Berry Dominates Dirt Knights 2020 Finale at Vinton

I had the chance to get to know the father son duo of Rick and Corey Dripps back in 1998 when Corey would become the first ever Modified champion on the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure and I have enjoyed our friendship ever since. They are a hard working pair, never shy about taking on a new project such as the Dirt Knights television show and more recently the promotion of their home track, the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. They can be brash and outspoken, but for me that is part of their charm and character and it has served them well as they complete their first full year of promotion at the Sunday night quarter-mile.

Usually I would have been up here four or five times already, but with the virus wiping out the early part of the season, a couple of Sunday night Sprint Invaders in Missouri and two rainouts when I had planned to make the trip, just like last year my one and only Dripps promoted event that I would see this season would be the finale of the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour schedule. Last year, in their first ever event promotion, Rick and Corey made some great decisions with foul weather closing in, but on this night the only challenge that the weather would provide would be a stiff south breeze that would suck the moisture out of the racing surface.

I had a chance to talk with Corey before the races and I asked him how the year had gone and he was quick to say that there had been a lot to learn. He said that knowing how he was as a young driver it has definitely helped him to understand why all decisions, no matter how good or bad, are going to be questioned, but you make your best call and move on. It is never easy to take over a solid operation and in this case to live up to the long time tenure of promoter Mick Trier, it was a high bar and one that Rick and Corey work hard each and every week to reach and hopefully push a little bit higher.

I was impressed with how Corey ran the Drivers' Meeting prior to the night's action and at the end he made one thing very clear. If you had an issue with anything that happened during the evening he wanted you to find him in the infield after the races to discuss it and he would do his best to work it out in a fair and reasonable manner. Definitely sounding like a long-time and still active driver who wants to put on the best show possible for his fellow drivers. Hopefully I will be able to make it up to Vinton more often in 2021 to support those efforts!

Now let's get to the racing!

The Hobby Stock division was up first in the feature lineup with fourteen cars going fifteen laps. Jake Benischek would take the lead from his third starting position and 2020 track champion Kaden Reynolds made a big early move as well coming from seventh to second. Benischek was able to ward off Reynolds for the first three laps before Kaden made his move and he would then pull away to take the win in the non-stop event. Benischek would be the runner-up ahead of pole-sitter Matt Brown. Michael Kimm would hold down the fourth spot and Jacob Floyd recovered from mechanical issues early in the night to take fifth after starting from the final row.

The Sport Compacts were up next and they too would run their twelve lap feature race from green to checkered with this year's track champion William Michel leading the entire distance after starting from the front row. Adam Gates edged out Zeke Wheeler in a photo finish for second while Chris Claypoole and Jacob Morris filled out the top five. Michel made the long pull in from Columbus Junction every Sunday night to win his title.

After two straight feature races with no cautions, odds were good that we wouldn't make it three and the Sport Mods had their share of issues. The first of five cautions flew on lap three and on that restart current All Iowa Points leader Brayton Carter drove around the outside of his cousin Dylan Van Wyk to take the lead. Helped out a bit by four more restarts over the final eleven laps, Van Wyk kept the pressure on Carter whenever the race was green, but he could not get back the lead as "Speedy Bray" picked up another win on what has been an astounding 2020 season. Joe Docekal made a big charge up from twelfth to finish third, but perhaps the story in this one was the performance of Matt DeJong.

Making his first ever dirt track start while subbing for his young son Maguire who is out for several weeks to recover from a planned surgery on his jaw, Matt pulled out his old driver's suit from when he did some road course racing during his college days and, after making sure that it would still fit, he and Jason Hall brought the car out to Vinton for his dirt track debut. One thing is for sure, his luck of drawing is good as he started up front in his heat race and stayed in the top four for the redraw where he then drew the outside of the front row. This in itself should have been enough to rattle somebody who has not raced dirt before, but Matt was smooth and steady bringing the #30m home for a fourth place finish and, as he noted in a message to me afterward, a new found appreciation for what his son has been able to accomplish already in his young career. In other words, Dad is not going to be so hard on him going forward.

Oh yes, and Brett Thomas edged out Brian Kauffman at the checkers in a close battle for fifth.

The IMCA Stock Cars were up next and with no Murtys in tonight's lineup, in this class at least, this one was wide open and ripe for a new face in victory lane. Only one caution waved in this fifteen lap event and that came before a lap could be scored when Bryce Carey and Tyler Titus tangled in turn two. On the next try at a start outside front row starter Michael Peterson rocketed out to the lead and you would have never known until he revealed the fact in victory lane that this would be his first career feature win in a Stock Car. Peterson was dominant winning by nearly half of a lap over Shawn Ritter and Jay Schmidt. Justin Temeyer ducked to the infield before the green flag waved in his heat race, but he and his crew figured out the problem as he charged from eleventh to fourth and Marshalltown's David Atcher came from tenth to fifth in a rare appearance for him at Vinton.

The $1,000-to-win Dirt Knights IMCA Modified feature would close out the night and in 2020, if Tom Berry Jr. is going to start from the front row, you can bet that it will then be a race for second. Berry's Razor chassis was dialed in again tonight leaving Troy Cordes trying to maintain the quick pace early in this thirty lap affair. A caution on lap eleven for Kevin Hurst's spin in turn two brought Berry back to the field and on the restart Cayden Carter would move to the second spot. But Carter too found out quickly that it was impossible to keep up with Berry and as the laps clicked away that battle for second was definitely the one to watch as Carter, Cordes and Jeff Aikey diced it up in, and through lapped traffic.

After the checkers waved over Berry, who continues to stretch out his lead in the All Iowa Points, you had to wait a bit before Aikey crossed in second ahead of Carter and Cordes. Aikey's protege' Kollin Hibdon finished in the fifth spot just ahead of two California drivers Cody Laney and Dylan Thornton.

Dallon Murty who now leads his father Damon by just one point in the August 30th update of the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars, made his Modified debut tonight in one of Kyle Brown's previous rides and the youngster appeared to have a win locked up in his heat race until the final laps when he clipped the track tire marking the entrance to turn one and spun out of contention. This took him out of the redraw and landed him in the 27th and final starting position for the main event where he made up eleven spots to finish in sixteenth.

The final checkers waved at ten minutes before 9 p.m. making this a sub three hour show from the start of hot laps, always a plus especially on a Sunday night! A big thanks to Rick and Corey Dripps for the hospitality and to announcer Jerry Mackey for his welcome, and kind words about Positively Racing.

This was the final event of the season at Vinton and the 2020 racing schedule has ended at several other area tracks as well. However, the 2020 Fall Specials season in the upper Midwest kicks into full swing this Labor Day weekend and continues all the way through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so make sure that you get out and enjoy as much action as possible!

And, as always, keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!

No Rain at CJ; Brandies, Brown, Livezy and Staley Find Victory Lane

Seven times over three racing seasons, including this one, I have marked my calendar with the intention of going to the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction. And, with all seven, either rain, the threat of rain, or just crummy weather in general caused each show to be canceled. Track promoter Larry Richardson and I are friends, but I have to wonder if he had started to dread seeing a mention of my plans to attend one of his races here on the Back Stretch. So to break the streak you will notice that I was vague about my Friday night plans in the last entry and I waited until the scheduled start time of 7:30 to buy my ticket since there was a storm threat that dissipated as it passed by the speedway.

Finally, I would get to see a night of racing in Columbus Junction!

The historic track on the Louisa County fairgrounds has had a big bounce back over the past few years. Yes, it has benefited from the fact that there is no longer any weekly racing in nearby West Liberty or Tipton, but I believe that it also has to do with the fact that they did something a few years ago that some other area tracks need to consider. Struggling with numbers in two classes, the Mod Lites and the Trucks, the decision was made to cut both of those divisions and to move some, if not all of that purse money into the remaining four in order to bolster their car counts and you would have to say that this has worked. Tonight's postseason draw/redraw show had 59 cars in the pits, and while that might not sound like much for a track that has six or seven divisions on the card, with four it was just right and there was a nice crowd on hand to watch even though it was opening night for high school football for many of the area schools.

The Sport Mod main event was the first to the track with Travis Tedrow leading the opening lap. Carter Vandenberg drove under him on lap two and he would open up a big lead as Colton Livezy and Shane Paris slugged it out for second well behind him. After starting eighth Paris would get to second on lap six, but he was not making up much ground on the leader until the caution waved on lap nine when Levi Laymon slowed with a flat right rear tire. This would put Livezy and Paris side by side behind Vandenberg for the restart and Livezy would toss a slide job on the leader entering turn one. Vandenberg would cross him over to maintain the lead and it was clear that we were going to have a great three car battle over the final five laps.

