Strothman, Banks, Heckart, Wauters and Staley Beat The Storm At CJ

I had a plan for Friday night and I was already a half hour into the drive when I started to reassess. With the Lee County Speedway already canceled as of early afternoon the possibility that some of those cars might swell the field at the CJ Speedway started to change my mind and once I realized that I would be able to watch the feature highlights on YouTube the next day of my original destination (which I just did, it was good race), I decided that being two hours closer to home and being able to catch up with several friends in Columbus Junction was a better option for me. The decision was made, so after wasting away an hour at the Riverside casino I earmarked my four dollars of winnings to go toward my tenderloin for the night and headed to the track.

While a decent field of cars filed in I was a bit surprised that only two Donnellson regulars, Jared Heule and Jason Cook made the trip and perhaps that was because of the storms that were still in the forecast to develop over southeast Iowa after nine o'clock. Promoter Larry Richardson was aware of the forecast as well and the show was moved along at a sharp pace with features ready to hit the track around 8:45. 

The Sport Compacts were up first and the twelve lap event would include two of the top ten drivers in the state right now in Cristian Grady and Logan Clausen, but it would be front row starter Alex Hayes that would jump out to a big lead. Defending track champion Cody Staley started ninth and was the driver on the move passing Jared Heule for second at the mid-race mark, but he had nearly a straightaway to make up on Hayes.

Just three laps later Staley was on the rear bumper of the leader and ready to pounce when the caution came out for Heule who had spun in turn two. On the restart both Staley and Grady were dead even with Hayes as they took the green so starter Doug Haack called it back and on the second try Hayes was able to lead the pack into turn one. He would hold off the challenges for one more lap, but it would be Staley taking the lead coming to the white and he would go on to victory over Hayes and Grady. Clausen picked up the fourth spot while Darin Smith came from eighth to finish fifth.

Tylar Heckart - Photo stolen from Cory Benge's proud Dad Facebook post

The Sport Mods were the largest class of the night with seventeen and they also had the most issues come feature time with four cautions and one red flag to clean up fluids on the track over the first five scored laps. Brendan Schultheis had lead lap one before yielding to the fourth starting Tyler Heckart and once the yellow fever had subsided the driver from Ottumwa was well in control and this would be Heckart's first win after taking a couple of years off. Current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson found himself restarting at the back of the field early and he would rally to pass Troy Philpott late for second. Colton Livezy would take fourth after starting from the fifth row and Todd Hansen filled out the top five.

The Hobby Stocks would go fifteen laps non-stop and this class too would feature the current All Iowa Points leader in Daniel Wauters. Wauters is also the current National points leader for the IMCA Hobby Stocks and he would have to work hard to add to his win total tonight. After nearly spinning in turn two on the opening lap and falling back to third, pole-sitter Dan Kessler would come charging back to lead the field to the stripe and set the pace. Randy Lamar would keep the heat on Kessler as Wauters moved from fifth to third and the move of the race came on lap six.

As Lamar got loose exiting turn two he would have three handfuls of steering wheel trying to recover as Wauters charged by on the outside. Then, when Kessler went to the middle entering turn three Wauters went to the cushion and the two drivers from Tipton were side-by-side in turn four. It wouldn't be a true Hobby Stock race without some rubbing, but Wauters was able to keep his car off the wall exiting the turn and he would take the lead on lap six. Kessler tried to keep pace, but Wauters would pull away for his eighteenth win of a season that is not yet halfway finished. Jared Miller would chase Kessler in for third, Lamar would hold on for fourth and Jacob Floyd was a distant fifth.

The Modifieds were up next for twenty laps with Kyle Madden showing the way early on. Brandon Banks started fourth and was soon closing in to challenge for the lead throwing a perfect slider on Madden in turns one and two to take the point on lap six. With Banks pulling away Jarrett Brown was working hard to get by Madden for second and then trying to close the gap, but he would come up about five car lengths short at the checkers as Banks scored his second straight victory here at CJ. Madden would join the podium in third with Dakota Simmons and Dalton Simonson next in line.

Those little green blobs on the radar were now starting to grow and when the Stock Cars completed their parade lap the lightning started to flash as if on cue. Corey Strothman who has apparently had some bad luck here thus far in 2021 landed on the pole of the lineup that had the top ten qualifiers inverted by average points and he opened up a nice lead in the opening laps. The only caution of the race came on lap three when contact from Austin Kemper sent Johnny Spaw for a spin in turn two and both drivers were sent to the rear of the fourteen car field.

Once back to green Strothman was able to drive away as the battles for position behind him entertained the crowd and with the lightning increasing the checkered flags waved over the winner Strothman. Adam Bell came from ninth to second, Kirk Kinsley passed Shane Richardson late to finish third and Richardson settled for fourth after starting eleventh. Spaw would battle back to complete the top five.

With a nice crowd on hand on this sultry June evening I hustled out to my car to beat the rush and as I was driving out of town my phone popped up with a weather alert stating that a Severe Thunderstorm Warning had just been issued for Louisa County. It is always nice when a race program can beat the weather!

A big thanks to Larry Richardson and his entire crew for their hospitality and a special thanks to announcer Jerry Mackey for his kind words about Positively Racing. I hope to be back at CJ sometime before then, but you want to mark your calendar for Thursday August 19th as that is when the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series event has been rescheduled for at CJ Speedway. The Late Models have been rained out twice over the past two seasons here so hopefully the third time will be a charm. Also, the final race of the 2021 season in the state of Iowa is currently scheduled for here on Saturday November 6th with the annual Turkey Dash.

After six races in seven nights I am now due for a break so my next action will come next Friday and Saturday June 25th and 26th for a Sprint Invaders doubleheader. Friday night we will be on the quarter-mile at the Davenport Speedway and on Saturday it is back to the Invaders home track at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Get on out and support the sport!