It was a sunny and warm day for early May and with hot laps starting at 6:30, following some entertaining heat races, the high banked 3/8th-mile oval needed some work during a thirty minute intermission and while it was still a bit slippery during the early laps of the first feature, the extra manicure made for some great racing the remainder of the night.
The Mini Hauler division would be up first for a twelve lap main event and that first story line that I referred to above would be the guest driver in the Brian Tipps owned pickup truck #20. Retired Late Model superstar Brian Birkhofer would be in the pits on this night as his son Cruz would be competing in the IMCA Late Model division and while I don't exactly know the connection (yet), Tipps had offered his ride for the night and Birky accepted. He would draw the pole position for the opening heat race and would take the lead at the drop of the green only to spin in turn four to bring out the caution. Birkhofer would then go to the back for the restart and again he would spin in turn four before, so he would then head for the pits for causing two cautions without even completing a lap.
Obviously driving one of these trucks is nothing like wheeling a Super Late Model so apparently the former track champion and owner of the #20 truck must have gave him some "truck driving Tipps" before the feature race because there would no more spinning, and Birkhofer would be very involved in a very entertaining finish to the main event.
Bob Cowman would get up in the slick stuff entering turn three on the opening lap and get into the wall ending his night. Then on the next try at a start Payton Lain would get crossed up exiting turn four coming to score lap one and he would nose into the outside wall. Caleb Ealey, who won the opener here in April, would lead that opening lap, but on the restart Brett Timmerman would go charging to the front after starting from seventh. He would then slip up and over the top of turn two though, losing several positions and giving the lead back to Ealey until lap five when Dawson Tipps got too high in turn three and sent the sparks flying as his rear bumper scraped along the concrete wall bringing out another caution.
Sheldon Brockett had started tenth and made up some ground early, but contact with another truck would mangle his right front fender and when it fell of his truck on lap six the caution for debris would be the final one of the race.
The final six laps would be nothing short of spectacular as the Timmermans, Brett and Lyle, as well as Birkhofer picked up the challenge on Ealey and we had a four truck battle for the win. Lyle would get the advantage on lap ten only to have his son Brett diving into the turns below him and nearly pulling even. Birkhofer was right behind them waiting for a mistake and Ealey wanted to get back to the front as well. On the final lap the Timmermans exited turn four side-by-side with the sixty-five-year-old Lyle Timmerman taking the win by half a car length over Brett with Birkhofer and Ealey next in line.
Darin Ronner who took a couple of trips off the top of turns one and two under green recovered from each to finish fifth and as Lyle climbed out of his truck to celebrate in victory lane both Brett as well as Tasker Timmerman, Lyle's grandson, joined in the fun.
The 305 Sprint Cars were up next and only one caution would wave in this fifteen lap event as Nate Parks slowed with mechanical issues on lap one. Once back to green there would be no touching Tanner Gebhardt who pulled out to a sizeable advantage while the race to watch was for second as Riley Scott tried to ward off a rim-riding Matt Krieger. There would only be a few laps left when Krieger completed the pass and he was cutting into lead quickly as Gebhardt worked traffic, but Matt could not get close enough to challenge before Tanner scored the win. Scott continues to improve in third while Lincoln Martin finished fourth and Nick Guernsey filled out the top five.
The IMCA Late Models were not even on the original schedule for tonight, but after drawing solid fields each of the last two weeks in this class, the Late Models were subbed in for tonight especially with Maquoketa having a scheduled night off and the result was a solid field of twenty cars on hand.
Jeremy Pundt would start beside National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Gary Webb in the front row and it would be Pundt that would race out to the lead and steadily build up a nice adantage ahead of the third starting Tommy Elston. Eleven of the twenty-five laps had been completed as Pundt closed in on the back of the field and they were three-wide ahead of the leader who may just have breathed a sigh of relief when the caution waved a lap later for Joe Beal's spin in turn two.
With a clear track ahead of him on the restart, Pundt went right back to working the bottom line only to be passed a lap later by Evan Miller who used a higher line to come from fifth to the lead on lap fourteen. Pundt would try to counter for a couple of laps only to see Miller start to pull away until the caution waved with three laps remaining when Cruz Birkhofer missed the lip and went off the top of turn two before sliding to a halt. The most improved Late Model driver in the state in 2025, Curtis Glover would restart alongside Pundt in the first double row and when those two, along with Travis Denning battled for second, Miller would ease away to take the $1,000 top prize. With his second place finish here, Glover will likely be at the top of the All Iowa Points with this week's update while Pundt held off Denning to finish in third. Travis had started the race from ninth, but the hard charger award goes to Jesse Bodin who came from thirteenth to complete the top five.
