Bright sunny skies and southerly winds welcomed racers and fans to the 2020 edition of Shiverfest at the Pepsi Lee Count Speedway in Donnllson on Saturday afternoon, but just before the final two features of the night the wind changed direction and the temperature started to fall. Even with the late change in the weather, this one will be remembered as a warm Shiverfest drawing in 146 competitors from six different states.
The Stock Cars would run the first feature of the evening with twenty-three cars set for twenty laps. Erick Knutsen and Jason Cook would make up the front row, but it would be third starting Todd Reitzler who would nose ahead at the stripe to lead the opening lap. With Reitzler working low Dustin Griffiths would find the high side to his liking as he would charge from sixth to second and he soon had both Dallon Marty and John Oliver Jr. up there riding the rim with him.
Griffiths would lead that topside trio past Reiztler on lap four and the battle was on as three of the region's best were locked in nose to tail. After scoring lap nine Murty dropped down off the cushion in turns one and two to make a bid for the lead and when he came up short Oliver squeezed alongside him on the high side going down the back stretch dropping Dallon to third. But only for a split second as Murty then used a low line exit off of turn four to go from third to first before going back to the top in turns one and two. When Griffiths tried a lower line trying to get back to the front, Oliver again squeezed his way past on the outside to get to second and we were back to that nose to tail formation riding the rim, only now in a different order.
With four laps remaining the leaders were closing in on Kyle Boyd and when he went to the top to enter turn one, Murty had to check up a bit prompting Oliver to try to drive underneath. The problem was that Griffiths was right there as well and when contact sent Oliver for a spin the first caution of the race would wave. Oliver waited in turn two and after Griffiths passed him by he gassed it up and hit Griffiths hard in the rear before making the hard right turn into the pit area. Not one to step down, Griffiths gave up his second spot for the restart to follow Oliver into the pits and the scramble was on as crews, fans and track officials made their way quickly to the scene to try to diffuse the situation.
Once all was said and done we were ready to go back to action with four laps remaining and Wisconsin's Eric Arneson would take up the challenge hugging the low line. He could not stay with the leader long though as the youngster Murty pulled away for an impressive win clinching his first All Iowa Points championship over his father Damon, a three time champ in his own rite, who was not in attendance tonight. Reiztler would get back by Arneson to take the runner-up spot as Jason Cook finished fourth ahead of his fellow front row starter Knutsen.
The Sport Compacts were up next for fifteen laps and while this division is typically pretty well behaved at the 3/8th-mile D-shaped speedway, that was not the case tonight. Spins, stuffing it into the guardrail, dropping fluids and leaving behind a field of debris when a door was ripped from a car caused at least five cautions and made for a long race, a race that was essentially won on the opening lap when Jason Ash moved from fourth to first. Chuck Fullenkamp would keep the pressure on late in the race, but there would be no stopping Ash from taking his third straight Shiverfest title in the four cylinder class. Cody Staley rode the rim throughout coming from thirteenth to take third behind Fullenkamp. Craig Bangert made a late charge to take fourth after starting in the fifth row and the race for fifth was a photo finish as Jeffrey DeLonjay edged out Kimberly Abbott.
A stout field of thirty-seven Modifieds had been trimmed down to a twenty-four car starting grid come feature time with Ethan Braaksma also coming from fourth to first on the opening lap. Braaksma would then go to work on building a lead as the battles raged on behind him and on lap five Michael Long made his way into second after starting from eighth. Long was slowly carving away at Braaksma's lead and on lap fourteen he attempted a slide job in turns three and four. Braaksma executed the crossover with precision, but when he didn't slide back up to the cushion quick enough in turns one and two, Long would sail around him on the outside to take the lead.
The caution would wave a lap later when Josh Most would spin in turn three and then continue to back up avoiding contact until he was nearly exiting turn four. Most had been battling with Travis Denning for the fourth spot and under the caution Most pulled up alongside Denning before swerving into him and deftly cutting down Denning's right front tire for apparent revenge. When both drivers then headed for the pit area it looked like the next fight of the night was about to get underway, but instead Denning's crew made the tire change and had him back out on the track just in time for the restart.
