after three I saw a Facebook post stating that the races there were cancelled. Yes, it was late in the day and since practice was supposed to start at four I know that there were a bunch of drivers and fans who were already enroute and hopefully they were alerted in the same way as, for this fan, I still had a couple of options to salvage the one night that I could go racing on this Easter weekend.
My first thought was to head south to the season opener at Kevin Gundaker's Tri-City Speedway as I figured that it would be warmer down there and the track did not get as much rain over the past couple of days as my other option did. Besides, I love the racing at Tri-City and they always draw a solid field of cars. But, it is a three and a half hour drive for me and that is without any Friday rush hour traffic in St. Louis, so would I even be there in time for the first heat race?
I hate missing even the first heat race!
My other option was to go to the race that I had originally planned on going to this weekend before the closer opportunity became more intriguing and, since the LaSalle Speedway was about fifty minutes closer than Tri-City, that was a big plus. Add in the fact that there would be a great field of Late Models and Modifieds, plus the storied return of Brian Birkhofer and the decision was made. I was now making the trip to the opening night of the Thaw Brawl.
My colleague Ed Reichert was planning to cover both nights at LaSalle so a quick call to him gave me the comfort of knowing that I would have a good seat even though I would be arriving after the start of hot laps and while on the phone Ed gave me a few of the big names that were already in the pits at the north central Illinois quarter-mile. With both national touring series off for the weekend there were representatives from each in attendance along with a few hotshoes from eastern Indiana and of course the strong regional talent that is in this area. Plus, with the tri-sanction of ALMS, MARS and the Corn Belt Clash the top drivers from each of those were on hand, so in the field of forty-three Late Models you knew that there was going to be some solid talent left on the sidelines come feature time.
Arizona Modified ace Ricky Thornton Jr. earned the pole position for the $5,000-to-win Late Model main event by winning the opening heat race while Jared Landers would start to his outside after a thrilling last lap pass of Bobby Pierce to win heat race two and they would lead the field of twenty-four to green for the fifty-lapper. As the field thundered down the back stretch for the first time the fifth and seventh starters Justin Asplin and Spencer Diercks made contact turning both cars sideways and the scramble was on. Asplin spun up the track and everybody missed him, but Diercks was sideways in the middle and he collected three top contenders in Kevin Weaver, Jason Feger and Tim McCreadie. All four drivers were eliminated and on the second try at a start it was Landers who vaulted off the cushion of turn two to take the lead for the opening lap.
Brian Shirley and Frank Heckenast Jr. shuffled Thornton back to fourth and took up the chase of the leader as the eighth starting Shannon Babb was pounding the cushion on both ends to make his way to the front. As Babb was about to pass Thornton for fourth on lap nine his car bicycled in turn four and then one more bite of that cushion rolled the #18 over once to bring out the red flag for a second time.
On the restart Shirley kept pace with Landers and showed his patience until lap sixteen when he eased by Landers on the inside to take the lead. The defending champion of this event Bobby Pierce was running fifth at this point, but smoke started to billow from the tail of his car and as Shirley pulled away from the pack and it became obvious that the next yellow would be when the mechanical issue brought Pierce to a halt. That happened on lap thirty as Bobby coasted to a stop in turn two and a tell-tale pool of fluid was left behind as his car was towed away.
One lap after the restart the two drivers who raced to a photo finish at the Spring 50 in Florence, Kentucky, two weeks ago Cody Mahoney and Jason Jameson tangled entering turn one sending Mahoney for a spin and, while he retired to the pits, Jameson was sent to the rear for the restart.
When the green flag waved Shirley again pulled away from the field and built a half lap lead over the final nineteen circuits to score the convincing win over Landers, Heckenast and Thornton. However, Heckenast then failed to make weight at the scales dropping him to the back of the 24-car rundown. That would put Thornton officially in third for his first Late Model start in the Midwest with Ryan Unzicker in fourth after he started the race from the ninth row. Fellow ninth row starter Mitch McGrath would be paid for fifth while the rest of the top ten would be Rusty Schlenk, Jameson, Payton Looney, Tony Jackson Jr. and the final car on the track Jeff Roth.
