Thrills and Spills On Season Championship Night At Osky

A photo finish in the Stock Cars and a controversial end to the Hobby Stock main event closed out the 2017 regular season at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night, a story that will be best told sequentially.

The ten lap Sport Compact feature race would be the first to the speedway with point champion Levi Heath starting from the pole. Brandon Housley would come from the fourth starting spot to hold the lead on lap one though and it looked like he would cruise to an easy win. But then along came lap eight when everything went haywire. Housley's car sputtered as it came across the stripe on lap seven and he would slow and pull to the infield going down the back stretch. This would hand over the lead to young Jeffrey DeLonjay who had made the long tow up from Quincy, Illinois, with Heath in second, but as Levi went down the back stretch his engine went up in smoke causing him to pull to the infield. Behind that Nathan Moody collided with one of the implement tires in turn four stopping his four cylinder in its tracks and the caution waved setting up a green white checkers finish.

John Gill and Bill Whalen Jr. lined up behind DeLonjay for the restart, but neither could stay with the youngster over the final two laps as he scored his second win in four days having won at his hometown track on Sunday and again here in his first trip ever to Oskaloosa. Whalen would go second and of course join the winner in victory lane, Gill finished third while Dalton Winkleman claimed fourth.

The six car field of IMCA Modifieds that included Indiana visitor David Pries was up next for fourteen laps and this one turned into a race of attrition. Brandon Banks would lead the first three laps, but when he slowed suddenly exiting turn two Andrew Schroeder had to stand on the brakes allowing Scott Dickey to fly by and pick up the lead. Schroeder would keep the pressure on Dickey for the next several laps before he too retired to the sidelines and with both Gordon Head and Pries doing their start and park routine we were left with just two cars at the checkers. Dickey the winner and Garrett Wilson who has shown considerable improvement through this, his rookie season, in second. Schroeder would be scored in third, Head fourth and Banks in fifth.

The Stock Cars were up next and with only six cars signed in they definitely did not help with my "proposal" from yesterday, but then again with the 14-lap feature race that they put on, perhaps they did. Michael Peterson was quick off the pole to lead the first three laps before he slowed with motor issues and that handed the lead over to Dustin Griffiths. A caution for Cody McClure's spin mid-race closed the field up and on the restart Danny Thrasher would go to work on Griffiths. Both drivers are rookies in the Stock Car division for 2017 and while Griffiths has found victory lane a couple of times here, Thrasher was still looking for that first Stock Car win and you could sense that he was motivated. Add into that mix the current All Iowa Points leader, and this year's track champion Nathan Wood and the crowd was setup for a three car thriller.

Griffiths was protecting the bottom and holding his two challengers off until the wave of the green indicating two laps to go. Thrasher would then use a higher line entering turn three before turning his car to the bottom to exit turn four allowing him to pull even with Griffiths down the front stretch. The two rookies did some rubbing as they both aimed for the low line entering turn one and when Thrasher got it, Griffiths washed up a bit allowing Wood to move by into second. Having just watched it work in front of him Wood then used the same move on Thrasher entering turn three and exiting turn four and the two brought the crowd to their feet as they raced to the checkers side-by-side in a finish that was literally too close to call. The scorer has the one view that counts though and she had Thrasher by inches for his first victory in the Stock Car division. In victory lane Danny was very complimentary of Nathan Wood and all of the help that he has given him this season knowing that he could not have just beaten him without it. Griffiths was close behind in third, Michael Brown was fourth and Cody McClure took fifth.

The Sport Mod A-Main was up next with Trent Brink leading the way for the first three laps before Logan Anderson was able to squeeze by him. Curtis Van Der Wal followed Anderson past Brink into second and one lap later he would drive under Anderson to take the lead. From there it was smooth sailing as he capped off his third straight track championship, and fourth overall, with another convincing victory. Anderson and Brink would follow in second and third, Tony Johnson finished fourth and Danny Brau scored a fifth-place finish.