Vandenberg was now working the bottom line with Livezy running the top and while he could pull even in the turns, Vandenberg would still be able to drive ahead down the straights. And, all the while, Paris was right there looking for his own opening to get to the front. That battle would be interrupted with two laps to go though as Jared Jones had issues on the front stretch and Jeff Durst had an engine fire after letting out a big cloud of smoke at the back of the pack.

It would now be a green, white, checkers restart and after taking the white flag it looked like Livezy drove it just a little deeper into turn one and when he caught the cushion just right, his run off turn two allowed him to drive under Vandenberg down the back stretch. Livezy then tried to stand on the brakes entering turn three to try to stay on the bottom, but he left just enough room for Vandenberg to squeeze back under him and there was contact as they transitioned to turn four. With Paris riding the high side this looked like it might play into his hands and the trio came out of turn four running in tight formation. At the checkers it would be Livezy by half a car length over Vandenberg who was just a bumper ahead of Paris in third. Trey Rock looks to be a future winner as he finished fourth and Brendan Schultheis was fifth.

Cody Staley has become the top Sport Compact driver in the region currently ranked sixth in the All Iowa Points and he wrapped up the track championship here with seven straight feature wins. So when he drew the outside of the front row for the twelve lap feature you had to figure that this would be a race for second, but pole-sitter Tim Long would be the leader down the back stretch on the opening lap. Staley would go to the front in turns three and four though and he would lead the non-stop race from there to take his eighth straight victory at CJ. Darin Smith was well behind in second, Ashley Reuman finished third, Long was fourth despite a mid-race back and forth with Cody Van Dusen, and Shane Barnes finished fifth.

A pair of talented young drivers from Newton would draw the front row of the twenty lap Modified main event. Ethan Braaksma, the current point leader on the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour would be on the pole position with the 2020 CJ Speedway track champion Austin Paul to his outside and it would be Braaksma who would open up a big lead at the drop of the green. Derrick Stewart would get by Paul for second and the caution would fly after lap four when Dustan Fenton slid off the top of turn three.

On the restart Jarrett Brown would move to second as Braaksma again opened up a big lead, but that lead would shrink in half when the leader stumbled on the cushion in turn three, and on lap eight Braaksma would hand the lead over to Brown when he slipped off the top of turn three. Ethan would recover in time to maintain second, but two laps later he would again drive into turn three too hard and this time he would stop in turn four after returning to the track to bring out the caution.

Once back to racing Brown would go unchallenged over the final ten laps to take the win over Stewart. Kurt Kile came from ninth to finish third, Braaksma battled his way back to fourth while Paul rounded out the top five.

A seventeen car field of IMCA Stock Cars would finish up the regular card with David Brandies taking the lead from his outside row one starting position. Second row starters Jason See and Adam Bell would take up the chase and See would get under Brandies in turn three to take the lead on lap nine. Brandies would battle back though and he would be scored the leader again on lap eleven before the caution waved for Kenny O'Donnell who had spun to the infield in turn three. 

Once back to green Brandies did his best to protect the bottom as See and Bell literally ran door to door for the next seven laps just behind the leader. With two to go Bell was able to nose ahead of See and he would take a look at the line just to the outside of Brandies to see if he could get to the front. On the final lap Bell was able to get to the outside of Brandies in turns three and four but David would have the bite off the bottom as the fans were treated to a another three car drag race to the finish on the night with Brandies taking the win over Bell and See. John Hemsted came from his eleventh starting spot to finish fourth with Tad Payne in fifth.

One other benefit of having just four classes is that this checkered flag waved at 9:40 and while there were still Powder Puff and Mechanic's races to enjoy, I headed out in time to get a chocolate milk shake at the Dairy Sweet as I made my way out of town. I was home so early that my wife asked me if it had rained in Columbus Junction and I was happy to say for the first time in three seasons. "Not tonight!"

The forecast for Sunday evening in Vinton is looking perfect for the finale of the IMCA Modified Dirt Knights Tour as I look forward to my visit to the Benton County Speedway "Bullring". Hope to see you there!   

Kay Dusts Field at Farley; Aikey, Roth and Spaw Are Also Wide Open Wednesday Winners at 300 Raceway

I love going to races on Wednesday nights. For whatever reason that is usually the one work day where I can escape early if needed and it is seldom that there is anything on the social calendar for hump day that I might need to yield to, other than a trip to the Mt. Hamil Tap where to get a better piece of chicken you would have to be a rooster. (Their tag line, not mine!) And the great thing about being a race fan in Iowa is that I usually have two, three or more Wednesday night options within a three hour driving distance to choose from so I generally pick the show based upon a combination of what I will see and when I will be back home.

Last night, there was just one option on what will likely be my last Wednesday night race of 2020 and by starting a few minutes before the scheduled start time of 7 p.m. and having the final checkered flag waving at 9:10 over a four division program where the drivers were able to race all over the wide racing surface until the final eight laps of the night, more on that later, let's just say that the 300 Raceway in Farley bolstered its level of consideration for mid-week visits in 2021.

The IMCA Stock Cars would be first up for feature racing action as the smoky sunset added a nice back drop. Fifteen laps would be the distance for the fifteen car field and it would be Jason Brimeyer leading the way early after starting from the outside of row one. In typical Stock Car fashion we saw some four-wide action as drivers tried to work their way to the front as Leah Wroten would take the lead on lap three only to yield to Johnny Spaw on lap five.

Spaw had started eighth and he wasn't the only driver on the move, but bad luck wiped out the hopes of Phil Holtz, who retired to the infield with a flat tire, and to the ninth starting Tom Schmitt who let out a big plume of smoke to bring out the first caution of the race on lap twelve while he was running third. One more hard charger was eliminated on the restart when Timmy Current spun in turn two and then pulled to the pit area under caution. Current had started thirteenth and had restarted in third before the incident.

Once back to green there was no stopping Spaw who would go on to take the win ahead of Wroten who prevailed in a battle for second with Jarod Weepie. Brimeyer would finish in the fourth spot and when Duayne Herb lost a motor in the final set of turns, Tony Schimmels was there to pick up the fifth-place paycheck.

A stout field of twenty-two IMCA Modifieds including a couple of California visitors and two Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, area travelers were up next for twenty laps with one of those west coast drivers Dylan Thornton taking the lead from his pole position. Thornton made the trek from Santa Maria to the Midwest back in late May and has steadily improved given the opportunity to race with and around some of the best Modified drivers in the nation right here in Iowa and on this night it looked like a victory was a good possibility if not for the presence of former Super Nationals champion Jeff Aikey.

Aikey had started eighth and by mid-race was up to second and challenging for the lead. Thornton was steady on the high line and did not flinch when Aikey showed his nose a couple of times, but on lap fourteen the veteran out of Cedar Falls put the slider on Thornton entering turn one and then slammed the door on the cushion in turn two to take the lead. Thornton tried to battle back on the inside in turns three and four, but he could not find enough bite as Aikey pulled away to take the win. Looking for his second win here in the Midwest, Thornton instead had to be happy with his third runner-up finish as Wisconsin's Brandon Schmitt filled out the podium after starting from tenth. Troy Cordes came from the fourth row to finish in fourth and Jeff Larson wheeling the #33K on this night completed the top five. Mark Schulte was sixth and Jed Freiburger was seventh after they started sixteenth and fourteenth respectively.

The fifteen lap Sport Mod main event had a bit of a deja vu feel to it from when I was last here two weeks ago. The leaders, Troy Bauer, Justin Becker and Jerry Miles, were three wide coming to score lap one with Becker emerging from the middle to take the lead by a nose. Bauer would stay in hot pursuit though and he would sail around the outside of Becker in turn two to take the lead on lap eight, but Jason Roth was hot on Bauer's heels as well and he would drive under the new leader in turn three just one lap later.

There would be no catching Roth from there as he and Bauer would go one-two, the same order that they were here two weeks ago and a promoter has to love to see the number of Roth Racing shirts who were in victory lane ready to join Jason in celebration. Cam Reimers made the long trip over from Ogden to finish in the third spot, Becker dropped to fourth ahead of Tyler Soppe and Nic Coates recovered from a mid-race spin to take sixth.

Sixteen IMCA Late Models for twenty-five laps would close out the evening with pole-sitter Mitch Manternach leading the way on lap one. Joel Callahan would power by him on the second lap and the caution would wave on lap four when Manternach, Greg Kastli and Logan Duffy were all involved in a turn four tangle. For Duffy it was the second time on the night that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he stopped on the front stretch to perhaps vent his frustration before heading to the back of the field for the restart.

