Keeping a close eye on the radar and checking forecasts during the day on Friday I determined that my best bet to see racing at the track with the least amount of travel for me would be the Adams County Speedway in Corning. It was the opening night of the track's annual season finale "The Tradition" and I was excited to return to a speedway that I have not been to for at least eighteen years.
I did not drive through any rain on the three hour trip straight west from home, but I did hear of the severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings back home and I watched the beauty of Mother Nature as the thunder heads swelled to the south and west as I crossed over Interstate 35 in Osceola. Race fans were also treated to a pretty vivid light show as the stands face to the east at Corning and the rain was as close as Creston, just twenty miles to the east as I made my trip back home.
With the help of many, many sponsors including the title sponsor Napa, there is a lot of money on the line at The Tradition and I was surprised that there were not more cars from outside of the area in attendance, but with the threatening weather that also made sense. Still there was just over one hundred cars signed in and they were evenly distributed across the five divisions with the weekend's featured class, the Stock Cars, leading the way with twenty-five. Fifteen heat races would click off in fine fashion, taking just an hour and seventeen minutes to run, then after a twenty minute intermission let's just say that the wheels sort of fell off.
The B-Mod feature would be up first for fifteen laps and the red flag would be waving before the first lap was scored when Shae McGinnis had the steering wheel come off in her hands while heading down the back stretch sending her head on into the inside guardrail. Fortunately Shae was not injured as her first night at the track came to a scary ending. When the green flag waved again the battle for the lead was tight with Matt Webb and Tommy Hensley crossing the stripe in a virtual dead heat on the first lap. Webb would nose ahead on lap two, with Hensley coming back to the front on lap three.
The 2019 track champion Jerod Weston would then break up that party going to the front on lap four with Hensley and Kyle Tanner trying to keep pace. There were a few rolling speed bumps in this one and as the leaders entered turns three and four on lap six they encountered one of them and when the lapped car turned left in front of Hensley and Tanner, contact would send Hensley hard right up the track. The left side tires would dig in and Hensley would take a couple of hard rolls at the top of turn four. His car was badly damaged as the wreckers took their time to remove it from the track, but thankfully Hensley was okay and would even come back later in the night to race his Modified.
After the long delay four cars would spin on the restart and then on lap nine the caution would wave again when the fifth place car of Alan Worth spun in turn two collecting Bryce Allen. Tanner and Jake Sachau would line up behind Weston for the restart with Sachau moving to second, but when he pushed it too hard on lap twelve, Jake would drive off the top of turn two to bring out the final caution of the race.
Weston would go unchallenged over the final three laps to take the win in the thirty-seven minute marathon with Tanner taking second. Cody Olsen came from the fifth row to finish third with Cody Werner coming from twelfth to fourth and Dusty Masolini edged out David Schwarts by a bumper to take fifth. Schwartz was originally slated to start eleventh, but when it was noticed that he had a flat tire during the pace laps the start of the race was held up for a couple of laps while he changed a tire so he actually started scratch on the twenty car field.
After a race like that you can usually count on the Four Cylinder division to deliver a green to checker event and the eighteen Sport Compact drivers did just that with a non-stop twelve lapper that had plenty of action in it. Dustin Grout would lead the first seven laps before being overtaken by fourth row starters Tyler Hoover and Tyler Housley. Hoover would lead lap eight and Housley would keep the heat on him over the final four laps, but in the battle of the "Tylers" it would be the 2019 track champion Tyler Hoover taking the win. Housley wold finish second as Chris Vannausdale came from twelfth to third. Grout would hang on to fourth and Sean Bagby would finish in fifth.
The Modifieds would be up next for eighteen laps with the caution flying on lap one when Tyler Fudge drove off the track in turn two. On the restart Ryan Jenkins would spin in turn four before taking the green, but he would be put back into his position for the second try. On this one Garrett Wilson was shuffled out of the pack and into the wall exiting turn four ending his night in a disappointing fashion after he had dominated his heat race. Then, on lap three, the caution waved again for debris in turn one and it looked like we were headed for another long one.
Thankfully that would not be the case as the final fifteen laps would go non-stop with Jacob Murray leading the way until lap eleven when Ryan Schaffer charged by on the inside of turn three. Schaffer usually races under the USRA rules and with his spoiler removed tonight he still looked faster than anyone else and even though he took the checkers first I see this morning that he had been disqualified, something that I apparently missed if it was announced over the load speakers over the final two feature races. That would give the win to Jacob Murray with Jeff Wiggins second and Josh Most third. Tommy Hensley recovered from his B-Mod crash earlier to be credited with fourth, Ryan Jenkins was fifth and Mike VanGenderen in his first half-mile race in several years finished sixth.
The Hobby Stocks were up next and they too had their share of caution flags causing even the announcers to sound a bit frustrated with the stop and go racing. Jerid Lund had paced the field for the ten laps that had been scored around three cautions, but on that restart as the green was starting to wave the right rear tire would go flat on Lund's car and he would slow coming down the front stretch bringing out the fourth caution of the event. Bobby Key who was making the move from the Sport Compacts to the Hobby Stocks tonight stopped in turn two on the next try at a start and before the field could even get to turn three when the caution turned off they would stack up sending one car off the top of turn three for yet another caution.
Finally we would get back to green flag racing with Jason Fusselman assuming the lead, but Luke Ramsey had come from his fifth row starting spot looking to get one more and he would pass Fusselman with two laps to go to take the win. Fusselman would ward off Tom Myers for the runner-up spot with David Weeda recovering from a lap eight spin to finish fourth. Miciah Hidelbaugh, in his first race ever at Adams County was impressive in fifth.
I was still about fifteen minutes shy of my self-imposed eleven o'clock curfew so I would stay to watch the eighteen lap Stock Car finale and thank goodness that I did! Jason Rold would lead the way with Mike Albertson in hot pursuit as drivers shuffled for position throughout the field. The first caution would wave on lap ten when Mike Van Genderen, driving Jason Bilyeau's #98, spun down the front stretch after contact with Brad Derry as they raced for sixth.
On the restart Dave Carlisle would spin in turn two, but that would be the final caution of the race as Rold would go back to trying to hold off a growing number of challengers. Nick Woodard would join Albertson and Mike Nichols was now in contention after starting eleventh as the top four raced in tight formation. Rold was running a middle line that kept his challengers at bay, but over the final three laps Nichols would go from fourth to first passing Rold in the final pair of turns to take the exciting win. Rold, Albertson and Woodard were all close behind with Todd Van Eaton holding off his stepson Buck Schafroth to finish fifth.
The checkers waved right at 11 p.m. and I was on my way back home three hours down the road getting just enough rest to go racing again tonight. The show that I was supposed to announce at tonight, the Sprint Invaders Fall Haul at 34 Raceway has been washed away by the heavy rains and the Deery Brothers Summer Series show at Davenport has been canceled due to wet grounds as well. So my destination tonight will now be the Benton County Bullring in Vinton where new promoter Rick Dripps will host the 2019 finale for the IMCA Dirt Knights Modified Tour. Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks, Sport Compacts and the Micro Mods will also be in action and you can expect the pit area to be overflowing with races cars. Hot laps start at 5:30 with racing at 6 p.m. and I hope to see you there!
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