Six divisions were on the card and the Hobby Stocks would be up first for the main event. This division no longer races here weekly and that showed as only seven drivers signed in despite the solid $500 top prize. Contact while coming to the green flag caused damage on Quinton Miller's car and the heat race winner would slow to a stop to bring out the caution on lap number two. On the restart Kaden Reynolds would drive by early leader Matt Petrzelka to take the lead and the young driver from Cedar Rapids would then drive away to a convincing win, his second since moving to the division in September after racing a Micro Mod the past couple of years in Vinton. Fans who were here on Friday night would have noticed that Reynolds drove his Hobby Stock in the Stock Car division during the rescheduled Fall Extravaganza event and those extra laps in his first appearance at Donnellson obviously paid off. Mike Kinkaid finished second, Brok Hopwood was third, Gene Nicklas finished fourth and Petrzelka was fifth.
A full field of Sport Mods were up next for twenty laps with Brandon Dale drawing the pole position, but it would be his front row partner Logan Anderson in the Strohman Motorsports #53 who would take the early lead. As he was coming to score lap four though Anderson would get loose in turn four and have to drive through the infield to save it dropping several positions and turning the lead over to Dale. The caution would then wave the following lap when a pair of back markers got together in turn two and on the restart it would be Tony Olson applying the pressure for the lead.
The caution waved again on lap nine when Josh Starr spun in turn three and the action heated up once back to green when Brayton Carter made it a three car race. The lead trio would race three wide into turn three on lap ten with Carter going extra deep into the corner and then sliding up in front of Dale in four. Brandon executed the crossover to perfection though getting back under Carter while also closing the door on Olson to maintain the lead before the caution again flew for Starr who had now spun in turn two.
Olson and Carter were right there ready to challenge again on the restart, but this time Dale was in command and pulled away in the closing laps to secure the win. Carter was the runner-up with Olson in third, Brandon Setser finished fourth and Tyler Soppe came from fifteenth to complete the top five.
After thrilling the crowd the night before with four wide racing for the lead throughout the second half of the race, let's just say that the Stock Cars had a much different scenario tonight. Abe Huls started from the pole position, locked it in on the bottom groove and drove away from the field in the non-stop twenty-two lap event. His lead was well over a full straightaway at one point and while John Oliver Jr. was able to close the gap in the closing laps he was never within striking distance before the checkers waved over Huls. Last night's winner Johnny Spaw was a distant third, Cayden Carter was the one "mover" in the field coming from ninth to fourth and Todd Reitzler finished in the fifth position.
The Sport Compacts had a tough time getting their fourteen laps completed tonight starting off with a hard three car crash into the turn two guardrail on the opening lap. All drivers were okay, but it took a long time to remove the damaged cars from the railing and once under green it would be Jason Ash who would come from the inside of row three to take the lead. Front row starters Josh Barnes and Chuck Fullenkamp would give chase until lap eight when Kyle Boyd was clipped and spun in turn two.
On the restart Barnes would slow and pull to the infield going down the back stretch, but when the caution waved for Barry Taft stopping in turn one Barnes re-fired and returned to restart once again in the second spot. Back to racing and Barnes was now mounting a challenge on Ash only to have the caution wave again on lap ten when Boyd was in the guardrail in turn four. On this restart Barnes did not come up to speed from the inside of the first double row and he was spun to the infield now with a flat right rear tire as the caution waved again for Robert Sturms who had spun in turn one.
Fullenkamp would now be the lone challenger to Ash over the final four laps and coming to the checkers he drove to the bottom off turn four coming up a car-length short as Ash held on for the feature win. Jacob Houston would pick up third, Darin Weisinger Jr. was credited with fourth and Brandon Ruffcorn driving Jake Dietrich's #63 was paid for fifth. Michael Grossman actually crossed the line in fourth after starting twenty-third, but was disqualified "for multiple infractions" which came as no surprise for all who could hear the difference in the sound of his motor.
Thirteen Late Models signed in tonight, but none of them would be able to keep pace with Sam Halstead who after two early cautions for Chuck Lewis drove away from the field to win the twenty-lap main event in dominating fashion. Nick Marolf started sixth and finished second ahead of Friday night's winner Chuck Hanna, fourth went to Cayden Carter and Andy Nezworski filled out the top five.
Twenty-six of the twenty-seven Modifieds that had signed in would close out the evening as Derrick Stewart would scratch after drawing the third starting spot for the 22-lap finale. Larry Herring would lead the tightly bunched field through the first two laps before Derek Wilson looped it in turn four to bring out the first caution. On the restart Levi Smith would give his hometown fans a thrill by using the high line to challenge for the lead before Herring was able to put some space between himself and Smith. Michael Long had started tenth and on lap ten he would go to work on Smith for second finally clearing him for the runner-up spot two laps later. Long then closed the gap on the leader and when Herring had to check up for a pair of slower cars racing side-by-side in front of him, Long went to the cushion and flew by him for the lead in turn one on lap fifteen.
The caution would wave soon after that as Jesse Belez spun in turn one and one lap after the restart another caution would fly when one of the track tires was punted onto the speedway in turn two. Once back to green Jarrett Brown did his best to try to stay with the new leader, but Long would then drive away to be the only driver to pick up two feature wins on the weekend. Brown who had spun into the turn one guardrail during hot laps recovered nicely to finish the night in second, Jeff Waterman finished where he started in third, Logan Anderson had his second top-five finish of the weekend in fourth and Bruce Hanford, who I believe has competed in every Shiverfest event that has been held passed Levi Smith in the final turns to finish fifth.
It was another great way to wrap up the racing season at the Lee County Speedway and while the car count was solid, it did not come close to what this event has drawn in the past especially when the weather was this nice. The reasons could be many, including that lousy weather forecast that never became accurate until thirty-six hours before race time, but my theory is that this event is not meant to be a two day show with entry fees and thousand dollar payoffs. Sure, I could be wrong, but as one of the trio that gave birth to this event back in 1999 my opinion has the history to support it.
There is one more race on the schedule for the state of Iowa in 2018 and that is this coming Saturday November 3rd as the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction will hold its second annual Turkey Dash. And, as a I check the forecast six days in advance it is calling for cloudy skies with a high of 45. Here's hoping that forecast is as accurate as it was for this past weekend and I look forward to seeing you there!
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