Thaw Brawl Notes......I was amazed at how well the racing surface held up throughout the evening as the racing surface itself stayed smooth. Yes, the grader had to come out to knock down the cushion three different times during the evening, the result of the cold and rain the previous two days, but overall it was a very good track for the final weekend in March......As mentioned earlier there was plenty of talent left in the pits at feature time and that means that there was some very entertaining qualifying races as the field went through group qualifying and then ran four heats and two B-Mains. Rusty Schlenk drove around local favorite Scott Schmitt off of turn on the final lap to take the fourth and final transfer spot out of the first heat......The race of the night was the second heat as Bobby Pierce seemed to have things well in hand until Jared Landers raced him side-by-side over the final two laps. I was actually a bit surprised at the reaction of the crowd when Landers nipped Pierce at the line although it might have been more for the thrill of the finish rather than who took the win......That second heat was loaded with talent with two of the non-qualifers being Billy Moyer Jr. and Dennis Erb Jr......Brian Birkhofer's return to action was in heat three where he would start deep in the field after slipping high in turn four on his qualifying lap. Birky was picking things up quickly though and was closing in on Rich Bell for the fourth and final transfer spot on lap four when Bell went for a spin in turn four. Race officials penalized Birkhofer as well and both drivers were sent to the rear for the restart......So I am a big Hawkeye basketball fan and I love attending the games, but one of the things that disappoints me is when the fans overreact in a negative manner when one of the Hawks gets called for a foul. "Are you kidding me?? That wasn't a foul, he didn't even touch him!! What's wrong with you ref are you blind? You suck!" I love the Hawks, but I do know that they sometime commit a foul and when they get called for it I am sometimes embarrassed at how my fellow fans act about it. Sadly I know that this is not unique to the Hawkeyes as fan bias is a huge issue across all of college basketball and other sports as well......Anyway, back to the restart of third heat race, Birkhofer was again making his way forward when on lap seven he slid wide at the exit of turn four and when he made that save the right front of the car turned into the front stretch wall and he rode it all the way down to the entrance of turn one where his night would end on the back of a wrecker.....Frankie Heckenast would go on to win that heat ahead of Spencer Diercks and early MARS point leader Tony Jackson Jr......The fourth and final heat would have three of the best in Illinois up front in Brian Shirley, Shannon Babb and Jason Feger......Only two drivers would transfer out of each of the B-Mains with Mitch McGrath and Scott Schmitt coming out of the first one and Ryan Unzicker and Billy Drake from the second one. Tim McCreadie was challenging Drake early for second before he spun in turn one and the national star raced his way back up to fifth at the checkers. McCreadie did though make the feature field as a track provisional while the three series named Rich Bell, Jeff Roth and Chris Simpson as their provisionals.......Nineteen UMP Street Stocks waged an entertaining 20-lap feature where the leaders seemed to be jinxed as the first one spun in turn one and another one had a tire go flat with two laps remaining. A driver whom the announcer identified as Frye came from deep in the field to take the win......Thirty-six UMP Modifieds were also in action and while I would have loved to stay for their final race of the night the approaching eleven o'clock hour and the long drive home was calling my name. I see where defending UMP National Champion Mike Harrison scored the $1,500 win over Ray Bollinger, Brian Lynn, Steven Brooks and Jeff Leka.
The disappointment of the cancellation at Donnellson was more than erased by the entertaining show at LaSalle and I have now officially kicked off the 2016 season with my first Midwest event. That next one will have to wait for another eleven days or more due to other commitments, but hopefully you can get to the track for an early special event soon!
My first thought was to head south to the season opener at Kevin Gundaker's Tri-City Speedway as I figured that it would be warmer down there and the track did not get as much rain over the past couple of days as my other option did. Besides, I love the racing at Tri-City and they always draw a solid field of cars. But, it is a three and a half hour drive for me and that is without any Friday rush hour traffic in St. Louis, so would I even be there in time for the first heat race?
I hate missing even the first heat race!
My other option was to go to the race that I had originally planned on going to this weekend before the closer opportunity became more intriguing and, since the LaSalle Speedway was about fifty minutes closer than Tri-City, that was a big plus. Add in the fact that there would be a great field of Late Models and Modifieds, plus the storied return of Brian Birkhofer and the decision was made. I was now making the trip to the opening night of the Thaw Brawl.
