I am a huge fan of events where drivers from different regions come together to race each other, some perhaps matching up for the first time, but more often than not in those events it ends up being drivers who face each other often that put on the best show. That was definitely the case on Friday night as the virus delayed Memphis Spring Nationals got underway in front of a controlled and socially distanced crowd at the Scotland County Speedway in northeast Missouri.
The five division program drew in 206 cars from nine different states and while the track got a bit rough due to steady rain on Thursday, the racing was intense and well presented starting with hot laps at 7 p.m. and the final checkers waved around 1:25 a.m. When you have that many cars, it takes awhile to run and keep in mind that tonight's show will start two hours earlier with hot laps scheduled for 5 p.m. and you can watch live on XR.
As they so often do, the Stock Cars provided the most entertaining feature of the night with three of the best in the division John Oliver Jr., Damon Murty and David Brandies putting on a show. Fans were treated to having these three stars in the same heat race where the final laps were thrilling with Oliver dropping from the lead to third after taking the white flag only to split the middle of of Brandies and Murty in turn four to take the win. Post-race in the tech area the three were laughing and smiling as they discussed the action and you just had a feeling that we would see more of the same come feature time, especially when Murty and Brandies drew the front row.
Twenty-laps would be the distance with Brandies grabbing the lead at the drop of the green. Oliver started fifth and was quickly in the hunt with the first heat race winner Todd Reitzler joining the fun to make it a four car battle for the top spot. Murty would nose ahead on lap four and things really heated up when Brandies moved back to the front on lap nine. Murty made the pass again to lead lap ten and Brandies had made the swap again to lead what would have been lap eleven, but that pass was wiped out by the first caution of the race when Jim Redman stopped in turn three.
Murty would lead the field back to green and when Reitzler slowed with a flat tire on lap twelve that allowed Marty to get some separation as Brandies and Oliver raced door to door for second. Murty appeared to have this one in hand, but when Jason See had something let go under the hood exiting turn four on lap seventeen he left a trail of fluid that required one last caution flag. The stage was now set for the final three laps as Brandies and Oliver settled in behind the leader on the high side after the green flag returned.
With two laps remaining Brandies drove it into turn one deep and was able to get a run on the leader down the back stretch. As he entered turn three on the high side, Murty appeared to hesitate for a split second as he hit a bump and Brandies seized the opportunity driving to the inside. As the two were side by side in turn four another ripple in the track appeared to cause Brandies to pitch to the right creating contact between the two that continued to the front stretch with Brandies nearly spinning out before the two leaders gathered it up as the white flag waved.
Oliver had to check up and that allowed Murty's young son Dallon to charge into the mix with Wisconsin's Jeremy Christians right there as well and the top five raced through turns one and two for the final time in a tight pack. Brandies retained the lead down the back stretch with Damon tapping on his bumper as Dallon pulled to his father's inside, but the leader held his line through the final two turns as Brandies would take win ahead of Damon Murty. Third would go to Dallon Murty by inches over Oliver while Christians would complete the top five. While Murty extended his hand of congratulations to Brandies in victory lane, the two had an extended animated conversation in the tech area throughout most of the next feature and you can bet that will you will see these two at battle with each other again soon. And it will be a good one!
The Sport Mods drew the largest car count of the night at 62 and it took six heats and three B-Mains to trim the field to 24 for the first feature of the night. After making the fifteen hour haul from Langdon, North Dakota, Lance Schill had charged from the back of his ten car heat race to finish second earning him the right to draw the pole position for the eighteen lap feature and he took full advantage of it. The only caution of the race waved on lap four and once back to racing Schill pulled out to a big advantage. Brayton Carter had started seventh and on lap eight he made his way up to second, but found himself to be nearly a full straightaway behind the leader.