Jeff Aikey had actually squeezed past Callahan for the lead just before the caution, and he would do so again after the restart driving around the outside of Callahan exiting turn four as lap five went in the books. Aikey started to pull away and some of the fans would head for the exits as it looked like he would get his second win of the night going away, but on lap sixteen Justin Kay drove under Callahan to take the second spot. Kay had started eighth and was using a low line around the speedway that kept getting lower as the nose of his Late Model continually nudged the tires marking the infield a little further in each lap.

Once into second it took just one lap to cut Aikey's near straightaway lead in half and when the caution waved on lap seventeen for Ben Seeman's spin with help exiting turn four, Kay was lined up right on the back bumper of Aikey. During the caution track workers bumped the infield tires back into their original positions, but as the field came to green Kay expertly nudged the tire at the exit of turn four in a bit and then did the same to the tire marking the infield at the exit of turn one.

I say "expertly" because if somebody challenged him to move the tires at speed without doing any damage whatsoever to his nose piece, he couldn't have done it any better and when Tanner Allen and Jill George spun in turn two the tires were not moved back into place for the restart.

Justin hit them both again as the field came back to green and I am guessing that he was moving the other ones as well as he was now running a line that was at least a half car width down into the dry dirt of the infield. Kay would pass Aikey to take the lead on lap nineteen and with the dry dirt now being thrown up on the racing surface, what once was a three wide race track quickly went away and the final five laps were run in a swirling cloud of dust as the rest of the field went the infield route as well in single file formation.

Kay would take the win with Aikey in second. Scott Fitzpatrick drove Joel Callahan's second car to a third place finish just ahead of the car owner while Eric Pollard finished fifth. Matt Ryan had cracked the top four early, but faded to sixth and kudos to Duffy for battling back to finish seventh.

This is no knock on Justin as a great racer will always take advantage of anything that they can and once again his ability to nudge those tires in a bit lap after lap was impressive. With the track's marquee event coming up next weekend, the Yankee Dirt Classic, they will need to figure out how to keep drivers from shortening up the racing surface by moving those infield tire markers. 

One night several years ago while announcing a race at Donnellson and having suffered through several cautions where the infield tires had been punted out onto the racing surface I quipped that the promoter should have said during the drivers' meeting that one of the infield tires had been filled with cement. This was immediately met with criticism from the other announcer who said, "well obviously Jeff you have never worked on one of these cars before", to which I replied. "No, I haven't. And none of the infield tires would actually be filled with cement, but if the drivers thought that one of them was, you can bet that they wouldn't hit any of them!"

Oh well, guess I just eliminated that possibility for next week!

I was back at home by 11:30 and ready for bed with dreams of where I might go racing in the days ahead. Friday night is a possibility if the weather cooperates and on Sunday I look forward to returning to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the IMCA Modified Dirt Knights Tour event. Look for me on the Back Stretch!

Woodworth Wires Drive for Five Qualifier, Martin Takes Sprint Invaders Win at Lee County

It was a beautiful late August night for racing Friday at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway and a large crowd was treated to some great racing across five divisions highlighted by the Sprint Invaders and the final qualifier for the IMCA Late Model "Drive for Five" series.

Twenty-five winged 360 Sprint Cars signed in for the evening with twenty-one of them set to start the twenty-five lap main event. Kaley Gharst and Josh Higday would bring the field to green only to have the caution wave soon after as the seventh starting car of Paul Nienheiser spun on the front stretch. Nienheiser would have to restart the Midland Performance #50 from the rear of the field for the second try at a green and, before one lap could be scored, the two-time and defending series champion John Schulz tagged the guardrail in turn three and got upside down to bring out the red flag.

Schulz would walk dejectedly back to the pits and after the third try at a start stayed green, only two laps were scored when Cam Martin spun in turn two collecting Dugan Thye. Both drivers would retire from this one and once the race was back to green it was a good one on a smooth and wide surface where the cushion was just inches from the outside guardrail on each end. It was a perfect track for slide jobs and we would see a lot of them as the race wore on.

Gharst would lead the first ten laps riding the high side, but when he caught the back of the field Higday was ready to pounce. On lap eleven Higday threw a slider in turns three and four where he not only passed the leader, but he also slid up in front of the now lapped car of Austin Miller to quickly put some space between himself and Gharst. Current Invaders point leader Chris Martin would join the mix in third and he would soon find himself in second ready to challenge for the lead.

After Higday fought off a couple of sliders from Martin, a big one in turns three and four would stick and Martin would take the lead on lap seventeen. A lap later the new leader would face the challenge of getting around Justin Bucholz and Higday was coming fast before the caution waved when Miller clipped the end of the turn four guardrail and then smacked the outside retaining wall at the start of the front stretch.

During the caution a keen eyed official noticed that Gharst had lost his left rear wheel nut and he was forced to the infield before the green flag waved. Martin would drive away over the final five laps to take the win, his first this season despite sitting atop the points. After dominating his heat race and the Budweiser Dash, Higday would have to settle for second while young Riley Goodno was strong in third. Lynton Jeffrey had troubles in his heat race before coming from the tenth row to finish fourth in the main event and Dustin Selvage advanced four positions to complete the top five.

The Sprint Invaders will be in action again on Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington and the series will return to The Pepsi Lee County Speedway on Saturday September 12th.

Also on the card here on September 12th will be the "Drive for Five" finale for the IMCA Late Models where any driver that participated in four of the five preliminary events will be eligible to win $5,000 that night rather than the standard $2,000 winner's check. Tonight's Late Model feature would go twenty-five laps non-stop with Denny Woodworth leading the distance from his outside front row starting position to secure the win. Sam Halstead chased him all the way in second and Tommy Elston was not far behind in third. Mark Burgtorf took advantage of a lapped car to drive around Andy Nezworksi late for the fourth place money.

The IMCA Stock Cars have a reputation for putting on a good show at Donnellson and tonight only enhanced that, especially in the early going of the eighteen lap feature. Jerry Jansen would lead the opening lap and he had them racing four wide right behind him for second at the exit of turn four. Jansen would continue to set the pace on lap two and this time they were four-wide for third coming back to the flagstand. Chad Krogmeier would take the point on lap four bringing eighth starting John Oliver Jr. with him and those two would be close at the line for the next two circuits until Oliver nosed ahead on lap seven.

Jason See was on the move after starting ninth and he would take the second spot with eight laps remaining just before caution waved when Neal Kohlmorgan and Dean Kratzer both spun in turn two. On the restart See would get shuffled back as Jeremy Pundt made his move, but the caution waved again with four to go due to debris on the racing surface.

Earlier in the night Abe Huls had broken a left ball joint entering turn three while leading his heat race sending him into the outside guardrail. The repairs were made and Huls was now up to second late in this feature race after starting eleventh, but Abe could not mount a challenge as the 2018 All Iowa Points Stock Car champion John Oliver Jr. picked up the win. Huls would be the runner-up with Pundt in third, Jim Redman would come from tenth to fourth as Jason Cook filled out the top five.

It seems like every time that I see former IMCA Super Nationals Sport Compact champion Josh Barnes lately he either wins or breaks. Tonight the driver from Keokuk added another trophy to his collection going flag to flag to win the feature for the Four Cylinders. Brandon Reu started seventh and finished second, Jared Heule was in second and was reeling in Barnes before Alyssa Dietrich spun with three  laps remaining and Heule was dropped to third after the restart. Long-time Sport Compact competitors Chuck Fullenkamp and Kimberly Abbott would complete the top five.

The Sport Mods would close out the full evening of racing with eighteen laps of stop and go action. Four yellow flags would interrupt a pretty good race up front as Austen Becerra raced to the early lead even though he started the race from seventh.With Becerra riding the rim and banging his right rear quarter panel against the wall until it was a crumpled mess, Adam Birck found the low line more to his liking and he would nose ahead of Becerra for the lead on lap four.

Sean Wyett took over second mid-race and he was a little more patient on the cushion, but it would not be enough to get past Birck who had charged from the ninth starting spot to take this win. Wyett finished second ahead of Bobby Six who had started dead last on the twenty-one car lineup. Becerra wound up fourth and Brandon Dale was next in line.

The Pepsi Lee County Speedway will hold a Fan's Appreciation Night during next Friday's Season Championship night with adults only pay three dollars for admission!

It's now on to 34 Raceway for me with more Sprint Invaders action at the series' home track on Saturday night. Hope to see you there! 