My colleague Ed Reichert was planning to cover both nights at LaSalle so a quick call to him gave me the comfort of knowing that I would have a good seat even though I would be arriving after the start of hot laps and while on the phone Ed gave me a few of the big names that were already in the pits at the north central Illinois quarter-mile. With both national touring series off for the weekend there were representatives from each in attendance along with a few hotshoes from eastern Indiana and of course the strong regional talent that is in this area. Plus, with the tri-sanction of ALMS, MARS and the Corn Belt Clash the top drivers from each of those were on hand, so in the field of forty-three Late Models you knew that there was going to be some solid talent left on the sidelines come feature time.
Arizona Modified ace Ricky Thornton Jr. earned the pole position for the $5,000-to-win Late Model main event by winning the opening heat race while Jared Landers would start to his outside after a thrilling last lap pass of Bobby Pierce to win heat race two and they would lead the field of twenty-four to green for the fifty-lapper. As the field thundered down the back stretch for the first time the fifth and seventh starters Justin Asplin and Spencer Diercks made contact turning both cars sideways and the scramble was on. Asplin spun up the track and everybody missed him, but Diercks was sideways in the middle and he collected three top contenders in Kevin Weaver, Jason Feger and Tim McCreadie. All four drivers were eliminated and on the second try at a start it was Landers who vaulted off the cushion of turn two to take the lead for the opening lap.
Brian Shirley and Frank Heckenast Jr. shuffled Thornton back to fourth and took up the chase of the leader as the eighth starting Shannon Babb was pounding the cushion on both ends to make his way to the front. As Babb was about to pass Thornton for fourth on lap nine his car bicycled in turn four and then one more bite of that cushion rolled the #18 over once to bring out the red flag for a second time.
On the restart Shirley kept pace with Landers and showed his patience until lap sixteen when he eased by Landers on the inside to take the lead. The defending champion of this event Bobby Pierce was running fifth at this point, but smoke started to billow from the tail of his car and as Shirley pulled away from the pack and it became obvious that the next yellow would be when the mechanical issue brought Pierce to a halt. That happened on lap thirty as Bobby coasted to a stop in turn two and a tell-tale pool of fluid was left behind as his car was towed away.
One lap after the restart the two drivers who raced to a photo finish at the Spring 50 in Florence, Kentucky, two weeks ago Cody Mahoney and Jason Jameson tangled entering turn one sending Mahoney for a spin and, while he retired to the pits, Jameson was sent to the rear for the restart.
When the green flag waved Shirley again pulled away from the field and built a half lap lead over the final nineteen circuits to score the convincing win over Landers, Heckenast and Thornton. However, Heckenast then failed to make weight at the scales dropping him to the back of the 24-car rundown. That would put Thornton officially in third for his first Late Model start in the Midwest with Ryan Unzicker in fourth after he started the race from the ninth row. Fellow ninth row starter Mitch McGrath would be paid for fifth while the rest of the top ten would be Rusty Schlenk, Jameson, Payton Looney, Tony Jackson Jr. and the final car on the track Jeff Roth.
