Ian Madsen was unstoppable, while Clint Garner and Kade Higday both had to chase down another driver to win on Slideways Karting Center night at the Knoxville Raceway, a night that was punctuated by a pair of scary crashes. Thankfully in both, no drivers were injured.
The first of those came during the running of the B-Main for the 360's as Alex Hill and Alan Zoutte battled for position near the front of the field. Hill, the young lady from British Columbia, passed Zoutte on the inside racing down the front stretch and then drove up in front of him entering turn one. When doing so her car jerked sideways and Zuotte, with absolutely no time to react, t-boned her at full speed, When Hill's car started to roll side-to-side this vaulted Zoutte's car high into the air, so high that he cleared the tall guardrail and crashed through the Slideways billboard ending up outside of the race track. Now if you have never been to Knoxville before, the apex of turns one and two is no more than ten yards from Highway 14 so not only was there concern for the safety of the two drivers involved, but a quick prayer went out that nobody had been walking along the sidewalk and, that if the car had reached the road, that nobody else had been in harms way.
One of track's fantastic safety crew scaled the rail fence that has to be at least fifteen feet tall to get to Alan as quickly as he could and it was soon announced that the drivers were okay and that nobody else outside the track had been effected. I have seen three cars flip over the fence in turn three over the years, but this is the first one that I have seen leave the park in one and two and it definitely makes your stomach drop each time. In all instances though the driver has amazingly escaped injury although for the low budget hometown racer Zoutte, it will be awhile before he can rebuild and get back to racing.
The second wild crash occurred early in the 305 main event as three cars got upside down in turn four. Matt Stephenson and Corey Kautz both went for a tumble, but Joe Simbro had the scariest ride when he jumped a wheel and sailed virtually head on into the guardrail. Simbro too had some serious air time and came close to clearing the fence, but when it was all over the drivers were able to walk away from the mangled mess of Sprint carnage.
In that fifteen lap 305 feature Mike Mayberry would lead the first two laps before he slid sideways in turn four. He was able to recover after jumping the inside berm, but gave up eight positions before doing so as Brad Comegys assumed the lead just before the caution waved on lap four when Brandon Whittington spun in turn four. The red flag slowed the action soon after that and once back to racing Comegys did his best to hold the top spot. Eric Bridger had come from the fourth row to second and looked like he would be the man to challenge, but Kade Higday was able to pass Bridger on a restart then, with four laps to go, he drove around the outside of Comegys to take the lead. It was all over from there as the quick qualifier on the evening drove away for his first win in 2017. Comegys was strong in second Ryan Leavitt fought his way back to third, Bridger was fourth and Matthew Stelzer was fifth.
Sawyer Phillips and Matt Moro started from the front row in the 18-lap feature for the 360's and they had a spirited battle going early as Phillips was elbows up holding off Moro. Just after Moro was able to complete the pass the caution waved for John Anderson's spin in turn four and on the restart Phillips' bid to retake the lead was stopped at lap six when Anderson spun again at the same place on the track. On this restart Clint Garner flexed his muscles and drove around Moro for a lead that he would not relinquish on his way to victory. Cap Henry doing double-duty in the Buffalo Wild Wings ride stayed close, but never mounted a challenge in second, Moro came home third with Phillips in fourth and Ryan Giles completed the top five.
The first three rows of the 410 finale were stacked with two Madsens, two McCarls a Tatnell and a Brown and it would be Ian Madsen going from the pole to a quick lead at the drop of the green. Tim Kaeding's spin on lap two brought the field back to Ian and while Brooke Tatnell chased the leader, the racing for position just behind him was intense. So much so that when Tasker Phillips spun with four laps remaining there were some drivers pulling alongside each other under caution to communicate their thoughts on some of the action.
On the restart it was no surprise that Ian was able to drive away once again to score the flag-to-flag win over Tatnell. Current point leader Brian Brown slipped by Kerry Madsen late to finish third while Austin McCarl finished fifth, one position ahead of his father Terry who will be inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame here next Saturday night when the USAC Sprint Cars will be the headliner,
Tonight (Sunday) the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be at 34 Raceway west of Burlington and due to post-race travel I will not have a report here on the Back Stretch. I encourage you to check in on Bill Wright's OpenWheel101 for that race story as well as all of the other news from the world of open wheel racing.
Have a safe and pleasant Memorial Day while keeping in mind the real meaning of the holiday.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Saturday, May 27, 2017
T-Mac Sweeps Invaders at Lee County
Just eight days prior to his induction into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, Terry McCarl again proved why he will join that elite class with both his helmet on, and his helmet off at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday night. Not only did he use a late race pass to complete a clean sweep for the evening, but in both of his victory lane interviews after the Dash and feature wins he showed his appreciation to the fans who make the sport of Sprint Car racing possible.
Another stout field of twenty-seven Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders signed in on what turned out to be a beautiful evening for racing after skies had threatened earlier in the day. Qualifying events set the field of twenty for the twenty-five lap main event with Jamie Ball getting the jump on pole-sitter Nate Van Haaften to take the lead. Chris Martin would settle in to second while McCarl, who had started sixth, quickly moved to third.
The only caution of the race would be needed on lap eight when Donnie Steward apparently clipped an infield tire and spun in turn two with a broken front end. On the restart the lead trio of Ball, Martin and McCarl again left the field in their wake and when lapped traffic started to mix in things got very interesting. After warding off a big slider from McCarl in turn two, Martin found some new speed and reeled in the leader passing Ball going down the back stretch on lap seventeen. However, when the defending series champion jumped the cushion entering turn three, Ball would drive right back by Martin to retain his lead in the score book.
Martin's bobble would also allow McCarl to drive by him a lap later into second and he was soon right on the rear push bar of the leader with just five laps to go. Ball was strong though and would ward off the challenge for the next two laps, but when he slipped a bit too high exiting turn four with three to go the soon to be Hall of Famer took advantage and would lead the closing laps to take the win. In victory lane McCarl was quick to thank promoter Mike Van Genderen for a perfectly prepared race track and, just as he had done earlier in the night when he also ran into the stands to present his Dash winner's trophy to a young fan, McCarl thanked the fans for coming out to the track. Ball would hold off Chris Martin for second, Randy Martin survived a first lap skirmish with his son Evan to finish in fourth while two-time Sprint Invader champion Jon Agan filled out the top five.
For a full race story and results visit OpenWheel101.
Those threatening skies earlier in the day did more than just threaten in Columbus Junction, Davenport and Farley so there were extra cars in four out of five of Lee County's weekly divisions and with the Vintage Sprint Cars on hand as well the pit area swelled with 128 cars.
Twenty-one IMCA Modifieds would take the green for twenty laps with Michael Long coming from the inside of row three to nip Steve Stewart at the line on the opening lap. A caution for a three car tangle in turn one would then put Long in front for the restart and Hunter Marriott who had started eighth would take up the chase. Long was strong and while Marriott would try just about every line he could think of he could not get closer than five car lengths from the leader as Long cruised to victory. Marriott was second, Colby Springsteen took third, Brandon Banks came from tenth to fourth and Jarrett Brown finished fifth after starting in the seventh row.
The IMCA Stock Cars had another classic with this one featuring John Oliver Jr. and Jason Cook doing battle up front after they were able to work around early leader Jim Redman. Cook would take the lead on lap seven with Oliver in tow and those two would then race side-by-side for the lead for the next seven laps before Oliver edged ahead with three laps to go. Cook would stay close over those final laps and would make one last bid coming to the checkers as Oliver won by just less than a car length at the line. Shane Paris finished in the third position, Jeremy Pundt was fourth and Redman completed the top five.
Tommy Elston dominated the UMP Pro Late Model feature after drawing the pole position. The race to watch was for second as Jeff Guengerich fought off Sam Halstead while Denny Woodworth and Todd Frank were next in line. Popular driver Matt Strassheim returned to racing in a second car owned by Lynn and Karen Richard and he finished sixth in his Crate Late Model debut.
Oliver made it a two win night as he went flag-to-flag to win the Sport Mod feature. Up until tonight the Cossel racing #15 had been fighting gremlins all season so with the average point invert Oliver started from the outside of row one. Tony Dunker raced his way into second after starting ninth with Brandon Lennox running third. Logan Anderson finished fourth, Jim Gillenwater returned from his hard crash at the Farley Super Modified weekend with a fifth-place finish while Jake Morris made the long trip down from McCausland to run sixth.
The Sport Compacts were the first feature of the night and when Daniel Fellows quickly moved to the lead from his third starting spot it looked like this one would be a race for second. Brandon Lambert had other ideas though as he tracked down Fellows and passed him for the win, Mike Reu finished in third after a spirited battle with his son Brandon while Kimberly Abbott filled out the top five.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will close out a three race week tomorrow night (Sunday) at 34 Raceway in Burlington.
The Lee County Speedway will host the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models next Friday night, the second of a three night swing after the regional Late Model series runs on Thursday night June 1st at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis.
Another stout field of twenty-seven Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders signed in on what turned out to be a beautiful evening for racing after skies had threatened earlier in the day. Qualifying events set the field of twenty for the twenty-five lap main event with Jamie Ball getting the jump on pole-sitter Nate Van Haaften to take the lead. Chris Martin would settle in to second while McCarl, who had started sixth, quickly moved to third.
The only caution of the race would be needed on lap eight when Donnie Steward apparently clipped an infield tire and spun in turn two with a broken front end. On the restart the lead trio of Ball, Martin and McCarl again left the field in their wake and when lapped traffic started to mix in things got very interesting. After warding off a big slider from McCarl in turn two, Martin found some new speed and reeled in the leader passing Ball going down the back stretch on lap seventeen. However, when the defending series champion jumped the cushion entering turn three, Ball would drive right back by Martin to retain his lead in the score book.
Martin's bobble would also allow McCarl to drive by him a lap later into second and he was soon right on the rear push bar of the leader with just five laps to go. Ball was strong though and would ward off the challenge for the next two laps, but when he slipped a bit too high exiting turn four with three to go the soon to be Hall of Famer took advantage and would lead the closing laps to take the win. In victory lane McCarl was quick to thank promoter Mike Van Genderen for a perfectly prepared race track and, just as he had done earlier in the night when he also ran into the stands to present his Dash winner's trophy to a young fan, McCarl thanked the fans for coming out to the track. Ball would hold off Chris Martin for second, Randy Martin survived a first lap skirmish with his son Evan to finish in fourth while two-time Sprint Invader champion Jon Agan filled out the top five.
For a full race story and results visit OpenWheel101.
Those threatening skies earlier in the day did more than just threaten in Columbus Junction, Davenport and Farley so there were extra cars in four out of five of Lee County's weekly divisions and with the Vintage Sprint Cars on hand as well the pit area swelled with 128 cars.
Twenty-one IMCA Modifieds would take the green for twenty laps with Michael Long coming from the inside of row three to nip Steve Stewart at the line on the opening lap. A caution for a three car tangle in turn one would then put Long in front for the restart and Hunter Marriott who had started eighth would take up the chase. Long was strong and while Marriott would try just about every line he could think of he could not get closer than five car lengths from the leader as Long cruised to victory. Marriott was second, Colby Springsteen took third, Brandon Banks came from tenth to fourth and Jarrett Brown finished fifth after starting in the seventh row.
The IMCA Stock Cars had another classic with this one featuring John Oliver Jr. and Jason Cook doing battle up front after they were able to work around early leader Jim Redman. Cook would take the lead on lap seven with Oliver in tow and those two would then race side-by-side for the lead for the next seven laps before Oliver edged ahead with three laps to go. Cook would stay close over those final laps and would make one last bid coming to the checkers as Oliver won by just less than a car length at the line. Shane Paris finished in the third position, Jeremy Pundt was fourth and Redman completed the top five.
Tommy Elston dominated the UMP Pro Late Model feature after drawing the pole position. The race to watch was for second as Jeff Guengerich fought off Sam Halstead while Denny Woodworth and Todd Frank were next in line. Popular driver Matt Strassheim returned to racing in a second car owned by Lynn and Karen Richard and he finished sixth in his Crate Late Model debut.
Oliver made it a two win night as he went flag-to-flag to win the Sport Mod feature. Up until tonight the Cossel racing #15 had been fighting gremlins all season so with the average point invert Oliver started from the outside of row one. Tony Dunker raced his way into second after starting ninth with Brandon Lennox running third. Logan Anderson finished fourth, Jim Gillenwater returned from his hard crash at the Farley Super Modified weekend with a fifth-place finish while Jake Morris made the long trip down from McCausland to run sixth.
The Sport Compacts were the first feature of the night and when Daniel Fellows quickly moved to the lead from his third starting spot it looked like this one would be a race for second. Brandon Lambert had other ideas though as he tracked down Fellows and passed him for the win, Mike Reu finished in third after a spirited battle with his son Brandon while Kimberly Abbott filled out the top five.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will close out a three race week tomorrow night (Sunday) at 34 Raceway in Burlington.
