If you are reading this on Memorial Day Monday afternoon I do hope that you are headed out to Boone, Vinton or one of the other special events in the region this evening. I had originally planned on making the trip to the Benton County Speedway tonight for the opener of the Dirt Knights Tour, but after four races over the past five nights it is time to spend an evening with family and friends away from the track.
My adventures started on Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa where I was filling in for track announcer Tony Paris for the second week in a row. Heat races for the four divisions were clicked off in record time and even after a ten minute break we were ready for feature racing at just ten minutes past eight o'clock. The Sport Compact feature went off without a hitch as Brandon Housley scored his third straight victory at Osky and then the Stock Car feature came to the track. Over the first three weeks of the season the Stock Cars have provided a spectacular show with tight pack racing and little or no cautions even though there was still some bumping and banging going on.
The tight pack racing was still there on Wednesday but things got a little rough a few laps in. Scott Dickey who has made the move from Modifieds to Stock Cars this year after the Mods were dropped was on the fly and making his way to the front when he was clipped and spun by Nathan Wood in turn four. I am pretty sure that the two are good friends so nothing intentional and both drivers were sent to the rear. On the restart Mike Harward was sent for a spin midway down the back stretch and we were thankful for two things. One, that he didn't start rolling and two that nobody hit him. Once back to racing Dickey was again on the move and coming to the front when he tagged the winner of last week's feature Mike Hughes and sent him for a spin turn four. Cody McClure had nowhere to go and he plowed into Hughes severely damaging the front end of his car. Hughes on the other had was able to go to the work area and return to the track in time for the next restart.
Leader Cayden Carter was bringing the field back to green and when the two drivers behind him hit the throttle before he did Carter did not join in and when the field stacked up behind them Nathan Wood got sideways and then was plowed by another car sending him into a couple of barrel rolls. Thankfully Nathan was able to climb from his battered race car under his own power and the crowd gave him a big round of applause, primarily as they were reminded that without Nathan's efforts during the off season there likely would not have been any weekly racing at Osky this year.
Once back to green it was back to the normal good clean Stock Car racing as Carter held on for the win while Hughes made a great run back through the field to finish second.
The Sport Mods were up next with Tim Plummer drawing the front row and racing out to nearly a full straightaway lead. Curtis Van Der Wal had started tenth and by mid-race was up to second, but he had his work cut out for him in order to catch Plummer. As the laps clicked away the gap between the two faded away and when the white flag waved Van Der Wal was within five car lengths and Plummer had two lapped cars just ahead of him. Van Der Wal closed the gap to two car lengths through one and two and appeared to have a run on the leader going down the back stretch. As Plummer entered turn three I could not tell if he checked up a bit because of the lapped car or if Van Der Wal just mis-judged his distance, but contact from the challenger sent Plummer for a spin and the crowd reacted with a chorus of boos as Van Der Wal drove under the yellow flag. Now remember that these two raced together on the pavement at Hawkeye Downs for several years and Plummer was parked next to Van Der Wal in the pits, so again I do not believe that this was intentional, just a mistake and by rule both drivers were sent to the rear for the green-white-checkers restart.
Logan Anderson now found himself in front, but it would be Brayton Carter who would make the move at the drop of the green and put the #01 car back in victory lane for the second week in a row as his brother Cayden won with it the week before breaking Van Der Wal's streak of ten straight feature wins dating back to 2017.
The Hobby Stock feature closed out the night in fine fashion as current All Iowa Points leader Eric Stanton chased down Christian Huffman and passed him on the final lap for the win. When I reminded Stanton in victory that he had just robbed the young driver of his first career win he replied that the same thing happened to him several times before he scored his first win and that he expects Huffman to get that first win soon.
It was a fun night to announce at Osky as the good-sized crowd was very vocal throughout the evening and really had a buzz to it on the obvious occasions. I would hope that there will be even more fans in attendance when weekly racing continues this Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
The Sprint Invaders returned to action on Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and I found out early in the evening that our series was no longer sponsored by Shottenkirk.com. Earlier in May I totaled my Kia Optima, the second one that I had purchased from Shottenkirk and when I needed to find my new ride fast the first place I went was to Shottenkirk.com to see what they had for both new and used vehicles. I identified a couple that I liked, but my wife suggested that we also take a spin through the Deery Brothers lot to see what they had and we saw it, the car that we wanted five years old and with only 23,000 miles on it. I had felt a bit of guilt for the past four weeks, but no longer and while I am thankful that Shottenkirk sponsored the Invaders for the past three seasons I am glad that I did purchase my vehicle from a dealership that continues to support racing in our region with the Deery Brothers Summer Series.
The Sprint Car car count was down a bit at nineteen in Donnellson due to a big two day show at Lake Ozark as well as at least one driver choosing to go to Jackson, Minnesota, instead due to the weather forecasts at each track. As it turned out though Jackson was rained out while Donnellson raced. The car counts were up in the weekly divisions though and a very nice crowd filed in on a warm and muggy night. The track prep by Dave Sapp and Mike Van Genderen may have appeared to be too wet early in the night, but proved out to be perfect come feature time as not only was it wide and multi-grooved, but there was no dust! That's right, when was the last time that you went to a winged sprint car race and could not find even a hint of dust??
Brandon Lennox fought off a couple of nasty sliders from Austen Becerra and then held off a late charge from Brandon Dale to win the Sport Mod feature. In the Stock Cars current All Iowa Points leader John Oliver grabbed the lead mid-race and then went unchallenged the rest of the way for the victory. That has not been the case here the past two Friday nights as the Stock Cars have seen features where five or six cars were still in contention for the win coming to the checkered flag. Levi Smith has a new Josh Most chassis and was looking good leading early until Bill Roberts Jr. passed him on lap five of the Modified main event. Roberts would go on to win on a night where his family business, Roberts Tire Center in Burlington was sponsoring and I was disappointed when the PA system went on the fritz as I was headed down to interview him in victory lane.
The Sprint Car feature was next and during the four wide parade lap we saw something happen that we had never seen before. The track photographers, D&M Photography, use a drone to get some unique video footage and as the Sprints were coming out of turn four the drone was flying low at them. When Micheil went to toggle up, he pushed the lever down instead and the drone crashed hard into the front wing of the #99 car driven by John Schulz. The drone and its camera were destroyed, a very expensive loss for the young photographer, but thankfully after a quick check over by the officials the car was determined to be okay and I know that Micheil would have been devastated if he would have hurt the race car.
Jamie Ball would lead through a couple of early cautions and on lap eleven Schulz threw a slider at him in turns one and two following a restart to take the lead. Bill Balog had started the Midland Performance #50 from seventeenth and was on the charge moving to second with four laps remaining and when the caution waved a lap later I think that most of the fans thought that he would be able to pass Schulz on the restart. It was not to be though as Schulz drove the Jimmy Davies owned #99 to the inside of turns one and two to block and the caught the cushion perfectly in turn two to drive away and take the win over the eight-time IRA champion. Balog was second, Ball finished third and young California driver Mason Daniel, who is being coached by veteran Danny Lasoski, was impressive in fourth.
The Sport Compacts and Late Models closed out the evening with Kimberly Abbot holding off Barry Taft in a battle of two former All Iowa Points champions to win the Four Cylinder feature and Todd Frank beat Tommy Elston to the checkers in the Late Model division. It was the third time in his career that Frank had won on his wife's birthday.
On Saturday I had my wife convinced that we should go drink beer and watch the figure eight races at 34 Raceway, but with temperatures in the 90's and the stands facing west we instead decided to make a late trip to Knoxville to surprise my son Morgan and his fiance Em. Morgan is doing some press release writing for three or four Sprint Car teams this year and he was planning on introducing himself to some people that he had only been talking to on the phone before, so we knew that they would be there but they did not know that we were coming. It is totally out of character for me to arrive at a race late, but we did just that walking up into the stands as the second heat of the 305's took the checkers and the looks on the kids' faces was well worth the surprise.
I was very impressed with how quickly Knoxville ran off the program even on a hut and sultry night when in the past it seemed like we would sit around and wait for things to cool off a bit and the result was that a large throng of fans, both young and old then made their way into the pits to visit with the drivers after the final checkers flew just past 9:30.
Pole-sitter Eric Bridger was slow to come up to speed as the 305 feature took the green allowing Ryan Leavitt to jump out front and he cruised to an easy win. Brian Brown was doing double duty tonight and after he stormed to the front to win the 360 feature he then strapped into the 410 looking for his fourth straight win here. Austin McCarl raced out to a big advantage only to have Brown reel him in and with just three laps to go Brown tried a slider for the lead in turn one. McCarl did not flinch though and kicked off the cushion in two to maintain the lead. One more near miss with lapped traffic almost gave Brown the break he needed on the final lap, but Austin held on to pick up his third win of the season as well making it six for six now for sponsor Casey's General Stores at Knoxville.
Twenty-four hours later I would again get to visit with Austin in victory lane as he picked up the win in Sprint Invader action at 34 Raceway Sunday night. Car owner and master wrench Scott Bonar had called Austin just before noon to have him come down and drive the Midland Performance #50 and McCarl accepted. He would start from the pole and lead all thirty laps, although it would not come easy as an ever improving Cody Wehrle had two late shots at the lead. In victory lane Austin said that his wife had wanted them to go to a concert that night, so it was good that he at least had a trophy that he was bringing home with him. Plus, 34 Raceway is now the second track along with Knoxville where his grandpa Lenard, his father Terry and his brother Carson have all won feature races.