As the laps clicked down Carter gradually closed the gap even though Schill had yet to catch the back of the field and as the white flag waved there was still at least six car lengths separating the leader from the chaser. Carter would cut it to four down the back stretch and when Schill got a little loose exiting turn four the final time he was able to gather it back up and take the win, but by just a car-length over the runner-up Carter. Josh Most charged from the eleventh starting spot to finish third, Wisconsin's Jason Roth was fourth and Gage Neal filled out the top five.
The Hobby Stocks were the low end of the car count with sixteen and with Marengo, Iowa's Nathan Ballard drawing the pole position this one looked like a race for second. Mike Kincaid had other ideas though as he pulled to the inside of the leader in turns one and two on lap three, but Ballard was up to the challenge and then eased away to take the flag-to-flag win. Kincaid was a solid second as Derek Kirkland came from the fifth row to finish third. Rick Van Dusseldorp finished fourth while Nick Ronnebaum made the trip from Onaga, Kansas, to complete the top five.
You had a similar vibe as the Modified feature came to the track with Michael Long sitting on the outside of the front row next to Midwest legend Kenny Schrader. Just like Schill in the Sport Mods, Michael had put in his work during his heat race coming from seventh to earn his redraw opportunity and as the field raced into turn one for the first time he already had a few car lengths on Schrader. The track had plenty of character at this point of the night and on lap three it claimed two top contenders as both Kyle Brown and Kurt Kile stopped on the track with issues.
On the restart Cayden Carter made a run to the inside of Long in turns one and two only to have Michael use the high side momentum to again pull away down the back stretch and not even Carter could stay close enough to mount a challenge. The caution waved again for debris with eight laps remaining and again Long drove away from his competition as the race heated up for positions behind him. Defending All Iowa Points Champion Joel Rust had started from the eight row and he was now making up ground quickly in the closing laps running the extreme low line through the corners. After taking over fifth with four laps to go, Rust clipped the infield tire in turn two breaking the steering arm on the left front yet amazingly he was able to maintain the position for one more lap up on the high line before throwing in the towel and limping his injured mount to the infield.
Long would complete the green to checkers run for the win with Carter chasing him through traffic in second. Josh Most scored his second podium finish of the night, this time after starting eighth, North Dakota resident Tom Berry Jr. was fourth and Tyler Madigan came from the sixth row to complete the top five.
Fifty-nine four cylinder Sport Compacts signed in for the action with twenty-four of them closing out the night for fifteen laps of feature racing. Chilton, Wisconsin's Shaun Bangert would pace the field to green, but it would be fourth starting Jake Benischek who would have the advantage as the field negotiated turn one for the first time. Seventh starting Josh Barnes would quickly move to second and the chase was on until lap four when Tyler Heckart took a nasty spill down the back stretch. Thankfully Heckart emerged uninjured and when racing resumed Barnes slowed suddenly on the back stretch ending his night with a caution.
Fourteenth starter Jason Ash would now pick up the challenge on Benischek and the driver from Burlington would take over the lead on lap seven. The final caution of the night waved when Kansas driver Ted Trumbo drove over the top of turn three with four laps remaining, but that did not faze Ash as he again pulled away on the restart to complete the victory. Chuck Fullenkamp finished where he started in second, the DeLonjay brothers Jadon and Jeffery went third and fourth in their identical Be Dry Roofing sponsored cars and William Michel came from the outside of row eight to complete the top five.
Special thanks go out to Tech Inspector Cory Benge who allowed me to set up shop for the evening in the back of his truck on the infield and to announcer Tony Paris who texted me pictures of the starting lineups throughout the night since I could not hear him or Ryan Bergeson whenever cars were on the track. And of course a big round of applause should be given to promoter Mike Van Genderen, his amazing staff and the Scotland County Fair Board who pulled all of this off under our current state of chaos!
They do it all again tonight and you can watch it live on RaceXr
I have family plans for tonight so my next event will be next Friday night when the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson is back in action, likely without fans in the stands unless rules are changed by the Governor between now and then, but you will be able to watch it all on Speed Shift TV.
Happy Mother's Day!
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