Pospisil Closes Out Quad Cities Tripleheader With SLMR Checkers at "The Bullring"

With the green light given late on Sunday afternoon I made the trip to East Moline Sunday night for the finale of the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series weekend tripleheader. After two nights on the quarter-mile in Davenport Joe Kosiski's Late Model series crossed the river for its first-ever appearance on the tight high banked quarter-mile that is now known as "The Bullring at Rock Island County Fairgrounds". Seems like a word is missing there, but hey it's still catchy.

Arriving just after hot laps had been completed I saw that the high sun and the steady west wind had left turns three and four dry and dusty. Turns one and two seemed to be in their normal conditions where drivers could run low, high and in between, but if you slid off the bottom on the other end you were kicking up a dust cloud and losing ground. Frankly, I was starting to regret making the trip!

However, after the heat races had concluded the track crew took a half hour to carefully apply the right amount of water to only turns three and four before packing it in with the Sport Mod feature field and let's just say that it was time well spent. A half hour earlier I had considered getting up and leaving, but instead I stayed for every lap of the five feature races and I was thoroughly entertained throughout.

If you look at the score sheets you will see that Jarrett Franzen was the leader for all fifteen laps on his way to victory, but that would short you on the story for the Sport Mod main event. Only one caution interrupted the action and that came after two laps were scored when Logan Cumby, who had pulled all the way up from Quincy, spun in turn two. While the race was under green Franzen was hounded throughout by Jared Waterman and with three laps remaining Waterman had briefly taken the lead from Franzen down the back stretch. Jarrett pulled off the perfect crossover move in turns three and four to regain the lead and on the final set of turns Waterman had a great run off the top of turn four.

If the finish line had been ten feet further down the track the win would have been Waterman's, but it would be Franzen who would be back in victory lane for the fourth time this season here proudly proclaiming "The Bullring" as being his favorite track. Ogden, Iowa's Cam Reimers started seventh and was right there waiting for an opening that was never provided by the lead duo as he finished in a close third. Dustin Schram came from the back of the sixteen car field after having to change a flat tire just before the race went green. Fifth row starter Chance Huston completed the top five.

The Street Stock feature was up next and the story on this one was very similar to the Sport Mods as Zach Zuberbier and Rob Henry battled it out in a non-stop twenty lap affair. Zuberbier was hugging the bottom on both ends while Henry used a higher line and this one would test the scorers as they crossed the stripe literally door-to-door lap after lap during the first half of the race. From my angle on the top row of the big grandstand and down toward turn one I had Zuberbier in the lead for the first four laps. Henry had him by a nose on laps five and six before Zach returned to the front for two more laps and Henry was a nose ahead again on lap nine.

Zuberbier would return to the point on lap ten and, once a lapped car forced Henry to abandon his line for half a lap, that was all that the driver who made the 112 mile pull in from Kingston, Illinois, needed to secure the win. Henry was close behind in second, Joe Bonney finished third, Robert Cottam finished fourth and Jesse Owen was fifth.

Forty laps for the SLMR Late Models would follow and it would be the night's quickest in qualifying, Jeff Tharp taking the early leading after starting from the outside of row one. Fourth starting Tad Pospisil was on the move though and after disposing of pole-sitter Darrel DeFrance to take second, the visitor from Norfolk, Nebraska, now had his sights set on the leader. On lap eleven Pospisil drove it into turn three just a little deeper, made the pivot on the remaining moisture midway up the track in turn four, and then sailed around Tharp to take lead down the front straightaway.

This race also went non-stop and as Pospisil pulled away for the $5,000 winner's paycheck, the battle for second proved to interesting over the final laps with Tharp fending off DeFrance for the runner-up honors. Andrew Kosiski was solid in fourth and Matt Ryan settled for fifth after looking like an early challenger. In victory lane Pospisil noted how much the night had changed as hehad  spun out in turn four during qualifying in this his first visit to East Moline.

Much of the crowd left after the Late Models, but they really should have stuck around for the Sport Compacts. With twenty-one of them set to do battle for fifteen laps I just knew that it would be a show and the four cylinder buzz bombs did not disappoint. This one would actually turn into a battle between three Peoria area drivers, but before we get to that there were three cautions along the way. The first came on lap two for Shane Kelley who was still having issues after losing his right front wheel while leading his heat race earlier in the evening. 

A three car pileup in turn four on lap five sent Josh Lane back to the pits on the hook and the final caution waved on lap eight when Travis Hawkins stopped at the bottom of turn four. After starting third Jay Mariuzza had powered to the lead on the opening lap and I had a sense that he wanted to avenge a final turn door slam that had taken a heat race win from him earlier in the night. Nick Johnson was able to slip by Mariuzza on lap nine though and soon Jimmy Dutlinger followed Johnson into second. Dutlinger would squeeze past Johnson to take the lead with two laps remaining and after taking the white flag Johnson smacked the new leader square on the rear bumper as he entered turn one for the final time.

The contact put Dutlinger sideways and as he scrambled to maintain control Johnson went low and Mariuzza went to the top. Johnson would take the lead heading down the back stretch and he would hear a few boos from the remaining crowd as he celebrated the win in victory lane. Dutlinger held off Mariuzza to salvage second with local drivers Brandon Dahl and Drew Wise filling out the top five. I didn't catch the date, but I did hear that the Compacts will be racing for $1,000-to-win here sometime in the coming weeks. That should be very interesting!

I'm sure that there was some disappointment that only eleven IMCA Modifieds signed in with $1,000 up for grabs on this night, but they too ran nearly a perfect twenty laps with the only caution coming on lap six for a Steve Gustaf spin. Ageless veteran Jim Sandusky would take the lead from Casey Franks on lap three and would go the rest of the way to take the wealthy win holding off a late charge from Brandon Durbin. Franks was solid in third, Eric Barnes finished fourth and Craig Crawford completed the top five.

Not only were all five features fun to watch, they were all completed by 9 p.m. making for a twilight trip home to southeast Iowa. It was a nice save by The Bullring track crew after a dry and dirty start to the evening.

My current workload will likely keep me from making another Wednesday night trip to Stuart this week, but I will be locked and loaded for two nights of Sprint Invaders action this weekend with Friday at The Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Get out and enjoy an event near you as the regular season is winding down fast!

Andy Eckrich Goes Catfishing To Take SLMR East Checkers at Davenport

Andy Eckrich used the short way around the quarter-mile oval at the Davenport Speedway Friday night to score his first career Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series victory, perhaps saved by a couple of well timed cautions. Four other drivers also captured feature wins in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.

A stout field of 36 Late Models signed in and usually the format for the SLMR series is to qualify and then run heats with an invert to accumulate passing points that then determines the top sixteen that advance directly to the feature. I am pretty sure that the series announcer mentioned time trials during the hot lap sessions, but after watching a series official walk back and forth on the front stretch with a transponder in hand my assumption is that they could not get the scoring loop to work and that is why there was no qualifying. That apparent problem with the scoring loop would become evident later in the evening as well.

Drivers lined up as they drew for the four qualifying heats and the passing points system would land Andy Eckrich and Jason Hahne on the front row for the forty lap main event. One lap would be scored before the caution waved when provisional starter J.C. Wyman spun on the cushion in turn one and on the restart Eckrich would continue to lead while creeping around the bottom of the wide racing surface. Hahne and Matt Ryan would take up the chase as drivers searched to find the racing line that suited them best with many of them settling on the bottom by the time the caution flew again when Jeff Aikey slowed on the back stretch with ten laps scored.

Once back to green it was obvious that Spencer Diercks was now the fastest car on the track, riding the rim and making his way to the front. Diercks had moved to second and was steadily closing the gap on Eckrich when on lap sixteen it looked like his car just took a right hand turn as he tried to ride that thin line at the top of the track in turn three. Instead of trying to recover and return to the racing surface while losing some positions, Diercks instead took the right hand turn and drove back to the pits as the race stayed green.

With Diercks now out of it, Hahne and Ryan were again the top contenders with Justin Kay soon joining the mix running that high line as well. Eckrich was still a solid leader, but as he approached lapped traffic his challengers were coming and with two cars just ahead racing for position in his low groove, Andy was going to have to make a decision soon whether to leave his line or just ride it out. Before that decision became critical though, the caution waved on lap twenty-five when one of the infield tires was kicked out onto the racing surface and now the leader had clear track ahead of him for the restart.

Eckrich again opened up a lead over his challengers, but when Kay moved to second with seven laps remaining it looked like we were setting up for a thriller as Justin's high line was now carving into that lead getting to within two car lengths at the stripe when the caution flew again for Billy Leighton's spin in turn three with just four laps to go. It took several trips around the track under caution to get the field realigned and as they came back to green there were a couple of rows mid-pack that were three-wide as drivers were still disputing their positions.