Thaw Brawl Notes......I was amazed at how well the racing surface held up throughout the evening as the racing surface itself stayed smooth. Yes, the grader had to come out to knock down the cushion three different times during the evening, the result of the cold and rain the previous two days, but overall it was a very good track for the final weekend in March......As mentioned earlier there was plenty of talent left in the pits at feature time and that means that there was some very entertaining qualifying races as the field went through group qualifying and then ran four heats and two B-Mains. Rusty Schlenk drove around local favorite Scott Schmitt off of turn on the final lap to take the fourth and final transfer spot out of the first heat......The race of the night was the second heat as Bobby Pierce seemed to have things well in hand until Jared Landers raced him side-by-side over the final two laps. I was actually a bit surprised at the reaction of the crowd when Landers nipped Pierce at the line although it might have been more for the thrill of the finish rather than who took the win......That second heat was loaded with talent with two of the non-qualifers being Billy Moyer Jr. and Dennis Erb Jr......Brian Birkhofer's return to action was in heat three where he would start deep in the field after slipping high in turn four on his qualifying lap. Birky was picking things up quickly though and was closing in on Rich Bell for the fourth and final transfer spot on lap four when Bell went for a spin in turn four. Race officials penalized Birkhofer as well and both drivers were sent to the rear for the restart......So I am a big Hawkeye basketball fan and I love attending the games, but one of the things that disappoints me is when the fans overreact in a negative manner when one of the Hawks gets called for a foul. "Are you kidding me?? That wasn't a foul, he didn't even touch him!! What's wrong with you ref are you blind? You suck!" I love the Hawks, but I do know that they sometime commit a foul and when they get called for it I am sometimes embarrassed at how my fellow fans act about it. Sadly I know that this is not unique to the Hawkeyes as fan bias is a huge issue across all of college basketball and other sports as well......Anyway, back to the restart of third heat race, Birkhofer was again making his way forward when on lap seven he slid wide at the exit of turn four and when he made that save the right front of the car turned into the front stretch wall and he rode it all the way down to the entrance of turn one where his night would end on the back of a wrecker.....Frankie Heckenast would go on to win that heat ahead of Spencer Diercks and early MARS point leader Tony Jackson Jr......The fourth and final heat would have three of the best in Illinois up front in Brian Shirley, Shannon Babb and Jason Feger......Only two drivers would transfer out of each of the B-Mains with Mitch McGrath and Scott Schmitt coming out of the first one and Ryan Unzicker and Billy Drake from the second one. Tim McCreadie was challenging Drake early for second before he spun in turn one and the national star raced his way back up to fifth at the checkers. McCreadie did though make the feature field as a track provisional while the three series named Rich Bell, Jeff Roth and Chris Simpson as their provisionals.......Nineteen UMP Street Stocks waged an entertaining 20-lap feature where the leaders seemed to be jinxed as the first one spun in turn one and another one had a tire go flat with two laps remaining. A driver whom the announcer identified as Frye came from deep in the field to take the win......Thirty-six UMP Modifieds were also in action and while I would have loved to stay for their final race of the night the approaching eleven o'clock hour and the long drive home was calling my name. I see where defending UMP National Champion Mike Harrison scored the $1,500 win over Ray Bollinger, Brian Lynn, Steven Brooks and Jeff Leka.
The disappointment of the cancellation at Donnellson was more than erased by the entertaining show at LaSalle and I have now officially kicked off the 2016 season with my first Midwest event. That next one will have to wait for another eleven days or more due to other commitments, but hopefully you can get to the track for an early special event soon!
Monday, March 21, 2016
Monday Notebook: March 21, 2016
I was all set to gather together my cold weather gear and pack the car for my trip to Winston, Missouri, on Sunday morning when I received a text from the USMTS saying that due to snow on the ground and forecasted cold temperatures the race at I-35 Speedway had been cancelled. Yes, I let a couple of f-bombs fly and stomped around for a bit before deciding to go on a walk not only for exercise, but to calm myself down. My route started off to the south before turning west where I was protected by several houses, but as soon as I turned into that north wind I was convinced. Good call, race officials, good call!
I know that I shouldn't be like a little kid when the races are cancelled, but hey I guess it still shows the passion that I have for the sport, especially when I am trying to get to that first race of the season for me here in the Midwest. When the day comes that I am not disappointed you can bet that I am dead and gone. Even with that disappointment I know that the race promoter has to always do what is best for them because as I have noted before, without a successful race promoter we have no races and in this case I was happy that they waited until the morning of the event to call it based upon the actual weather rather than going off of a forecast. Why am I saying that? Well, primarily because weather forecasts two or three days in advance are more likely to change rather than stay the same, and also to encourage all promoters who have races scheduled for this coming weekend to be patient and not pull the plug too early since there is, as of Monday, a potential snowstorm being discussed for Wednesday night into Thursday in the upper Midwest. This will be my last chance to go racing until April 6th so let's just wait to see what actually happens first as cancelling a Friday show on Thursday is still more than enough lead time. I'm a selfish little kid, aren't I?
What made yesterday's cancellation even worse was that it allowed me to watch the Iowa game and then later the Northern Iowa meltdown. Ugggh......read this story on the Hawkeyes by the Cedar Rapids Gazette's Mike Hlas and don't you wish that we can all be like the 12-year-old reporter for Sports Illustrated for Kids and see the broader picture rather than the current disappointment? Thank you to the Hawkeyes and the Panthers for giving us a season full of thrills and to all those seniors on both teams thank you for your stellar careers!
