Race fans at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon caught a break Thursday night when an approaching thunderstorm shifted its course of movement from east to northeast allowing all racing to be completed just before the first raindrops fell on the Super Half Mile. This is traditionally the first county fair race of the season in Iowa and it played out under hot and sultry conditions that fueled a cluster of storms that originally developed in the southwest corner of Iowa and were marching straight east until they were one county west of the track. Then, as if there was a race fan up above, the first cell made a shift to the north offering up quite a light show as the final features were run.
The Iowa Sportsman Series ran to twenty-five lap segments with former 34 Raceway and Lee County Speedway competitor from the 1980's, Doug Weiss winning both.
Trent Orwig started from the front row of the ten lap Sport Compact feature and after a back and forth opening lap with Nic Van Hemert, Orwig pulled away for a dominating victory. Van Hemert dropped to third mid-race, but then came back to pass Billy Cain for runner-up honors while Kyle Boyd and Kevin Garrett completed the top five.
The Stock Cars were up next and the pre-race favorite had to be Mike Hughes who had drawn the pole position for the 16-lap affair. Nathan Wood gave chase though and was firmly planted on the back bumper of Hughes when the red flag waved on lap six. Michael McClure had gotten upside down in turn one with Riley Newton involved and it was fortunate that McClure emerged from his badly damaged Stock Car uninjured.
On the restart the two car breakaway of Hughes and Wood continued as Nathan tried to find a bite off the bottom exiting both turns two and four, but Hughes was too stout and he would hold on for the flag-to-flag victory with Wood a car length back in second. Mike Harward lost a wheel during the heat race so he started from ninth and then raced his way to third at the finish while Brad Egbert and Travis Bunnell completed the top five.
Nick Ulin was another fast driver to draw the front row of a feature, this one the Hobby Stocks and despite restarts on lap five and lap nine not even former All Iowa Points champion Dustin Griffiths could keep pace as Ulin took the win. Griffiths finished second while Scott Shull and his crew resolved whatever issues that his engine was having during his heat race to come from thirteenth up to third. Craig Brown finished fourth in his first night out this season while Doug Gorden Jr. filled out the top five.
The Sport Mods were up last and with the lightning flashing all around the hope was that they could least get in the first eight laps of their sixteen lap feature to score the race complete before the rains came. Two top contenders drew the front row for this one with Brett Lowry on the pole and Carter VanDenberg to his outside and it would be Lowry who would set the pace until the caution waved on lap seven. Colton Livezy and Kyle Hill were racing side-by-side for fourth exiting turn two and when they banged wheels Livezy went for a spin.
On the restart young Blaine Webster made a nice move into the top four, but after completing lap eight he spun in turn one sending several drivers scrambling to avoid contact. On this restart VanDenberg saw his opportunity as he powered to the inside of Lowry in turns one and two to take the lead and then the 2013 All Iowa Points Champion drove away to victory as the crowd scrambled out of the stands and headed for the parking lot. Lowry finished second ahead of Casey Lancaster, Jason McDaniel and Brandon Dale.
I felt one raindrop hit me just as I was getting into my car, but from what I understand it never rained hard enough to make a difference until about twenty minutes later. It is always nostalgic for me to return to the Eldon Raceway as my cousins Dean and Jean Church would bring me here with them in the mid-70's every Saturday night that I didn't have a Little League game. It is where I was introduced to Ed Sanger, Bill Zwanziger, Jerry Pilcher, Larry "Pee Vine" Pipes, Ron Jackson, Johnny Babb and many others. This year's Wapello County Fair comes back with another night of Stock Car racing this Sunday evening so if you are in the area treat your Father to a night of fair food and fun.
Tony Paris is either racing his horses or watching future draft pick Tyson Paris play ball somewhere tonight so I will join Dan Workman on the mic for Friday Night racing at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Hope to see you there!
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