Wehrle had a career best second place finish and you could tell during the race that he wanted more, but he needed a mistake from McCarl in traffic that just never came. It won't be long until either Bill right or I will be visiting with "Opie" in victory lane. Mason Daniel had another fine showing finishing in third while Chris Martin gave the fans quite a show coming from seventeenth to fourth. Two young Canadians who had the weekend off from the ASCS National Tour were also on hand. Skylar Gee won the Budweiser Shake Up Dash and finished fifth in the feature while Robbie Price had a nice run going in fourth early before spinning. He fought back nicely though taking ninth at the checkers.
In support class action it was great to see Roger "Fireball" Brocket back in action driving a dirt truck. He finished third behind John Helenthal and Drake Fenton while Brandon Housley made the trip over from Ottumwa to win in the Four Cylinders. Mike Morrill knows where victory lane is at 34 and he won another feature in the Mod Lite division.
It was a great week of racing and I will look forward to getting back out to the track soon. Look for me on the Back Stretch.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Wednesday Notebook: May 23, 2018
It is another beautiful Wednesday night for racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway and I am looking forward to being on the microphone again filling in for Tony Paris who will be busy guiding a talented group of phenoms in a baseball game in Ottumwa. While I do enjoy the chance to do some announcing I must say that on Wednesdays I might prefer to sit up in the stands with all of my racing friends that gather mid-week in Oskaloosa, especially when the number of opportunities to do so are fewer in 2018. Either way I do hope that if you are within driving distance that you make your way out to the track tonight!
So let's get to some notes that I have compiled as I was going through the results from this past weekend and I will admit that I still have several states to get through so if you know of something noteworthy that I missed, feel free to comment on the Facebook post where I have shared the link.
I loved seeing a couple of names in victory lane this past weekend. Steve Holthaus a former NKF Tour Hobby Stock champion is still winning races twenty years later as he took the Hobby Stock victory in Decorah Saturday night and central Iowa transplant Jeff Mueller was the Stock Car feature winner at Boone Saturday night. I have literally watched Jeff grow up and fans of Marshalltown and Boone, if you haven't figured it out yet, if there is any traction to be found on the bottom line you can bet that Mueller will be challenging for the win.
There were a couple of nice paying IMCA Modified shows in eastern Iowa last weekend. On Friday night Cayden Carter took the $2,000 top prize at the Davenport Speedway relegating Justin Kay to second. Two nights earlier Carter took a drive in his brother Brayton's Sport Mod to end Curtis Van Der Wal's eleven race winning streak at Oskaloosa so the young redhead was something of a giant slayer last week. On Saturday night it was Bryce Garnhart picking up $1,000 for the win at the Maquoketa Speedway and in case you didn't notice, the driver from Shannon, Illinois, is the early leader in the Modified All Iowa Points. Now granted two of these drivers list Arizona as their home state and are basing themselves out of Iowa, but only two drivers from the current top ten are from Iowa. The Modified division has been tabulated since 1979 and only one driver with an out of state address has ever won the All Iowa Points, that being Rick Wages from Moline, Illinois, in 1993 and 1994.
Another driver that I noted in the results from Maquoketa was Todd Reitzler who towed his IMCA Stock Car over to finish fourth in a division that combined Stock Cars and the Quad City area Street Stocks that some folks refer to as "Voodoo Wagons". The Darkside promotional team called them Outlaw Super Bombers, but I like Voodoo Wagons better.
Kyle Peterson won his first career Sprint Car feature at 34 Raceway Saturday night while a couple of other southeast Iowa Sprint Car drivers made the trip north for the weekend. John Schulz and Brayden Gaylord ran with the UMSS series in Princeton, Minnesota, on Friday night and at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin on Saturday. Both drivers will race much closer to home this coming weekend as the Sprint Invaders return to action on Friday night at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then at 34 Raceway west of Burlington on Sunday night. That's right, the oval track racing will take place on Sunday this weekend at 34 Raceway because on Saturday night they will be hosting the Freedom Figure 8 event with some wild action right in front of the grandstand.
Wyatt Block of Tigerton, Wisconsin, was the best of a thirty car field of IMCA Modifieds at the Shawano Speedway Saturday night. I love it when a driver moves out of the Sport Mods and into the Modifieds and finds success.
Kile Motorsports has announced that they will be promoting a race on Saturday night July 14th at the West Liberty Raceway. Good to see that the legendary track will not sit completely idle in 2018.
In this week's "Yes, Social Media Actually Helps Racing" update we salute Landon Little who used Facebook to post the following after the Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri had to cancel after being hit by a heavy thunderstorm just before race time. "Should pay for are gas for wasted trip". Thanks Landon! You our a true race fan and you have are complete support, keep up the great work with the constructive criticism as it truly can only make racing better!
Hopefully the weather will be nice for three full nights action as the Show Me 100 kicks off this Thursday night at the Lucas Oil Speedway.
It took me a minute or two to figure out what the Park Jefferson Speedway meant to say when they posted the following to Facebook on Saturday:
"Due to amount of rain and antiseptic rain we have cancel races for this week"
Did spell check really change the word "anticipated" to "antiseptic"???
Now I know that spell check was not to blame when somebody had a post on a race forum last week that used the phrase "any buddy" rather than the word "anybody". My mistake.....spell check was not to blame when sum buddy had a post on a race forum last week......
Okay that's enough from me for now. Hope to see you tonight at Osky, Friday in Donnellson and Sunday at 34. I am lobbying to get the wife to go drink beer and watch the Figure 8's on Saturday and then on Monday I hope to slip away in time to make it to Vinton for the Dirt Knights event at the Benton County Speedway.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend and be sure to take some time to recognize the true meaning of the Holiday. See you on the Back Stretch!
Oh yes, and in case I forget to say it tonight Happy Anniversary to Deb and Ron Haines!
So let's get to some notes that I have compiled as I was going through the results from this past weekend and I will admit that I still have several states to get through so if you know of something noteworthy that I missed, feel free to comment on the Facebook post where I have shared the link.
I loved seeing a couple of names in victory lane this past weekend. Steve Holthaus a former NKF Tour Hobby Stock champion is still winning races twenty years later as he took the Hobby Stock victory in Decorah Saturday night and central Iowa transplant Jeff Mueller was the Stock Car feature winner at Boone Saturday night. I have literally watched Jeff grow up and fans of Marshalltown and Boone, if you haven't figured it out yet, if there is any traction to be found on the bottom line you can bet that Mueller will be challenging for the win.
There were a couple of nice paying IMCA Modified shows in eastern Iowa last weekend. On Friday night Cayden Carter took the $2,000 top prize at the Davenport Speedway relegating Justin Kay to second. Two nights earlier Carter took a drive in his brother Brayton's Sport Mod to end Curtis Van Der Wal's eleven race winning streak at Oskaloosa so the young redhead was something of a giant slayer last week. On Saturday night it was Bryce Garnhart picking up $1,000 for the win at the Maquoketa Speedway and in case you didn't notice, the driver from Shannon, Illinois, is the early leader in the Modified All Iowa Points. Now granted two of these drivers list Arizona as their home state and are basing themselves out of Iowa, but only two drivers from the current top ten are from Iowa. The Modified division has been tabulated since 1979 and only one driver with an out of state address has ever won the All Iowa Points, that being Rick Wages from Moline, Illinois, in 1993 and 1994.
Another driver that I noted in the results from Maquoketa was Todd Reitzler who towed his IMCA Stock Car over to finish fourth in a division that combined Stock Cars and the Quad City area Street Stocks that some folks refer to as "Voodoo Wagons". The Darkside promotional team called them Outlaw Super Bombers, but I like Voodoo Wagons better.
Kyle Peterson won his first career Sprint Car feature at 34 Raceway Saturday night while a couple of other southeast Iowa Sprint Car drivers made the trip north for the weekend. John Schulz and Brayden Gaylord ran with the UMSS series in Princeton, Minnesota, on Friday night and at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin on Saturday. Both drivers will race much closer to home this coming weekend as the Sprint Invaders return to action on Friday night at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then at 34 Raceway west of Burlington on Sunday night. That's right, the oval track racing will take place on Sunday this weekend at 34 Raceway because on Saturday night they will be hosting the Freedom Figure 8 event with some wild action right in front of the grandstand.
Wyatt Block of Tigerton, Wisconsin, was the best of a thirty car field of IMCA Modifieds at the Shawano Speedway Saturday night. I love it when a driver moves out of the Sport Mods and into the Modifieds and finds success.
Kile Motorsports has announced that they will be promoting a race on Saturday night July 14th at the West Liberty Raceway. Good to see that the legendary track will not sit completely idle in 2018.
 |
| The storm is rolling in from the west last Saturday at Lucas Oil Speedway |
Hopefully the weather will be nice for three full nights action as the Show Me 100 kicks off this Thursday night at the Lucas Oil Speedway.
It took me a minute or two to figure out what the Park Jefferson Speedway meant to say when they posted the following to Facebook on Saturday:
"Due to amount of rain and antiseptic rain we have cancel races for this week"
Did spell check really change the word "anticipated" to "antiseptic"???
Now I know that spell check was not to blame when somebody had a post on a race forum last week that used the phrase "any buddy" rather than the word "anybody". My mistake.....spell check was not to blame when sum buddy had a post on a race forum last week......
Okay that's enough from me for now. Hope to see you tonight at Osky, Friday in Donnellson and Sunday at 34. I am lobbying to get the wife to go drink beer and watch the Figure 8's on Saturday and then on Monday I hope to slip away in time to make it to Vinton for the Dirt Knights event at the Benton County Speedway.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend and be sure to take some time to recognize the true meaning of the Holiday. See you on the Back Stretch!
Oh yes, and in case I forget to say it tonight Happy Anniversary to Deb and Ron Haines!
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Wednesday Notebook: May 16, 2018
Happy 52nd Birthday to my "little" brother Kurtis! He probably doesn't read the Back Stretch, but I know that a few of you readers know him so when you see him, wish him a happy birthday and tell him that you read it on the internet. It will mess with his mind....
The Super Modified Weekend at the Farley Speedway is the big news maker from this past weekend and not for the reasons that the promotional group was looking for, It was to be the second running of the big money show for Modifieds and Sport Mods and with Late Model stars Scott Bloomquist and Tim McCreadie on the entry list for the Mods they were hoping to pack the place both Friday and Saturday. The problem though is that Mother Nature had other plans as a pesky stationery front setup shop and wavered just to the south of the northeast Iowa track meaning that while I was announcing in dry and warm conditions at Donnellson Friday night, the opening night of the Farley event just over two hours to the north was plagued by misty rain and a temperature in the mid-40's.
From all reports the conditions were miserable and while they were able to complete both sets of heat races for the 32 Sport Mods on hand, the 76 Modifieds appear to have completed their first set of heats plus one from the second round before it became too wet to race any further. The weather was not any better on Saturday and I am told that the plug was pulled around noon giving drivers time to scatter out and get to other tracks in the region where the weather was more favorable for racing.
The debate now of course on social media is about how this situation should all be handled with most of it based upon people saying "I heard this", or "this is what is going to happen" even though there has been no official announcement as of yet from Farley Speedway Promotions. For those drivers, fans, pay-per-view purchasers and others who just want to stoke the flames I ask that you go back and read this entry that I wrote in July of 2017 and if you take only one thing away from it, I hope that it is this:
"put yourself in the shoes of the decision maker(s) and think about the big picture rather than just how it effects you"
Before you go and complain about the decision......how about you wait for the actual decision? Then if you still don't like it, well then have at it and we will see if these gentlemen decide if it is all worth the risk and aggravation to schedule this event again in 2019.
Twenty IMCA Stock Cars were at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday night and wow, did they ever put on a show for a nice crowd in attendance! Lead changes, three and four wide action, a little bumping and banging leading to some momentary hard feelings, but when it was all said and done I would have to think that every driver in that race, in the front, middle or back, would have to be proud of that one. At a time when there is a concern about the future of weekly racing it was a great event to witness and, even better, I haven't seen a single bit of video on it circulating the internet this week! Yes, I know that many of you think that is a bad thing but I disagree. If you want to see another great race at Donnellson you have to actually go there this Friday night, and perhaps again next Friday May 25th when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders join the card and see it for yourself. And don't watch it through your phone so that somebody at home can see some poor quality video of the lead pack only on Facebook Live. Instead leave your phone in your pocket, scan the full field and let your focus move back and forth to catch all of the great racing action. Then later when your friends ask why you weren't live streaming tell them that they should just join you at the track instead and make it "Facebook Dead".
I was also encouraged to see the Lee County Late Model car count grow to eleven on Friday night. Veteran driver Ron Boyse was back for the second time this season while Aric Becker, Brandon Queen and Darin Weisinger Jr. all made their debut. Becker raced at Shiverfest to close out 2017 and so this was his second time out here with his Late Model. Queen who is the son of former Sportsman driver Alan Queen ran a couple of IMCA sanctioned events a year or two ago and the seventeen-year-old Weisinger has been racing a Sport Compact the past two seasons. Look for Boyse to snag a win in the near future and all three of the newbies showed some promise on Friday night. Hopefully the track will continue to add to the car count in the division that is now in its third season.
Twelve-time All Iowa Points Champion Terry McCarl was involved in a terrible accident at the start of the 410 Sprint Car feature at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday night and thank goodness that he was able to walk away slowly, but under his own power. The safety equipment did its job as the veteran driver escaped serious injury. You can stay up to date on T-Mac and his sons Austin and Carson through their websites and if you check out the author of those releases you will notice why I am the proud father.
The First Lady of Sprint Car racing at Knoxville McKenna Haase did it again Saturday night as she notched her first career feature win in the 360 division. "Sassy" is the only female driver to win a feature at the historic track and has done it in the 305 class as well. We hope to see her back with the Sprint Invaders at both Donnellson on May 25th and at 34 Raceway on Sunday May 27th as she has registered with the series and is the leader in the Rookie-of-the-Year race after one event.
I had some other notes to share, but time has run out on me as I need to load up and head to Oskaloosa for racing tonight at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The weather is perfect on this Wednesday night so I hope to see you there!
The Super Modified Weekend at the Farley Speedway is the big news maker from this past weekend and not for the reasons that the promotional group was looking for, It was to be the second running of the big money show for Modifieds and Sport Mods and with Late Model stars Scott Bloomquist and Tim McCreadie on the entry list for the Mods they were hoping to pack the place both Friday and Saturday. The problem though is that Mother Nature had other plans as a pesky stationery front setup shop and wavered just to the south of the northeast Iowa track meaning that while I was announcing in dry and warm conditions at Donnellson Friday night, the opening night of the Farley event just over two hours to the north was plagued by misty rain and a temperature in the mid-40's.
From all reports the conditions were miserable and while they were able to complete both sets of heat races for the 32 Sport Mods on hand, the 76 Modifieds appear to have completed their first set of heats plus one from the second round before it became too wet to race any further. The weather was not any better on Saturday and I am told that the plug was pulled around noon giving drivers time to scatter out and get to other tracks in the region where the weather was more favorable for racing.
The debate now of course on social media is about how this situation should all be handled with most of it based upon people saying "I heard this", or "this is what is going to happen" even though there has been no official announcement as of yet from Farley Speedway Promotions. For those drivers, fans, pay-per-view purchasers and others who just want to stoke the flames I ask that you go back and read this entry that I wrote in July of 2017 and if you take only one thing away from it, I hope that it is this:
"put yourself in the shoes of the decision maker(s) and think about the big picture rather than just how it effects you"
Before you go and complain about the decision......how about you wait for the actual decision? Then if you still don't like it, well then have at it and we will see if these gentlemen decide if it is all worth the risk and aggravation to schedule this event again in 2019.
Twenty IMCA Stock Cars were at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday night and wow, did they ever put on a show for a nice crowd in attendance! Lead changes, three and four wide action, a little bumping and banging leading to some momentary hard feelings, but when it was all said and done I would have to think that every driver in that race, in the front, middle or back, would have to be proud of that one. At a time when there is a concern about the future of weekly racing it was a great event to witness and, even better, I haven't seen a single bit of video on it circulating the internet this week! Yes, I know that many of you think that is a bad thing but I disagree. If you want to see another great race at Donnellson you have to actually go there this Friday night, and perhaps again next Friday May 25th when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders join the card and see it for yourself. And don't watch it through your phone so that somebody at home can see some poor quality video of the lead pack only on Facebook Live. Instead leave your phone in your pocket, scan the full field and let your focus move back and forth to catch all of the great racing action. Then later when your friends ask why you weren't live streaming tell them that they should just join you at the track instead and make it "Facebook Dead".
I was also encouraged to see the Lee County Late Model car count grow to eleven on Friday night. Veteran driver Ron Boyse was back for the second time this season while Aric Becker, Brandon Queen and Darin Weisinger Jr. all made their debut. Becker raced at Shiverfest to close out 2017 and so this was his second time out here with his Late Model. Queen who is the son of former Sportsman driver Alan Queen ran a couple of IMCA sanctioned events a year or two ago and the seventeen-year-old Weisinger has been racing a Sport Compact the past two seasons. Look for Boyse to snag a win in the near future and all three of the newbies showed some promise on Friday night. Hopefully the track will continue to add to the car count in the division that is now in its third season.
Twelve-time All Iowa Points Champion Terry McCarl was involved in a terrible accident at the start of the 410 Sprint Car feature at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday night and thank goodness that he was able to walk away slowly, but under his own power. The safety equipment did its job as the veteran driver escaped serious injury. You can stay up to date on T-Mac and his sons Austin and Carson through their websites and if you check out the author of those releases you will notice why I am the proud father.
The First Lady of Sprint Car racing at Knoxville McKenna Haase did it again Saturday night as she notched her first career feature win in the 360 division. "Sassy" is the only female driver to win a feature at the historic track and has done it in the 305 class as well. We hope to see her back with the Sprint Invaders at both Donnellson on May 25th and at 34 Raceway on Sunday May 27th as she has registered with the series and is the leader in the Rookie-of-the-Year race after one event.
I had some other notes to share, but time has run out on me as I need to load up and head to Oskaloosa for racing tonight at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The weather is perfect on this Wednesday night so I hope to see you there!
Friday, May 11, 2018
Six Pack of Stocks Steal Show at Donnellson
With a stationary front draped across the state of Iowa from east to west you had to go as far south as possible to find some reasonably warm racing Friday night and the Lee County Speedway is the southern most track in the state tucked into southeast corner. Six divisions were in action with five of them sporting double figure car counts topped by the Stock Cars at twenty strong and what a race they had to highlight the evening.
Jeremy Pundt and John Oliver Jr. would bring the field to green and they raced side-by-side to cross the stripe in a virtual dead heat for lap one. With the caution waving after that lap it would be Pundt who would lead the field back to green only to have a second caution wave after lap two. Okay, so now they were ready to race and boy oh boy did it get interesting.
Hugging the bottom Pundt would maintain the lead until lap ten when Oliver was able to get enough of a run off the top of turn four to take the lead. Jason Cook was digging on the inside as well waiting for Pundt to leave an opening and both David Brandies and Todd Reitzler were now in the mix as well. Six cars were racing for the lead with no more than four car-lengths from the front to the back of the six pack with drivers going three and nearly four wide at times. Brandies appeared to have a run at the top of turn three on lap thirteen, but when that four wide pack ran out of room some contact nearly sent him spinning and that allowed Abe Huls to emerge from the bottom take the lead. Reitzler would take the point on the following lap only to have Huls charge back on the bottom with five to go.
Reitzler was searching out lines over those final laps trying to find something that would propel him back to the front, but Huls was too stout and he would take the win in this thriller. Reiztler was right there in second followed closely by Oliver Jr., Pundt, Cook and Brandies.
It looked as if there would be a first time winner in the Steffes Late Model division tonight as Todd Frank shook off the early challenges of his son Gunnar and then opened up a comfortable lead in the twenty lap main event. It would all go by the wayside though with six laps remaining when the motor let go on the leader's car dropping a big oil streak down the front straightaway. After the cleanup Gunnar tried to keep the win in the family, but he could not hold off Sam Halstead who charged by on the restart to take the win. Jay Johnson finished second, Ron Boyse edged out the younger Frank at the line for third and Tommy Elston completed the top five. Three drivers making their first appearance of 2108 Aric Becker, Brandon Queen and Darin Weisinger all looked good in their debut.
After some tough luck during the first two point races Austen Becerra, Brandon Dale and Brandon Lennox lined up one, two and three in the average point format for the feature and they would be the class of the field over the 18 lap distance. Becerra would lead the first four circuits before Dale took over for two laps and then Lennox powered by on the outside of turn to take the lead and eventually the win. Dale would fight off a late slider by Becerra to finish second, Sean Wyett was fourth and point leader Dakota Sapp finished fifth.
Blake Woodruff and Craig Spegal were early leaders in the IMCA Modified feature, but after Jeff Waterman took the lead on lap five he would walk away from the field over the remaining fifteen circuits to win in dominating fashion. Waterman had started seventh on the grid. Spegal had his best run at LCS as the runner-up, Bill Roberts Jr. recovered from mechanical issues in hot laps to finish third, Woodruff was fourth and Dakota Simmons filled out the top five.
Defending All Iowa Points champion Barry Taft took the lead from Mike Reu on lap five and then held off a late challenge from Kimberly Abbott to win the 14-lap Sport Compact headliner. Abbot was half a car length back at the checkers in second, Brandon Reu finished ahead of his father Mike in third while Chuck Fullenkamp was fifth.
Five Hobby Stocks started the feature. One pulled to the infield with handling problems and two of them Broc Hopwood and Nathan Ballard fell out with flat tires, Ballard while leading. Aaron Martin was there to clean up by taking the win while Gene Nicklas was second.
As always there were a bunch of great sponsors supporting the show at Lee County, plus the track's scorekeeper and our colleague here at Positively Racing Brian Neal put up an extra $350 that was collected by four of the night's winners. There was a good crowd on hand and the track was smooth, wide and racy. Back to normal at Donnellson!
After three straight nights at the track it is on to some Mother's Day weekend traditions for me with my next racing action scheduled for Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Here's hoping that you can get out to a show or two at the track of your choice this weekend!
Jeremy Pundt and John Oliver Jr. would bring the field to green and they raced side-by-side to cross the stripe in a virtual dead heat for lap one. With the caution waving after that lap it would be Pundt who would lead the field back to green only to have a second caution wave after lap two. Okay, so now they were ready to race and boy oh boy did it get interesting.
Hugging the bottom Pundt would maintain the lead until lap ten when Oliver was able to get enough of a run off the top of turn four to take the lead. Jason Cook was digging on the inside as well waiting for Pundt to leave an opening and both David Brandies and Todd Reitzler were now in the mix as well. Six cars were racing for the lead with no more than four car-lengths from the front to the back of the six pack with drivers going three and nearly four wide at times. Brandies appeared to have a run at the top of turn three on lap thirteen, but when that four wide pack ran out of room some contact nearly sent him spinning and that allowed Abe Huls to emerge from the bottom take the lead. Reitzler would take the point on the following lap only to have Huls charge back on the bottom with five to go.
Reitzler was searching out lines over those final laps trying to find something that would propel him back to the front, but Huls was too stout and he would take the win in this thriller. Reiztler was right there in second followed closely by Oliver Jr., Pundt, Cook and Brandies.
It looked as if there would be a first time winner in the Steffes Late Model division tonight as Todd Frank shook off the early challenges of his son Gunnar and then opened up a comfortable lead in the twenty lap main event. It would all go by the wayside though with six laps remaining when the motor let go on the leader's car dropping a big oil streak down the front straightaway. After the cleanup Gunnar tried to keep the win in the family, but he could not hold off Sam Halstead who charged by on the restart to take the win. Jay Johnson finished second, Ron Boyse edged out the younger Frank at the line for third and Tommy Elston completed the top five. Three drivers making their first appearance of 2108 Aric Becker, Brandon Queen and Darin Weisinger all looked good in their debut.
After some tough luck during the first two point races Austen Becerra, Brandon Dale and Brandon Lennox lined up one, two and three in the average point format for the feature and they would be the class of the field over the 18 lap distance. Becerra would lead the first four circuits before Dale took over for two laps and then Lennox powered by on the outside of turn to take the lead and eventually the win. Dale would fight off a late slider by Becerra to finish second, Sean Wyett was fourth and point leader Dakota Sapp finished fifth.
Blake Woodruff and Craig Spegal were early leaders in the IMCA Modified feature, but after Jeff Waterman took the lead on lap five he would walk away from the field over the remaining fifteen circuits to win in dominating fashion. Waterman had started seventh on the grid. Spegal had his best run at LCS as the runner-up, Bill Roberts Jr. recovered from mechanical issues in hot laps to finish third, Woodruff was fourth and Dakota Simmons filled out the top five.
Defending All Iowa Points champion Barry Taft took the lead from Mike Reu on lap five and then held off a late challenge from Kimberly Abbott to win the 14-lap Sport Compact headliner. Abbot was half a car length back at the checkers in second, Brandon Reu finished ahead of his father Mike in third while Chuck Fullenkamp was fifth.
Five Hobby Stocks started the feature. One pulled to the infield with handling problems and two of them Broc Hopwood and Nathan Ballard fell out with flat tires, Ballard while leading. Aaron Martin was there to clean up by taking the win while Gene Nicklas was second.
As always there were a bunch of great sponsors supporting the show at Lee County, plus the track's scorekeeper and our colleague here at Positively Racing Brian Neal put up an extra $350 that was collected by four of the night's winners. There was a good crowd on hand and the track was smooth, wide and racy. Back to normal at Donnellson!
After three straight nights at the track it is on to some Mother's Day weekend traditions for me with my next racing action scheduled for Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Here's hoping that you can get out to a show or two at the track of your choice this weekend!
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Bergman Runs Down Smoke For KC Classic Win at Lakeside
Tony Stewart appeared to have the race well in hand until a red flag with eleven laps remaining changed the story at the McCarthy Auto Group KC Classic Thursday night. It was the annual NASCAR race weekend special featuring the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series at Lakeside Speedway just a few miles north of the Kansas Speedway.
Stewart started the twenty-five lap main event from the third position, but he moved to the front on lap two when he flew around pole-sitter Jack Dover. From there the former NASCAR Cup champion would open up a nice lead until lapped traffic came into play and on lap nine when Harli White slowed in turns one and two the caution waved giving the leader a clear track once again. On the restart Paul Nienheiser tangled with the lapped car of Robbie Price at the entrance of turn one and with both drivers spinning it sent the rest of the field scrambling. Nienheiser was able to keep his car running though so he would return to his fifth position for the next go at a green.
After dropping a position on the first lap, Nienheiser then went on a tear passing two cars to move to fourth until lap twelve when he slowed and hit an infield track tire as he drove to the infield. Stewart now had a full straightaway lead over Dover and Seth Bergman, but that would be wiped away when Jamie Ball and Chris Martin got together on the back stretch with Martin taking a tumble on lap fourteen.
After the cleanup "Smoke" would bring the field back to green and he would again pull out to a solid lead as Bergman shuffled Dover back to third. With the laps counting down Bergman started searching for a different line and when he found one a little lower than the leader the gap closed quickly. With just five laps remaining Bergman would put the slider on Stewart into turn one to take the lead and he would then pull away for the victory. Brian Brown also made a late pass of Tony Stewart to finish second while Dover and Sam Hafertepe Jr. completed the top five.
Bergman had started fourth and Brown came from eleventh while the rest of the top five started one, two and three.
E-Mods and B-Mods ran as support classes in front of a large crowd. In the E-Mod feature the defending track champion and current point leader Billy Spillman took advantage of the front row starters Eddie Ingram and Trevor Hand banging wheels in turn three on the opening lap to take the lead and he would survive a couple of early cautions to go the distance for the win. Ben Stockton mounted a challenge after the final restart though he would have to settle for second, Matt Dorsam came from the fifth row to finish third, Hand was fourth and Jessie Mulich took fifth.
The B-Mod field was stacked with talent as pole-sitter Tim Powell grabbed the early lead. The winner here the past two Friday nights looked to be in command until Brad Smith found the high line to his liking, especially in turns three and four and on lap ten of the twenty-lap event Smith would nose ahead at the stripe. Powell was still faster on the bottom in one and two so he would lead down the back stretch only to see Smith again sweep past him up top off of four. This time after again taking the lead off turn two Powell moved up the track in three and four to take away Smith's line as well as the lead and that would be how they would race for the next six laps.
Coming to the white flag Powell had stretched it out a bit so Andy Bryant had room to throw a slider on Smith and it would stick for second but the 2016 USRA National Champion could not run down Powell who captured his third straight win at Lakeside. Bryant and Smith were next in line while J.C. Morton and Jim Moody competed the top five.
It was a warm and windy evening on the northwest side of Kansas City with thirty 360 Sprint Cars signed in for action. Racing started right on time at 7:30 and with a couple of lengthy breaks the final checkers flew right around 10:30.
I will make it three nights in a row for the first time this season with Friday night action at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Hope to see you there!
Stewart started the twenty-five lap main event from the third position, but he moved to the front on lap two when he flew around pole-sitter Jack Dover. From there the former NASCAR Cup champion would open up a nice lead until lapped traffic came into play and on lap nine when Harli White slowed in turns one and two the caution waved giving the leader a clear track once again. On the restart Paul Nienheiser tangled with the lapped car of Robbie Price at the entrance of turn one and with both drivers spinning it sent the rest of the field scrambling. Nienheiser was able to keep his car running though so he would return to his fifth position for the next go at a green.
After dropping a position on the first lap, Nienheiser then went on a tear passing two cars to move to fourth until lap twelve when he slowed and hit an infield track tire as he drove to the infield. Stewart now had a full straightaway lead over Dover and Seth Bergman, but that would be wiped away when Jamie Ball and Chris Martin got together on the back stretch with Martin taking a tumble on lap fourteen.
After the cleanup "Smoke" would bring the field back to green and he would again pull out to a solid lead as Bergman shuffled Dover back to third. With the laps counting down Bergman started searching for a different line and when he found one a little lower than the leader the gap closed quickly. With just five laps remaining Bergman would put the slider on Stewart into turn one to take the lead and he would then pull away for the victory. Brian Brown also made a late pass of Tony Stewart to finish second while Dover and Sam Hafertepe Jr. completed the top five.
Bergman had started fourth and Brown came from eleventh while the rest of the top five started one, two and three.
E-Mods and B-Mods ran as support classes in front of a large crowd. In the E-Mod feature the defending track champion and current point leader Billy Spillman took advantage of the front row starters Eddie Ingram and Trevor Hand banging wheels in turn three on the opening lap to take the lead and he would survive a couple of early cautions to go the distance for the win. Ben Stockton mounted a challenge after the final restart though he would have to settle for second, Matt Dorsam came from the fifth row to finish third, Hand was fourth and Jessie Mulich took fifth.
The B-Mod field was stacked with talent as pole-sitter Tim Powell grabbed the early lead. The winner here the past two Friday nights looked to be in command until Brad Smith found the high line to his liking, especially in turns three and four and on lap ten of the twenty-lap event Smith would nose ahead at the stripe. Powell was still faster on the bottom in one and two so he would lead down the back stretch only to see Smith again sweep past him up top off of four. This time after again taking the lead off turn two Powell moved up the track in three and four to take away Smith's line as well as the lead and that would be how they would race for the next six laps.
Coming to the white flag Powell had stretched it out a bit so Andy Bryant had room to throw a slider on Smith and it would stick for second but the 2016 USRA National Champion could not run down Powell who captured his third straight win at Lakeside. Bryant and Smith were next in line while J.C. Morton and Jim Moody competed the top five.
It was a warm and windy evening on the northwest side of Kansas City with thirty 360 Sprint Cars signed in for action. Racing started right on time at 7:30 and with a couple of lengthy breaks the final checkers flew right around 10:30.
I will make it three nights in a row for the first time this season with Friday night action at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Van Der Wal Repeats; Wood, Stanton and Housley Find Victory Lane At Osky
The Southern Iowa Speedway put race night number two in the books on a sunny, but windy Wednesday evening in Oskaloosa. Another respectable car count was on hand and the crowd was good with several groups of young people in attendance as both high school and college students were admitted free of charge for the evening. This was great to see and perhaps something that can be done more often here and at other tracks to hopefully expose the teens and young adults to the sport.
Sport Compacts were first up come feature time with Billy Cain leading the way on lap one. Brandon Housley was on the move quickly though from his fifth starting spot and he would take the point on the second circuit. Kyle Boyd who started sixth also charged to the front of the field and he would chase, but could not catch Housley who picked up the win in the ten lap affair. Boyd was second with his teammate Cody Phillips in third, pole-sitter Brandon Allison was fourth and Cain crossed the line for fifth just before his motor let go in a big cloud of smoke.
The sixteen lap Stock Car main event was the race of the night with Dustin Griffiths racing out to the early lead. Mike Hughes and Cayden Carter both started from the fifth row and by lap four Hughes was up to challenge for the lead. Hughes would take the lead on lap five only to have Griffith battle back and as they raced hard for the lead both Nathan Wood and Carter closed in to make it a four car battle. The four raced two-by-two nose-to-tail into turns three and four on lap nine, but with contact between those first two Hughes suffered a flat tire and dropped out of the race.
The scramble allowed Wood to steal the lead as Carter followed him to second and over the final seven lap Cayden would search for a line that would be faster than the new leader. After taking the white flag Carter went in a bit higher in turn one and appeared to have a run on Wood down the back stretch, but Nathan closed the door down low entering turn three and the defending All Iowa Points champion in the Stock Cars would earn his first win of 2018. Carter was a close second followed by Griffiths in third, Michael Petersen was right there in fourth and Derrick Agee completed the top five.
The Sport Mod feature got off to a scary start when Cory Van Zante got too high exiting turn two, clipped one the new implement tires on the outside and rolled his car hard. Fortunately the driver escaped injury, but it was the second incident of the night involving those new track tires as they also claimed Dan Banker's new Sport Mod during hot laps. Perhaps the need for these and how they "protect" the pit entrance road off the back stretch will be re-evaluated after these incidents.
Once under green Jason McDaniel opened up a big lead, half a straightaway over Brayton Carter and a full straightaway over Curtis Van Der Wal, but when Jarrett Vandenberg got upside down in turn three the red flag waved with seven laps remaining. On the restart Van Der Wal quickly moved to second and on the following lap he drove hard to the inside of McDaniel in turn one to take the lead and eventually another win. McDaniel and Carter were second and third, Blaine Webster finished fourth and Logan Anderson aboard the #53 car tonight was fifth.
Twenty-three Hobby Stock drivers signed in tonight and they would all be chasing Eric Stanton who took the lead on a lap one restart and never looked back on his way to victory. Griffiths made the podium in two classes tonight taking the runner-up honors in this one, Jamie Songer was third Aaron Martin was fourth and Mike Kincaid came from the eighth row to finish fifth.
Racing resumes in Oskaloosa next Wednesday night for Budweiser Memorial Night where fans and racers can donate any amount of money they want, from five dollars on up, to the purse in memory of anybody they choose. Should be another great Wednesday night for racing and we hope to see you there!
Next in the plans for me are the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour Sprint Cars at Lakeside Speedway on Thursday night, then on Friday I look forward to filling in on the microphone for the baseball Dad Tony Paris at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson.
Sport Compacts were first up come feature time with Billy Cain leading the way on lap one. Brandon Housley was on the move quickly though from his fifth starting spot and he would take the point on the second circuit. Kyle Boyd who started sixth also charged to the front of the field and he would chase, but could not catch Housley who picked up the win in the ten lap affair. Boyd was second with his teammate Cody Phillips in third, pole-sitter Brandon Allison was fourth and Cain crossed the line for fifth just before his motor let go in a big cloud of smoke.
The sixteen lap Stock Car main event was the race of the night with Dustin Griffiths racing out to the early lead. Mike Hughes and Cayden Carter both started from the fifth row and by lap four Hughes was up to challenge for the lead. Hughes would take the lead on lap five only to have Griffith battle back and as they raced hard for the lead both Nathan Wood and Carter closed in to make it a four car battle. The four raced two-by-two nose-to-tail into turns three and four on lap nine, but with contact between those first two Hughes suffered a flat tire and dropped out of the race.
The scramble allowed Wood to steal the lead as Carter followed him to second and over the final seven lap Cayden would search for a line that would be faster than the new leader. After taking the white flag Carter went in a bit higher in turn one and appeared to have a run on Wood down the back stretch, but Nathan closed the door down low entering turn three and the defending All Iowa Points champion in the Stock Cars would earn his first win of 2018. Carter was a close second followed by Griffiths in third, Michael Petersen was right there in fourth and Derrick Agee completed the top five.
The Sport Mod feature got off to a scary start when Cory Van Zante got too high exiting turn two, clipped one the new implement tires on the outside and rolled his car hard. Fortunately the driver escaped injury, but it was the second incident of the night involving those new track tires as they also claimed Dan Banker's new Sport Mod during hot laps. Perhaps the need for these and how they "protect" the pit entrance road off the back stretch will be re-evaluated after these incidents.
Once under green Jason McDaniel opened up a big lead, half a straightaway over Brayton Carter and a full straightaway over Curtis Van Der Wal, but when Jarrett Vandenberg got upside down in turn three the red flag waved with seven laps remaining. On the restart Van Der Wal quickly moved to second and on the following lap he drove hard to the inside of McDaniel in turn one to take the lead and eventually another win. McDaniel and Carter were second and third, Blaine Webster finished fourth and Logan Anderson aboard the #53 car tonight was fifth.
Twenty-three Hobby Stock drivers signed in tonight and they would all be chasing Eric Stanton who took the lead on a lap one restart and never looked back on his way to victory. Griffiths made the podium in two classes tonight taking the runner-up honors in this one, Jamie Songer was third Aaron Martin was fourth and Mike Kincaid came from the eighth row to finish fifth.
Racing resumes in Oskaloosa next Wednesday night for Budweiser Memorial Night where fans and racers can donate any amount of money they want, from five dollars on up, to the purse in memory of anybody they choose. Should be another great Wednesday night for racing and we hope to see you there!
Next in the plans for me are the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour Sprint Cars at Lakeside Speedway on Thursday night, then on Friday I look forward to filling in on the microphone for the baseball Dad Tony Paris at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Heat Race Issues Turn Out For The Best At Quad Cities Deery Show
Justin Kay suffered a flat tire on the second lap of his heat race and dropped out. Joe Zrostlik suffered a flat tire when Late Model rookie David Norton got sideways in front of him at the start of his heat race. And as for Ryan Dolan, well it appears that he was just tardy to staging as he was announced as part of the second heat race lineup, but did not drive on to the track until heat race three where he was then sent to the infield. All three would start from the back of the twenty-five car field as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models would go fifty laps at the Quad City Speedway Sunday and while one took the win, the other two recorded top four finishes in a wild race.
This one was far from pretty folks, so instead of trying to describe it to you in a story format like I usually do I am instead going with more of a "Power Point" type of presentation with sequential bullet points. Here goes.....
- Cayden Carter would break out to the early lead riding the high line around the speedway with third-starting Curt Martin challenging down low
- Chuck Hanna spins in turn three on lap four
- A "domino effect" situation occurs on lap five when Ray Guss Jr., driving Joe Beal's #77, and Darrel DeFrance get together, but it would be Jeremiah Hurst who would spin and bring out the caution. Hurst would have to restart at the rear.
- Shawn Mulvaney noses into the turn three wall on lap six, but since the favored line is so low on that end of the speedway and the track is so wide, nobody really notices him for a lap and a half.
- Chuck Hanna spins in turn two on the restart
- Something breaks in the rear end of the leader's car causing Cayden Carter to slow on lap ten. His night is over
- Justin Kay, expected to put on a hard charge from the tail, is not making up much ground. Likely due to the fact that he has a left rear tire going down, but he will restart with it that way. Ryan Dolan on the other hand is about to crack the top five.
- Curt Martin will bring the field back to green as the new leader, but Rob Toland drives under him to the point on lap eleven. Toland's left front wheel is just along for the ride as the control arm is obviously broken.
- Ryan Claeys spins at the high side entrance of turn one on lap seventeen in front of the leaders. Toland, running the low line, has no problems but both Curt Martin and Matt Ryan spin to avoid. Both drivers are given their spots back for the restart. Justin Kay ducks into the pits to change that left rear tire and returns for the restart.
- One lap later the pole-sitter Nick Marolf spins in turn two. I believe that Marolf said earlier during the heat race winners' redraw that this was the first time that he has ever raced at East Moline.
- The race goes thirteen laps without a caution as Toland continues to use the throttle and only the right front wheel to steer the car in the lead. Andy Nezworski who had been running in the top five since the start pulls to the infield with a smoker on lap twenty-two.
- Eric Sanders spins in turn two. Dolan now up to second, Kay is finally on the move.
- Racing for position Todd Cooney and Matt Ryan run out of room on the front stretch with Ryan parking it against the wall in turn one on lap thirty-two. Ryan shows his displeasure with Cooney under caution before going to the back for the restart.
- One lap after the restart Toland gets a bit sideways in turn two and is hit by Chad Holladay sending Toland the rest of the way around. Holladay is sent to the rear for his involvement while Toland, faced with the chore of having to start at the back with his three-legged horse decides to call it a night instead.
- Dolan and Kay bring the field back to green side-by-side. Dolan races to the lead riding the high line through one and two before diving low in three and four. Kay does the opposite at both ends. On lap thirty-eight they switch lanes in one and two and Kay hammers the cushion perfectly to fly around Dolan and take the lead down the back stretch.
- Ryan brings out the eleventh and final caution of the event when he spins in turn three with ten laps remaining.
- The final ten laps go green with Kay in command for the win from the twenty-fourth starting position. Jeremiah Hurst, who you may recall also had to restart at the rear earlier in the race makes his way up to finish second. Joe Zrostlik who started 22nd finishes third ahead of Dolan who faded to fourth after coming from 21st to lead some laps and Nick Marolf also returned from a back of the field restart to finish fifth.
- The rest of the top ten were Cooney, Martin, Holladay, Sam Halstead and Gary Webb.
So let's just say that while it definitely was not one of the "cleanest" fifty lap races I have ever seen, it certainly was interesting.
Support class action also had its share of story lines starting with the first feature of the night, the IMCA Sport Mods. After a last place finish in last week's season opener Justin Veloz took full advantage of this week's lineups by inverted points starting from the pole position in both his heat race and the fifteen lap feature. Veloz had to survive six caution flags including one that was caused by himself when he punted the track tire marking the inside of turns three and four onto the speedway, apparently a non-punishable offense, before taking the win. Jared Waterman threw a slider at the leader in turns one and two with three laps to go and then rubbed wheels with Brandon Setser on the front stretch before finishing second. Setser who has moved from the Four Cylinders to the Street Stocks and now to the Sport Mods over the past three seasons continued his strong start to 2018 with a third place finish while Dustin Schram and Gage Neal completed the top five.
Nick Proehl would lead the Four Cylinder feature early until Brandon Forbes went by on lap six. Proehl stuck his nose under Forbes rear bumper entering turn three after the pass, but nearly lost it himself dropping back to the fifth position. As the field took the white flag Rob Harding Jr. was trying to make a run at the lead while behind them Lisa Benningfield was having a nice run trying to hold off Cody Brewster and Proehl. But when Proehl dove under Brewster going into turn one he came up the track and drilled Bennigfield in the left rear lifting it up and sending her car into a series of hard barrel rolls. Thankfully Lisa climbed out of the battered ride under her own power and the race was scored complete with Forbes taking the win over Harding. Brewster was credited with third followed by Trevor Carpenter and Josh Lane. It was later announced that Proehl had been disqualified for the night and that he will serve a two week suspension for the incident.
Guy Morse passed Jon Padilla on the final lap to best the seven car feature field of Mod Lites. Clint Morehouse, Brian Tipps and Michael Dominguez were also running at the finish.
Rob Toland spun in turn four on the opening lap of the IMCA Modified feature collecting Milo Veloz Jr. with both drivers going to the back of the fifteen car field. On the second try at a start Doug Crampton went for a spin in turn three so he would join them making it three potential winners at the rear of the field. Eric Barnes would take the lead once racing and he looked strong until lap fourteen when a wisp of smoke appeared as well as what looked like a brief fire under the hood of the leader's car. Barnes pressed on though and I wondered if he would even be able to restart when the caution waved with three laps to go for a three car tangle involving Mark Vervynck, Toland and Crampton.
On the restart smoke would again billow from the rear of the leader's car and you could see it firing from the exhaust, but the motor was still strong enough to get Barnes to the checkers to take the win ahead of Brandon Durbin and Matt Werner. Veloz and Toland both fought their way back to complete the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
After a couple of light showers slipped by to the west and south it was a beautiful night for racing that saw hot laps get underway just past the advertised time of 5:15. And despite all of the cautions and the red flag scenario, plus a thirty-five minute intermission following the heat races, the final checkers waved at 9:10 p.m.
Here's hoping that the weather forecast improves for a night of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night and on Thursday I am hoping to be at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series event. Hope to catch you on the Back Stretch!
This one was far from pretty folks, so instead of trying to describe it to you in a story format like I usually do I am instead going with more of a "Power Point" type of presentation with sequential bullet points. Here goes.....
- Cayden Carter would break out to the early lead riding the high line around the speedway with third-starting Curt Martin challenging down low
- Chuck Hanna spins in turn three on lap four
- A "domino effect" situation occurs on lap five when Ray Guss Jr., driving Joe Beal's #77, and Darrel DeFrance get together, but it would be Jeremiah Hurst who would spin and bring out the caution. Hurst would have to restart at the rear.
- Shawn Mulvaney noses into the turn three wall on lap six, but since the favored line is so low on that end of the speedway and the track is so wide, nobody really notices him for a lap and a half.
- Chuck Hanna spins in turn two on the restart
- Something breaks in the rear end of the leader's car causing Cayden Carter to slow on lap ten. His night is over
- Justin Kay, expected to put on a hard charge from the tail, is not making up much ground. Likely due to the fact that he has a left rear tire going down, but he will restart with it that way. Ryan Dolan on the other hand is about to crack the top five.
- Curt Martin will bring the field back to green as the new leader, but Rob Toland drives under him to the point on lap eleven. Toland's left front wheel is just along for the ride as the control arm is obviously broken.
- Ryan Claeys spins at the high side entrance of turn one on lap seventeen in front of the leaders. Toland, running the low line, has no problems but both Curt Martin and Matt Ryan spin to avoid. Both drivers are given their spots back for the restart. Justin Kay ducks into the pits to change that left rear tire and returns for the restart.
- One lap later the pole-sitter Nick Marolf spins in turn two. I believe that Marolf said earlier during the heat race winners' redraw that this was the first time that he has ever raced at East Moline.
- The race goes thirteen laps without a caution as Toland continues to use the throttle and only the right front wheel to steer the car in the lead. Andy Nezworski who had been running in the top five since the start pulls to the infield with a smoker on lap twenty-two.
- Eric Sanders spins in turn two. Dolan now up to second, Kay is finally on the move.
- Racing for position Todd Cooney and Matt Ryan run out of room on the front stretch with Ryan parking it against the wall in turn one on lap thirty-two. Ryan shows his displeasure with Cooney under caution before going to the back for the restart.
- One lap after the restart Toland gets a bit sideways in turn two and is hit by Chad Holladay sending Toland the rest of the way around. Holladay is sent to the rear for his involvement while Toland, faced with the chore of having to start at the back with his three-legged horse decides to call it a night instead.
- Dolan and Kay bring the field back to green side-by-side. Dolan races to the lead riding the high line through one and two before diving low in three and four. Kay does the opposite at both ends. On lap thirty-eight they switch lanes in one and two and Kay hammers the cushion perfectly to fly around Dolan and take the lead down the back stretch.
- Ryan brings out the eleventh and final caution of the event when he spins in turn three with ten laps remaining.
- The final ten laps go green with Kay in command for the win from the twenty-fourth starting position. Jeremiah Hurst, who you may recall also had to restart at the rear earlier in the race makes his way up to finish second. Joe Zrostlik who started 22nd finishes third ahead of Dolan who faded to fourth after coming from 21st to lead some laps and Nick Marolf also returned from a back of the field restart to finish fifth.
- The rest of the top ten were Cooney, Martin, Holladay, Sam Halstead and Gary Webb.
So let's just say that while it definitely was not one of the "cleanest" fifty lap races I have ever seen, it certainly was interesting.
Support class action also had its share of story lines starting with the first feature of the night, the IMCA Sport Mods. After a last place finish in last week's season opener Justin Veloz took full advantage of this week's lineups by inverted points starting from the pole position in both his heat race and the fifteen lap feature. Veloz had to survive six caution flags including one that was caused by himself when he punted the track tire marking the inside of turns three and four onto the speedway, apparently a non-punishable offense, before taking the win. Jared Waterman threw a slider at the leader in turns one and two with three laps to go and then rubbed wheels with Brandon Setser on the front stretch before finishing second. Setser who has moved from the Four Cylinders to the Street Stocks and now to the Sport Mods over the past three seasons continued his strong start to 2018 with a third place finish while Dustin Schram and Gage Neal completed the top five.
Nick Proehl would lead the Four Cylinder feature early until Brandon Forbes went by on lap six. Proehl stuck his nose under Forbes rear bumper entering turn three after the pass, but nearly lost it himself dropping back to the fifth position. As the field took the white flag Rob Harding Jr. was trying to make a run at the lead while behind them Lisa Benningfield was having a nice run trying to hold off Cody Brewster and Proehl. But when Proehl dove under Brewster going into turn one he came up the track and drilled Bennigfield in the left rear lifting it up and sending her car into a series of hard barrel rolls. Thankfully Lisa climbed out of the battered ride under her own power and the race was scored complete with Forbes taking the win over Harding. Brewster was credited with third followed by Trevor Carpenter and Josh Lane. It was later announced that Proehl had been disqualified for the night and that he will serve a two week suspension for the incident.
Guy Morse passed Jon Padilla on the final lap to best the seven car feature field of Mod Lites. Clint Morehouse, Brian Tipps and Michael Dominguez were also running at the finish.
Rob Toland spun in turn four on the opening lap of the IMCA Modified feature collecting Milo Veloz Jr. with both drivers going to the back of the fifteen car field. On the second try at a start Doug Crampton went for a spin in turn three so he would join them making it three potential winners at the rear of the field. Eric Barnes would take the lead once racing and he looked strong until lap fourteen when a wisp of smoke appeared as well as what looked like a brief fire under the hood of the leader's car. Barnes pressed on though and I wondered if he would even be able to restart when the caution waved with three laps to go for a three car tangle involving Mark Vervynck, Toland and Crampton.
On the restart smoke would again billow from the rear of the leader's car and you could see it firing from the exhaust, but the motor was still strong enough to get Barnes to the checkers to take the win ahead of Brandon Durbin and Matt Werner. Veloz and Toland both fought their way back to complete the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
After a couple of light showers slipped by to the west and south it was a beautiful night for racing that saw hot laps get underway just past the advertised time of 5:15. And despite all of the cautions and the red flag scenario, plus a thirty-five minute intermission following the heat races, the final checkers waved at 9:10 p.m.
Here's hoping that the weather forecast improves for a night of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night and on Thursday I am hoping to be at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series event. Hope to catch you on the Back Stretch!
Friday, May 4, 2018
Chad Completes Simpson Brothers Sweep of Davenport
Two weeks ago it was Chris Simpson with a dominating performance on the historic half-mile oval and tonight his brother Chad had an equally strong performance on the short track to give the Simpson brothers a clean sweep of the 2018 MLRA Late Model action at the Davenport Speedway.
Heavy rains from the past two nights left standing water in turns three and four, but with the pumps running, the sun shining and the wind blowing somehow promoter Bob Wagener and his crew were able to salvage a race track so that the show could go on with near perfect weather conditions come race time. And, even with all of the rain, the track was better than expected with two challenging holes on the inside line in both turns two and four that did create some havoc during the evening.
Twenty-five MLRA Late Models signed in with a few of the regulars such as Mason Oberkramer, Jesse Stovall, Cole Wells and Raymond Merrill surprisingly absent. The field was solid though top to bottom and with the passing points method of qualifying in place tonight the three heat races provided plenty of action. The top two drivers in the MLRA point standings, Chad Simpson and Tony Jackson Jr. earned the front row for the 40-lap main event, but it would be the third starting J.C. Wyman who would drive under both of them coming out of turn two on the opening lap. The caution would wave as five cars piled up at the exit of turn four, but unlike two weeks ago here when a similar scenario played out the MLRA officials went ahead and scored the opening lap giving Wyman the lead for the restart.
Simpson would go to the cushion and pull even with the leader on the restart only to have Wyman beat him back to the line before the caution waved again following Jordan Yaggy's spin in turn one. On the restart Simpson again went top side and after coming up short on lap three he was able to make it stick off turn four to take the lead away on lap four. Wyman fought back though pulling even with the new leader in turns one and two, but Chad was able to shake him off and then open up a comfortable lead over the next several laps. Will Vaught had moved to third and was about to mount a challenge for position on Wyman, but he slowed suddenly coming off tun four on lap thirteen and exited the short track onto the half-mile apparently out of the race.
The caution waved though as Vaught drove to the work area and after several courtesy laps were given his car still sat there as the race went back to green. Nobody would be able to stay with Simpson now and as he drove away the battle for second heated up with Rookie-of-the-Year contender Mitch McGrath briefly taking it away from Wyman. J.C. came back though to regain the position and now it was the leader's brother, Chris Simpson who was the show as he steadily picked up positions after starting from the inside of row seven. At the checkers it would be Chad Simpson scoring the impressive win with Wyman making a solid run in second. McGrath will move into the top five in points with his third place finish while Chris Simpson rallied to fourth at the finish. Payton Looney had a steady night in fifth followed by Jackson Jr., Justin Kay, Jonathan Brauns, Tyler Bruening and Dave Eckrich.
The Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models now load up and head east for a Saturday night show at Tony Izzo Jr.'s LaSalle Speedway.
Street Stocks, Sport Mods and Modifieds were also on the card running for track points for the second time in the young season. Despite the four caution flags the 15-lap Street Stock feature was a good one with Gene Ehlers pacing the field through the first half of the race. On a lap seven restart Jeff Struck Jr. would pull even with Ehlers down the back stretch and when the leader drove into turn three a bit harder to try to protect that lead he left the door open downstairs where Jesse Owen snuck in to go from third to first on lap eight. Owen would maintain control until just two laps remained when a back marker spun for the second time and during that caution Jeremy Gustaf, who had started last in the thirteen car field after missing his heat race, exited the speedway after climbing all the way to third.
With just two laps remaining on the restart Struck decided to try the low line this time and it worked as he was able to get under Owen and take the lead coming to the white flag. Struck then held it over the final lap to win for the second time here in 2018 after also winning on the half-mile when the MLRA was in town two weeks ago. Owen would have to settle for second, Ehlers was third, Kevin Goben clawed his way up to fourth and Austin Riggs came back from an early spin to take fifth.
The Sport Mods had issues early on in their feature as Jeff Haines spun on lap two to generate the first caution. On the restart four cars piled up in turn two with defending All Iowa Points champion Tyler Soppe getting the worst of it as his car left on a tow truck. Two more cautions followed with only one lap being scored and after some rules were enforced the race went green and stayed that way for the remainder of the event. Keith Blum would lead all fifteen laps to pick up the win with Jared Waterman chasing him throughout in second. Joe Nemitz made a nice run to pick up the third position with Brandon Setser fourth and Mike Goben holding off many time winner here Tony Olson to finish in fifth.
The IMCA Modifieds would close out the night for twenty laps of racing and they too had some issues with multi-car scuffles. Mid-pack starters Justin Kay and Rob Toland would spin in turn three on the opening lap and when Toland's car took a shot from another competitor last week's winner here would be done for tonight. Kay would have to restart at the back of the remaining twenty car field, but he did not stay there long as Stephan Kemmerer set the early pace. Kay was already in the top ten when John Ahlers spun on lap eight and when five cars stacked up in turn four on lap twelve it eliminated top five competitors Chris Zogg and Bob Dominacki.
One the restart Kay sailed around the top side going from fifth to first passing Kammerer for the lead off turn four. The third place car of Doug Crampton then spun in turn four on the following lap leaving Todd Mahlmstrom with no place to go. Despite taking a pretty good hit in the front from the piled up mud in the infield as well as the contact from Mahlmstrom, Crampton was able to restart at the tail as Kay drove away from the field. There would no challenge from there as like Struck did in the Street Stocks, Kay also repeated his performance from MLRA night on the half-mile two weeks ago by taking the win in his Modified. Kurt Kile who started the race from the sixth row finished in second, Bryce Garnhart took third, Eric Barnes was fourth and Crampton fought back to complete the top five.
A big thanks to the entire Davenport Speedway staff for their hard work just to have this show tonight. Weekly racing action continues here on Friday nights and you can check the Positively Racing calendar page to see when they put up the big bucks, $2,000-to-win for different classes as the season rolls on.
If I get caught up enough after a hectic week I hope to take in the Deery Brothers Summer Series show on Sunday night at the Quad Cities Speedway in East Moline. Get out and enjoy a race of your choice this weekend!
Heavy rains from the past two nights left standing water in turns three and four, but with the pumps running, the sun shining and the wind blowing somehow promoter Bob Wagener and his crew were able to salvage a race track so that the show could go on with near perfect weather conditions come race time. And, even with all of the rain, the track was better than expected with two challenging holes on the inside line in both turns two and four that did create some havoc during the evening.
Twenty-five MLRA Late Models signed in with a few of the regulars such as Mason Oberkramer, Jesse Stovall, Cole Wells and Raymond Merrill surprisingly absent. The field was solid though top to bottom and with the passing points method of qualifying in place tonight the three heat races provided plenty of action. The top two drivers in the MLRA point standings, Chad Simpson and Tony Jackson Jr. earned the front row for the 40-lap main event, but it would be the third starting J.C. Wyman who would drive under both of them coming out of turn two on the opening lap. The caution would wave as five cars piled up at the exit of turn four, but unlike two weeks ago here when a similar scenario played out the MLRA officials went ahead and scored the opening lap giving Wyman the lead for the restart.
Simpson would go to the cushion and pull even with the leader on the restart only to have Wyman beat him back to the line before the caution waved again following Jordan Yaggy's spin in turn one. On the restart Simpson again went top side and after coming up short on lap three he was able to make it stick off turn four to take the lead away on lap four. Wyman fought back though pulling even with the new leader in turns one and two, but Chad was able to shake him off and then open up a comfortable lead over the next several laps. Will Vaught had moved to third and was about to mount a challenge for position on Wyman, but he slowed suddenly coming off tun four on lap thirteen and exited the short track onto the half-mile apparently out of the race.
The caution waved though as Vaught drove to the work area and after several courtesy laps were given his car still sat there as the race went back to green. Nobody would be able to stay with Simpson now and as he drove away the battle for second heated up with Rookie-of-the-Year contender Mitch McGrath briefly taking it away from Wyman. J.C. came back though to regain the position and now it was the leader's brother, Chris Simpson who was the show as he steadily picked up positions after starting from the inside of row seven. At the checkers it would be Chad Simpson scoring the impressive win with Wyman making a solid run in second. McGrath will move into the top five in points with his third place finish while Chris Simpson rallied to fourth at the finish. Payton Looney had a steady night in fifth followed by Jackson Jr., Justin Kay, Jonathan Brauns, Tyler Bruening and Dave Eckrich.
The Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models now load up and head east for a Saturday night show at Tony Izzo Jr.'s LaSalle Speedway.
Street Stocks, Sport Mods and Modifieds were also on the card running for track points for the second time in the young season. Despite the four caution flags the 15-lap Street Stock feature was a good one with Gene Ehlers pacing the field through the first half of the race. On a lap seven restart Jeff Struck Jr. would pull even with Ehlers down the back stretch and when the leader drove into turn three a bit harder to try to protect that lead he left the door open downstairs where Jesse Owen snuck in to go from third to first on lap eight. Owen would maintain control until just two laps remained when a back marker spun for the second time and during that caution Jeremy Gustaf, who had started last in the thirteen car field after missing his heat race, exited the speedway after climbing all the way to third.
With just two laps remaining on the restart Struck decided to try the low line this time and it worked as he was able to get under Owen and take the lead coming to the white flag. Struck then held it over the final lap to win for the second time here in 2018 after also winning on the half-mile when the MLRA was in town two weeks ago. Owen would have to settle for second, Ehlers was third, Kevin Goben clawed his way up to fourth and Austin Riggs came back from an early spin to take fifth.
The Sport Mods had issues early on in their feature as Jeff Haines spun on lap two to generate the first caution. On the restart four cars piled up in turn two with defending All Iowa Points champion Tyler Soppe getting the worst of it as his car left on a tow truck. Two more cautions followed with only one lap being scored and after some rules were enforced the race went green and stayed that way for the remainder of the event. Keith Blum would lead all fifteen laps to pick up the win with Jared Waterman chasing him throughout in second. Joe Nemitz made a nice run to pick up the third position with Brandon Setser fourth and Mike Goben holding off many time winner here Tony Olson to finish in fifth.
The IMCA Modifieds would close out the night for twenty laps of racing and they too had some issues with multi-car scuffles. Mid-pack starters Justin Kay and Rob Toland would spin in turn three on the opening lap and when Toland's car took a shot from another competitor last week's winner here would be done for tonight. Kay would have to restart at the back of the remaining twenty car field, but he did not stay there long as Stephan Kemmerer set the early pace. Kay was already in the top ten when John Ahlers spun on lap eight and when five cars stacked up in turn four on lap twelve it eliminated top five competitors Chris Zogg and Bob Dominacki.
One the restart Kay sailed around the top side going from fifth to first passing Kammerer for the lead off turn four. The third place car of Doug Crampton then spun in turn four on the following lap leaving Todd Mahlmstrom with no place to go. Despite taking a pretty good hit in the front from the piled up mud in the infield as well as the contact from Mahlmstrom, Crampton was able to restart at the tail as Kay drove away from the field. There would no challenge from there as like Struck did in the Street Stocks, Kay also repeated his performance from MLRA night on the half-mile two weeks ago by taking the win in his Modified. Kurt Kile who started the race from the sixth row finished in second, Bryce Garnhart took third, Eric Barnes was fourth and Crampton fought back to complete the top five.
A big thanks to the entire Davenport Speedway staff for their hard work just to have this show tonight. Weekly racing action continues here on Friday nights and you can check the Positively Racing calendar page to see when they put up the big bucks, $2,000-to-win for different classes as the season rolls on.
If I get caught up enough after a hectic week I hope to take in the Deery Brothers Summer Series show on Sunday night at the Quad Cities Speedway in East Moline. Get out and enjoy a race of your choice this weekend!
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