My original plan was to take in the season opener at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton Sunday night, but with the radar still showing some green, orange and red a little too close for comfort I instead took the exit for I-80 east at Iowa City diverting to the season opener at the East Moline Speedway.
With the wind howling out of the southeast I positioned myself as far up and toward turn one as I could in the east facing amphitheater giving myself a perspective that I have never had before in the many trips that I have made to the high banked quarter-mile over the past forty-three years. The strategy kept the dust in my eyes to a minimum although the wind still created a constant struggle to keep my hat on reminding me that I prefer bundling up for a cold night at the races much more than having to endure a strong wind. Thankfully the temperature was hovering around seventy and while some locals appeared to be comfortable in shorts and t-shirts, both Bob Litton and I were bundled up in winter coats to take on the night.
Perhaps I missed it before, but the heat races for the seven divisions ran off quickly aided by the addition of the "one spin and you are in" rule under Race Director Brett Sievertson. There were only a couple of drivers who were caught by this tonight, but believe me once drivers get used to the result of a simple spin in the heat race they seem to drive with their head more than their right foot and over time it just improves the racing program.
Something else that improves a racing program is what I have preached before in this Back Stretch entry titled Class Order as following a reasonable intermission to water the top of the track we were ready for feature racing at 7:15 p.m. Yes, 7:15 p.m. on a Sunday night, perfect! That is until the Street Stock and Sport Mod features both took more than twenty-five minutes to complete with each suffering through seven cautions in the scheduled fifteen laps of green flag racing.
I will spare you the details on most of those cautions to protect the guilty, but the first one in the Street Stock feature is part of the storyline as early leader Jeff Struck Jr. slowed suddenly exiting turn two on the second lap causing the field to stack up behind him. After being pushed to the pit area, Struck soon rejoined the field at the back for the restart.
Jesse Owen would take the point for lap two only to have Joe Bonney charge past him on the next circuit and with plenty of restarts mixed in Struck was making his way back to the front. In fact, with just four laps remaining he had just passed Kyler Hickenbottom for third before he again slowed suddenly and coasted into the infield ending a frustrating night.
Bonney would hold on to take the win ahead of Owen and Hickenbottom. Heat race winner Peter Odell finished fourth after restarting from the rear on lap six when he was a victim of circumstance in somebody else's spin and veteran driver Jeff Walker, a member of the track's Hall of Fame filled out the top five.
Sixteen Sport Mods would start the feature and five finished, so draw your own conclusions. Up front the racing, while often interrupted, was quite good with Chuck Fox leading early before Matt Speidel drove around him on the outside to take the lead on lap three. Trey Grimm, as his name would suggest, was making it a three car race and he would drive under Speidel for the lead on lap five and then hold it through the remaining mayhem to take the win. Speidel would record his best career finish in second, Fox was third followed by teenager Jesse Bodin and Josh Marth.
A short field of Hobby Stocks were up next and even they couldn't get through the first two laps without a couple of cautions. The field looked to be trimmed from six to three until both Randy Lamar and Logan Gustaf were both able to pull off a tire change in just over a minute and they returned for the second restart. Andrew Burk would lead the distance in this one with Lamar taking second ahead of Brandon Schneider and Donald Cole who finished a lap down in fourth.
The Mod Lites restored my faith in racing by completing their fifteen lap main event in non-stop fashion and I was now committed for the rest of the night. R.J. Gonzalez redrew the pole position and sometimes the fast guys start up front in this format as he was never challenged for the win. Jacob Copley passed Blake Gonzalez late to finish second with Jon Padilla and Rob Guss completing the top five.
Only seven IMCA Modifieds would start the twenty lap feature and there would only be one caution for a spin that would interrupt a spirited effort by Travis Denning to try to pass leader Brand Durbin. Denning tried every line possible during the race only to have Durbin ward him off to take the win with George Spence III, Doug Lenth and Mike Garland filling out the top five.
After Dustin Porter paced the first three laps, the Four Cylinder feature would be a battle between brothers as Travis Hawkins tried to hold off defending All Iowa Points champion Cyle in a twelve lap race that also went non-stop. With Travis blocking the bottom, Cyle went one groove higher and when he pulled even Travis rode him up the track a bit. This would allow Drew Wise to close quickly and he was poised to pounce should brotherly love go astray, but after taking the lead with two laps to go Cyle would go on to take the win ahead of Wise and Travis. Codie Proehl would finish fourth with Porter taking fifth.
I am glad that I stuck around to witness the first career Late Model feature win by Brandon Rothzen who is known to bang the cushion and run some crazy lines in his Modified and Stock Car from years past. In tonight's twenty-five lap finale he would start second, pound the cushion in turn one and then aim for the bottom exiting turn two. Using the same line in turns three and four Rothzen would drive away from the field until caution waved on lap four for Tim Marsdan's spin.
On the restart, as Rothzen went to his spot at the top of turn one, both Jacob Waterman and Chuck Hanna would drive under him only to have Brandon rocket through the middle of them exiting turn two. That move alone was worth the trip and the second year Late Model driver would post his first win ever in the division by dominating the remaining twenty-one laps. Waterman would hold off Hanna for second, Andy Nezworski was fourth and 73-year-old Gary Webb took fifth.
After those first two features took nearly an hour to complete, the remaining five races took just an hour and ten minutes in total and I was back home shortly after 11 p.m. from another fun night at the races. Now my question is can I leave work early enough to get to the Spoon River Speedway in Canton, Illinois, this Wednesday night?
Find out later this week on the Back Stretch.
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