The Stock Cars would get things rolling come feature time with Dustin Griffiths and Les Blakley bringing the field to green for their eighteen lap main event. Griffiths would get the early lead and as the field came out of turn four to score lap number two, one of the heat race winners Jacob Murray shucked a drive shaft and slowed up next to the guardrail on the front stretch. As the back of the field dodged him, Eric Glass got caught with no place to go and, while he braked hard, he could not avoid contact with Murray's coasting ride.
On the restart Jason See would power under Griffiths in turns one and two to take the point on lap three and on the next trip around the 3/8th-mile the fourth place car of Todd Reitzler would bicycle up on two wheels as he entered turn three. Turning to the right would bring the car back down on all four wheels, but it would also send him sailing off the top of the race track and into the darkness. Thankfully the bean field had been harvested and after about a minute or two Reitzler drove back up onto the racing surface swerving back and forth to make sure that nothing had been damaged during that harrowing ride.
He would restart at the rear of the now thirteen car field and See would now have to deal with the challenges of John Oliver Jr. over the next six laps. Caution waved again mid-race when Blakley slowed and there were two separate incidents that would result in a red flag situation after lap ten went in the books. Veteran drivers Wade Francis and Brad Pinkerton had tangled in turn two and just as the caution started to wave a car behind them driven by Josh Robinson took a hard tumble in turn one. The hometown driver was able to climb from his crumpled race car with no injuries.
The final eight laps would run under the green and this would be a good one as Oliver applied the pressure on See. With four laps remaining there was Reitzler, back at the front again and ready to make it a three car battle as he dropped Oliver to third with three laps to go and then on lap seventeen he would squeeze under See in turn two to steal the victory. The driver from Grinnell, Iowa, received a nice round of applause while in victory lane for his efforts. See and Oliver would go second and third, Griffiths would hold down fourth while Jason McDaniel closed out the top five.
Modifieds would be up next with a fast front row in Kurt Kile and Austen Becerra. It would be Kile that would set the pace with Becerra in hot pursuit until lap nine when the defending All Iowa Points champion would slip by to take the lead. Chris Spalding was the man on the move though coming from the sixth starting spot and after driving past Kile for second he would set his sights on the leader. With five laps remaining as Becerra entered turn three midway up the track, Spalding dove to the bottom and took the lead. With such a deep run into the corner, I am guessing the Becerra thought that Spalding would then drift up the track in turn four, so he aimed to make the crossover move going to the bottom. Somehow though, Spalding was able to stick to the bottom so when Becerra tried to root under him coming out of four the contact would turn Spalding sideways and up on two wheels for a split second before he came to a halt on the apron.
Many in the crowd were voicing their opinion of the incident as officials made the decision to send both drivers to the back for the restart and it would be Kile and Jarrett Brown bringing the field back to green double file. Kile would regain the lead and then hold off IMCA Super Nationals champion Tim Ward over the final three laps to claim the victory. Brown would take third while Spalding flew through the field to get back to fourth ahead of Mark Burgtorf.
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| Kurt Kile regained the lead and eventually the victory at Memphis - Carroll Hoover photo |
Twelve laps would be the distance for the Sport Compacts and with two former All Iowa Points champions on the front row in Barry Taft and Cyle Hawkins, you knew it was going have a quick pace. Hawkins would win the drag race into turn one and he would work the bottom of the speedway lifting his left rear wheel high in the air through the corners. As Taft faded a bit, Chevy Barnes would move to second and try to keep pace with Hawkins while Jeffrey DeLonjay started to find the high side to his liking in third. At lap five DeLonjay would move to second and then lap by lap he would close in on Hawkins until he pulled even with the leader on lap nine.
Just after DeLonjay was scored the leader, the caution would come out as Taft coasted around the high side of the speedway and we would now have a green, white, checkers restart. Entering turn one Hawkins would charge to the bottom looking to take back the lead, but he would slow suddenly in turn two and then drive into the infield. Barnes would now be right on the rear bumper of the leader, but as the field took the white flag my attention was on the car of Hawkins that had now burst into flames in the middle of the infield.
Cyle had climbed out and was trying to get the attention of the fire crew while the race went on and as the checkered flag waved the flames were finally extinguished. DeLonjay would be your winner followed by Barnes and Matt Moore. Rick DeFord made up most of his ground in the closing laps to come from ninth to fourth while Garrett Porter finished fifth.
