It is good to have options and, as I have often said, being a race fan in the Midwest gives you the most even on a Sunday night. So when both Stuart and Vinton canceled early I checked the weather to see who had a lesser chance of rain and Dubuque had the nod over East Moline. I didn't even know that it was Fan Appreciation Night at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway until I confirmed the start times and when I arrived at 6 p.m. just in time for hot laps there was already a nice crowd on hand and a long line at the concession stands.
Always remember race fans, whenever a track holds a night where they let you in for free or at a deeply discounted ticket price, skip the fast food joint on the way and make sure you have your dinner at the track. My grilled pork tenderloin was fantastic and the fries were hot and crispy. Plus it was fun watching one of the ladies working the register say "Well hi!" to several people that she recognized stating "I guess I need to work at the races more often" to the person in front of me.
With plenty of moisture in the air, the wide racing surface stayed tacky and fast throughout the night, but did require several extra laps throughout the evening to pack down the fluff to keep it wide. But in true Dubuque fashion it would serve up plenty of three and four-wide action even during the six feature races.
The Two Driver Cruisers would be up first and they would run ten laps non-stop with the combo of Wayne Hora and Keith Keltner dominating for the win. To me at least they seem to be like the Scott and Bloomquist of the Two Driver class winning practically every time that I see this division in action.
A full field of twenty-four Sport Mods would take to the track next and let's just say that their fifteen lap feature did not go as smoothly. Ian Hurst would lead the field through the box on lap one, but as the pack raced through turns three and four the second time third-starting Rayce Mullin got sideways and while contact straightened him out it caused five top contenders to stack up. By the time the one hard working tow truck crew cleared the scene Ryan Schilling and Jason Roth were done for the night while Troy Bauer, Gage Neal and Wes Dingman made repairs and returned for the restart.
One more lap would be scored before T.J. Fortman, the winner here each of the last two weeks, would spin in turn one. Once back to green Scott Busch would apply the pressure to Hurst taking the lead on lap four only to have the caution wave again when Ryan Voss spun at the back of the pack. Three more laps would be scored in the next segment before Ben Chapman slowed and coasted around the top through turns one and two and down the back stretch and on this restart four cars would stack up at the back of the field exiting turn four while looking for the green.
Jacques Debris would even make his appearance for a caution on lap ten and on this restart it would be Colton Livezy swiping the lead in a heated three way battle with Busch and Tyler Soppe. One more caution would wave with three laps to go when Hurst spun in turn four and Fortmann locked it up to avoid contact and during the caution one more lap would joyfully be added to the scoreboard to make this a green-white-checkers finish.
Livezy would make the long trip from New Sharon payoff with the win while Soppe added to his current All Iowa Points lead with a final turn pass of Busch to finish second. Bauer made a nice recovery to finish in the fourth spot while Austin Stamm filled out the top five.
After many years of trying and failing to draw a reasonable car count in the division, the Hobby Stock class is now alive and well at Dubuque with a sporty field of fifteen signed in for the evening. They would run the same number of laps for their main event and after the third starting Marshall Vande Vegte brought the field back to the stripe on lap one, he would get sideways in turn two and then finished off by a car who could not whoa up in time sending the leader into a full spin. Three more cars would pile in and once again the lone wrecker truck would work feverishly to get us back in action.
David Crimmins would assume the lead on the restart and with only one more caution slowing the way, the action up front was intense with Kyle Jared mounting the challenge. As the white flag waved Jared flew around the top of turns one and two to take the lead down the back stretch, but when he drifted too high off of turn four he caught the wall allowing both Crimmins and Jimmy Doescher to get past before reaching the checkers. The Newcomer of the Year in the 2020 All Iowa Points, Crimmins would take the win followed by Doescher and Jared with Trent Neuhaus and Jim Ball Jr. next in line.
Nineteen of the twenty-one IMCA Modifieds would make the call for their twenty lap feature with Sean Rupp and Mark Schulte bringing the field to green. Second row starter Matt Gansen would lead lap one though before the caution waved for debris and once back to green it would be short-lived as while scoring lap three contact between Schulte and Timmy Current would send Schulte nose first into the outside wall on the front stretch. "Big Daddy" quickly climbed from his car and when Current decided to stop to "discuss" let's just say that things got pretty heated.
While green Gansen had this one well in control until Dustin Wilwert spun in turn one with two laps remaining bringing the field back to the leader for a two lap shootout. Again Gansen would drive away to take the win aided by the three car tussle for second that saw Jed Freiburger, Jaden Fryer and Ryan Duhme take the checkers three-wide in that order. Eric Pollard would finish where he started in fifth.
As the checkers were flying three or four cars tangled at the exit of turn four so again the wrecker had to do some quick work before the Limited Late Model class was able to start its feature. It would go fifteen laps non-stop with local favorite Steve Schueller taking the win over D.J. Sweet, Jon Rogers, Brandon Leverington and Mitch Current but the story here was that the heat race winner David Webster did not start the race. After winning the Limited heat race, Webster got out of his #44W in the tech area so that Chad Simpson could climb in and drive the same car in the first heat of the IMCA Late Models. Perhaps the officials did not know that it would be the same car being used when Webster signed in both he and Simpson for the night, but come feature time only Simpson would be competing in the twenty-five lap Late Model feature.
Nick Marolf will be the first to tell you that 2021 had seen a rough start for his #33, but he would shake the monkey off his back in grand style on this night absolutely running away from the field to score the flag to flag win. Marolf's lead was a half a lap around the 3/8th-mile oval before he patiently worked through some traffic as Luke Merfeld charged from tenth to finish a distant second. Ron Klein came from seventh to third, Eric Pollard started ninth and finished fourth while Logan Duffy wrapped up the top five.
After hustling to my car to beat the traffic from the large crowd it was 9:54 p.m., a bit later than what I normally see when I make the trip to Dubuque. A big thank to Warren Busse, one of the six regular readers of the Back Stretch, who offered up the use of his well worn mini spiral notebook and a pen when I discovered that I had left my regular Notebook on the desk at home. The cover was frayed and the pages had yellowed reminding me of the one that my father used to pull out of his suit jacket to jot down an idea whenever we were traveling together on business. So Warren, that was so much more than just a kind gesture. Thank you!
With the Castrol FloRacing Night in America event at Marshalltown postponed due to rain I will now look ahead to getting the 2021 season for the Sprint Invaders finally underway with the opener on Friday, May 28th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and on Sunday, May 30th at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
Visit the track of your choice soon and often!
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