Now let's go Cyclones!
What a great tournament so far! The Notre Dame tip in was a great play by a seldom used player, but I was disappointed to have Stephen F. Austin lose and have Thomas Walkup and his beard go to the sidelines. And I wished that I had switched the channel to see Bronson Koenig's game winner for Wisconsin rather than UNI's final 44 seconds of regulation.
I will gladly give up watching all of it this Friday and Saturday though to go racing! Mother Nature, do you hear me?
There were a few tracks in the area did get their shows in this weekend. The Cecil Harlan Memorial Kegger at the Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma, ran on Saturday and Sunday with Iowans Jeff James of Stanton scoring the win in the IMCA Modifieds while his teammate Todd Van Eaton finished fifth.
The USMTS raced on Saturday night in Humboldt, Kansas, with Jason Hughes taking the win over Ryan Gustin and Zack VanderBeek. Hunter Marriott finished in the fourth spot and there was an (R) after his name in the results, so does that mean that this rising star in the IMCA ranks will now be running more USMTS events? Iowa's Daniel Hilsabeck was fifth and Todd Shute was sixth. In the companion USRA Iron Man Series openers Decorah's Kyle Falck scored the Stock Car win ahead of Polk City's Steve Jackson while Wheatland, Missouri's Mike Striegel was the B-Mod winner as four-time defending All Missouri points champion J.C. Morton finished fifth.
Daugherty Speedway in northwest Indiana opened its season on a cool Saturday with Steven Brooks topping a solid field of 24 UMP Modifieds while Gerald Gault was the Pro (Crate) Late Model winner. They will run again this coming Saturday and may be one of my options should either Donnellson or LaSalle fall by the wayside due to the weather.
The Spring Extravaganza at the Lee County Speedway was already an attractive show with the five IMCA divisions, but when you add in the Crate Late Models for $1,000-to-win each night it is just too good of a show, and too close to home to pass up. The dirt Late Model world though will be focused on the Thaw Brawl at the LaSalle Speedway where not only is there a bunch of money up for grabs for what should be a stellar field of drivers, but it will be the return of Brian Birkhofer driving one of Justin Kay's Gheer'd Up rides. My suggestion to you would be to arrive early because the place is likely to be filled to the brim with excited Late Model fans. All of my other options for the weekend are pretty far away and since Easter dinner is at my mother's house at noon on Sunday, they are probably all beyond reason, so come on weatherman, let's straighten up!
The Gateway Dirt Nationals made some news last week when it was mentioned that 80 Late Models and 150 Modifieds had already pre-registered. The announcement then came down that they would cap the entries at 250 Modifieds and 150 Late Models with Thursday now being used as a qualifying day, rather than the previously announced practice that will whittle each class down to 100 cars for Friday and Saturday racing. I am seeing people saying that they have already bought their tickets and while it would appear from this seating chart that they might only be using the colored sections for the event, if there is no room for me to buy a Friday night ticket at the door in a dome that has seats for more than 60,000 people then I will go with the next best option and purchase the PPV from Dirt On Dirt. Would love to see that list of drivers that have already paid their non-refundable, non-transferable entry fees for this December event.
On the pavement this past weekend Wisconsin's Ty Majeski scored the win in the Rattler 250 at the South Alabama Speedway. Open wheel ace and current NASCAR Truck Series RoY candidate Christopher Bell finished second.
Jonathan Davenport added to his lead in the Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model points with his Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series victory at Atomic Speedway in Ohio Friday night.
I know that I shouldn't be like a little kid when the races are cancelled, but hey I guess it still shows the passion that I have for the sport, especially when I am trying to get to that first race of the season for me here in the Midwest. When the day comes that I am not disappointed you can bet that I am dead and gone. Even with that disappointment I know that the race promoter has to always do what is best for them because as I have noted before, without a successful race promoter we have no races and in this case I was happy that they waited until the morning of the event to call it based upon the actual weather rather than going off of a forecast. Why am I saying that? Well, primarily because weather forecasts two or three days in advance are more likely to change rather than stay the same, and also to encourage all promoters who have races scheduled for this coming weekend to be patient and not pull the plug too early since there is, as of Monday, a potential snowstorm being discussed for Wednesday night into Thursday in the upper Midwest. This will be my last chance to go racing until April 6th so let's just wait to see what actually happens first as cancelling a Friday show on Thursday is still more than enough lead time. I'm a selfish little kid, aren't I?