This would be the first appearance for the Late Models here in several years and a stout field of seventeen would sign in for this late season event. Young Kayden Clatt would start next to division rookie Josh Foster on the front row and it would be Foster that would take the early lead. Evan Miller would pick up the challenge and they would run wheel-to-wheel in the corners while Foster's high side momentum would allow him to have the edge at the stripe. On lap six Miller would get the advantage and the eighth starting C.J. Horn would soon follow him into second. Now it would be these two who would battle side by side with Horn on the bottom and Miller up top.
This battle would get even more interesting in the closing laps when lapped traffic came into play and, as the white flag waved, the leaders were door-to-door going into turn one. Both were aiming for the bottom and with Horn on the inside that would put him precariously close to the implement tire marking the infield. I can't say for sure whether or not he made any contact with said tire, but C.J. would spin sideways and come to a halt just past it to bring out the caution and send it to a green, white, checker finish.
There would be no stopping Miller from there as he captured his second victory of the season and Tommy Elston gained a position in those last two laps to finish second. Darrel DeFrance was able to slip by Foster in the final lap to take third while it was Foster's best Late Model finish thus far in fourth. The race for fifth was settled in the final lap as well and that was significant as Andy Nezworski was able to get by Sam Halstead to keep his hopes for an All Iowa Points championship alive going into the final race of the season. While Tommy Elston has clinched a share of the title, Nezworski can join him as a champion with a win today at Shiverfest as long as Elston does not finish in the top five.
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| After leading early, Josh Foster would finish fourth, his best yet in this his rookie year in a Late Model - Carroll Hoover photo |
Two of the best drivers in our region would treat the crowd to an entertaining eighteen laps of Sport Mod feature racing as John Oliver Jr. and Brayton Carter squared off. Oliver would take the lead from the front row while Carter followed him to second from row two and the next several laps would play out in this fashion. Oliver would run the high line in turns one and two and while Carter was able to pull even with him on the bottom, John would have the momentum to get back to the front down the back stretch and then block Carter on the bottom of turns three and four. At the exit of turn four, as Oliver would go back up the track, Brayton would get a run on the bottom and would get a nose under him by the start/finish line before the whole process would repeat itself once again.
This would continue for eight laps until Carter was able to stay even with the leader going down the back straightaway forcing John to now try the cushion in turns three and four and, when it worked for him, it would now be the battle of two different lines on both ends of the speedway. Finally on lap thirteen Carter would drive a bit deeper into turn one and then drift slightly up the track to break Oliver's momentum and that would allow "Speedy Bray" to take the lead and then open up a few car lengths of an advantage before scoring his 31st victory of an amazing season. Oliver would back up his third place finish in the Stock Cars with a runner-up showing here while Brandon Lennox drove Jim Gillnewater's #10G to a third place finish. Chris Spalding would get his second fourth place finish of the night, this time in Gary Wilson's #11, while Logan Anderson filled out the top five.
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| After a thrilling battle with John Oliver Jr., Brayton Carter would win his 31st feature of the season - Carroll Hoover photo |
The ten Hobby Stocks on hand would close out the evening for twelve laps with Red Oak, Iowa's, Bennett Johnson going flag-to-flag to earn what I believe to be his first career feature win. The young driver started up front and raced out a to a big advantage while pre-race favorites Nathan Ballard and Dustin Griffiths worked their way through the field. Griffiths who started last after dropping out of his heat race, would get to third before a flat tire sidelined him with two laps remaining. Ballard would move from seventh to finish second, Tom Killen Jr. took third, fourth went to Preston McDonald and fifth was Kale Hemsley.
I want to take a moment to give a mention to Hobby Stock driver Andy Peck who made the tow down from Newton, Iowa. Andy is one of those drivers who will make the long pull to support the division whenever he can and he is a regular competitor at the Marshalltown Speedway as well. His big blue #17 is not as fast as the other cars in the field, but he races clean and on the grandstand side of the car he has "Thank You Race Fans" painted bold and bright. It is always easy to call out the guys who are winning races, but it is racers like Andy that really makes this sport what it is, so make sure that as a Race Fan, you say "thanks" to him the next time that you have the chance.
The 2023 racing season comes to a close today with the annual running of "Shiverfest" at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. The sun is shining right now in southeast Iowa and it is going to be a great day for Hayrack Rides, Trick-or-Treating, Box Car Races and of course some great dirt track racing as well. Hope to see you there!
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