No Surprises In Victory Lane At Memphis Spring Nationals

The Spring Nationals appears on the limited schedule for the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, each year on the third weekend in March and as promoter Mike Van Genderen noted during the driver's meeting, "we usually get it in about once every four years". It actually might be a little more frequent than that, but this year's edition would be trimmed to a one day show as another mid-week storm that first brought rain and then some wet snow left the grounds too wet to race on Friday, but a bright sunny sky with a steady breeze dried things out enough to allow the show to go on for Saturday.

Losing Friday likely cut down the car count some, but as always an interesting mix of drivers made their way to the northeast corner of Missouri on Saturday to try their luck at one of my favorite race tracks. And, in the end, five current or former All Iowa Points champions would make their way to victory lane.

The Stock Cars would be up first and would provide arguably the best race of the night with Derrick Agee taking the early lead with John Oliver Jr. and Maguire DeJong in hot pursuit. That trio would put some distance on the rest of the field and when Agee stumbled on the cushion in turn two, both Oliver and DeJong would slip by to put them at the top of Kevin Feller's scoresheet on lap eight.

A quick sidebar, this would the night number one of Feller's 50th year of scoring races, truly one of the best ever at a job that is still needed even with the advancement of technology. After all, sometimes the computer doesn't work, but Kevin does!

With Oliver now out front, DeJong would go to work on him pulling even at one point only to have Oliver fight off the challenge until the only caution of the race waved on lap seventeen for Rowdee Van Genderen's spin off turn four.

On the restart Agee would take the second spot and make a run at Oliver before DeJong fought back and with his two challengers now waging war for the runner-up position that would allow Oliver, the 2018 All Iowa Points champion and last year's runner-up, to take the victory. DeJong would prevail for second ahead of Agee while Brayton Carter behind the wheel of cousin Carter VanDenberg's #7v would finish fourth ahead of Jason See.

After parking the Stock Car in the tech area, Brayton Carter would climb aboard his Sport Mod that was waiting in the infield as he had drew the pole position for the twenty lap B-Mod main event and when the twice defending and three-time overall All Iowa Points champion starts up front that is not good news for the competition! As expected Carter would race out to a comfortable lead at the drop of the green and again following a lap four restart, but now the sixth starting Cam Reimers had made his way up to second. 

Brayton Carter's new look for 2025

Another caution for Mitch Grummitt's spin on lap thirteen would put Reimers on the back bumper of the leader, but again Carter would pull away over the next three laps before the final caution of the race waved for Tyler Imhoff.

This time Reimers would stay with the leader and would throw a big slider in turns three and fourth to briefly have the advantage. Carter would make the crossover move and the two would race wheel to wheel down the front straightaway with just two laps remaining. With Brayton on the inside he would drive a bit deeper into turn one and then shut the door on Reimers and he would also block the bottom into turn three over the final two laps to take away the opportunity for another slider from Reimers and to secure the victory.

Reimers would have to settle for second as Dawson David worked his way forward from the seventh starting spot to finish in third. Colton Livezy would be fourth and the eighth starting Chris Spalding would fill out the top five.

Only ten of the twelve Modifieds that had signed in would be able to start the twenty lap feature and again, with a two-time and defending All Iowa Points champion on the front row, this one was pretty much decided at the drop of the green. Austen Becerra would race out to nearly a straightaway advantage and with very little lapped traffic to deal with in the green to checkers event Dylan Thornton could not reel him in as Becerra scored the win. Joel Rust drove a red number one Performer Chassis with a small 51 on it as well to a third place finish while Charlie Mofy and Troy Cordes were next in line.

After struggling to make double digits during the past few events at Memphis, the Sport Compacts would boast the largest car count of the night at twenty-three that included two drivers from Minnesota and one from Kansas. And it would be an unusual feature as well after something that we had noticed during two of the three heat races. The DeLonjay brothers from Quincy, Jadon and Jeffrey, both were obviously sandbagging during their respective heat races each finishing in fifth, just one spot out of having to go through tech in the infield before redrawing and I assumed that perhaps they were here to get some laps in using a rules configuration for an upcoming $100,000-to-win Four Cylinder free for all in Kokomo, Indiana, in April.