What made yesterday's cancellation even worse was that it allowed me to watch the Iowa game and then later the Northern Iowa meltdown. Ugggh......read this story on the Hawkeyes by the Cedar Rapids Gazette's Mike Hlas and don't you wish that we can all be like the 12-year-old reporter for Sports Illustrated for Kids and see the broader picture rather than the current disappointment? Thank you to the Hawkeyes and the Panthers for giving us a season full of thrills and to all those seniors on both teams thank you for your stellar careers!
Now let's go Cyclones!
What a great tournament so far! The Notre Dame tip in was a great play by a seldom used player, but I was disappointed to have Stephen F. Austin lose and have Thomas Walkup and his beard go to the sidelines. And I wished that I had switched the channel to see Bronson Koenig's game winner for Wisconsin rather than UNI's final 44 seconds of regulation.
I will gladly give up watching all of it this Friday and Saturday though to go racing! Mother Nature, do you hear me?
There were a few tracks in the area did get their shows in this weekend. The Cecil Harlan Memorial Kegger at the Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma, ran on Saturday and Sunday with Iowans Jeff James of Stanton scoring the win in the IMCA Modifieds while his teammate Todd Van Eaton finished fifth.
The USMTS raced on Saturday night in Humboldt, Kansas, with Jason Hughes taking the win over Ryan Gustin and Zack VanderBeek. Hunter Marriott finished in the fourth spot and there was an (R) after his name in the results, so does that mean that this rising star in the IMCA ranks will now be running more USMTS events? Iowa's Daniel Hilsabeck was fifth and Todd Shute was sixth. In the companion USRA Iron Man Series openers Decorah's Kyle Falck scored the Stock Car win ahead of Polk City's Steve Jackson while Wheatland, Missouri's Mike Striegel was the B-Mod winner as four-time defending All Missouri points champion J.C. Morton finished fifth.
Daugherty Speedway in northwest Indiana opened its season on a cool Saturday with Steven Brooks topping a solid field of 24 UMP Modifieds while Gerald Gault was the Pro (Crate) Late Model winner. They will run again this coming Saturday and may be one of my options should either Donnellson or LaSalle fall by the wayside due to the weather.
The Spring Extravaganza at the Lee County Speedway was already an attractive show with the five IMCA divisions, but when you add in the Crate Late Models for $1,000-to-win each night it is just too good of a show, and too close to home to pass up. The dirt Late Model world though will be focused on the Thaw Brawl at the LaSalle Speedway where not only is there a bunch of money up for grabs for what should be a stellar field of drivers, but it will be the return of Brian Birkhofer driving one of Justin Kay's Gheer'd Up rides. My suggestion to you would be to arrive early because the place is likely to be filled to the brim with excited Late Model fans. All of my other options for the weekend are pretty far away and since Easter dinner is at my mother's house at noon on Sunday, they are probably all beyond reason, so come on weatherman, let's straighten up!
The Gateway Dirt Nationals made some news last week when it was mentioned that 80 Late Models and 150 Modifieds had already pre-registered. The announcement then came down that they would cap the entries at 250 Modifieds and 150 Late Models with Thursday now being used as a qualifying day, rather than the previously announced practice that will whittle each class down to 100 cars for Friday and Saturday racing. I am seeing people saying that they have already bought their tickets and while it would appear from this seating chart that they might only be using the colored sections for the event, if there is no room for me to buy a Friday night ticket at the door in a dome that has seats for more than 60,000 people then I will go with the next best option and purchase the PPV from Dirt On Dirt. Would love to see that list of drivers that have already paid their non-refundable, non-transferable entry fees for this December event.
On the pavement this past weekend Wisconsin's Ty Majeski scored the win in the Rattler 250 at the South Alabama Speedway. Open wheel ace and current NASCAR Truck Series RoY candidate Christopher Bell finished second.
Jonathan Davenport added to his lead in the Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model points with his Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series victory at Atomic Speedway in Ohio Friday night.
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