The Lee County Speedway will host the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models next Friday night, the second of a three night swing after the regional Late Model series runs on Thursday night June 1st at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
May Sprint Week On The Back Stretch
You would think that with all of the rain outs lately I would have had time to write something here, but with several busy days at work and frankly not much in racing that caught my interest (too many rain outs) I haven't found the time or the need. After this, you might even say "well, he found some time, but did he "need" to?"
Amazing the effect on the internet forum boards that just the mention of the town of Belle Plaine has made.
Usually my Sprint Car fix is delivered over a three week period in August with both the 360 and 410 Nationals at Knoxville followed up by the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Nationals weekend, and while that little slice of heaven still lies ahead on the schedule I am getting a bit of an appetizer this week with four winged sprint shows in five nights starting with last night's "Mega Wednesday" program at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.
The Sprint Invaders were originally scheduled to run there on May 10, but when severe weather wiped that out the show was moved to the 17th where it was again knocked out by violent weather in the region. The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Truck Series was already scheduled to join the weekly five division program on the 24th, but promoter Mike Van Genderen rolled the dice and added the Invaders as well making it a seven class show on a Wednesday night. After a weekend where nearly every track in the region was washed out, the second time that had happened over a four week run, drivers were obviously anxious to get back to racing and that resulted 113 race vehicles (cars, trucks and those funny looking things with the sail panels on top) signing in including a couple that were an absolute surprise.
Van Genderen takes pride in running a fast show with the next heat race taking the green before the poor old announcer can catch his breath after asking for a round of applause for the winner of the previous heat (believe me, I know!), but the Sprints can present a challenge in keeping up that pace. Still, the final checkers waved right around 11:30 and the good sized crowd on hand, whether they left after their favorite class was completed or stayed until the end went out with a smile on their face having seen some great racing on a track that the drivers could use from bottom to top.
While the Sprint Cars were the headliners, it is seldom that any division upstages the Stock Cars at Osky and that was the case again on this night as the lead pack often consisted of five or more cars racing two and three-wide with lead changes among four different drivers. Nathan Wood had mechanical issues on the final lap of his heat race dropping him to the rear in the feature line up, but it was obvious that they had squashed the gremlins as he picked his way through the field to take the lead late in the race. Another driver who had started back in the pack, Cayden Carter moved to second in the closing laps and as the white flag waved Wood's car showed a wisp of smoke entering turn one. Carter saw his chance and tried the leader on the high side through turns three and four giving the fans a drag race to the checkers that was won by Carter.
The old announcer (me) screwed up and actually said that Terry McCarl would soon be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame knowing full well that the Sprint Car Hall is his true destination, proof of why I don't do this on a weekly basis anymore! T-Mac and his son Carson would start from the front row in the 25-lap Sprint Invader main event that would run non-stop on the wide and fast surface. Ian Madsen would track down the McCarl family and pass them in traffic to take the win and for the details and results of that race take a click on my colleague Bill Wright's site OpenWheel101.
Keith Schmitt towed his IMCA Sport Mod all the way in from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, but he was like the rest of the field chasing Curtis Van Der Wal who had a full straightaway on runner-up Carter VanDenberg who himself had a full straightaway on the third-place finisher.
Daniel Fellows picked up his third Sport Compact win at Oskaloosa in this his rookie season in a race car after having raced dirt bikes in the past and Shannon Anderson remained perfect here in Hobby Stock action, although he had to work for this one as drivers raced two and three wide in front of him for the first half of the race.
Steve Jackson had to battle back after Brad Moyer passed him early to take his second Dirt Truck win here and Cayden Carter debuted his new VanderBuilt chassis in fine fashion to win the Modified main event as well. Nearly as impressive was young Derrick Stewart who who made a splash in his first trip to Oskaloosa by winning his heat from the back and then running second to Carter in the finale for the evening.
It was a pleasure to fill in for regular announcer Tony Paris who had a baseball game with his son Tyson, but that meant that the notebook stayed in the car for the night. For more details check out Dick and Joyce's 4dFan Report, Ed Reichert's One Fan's Travels and Brian Neal's Midwest Racing News. If their Osky reports aren't there now, they will be soon.
Spring Sprint Week continues Friday night with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Saturday I will get my first trip to Knoxville in for the season and on Sunday night it will be back with the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
Hope to see you there!
Amazing the effect on the internet forum boards that just the mention of the town of Belle Plaine has made.
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| Ian Madsen - Barry Johnson photo |
The Sprint Invaders were originally scheduled to run there on May 10, but when severe weather wiped that out the show was moved to the 17th where it was again knocked out by violent weather in the region. The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Truck Series was already scheduled to join the weekly five division program on the 24th, but promoter Mike Van Genderen rolled the dice and added the Invaders as well making it a seven class show on a Wednesday night. After a weekend where nearly every track in the region was washed out, the second time that had happened over a four week run, drivers were obviously anxious to get back to racing and that resulted 113 race vehicles (cars, trucks and those funny looking things with the sail panels on top) signing in including a couple that were an absolute surprise.
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| Cayden Carter creates an even lower groove - Barry Johnson photo |
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| Steve Jackson - Barry Johnson photo |
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| Curtis Van Der Wal - Barry Johnson photo |
Keith Schmitt towed his IMCA Sport Mod all the way in from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, but he was like the rest of the field chasing Curtis Van Der Wal who had a full straightaway on runner-up Carter VanDenberg who himself had a full straightaway on the third-place finisher.
Daniel Fellows picked up his third Sport Compact win at Oskaloosa in this his rookie season in a race car after having raced dirt bikes in the past and Shannon Anderson remained perfect here in Hobby Stock action, although he had to work for this one as drivers raced two and three wide in front of him for the first half of the race.
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| Daniel Fellows doesn't know what to think of the old announcer |
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| My long-time friend Mike Leffler joins Shannon Anderson |
Spring Sprint Week continues Friday night with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Saturday I will get my first trip to Knoxville in for the season and on Sunday night it will be back with the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
Hope to see you there!
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| Photographer Barry Johnson dubbed Carter's new ride "The Batmobile" |
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Sport Compacts Deliver A Three-Wide Finish At CJ
The Sport Compact division rarely gets lead billing, and on this warm and windy Tuesday evening where the track conditions were not conducive to good racing in the other two divisions the four cylinders delivered with a thrilling race that went right down to the wire. This was the first of four Tuesday night specials that the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction will hold in 2017 as a compliment to their weekly Friday night races.
Twenty-three Sport Compacts were on hand racing for a healthy $500-to-win with a solid payback throughout the field and many of the best in the area were in attendance. Dan Campbell would emerge as the leader on the opening lap of fifteen before Darin Smith slipped under him on lap two. Kimberly Abbott then moved into second and would shadow Smith until the red flag waved on lap six. Brady Wilkerson and Alyssa Steele had collided in turn one and track officials wanted to check on the drivers after a hard hit. Both were okay, although there was apparently a discussion in the pits later in the evening.
On the Delaware double-file restart Smith moved to the bottom to block the run from Abbott leaving the outside open for Daniel Fellows who pulled even with the leader in turn one and then nosed ahead at the exit of turn two. Smith kept digging though and he would stay to the inside of Fellows entering turn three to retain the lead as lap seven was scored, and in the scramble it would be Jake Benischek who would move to second. Abbott was able to get back by Benischek for second on lap eight only to have Jake return the favor on lap nine as Smith tried to slip away.
Once he settled into second Benischek quickly closed back in on Smith with Abbott close behind in a three car breakaway from the rest of the field and as the laps clicked away they ran single file bumper to bumper waiting for Smith to make a mistake. That was not going to happen though so as the white flag waved Benischek made his move muscling to the inside of Smith going into turn one. The power move worked and Benischek was the new leader going down the back stretch, but Smith was not about to give in and when Jake left the door open just enough in turn four Darin applied his own aggressive move to get underneath and the two drivers now had a drag race to the checkers ahead of them. Abbott was right there as well hoping for contact between the two in front of her and as they crossed the stripe it was Smith the winner by half a car length over Benischek in second and just a car length over Abbott in third. Austen Becerra and Craig Bangert who both started in the fifth row completed the top five. It should also be noted that Benischek and mid-race contender Fellows had come from the sixth row.
Stock Cars and Sport Mods were also on the card tonight with their features serving as book ends to the Sport Compact thriller.
Mike Hughes would lead the first four laps of the sixteen-lap Stock Car main before Jeff Murphy spun in turn three. On the restart, as Hughes hugged the bottom, Dustin Griffiths tried the next line higher and found the bite in turn two to take the lead down the back stretch. It was follow the leader from there as Griffiths, the 2014 All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion earned his first feature win in the Stock Cars in this his rookie season in the division. Hughes would finish second, John Oliver Jr. was third, Nathan Wood took fourth ahead of Adam Bell.
The Sport Mod feature was on the speedway and ready to close out the evening when they were stopped on the front stretch as law enforcement officers were called to handle the before mentioned "discussion". Once they arrived racing resumed and on the opening lap Dalton Simonsen would come from third to take the lead. That effort was wiped out though when Jason Delzell, Ryan Walker and Brendon Schultheis all spun in turn three reverting the field to an original restart. On the second try pole-sitter Troy Philpott would stick his car on the bottom in turns one and two holding Simonsen at bay and leading the entire distance despite two more cautions for Schultheis spins. Philpott was the winner with Simonsen in second, Austen Becerra came from seventh up to third making the most of those two restarts as Carter VanDenberg and Aaron Osweiler filled out the top five.
It was my first time back at CJ in several years and this place definitely brings back memories of my youth watching the old Mississippi Valley Speedway Club drivers do battle on the big half-mile. With the big trees beyond turns one and two and all the way down the back chute behind the levee it is a beautiful setting and it was definitely noticeable just how much higher the levee is now. Drivers used to be able to use it as a big cushion exiting turn two, but not anymore!
The track is on an upswing right now with their weekly show as they recently dropped two divisions that never drew more than ten competitors and they took some, if not all of that purse money and added it into the four remaining weekly classes of Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts. The result has been a four division program that has averaged a total of 62 cars over the first four Friday nights this season. I can give them a pass on the track prep on this night as it was a difficult evening weather wise to have a good dirt track and I definitely have their next Tuesday night special that will feature the Sport Mods on my calendar for June 13th.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders event that was scheduled for tonight, May 17th, at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa has been postponed to next Wednesday May 24th due to the threat of severe weather in the area today and tonight. Hope to see you there next week!
Twenty-three Sport Compacts were on hand racing for a healthy $500-to-win with a solid payback throughout the field and many of the best in the area were in attendance. Dan Campbell would emerge as the leader on the opening lap of fifteen before Darin Smith slipped under him on lap two. Kimberly Abbott then moved into second and would shadow Smith until the red flag waved on lap six. Brady Wilkerson and Alyssa Steele had collided in turn one and track officials wanted to check on the drivers after a hard hit. Both were okay, although there was apparently a discussion in the pits later in the evening.
On the Delaware double-file restart Smith moved to the bottom to block the run from Abbott leaving the outside open for Daniel Fellows who pulled even with the leader in turn one and then nosed ahead at the exit of turn two. Smith kept digging though and he would stay to the inside of Fellows entering turn three to retain the lead as lap seven was scored, and in the scramble it would be Jake Benischek who would move to second. Abbott was able to get back by Benischek for second on lap eight only to have Jake return the favor on lap nine as Smith tried to slip away.
Once he settled into second Benischek quickly closed back in on Smith with Abbott close behind in a three car breakaway from the rest of the field and as the laps clicked away they ran single file bumper to bumper waiting for Smith to make a mistake. That was not going to happen though so as the white flag waved Benischek made his move muscling to the inside of Smith going into turn one. The power move worked and Benischek was the new leader going down the back stretch, but Smith was not about to give in and when Jake left the door open just enough in turn four Darin applied his own aggressive move to get underneath and the two drivers now had a drag race to the checkers ahead of them. Abbott was right there as well hoping for contact between the two in front of her and as they crossed the stripe it was Smith the winner by half a car length over Benischek in second and just a car length over Abbott in third. Austen Becerra and Craig Bangert who both started in the fifth row completed the top five. It should also be noted that Benischek and mid-race contender Fellows had come from the sixth row.
Stock Cars and Sport Mods were also on the card tonight with their features serving as book ends to the Sport Compact thriller.
Mike Hughes would lead the first four laps of the sixteen-lap Stock Car main before Jeff Murphy spun in turn three. On the restart, as Hughes hugged the bottom, Dustin Griffiths tried the next line higher and found the bite in turn two to take the lead down the back stretch. It was follow the leader from there as Griffiths, the 2014 All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion earned his first feature win in the Stock Cars in this his rookie season in the division. Hughes would finish second, John Oliver Jr. was third, Nathan Wood took fourth ahead of Adam Bell.