Just one more lap was scored before a three car jumble occurred in turn two as Aikey ran out of room on the bottom while challenging Brian Harris for position. Andrew Kosiski and Leighton were also involved and since the field had yet to sort itself out, the scorers were left with another challenge of trying to get the drivers in the proper order as they circled the track two and three wide for several laps under caution.

Finally the red flag was put out to stop the field on the front stretch and drivers were sent one by one around the track to line up in order for what would be the final restart. This would create a new challenge for Eckrich though as fluid from the stopped cars would be put down in his favored line exiting turn four and down the front stretch so he waved frantically at officials wanting it to be rolled in prior to the restart. Regular track announcer Shane Davis came down to the front stretch to make this happen and after he left the track Richie Gustin slid sideways and parked his car directly in front of the scorers apparently unhappy with his restart position and after a moment or two he back ed up and then pulled to the infield.

As Gustin climbed out of his car and proceeded to the stage to voice his opinion the green flag waved and Eckrich now had to pinch his car even lower exiting turn four and entering turn one to stay out of the moisture. Who knows, maybe this new line helped him as he again inched away from Kay who was still riding the top and three laps later the checkers waved for an excited winner who did a donut or two in celebration. Kay would be the runner-up and Hahne rode the bottom the entire distance for third. Fourth went to Andy Nezworski who was driving a team car with Jeff Tharp taking the #10M to the front after starting fourteenth. Tad Pospisil filled out the top five.

The car count topped thirty in both the Modifieds and Sport Mods as well with the pits swelling as the total count reached 139 across the five divisions.

Brunson Behning started from the pole of the twenty lap Modified feature, but had plenty of competition including current IMCA National points leader Tom Berry Jr., legendary NASCAR star Ken Schrader, Late Model veteran Chris Simpson and the 2020 track champion here Ryan Duhme. Duhme had quickly moved from seventh to fourth in the opening laps and following a lap thirteen restart he made a nifty move to get by Simpson and Berry to take second only to spin in turn one the following lap. Ryan would choose to head to the pits rather than restart for the final six laps.

On this restart Berry would have the advantage exiting turn two on the bottom, but Behning would come charging back and when Berry could not quite clear the leader in turn four he had to pinch of his attempt at a slide job for the lead. That lost momentum allowed Behning to pull away a bit and he would go the rest of the way to take a satisfying victory over a talented field of drivers. Berry would go second in what I believe to be his first visit to Davenport, Simpson finished third, Spencer Diercks was fourth and Schrader completed the top five. Chris Zogg finished sixth and Mitch Morris was seventh after they started seventeenth and sixteenth respectively.

Ben Chapman would ride the cushion to the early lead in the fifteen lap Sport Mod main event, but veteran driver Doug Burkhead would show the dominance of the bottom line as he would take the point on lap four. Chapman tried to battle back for several laps before getting in line behind Burkhead and young Maguire DeJong and as the laps clicked away DeJong waited for Burkhead to make a mistake that never came. It was a satisfying trip to victory lane that has not come often for the driver from Muscatine and DeJong was impressive and patient in finishing second. Chapman took third ahead of Logan Veloz and Dustin Schram in the non-stop event.

Much of the crowd had filed out as the Street Stocks and Four Cylinders hustled to get their features in before the 10:30 curfew with the Street Stocks up first. Thankfully only one caution was needed in that fifteen lap race as Donnie Louck came from the fourth starting spot to take the lead on the opening lap and he would go the distance to score the win. Jesse Owen started seventh and finished second, Jeff Struck Jr. rode the high line to finish third ahead of Zach Zuberbrier and Jeff Peterson.

With three cautions needed for the first two laps scored I had gathered my things and was prepared to leave, but when the green flag waved again before I made it to the exit I stood down front to see if the Four Cylinders could make it to the checkers. Shawn McDermott had been the early leader, but when he left an opening on lap seven both Brandon Dahl and Jimmy Dutlinger took advantage and dropped McDermott to third. These guys were sticking to the bottom as well and, in true front wheel drive fashion, Dahl's left rear wheel would rise up as he stabbed the brakes to enter the corner and then hit gas to exit making it very tempting for Dutlinger to stick a nose under the leader.

On the final lap the lead duo was closing quickly on the slower car of Zach Wells and as they entered turn three McDermott looked to the bottom while Dutlinger decided to swing wide around the lapper. In doing so Dutlinger clipped the right rear of Wells which then put him sideways in front of Dahl that then sent both of them into the infield tire in turn four. This allowed Dutlinger to get to the checkers first and let's just say that this all couldn't have gone better had he planned it. The remaining crowd seemed a bit befuddled with the outcome and, as I write this on Saturday morning, I see that Dutlinger was dropped to the bottom of the finishing order as he was apparently disqualified in tech.

That gives the win to Dahl with McDermott in second. Tim Sibley, Todd Sibley and Jack Fitzgibbon would complete the top five.

A big thank you to promoters Ricky and Brenda Kay for the hospitality and while I would love to be there tonight for round two of the doubleheader weekend, I instead have social plans. You can bet that Ricky and the Dirt Doctor will have that quarter-mile evened up tonight and ready to race!

A trip to Stuart on Wednesday will depend upon how busy I am at work, then on Friday and Saturday night next weekend I will be with the Sprint Invaders at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. See you on the Back Stretch! 

Aikey Dominates, Merkes and Roth Take Thrillers and The Darkside Sweeps at 300 Raceway

The storm that rolled through Iowa on Monday was devastating. Worse than a tornado, this derecho was like a sixty mile long line of tornadoes that marched across the state and into Illinois leaving behind fallen trees, beat up buildings and cornfields where only the stripped stalks were left standing. Two race tracks that I know of were directly effected. At the Marshalltown Speedway the two light poles that once stood behind the grandstand were brought to the ground and one of the catwalks was nearly twisted into a ball. Racing there has been canceled for this Friday and it will be a week by week process to see when repairs can be made as power was still out in Marshalltown on Wednesday. My guess though is that the old men's bathroom still survived. On the Cedar County Fairgrounds in Tipton the iconic wooden grandstand is no longer covered as the roof was lifted off like a pop top. A post from Kathy Dlouhy said that the fair board had discussed for years about tearing the old relic down, now they have no choice.

I saw some of the devastation firsthand on Wednesday as I made my way up to the 300 Raceway in Farley for one of their Wednesday night "weekly" shows and, due to storm related traffic backups around Cedar Rapids, my Waze app routed me through the beat up towns of Solon, Mount Vernon and Martelle. My heart goes out to all who were effected and I hope that you get your power back soon.

Sixty-four cars in four divisions signed in on a beautiful evening for racing and there was a better crowd than I expected as perhaps some fans from the south took a break for storm cleanup to take in an evening of racing action. Several changes have been made to the facility since I was here just a month ago, the most notable of course being the loss of patriarch Roger Simon. I am sure that he is proud of his family and their staff as they continued to make improvements removing the scorer's tower and the scale area to build the pulling track that will be used this weekend when the Lucas Oil National Pulling Series will be here on Friday and Saturday. The scorers now sit up atop the grandstand and with a brand new sound system installed you could catch the sweet tones of announcer Jason "Big Boy" Frommelt as clear as a bell. They have also added gravel to the area between the front stretch wall and the grandstand that will now be used as an up close and personal victory lane area and the flag stand, that tonight held veteran stick man Doug Haack, has been moved from the exit of turn four down to the middle of the front stretch.

Tonight's track was dark, fast and heavy requiring a great deal of packing throughout the night to try to make it as wide as possible and while it got to be four to five lanes wide in turns one and three, the exits in turns two and four narrowed down to two lanes not only making for some interesting racing, but also for some door banging starts and restarts.

The twelve lap Stock Car feature was up first with outside front row starter Kyle Merkes taking the point. Phil Holtz made a big move on the opening lap coming from fifth to second and these drivers would break away from the rest of the field as they staged an entertaining battle for the lead. Holtz was able to use the bottom to pull alongside Merkes on several occasions, both in the turns and on the straightaways, but each time Kyle was able to ward off the challenge. On the final lap Holtz made one last charge on the inside of turn four only to come up a half a car length short as Merkes celebrated the win at his hometown track. The race for third was a good one too, just nearly half a lap behind the lead duo as Chase Zaruba fought off Jarod Weepie and Andrew Chelf.

Twenty-laps of IMCA Modified action would follow with California's Dylan Thornton taking the lead from his second starting spot. A caution on lap five for Keith Pittman's spin in turn two brought the field back to Thornton and he would have The Darkside duo of Ryan Duhme, with a car wrapped like Alan Kulwicki's #7 Hooters ride, and Timmy Current in a car reminiscent of Harry Gant's #33 Skoal Bandit, paired up right behind him.

