Van Genderen had already hosted some big events this season that drew over 130 cars requiring the use of an overflow pit area and having race fans search for every inch of available space to park their own cars to watch. But he knew that this night could be epic, especially after seeing the car counts at the first few races of the Midwest Madness Tour presented by Western Iowa Racing Results and so he prepared to meet the demand. He doubled an already expanded order for his concession stand, he worked with local government to shut down the road that runs to the west and the north of the race track to use to park haulers if needed and, most importantly, he worked out an agreement with the neighboring land owner to use a large field to the east of the facility to handle spectator parking in case it was needed.
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| Stolen from the Stuart Speedway Facebook page |
With 170 race cars signing in to do battle in the six classes, race car haulers had to use the usual spectator parking area so that field was required for the large contingent of fans that showed up to watch another great night of racing at a track that had a pit area built to hold sixty to eighty cars. Thank goodness that MVG came prepared!
All of the qualifying races had wrapped up just past 9:30 p.m. and the Outlaw Mini Mod feature would be first up for a scheduled fourteen lap event. Pole-sitter Kamdyn Haggard would race out to the early lead giving way to Matt Prehn on lap three just before Cody Housby slowed on the back stretch for a caution. On the restart Logan Brown zipped into second and with Minnesota's Nathan Kilwine on the charge after starting eighth we had ourselves a dandy three car battle with Prehn and Brown hugging the bottom and Kilwine working a higher line. That top line would prevail for Kilwine as he would lead lap nine, but the caution would wave soon after when a back marker would spin in turn two.
On the restart Luke Daniels would got turned around exiting turn four leaving Matthew Grobe no place to go and after making hard contact Grobe's car would rollover on the front stretch. Both drivers climbed from their cars uninjured, but Grobe will have to see just how much of his Mini Mod is salvageable once he returns to Austin, Minnesota. With the long red, the race was cut to twelve laps and while Brown was able to get to second on the restart he was not able to mount a challenge to Kilwine who secured the victory. Prehn finished in third, Dan Kline was fourth and Chase Daniels filled out the top five.
The Sport Compacts were up next for fourteen laps with Cody Pierce leading the first one before yielding to the current IMCA National points leader Tyler Fiebelkorn on lap two. Rusty Gyles would spin in turn one on lap four for the only caution of the race and after the restart young Kolby Sabin would challenge for the lead. Fiebelkorn would try to pin him low, but Sabin would not yield and on lap six he would take the lead and then drive away to victory. Fiebelkorn would take the runner-up spot ahead of Bryan Vannausdle who started in tenth. Hunter Patrick finished fourth and Mark Smith came from a sixth row start to complete the top five.
A stout field of 38 IMCA Stock Cars had been whittled down to twenty-four who would race for a possible $1,905 to win (random donations, keep in mind) in this thirty lap affair with pole-sitter Jake Masters getting out to a big early lead. Behind him the action was phenomenal as I counted them five wide exiting turn two on two occasions and some of the usual suspects such as Elijah Zevenbergen and the Murtys, Damon and Dallon, were making their way to the front. Although the driver that got to second riding the high line, Dusty Van Horn from Atlantic, might have been an unknown to many of the fans at Stuart. With this one staying green Masters was still in firm control holding a full straightaway lead, but when Midwest Madness Tour provisional starter Brenton Palmer spun in turn one on lap sixteen that advantage was erased.
Masters had been running the bottom exclusively and on the restart Van Horn sailed around him on the top to take the lead, so rather than stubbornly sticking with the bottom line Jake moved up to the cushion as well to put the pressure on the new leader. With that cushion now getting right up to the universal barriers around turns one and two, Van Horn went in a bit too high on lap twenty-two and when he made a bit of contact with the barriers that was the mistake that Masters was looking for as he slipped under Van Horn to regain the lead. Meanwhile, just behind the them, the Murtys had just left the drive thru at White Castle and the sliders were coming out bringing the huge crowd to the edge of their seats. Still, as the white flag waved, Masters had this one in hand only to have Buck Schafroth coast to a stop in turn three requiring what would be a thrilling green-white-checkered restart.
Dallon Marty would dive low into turn one and slide up in front of Masters in two, but the veteran from Graettinger calmly executed the crossover move to maintain the lead down the back straightaway. Dallon looked to repeat the move in three and four, but when he did not have Masters cleared he raced him clean and lost the momentum to challenge on the final lap. That would allow Masters to take the win with Dallon Murty second, but behind them the finish was wild as Damon Murty tried to slide up in front of Van Horn in turn four. Contact between the two allowed Zevenbergen to charge underneath both of them and as the trio came to the line in tight formation, contact launched the front end of Zevenbergen's car high into the air. Van Horn had the edge by inches for third over Zevenbergen with Damon Murty a few feet further back in fifth.