The Sport Mod feature was on the speedway and ready to close out the evening when they were stopped on the front stretch as law enforcement officers were called to handle the before mentioned "discussion". Once they arrived racing resumed and on the opening lap Dalton Simonsen would come from third to take the lead. That effort was wiped out though when Jason Delzell, Ryan Walker and Brendon Schultheis all spun in turn three reverting the field to an original restart. On the second try pole-sitter Troy Philpott would stick his car on the bottom in turns one and two holding Simonsen at bay and leading the entire distance despite two more cautions for Schultheis spins. Philpott was the winner with Simonsen in second, Austen Becerra came from seventh up to third making the most of those two restarts as Carter VanDenberg and Aaron Osweiler filled out the top five.
It was my first time back at CJ in several years and this place definitely brings back memories of my youth watching the old Mississippi Valley Speedway Club drivers do battle on the big half-mile. With the big trees beyond turns one and two and all the way down the back chute behind the levee it is a beautiful setting and it was definitely noticeable just how much higher the levee is now. Drivers used to be able to use it as a big cushion exiting turn two, but not anymore!
The track is on an upswing right now with their weekly show as they recently dropped two divisions that never drew more than ten competitors and they took some, if not all of that purse money and added it into the four remaining weekly classes of Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts. The result has been a four division program that has averaged a total of 62 cars over the first four Friday nights this season. I can give them a pass on the track prep on this night as it was a difficult evening weather wise to have a good dirt track and I definitely have their next Tuesday night special that will feature the Sport Mods on my calendar for June 13th.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders event that was scheduled for tonight, May 17th, at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa has been postponed to next Wednesday May 24th due to the threat of severe weather in the area today and tonight. Hope to see you there next week!
Monday, May 15, 2017
The Ironman Wards Off the Rookie at Quad City Speedway
Darrel DeFrance has been at each and every Summer Series event since the first one held in 1987 and even he will probably admit that for a few years recently he was going just to keep the streak alive. This year is different though as he showed from the opener in Burlington on April 1st that he has a car that is capable of running up front and on Sunday night at the Quad City Speedway in East Moline "The Ironman" stayed in front throughout the entire forty laps holding off a late charge from series rookie Jesse Sobbing to take a popular Deery Brothers Summer Series victory.
DeFrance and Sobbing would start from the front row for the Late Model main event and they would choose two distinct lines as soon as the green flag waved. DeFrance would hug the bottom, the short way around the quarter-mile bullring, while Sobbing would climb the banking and pound the cushion up top looking to launch off of the corners and down the straightaways. The short way around would have the advantage with DeFrance leading the way and, as those low groove running drivers continued to move the track markers further into the infield, that short way around got even shorter rendering the top side useless as Sobbing faded out of the top five.
The track at East Moline is essentially a bowl of dirt that is flat in the middle and then rises up some on the straights and even more on both ends. The track itself is marked out by white painted tires with four larger utility tires marking the entrance and the exit to each set of corners while there are two smaller tires in each set of turns that set the apex of the corners and the track is prepared (watered and packed) based upon these markings. The problem though is with the nose pieces of these Late Models as they are, a driver who is trying to run the lowest line possible will hit these smaller corner markers and move them around like the pucks on a table shuffleboard game so during the green flag segment from lap twelve to thirty-one the once quarter-mile distance was reduced significantly as drivers were now racing through the unprepared infield on both ends creating a dust bowl like you wouldn't believe.
The caution waved on lap thirty-one when Curt Martin tangled with the lapped car of Paul Conrad as they worked through the infield near what was once turn four and during the caution track officials moved the shuffleboard pucks, er track tires, back into their original positions for the restart. So now the situation was this. Having raced through the infield for the past several laps, the actual low groove of the racing surface now had a lot of dry dirt that had been thrown on top of the hard packed surface making that bottom groove quite slick, while the top line that was quite treacherous with a heavy cushion especially in one and two, was still relatively clean.
On the restart DeFrance and his primary challenger Jeremiah Hurst stayed with the low line while Sobbing and Rob Toland used the top to race their way up from outside of the top five. A caution with five laps to go when Luke Goedert spun in turn one and was clobbered by Joe Zrostlik slowed the high side assault, but now Sobbing was back to third and was more than pleased when Hurst chose the inside line for the Delaware style restart. Whether he knew it or not, the move of the night by DeFrance came when he mashed the throttle early in turn three for the restart as this did not allow Sobbing to get a good start and it then took him a lap before he drove around Hurst for second. It was obvious that the top was now better and Sobbing nearly pulled alongside the leader going down the back stretch on lap thirty-seven, but when the challenger bobbled a bit on the cushion with two to go Sobbing lost some ground coming to the white flag.
On the final lap though Sobbing nailed the cushion perfectly in one and two and then drove it deep into turn three to give himself a chance for victory, but the veteran driver did not flinch and the cushion was not as fast in three and four leaving Sobbing just a car-length short as DeFrance secured the win. Hurst was not far behind in third, Toland started tenth and finished fourth while Ray Guss Jr. drove the Brad Coin owned #28c from the ninth row up to fifth. Luke Merfeld finished sixth, current series point leader Jake Neal started twelfth and finished seventh, southwest Iowa driver Josh Most got an unexpected Late Model ride and finished eighth, more on that in a moment, while Chad Holladay and Matt Ryan both came from deep in the pack to complete the top ten.
After competing at Farley's big Modified event on Friday and Saturday Josh Most decided to drop in at East Moline before heading back to Red Oak and was pitted next to local driver Phil Anderson who is in his rookie season of driving an IMCA Late Model. When Anderson was called away for a work obligation Most was given the opportunity to drive Anderson #35 Late Model as well for the evening and, I guess you could say that he made the "most" of that opportunity by finishing second in his heat and eighth in the feature.
Most was also a part of the twenty car field of IMCA Modifieds that had a devil of a time getting their twenty lap feature underway as on the first try the fifth-starting Milo Veloz slid sideways in turn one collecting both Eric Barnes and Jason Pershy. Top contenders Veloz and Pershy were done for the night while Barnes would start at the rear after going pit side to make some repairs. Just before the second try at a start Craig Crawford had a right front tire go down so he had to give up his third starting position to duck into the pits and make the change. Track officials waited on Crawford and when he returned the green flag waved, but only briefly as Jacob Copley got sideways in turn one causing Chris Lawrence to spin and he was then hit hard by Crawford.
The third try at a start did see one lap scored with Brandon Durbin leading the way before Josh Most spun in turn one. One more lap was put in the books following the restart before Rob Toland made a rare mistake and spun the Doug Curless owned #99 in turn two causing Jeff Claussen and Brian Bushong to pile up behind him. The field was put in single file formation for the next restart and finally some consecutive green flag laps were run with Bryce Garnhart stalking Durbin for the lead. As they closed in on a lapped car that was working the bottom on lap eight, Durbin tried to squeeze to the bottom while Garnhart charged to the outside and that would allow Garnhart to take the lead just before John Ahlers and Crawford tangled in turn three.
Once back to green the remaining cars were able to complete the final twelve laps without incident as Garnhart cruised to victory ahead of Durbin and T.J. Patz. Toland was able to make his way back up to fourth while Matt Werner completed the top five.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature was the first of four to be run and it too started off on the wrong foot when Rick Schriner spun off of turn two on the opening lap collecting Dan Hahn. The field was reassembled and Casey Wages would lead the way for four laps before the second place car of Jared Coppejans spun exiting turn four. When back to racing Wages would protect the bottom as Andrew Burk, Rick Wages and Dustin Schram applied the pressure with Schram, who had started tenth moving up to second. On lap seven the leader pushed a bit exiting turn two and Schram worked his way underneath him to complete the pass of Wages exiting turn four.
Coppejans would spin again on lap eleven and Justin Veloz would loop his car on lap twelve and again in the same place on the ensuing restart. The race would then close out with a green-white-checkers with Schram the winner ahead of Rick Wages, Brandon Jewell, Casey Wages and Andrew Burk.
With two drivers needing to jump out of their Modifieds and into their Late Models, the Four Cylinder feature that is normally run last here on weekly shows was sent to the track before the Late Models with twenty-four cars taking the green for twelve laps. Josh Werkmeister would lead the way from the pole position for the first four laps before a fire under the hood of Dan Dillon's car stopped the race. On the restart Brett Marshall would takeover just before Ken Stogdell spun in turn four and one more caution would wave on lap ten when Thomas Adams stopped on the front stretch with a flat tire. Dustin Begyn would try to mount a challenge in the final two laps, but there would be no catching Marshall who came from the tenth starting spot to take the win. Begyn was followed by Rob Harding Jr., Josh Stanley and Josh Sample.
While it made for an interesting scenario in the closing laps of the Late Model feature I do hope that the Quad City Speedway can come up with a better way of keeping the cars on the race track that was prepared because, when it is done right, this place offers up two distinct racing lines that are typically very equal come feature time. And, at the very least, they need to soak the dirt on the infield in the corners to both discourage drivers from racing through there and to keep the dust storm from happening as my eyes are still burning on this Monday morning.
Plans for plenty of competition on a track for me in the week ahead as on Tuesday night the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction will host their first of four Tuesday night specials, this one featuring the Sport Compacts racing for $500-to-win with the Stock Cars and Sport Mods also in action. On Wednesday the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will try it again at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, an event that was postponed from last Wednesday due to rain and hopefully the forecast for this Wednesday brightens over the next two days. We will then make our annual trip to the Iowa high school state track meet on Friday and Saturday with the traditional stop at the Knoxville Raceway on the home. Whether it is at a dirt track or on the blue oval at Drake Stadium we will be enjoying the action on the Back Stretch.
DeFrance and Sobbing would start from the front row for the Late Model main event and they would choose two distinct lines as soon as the green flag waved. DeFrance would hug the bottom, the short way around the quarter-mile bullring, while Sobbing would climb the banking and pound the cushion up top looking to launch off of the corners and down the straightaways. The short way around would have the advantage with DeFrance leading the way and, as those low groove running drivers continued to move the track markers further into the infield, that short way around got even shorter rendering the top side useless as Sobbing faded out of the top five.
The track at East Moline is essentially a bowl of dirt that is flat in the middle and then rises up some on the straights and even more on both ends. The track itself is marked out by white painted tires with four larger utility tires marking the entrance and the exit to each set of corners while there are two smaller tires in each set of turns that set the apex of the corners and the track is prepared (watered and packed) based upon these markings. The problem though is with the nose pieces of these Late Models as they are, a driver who is trying to run the lowest line possible will hit these smaller corner markers and move them around like the pucks on a table shuffleboard game so during the green flag segment from lap twelve to thirty-one the once quarter-mile distance was reduced significantly as drivers were now racing through the unprepared infield on both ends creating a dust bowl like you wouldn't believe.
The caution waved on lap thirty-one when Curt Martin tangled with the lapped car of Paul Conrad as they worked through the infield near what was once turn four and during the caution track officials moved the shuffleboard pucks, er track tires, back into their original positions for the restart. So now the situation was this. Having raced through the infield for the past several laps, the actual low groove of the racing surface now had a lot of dry dirt that had been thrown on top of the hard packed surface making that bottom groove quite slick, while the top line that was quite treacherous with a heavy cushion especially in one and two, was still relatively clean.
On the restart DeFrance and his primary challenger Jeremiah Hurst stayed with the low line while Sobbing and Rob Toland used the top to race their way up from outside of the top five. A caution with five laps to go when Luke Goedert spun in turn one and was clobbered by Joe Zrostlik slowed the high side assault, but now Sobbing was back to third and was more than pleased when Hurst chose the inside line for the Delaware style restart. Whether he knew it or not, the move of the night by DeFrance came when he mashed the throttle early in turn three for the restart as this did not allow Sobbing to get a good start and it then took him a lap before he drove around Hurst for second. It was obvious that the top was now better and Sobbing nearly pulled alongside the leader going down the back stretch on lap thirty-seven, but when the challenger bobbled a bit on the cushion with two to go Sobbing lost some ground coming to the white flag.
On the final lap though Sobbing nailed the cushion perfectly in one and two and then drove it deep into turn three to give himself a chance for victory, but the veteran driver did not flinch and the cushion was not as fast in three and four leaving Sobbing just a car-length short as DeFrance secured the win. Hurst was not far behind in third, Toland started tenth and finished fourth while Ray Guss Jr. drove the Brad Coin owned #28c from the ninth row up to fifth. Luke Merfeld finished sixth, current series point leader Jake Neal started twelfth and finished seventh, southwest Iowa driver Josh Most got an unexpected Late Model ride and finished eighth, more on that in a moment, while Chad Holladay and Matt Ryan both came from deep in the pack to complete the top ten.
After competing at Farley's big Modified event on Friday and Saturday Josh Most decided to drop in at East Moline before heading back to Red Oak and was pitted next to local driver Phil Anderson who is in his rookie season of driving an IMCA Late Model. When Anderson was called away for a work obligation Most was given the opportunity to drive Anderson #35 Late Model as well for the evening and, I guess you could say that he made the "most" of that opportunity by finishing second in his heat and eighth in the feature.
