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!
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