Their heat race finishes would place them in fourteenth and fifteenth on the starting grid for the fourteen lap feature and I assumed that once again we would see them strategically place fifth and sixth to avoid the tech area.

When the third starting car of Justin O'Haver got sideways in turn three on the first lap, the field went scrambling leaving four cars stopped before the opening lap could be scored and with a full restart the only female driver to ever win an All Iowa Points title (2016), Kimberly Abbott would race out to the early lead with Brandon Reu and Barry Taft in hot pursuit. Meanwhile the DeLonjay brothers were storming through the field and to my surprise Jeffrey would go all the way to the front on lap five passing the leaders on the top side as if they were standing still.

The caution would wave at the mid-race point when Reu made contact with Abbott sending Kimberly sideways into one of the infield tractor tires in turn two and as he came around again it is likely that Brandon stopped to express his apology for the mistake as he would restart at the rear while Kimberly would restart in the first double row.

As the field raced through one and two following the restart it sounded like the right front tire blew on Abbott's #71 as she pushed up the track at the exit of turn two all the way up to the guardrail where Josh Clark and Caleb Giese piled in with Clark's car ending up on it's side. All drivers escaped injury, but their race had come to an early end.

Once back to green DeLonjay went back to his heat race speed allowing Taft to take the lead on lap nine only to come storming back on lap ten on his way to what appeared to be an amazing sixteenth-to-first run to victory. It was no surprise though when promoter Mike Van Genderen waved him out of victory lane prior to a trophy presentation and called up the two-time All Iowa Points champion (2017-18) Barry Taft to victory lane as the official winner. Travis Roush who competes regularly at the North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minnesota, made the 540 mile trip from his home in New York Mills to be credited with second, pole-sitter Katelynn Watts finished third, Matt Moore was fourth while Joshua Glaspie was fifth.

The Hobby Stocks would close out the evening for fifteen laps and once again if you start a former All Iowa Points champion on the front row, even if he isn't driving his own car, it is likely that your winner has already been determined. That was the case as Dustin Griffiths, who won the 2014 title and finished second last year, drove one of Jim Tull's #22 to a flag-to-flag victory. 

Only one caution would fly in this one and that came with two laps remaining when the second place car of Eric Knutson spun exiting turn four and while Corey VanDerwilt tried to keep up with Griffiths on the restart, he would have to be happy with second ahead of Brad Graham, Tom Killen Jr. and Preston McDonald.

After a 5:30 start of hot laps and a short ten minute intermission following the heat races, this show wrapped up in fine fashion at 9:10 p.m. and as always we want to thank the Scotland County Fair Race Committee as well as MVG for putting on an entertaining show to start the season here in our neck of the woods! Two big events are next on the schedule here at Memphis with the SLMR Late Models making their first ever appearance on Friday April 25th and then on Friday June 20th the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders return hoping to pack the house again as they did here in 2024. Mark those on your calendar and we hope to see you there!

Stuckey Collects $10,036 With Win At Springfield

The "Back In Time 1989.....Tribute to Ken Essary and Randy Mooneyham" Late Model special continued Saturday night at the Springfield Raceway with another full show for the unsanctioned Late Models paying $10,036 to the winner while the four support classes would complete their weekend with feature races as well. You may remember that when this event was first scheduled last fall, it was to be the 2025 season opener for the series that Essary and Mooneyham started, the MLRA, but just a couple of weeks later it was announced that the series would no longer continue by the Lucas Oil organization that has operated the series for the past several years.