Most was also a part of the twenty car field of IMCA Modifieds that had a devil of a time getting their twenty lap feature underway as on the first try the fifth-starting Milo Veloz slid sideways in turn one collecting both Eric Barnes and Jason Pershy. Top contenders Veloz and Pershy were done for the night while Barnes would start at the rear after going pit side to make some repairs. Just before the second try at a start Craig Crawford had a right front tire go down so he had to give up his third starting position to duck into the pits and make the change. Track officials waited on Crawford and when he returned the green flag waved, but only briefly as Jacob Copley got sideways in turn one causing Chris Lawrence to spin and he was then hit hard by Crawford.
The third try at a start did see one lap scored with Brandon Durbin leading the way before Josh Most spun in turn one. One more lap was put in the books following the restart before Rob Toland made a rare mistake and spun the Doug Curless owned #99 in turn two causing Jeff Claussen and Brian Bushong to pile up behind him. The field was put in single file formation for the next restart and finally some consecutive green flag laps were run with Bryce Garnhart stalking Durbin for the lead. As they closed in on a lapped car that was working the bottom on lap eight, Durbin tried to squeeze to the bottom while Garnhart charged to the outside and that would allow Garnhart to take the lead just before John Ahlers and Crawford tangled in turn three.
Once back to green the remaining cars were able to complete the final twelve laps without incident as Garnhart cruised to victory ahead of Durbin and T.J. Patz. Toland was able to make his way back up to fourth while Matt Werner completed the top five.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature was the first of four to be run and it too started off on the wrong foot when Rick Schriner spun off of turn two on the opening lap collecting Dan Hahn. The field was reassembled and Casey Wages would lead the way for four laps before the second place car of Jared Coppejans spun exiting turn four. When back to racing Wages would protect the bottom as Andrew Burk, Rick Wages and Dustin Schram applied the pressure with Schram, who had started tenth moving up to second. On lap seven the leader pushed a bit exiting turn two and Schram worked his way underneath him to complete the pass of Wages exiting turn four.
Coppejans would spin again on lap eleven and Justin Veloz would loop his car on lap twelve and again in the same place on the ensuing restart. The race would then close out with a green-white-checkers with Schram the winner ahead of Rick Wages, Brandon Jewell, Casey Wages and Andrew Burk.
With two drivers needing to jump out of their Modifieds and into their Late Models, the Four Cylinder feature that is normally run last here on weekly shows was sent to the track before the Late Models with twenty-four cars taking the green for twelve laps. Josh Werkmeister would lead the way from the pole position for the first four laps before a fire under the hood of Dan Dillon's car stopped the race. On the restart Brett Marshall would takeover just before Ken Stogdell spun in turn four and one more caution would wave on lap ten when Thomas Adams stopped on the front stretch with a flat tire. Dustin Begyn would try to mount a challenge in the final two laps, but there would be no catching Marshall who came from the tenth starting spot to take the win. Begyn was followed by Rob Harding Jr., Josh Stanley and Josh Sample.
While it made for an interesting scenario in the closing laps of the Late Model feature I do hope that the Quad City Speedway can come up with a better way of keeping the cars on the race track that was prepared because, when it is done right, this place offers up two distinct racing lines that are typically very equal come feature time. And, at the very least, they need to soak the dirt on the infield in the corners to both discourage drivers from racing through there and to keep the dust storm from happening as my eyes are still burning on this Monday morning.
Plans for plenty of competition on a track for me in the week ahead as on Tuesday night the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction will host their first of four Tuesday night specials, this one featuring the Sport Compacts racing for $500-to-win with the Stock Cars and Sport Mods also in action. On Wednesday the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will try it again at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, an event that was postponed from last Wednesday due to rain and hopefully the forecast for this Wednesday brightens over the next two days. We will then make our annual trip to the Iowa high school state track meet on Friday and Saturday with the traditional stop at the Knoxville Raceway on the home. Whether it is at a dirt track or on the blue oval at Drake Stadium we will be enjoying the action on the Back Stretch.
Friday, May 12, 2017
New Winners Enjoy A Friday Night In Donnellson
Perfect weather conditions made for an enjoyable evening of weekly racing at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday night with some new faces showing up in victory lane.
The IMCA Sport Compacts were the first of five feature races to be contested on 101.7 The Bull Night at the speedway and it was a four wide scramble once the green flag waved. Daniel Fellows would lead the first two laps before Barry Taft charged past and Taft would then ward off the challenges of Kimberly Abbott over the final twelve circuits to take the win. Taft started sixth while Abbott came from seventh. Brandon Lambert edged out Fellows for third while opening night winner Travis DeMint completed the top five.
Scott Jordan and Kevin Koontz would lead the Stock Car field to green, but it would be Jason Cook coming from the inside of row two to grab the lead on lap one. A caution on lap eleven would bring Cook back to the field for the restart and while John Oliver Jr. came from tenth to second he could not chase down Cook over the final nine laps with Jason taking the win. Oliver padded his point lead in second, Abe Huls was third followed by Jason See and Dustin Griffiths.
The UMP Pro Late Model feature saw a great battle early between Jeff Guengerich and Denny Woodworth as the two would come off of turn four side-by-side lap after lap with Guengerich using the momentum off of the top side to hold the lead each time at the stripe. After a lap seven restart Sam Halstead made it a three car race for the lead as Woodworth again would pull even with Guengerich, but could not complete the pass. As the laps clicked away though Guengerich was able to put a car length or two on his challengers and claim his first victory of the season in Lynn and Karen Richard's car #15R. Woodworth was the runner-up ahead of Halstead, Tommy Elston came from tenth to fourth and Nick Marolf rounded out the top five.
The IMCA odified feature went twenty laps non-stop and it would be the fourth starting Dennis LaVeine who would lead the first five trips around the D-shaped 3/8th-mile. Jeff Waterman was hooked up though and he drove under LaVeine on lap six and then pulled away to a convincing win. Blake Woodruff was a distant third, Dakota Simmons a rookie in the division was fourth and the ageless veteran Dean McGee was a solid fifth.
Austen Becerra continued the streak of drivers coming from the second row to lead the opening lap as the Sport Mods closed out the night. It did not take long for Tony Dunker to get to second and while he tried just about every line he could think of there would be no catching Becerra on this night as Austen scored the win. Dunker was second, Vance Wilson came from the fifth row to finish third, Daniel Keltner was fourth followed by Brandon Dale and 15-year-old Blaine Webster was impressive in his LCS debut running sixth.
As always the kids at the Lee County Speedway had a fun night with the Junior Fan Club activities and rides in the pace truck before each feature and the final checkers waved at 9:45. I look forward to returning to Donnellson in two weeks when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders join the program on May 26th.
Next for me is a trip to the Quad Cities Speedway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event on Sunday night. Hope to see you there!
The IMCA Sport Compacts were the first of five feature races to be contested on 101.7 The Bull Night at the speedway and it was a four wide scramble once the green flag waved. Daniel Fellows would lead the first two laps before Barry Taft charged past and Taft would then ward off the challenges of Kimberly Abbott over the final twelve circuits to take the win. Taft started sixth while Abbott came from seventh. Brandon Lambert edged out Fellows for third while opening night winner Travis DeMint completed the top five.
Scott Jordan and Kevin Koontz would lead the Stock Car field to green, but it would be Jason Cook coming from the inside of row two to grab the lead on lap one. A caution on lap eleven would bring Cook back to the field for the restart and while John Oliver Jr. came from tenth to second he could not chase down Cook over the final nine laps with Jason taking the win. Oliver padded his point lead in second, Abe Huls was third followed by Jason See and Dustin Griffiths.
The UMP Pro Late Model feature saw a great battle early between Jeff Guengerich and Denny Woodworth as the two would come off of turn four side-by-side lap after lap with Guengerich using the momentum off of the top side to hold the lead each time at the stripe. After a lap seven restart Sam Halstead made it a three car race for the lead as Woodworth again would pull even with Guengerich, but could not complete the pass. As the laps clicked away though Guengerich was able to put a car length or two on his challengers and claim his first victory of the season in Lynn and Karen Richard's car #15R. Woodworth was the runner-up ahead of Halstead, Tommy Elston came from tenth to fourth and Nick Marolf rounded out the top five.
The IMCA odified feature went twenty laps non-stop and it would be the fourth starting Dennis LaVeine who would lead the first five trips around the D-shaped 3/8th-mile. Jeff Waterman was hooked up though and he drove under LaVeine on lap six and then pulled away to a convincing win. Blake Woodruff was a distant third, Dakota Simmons a rookie in the division was fourth and the ageless veteran Dean McGee was a solid fifth.
Austen Becerra continued the streak of drivers coming from the second row to lead the opening lap as the Sport Mods closed out the night. It did not take long for Tony Dunker to get to second and while he tried just about every line he could think of there would be no catching Becerra on this night as Austen scored the win. Dunker was second, Vance Wilson came from the fifth row to finish third, Daniel Keltner was fourth followed by Brandon Dale and 15-year-old Blaine Webster was impressive in his LCS debut running sixth.
As always the kids at the Lee County Speedway had a fun night with the Junior Fan Club activities and rides in the pace truck before each feature and the final checkers waved at 9:45. I look forward to returning to Donnellson in two weeks when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders join the program on May 26th.
Next for me is a trip to the Quad Cities Speedway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event on Sunday night. Hope to see you there!
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Babb Sails To Prelim Win at Farmer City
With nearly everybody else running low, Shannon Babb went to the top line and sailed around the competition on his way to a $3,000 victory on the opening night of the Farmer City 74 Thursday. A strong field of 48 UMP Late Models signed in to compete tonight while at least four other drivers had their cars in the pits, but chose to wait until Friday's $20,000-to-win finale to compete.
Jimmy Mars and Tanner English would bring the field to green for the 35-lap race, but it would be Mason Zeigler who would drive under them to take the lead on lap one. The young driver out of Pennsylvania looked strong until the fifth starting Shannon Babb came charging up on the high side to drive around Zeigler on lap five. Babb's lead then grew quickly, so much so that on lap twelve he slipped off the top of turn two, but still had time to recover before Zeigler could get to him.
The caution waved on lap twenty when Mike Marlar slipped over the top of turn one and on the restart Billy Moyer relegated Zeigler to third and began to apply some pressure on Babb. That challenge was soon interrupted though when Bobby Pierce slipped off the top of turn one, slid across the old horse track and ended up against the guardrail. With just over an inch of rain falling here on Wednesday night, retrieving Pierce's damaged car became quite an adventure causing about a fifteen minute delay as two wrecker trucks would get stuck in the mud. Finally a tractor was brought out and using a tow rope to pull out the wrecker that had Pierce's car in tow, the long delay finally came to an end.
On this restart Zeigler would get the jump on Moyer and as those two swapped the second spot at least four times Babb pulled away to take his first win of 2017. Youth would prevail in the battle for second, Zeigler over Moyer while Jimmy Mars finished fourth. Ryan Unzicker also made the top side work for fifth, Tanner English was sixth, Dennis Erb Jr. finished seventh, Kevin Weaver was eighth, ninth went to Billy Drake and Chase Junghans completed the top ten.
After an opening lap skirmish eliminated a couple of top contenders the Pro Late Model feature went twenty laps non-stop and Allen Weisser fought off Myles Moos to score the win. Weisser was in control throughout until Moos was able to slip under him in turns one and two on the final lap. There was contact between the two exiting turn two as Weisser would shut the door going down the back stretch. Matt Taylor finished third, I believe that it was Dakota Ewing in fourth while Roben Huffman rounded out the top five.
Joe Brown went flag-to-flag to best a nine car field of UMP Street Stocks.
With plenty of moisture from the day before the quarter-mile was lightning fast and offered up some entertaining action throughout the evening. All six pole-sitters won the Late Model heats under the "qualify and then start the fast guys in front" format, but the final two heat winners really had to earn it. Tanner English and Dennis Erb Jr, waged a great side-by-side battle in the fifth heat before a mid-race caution allowed Erb to get a full car-length on English for the restart. Tanner was not to be denied though and he passed Erb on the final lap to get the win and allow him to draw the outside front row for the feature. Veteran drivers Billy Drake and Kevin Weaver then entertained the crowd in the sixth heat with Drake regaining the lead and the win.
Darrell Lanigan, Don O'Neal and Hudson O'Neal were all present, but sat out the night's activities as did Earl Pearson Jr. with the Moring Motorsports ride. That one was kind of a head scratcher. MARS was on hand tonight, along with the ALMS and I must say that I liked the fact that they ran two C-Mains to complete a sixteen car lineup for one single B-Main that transferred two to the feature.
Us fans in the stands had two great announcers that we could have listened to tonight, however since they were also on a live Pay Per View broadcast they catered toward that crowd rather than those who bought tickets and can only hear info like driver names and qualifying times during brief seconds of little or no engine noise. Of course it was during that down time that we were then treated to them welcoming viewers to the broadcast. This is a trend that I don't know if I can get used to and I still suggest to promoters that when having a live PPV you should let those announcers do their thing, but instead of having their voices on the P.A. as well, you should also have a public address announcer to handle the night for those in attendance.
