With a stiff wind howling out of the south along with bright sunshine Monday evening, Stuart Speedway promoter Mike Van Genderen was worried about losing his race track. With a field of thirty-eight drivers in both the Stock Cars and the Sport Mod divisions on hand for the opening night of the Dynamic Drivlines Dirt Duel a one lane dry dust bowl was a distinct possibility. But, with a few well-timed shots of water along with some "roughing up" of the cushion here and there, the quarter-mile oval once again offered up some great racing action with drivers running high, low and everywhere in between with the night's feature winners earning the pole-position for Wednesday night's finale.
The twenty-five lap Sport Mod main event was up first with a pair of Oskaloosa drivers Carter Vandenberg and Dylan Van Wyk drawing the front row and the two groove surface was evident from the drop of the green. With Vandenberg working the bottom and Van Wyk up on the cushion they would swap the lead back and forth depending upon who had hit their marks the best on a given lap. Van Wyk would be scored the leader on the first two circuits with Vandenberg nosing ahead on lap three only to have Van Wyk come back to the front a lap later. Just behind them Shane Paris, who had started fourth, was finding his best line and he would soon make it a three car battle for the lead while following Van Wyk around the cushion.
As the leaders got into traffic, the front of the field tightened up even further with Tyler Inman and Cody Thompson closing on on the lead trio. But when Inman tangled with the lapped car of Matt Webb in turn two on lap seventeen that would produce the only caution of this race. Paris would pounce on the restart taking the lead from Van Wyk and while he eased away a bit the battle was now for second with Thompson trying to outrun the Osky duo. At the checkers it would be Paris who had made the long pull over from Muscatine taking the win while Thompson prevailed for the runner-up spot. Van Wyk and Vandenberg would also lock themselves in to Wednesday night's main event by finishing third and fourth respectively while Brian Osantowski will have to try again tonight to get qualified despite coming from an eighth row starting spot to finish fifth.
The Stock Cars were up next for twenty-five laps and let's just say that the action was intense. Three and four-wide racing was commonplace in this one whether it was in the front of the pack, the middle or the back as while only the top four would qualify for Wednesday's $3,000-to-win headliner, every position counted as points from Monday and Tuesday will set the lineups for Last Chance qualifiers on Wednesday.
Jake Masters started from the pole and pulled out to a comfortable lead while the field behind him shuffled for position. Once again two lines were prevalent, cat-fishing the bottom or running the rim, but in this one there were a couple of drivers who found something in the middle as well and that just made it all even more intriguing to watch. Elijah Zevenbergen was reeling in Masters and was about to mount his challenge for the lead when the caution waved for a Bob Daniels spin in turn one with eight laps remaining.
On the restart Zevenbergen's high line was the best as he would lead laps eighteen and nineteen before a three car tangle exiting turn four brought out another caution. On this restart Masters was digging back and looked to have a run entering turn three only to have the caution wave again for a spin in turn one.
The final six laps would belong Zevenbergen, from the far northwest Iowa town of Ocheydan, as the battle behind him raged on for the remaining three transfer positions. Illinois traveler Abe Huls had hugged the bottom for the entire race after starting ninth and at the checkers it would payoff with a runner-up finish while the leader of the middle groove racers, Luke Lemmens would make his trip from Wisconsin worth it coming from the twenty-first starting spot to finish in third. Masters would hold on to finish in the fourth position just ahead of Derek Green who had made it up to second from his seventh starting position early in the race only to drop back a bit at the finish.
A fifteen car field of Outlaw Mini Modifieds were up next for their feature, plus their were Manufacturer challenge races for both the Sport Mods and Stock Cars still on the card with the clock edging just past 9:30, but during the first caution of the Stock Car main event a check of Facebook showed that there were rumors of "busloads of looters" heading to my small town Iowa home. Of all the things that I have left races early for over the years, this was a new one and thankfully as it turned out it was just a rumor on this night. As I drove by our local Wal Mart store this morning one of the two main entrances was still barricaded by stacks of pallets so apparently this threat still remains.
My original plan was to return to Stuart on Wednesday night for the finale of this great event for the Sport Mods and Stock Cars, plus a full program for the IMCA Modifieds that will be racing for $1,000-to-win in the Bill Davis Sr. Memorial. However, I will only make that trip if I can be comfortable with being over two and a half hours away from my wife and my home during this troubled time.
The one thing that we can all see clearly now is that the year 2020 will be one that we will never forget.
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