Two drivers that were not in attendance on Friday night, Glenn Powell and John Briggs joined the Late Model field and qualified 25th and 26th respectively, better only than Friday's runner-up Dillon McCowan who jumped the berm in turns one and two after taking the green flag and with hard contact to the universal barrier, McCowan's night was over early.

The Late Models would be the fourth feature to be contested on the night, but we will start our story there with Tony Jackson Jr. and Clayton Stuckey bringing the field to green for the thirty-six lap event. It would be the third-starting Gordy Gundaker that would take the lead on lap one though as he edged under Jackson at the stripe and the caution would wave after lap two went into the books when Mason Oberkramer slowed on the track and did not take the exit off the back stretch.

Following the restart Gundaker established a quick pace out front while Friday's winner Brian Shirley clawed his way up from fourth to second. As most of the field settled in on the bottom, it started to look like the track might rubber down and as Gundaker closed in on the back of the field he did not immediately leave the bottom to try to get around Carl Murphy. Behind him though Shirley had gone back to the top looking for a run to surprise the hesitant leader, but just when it looked like he was ready to pounce, Shirley jumped the berm at the top of turn four and spun to bring out the caution on lap thirteen.

Once back to green, Gundaker had clear track ahead as he stayed on the bottom, while Stuckey who won a Comp Cams series race here in 2024 tried a line that was one car width higher than the leader's and it worked allowing the youngster from Louisiana to take the lead on lap fifteen. The caution would wave again when Dustin Tiger spun in turn three and on the restart Arkansas driver Jon Kirby would take over the second position with Stuckey in his sights.

Five laps later Tony Jackson Jr. who was running fourth at the time, slammed his right rear into the berm that rims the outside of the track and as he slowed the caution would wave again. And then two laps later Justin Wells would clip the inside berm in turn four sending him for a spin with the rest of the field scrambling to avoid contact.

The final twelve laps would be run under green and as Stuckey pulled away to take the win it would be Gundaker climbing back to second ahead of Kirby. Billy Moyer had another impressive drive as the Hall of Famer came from twelfth to fourth while Shirley battled his way back to complete the top five after restarting at the rear of the field.

Five cautions would interrupt a good battle up front during the Midwest Modified B Class main event as Gavin Buckley slipped under Cody Arnett to take the lead on lap twelve and the front row starters would finish one-two with Buckley the winner. Jordon Cater, Braxton Rupp and Darren Burt would complete the top five.

The Legend Cars have put on some good feature races whenever we have visited Springfield in the past, but tonight was not one of those as seven caution flags would tarnish the first fifteen laps of the scheduled twenty lapper and at that point the field was given the green white and checkers to bring this one to a conclusion. The first caution of the race was for Trenton Simon who spun in turn four on the opening lap as he challenged Tanner Foster for the lead sending Simon to the back of the nineteen car field for the restart. With the assist of several restarts Simon would battle back to take the lead from Jay Reynolds on lap eleven and he would stay out front to take the checkers in the shortened event. Reynolds was second, Foster finished third with J.P Harris and Chance Gilbert next in line.

With a salute to the MLRA it was only fitting that the car with the Rex McCroskey paint scheme and #64 would win the Midwest Mod A Class feature. Pete Richardson is the driver and he would lead all twenty laps through three caution periods to take the win over Sundance Keepper and Jerad McIntire. Ben Newell finished in the fourth spot while Carter Harrison was fifth.

The twenty lap B-Modified main event would close out the evening with Matt Brookshire pacing the first two laps before Waylon Dimmitt took the lead on lap three. The caution would wave on lap three when Jerry Lankton spun in turn two and following the restart veteran driver Ken Schrader would apply the pressure on Dimmitt before taking the lead on lap six. Three more cautions would wave before the race would come to a close with Schrader driving away from the field each time to take the victory. Dimmitt would be the runner-up, Cole Campbell started seventh and finished third, Kris Jackson came from eleventh to fourth and Anthony Ferrara finished in fifth.