Current would get a boost off the cushion in turn four and he would use that momentum to put a slide job on Thornton in turns one and two to take the lead. On the following lap it looked like Thornton tried to return the favor, but when the tie rod broke on his right front the car went straight up to the wall in turn one and the caution waved once again. 

For this restart Duhme had Mark Schulte to his outside behind the new leader Current and when that first double row drifted wide coming to green Schulte was briefly pinned against the wall causing an accordion effect behind him. Jeff Larson would be the victim in this one as the right front of his borrowed, or perhaps recently purchased ride, would sustain too much damage to continue. "Big Boy" had noted earlier in the night that Larson had destroyed his usual #B1 car in Darlington, Wisconsin, last Friday night and that was the reason he was in Justin O'Brien's #12J on this night.

Schulte expressed his thoughts to Duhme as the field reassembled for the restart and once back to green it would be Current, Duhme and Schulte going the rest of the way to the checkers in that order. Jed Freiburger would chase them home in fourth while the three car battle between Kollin Hibdon, Tyler Madigan and Jeff Aikey was the one to watch. It would be the veteran Aikey who would prevail for the position after starting eleventh while his young student from Nevada, Hibdon would edge out Madigan for sixth.

Only ten of the eleven Sport Mods on hand would start the fifteen lap feature, but this one again proved that you don't need a big field of cars to put on a great race. Chance Huston would lead the way until lap nine when Troy Bauer put the slider on him in turn four and seventh starting Jason Roth would soon follow him into second. Bauer was driving the line that brought him to the front, entering the turns low and exiting high, while Roth was sizing him up on the cushion. After scoring lap eleven Roth had a run on the leader and he was able to get under Bauer entering turn one to take the lead. Troy would have a run down the back stretch though and he would throw a slider that Roth countered with perfection executing the crossover off turn four to take the lead. Roth would then ease away over the final three laps to take the win in the non-stop event. Bauer was a stout second, Huston held down the third spot, Tyler Soppe finished where he started in fourth and Justin Becker did the same in fifth.

It was a pleasant surprise to see a full field of twenty-four IMCA Late Models signed in for action and all but one of them would line up for the twenty-five lap main event to close out the evening. On the first try at a start Lyle Klein got the jump on pole-sitter Ryan Hill before the orange cone and the start was waved off after the drivers made their way through turns one and two. On the second try at a start the front row got on the gas very early and when they made the transition to the front stretch Hill would spin up the track sending the rest of the field scrambling for an opening. The sound of sheet metal crunching in front of you is never good to hear and when it all stopped there were seven cars involved with three of them, Hill, Joel Callahan and Travis Smock having to be towed back to the pit area.

After the cleanup Klein had been moved to the back of the lineup and it would be Mitch Manternach and Jeff Aikey who would finally bring this race to green. Manternach would lead the opening lap before Aikey flew by on lap two and the caution would wave on lap seven when Manternach slowed while running second. Following the restart Logan Duffy and Matt Ryan would take up the chase on Aikey, but Ryan would slow and pull to the infield two laps later.

With the race staying green there would be no catching Aikey on this night as he would drive away for a convincing win over the steadily improving Duffy. Andy Nezworski who originally lined up in thirteenth and Eric Pollard who was seventeenth on the original grid would finish in third and fourth respectively while Nick Marolf would complete the top five.

It was a perfect night to be at the races with a beautiful sunset and the need for a sweatshirt after it and, if not for the pileup at the start of the Late Model main, I would have been home before midnight after my two hour and ten minute drive. If you get the chance make sure you check out all of the improvements at Farley with another Wednesday night of racing on August 26th followed by the annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic on September 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Next up for me will be a return to the Davenport Speedway where the Hoker Trucking SLMR Late Model series will be on the racy little quarter-mile on Friday night. Perhaps I'll see you there!   

"The Mad Man" Goes Wire To Wire For 360 Nationals Title

The 30th Annual My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank wrapped up its three night run at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday night with the pole-sitter Kerry Madsen leading the entire twenty-five lap distance to win his first Nationals title. 

Let's pick up the story from the night from the twelve lap C-Main where the top four drivers would transfer on to the back of the B. Kyle Offill and Harli White would make up the front row and the first try at a start was waved off when Matthew Howard got into the turn one guardrail ending his night. On the second try at a start Florida's Danny Sams bicycled on the cushion entering turn one and he then also nosed into the fence sending him to the pits early. The third time was the charm on this one as Offill would race off with the lead with White in hot pursuit. 

The driver to watch though was defending 360 Nationals champion James McFadden who started the Kasey Kahne Racing #9 from eighteenth after a miserable qualifying effort, but he was on the move and in a hurry on this night picking up the fourth spot on lap six. White would drive past Offill to take the lead with four laps remaining and with McFadden now in third that left the final transfer spot up for grabs between Garret Williamson and Kelby Watt.

The final lap was a thriller as Watt put a slider on Williamson in turns one and two to take the position only to have Williamson do the same entering turn three. Watt would execute the perfect crossover move though and it would be a drag race to the finish with Watt making the transfer by just less than a car-length. Then in his effort to beat Watt to the finish line that is located two-thirds of the way down the front straightaway, Williamson turned hard left and backed into the turn one guard rail with heavy contact then sending him for a couple of hard rollovers. Thankfully the young driver from Columbia, Missouri, emerged from the wreckage uninjured.

The fifteen lap B-Main would determine the final four starters for the Championship race and Matt Juhl would lead this one from start to finish to take the win. In between the initial green and the checkers though Offill would get upside down in turn one on lap three and the hard charger in this one would be Sam Hafertepe Jr. who had started in seventeenth after nothing but bad luck on his qualifying night. Hafertepe would blow by J.J. Hickle with three laps to go to take the fourth spot and one lap later when Roger Crockett slowed and pulled to the infield, Hafertepe would inherit third behind Terry McCarl and Hickle would take the final transfer. McFadden could only get to fourteenth in this one ending his attempt at a repeat.

As drivers and crews prepared for the finale, the fifteen lap Pro Sprint Series main event was contested with Jeff Wilke leading the way on the opening lap. A caution for Scottie Johnson's spin in turn one would bring the field to a restart and they would be four-wide for the lead exiting turn two with Wilke down low, Chris Walraven and Devin Kline working the middle lines and Devin Wignall up top. Wilke would maintain the lead as lap two was scored with Wignall going from fourth to second, but that top line was fast and Wignall would sail to the lead on lap three.

Mike Mayberry and Evan Epperson avoided disaster when they made contact on the front stretch on lap seven as Mayberry's right rear blew and Epperson spun down the track coming to rest against the inside guardrail.

On the restart Wignall again pulled away as Walraven and Kline made their way past Wilke, but as the laps ticked away some smoke started to show off the leader. Wignall was not about to give up on this one though as he coaxed the ailing crate motor across the line for his first career victory at Knoxville. Walraven, Kline and Wilke would follow with Matthew Stelzer coming from twelfth to finish fifth.

The starting field of twenty-four drivers were introduced one by one to the socially distanced crowd and we were ready for twenty-five laps that would pay $15,000 to the winner. The red flag would fly before the completion of lap one though when Juhl went for a wild end over end ride in turn three and after a few minutes to gather his thoughts he climbed from the car under his own power.

Veteran drivers Kerry Madsen and Joey Saldana would bring the field to green again from the front row with Madsen sliding up the track and closing the door on Saldana to lead the way. Friday night's winner Lynton Jeffrey would slow on lap four to bring out the caution and once back to green Madsen would again start to build up a lead. The action that caught my attention was in the top ten as the McCarl brothers, Austin and Carson were going at it, back and fourth with some near contact between the two on a couple of occasions. Aaron Reutzel who had started from the tenth row would join that brotherly battle late in the race, but my attention was drawn back toward the front when the crowd cheered as Brian Brown passed Shane Golobic for second. 

Six laps remained at that point and Madsen had a full straightway on Brown and that lead did not shrink a bit over the final three miles as Kerry Madsen would dominate to the checkers. Brown had second all but locked in until his motor failed in turn three on the final lap allowing Golobic to return to the runner-up position. Cory Eliason came from the fifteenth starting spot to take third and Brock Zearfoss would go fourth after starting ninth. Austin would be the best finisher of the three McCarls in the race as he would take fifth. Saldana and Tim Shaffer in Tony Stewart's #14 were next in line, Reutzel would finish in eighth, ninth went to Dominic Scelzi and Carson McCarl would complete the top ten. Brown would be scored in sixteenth as he failed to make it all the way to the finish line as the caution waved. 

