Moberly's "Trophy Tuesdays" Debut To Gundaker, Jackson and Calvert

I am all for a new promoter trying something unique to try to revive a race track, so when the new promotional group at the Moberly Motorsports Park in north central Missouri announced that they would be running a ten race series of Tuesday night events in 2023 I marked the opener on my calendar to make the trip down and check it out. The wide and high-banked 4/10th-mile speedway has always been one of my favorite tracks to attend even though it has struggled throughout most of its existence and I still fondly remember my first road trip there for an October Sprint Car show that featured Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Danny Lasoski and many others in the late 1980's.

While those of us in Iowa and on to the north are used to mid-week racing, it is rare to find a show on nights other than Fridays and Saturdays in Missouri, so Moberly's "Trophy Tuesdays" is definitely something new and when it was first announced my primary comment here on the Back Stretch was that they need to have the final checkers wave by 9:30 p.m. That was the "curfew" that was in my head as that would allow me to be back home and in bed by midnight should I be in attendance, but more importantly for those race fans in the area if they could be home by 10:00 or 10:30 that should allow them to get a normal night of rest prior to 'hump day" on the job and keep them coming back for more.

Four classes were on the card for the opener with two of them, Late Models at thirteen and B-Mods at nineteen drawing respectable car counts. The Street Stocks, a mix of the area Super Stocks and Stock Cars managed only five cars while just two A-Mods signed in with Dylan Hoover and Charles Baker. Hot laps were scheduled for 7 p.m. and right at that time the cars were brought onto the speedway. Not to hot lap though, but to pack in the surface, a process that would take just over forty minutes. Then, with hot laps also serving as qualifying, the first heat race of the night did not take the green until 8:15 a full forty-five minutes past the scheduled starting time.

All I could think at this point was you get just one chance to make a good first impression.....

Then both the track crew and the drivers made a great recovery!

Canceling a planned intermission after the heats, the Street Stock feature was up first and as Race Director Galen Hassler pointed out afterwards, you only need two cars to put on a good race. Josh Calvert in his POWRi Super Stock raced to the lead at the drop of the green with Derrick Agee and his IMCA/USRA Stock Car in hot pursuit. Both were running the preferred top line around the fast and smooth surface with Agee close enough to make contact with the rear bumper whenever Calvert made the slightest mistake. As the laps ticked down Agee made a couple of attempts to pull the slider on the leader in turns one and two, only to have Calvert calmly execute the crossover and maintain the lead. Then, on the final lap, Agee dove low into turn three doing his best to both clear the nose of the leader while not drifting all the way to the top and while he would hold the lead exiting turn four, Calvert again drove back to the inside and won the drag race to the checkers by half a car length. Curtis Barnes was the only other car still on the track at the checkers.

The Late Models were up next and after lining up the heats straight up from qualifying and then starting the feature as the drivers had finished in those two heat races left little doubt as to who would win this one with Trevor Gundaker starting on the pole. David Melloway did his best to keep pace and he was aided by cautions on lap three and lap six, but after that final restart Gundaker would drive away to more than a straightaway advantage to win the fifteen lap event. Melloway finished second, Matt Becker prevailed in a good race for third with Kyle Graves and young Kayden Clatt recovered from his lap six spin to rally to fifth at the finish. 

The B-Mods would close out the night with a fifteen-lap feature as well including the two A-Mods lined up at the back of the grid. Kris Jackson who has been our Missouri Points Limited Modified Champion for each of the past five seasons was making his first ever appearance at Moberly and after racing out to the early lead he would run the middle line through the turns on both ends. That would allow Cody Agee who was working the top to stay right with the southwest Missouri based hotshoe and coming to score lap three Agee was able to squeeze between Jackson and the front stretch wall exiting turn four to take, what I believe to be a short-lived lead at the stripe.

Jackson would ward off that challenge and after the only caution of the race for a spin on lap five, he would then go to the top and drive away from the competition. The battle for second over the closing laps though made it well worth my trip as Agee, Kyler Girard, Dawson David, Dakota Girard and Chris Spalding raced in a tight formation, plus Dylan Hoover and his A-Mod was there as well making it a thrilling six-pack. At the checkers it would be Jackson taking a convincing victory with Agee holding on to second ahead of D. Girard, David and Spalding.

And the final checkered flag waved at 9:26 p.m., well done Moberly Motorsports Park! The next Trophy Tuesday event will be next week right after you celebrate the Memorial Day weekend so if you are in north central Missouri, or if you are looking to travel in and check out a neat race track sometime, remember that you have a Tuesday night option in Moberly.

As we now head into the Memorial Day weekend it is a possibility that you might find me somewhere on Friday night, then on Sunday we look forward to the 2023 season opener for the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hobby Stock drivers take notice, you are on the schedule for this Sunday night at 34 Raceway and it has been a long, long time since the division has been there so we hope to see some of you make the trip in!

Thanks for visiting the Back Stretch and have a safe weekend!