The race cars just kept rolling in as the sun started to set on the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis Friday for the first of two nights of racing on a beautiful Fall weekend in northeast Missouri. The final count was 136 cars in six divisions and the racing was high, wide and handsome on a well prepared racing surface.
The Hobby Stock division would be the first feature pulled from the six pack with Aaron Martin grabbing the lead for the opening lap. Mike Hughes would take it away on lap two before the caution waved for a Christian Huffman spin on lap three as he was racing in third. On the restart Hughes would pull away before a grinding crash in turn three brought out the red flag on lap seven. Heather Baum barrel rolled her car at least three times and thankfully she climbed out of the damaged Hobby Stock uninjured.
Once back to green Hughes would maintain about a five car length advantage over Martin as he completed the win, Martin would hold off Nick Ulin to finish second as Tim Dawson and Jamie Songer completed the top five.
A stout field of twenty-three Sport Compacts would be up next for twelve laps of racing with Jake Benischek taking the lead from the pole position. The four cylinders would flare out to four wide racing down the straightaways as drivers tried to improve their positions until the red flag waved when Cody Cleghorn smacked the guardrail in turn one and went upside down. Cleghorn was okay, but the railing needed some time to repair and after the delay Benischek brought the field back to green. Jadon DeLonjay's spin would slow the field on lap five and William Michel was turned by Nicholas Van Hemert on lap seven, but once back to green Benischek would keep Brandon Reu a few car-lengths back as he closed out the flag-to-flag win. Reu would be the runner-up ahead of eighth starting Barry Taft in third, Chuck Fullenkamp came from the fifth row to take fourth and Brandon Housley took fifth.
Forty-three Sport Mods from all over the region were in action and with the depth of talent on hand it was difficult just to make the twenty-four car cut for the 18-lap main event. After a three win weekend last week Austen Becerra had to be considered the pre-race favorite and when he drew the outside front row of the feature that pretty much sealed the deal. Austin Howes had other ideas though as he drove around the outside of Becerra coming off of turn four for lap two, but the pass was negated when three cars tangled just behind them in turn three.
Not only is Becerra fast, he is smart as well and following the restart he moved up the track in turn four to take away Howes' line and maintain the lead until another three-car dust up in turn four on lap five. Another caution for a flat tire on Tim Plummer's car slowed the field mid-race and it was now apparent that Logan Anderson was on the move. Anderson had started twelfth and was now in the top five and he would then make his way up to second before the final caution waved with three laps remaining when Brett Lowry and Austin Kaplan tangled in turn one.
On the restart Anderson did his best to stay with the leader, but there would be no stopping Becerra who made it four wins over the past eight days with two of them paying four figures. Anderson was impressive in second, Brandon Lennox started ninth and finished third, Brayton Carter came from the back of the field after changing a tire during the first lap caution to take fourth while Howes drove the Obsession Race Cars #49 to fifth.
A mix of eleven Late Models signed in, but only eight of them would start the twenty-lap main event with pole starter Tommy Elston taking the lead in his Crate. Cayden Carter would be there to challenge in his IMCA car and he would put a nice slider on Elston in turn three to take the lead on lap two. It was all over but the shouting from there as Carter then cruised to the win over Sam Halstead, Kevin Blackburn and Derek Liles.
Twenty-nine Stock Cars were on hand, some of the best in the region and as they always seem to do here at Memphis the division put on some of the best racing of the night. I kid you not, during a late restart in one of the heat races they raced six-wide through turns one and two without a single hint of contact and when a driver like Damon Murty has to come from the B-Main you know that the competition is stout!
Getting the feature started was a chore though as on the first try both Jeff Mueller, driving Corey Strothman's #C4, and Johnny Spaw spun in turn one. Then, on the second try, a multi-car melee in the back half of the field left Jason See with a badly damaged car sitting in the middle of the back stretch. A flat tire under the caution sent pole-sitter Brandon Jay into the work area moving Abe Huls up to the pole for the third try and he would lead the opening lap. Lap two would test the score keepers as Nathan Wood squeezed under Huls coming off of turn four and Dustin Griffiths had the momentum off the top side to make it three wide at the stripe with Wood's low line prevailing to take the lead on lap three. Huls would try to keep pace as Wood continued to hug the bottom while both Spaw and Mueller picked their way to the front . Spaw moved to second and twice over the final five laps he would pull even with Wood entering turn three but he couldn't make it stick on the second groove and the current All Iowa Points Stock Car leader Nathan Wood would take the win over Spaw, Mueller, Huls and Griffith.
Twenty-three Modifieds would close out the evening with twenty-laps of feature racing with pole-sitter Kyle Brown setting a fast pace. Cautions would slow the field three times during the first half of the race, on lap four for a Tyler Shaw spin, on lap seven when Andrew Schroeder went over the top of turns three and four and on lap ten when young Colton Prevo spun in turn three. After starting eighth Cayden Carter was now poised to challenge Brown and when he had a big run off of turn two on lap fourteen Carter threw a slider at Brown entering turn three. Kyle countered with a crossover move exiting turn four to retain the lead and the caution then waved again a lap later when Justin Fuller went over the top of turn three.
Robert Thompson spun and sat in turn two on the restart so when they tried it again Carter nailed the cushion perfectly in turns one and two allowing him to drive under Brown going down the back stretch and this time he was able to make it stick in turns three and four to take the lead. One more caution for Jerad Fuller's spin came with three laps remaining and on the restart there was no staying with Carter who scored his second win of the evening. Brown had to settle for runner-up pay, Jardin Fuller made a nice run on his hometown track finishing third, Bruce Hanford was fourth and Jeff Waterman completed the top five.
The track held a practice session during the afternoon and the racing surface was re-worked and watered before the night's action. That made for a later start than planned, although the delay was well worth it for the track that was provided, but with the large field, the two rollovers, guardrail repair and more cautions than what we are used to seeing here the final checkers flew just past midnight. You can bet that won't be the case tonight as the racing is scheduled to start an hour earlier with hot laps at 6 p.m. so if you are in the area I would highly recommend your attendance!
I will be headed a different direction though with tonight's show putting me closer to my Sunday target of the National Short Track Championships in Rockford and as of right now I am trying to decide between three different events. Check in tomorrow morning to see which Back Stretch I was prowling.
Go racing tonight!
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