The crowd was still abuzz about that finish as the Hobby Stocks made their way to the speedway and just after the opening lap was scored Kevin Bruck drove up and over the wall in turn two disappearing from view down the embankment. Within just a minute though, as if he knew the route already, Bruck drove back up to the track entrance in turn one and was ready to restart the race with announcer Tony Paris getting the crowd to give him a standing ovation that was louder than any of the parade laps on this night.
As we have seen so often at Stuart over the last two years, this race would be a battle of the low line versus the high line with early leader Brandon Cox working the bottom before yielding to challenger Chuck Madden Jr. who was running the top. In this race though Cox would stick with his favored line and with five laps remaining he would go back to the front and after working lapped traffic like a pro in those closing laps Cox would score his second feature win of the season here over Madden. Braden Richards was impressive in what I believe to be his first appearance of the year here finishing in the third spot, Solomon Bennett started twelfth and finished fourth while Midwest Madness Tour point champion contender Jason Fusselman was fifth after starting from the tenth position.
The highlighted division of the night, the IMCA Modifieds would draw a spectacular field of 49 drivers all looking for the $2,005 top prize and the six heat races alone were worth the price of admission as drivers battled three and four wide in each of them looking for the only two transfer spots. Two B-Mains taking five each plus a track provisional and a Midwest Madness Tour provisional would set the field for thirty-five laps with Todd Shute drawing the pole position. Earlier in the night Shute and Jesse Sobbing slugged it out for ten laps after starting from the front row of the fifth heat with Sobbing prevailing. But after Shute's young surrogate pulled the number one for the main event, he was not about to get beat again.
The hottest driver in Iowa right now, Tom Berry Jr. would spin in turn one on the opening lap so on the restart instead of lining up eleventh he would now go to the rear of the field. You will see why that is significant soon. Another top contender, Josh Gilman would be the victim of an accordion effect stack up on the bottom of turn three as the first lap was scored and once underway Shute left the field in his wake as the battle to watch was between Jeff Aikey and Cayden Carter. They weren't racing for second, yet, but after facing off against each other in the opening heat race earlier in the night you had a sense that each had a target on the other as aggressive slide jobs and some door rubbing happened often.
Usually with two drivers battling like that they both end up on the hook, but not Carter and Aikey who eventually advanced their personal war past Cory Sauerman, Ethan Braaksma and Dylan Thronton until they actually were battling it out for second. With Shute still in command and seemingly on is way to a dominant win with just six laps remaining, the California visitor Thornton went too deep into turns one and two with his car climbing up on top of the concrete barrier sending sparks flying before the Modified finally stopped perched atop the wall.
The long delay to carefully remove the car from the top of the wall sealed my fate in regard to the final race of the night, but I was not about to leave knowing that Carter and and Aikey would restart just behind Shute and now Berry was lined up sixth after charging from the rear. Once back to green it was obvious that Shute was the man on this night as "Toddzilla" again pulled away to take the big victory. Carter prevailed in the battle for second and Tom Berry Jr. executed a perfect slide job in the final two turns to take third away from Aikey. Nick Roberts would complete the top five.
It was now 11:30 and knowing that I had to get up and go to work the next morning despite the Holiday in order to get caught up for a busy week next week, I headed for the gates as the Sport Mod feature came to the track. Checking the results this morning I see that Brayton Carter made it a pretty good night for Jimmy's boys as he took the win after starting sixth. Josh Most advanced from twelfth to second, Cam Reimers was third followed by Cody Thompson and last week's winner Brian Osantowski.
A big thank you to Mike Van Genderen and his staff for the hospitality and it is truly a treat to watch him orchestrate a night of racing. No matter how good your Race Director is I can almost guarantee you that he or she would learn something if they observed MVG for an evening. And he still knows that there are things that he can learn himself, something he told me after visiting the Davenport Speedway earlier this season and watching promoter Ricky Kay and his crew pull off a quick moving show with over 160 cars in the pits and a local curfew to beat. Hard to believe that there are just four events remaining on the 2020 Stuart Speedway schedule and while at this point it doesn't look like I will be able to return, I do hope that you will make a visit for some great mid-week racing.
From one big Memorial event to another, this one much closer to home tonight as I look forward to the 12th Annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway west of Burlington featuring the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models racing for $10,555-to-win. Stock Cars and winged 305 Sprint Cars will also be in action on what will be a big night at 34.
Hope to see you there!
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