Next up on the Back Stretch, weekly racing at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson where the forecast calls for near perfect racing weather on Friday night.
Jimmy Mars and Tanner English would bring the field to green for the 35-lap race, but it would be Mason Zeigler who would drive under them to take the lead on lap one. The young driver out of Pennsylvania looked strong until the fifth starting Shannon Babb came charging up on the high side to drive around Zeigler on lap five. Babb's lead then grew quickly, so much so that on lap twelve he slipped off the top of turn two, but still had time to recover before Zeigler could get to him.
The caution waved on lap twenty when Mike Marlar slipped over the top of turn one and on the restart Billy Moyer relegated Zeigler to third and began to apply some pressure on Babb. That challenge was soon interrupted though when Bobby Pierce slipped off the top of turn one, slid across the old horse track and ended up against the guardrail. With just over an inch of rain falling here on Wednesday night, retrieving Pierce's damaged car became quite an adventure causing about a fifteen minute delay as two wrecker trucks would get stuck in the mud. Finally a tractor was brought out and using a tow rope to pull out the wrecker that had Pierce's car in tow, the long delay finally came to an end.
On this restart Zeigler would get the jump on Moyer and as those two swapped the second spot at least four times Babb pulled away to take his first win of 2017. Youth would prevail in the battle for second, Zeigler over Moyer while Jimmy Mars finished fourth. Ryan Unzicker also made the top side work for fifth, Tanner English was sixth, Dennis Erb Jr. finished seventh, Kevin Weaver was eighth, ninth went to Billy Drake and Chase Junghans completed the top ten.
After an opening lap skirmish eliminated a couple of top contenders the Pro Late Model feature went twenty laps non-stop and Allen Weisser fought off Myles Moos to score the win. Weisser was in control throughout until Moos was able to slip under him in turns one and two on the final lap. There was contact between the two exiting turn two as Weisser would shut the door going down the back stretch. Matt Taylor finished third, I believe that it was Dakota Ewing in fourth while Roben Huffman rounded out the top five.
Joe Brown went flag-to-flag to best a nine car field of UMP Street Stocks.
With plenty of moisture from the day before the quarter-mile was lightning fast and offered up some entertaining action throughout the evening. All six pole-sitters won the Late Model heats under the "qualify and then start the fast guys in front" format, but the final two heat winners really had to earn it. Tanner English and Dennis Erb Jr, waged a great side-by-side battle in the fifth heat before a mid-race caution allowed Erb to get a full car-length on English for the restart. Tanner was not to be denied though and he passed Erb on the final lap to get the win and allow him to draw the outside front row for the feature. Veteran drivers Billy Drake and Kevin Weaver then entertained the crowd in the sixth heat with Drake regaining the lead and the win.
Darrell Lanigan, Don O'Neal and Hudson O'Neal were all present, but sat out the night's activities as did Earl Pearson Jr. with the Moring Motorsports ride. That one was kind of a head scratcher. MARS was on hand tonight, along with the ALMS and I must say that I liked the fact that they ran two C-Mains to complete a sixteen car lineup for one single B-Main that transferred two to the feature.
Us fans in the stands had two great announcers that we could have listened to tonight, however since they were also on a live Pay Per View broadcast they catered toward that crowd rather than those who bought tickets and can only hear info like driver names and qualifying times during brief seconds of little or no engine noise. Of course it was during that down time that we were then treated to them welcoming viewers to the broadcast. This is a trend that I don't know if I can get used to and I still suggest to promoters that when having a live PPV you should let those announcers do their thing, but instead of having their voices on the P.A. as well, you should also have a public address announcer to handle the night for those in attendance.
Next up on the Back Stretch, weekly racing at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson where the forecast calls for near perfect racing weather on Friday night.
Thursday Notebook: May 11, 2017
The line of heavy thunderstorms that made its way across Iowa on Wednesday forced the postponement of the annual appearance by the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Southern Iowa Speedway to next Wednesday, May 17th, in Oskaloosa.
Some big events going on this Mother's Day weekend. In Illinois the UMP Late Models take center stage with the Farmer City 74 scheduled to start tonight with a $3,000-to-win program at the Farmer City Raceway. Then on Friday, it is a big one day show with $20,000 up for grabs in a race that is paying points for both the MARS East and West series as well as the American Late Model Series or ALMS. The Late Models then move to the famous Fairbury American Legion Speedway for a $10,000-to-win program on Saturday night before closing out with a $5,000 winner's check on Sunday night at the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton.
So a clean sweep of the four race weekend would yield a $38,000 haul, but one winner will collect a cool $50,000 at Farley's Super Modified weekend. Qualifying races will be held on Friday night with the big money paid out on Saturday and not only will there be a big winner in the Mods, but a Sport Mod driver may possibly fund his hobby for the year by winning the $20,000 top prize, what I believe to be the most ever paid out to this division.
Usually we see these kind of events during the preseason or the Fall specials so it will be interesting to see how things shake out as the weekly races in our region will go on as usual as well. I am hoping to catch the Thursday show in Farmer City and then on Friday I am filling in on the mic for Tony Paris who will again be coaching his hard hitting prospect Tyson Paris at a ball diamond somewhere. Graduation parties and other social commitments will keep me close to home on Saturday and, if I can swing it, I hope to wrap up Mother's Day with a race either at Spoon River or at the Quad Cities Speedway where the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be in action.
The CJ Raceway in Columbus Junction will be running a Tuesday night special each month in 2017 and their first of the season comes up this Tuesday, May 16th, with the Sport Compacts taking the spotlight for a $500-to-win event. While I know that this might not intrigue some of you, I would encourage you to check it out because when you put twenty-four of the four cylinders out there, especially with the top notch drivers that we have in the division here in eastern Iowa, you might just be surprised at how much fun the racing is. And, if you just don't want to admit that you would go to a Sport Compact special, you can always say that you were there to see the Sport Mods and the always popular Stock Cars instead! I will be looking for you Tuesday night.
A couple of tracks here in the middle of the country were brought back from the dead this past weekend, both with good success. The Lake Ozark Speedway has been dormant for the past five seasons, but under new ownership dirt track racing returned to the Lake on Saturday night with 84 cars in five classes. Austin Alumbaugh won the 360 Sprints, Chris Smyser was the Late Model winner, Ryan Middaugh took the Modified main event, Kris Jackson was the best of the B-Mods and Brian Schutt topped a 23-car field of Street Stocks. It was a good night for the revived LOS to open as the Lucas Oil Speedway about 75 miles down Highway 54 had an Open Wheel special going on so they did not run Late Models or either Modified class. So while the Sprint Car count may go up a bit from 14, the true test will be in the other divisions to see who goes to Lucas Oil and who stays at the Lake.
Three years of no racing at the Enid Speedway in Oklahoma obviously had drivers and fans alike ready to get back out to support the track as a crowd of 2,500 came out to watch twenty of the Sooner Late Model Series cars, 27 Modifieds, 39 B-Mods and six heats worth of Factory Stocks in action Saturday night. You can click here for a slide show of pictures from the big night and know that Enid is not returning as a weekly track, but is instead set to run just a six race slate of specials in 2017.
The next dormant track to set to come back to life is also in Oklahoma where the Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee will host the MARS Late Models on June 9th.
The updated National Dirt Late Model points follow and it is great to see such a tight battle among several drivers, many of whom are new names at or near the top. Enjoy your Mother's Day weekend and hopefully you can enjoy the racing of your choice!
Some big events going on this Mother's Day weekend. In Illinois the UMP Late Models take center stage with the Farmer City 74 scheduled to start tonight with a $3,000-to-win program at the Farmer City Raceway. Then on Friday, it is a big one day show with $20,000 up for grabs in a race that is paying points for both the MARS East and West series as well as the American Late Model Series or ALMS. The Late Models then move to the famous Fairbury American Legion Speedway for a $10,000-to-win program on Saturday night before closing out with a $5,000 winner's check on Sunday night at the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton.
So a clean sweep of the four race weekend would yield a $38,000 haul, but one winner will collect a cool $50,000 at Farley's Super Modified weekend. Qualifying races will be held on Friday night with the big money paid out on Saturday and not only will there be a big winner in the Mods, but a Sport Mod driver may possibly fund his hobby for the year by winning the $20,000 top prize, what I believe to be the most ever paid out to this division.
Usually we see these kind of events during the preseason or the Fall specials so it will be interesting to see how things shake out as the weekly races in our region will go on as usual as well. I am hoping to catch the Thursday show in Farmer City and then on Friday I am filling in on the mic for Tony Paris who will again be coaching his hard hitting prospect Tyson Paris at a ball diamond somewhere. Graduation parties and other social commitments will keep me close to home on Saturday and, if I can swing it, I hope to wrap up Mother's Day with a race either at Spoon River or at the Quad Cities Speedway where the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be in action.
The CJ Raceway in Columbus Junction will be running a Tuesday night special each month in 2017 and their first of the season comes up this Tuesday, May 16th, with the Sport Compacts taking the spotlight for a $500-to-win event. While I know that this might not intrigue some of you, I would encourage you to check it out because when you put twenty-four of the four cylinders out there, especially with the top notch drivers that we have in the division here in eastern Iowa, you might just be surprised at how much fun the racing is. And, if you just don't want to admit that you would go to a Sport Compact special, you can always say that you were there to see the Sport Mods and the always popular Stock Cars instead! I will be looking for you Tuesday night.
A couple of tracks here in the middle of the country were brought back from the dead this past weekend, both with good success. The Lake Ozark Speedway has been dormant for the past five seasons, but under new ownership dirt track racing returned to the Lake on Saturday night with 84 cars in five classes. Austin Alumbaugh won the 360 Sprints, Chris Smyser was the Late Model winner, Ryan Middaugh took the Modified main event, Kris Jackson was the best of the B-Mods and Brian Schutt topped a 23-car field of Street Stocks. It was a good night for the revived LOS to open as the Lucas Oil Speedway about 75 miles down Highway 54 had an Open Wheel special going on so they did not run Late Models or either Modified class. So while the Sprint Car count may go up a bit from 14, the true test will be in the other divisions to see who goes to Lucas Oil and who stays at the Lake.
Three years of no racing at the Enid Speedway in Oklahoma obviously had drivers and fans alike ready to get back out to support the track as a crowd of 2,500 came out to watch twenty of the Sooner Late Model Series cars, 27 Modifieds, 39 B-Mods and six heats worth of Factory Stocks in action Saturday night. You can click here for a slide show of pictures from the big night and know that Enid is not returning as a weekly track, but is instead set to run just a six race slate of specials in 2017.
The next dormant track to set to come back to life is also in Oklahoma where the Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee will host the MARS Late Models on June 9th.
The updated National Dirt Late Model points follow and it is great to see such a tight battle among several drivers, many of whom are new names at or near the top. Enjoy your Mother's Day weekend and hopefully you can enjoy the racing of your choice!
Monday, May 8, 2017
Gundaker Picks Off Scottie 43 at Quincy
Gordy Gundaker knows his way around the city of Quincy after having played catcher for the local university for three years. While in school he also had his family bring the race car up out of St. Louis occasionally and he has had some past success winning a couple of features here in 2014 and on Sunday night Gundaker made a triumphant return to Quincy Raceways capturing the "Scottie 43" UMP Late Model special at the quarter-mile bullring.
A stout field of twenty-two Super Late Models signed in on a perfect evening for racing with this event being the opener for the Midwest Big Ten Series and paying $2,000-to-win. Ricky Frankel would start from the pole with Gundaker to his outside and it would be Frankel who would enjoy the early advantage. A Ron McQuerry spin on lap two would slow the pace as would a lap three caution when the third running Rusty Schlenk would spin off turn four. Schlenk then hustled to the work area with a flat tire, but his crew must have found other damage as he then retired to the pit area.
On the restart Frankel slowly pulled away from his challengers until he reached the back of the field on lap twelve. Mike Hammerle was running in Frankel's preferred low line and when the leader followed him for a lap that allowed Gundaker to erase the gap and prepare to challenge. When Frankel looked to the top to get around Hammerle, Gundaker charged under him the take the lead and he then returned to the top to make quick work of the lapped car. Frankel's frustration continued on the following lap when he tried to go under Hammerle and contact between the two allowed Michael Kloos to take over the second spot.
A caution for Dewayne Kiefer slowed the field one last time on lap nineteen and on the restart there was no catching Gundaker as he drove away to a convincing victory. Kloos and Frankel maintained second and third while third row starters Denny Woodworth and Jamie Wilson completed the top five.
The UMP Pro Late Models were also on the card tonight and they would be the first of six feature races. This division appears to be a weekly battle of the #45's as Denny Woodworth and Tommy Elston lined up on the front row with Woodworth leading early and Elston challenging. On lap five Elston had pulled even with the leader and looked like he would complete the pass, but a caution for Laine Van Zandt who had slowed in turn two reverted the field to the previous lap putting Woodworth back out front for the restart.
