Marriott and Ramirez would start the twenty-five lap finale from the front row with Ramirez riding the cushion through turns one and two to take the point on the opening lap. The Woodward, Oklahoma native would then stretch his lead out with Marriott, current series point leader Rodney Sanders and Tanner Mullens in desperate pursuit. Further back Adam Kates was running in the fifth position when his motor let go on lap seven and one lap later the caution waved when Cayden Carter slowed in turns three and four, likely from damage suffered after hitting an inside track tire in turn two.
On the restart Ramirez again pulled away from the competition as the leading rookie-of-the-year candidate Tyler Davis eased by Mullens for third. Ramirez had nearly half a straightaway lead as he crossed the stripe for lap fifteen, but he slowed dramatically as he passed under flagman Ryne Staley who quickly displayed the caution for the fallen leader.
With Marriott now assuming the point, Sanders made a strong bid in turns one and two on the restart, but Hunter was up to the challenge and he too would pull away to take the win in front of a solid Southern Iowa Fair crowd. Sanders would chase him home for second while Mullens would make a nifty move around the outside of Davis late to finish in the third spot. Jason Hughes was fifth, Casey Skyberg sixth, Wisconsin's Calvin Iverson finished seventh, Joe Duvall was eighth and Wyoming's Chris Clark was the final car on the track at the checkers in ninth.
The road warriors of the USMTS now head for the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska for the this week's Silver Dollar Nationals and then next week, a new crown jewel event will take place in north central Iowa with Mod Mania at the Mason City Motor Speedway on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday July 28th, 29th and 30th.
The fifteen lap B-Mod main event had trouble getting started. On the first try the eighth starting Dylan Van Wyk got two wheels up on the guardrail in turn one and rode it quite a ways before coming back down on all fours, but the damage was too much for him to continue. On the second try at a start the leaders were four-wide entering turn one and contact sent pole-sitter Tony Johnson for spin in two sending the field back for a third try at getting things started.
On this one the crowd would gasp and then go silent for more than twenty minutes as veteran driver Steve Ruepke would clip the final uke tire that separates the road entering the pits from the outside of turn two sending his car high into the air where it would then roll hard several times before settling upside down midway down the back stretch. A fire then erupted in the engine compartment and thankfully safety crews were quick on the scene to put it out. A second ambulance soon arrived and after several minutes the crowd was given the good news that Ruepke was conscious and responding to emergency personnel as he was transported to the local hospital.
The original field of twelve was now down to nine for a fourth try at getting this one underway and it would be Carter Vandenberg setting the pace with his cousin Brayton Carter in hot pursuit. Vandenberg would ward off all challenges from "Speedy Bray" until lap seven when Brant Murray spun in turn three and on the restart Logan Anderson picked up the challenge for the lead. Anderson would find the bite that he needed on the bottom of turn four to take the lead on lap eight and he would then drive away to a convincing victory over Vandenberg and Carter. Colton Livezy finished in the fourth spot with Maguire DeJong in fifth.
The surprise entry of the night was young Dillon McCowan who made the long tow up from Urbana, Missouri, and was the only USRA B-Mod to venture in to race the local Sport Mods. McCowan has been on a tear this year already winning eight features in his home state where he currently leads our Missouri Points overcoming the recent dominance of drivers such as Kris Jackson and Ryan Gillmore. On this night he lined up fourth for the main event and on the first two starts he would have the lead exiting turn two before the caution waved. The problem though was that he was moving to the outside and starting to pass outside front row starter Troy Oliver before the wave of the green so on the third try at a start officials penalized him a row. Once the race finally got underway McCowan slipped to seventh, but then came forward to take fifth away from DeJong before he slowed with two laps remaining and pulled to the infield. Keep your eye on this kid, he is going to be a good one.
The eight car field of Stock Cars raced in tight formation for much of their fifteen lap main event with Cody Agee leading early. Derrick Agee was on the move after starting seventh and both he and Dustin Griffiths would make it a nifty three car battle for the lead on lap six. Griffith would emerge from the middle of the three-wide formation exiting turn four to take the lead as Derrick moved to second and there was no stopping the charge from the rear of the field as Derrick Agee took the top spot two laps later. He would then go on to score his fourth win of the season here at Osky with Griffiths not far behind in second. It was a photo finish for third with Cody Agee getting the nod over a hard charging Nathan Wood who was back in action after destroying his car a few weeks ago. Wood's new ride is one that he picked up from Ted Greiner that had been sitting in a shed for the past couple of years. Donnie Pearson filled out the top five.
With more racing set to come at the Southern Iowa Speedway tonight, many drivers in the Sport Compact and Hobby Stock divisions chose to only race once this week as only two and four cars signed in respectively on Tuesday. In the Sport Compacts Robbie Wilson passed Billy Cain mid-race to win the two car rumble and in the Hobby Stocks. Dustin Griffiths went flag to flag to take the win over fourth starting Aaron Martin with Jadyn Stevens third and Rick Van Dusseldorp fourth.
I now look forward to returning to the Southern Iowa Speedway tonight for the 2nd Annual Caleb Hammond Memorial with six divisions in action as we race in memory of the young race fan, check that, the young racer who lost his valiant fight against cancer two years ago. Hope to see you there!
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