Worth The Wait, Shiverfest Closes Out The 2023 Season In Iowa

With cold, wet and windy weather in the forecast for last weekend, promoters Brian and Marcie Gaylord made an early decision to postpone the annual finale at the Lee County Speedway "Shiverfest" to Saturday November 4th and what a good call that would be! With a beautiful autumn day in southeast Iowa including a high temperature pushing sixty degrees, drivers from five states made their way in to compete in what would be the final race in the state of Iowa for 2023, and the final event for the husband and wife promoting team after an eight year run.

The Stock Cars would be the first of six main events on the evening with Abe Huls pacing the opening lap before John Oliver Jr. went charging by on the outside. Oliver had started sixth and he was showing his strength early before the caution waved for a two car tangle in turn four on lap three. On the restart John would again drive away as the fifth starting Dustin Griffiths and the eleventh starting Todd Reitzler worked their way to the front. Reitzler moved to second on lap seven, but had a full straightaway to make up on the  leader until the caution waved again for Donnie Pearson's spin on lap ten.

Pearson was getting a feel for the car that he had purchased from Tom Schmitt and a lap later when there was contact from a another car, he would slide sideways and roll over onto his top. After the red flag situation, Reitzler, Griffiths and Miciah Hidlebaugh would maintain Oliver's pace in hope of trying to mount a challenge over the final laps and as the white flag was waving for the leader, the fifth place car of Tom Cannon would spin in turn four to require a green, white, checkers restart.

Oliver would continue to stay out of reach over the last two laps to take the win while Griffiths would claim the runner-up spot ahead of Reitzler. Hidlebaugh had pulled to the infield prior to going back to green and that allowed Huls and Austin Meiners to complete the top ten.

With pre-race favorites Tim Ward, Austen Becerra and Chris Spalding drawing the first three starting positions, the twenty lap Modified feature would likely be won from the front. The first pair of turns were not good for Spalding though as he went high in turn two and got shuffled back to twelfth on the opening lap as Ward took the advantage over Becerra. Kurt Kile's spin in turn two would bring a caution on lap three and just as Becerra was mounting a challenge for the lead mid-race, the caution waved again for debris with nine laps remaining.

Ward had seen where Austen had the advantage, so he wisely changed his line after the restart and this year's IMCA Super Nationals champion would again pull away to take the victory in just the second night driving this new car. Becerra would hold on for second ahead of young Charlie Mohr, while veteran drivers Mark Burgtorf and Bill Roberts Jr. would complete the top five.

Tim Ward on his way to a Shiverfest victory - Micheil Farr photo

After a disappointing finish to Friday night's race at Memphis, C.J. Horn was on a mission and when he drew the front row for the twenty-five lap Late Model feature this one was pretty much decided from the start. Horn was gone from the drop of the green leading by half a lap when the only caution of the event flew on lap fourteen and on the restart there was nobody that could match the pace as Horn dominated for the victory. Thankfully there was some great racing for second involving Jeff Tharp, Darrel DeFrance and Tommy Elston. Tharp was behind the wheel of Andy Nezworki's #7 and had come from the fifth row, DeFrance had started from the seventh spot while Elston had started twelfth and they would go three-wide on a couple of occasions late in the race.

In the end it would be DeFrance prevailing to finish second with Tharp in third. Elston closed out his All Iowa Points championship season with a fourth place run while Sam Halstead held off Josh Foster for fifth.

C.J. Horn left no doubt as to who would be the Late Model winner - Micheil Farr photo

It had also been a frustrating weekend thus far for central Missouri driver Chris Spalding as he had been been spun out of the lead in the Modified feature at Memphis on Friday night and then earlier here, he had dominated his Modified heat race only to lose nine positions at the start of the feature. His redemption would come in tonight's Sport Mod main event where he would start from the pole position and lead all twenty laps to take the win. John Oliver Jr. stayed right with Spalding through the first half of the race, but during a pair of lap eleven caution periods he would exit to the pit area with mechanical issues.

That would now put the focus on Brayton Carter who had started ninth and was now up to second looking for his thirty-second feature win of the season. Once he grabbed that second spot though he was about ten car lengths back from the leader and with Spalding turning flawless laps around the bottom, Carter was unable to mount a challenge as he settled for second. Tanner Klingele finished where he had started, in third, Tony Olson made a strong run from fifteenth to fourth while Logan Anderson filled out the top five after starting from eleventh.

The Sport Compacts would also see a fast car draw the pole in Travis DeMint, but after problems while leading his heat race, perhaps an even faster car was starting from the twenty-first and final position in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, visitor Brody Rivest. DeMint would power away from the field in the first seven laps before a red flag was needed when Blaine Lambert got upside down in turn two. Rivest was well into the top ten by this point and he would move to second with just five laps remaining and DeMint nearly a full straightaway ahead of him.

That lead was shrinking noticeably over the next three circuits and when David Prim slowed on the back stretch with two to go that would plant Rivest right on the back bumper of the leader for the restart. DeMint would get a nice jump with the drop of the green only to have Rivest reel him back in and the challenger would give the leader a good "shot in the shorts" as announcer Tony Paris would say in turn two on the final lap. Working through the final set of turns Rivest would swing to the outside, but he could not overtake DeMint before going under the checkers. They were three wide just behind the top two with Chevy Barnes nosing out Dyllan Bonk and Barry Taft for the final spot on the podium.

It was now a few minutes past ten o'clock and the chilled November air would send me looking for the warmth of my car as the Mini Haulers started their feature where Roger "Fireball" Brockett would take the win over Brian Tipps. 

It was a great way for the Gaylords to close out their tenure here at Donnellson after announcing in August that they would be stepping away at the end of the season. And, during the drivers meeting, Neal Kohlmorgan and Patrick Profeta were introduced as the new leaders of the Lee County Speedway for 2024. They are currently working on their plans and will release information in the weeks to come at the track's Facebook page. 

It was a fun evening enjoying the racing with a couple of my regular traveling partners Fred Peters and Daryl Voth, plus we were joined by Wisconsin visitors David Schlise and Russell Wicker. They were going to take full advantage of the changing of the clocks in their seven hour drive home!

Two more nights of racing remain on my calendar with our annual trip to Springfield, Missouri, for the Turkey Bowl on November 17th and 18th. Perhaps we will see you there!