That would put a wrap on three fun nights of racing, even under our current circumstances, and Sprint Car fans in the area can still catch five more nights of racing over the next seven starting tonight at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.

With the traditional Knoxville Nationals postponed until 2021 I am going to go Late Model racing instead this week with the UMP Summer Nationals on The Bullring at Rock Island County Fairgrounds on Monday night and then the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series will be on the quarter-mile at the Davenport Speedway on Friday night.

The stretch run of the regular season is upon us, get out and support the track in your area.

Dominic Scelzi (41s) and Aaron Reutzel (87) - Barry Johnson photo

Jeffrey Wards Off Competition For Night Two Win at Knoxville 360 Nationals

It was another perfect night for racing weather wise as the My Place Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals had its second night of qualifying at the Knoxville Raceway Friday with forty-eight drivers signed in and looking to accumulate enough points to make Saturday night's finale. Hot laps and qualifying saw several drivers struggle with engine issues and when it all shook out two of the top contenders, Ian Madsen and Anthony Macri, would be done for the night and likely the rest of the weekend.

For the second night in a row a veteran 410 driver drawing an early qualifying spot set quick time as Joey Saldana went out fourth in Ed Neumeister's #12N and posted a lap of 16.736. Brock Zearfoss would be second quick followed by the current Knoxville Raceway 360 point leader Carson McCarl and Alex Hill was fourth on the final chart. The young lady from Canada was impressive circling the track in 16.833 despite being the twentieth driver out to qualify.

Five heat races, each eight laps the distance with the top six inverted would be up next with the top four finishers moving on to the A-Main. And of course those valuable points were on the line as well with 100 going to the winner of each with three point increments on down the field.

Saldana wasted no time in the opening heat race charging from sixth to third heading down the back stretch on lap one. Then on lap two Colby Copeland spun at the bottom of turn two and when Jordon Mallett moved up the track to avoid Copeland, Florida's Shawn Murray jumped his right rear and tumbled hard down the start of the back stretch. Murray scrambled from the car uninjured as fuel dumped out of his damaged car and the event was delayed for several minutes as the track crew cleaned up the mess. It had already been a bad night for Murray in what I believe to be his first visit to Knoxville as his qualifying lap was disallowed when he did not report to the scales.

Once back to green Davey Heskin would drive away for the win as Matthew Howard, who had restarted second, faded to eighth. Saldana would finish second, Sawyer Phillips third and Brooke Tatnell would transfer in fourth.

The first attempt to start the second heat was called back and perhaps the second try should have been as well as Scott Bogucki came through the middle to make it three wide at the stripe. Pole sitter Josh Baughman would power to the lead though and this one would stay pretty much single file up front until the final lap when Baughman slowed suddenly in turn four. Bogucki would overtake him coming down the front stretch to take the win while Baughman was able to smoke across the line in second and then head to the pits for his second motor change of the night, Skyler Prochaska and Jeff Swindell would be the other two transfers.

The third heat would see Trey Starks go flag to flag for the win from the pole position with Lynton Jeffrey putting a slider on Kelby Watt early to take second. The crowd was then treated to a great battle between father and soon for the fourth and final transfer position as Terry McCarl used his experience to draft off of Carson and dive to the bottom in turn one to take the position mid-race. Motivated by the need to make the transfer, and perhaps more by the fact that it was his mentor who had just taken it away from him, Carson came charging back and the two raced side by side and back and forth until Carson slammed the door on Terry entering turn three coming to the white flag. I would have loved to have seen the smiles on both of their faces when they got back to the pit area because let's face it, that is something that most fathers and sons never get to experience.

Front row starters Christian Bowman and Blake Hahn banged wheels exiting turn two on the opening lap and while that jumbled up the pack behind them momentarily, nothing much happened from there as third row starters Matt Juhl and Alex Hill were unable to crack the top four with Bowman winning over Jack Dover, Hahn and Clint Garner.

While we have seen some sloppy, jumbled up starts this week due to the front row creeping to the white line, pole-sitter Chris Martin hit the gas early and gave us a look at a different strategy. When fellow front row starter Casey Friedrichsen did not keep pace the first start was waved off, but on the second try it went green and Martin would lead the distance to take the win. Dylan Westbrook moved from fourth to second and Brian Brown came from fifth to third with Josh Higday holding down the fourth spot.

The first try at a start of the B-Main was called back when one of the crowd favorites popped out and passed a couple of rows before the stripe. She was penalized a row for the second try which saw Friedrichsen hop a wheel and go for a nasty tumble in turn two. Thankfully Casey emerged uninjured from his mangled ride. On the third try to get this one going Scottie McDonald spun in turn one. Alex Hill would bring the field back to green and finally we were racing with Ryan Roberts taking the early lead. Hill would come fighting back though to take the lead and once into traffic she would be challenged by Terry McCarl. They would race even on a couple of occasions, but Hill would hold on to take an impressive victory over the Hall of Famer McCarl. Well behind them Matt Juhl was making a big run as he went from fifth to third on the final lap to finish ahead of Roberts and to leave Jeff Swindell one position shy of a transfer.

The stage was now set for the twenty lap qualifying night feature with a pair of Aussies, Lynton Jeffrey and Scott Bogucki, going from the front row. Sawyer Phillips and Brian Brown lined up behind them in row two and while there was little position changes throughout most of this one, it was still a fantastic race. Jeffrey would put his newly sponsored Pizza Ranch #83 to the front at the drop of the green as Bogucki found himself trying to fight off a hard charging Phillips who was digging around the bottom. After going down to block off Phillips, Bogucki found a better line and then quickly reeled in Jeffery to mount his own challenge on the bottom.

Lynton must have seen him out of the corner of his eye as the wily veteran then started to drive in a more defensive matter entering the turns low before expertly drifting to the cushion to get a kick down the straightaways. Bogucki was right there waiting for one instance of lost momentum and just behind him you had Phillips and Brown there as well making it a four car race entering traffic. The caution waved with just two laps to go when Kelby Watt slowed with both of his right side tires flat and we were now set for a restart looking to see if anybody could make a move.

Jeffery came off the cushion in four to take then green and again went from low to high in turns one and two. Bogucki was fast on the bottom in one, but when he couldn't stick it there in turn two he drifted up allowing both Phillips and Brown to get past him down the back stretch. This also allowed Jeffery to get away and he would go on to win for the second time in six nights here in the Ridge and Sons Racing #83. Brown was able to glide around Phillips on the final lap to finish second while the young speedster from nearby Pleasantville was impressive in third. Bogucki would have to settle for the fourth spot and Saldana would complete the top five to give him the highest point total of the night.

Kerry Madsen - Barry Johnson photo

Not enough to beat Kerry Madsen though as "The Madman" will start from the pole of tonight's Championship feature. The top twenty on the list below are locked into the A-Main, the next twenty in the B-Main and so on, so if you are looking for some exciting Sprint Car racing action tonight, Knoxville is the place to be!