Denny now knew that he needed to protect the bottom and he did just that to lead the remaining thirteen laps and secure the win over Elston. Brandon Savage chased the lead duo in for third, Guy Taylor was fourth and Van Zandt came back for fifth in the nine car field.
The twenty lap UMP Modified feature was a great race that was interrupted by way too many cautions as the yellow flag flew eight different times with the first of those coming as the twenty car field tried to negotiate turns one and two for the first time. Pole-sitter Josh Newman got sideways and collected four more cars while others, including Michael Long experienced some sort of damage as they scrambled to avoid the melee. On the restart Long would line up third and he would find the bite off the bottom to race to the lead. With Long running low Rick Conoyer went to the top shelf and he would take the point on lap three. A caution for Levi Mealy slowed the field on lap six and on the restart Long would get a big run off of turn four and then drove up into Conyer entering turn one to regain the lead, but that effort would be erased when Shawn Deering spun in turn one behind them.
On the next restart Conoyer protected the bottom out of four to keep Long behind him as one more lap was scored before Frankie Wellman spun while running in the top five. Once back to racing Conoyer continued to run the cushion as Long challenged down low and on lap ten Michael would drive off the bottom of turn two and up in front of Conoyer who had to stand on the brakes to keep from hitting Long. This would allow David Wietholder and Kevin Blackburn to slip past Conoyer as well and they would now pick up the chase of Long before cautions on lap fourteen and fifteen again required restarts.
Wietholder would drop out of contention after jumping the cushion in turn three and with Long struggling to keep his car on the bottom in the closing laps Blackburn was there to challenge. On the final lap the two went down the back stretch side-by-side and they stayed that way through three and four with Blackburn down low and Long just above him. As the checkered flag waved sparks flew from Long's right rear as he tagged the retaining wall, but he had just enough to edge out Blackburn by a mere 0.079 seconds for the win. Conoyer was close behind in third, Donovan Lodge finished fourth while Deering recovered to take fifth. In victory lane Long admitted that Conoyer was probably mad at him about the two sliders, but quickly said "he'll get over it."
Eleven cars started the Stock Car feature, but only five remained after a lap two crash that started when leader Rudy Zaragoza spun sideways exiting turn four, perhaps from a flat left rear tire. With the field tightly bunched behind him there was nowhere to go and the second place car of Michael Larsen went up and over two or three times directly in front of the large crowd. Larsen scrambled from his car visibly upset with the circumstances and, after helping the wrecker crews untangle the mess and pull away the damaged cars of Jerry Jansen and Abe Huls, Larsen hopped into his own battered Stock Car, fired it up and drove it to the infield to the cheers of the crowd.
After the cleanup the remaining sixteen laps were uneventful as Brian Hoener went the distance to take the win over Beau Taylor, Jimmy Miller, Chester Peek and Jake Powers.
With all of the yellows in the Modified main event, the long red flag period in the Stock Cars and more cautions in the heat races than we see at most tracks (the "one spin and you're in rule" would be helpful here), the Late Model feature wrapped up just before ten o'clock so I headed for home before the final two features. Courtesy of track PR man Jack Walbring though I can tell you that Austin Howes came from the fourth row to win the IMCA Sport Mod main event and that Brandon Lambert parlayed a front row start into a victory in the Sport Compact finale.
Up next for me will be the annual appearance of the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday night. Hope to see you there!
A stout field of twenty-two Super Late Models signed in on a perfect evening for racing with this event being the opener for the Midwest Big Ten Series and paying $2,000-to-win. Ricky Frankel would start from the pole with Gundaker to his outside and it would be Frankel who would enjoy the early advantage. A Ron McQuerry spin on lap two would slow the pace as would a lap three caution when the third running Rusty Schlenk would spin off turn four. Schlenk then hustled to the work area with a flat tire, but his crew must have found other damage as he then retired to the pit area.
On the restart Frankel slowly pulled away from his challengers until he reached the back of the field on lap twelve. Mike Hammerle was running in Frankel's preferred low line and when the leader followed him for a lap that allowed Gundaker to erase the gap and prepare to challenge. When Frankel looked to the top to get around Hammerle, Gundaker charged under him the take the lead and he then returned to the top to make quick work of the lapped car. Frankel's frustration continued on the following lap when he tried to go under Hammerle and contact between the two allowed Michael Kloos to take over the second spot.
A caution for Dewayne Kiefer slowed the field one last time on lap nineteen and on the restart there was no catching Gundaker as he drove away to a convincing victory. Kloos and Frankel maintained second and third while third row starters Denny Woodworth and Jamie Wilson completed the top five.
The UMP Pro Late Models were also on the card tonight and they would be the first of six feature races. This division appears to be a weekly battle of the #45's as Denny Woodworth and Tommy Elston lined up on the front row with Woodworth leading early and Elston challenging. On lap five Elston had pulled even with the leader and looked like he would complete the pass, but a caution for Laine Van Zandt who had slowed in turn two reverted the field to the previous lap putting Woodworth back out front for the restart.
Denny now knew that he needed to protect the bottom and he did just that to lead the remaining thirteen laps and secure the win over Elston. Brandon Savage chased the lead duo in for third, Guy Taylor was fourth and Van Zandt came back for fifth in the nine car field.
The twenty lap UMP Modified feature was a great race that was interrupted by way too many cautions as the yellow flag flew eight different times with the first of those coming as the twenty car field tried to negotiate turns one and two for the first time. Pole-sitter Josh Newman got sideways and collected four more cars while others, including Michael Long experienced some sort of damage as they scrambled to avoid the melee. On the restart Long would line up third and he would find the bite off the bottom to race to the lead. With Long running low Rick Conoyer went to the top shelf and he would take the point on lap three. A caution for Levi Mealy slowed the field on lap six and on the restart Long would get a big run off of turn four and then drove up into Conyer entering turn one to regain the lead, but that effort would be erased when Shawn Deering spun in turn one behind them.
On the next restart Conoyer protected the bottom out of four to keep Long behind him as one more lap was scored before Frankie Wellman spun while running in the top five. Once back to racing Conoyer continued to run the cushion as Long challenged down low and on lap ten Michael would drive off the bottom of turn two and up in front of Conoyer who had to stand on the brakes to keep from hitting Long. This would allow David Wietholder and Kevin Blackburn to slip past Conoyer as well and they would now pick up the chase of Long before cautions on lap fourteen and fifteen again required restarts.
Wietholder would drop out of contention after jumping the cushion in turn three and with Long struggling to keep his car on the bottom in the closing laps Blackburn was there to challenge. On the final lap the two went down the back stretch side-by-side and they stayed that way through three and four with Blackburn down low and Long just above him. As the checkered flag waved sparks flew from Long's right rear as he tagged the retaining wall, but he had just enough to edge out Blackburn by a mere 0.079 seconds for the win. Conoyer was close behind in third, Donovan Lodge finished fourth while Deering recovered to take fifth. In victory lane Long admitted that Conoyer was probably mad at him about the two sliders, but quickly said "he'll get over it."
Eleven cars started the Stock Car feature, but only five remained after a lap two crash that started when leader Rudy Zaragoza spun sideways exiting turn four, perhaps from a flat left rear tire. With the field tightly bunched behind him there was nowhere to go and the second place car of Michael Larsen went up and over two or three times directly in front of the large crowd. Larsen scrambled from his car visibly upset with the circumstances and, after helping the wrecker crews untangle the mess and pull away the damaged cars of Jerry Jansen and Abe Huls, Larsen hopped into his own battered Stock Car, fired it up and drove it to the infield to the cheers of the crowd.
After the cleanup the remaining sixteen laps were uneventful as Brian Hoener went the distance to take the win over Beau Taylor, Jimmy Miller, Chester Peek and Jake Powers.
With all of the yellows in the Modified main event, the long red flag period in the Stock Cars and more cautions in the heat races than we see at most tracks (the "one spin and you're in rule" would be helpful here), the Late Model feature wrapped up just before ten o'clock so I headed for home before the final two features. Courtesy of track PR man Jack Walbring though I can tell you that Austin Howes came from the fourth row to win the IMCA Sport Mod main event and that Brandon Lambert parlayed a front row start into a victory in the Sport Compact finale.
Up next for me will be the annual appearance of the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday night. Hope to see you there!
Friday, May 5, 2017
Chris Simpson Headlines, Support Classes Shine at Lee County
The MLRA Late Models made their highly anticipated return to the Lee County Speedway Thursday night bringing Late Model fans from near and far to the small town tucked into the southeast corner of Iowa. Thirty-three Super Late Models filled the pits and while they definitely delivered another superb showing, even the most snobbish Late Model fan would have to admit that the support classes were every bit as entertaining, if not more so. That is of course if they had the opportunity to stick around to watch them.
Chris Simpson and Terry Phillips would bring the Late Model field to green for forty laps with Simpson quickly racing out to a comfortable advantage. With the bottom line being the favored groove on both ends of the speedway the field would stretch out a bit as Simpson maintained a torrid pace and Phillips would fade into the pack as he tried to make the outside line work during the early laps. Tony Jackson Jr., who had started fifth, worked his way past Chad Simpson for second on lap fifteen and would begin to cut into the lead as Chris Simpson encountered traffic and Jimmy Mars, who had started seventh, would takeover the third position on lap twenty-two.
Chris was able to make quick work of the first few lappers, but as he closed in on some drivers who were racing for position Jackson saw his opportunity and started searching out a line through the middle. With ten laps remaining, and with Payton Looney and Brent Larson now racing side-by-side in front of him, Simpson had been signaled that Jackson was within striking distance so the leader made a bold move going three-wide around the outside of Looney and Larson off of turn two. One slip and it would have cost him the lead as Jackson was right there to pounce, but when Simpson completed the pass it would sew up the victory as Jackson never could dispatch Looney over the closing laps.
Jackson would settle for the runner-up position, four spots better than the next series regular, making a good "points night" for the former MARS champ. Jimmy Mars was solid in third, Chad Simpson held down fourth and Billy Moyer came from the sixth row to finish fifth. Phillips would settle for sixth, J.C. Wyman posted a solid run in seventh, Tyler Bruening advanced from the eighth row to finish eighth, Dave Eckrich was ninth and Raymond Merrill completed the top ten.
LCS MLRA Notes......The MLRA has switched its race format from a draw/passing points program to a group qualifying/start the fast guys up front format and while they will tell you that all of the drivers are in favor of the change you can bet that at least half of them are not, but are not willing to admit it. So, just like tonight, look for more flag-to-flag victories in the one last Super Late Model series where you used to have to pass some cars for position in either a heat or the feature in order to earn a victory.....Justin Reed scratched for the evening after qualifying.....Chris Simpson went flag-to-flag in the first heat that saw series regular Justin Asplin nearly clear the turn three guardrail when he blasted it tearing the nose completely off of his car. Asplin would pull out a backup car to run the B-Main later and would earn a series provisional for the feature.....Raymond Merrill passed Bob Gardner in the closing laps for the fourth and final transfer......When pole-sitter Dave Eckrich slid up the track in turn two on the opening lap of the second heat, Ricky Thornton Jr. had to stand on the brakes dropping him from second to fifth. Eckrich would score the win while Thornton was able to get to fourth and make the show.....Terry Phillips would go the distance to win the third heat as Tyler Bruening fought off Brantlee Gotschall for the final transfer......Chad Simpson would make it four-for-four of the pole-sitters winning the heat races (re: fast guys starting up front) as the MLRA point leader coming into the night, Rodney Sanders, fought off Rob Toland for fourth.....With seventeen cars still not qualified just ONE B-Main was scheduled, as it should be, with six cars set to transfer..... As the field made their way to the track the left front wheel rolled off of Gordy Gundaker's car. He was towed to the work area where a new wheel was put on and he was forced to start at the rear. He did not qualify.....Payton Looney would look sharp racing his way to the lead and the win in the B followed by Chase Junghans, Gotschall, Gardner, Randy Timms and Jorday Yaggy.....The veteran Al Humphrey would join Asplin as a provisional.....The first try at a start to the feature saw the tenth starting Brent Larson slide sideways in turn one collecting Rodney Sanders, Junghans and Yaggy. Sanders had an MLRA official work on some body damage before restarting and he would finish twelfth and, under one of the strangest rules in racing "the free restart rule", Larson would get a mulligan and still start in tenth.....As the second of five features on the schedule, the checkered flag waved on the Late Model feature at 9:55.....Series announcer Trenton Berry confirmed amazingly that this was Billy Moyer's first ever appearance at the Lee County Speedway......It was great having Trenton join our group during the support class action where he raved about the quality of racing here at the Lee County Speedway and in the state of Iowa.....Trenton will get to enjoy two more nights of that Iowa action as the MLRA Late Models move to the Davenport Speedway tonight, racing on the quarter-mile, and then on Saturday they will thrill a big crowd at the Independence Motor Speedway......The MLRA returns to this area again on Thursday June 1st at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, and right back here at the Lee County Speedway on Friday June 2nd.
A stout field of twenty-four IMCA Stock Cars served up a solid appetizer for the Late Models with a twenty-lap main event that only had one caution and that was decided by inches. John Oliver Jr. started third, but was able to slip under Jake Wenig and Abe Huls to lead the opening lap. That lead would grow as the action was intense behind him with drivers going four-wide on several occasions before the caution waved when Kevin Koontz spun in turn two on lap nine. Stock Car stars Jeff Mueller and Damon Murty had both drawn the sixth row, but by now had worked their way into second and third with Oliver now back within their sights for the restart. As Mueller and Murty swapped the second spot back and forth, Oliver was again able to sneak away a bit before Mueller established himself in second with just a few laps remaining.
Oliver's car had been sticking to the bottom throughout this race, but as the laps slipped away so did his traction and that allowed Mueller to close fast just as the white flag waved. The challenger would draw to the leader's bumper in turns one and two and when Oliver left the slightest of openings entering turn three, Mueller nudged his way underneath and it was a side-by-side drag race to the checkers off of turn four that not even announcer Tony Paris was willing to call until he confirmed with the scorers that Oliver had won by a mere inches at the line. Murty was close behind in third, Mike Hughes came from tenth to finish fourth and hometown driver Jeremy Pundt finished in fifth.
Several fans made their way out of the stands following the Late Model feature, I don't blame them, I would have done the same if I had a long drive home on a Thursday night, but those of us who stayed were treated to some spectacular action to close out the evening.
The IMCA Sport Mods were up next surprisingly producing the smallest field of the night despite the fact that they were racing for $1,000-to-win. Two of the best started on the front row for this twenty-lapper with the all-time All Iowa Points leader in the division, Tony Dunker starting on the pole while former All Iowa Points champion Carter VanDenberg started to his outside and it would be VanDenberg grabbing the early lead. Caution for an Austen Becerra spin on lap six required a restart and Dunker would use the high line to take the lead for lap seven. Logan Anderson was on the move after starting seventh and he would take away the second spot just before VanDenberg slowed with mechanical issues on lap sixteen. Dunker had plenty of challengers lined up behind him for the restart, but as Anderson, Jim Gillenwater and Lennox battled for second, Dunker was able to ease away over the final four laps to earn the victory. Anderson prevailed for second, Lennox took third, Gillenwater was fourth and Brian Efkamp made the trip down from Ankeny to finish fifth.
The non-stop twenty-five lap IMCA Modified feature was nothing short of spectacular and there is no way that I can come close to describing it, especially since I didn't take notes since Trenton and I were ducking and leaning trying to guide Kelly Shryock and Hunter Marriott through a myriad of lapped traffic thinking somehow that our body language might help. Shryock had started from the front row and, as I mentioned in last night's story from Osky, when you put Kelly Shryock on the pole you generally know the outcome. Believe me, he had to earn it tonight! Marriott had started fifth, but first had to fight his way past Richie Gustin and Jacob Murray before he could set his sights on the leader and, once Hunter made it to second on lap eighteen, he did just that. Racing in and through heavy traffic Marriott would pull even with Shryock and then take the lead on lap twenty-two only to have Kelly fight back to regain the lead as the white flag waved. Marriott took one last shot on the final lap, but hey, this is Kelly Shryock and while the kid from Missouri appears to be headed for the "star" category as well, Shryock has been there for years and he would hold on to win for the second night in a row. Murray would hold on to third ahead of Gustin with Chris Zogg edging out Johnny Scott for fifth. This field of twenty-nine was as talented as you will find anywhere this season!
And, if you stuck around for the fifteen-lap Sport Compact main event, you were rewarded with another barn burner that went right down to the wire. Rookie driver Daniel Fellows has dominated this division recently, but when he drew the sixth row in this field of twenty he had his work cut out for him as Josh Barnes raced to the lead from his third starting spot. Kimberly Abbott is not shy by any means and she muscled past Barnes on lap three to take the point with Jake Dietrich and Barry Taft in hot pursuit. With Abbott leading, Dietrich and Taft raced hard for second with Taft emerging as the prime contender and he would slip under Kimberly to take the lead entering turn one on lap thirteen, Abbott would drive right back under him off of turn two to regain the lead on the back stretch only to have Taft return the favor and this time officially lead the white flag lap. The defending All Iowa Points champion was not to be denied though as she charged back under Taft entering turn three on the final lap and the two slid up the race track with Taft's car being pinned between Abbott's and the now fully involved lapped car of William Michel.
The three cars came out of turn four literally door-to-door-to-door with Abbott winning by a nose at the line. Taft not only had to settle for second, but then had to deal with the ire of Michel who apparently did not see that Abbott was down there as well. Dietrich would have won if they all would have crashed, as they came so close to doing, Barnes was fourth and Travis DeMint finished fifth.
On the strength of a solid car count in all five divisions, a full field of Super Late Models that provided as much action that can be expected given the format and three feature races that were not decided until the final turn this now sets the bar for my "race night of the year" for 2017. And it was all completed by 10:45!
First opportunity to clear that bar will come on Sunday night when I head for the Scottie 43 UMP Late Model event at the Quincy Raceways. Look for me on the Back Stretch!
Chris Simpson and Terry Phillips would bring the Late Model field to green for forty laps with Simpson quickly racing out to a comfortable advantage. With the bottom line being the favored groove on both ends of the speedway the field would stretch out a bit as Simpson maintained a torrid pace and Phillips would fade into the pack as he tried to make the outside line work during the early laps. Tony Jackson Jr., who had started fifth, worked his way past Chad Simpson for second on lap fifteen and would begin to cut into the lead as Chris Simpson encountered traffic and Jimmy Mars, who had started seventh, would takeover the third position on lap twenty-two.
Chris was able to make quick work of the first few lappers, but as he closed in on some drivers who were racing for position Jackson saw his opportunity and started searching out a line through the middle. With ten laps remaining, and with Payton Looney and Brent Larson now racing side-by-side in front of him, Simpson had been signaled that Jackson was within striking distance so the leader made a bold move going three-wide around the outside of Looney and Larson off of turn two. One slip and it would have cost him the lead as Jackson was right there to pounce, but when Simpson completed the pass it would sew up the victory as Jackson never could dispatch Looney over the closing laps.
Jackson would settle for the runner-up position, four spots better than the next series regular, making a good "points night" for the former MARS champ. Jimmy Mars was solid in third, Chad Simpson held down fourth and Billy Moyer came from the sixth row to finish fifth. Phillips would settle for sixth, J.C. Wyman posted a solid run in seventh, Tyler Bruening advanced from the eighth row to finish eighth, Dave Eckrich was ninth and Raymond Merrill completed the top ten.
LCS MLRA Notes......The MLRA has switched its race format from a draw/passing points program to a group qualifying/start the fast guys up front format and while they will tell you that all of the drivers are in favor of the change you can bet that at least half of them are not, but are not willing to admit it. So, just like tonight, look for more flag-to-flag victories in the one last Super Late Model series where you used to have to pass some cars for position in either a heat or the feature in order to earn a victory.....Justin Reed scratched for the evening after qualifying.....Chris Simpson went flag-to-flag in the first heat that saw series regular Justin Asplin nearly clear the turn three guardrail when he blasted it tearing the nose completely off of his car. Asplin would pull out a backup car to run the B-Main later and would earn a series provisional for the feature.....Raymond Merrill passed Bob Gardner in the closing laps for the fourth and final transfer......When pole-sitter Dave Eckrich slid up the track in turn two on the opening lap of the second heat, Ricky Thornton Jr. had to stand on the brakes dropping him from second to fifth. Eckrich would score the win while Thornton was able to get to fourth and make the show.....Terry Phillips would go the distance to win the third heat as Tyler Bruening fought off Brantlee Gotschall for the final transfer......Chad Simpson would make it four-for-four of the pole-sitters winning the heat races (re: fast guys starting up front) as the MLRA point leader coming into the night, Rodney Sanders, fought off Rob Toland for fourth.....With seventeen cars still not qualified just ONE B-Main was scheduled, as it should be, with six cars set to transfer..... As the field made their way to the track the left front wheel rolled off of Gordy Gundaker's car. He was towed to the work area where a new wheel was put on and he was forced to start at the rear. He did not qualify.....Payton Looney would look sharp racing his way to the lead and the win in the B followed by Chase Junghans, Gotschall, Gardner, Randy Timms and Jorday Yaggy.....The veteran Al Humphrey would join Asplin as a provisional.....The first try at a start to the feature saw the tenth starting Brent Larson slide sideways in turn one collecting Rodney Sanders, Junghans and Yaggy. Sanders had an MLRA official work on some body damage before restarting and he would finish twelfth and, under one of the strangest rules in racing "the free restart rule", Larson would get a mulligan and still start in tenth.....As the second of five features on the schedule, the checkered flag waved on the Late Model feature at 9:55.....Series announcer Trenton Berry confirmed amazingly that this was Billy Moyer's first ever appearance at the Lee County Speedway......It was great having Trenton join our group during the support class action where he raved about the quality of racing here at the Lee County Speedway and in the state of Iowa.....Trenton will get to enjoy two more nights of that Iowa action as the MLRA Late Models move to the Davenport Speedway tonight, racing on the quarter-mile, and then on Saturday they will thrill a big crowd at the Independence Motor Speedway......The MLRA returns to this area again on Thursday June 1st at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, and right back here at the Lee County Speedway on Friday June 2nd.
A stout field of twenty-four IMCA Stock Cars served up a solid appetizer for the Late Models with a twenty-lap main event that only had one caution and that was decided by inches. John Oliver Jr. started third, but was able to slip under Jake Wenig and Abe Huls to lead the opening lap. That lead would grow as the action was intense behind him with drivers going four-wide on several occasions before the caution waved when Kevin Koontz spun in turn two on lap nine. Stock Car stars Jeff Mueller and Damon Murty had both drawn the sixth row, but by now had worked their way into second and third with Oliver now back within their sights for the restart. As Mueller and Murty swapped the second spot back and forth, Oliver was again able to sneak away a bit before Mueller established himself in second with just a few laps remaining.
Oliver's car had been sticking to the bottom throughout this race, but as the laps slipped away so did his traction and that allowed Mueller to close fast just as the white flag waved. The challenger would draw to the leader's bumper in turns one and two and when Oliver left the slightest of openings entering turn three, Mueller nudged his way underneath and it was a side-by-side drag race to the checkers off of turn four that not even announcer Tony Paris was willing to call until he confirmed with the scorers that Oliver had won by a mere inches at the line. Murty was close behind in third, Mike Hughes came from tenth to finish fourth and hometown driver Jeremy Pundt finished in fifth.
Several fans made their way out of the stands following the Late Model feature, I don't blame them, I would have done the same if I had a long drive home on a Thursday night, but those of us who stayed were treated to some spectacular action to close out the evening.
The IMCA Sport Mods were up next surprisingly producing the smallest field of the night despite the fact that they were racing for $1,000-to-win. Two of the best started on the front row for this twenty-lapper with the all-time All Iowa Points leader in the division, Tony Dunker starting on the pole while former All Iowa Points champion Carter VanDenberg started to his outside and it would be VanDenberg grabbing the early lead. Caution for an Austen Becerra spin on lap six required a restart and Dunker would use the high line to take the lead for lap seven. Logan Anderson was on the move after starting seventh and he would take away the second spot just before VanDenberg slowed with mechanical issues on lap sixteen. Dunker had plenty of challengers lined up behind him for the restart, but as Anderson, Jim Gillenwater and Lennox battled for second, Dunker was able to ease away over the final four laps to earn the victory. Anderson prevailed for second, Lennox took third, Gillenwater was fourth and Brian Efkamp made the trip down from Ankeny to finish fifth.
The non-stop twenty-five lap IMCA Modified feature was nothing short of spectacular and there is no way that I can come close to describing it, especially since I didn't take notes since Trenton and I were ducking and leaning trying to guide Kelly Shryock and Hunter Marriott through a myriad of lapped traffic thinking somehow that our body language might help. Shryock had started from the front row and, as I mentioned in last night's story from Osky, when you put Kelly Shryock on the pole you generally know the outcome. Believe me, he had to earn it tonight! Marriott had started fifth, but first had to fight his way past Richie Gustin and Jacob Murray before he could set his sights on the leader and, once Hunter made it to second on lap eighteen, he did just that. Racing in and through heavy traffic Marriott would pull even with Shryock and then take the lead on lap twenty-two only to have Kelly fight back to regain the lead as the white flag waved. Marriott took one last shot on the final lap, but hey, this is Kelly Shryock and while the kid from Missouri appears to be headed for the "star" category as well, Shryock has been there for years and he would hold on to win for the second night in a row. Murray would hold on to third ahead of Gustin with Chris Zogg edging out Johnny Scott for fifth. This field of twenty-nine was as talented as you will find anywhere this season!