The scene was now set for the grand finale of the evening, the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock main event with twenty cars scheduled to start as Shannon Anderson looked to make it a perfect regular season having already won the first twelve features. There was bounty money on the line as well, I believe $300 to go along with the $200 winner's check and that was apparently enough for Mike Hughes to make the switch from the Stock Car division to the Hobby Stocks for the night. Under IMCA rules you cannot compete in both of these divisions so to do so Hughes had to surrender his Stock Car license and all of the points that he had scored at any IMCA tracks, not just here at Osky where he came into the night ranked second behind Nathan Wood, but other sanctioned tracks as well and he then had to purchase an IMCA Hobby Stock license to compete.

Hughes was fast in his heat race, easily making his way into a top four invert position and he would start the feature in eleventh, just one spot behind Shannon Anderson. Veteran driver Brad Stephens would lead the opening laps while our attention was mid-pack as Hughes quickly moved ahead of Anderson. Shannon's father, Jeff Anderson would take the lead away from Stephens on lap four just before the caution waved for Riley Meinders who had spun to the infield in turn one.

Following the restart, as Jeff Anderson paced the field, an interesting scenario played out as Shannon found himself in the middle of a three-wide pack with Hughes and Steve Allen while Christian Huffman raced directly ahead of him. After giving Huffman a couple of knocks on the back door, Anderson got loose at the exit of turn two on lap five and with the pack still tight following the restart contact from another car then sent him the rest of the way around causing a caution. With Shannon now going to the back of the field with ten laps remaining his chances of completing the undefeated season and taking the bounty himself looked bleak, but with his father out front it at least looked like the extra cash would stay in the family.

Jeff Anderson would continue to lead the field following the restart as both Aaron Martin and Hughes picked their way toward the front and when a wheel came off of the car of Dave Seddon the caution flew again with five laps remaining. For this restart Martin and Hughes would line up side-by-side behind the leader while Shannon Anderson had returned to the top ten. With the green back out it would be Martin in second for a lap before Hughes slipped by and he would then set his sights on the leader and his goal for the evening, to collect that extra cash. He looked high, he looked low, but Hughes could not make a challenge until the white flag waved with Shannon now into the top five and not far behind.

As the lead duo raced into turn three for the final time Hughes put a nose under Jeff Anderson and apparent contact between the two then sent the elder Anderson for a spin. Flagman J.D. Wheaton had the checkers ready to display, but then switched the lights to yellow and as Hughes slowed down the front stretch Shannon Anderson closed in on him quickly. Going into turn one Shannon put his nose on the left rear of Hughes' car and then hit the throttle to spin him. After doing a complete spin Hughes then tipped over onto his top causing the crowd to go nuts over it all.

A couple of Mahaska County Sheriff's Deputies had to keep some fans from coming out of the stands and the Oskaloosa police were quickly on the scene (like......really quick) to make sure that the situation did not escalate and after the long red flag period to ease the #11 car back on to all fours as well as some clean up we were ready to close this one out with a green-white-checkers restart. Shannon Anderson had been sent to the pits, Mike Hughes had been towed in and Jeff Anderson would restart at the rear as Brad Stephens would lead the field back to green.

Brad's son Jared would go to second the first time around, but when Christian Huffman did battle with him for the position on the final lap that allowed Brad Stephens to score the win, his first since since the 2002 season. And, since Shannon Anderson had essentially taken himself out of the race, Stephens would also collect the bounty. Huffman finished in the second spot, Jared Stephens was third, Bradley Graham was fourth and Thomas Stevens filled out the top five in a wild one.

Well, if this is to be the final weekly Wednesday night show to be held here at the Southern Iowa Speedway it was definitely one to remember, but I hope that is not the case. Don't forget that the annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge will be here at Oskaloosa on Friday and Saturday October 13th and 14th.

With the perfect weather forecast for the upcoming weekend I may be able to convince my wife Christine to join me for a race somewhere in the area on Saturday. Close to home 34 Raceway will have extra money on the line running a draw/redraw format for the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods with $1,000 going to the winner in the Mods and $500 to each of the other two divisions. Or I might have to negotiate a road trip that would allow for some daytime entertainment that better fits her tastes and then some racing at night. I'm looking forward to the challenge, so keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!