A Main

1 2 Kerry Madsen 492
2 12N Joey Saldana 489
3 17WX Shane Golobic 486
4 14 Tim Shaffer 486
5 27 Carson McCarl 477
6 17A Austin McCarl 475
7 21 Brian Brown 474
8 83J Lynton Jeffrey 473
9 3Z Brock Zearfoss 473
10 28 Scott Bogucki 472
11 3P Sawyer Phillips 470
12 41S Dominic Scelzi 467
13 14T Brooke Tatnell 467
14 70 Calvin Landis 460
15 26 Cory Eliason 458
16 47X Dylan Westbrook 457
17 83M Justin Henderson 456
18 3 Ayrton Gennetten 453
19 35M Tim Kaeding 450
20 87 Aaron Reutzel 449
B main
21 09 Matt Juhl 448
22 4 Terry McCarl 448
23 11 Roger Crockett 445
24 40 Clint Garner 445
25 63 JJ Hickle 443
26 77X Alex Hill 441
27 53 Joe Beaver 440
28 18 Ryan Roberts 440
29 44S Trey Starks 428
30 56N Davey Heskin 428
31 66 Ricky Montgomery 426
32 35P Skylar Prochaska 424
33 22K Kaleb Johnson 421
34 35 Josh Higday 421
35 15 Christian Bowman 418
36 94 Jeff Swindell 418
37 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 418
38 17 Josh Baughman 415
39 53D Jack Dover 415
40 22 Ryan Leavitt 414
C Main
41 88 Kyle Offill 413
42 17W Harli White 410
43 2M Matt Moro 409
44 44 Chris Martin 408
45 1K Kelby Watt 408
46 24 Garret Williamson 405
47 24N Nathan Mills 402
48 23 Devon Dobie 401
49 52 Blake Hahn 394
50 33H Colton Heath 392
51 5C Colby Copeland 392
52 24D Danny Sams III 391
53 83 Rob Kubli 389
54 69 Brady Bacon 384
55 55M McKenna Haase 382
56 95 Matt Covington 374
57 37H Matthew Howard 367
58 5H Michael Faccinto 363
59 9 James McFadden 357
60 81E Eric Bridger 353
D Main
61 5J Jamie Ball 352
62 28F Davie Franek 352
63 115 Nick Parker 346
64 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 345
65 20F Casey Friedrichsen 343
66 66D Chase Dunham 342
67 35S Jason Shultz 340
68 81A Chris Morgan 339
69 4J Lee Grosz 338
70 22P Jonathan Preston 336
71 22X Riley Goodno 332
72 6R Ryan Bunton 329
73 20 AJ Moeller 329
74 88X Scottie McDonald 325
75 4H Cody Hansen 324
76 17B Ryan Bickett 324
77 14B Bailey Sucich 324
78 50Z Zach Chappell 323
79 51A Elliot Amdahl 323
80 13MJ Brandon Halverson 318
E Main
81 90 Lance Norick 317
82 88R Rowdy Reber 315
83 14M Jordon Mallett 312
84 23M Lance Moss 312
85 75X JT Imperial 311
86 21R Shane Hopkins 308
87 1B Chelsea Blevins 307
88 1A John Anderson 305
89 6 Jett Carney 299
90 22B Jesse Baker 298
91 33 Alan Zoutte 284
92 6X Frank Rodgers III 276
93 22M Shawn Murray 273
94 35MM Ian Madsen 269
95 4S Adam Speckman 265
96 39M Anthony Macri 265

Knoxville 360 Nationals Opener To The Big Unit

The 30th Annual My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals kicked off on Thursday night with forty-eight drivers looking to gather as many points as possible under Knoxville's traditional qualifying system and a nice socially distanced crowd was on hand to watch. The greatest thing about Knoxville's format is that every position counts from qualifying through the heats and finally the feature, so let's walk you through the evening as it unfolded.

Drawing an early qualifying position is always important and with Kerry Madsen going out second it was a pretty good bet that he would take the 200 points for setting quick time, and he did so with a lap of 16.203. Shane Golobic was impressive going second quick from the twenty-first spot in the order and Aaron Reutzel was third fastest despite going out 33rd.

At the 360 Nationals there is a six car invert on the heats that are oh so important as not only do you need to finish in the top four to transfer to the A-Main, but there are three-point increments per position rather than the two that you have in qualifying and the main event.

Madsen charged quickly from the sixth starting spot in heat one and looked like he had the strength to take the win, but Matt Moro in the My Place Hotels sponsored #2M fought off the "Mad Man" to maintain second as Ryan Leavitt ran off with the win. In the battle for fourth Dominic Scelzi held off Brady Bacon who had a wing bolted to the top of the Hoffman #69 for the weekend for the fourth and final transfer. 

At the start of heat two Austin McCarl made it three-wide with the front row as the green flag waved and he would take the lead into turn one. That great start was negated though when A.J. Moeller tagged the guardrail in turn three and the caution waved before McCarl could put lap one in the books. On the second start the front row of Eric Bridger and Ricky Montgomery did not open the door for McCarl and it would be Montgomery who would lead the eight-laps from green to checkers fighting off challenges from McCarl. Golobic would finish in third and Garret Williamson would be the first driver to come from outside of the invert to make the A-Main as he drove past Bridger with three laps remaining to finish fourth.

Front row starters Matt Covington and Joe Beaver set an unusually slow pace to start heat three and when Beaver widened out coming to the stripe it was like an invitation to Calvin Landis and Aaron Reutzel to come from fourth and sixth respectively to be first and second entering turn one. They would go the distance in that order with the veteran Landis taking the win. Beaver would hold on for third and Roger Crockett dropped Covington out of the top four with three laps remaining.

Tim Shaffer looked dominant in heat four as he was the only top qualifier to go from sixth to first driving Tony Stewart's number 14 car. Shaffer took the lead from on lap six from Kaleb Johnson and the track's top 360 rookie contender during weekly racing here was impressive finishing in second. Harli White and J.J. Hickle would take the other two tickets to the A-Main.

Two cars got upside down on the opening lap of the fifth heat race when contact between Lee Grosz and Tasker Phillips sent both of them for a tumble and five-time ASCS National Champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. got caught up in the mess as well. Hafertepe's crew was able to put in a new front axle during the cleanup process and he would restart from the rear of the now seven car field, but when his nose wing collapsed it took him several laps to clear John Anderson who had timed in 45th on the night. Nathan Mills would go the distance from the pole position to take the win with Ayrton Gennetten, Colton Heath and Devon Dobie next in line and after Riley Goodno retired with a smoking motor, Hafertepe was a distant fifth putting him on the pole position for the B-Main.

The top four out of the twelve lap B would tag the back of the A-Main and Cory Eliason would take the lead from Hafertepe on lap two. On lap seven the leaders were working traffic and when Lance Moss unexpectedly drifted up to the cushion in turn two, a fast closing Brady Bacon jumped his right rear and this one could have been real nasty. After hard contact with the outside guardrail in mid-flight, thankfully Bacon's car stayed on all fours and he scrambled out of the damaged ride unhurt, but likely looking for Moss to discuss the situation. On the restart there was more bad luck for Hafertepe as the nose wing again collapsed and while he fought hard to stay in the top four he could not fight off young Kyle Offill who would join Eliason, Justin Henderson and Tim Kaeding at the back of the A-Main lineup.

Twenty laps would be the distance for the feature with pole-sitter Calvin Landis getting the jump on second starting Austin McCarl to take the early lead. On lap seven McCarl would execute a perfect slider in turns one and two to take the point, but before he could get back to the line to officially become the leader the caution would wave for Ryan Leavitt who was coasting through turns one and two.

On the restart Landis would lead one more lap before McCarl repeated the move in turns one and two to become the leader on lap eight. Meanwhile both Aaron Reutzel and Kerry Madsen were on the move after starting from sixth and eight respectively and Reutzel would drive by Landis on lap eleven to take second. McCarl had built nearly a straightaway lead at this point and it was going to be interesting to see if Reutzel could erase that gap, but he would not have the chance to do so as he slowed suddenly exiting turn four on lap thirteen. The race would stay green as Reutzel pulled to the infield and it was now Madsen who was in second. McCarl was too strong on this night though as he would maintain that big lead over the final laps to post a convincing win. Madsen would finish as the runner-up, but would be the high point man for the night as Dominic Scelzi finished where he started in third. Golobic was solid all night finishing in the fourth spot while Shaffer was fifth.

The full point standings for opening night from the Knoxville Raceway website follows and another full field of around fifty drivers will take the green tonight in the second night of qualifying.

1 2 Kerry Madsen 492
2 17WX Shane Golobic 486
3 14 Tim Shaffer 486
4 17A Austin McCarl 475
5 41S Dominic Scelzi 467
6 70 Calvin Landis 460
7 26 Cory Eliason 458
8 83M Justin Henderson 456
9 3 Ayrton Gennetten 453
10 35M Tim Kaeding 450
11 87 Aaron Reutzel 449
12 11 Roger Crockett 445
13 63 JJ Hickle 443
14 53 Joe Beaver 440
15 66 Ricky Montgomery 426
16 22K Kaleb Johnson 421
17 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 418
18 22 Ryan Leavitt 414
19 88 Kyle Offill 413
20 17W Harli White 410
21 2M Matt Moro 409
22 24 Garret Williamson 405
23 24N Nathan Mills 402
24 23 Devon Dobie 401
25 33H Colton Heath 392
26 83 Rob Kubli 389
27 69 Brady Bacon 384
28 95 Matt Covington 374
29 5H Michael Faccinto 363
30 81E Eric Bridger 353
31 5J Jamie Ball 352
32 115 Nick Parker 346
33 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 345
34 66D Chase Dunham 342
35 4J Lee Grosz 338
36 22X Riley Goodno 332
37 20 AJ Moeller 329
38 4H Cody Hansen 324
39 14B Bailey Sucich 324
40 50Z Zach Chappell 323
41 51A Elliot Amdahl 323
42 23M Lance Moss 312
43 75X JT Imperial 311
44 1B Chelsea Blevins 307
45 1A John Anderson 305
46 6 Jett Carney 299
47 6X Frank Rodgers III 276
48 4S Adam Speckman 265

Tim Shaffer is filling in for Tony Stewart this weekend at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo