A "clear day rain delay" is the term I use when that last load of water applied to a dirt track came too late to allow the surface to be ready to race at the scheduled start time. Yes, it can be a bit frustrating to wait an extra hour for the track to get run in as nobody pays to watch push trucks wheel pack, but in my experience I would say that about three out of every four times that I have seen this, the clear day rain delay usually produces a pretty darn good night of racing. And one that doesn't require a lengthy intermission later in the night to rework the track prior to feature racing.
This was exactly the case at 34 Raceway Saturday night for night number two of the co-sanctioned season opening weekend for the IRA and MOWA 410 Sprint Cars. Once again a whopping field of 48 drivers had signed in, three new ones to replace the three that had not returned from Friday's action and while hot laps started a full hour after the scheduled 6:15 start time, the track crew took their time and got it right before attempting to run cars at speed.
Once they did, those speeds were high, not only in qualifying where Parker Price-Miller was quickest at 12.347 despite being in the second group, but throughout the night and by feature time drivers were running high, low and anywhere in between on the 3/8th-mile high banked surface.
With the All Stars weekend at Attica washed out well in advance, several of those drivers made the trip along with some Knoxville Raceway regulars who will open their season next weekend. A chance to get laps in before the April 25th High Limits race here at 34 also likely contributed to the huge car count that made it quite a chore for the IRA and MOWA regulars to even make the show both nights.
Once the twenty-four car field was set, thirty laps would be the distance for the main event with pole-sitter Carson McCarl getting the jump on multi-time IRA champion Bill Balog, who is now a regular with the All Stars. The caution would wave after one lap was scored when former MOWA champion Paul Nienheiser spun in turn two and on the restart Balog charged under McCarl entering turn one to take the lead.
Chase Randall would soon drop McCarl to third and the chase was on until the caution would fly again on lap five when two-time Sprint Invaders champion Chris Martin spun at the exit of turn four. The battle for the lead would then really heat up as the youngster Randall stalked the veteran with Balog fighting off each effort keeping the good-sized crowd on the edge of their seats. Everybody could sit back again though on lap eight as Friday's winner Hunter Schuerenburg spun in turn four. It had been a tough night for the All Star regular who slowed during hot laps, missed his qualifying opportunity and then started at the back of his heat race where he finished eighth. That would start him sixth in the second B-Main, a race that he would win to earn one of the two final starting spots in the main event.
Once back to green the battle for the lead really heated up with Randall looking high, then low and they would race across the stripe on lap ten wheel-to-wheel. Unfortunately those wheels would touch just past the flagstand launching Balog into a scary looking set of flips right in front of our vantage point with parts sailing through the night sky over the turn one banking. Thankfully Bill would quickly scramble out of the wreckage obviously irritated with the circumstances, but uninjured.
After the cleanup was complete and we were back to racing, Randall would drive away from Austin McCarl who was now running second and even when he started to work lapped traffic Randall's lead continued to grow until the caution waved again with ten laps remaining for the defending IRA champion Jordan Goldsberry who had spun in turn three.
This would put McCarl back in the game and using a low line exit out of turn four Austin was now able to match Randall's pace, but could he get close enough to mount a challenge over the final ten laps? Chase was not going to let that happen, but as he took the white flag the caution light came on again as Russell Borland had spun in turn two to give us one final restart.
Cory Eliason who had started the race from fourteenth was now up to third and when he threw a slider at McCarl in turns one and two on the restart, that allowed Randall to drive away to an apparent victory. McCarl was able to counter with a crossover move to regain second down the back stretch and he would hold that position to the checkers. However, when Randall would later come up light at the scales, that crossover would be the winning move of the race as Austin McCarl was awarded the victory. Eliason would be credited with second, Friday's runner-up Parker Price-Miller would end up third, Joe B. Miller came from twelfth to fourth and eleventh starting Corbin Gurley filled out the top five at the pay window.
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| A 2022 shot of Austin McCarl while racing at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo |
The quality track conditions were an apparent factor for the support divisions as well with all three running their feature events in non-stop, green to checkers fashion.
Earlier in the night Logan Cumby pulled off a last corner pass of the local favorite here in the Sport Mods, Sean Wyett, to win a heat race so when Cumby redrew the pole position for the fifteen lap feature you knew that he would be hard to beat. The Quincy driver lived up to expectations going flag-to-flag to take the victory over fellow front row starter Reed Wolfmeyer with Wyett joining the podium in third. John Oliver Jr. finished fourth with Justin Becker, in perhaps his first visit ever to 34 Raceway taking fifth.
After winning the heat race in convincing fashion earlier in the evening, Bill Roberts Jr. was a no show come feature time so the fifteen lap Modified headliner was once again a shootout between two of the best in the region, Austen Becerra and Travis Denning. On this night though it would be Denning who would snare the lead from the outside of row one and then maintain at least a few car lengths advantage over Becerra throughout the race to take the win over the defending All Iowa Points champion. Jed Freiburger is now quite familiar with the trip down from Dubuque to 34 as he finished in the third position with Quad Cities driver Charlie Mohr and northeast Missouri's Jadin Fuller rounding out the top five.
In the Sport Compacts Noah Kayser would pace the first four laps of the twelve lap distance before Justin "Popeye" Stevenson worked his way past to take the lead and eventual victory over the seven car field. Kayser would settle for the runner-up pay followed by Seth Meinders, Dyllan Bonk and Ashton Blain.
Look for a pit area full of big haulers again next Friday and Saturday night here at 34 Raceway as track owners Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt host an event that is near and dear to their hearts with the annual running of the Slocum 50. The MLRA Late Models will be the featured attraction and, with a Thursday night appearance at the Davenport Speedway to start the weekend, you can expect a stellar field of cars here at 34 with the prelude on Friday night and then the $10,555-to-win headliner in memory of Brent Slocum on Saturday night.
Hope to see you there!
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