After a pretty comfortable February Friday night, the winds of March blew colder air and some of the speedway into our faces on Saturday making for a challenging evening, but we truly appreciated all of the efforts put forth by track owner Jerry Hoffman just to present this show only ten days after a six inch snowfall. We look forward to our return to Springfield in November for the Turkey Bowl!

Shirley Finds Redemption In Springfield's "Back In Time" Opener

When was the last time that you went to a dirt race where ten days earlier the track had six inches of snow sitting on top of it? We did just that on Friday night as the "Back In Time 1989.....Tribute to Ken Essary and Randy Mooneyham" Late Model special kicked off at the Springfield Raceway. The two Late Model legends founded the Midwest Late Model Racing Association, or MLRA series in that year and promoter Jerry Hoffman was not about to let the fact that the MLRA abruptly closed up shop about a week after this event was announced, or a big ol' Ozarks snowstorm stop him from presenting this show!

Frankly I was skeptical about this weekend after the snowfall on February 18th, but I knew that if anybody could make it happen that it would be Hoffman. Even while the snow was piling up he was making Facebook posts promoting the event and a couple days after the skies had cleared, with a favorable weather forecast ahead of him, Hoffman even announced his schedule of snow removal and track work in the days ahead. So it was no surprise that after a Thursday night test session, the remaining kinks in the track surface were adjusted and we were treated to some February dirt track racing in the Midwest on this, the first of a two-day show.

Twenty-eight Super Late Models signed in and they were joined by drivers in the B-Mods, Legends and two divisions of the Midwest Modifieds to bring the total car count to ninety-one. While the Late Model count was just a couple cars lighter than I expected, I was really surprised at the low numbers in the support classes with the roster featuring mostly local drivers while Ken Schrader and Cole Campbell were two of the track's non-regulars in the B-Mod class. While the Late Models would be running a full show for $5,036-to-win, the twenty B-Mods would contest two rounds of heat races and the remaining three classes would run their heats to set Saturday night's feature lineups.

One of the things that I loved about the MLRA when I was first exposed to the series was that they would use a passing points system to qualify for most of their events and I think that I even whined about it here on the Back Stretch several years ago when the decision was made to go with the "I'm Fast, Start Me In Front" method of qualifying and then setting the heat race lineups straight up with the first heat race winner earning the pole for the main event. "Back in time" would have been a good excuse to go back to the passing points for this weekend, but instead we saw Brian Shirley set quick time in Group A, win from the pole in the first heat and then start the thirty lap feature from the pole where he was never seriously challenged on his way to victory. Don't pass a car all night and win $5,036, in this case a nice bit of redemption for a driver that struggled through SpeedWeeks.

Clayton Stuckey would chase Shirley early until the caution waved for Kylan Garner's spin on lap four and on the restart the young driver from Louisiana would yield second to the ageless veteran Billy Moyer. Moyer would then stay within striking distance of the leader over the next nine laps before the caution waved again, this time for Jon Kirby's spin in turn four and on the restart Stuckey would fight his way back into second.

The driver on the moved though was Dillon McCowan who was looking to repeat his win from November's Turkey Bowl here at Springfield. Pounding the cushion on both ends the fourth starting McCowan soon made his way into second and appeared to be closing in on Shirley, especially when the leader would leave the cushion from time to time. As the laps clicked away though, McCowan would not get close enough to challenge as Shirley would take the checkers as McCowan was exiting turn four to finish second. Tony Jackson Jr. would finish where he started, in third, Stuckey would slip to fourth and after making string move to the front early, Moyer would settle back in to the same position that he started from, fifth. The Gundakers, Trevor and Gordy would be next in line with Sawyer Crigler in eighth, Mason Oberkramer started nineteenth and finished ninth while sixteen-year-old Eli Ross would complete the top ten.

Night number two is scheduled to take the green this afternoon at 4 p.m. and if you can't make it to the trac, you can watch all the action at springfieldraceway.tv