And, if you stuck around for the fifteen-lap Sport Compact main event, you were rewarded with another barn burner that went right down to the wire. Rookie driver Daniel Fellows has dominated this division recently, but when he drew the sixth row in this field of twenty he had his work cut out for him as Josh Barnes raced to the lead from his third starting spot. Kimberly Abbott is not shy by any means and she muscled past Barnes on lap three to take the point with Jake Dietrich and Barry Taft in hot pursuit. With Abbott leading, Dietrich and Taft raced hard for second with Taft emerging as the prime contender and he would slip under Kimberly to take the lead entering turn one on lap thirteen, Abbott would drive right back under him off of turn two to regain the lead on the back stretch only to have Taft return the favor and this time officially lead the white flag lap. The defending All Iowa Points champion was not to be denied though as she charged back under Taft entering turn three on the final lap and the two slid up the race track with Taft's car being pinned between Abbott's and the now fully involved lapped car of William Michel.
The three cars came out of turn four literally door-to-door-to-door with Abbott winning by a nose at the line. Taft not only had to settle for second, but then had to deal with the ire of Michel who apparently did not see that Abbott was down there as well. Dietrich would have won if they all would have crashed, as they came so close to doing, Barnes was fourth and Travis DeMint finished fifth.
On the strength of a solid car count in all five divisions, a full field of Super Late Models that provided as much action that can be expected given the format and three feature races that were not decided until the final turn this now sets the bar for my "race night of the year" for 2017. And it was all completed by 10:45!
First opportunity to clear that bar will come on Sunday night when I head for the Scottie 43 UMP Late Model event at the Quincy Raceways. Look for me on the Back Stretch!
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Extra Cash Pulls Extra Drivers To Osky
Shawn and Jami Ritter with Shawn's Hay Grinding made their night at the Southern Iowa Speedway extra special by adding money to the purse for all five divisions and that, along with some better weather than what we he had last Wednesday night, brought in several new drivers for the second night of racing in Oskaloosa.
For the second week in a row the Sport Compacts would have the highest car count bolstered by two of the top Four Cylinder drivers in the Midwest who made the long pull over from southeast Nebraska. They would end up chasing the rookie sensation though as Daniel Fellows lined up sixth for the 12-lap main event and he would take the lead exiting turn four on lap one. One of the travelers, Denny Berghahn Jr. started right behind Fellows and followed him to the front to pick up the chase while the other Nebraskan Dillon Richards steadily raced his way up from eleventh to third.
A caution on lap four bunched the field up for a restart, but again Fellows and Berghahn pulled away as Richards dealt with a challenge from Barry Taft. As the white flag waved Berghahn was able to take a peek to the inside of the leader in turn two, but Fellows did not flinch as he scored his second win in a row here and his fourth straight overall in this his rookie season after having raced dirt bikes for the past few years. Berghahn was the runner-up while Taft took advantage of a late stumble by Richards to finish third leaving Dillon in fourth. Cody Van Dusen, the current All Iowa Points leader in the division, was slated to start in sixth, but tagged the field instead and still raced his way up to fifth.
The Stock Cars once again gave the Southern Iowa Speedway fans a thrill with some tight racing as the field of thirteen all clamored for the bottom line during the second feature of the night, Louis Lynch would pace the opening lap before third-starting Nathan Wood drove under him on lap two. Running his left front tire over the now buried corner markers, Wood did not leave any room for someone to get under him and when both Mike Hughes and Derrick Agee lined up behind him mid-race it was a throwback to last week when Dustin Griffiths was trying to protect his lead from these two.
The caution waved on lap eleven when Damon Murty slowed and then stopped at the end of the front stretch rather than pulling to the infield and he then fired it back up and did a donut before driving to the pit area apparently frustrated with something. The double wide restart would then shake things up as Agee would be parked to the outside getting shuffled back to fifth with Todd Reitzler and Griffiths now joining the battle.
With Wood still guarding the bottom Hughes took a look one line higher and that was all that Reitzler needed as he muscled under Hughes to take the second spot. When Griffiths also tried to get under Hughes, contact between the two would cut down the right front tire on Griffiths car and when he slowed it produced the final caution of the race with two laps remaining. On the restart the leader knew where he needed to stay and while he did leave a bit of an opening entering turn one on the final lap, he was too strong to allow Reitzler to make a move and Nathan Wood would return to victory lane in Oskaloosa. Reitzler would finish second as Agee battled back to third, Hughes would come in fourth while division rookie Danny Thrasher edged out Jason Minnehan for fifth.
If there was any concern that the remaining three features would be a parade around the bottom of the big half-mile that was quickly erased during the 16-lap Sport Mod main event. Outside pole-sitter Colton Livezey would race out to the early advantage with Carter VanDenBerg in hot pursuit. As the battle for the lead developed on lap four, the defending track champion Curtis Van Der Wal slid sideways to the infield in turn four while racing in third, but he recovered quickly only losing two positions in the process. VanDenBerg would take the point from Livezy on lap five and as he started to open up a lead it was obvious that Van Der Wal was now on a mission as he clicked off positions one by one until he was in second on lap nine.
The lead was still a half straightaway at that point, but by using the high line through turns three and four Van Der Wal quickly cut it down to a couple of car lengths and he would pull even with VanDenBerg exiting turn four on lap thirteen. Carter was able to ward off this challenge by using his low line in turns one and two, but when Curtis again went to the cushion in three and four he would fly by CVDB putting CVDW into the lead with two laps remaining. VanDenBerg made one last bid in turn one, but then Van Der Wal was gone as he pulled off the near-spin-to-win feat in the non-stop event. Livezy would hold down the third spot, Logan Anderson was fourth and last week's winner Jason McDaniel filled out the top five.
A sixth-place finish in the season opener landed Kelly Shryock on the front row for tonight's twenty-lap IMCA Modified feature race and when you have Kelly Shryock on the front row the chances are that the race will be for second. Current All Iowa Points leader Hunter Marriott would work his way into second with three laps remaining and would then show the leader his nose in the closing laps, but again this is Kelly Shryock, one of the best Modified drivers ever and he would add another win to his total on this night. Marriott would be the runner-up for the second week in a row here as Todd Shute also repeated his finish from last week in third. The winner of the season opener Colt Mather would be fourth this week while Cayden Carter edged out Forest City's Jesse Hoeft for fifth.
The Hobby Stocks would again close out the evening and this could be the beginning of a banner season here for Shannon Anderson. The multi-time IMCA Hobby Stock National Champion drove through the field with ease after starting eighth taking the lead from Mike Kincaid on lap four just before the red flag waved when Saif Grafke got sideways in turn two before rolling his car over onto its side. Anderson was gone on the restart cruising to his second straight win here at Osky as Kincaid would hold down the second spot. Brad Stephens recovered from an opening lap spin down the back stretch to race back up to third at the checkers while Bill Bonnett and Aaron Martin completed the top five.
A big thank you to the Ritters for stepping up their sponsorship and, as always, to Mike Van Genderen and his crew for presenting an efficient five division program in just over two and a half hours. The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will join the program here at the Southern Iowa Speedway next Wednesday night May 10th.
Late Model drivers Billy Moyer, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Rodney Sanders were also on hand to get in some hot laps before they head down to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for tonight's big MLRA show that is always a treat at the racy D-shaped 3/8th-mile. Not only will the Late Models be racing for a $3,000 top prize, but all four support classed have added money as well with the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods looking for $1,000-to-win and the Sport Compacts racing for $300-to-win. The forecast is for dry, but cool conditions tonight so bring an extra jacket and let's go racing!
For the second week in a row the Sport Compacts would have the highest car count bolstered by two of the top Four Cylinder drivers in the Midwest who made the long pull over from southeast Nebraska. They would end up chasing the rookie sensation though as Daniel Fellows lined up sixth for the 12-lap main event and he would take the lead exiting turn four on lap one. One of the travelers, Denny Berghahn Jr. started right behind Fellows and followed him to the front to pick up the chase while the other Nebraskan Dillon Richards steadily raced his way up from eleventh to third.
A caution on lap four bunched the field up for a restart, but again Fellows and Berghahn pulled away as Richards dealt with a challenge from Barry Taft. As the white flag waved Berghahn was able to take a peek to the inside of the leader in turn two, but Fellows did not flinch as he scored his second win in a row here and his fourth straight overall in this his rookie season after having raced dirt bikes for the past few years. Berghahn was the runner-up while Taft took advantage of a late stumble by Richards to finish third leaving Dillon in fourth. Cody Van Dusen, the current All Iowa Points leader in the division, was slated to start in sixth, but tagged the field instead and still raced his way up to fifth.
The Stock Cars once again gave the Southern Iowa Speedway fans a thrill with some tight racing as the field of thirteen all clamored for the bottom line during the second feature of the night, Louis Lynch would pace the opening lap before third-starting Nathan Wood drove under him on lap two. Running his left front tire over the now buried corner markers, Wood did not leave any room for someone to get under him and when both Mike Hughes and Derrick Agee lined up behind him mid-race it was a throwback to last week when Dustin Griffiths was trying to protect his lead from these two.
The caution waved on lap eleven when Damon Murty slowed and then stopped at the end of the front stretch rather than pulling to the infield and he then fired it back up and did a donut before driving to the pit area apparently frustrated with something. The double wide restart would then shake things up as Agee would be parked to the outside getting shuffled back to fifth with Todd Reitzler and Griffiths now joining the battle.
With Wood still guarding the bottom Hughes took a look one line higher and that was all that Reitzler needed as he muscled under Hughes to take the second spot. When Griffiths also tried to get under Hughes, contact between the two would cut down the right front tire on Griffiths car and when he slowed it produced the final caution of the race with two laps remaining. On the restart the leader knew where he needed to stay and while he did leave a bit of an opening entering turn one on the final lap, he was too strong to allow Reitzler to make a move and Nathan Wood would return to victory lane in Oskaloosa. Reitzler would finish second as Agee battled back to third, Hughes would come in fourth while division rookie Danny Thrasher edged out Jason Minnehan for fifth.
If there was any concern that the remaining three features would be a parade around the bottom of the big half-mile that was quickly erased during the 16-lap Sport Mod main event. Outside pole-sitter Colton Livezey would race out to the early advantage with Carter VanDenBerg in hot pursuit. As the battle for the lead developed on lap four, the defending track champion Curtis Van Der Wal slid sideways to the infield in turn four while racing in third, but he recovered quickly only losing two positions in the process. VanDenBerg would take the point from Livezy on lap five and as he started to open up a lead it was obvious that Van Der Wal was now on a mission as he clicked off positions one by one until he was in second on lap nine.
The lead was still a half straightaway at that point, but by using the high line through turns three and four Van Der Wal quickly cut it down to a couple of car lengths and he would pull even with VanDenBerg exiting turn four on lap thirteen. Carter was able to ward off this challenge by using his low line in turns one and two, but when Curtis again went to the cushion in three and four he would fly by CVDB putting CVDW into the lead with two laps remaining. VanDenBerg made one last bid in turn one, but then Van Der Wal was gone as he pulled off the near-spin-to-win feat in the non-stop event. Livezy would hold down the third spot, Logan Anderson was fourth and last week's winner Jason McDaniel filled out the top five.
A sixth-place finish in the season opener landed Kelly Shryock on the front row for tonight's twenty-lap IMCA Modified feature race and when you have Kelly Shryock on the front row the chances are that the race will be for second. Current All Iowa Points leader Hunter Marriott would work his way into second with three laps remaining and would then show the leader his nose in the closing laps, but again this is Kelly Shryock, one of the best Modified drivers ever and he would add another win to his total on this night. Marriott would be the runner-up for the second week in a row here as Todd Shute also repeated his finish from last week in third. The winner of the season opener Colt Mather would be fourth this week while Cayden Carter edged out Forest City's Jesse Hoeft for fifth.
The Hobby Stocks would again close out the evening and this could be the beginning of a banner season here for Shannon Anderson. The multi-time IMCA Hobby Stock National Champion drove through the field with ease after starting eighth taking the lead from Mike Kincaid on lap four just before the red flag waved when Saif Grafke got sideways in turn two before rolling his car over onto its side. Anderson was gone on the restart cruising to his second straight win here at Osky as Kincaid would hold down the second spot. Brad Stephens recovered from an opening lap spin down the back stretch to race back up to third at the checkers while Bill Bonnett and Aaron Martin completed the top five.
A big thank you to the Ritters for stepping up their sponsorship and, as always, to Mike Van Genderen and his crew for presenting an efficient five division program in just over two and a half hours. The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will join the program here at the Southern Iowa Speedway next Wednesday night May 10th.
Late Model drivers Billy Moyer, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Rodney Sanders were also on hand to get in some hot laps before they head down to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for tonight's big MLRA show that is always a treat at the racy D-shaped 3/8th-mile. Not only will the Late Models be racing for a $3,000 top prize, but all four support classed have added money as well with the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods looking for $1,000-to-win and the Sport Compacts racing for $300-to-win. The forecast is for dry, but cool conditions tonight so bring an extra jacket and let's go racing!
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