Even with sixth starting Jeff Aikey quickly moving to second there would be no staying with Long as he pulled way to a convincing victory. Aikey and Braaksma were second and third respectively, Kelly Shryock came from twelfth to fourth and Mark Burgtorf filled out the top five.
After Long celebrated his win in victory lane, the wind picked up and was now noticeably cooler coming from the west instead of the south and twenty-four of the top Sport Mod drivers in the Midwest were now set to go for twenty laps of racing without a single caution. Pole-sitter Tyler Soppe would set a torrid early pace as drivers jockeyed for position sometimes four-wide behind him. Austin Paul would emerge from the pack and, while Soppe worked the high line on both ends, Paul would start to diamond the corners and that paid off quickly as Paul would take the lead on lap eight exiting turn two.
Soppe would fade a bit through the mid-stage of the race, but was again reeling in the leader with the laps winding down. And, after taking the white flag, the leader Paul would jump the left front of Dakota Girard leaving fans to wonder if his right rear tire would propel him back to the checkers on time. It looked like that right rear was about to go down as Soppe pounced and closed the gap to just over a car length going down the back stretch one last time.
It may not have made it much further, but that right rear tire did hold together to get Paul to the checkers ahead of Soppe and the eighth starter Sean Wyett. The 2020 All Iowa Points Limited Modified champion Brayton Carter finished fourth with outside front row starter Austin Schrage fading to fifth at the checkers.
We were now down to our final event of the night, and the 2020 racing season at the track that is tucked into the southeast corner of Iowa. Thankfully this one went twenty-five laps with just two minor cautions, the first coming for Frank Mason's spin in turn four on lap two and Jill George's right rear tire blowing to shreds on lap nine. Gunnar Frank would lead the opening lap only to have Jeff Aikey go charging by on lap two and his lead would grow quickly after the lap two restart. Tommy Elston dropped Darrel DeFrance to third on that final restart and after fading for a few laps, Elston started to close the gap on Aikey and was within striking distance with just two laps to go.
So now he caught him, but just how was the local favorite Elston supposed to get around Aikey who will be a 2021 Inductee to the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame? Well he wasn't as Aikey crusied to the win and the $1,000 top prize. Elston and DeFrance would join him on the podium as Matt Strassheim and the Dirt Kings Late Model Tour's 2020 Rookie-of-the-Year Gunnar Frank would fill out the top five.
Despite not being a high paying event, Shiverfest again drew in some long distance travelers including the driver from Wisconsin we mentioned above in the Stock Cars, Eric Arneson, and Minnesota's Dan Mackenthun was here in a new car after he destroyed his at Boone wrapping it around an infield light pole. Larry Fitzsimmons made the six hour pull down from East Bethel, Minnestota, to run thirteenth in the Late Model feature, but nobody came farther than West Fargo, North Dakota, Sport Mod driver Torey Fischer. The young lady was riding in a qualifying spot midway through her heat race when she dropped the driveshaft out of the car. Her crew was persistent though and Torey was able to start her B-Main only to come up one position short of qualifying. However, come feature time there she was starting at the back of the twenty-four car field, I assume as an alternate, and she would race her way up to eighteenth at the checkers.
It was great to have Jake Croxton back in the flagstand for the evening and both Tony Paris and Dan Workman did a great job on the microphones keeping the nice sized crowd informed and entertained. Finally, a big Thank You to promoters Brian and Marcie Gaylord for continuing the traditions of Shiverfest even during this challenging 2020 racing season!
The extended forecast still looks good for next Saturday November 7th as the CJ Speedway will host the Turkey Dash for the fourth year in a row. The inaugural event was completed under less than ideal weather conditions and the second year the event was washed out just as hot laps were being completed. Last year the entire weekend was lost due to an early snowfall that did not melt in time so let's just say that promoter Larry Richardson and his crew deserve a sunny and sixty-five degree day.
Hope to see you there!
