After two rainouts and a week off due to racing at the Wapello County Fair in Eldon the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa was back in action Wednesday night for the first time since May 30th and it was obvious that race fans were anxious to see some action as a nice crowd gathered on a warm evening. The car counts were good as well despite the fact that a couple of regulars including divisional point leaders Cayden Carter and Eric Stanton had chosen to compete in a big money race up the road in Webster City.
The Sport Compacts were up first come feature time and it would be Trent Orwig racing out to the lead on the opening lap. As he entered turn three on the second circuit though there was a puff of smoke before he spun in his own fluids bringing out the caution. On the restart Barry Taft moved to the front and he would quickly open about a half straightaway advantage before Brandon Housley cleared himself from the pack and moved to second. As the winner of the last several features here at Osky Housley had started from tenth and his task was to now chase down the defending all Iowa Points Champion in just six remaining laps. Housely was up to the challenge as he erased the gap and made his first bid for the lead with two laps to go. Taft was able to fight that one off, but Housley came back at him again on the inside of turn four and coming to the white flag you had a new leader. Taft fought back in turn one only to come up short as Housley continued his winning streak in impressive fashion. Taft was second, Austin Kaplan also came from the fifth row to take third and Cody Phillips edged out his teammate Kyle Boyd to finish fourth.
The Stock Cars were up next for eighteen laps with pole sitter Derrick Agee getting the jump on the field until the caution waved on lap five for a stalled Dustin Griffiths. With the leader hugging the bottom on the restart Scott Dickey tried out a little higher line and found it to his liking as he drove around Agee to take the point on lap six. In true Southern Iowa Speedway Stock Car fashion the race for the lead stayed tight as Agee came right back on the bottom and the two crossed the stripe in a virtual dead heat with seven laps to go. Add into the mix that Mike Hughes was right behind them looking for room and it was a great three car battle for the win. Agee's low line would come back to life as he returned to the lead on lap twelve and when Hughes made his move on Dickey for second there was a bit of door slammin' entering turn one.
Hughes would take the spot coming out of turn two and Dickey would express his opinion entering turn three when he tagged Hughes in the left rear turning him sideways. Hughes was somehow able to make the save though as Nathan Wood took advantage of the scuffle to go from fourth to second and at the checkers it would be the weekly long distance traveler Derrick Agee from Moberly, Missouri, taking his first win of the year here. Wood came from seventh to finish second and while Dickey finished third and Hughes fourth the officials flip flopped that finish due to the intentional contact in turn three. Donnie Pearson would complete the top five.
The sixteen-lap Sport Mod feature replayed a familiar scenario here over the past few seasons. A driver starting up front, in this case Logan Anderson, races out to a big lead while Curtis VanDerWal, who on this night started seventh, picks his way through the field until he gets to second. Then, if the race goes caution free and that leader has opened up a big enough advantage, he might just be able to get to the checkers before VanDerWal can reel him in. Anderson did just that on this night and celebrated with car owner Greg Strohman in victory lane while VanDerWal had to settle for second. Blaine Webster who started next to Anderson on the front row was third, Thomas Egenberger finished where he started in fourth and it was good to see Greg Cox back in action, now in a Sport Mod where he came from tenth to fifth.
Another nice field of nineteen Hobby Stocks would go for fifteen laps with Craig Brown trying to hold off Dustin Griffiths in the opening laps. Brown was able to ward off the challenge until lap five when Dustin squeezed under him for the lead. Brown would not let him get away though and with Aaron Martin also in hot pursuit it was a tight three car formation running for the lead before a multi-car scramble just behind them exiting turn four brought out the caution with three laps remaining. Derek Kirkland and Mike Kincaid had been racing for position and the two went for a spin collecting Travis Bunnell in the incident.
Another two car spin on the restart involving Darin Dezwarte and Jared Stephens slowed the action and once back to green Griffiths continued to hold back his two challengers to take the win. Brown was second, Martin third, Clint Nelson finished in the fourth spot and Christian Huffman completed the top five.
The track will make up a couple of the nights lost to weather by racing on Wednesday July 11th featuring a $1,000-to-win and $100-to-start Stock Car feature and the season championship night will be held on the Tuesday night during the Fair July 17th. The following night, Wednesday July 18th, the United States Modified Touring Series along with the USRA Ironman Series for Stock Cars and B-Modifieds will be in action during the Southern Iowa Fair.
We are going to try to beat the incoming heat and make a road trip up to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton where the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models will be in action tonight. Hope to see you there!
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