The IMCA Stock Cars would be up next for twenty laps and when you see John Oliver Jr. starting from the front row here at 34 Raceway, that usually means that this will be a race for second. Not tonight though, and not just in this feature. Oliver would take the early advantage with Jacob Ellithorpe and Kirk Kinsely in hot pursuit, but it would be the fifth starting Cayden Carter on the move making his way up to second on lap six.
The leader was hugging the bottom in turns one and two, but he would enter turn three midway up the banking and then drive low to exit turn four and as Carter gained ground on Oliver he could see where he might be able to make his move. On lap twelve Cayden was able to get his nose under Oliver in turn, taking away the diamond exit off of turn four, but when Carter's brother Brayton slowed with a flat tire in turn two the caution would wave with seven laps remaining.
As the field circled the track at a slow speed to get the realignment correct, somehow both David Brandies and Jacob Ellithorpe ended up side-by-side on the apron entering turn three with one driver getting out of the car to exchange pleasantries. Frankly, I was checking my phone under caution to see how some other events in the region had gone so I did not see what started this "meeting" and once the officials calmed things down, both drivers would be sent to the pit area.
Once back to racing Oliver would stay glued to the bottom now on both ends and after Carter saw Kirk Kinsley making a run at him one line higher in turns one and two, Cayden would also start working that groove and he would take the lead by a bumper on lap sixteen. Oliver would not let him go though and they would essentially run side-by-side until Carter finally cleared Oliver as the white flag waved and the new leader would then go to the bottom to shut the door on Oliver and take the hard fought victory. Corey Strothman had come from eighth to third and may have been a factor for the win in this one if there had been a few more laps. Kinsley would finish in the fourth spot while Andrew Burk took fifth.
My Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans had texted me that the features at Donnellson were already being checkered shortly after eight o'clock so when I saw a late arriving enclosed hauler entering the pits just as the intermission was wrapping up, I wondered who it might have been. The answer came when the Sport Mods entered the track for their twenty lap headliner as starting in the sixteenth and final spot on the grid would be Logan Cumby who earlier in the evening had finished second at the Lee County Speedway.
The top two ranked Sport Mod drivers in Iowa, Brayton Carter and Dylan Van Wyk would race away from the rest of the field at the drop of the green and when the caution waved mid-race for Pat Emerick who had both right side tires go flat, the field was bunched back together for a restart with Cumby now in the sixth position. Again Carter and Van Wyk would pull away on the restart as a three car battle for fourth waged on involving Tom Bowling Jr., Jarrett VandeBerg and Logan Cumby. One final caution for Shane Vancil, who stepped up from the Four Cylinder ranks this year, brought the field back together, but it would still be Brayton Carter's night as he would take the win over his fellow Oskaloosa resident Van Wyk. Cumby would make it to third for his second podium finish on the night at two tracks separated by about a forty mile drive. Sean Wyett would hold down fourth and VandenBerg was fifth at the checkers.
Carter's night? How about this calendar week for "Speedy Bray" as announcer Mike Sunken noted that he had won at Spencer on Monday, had taken both the make-up feature and the regular main event at Oskaloosa on Wednesday, he was the Thursday Night Thunder winner at Marshalltown on Thursday and on Friday Brayton won at Stuart in support of the SLMR show there. Six wins in six nights, simply amazing for the driver who is seeking his fourth All Iowa Points Limited Modified title here in 2025!
The IMCA Modifieds would close out the night with John Oliver Jr. again racing to the early lead from a front row starting position. Logan Anderson, who got upside down here last week, would pick up the chase in second and the only caution of this race would wave on lap eight when Spencer Diercks and Blaise Lewis tangled and spun in turn one while battling for third.
On the restart Anderson would snatch the lead away from Oliver and with laps winding down the seventh starting Chris Zogg would make his way into second. Zogg would be able to keep the leader in his sights, but there would be no catching Anderson who continues to impress in his first full season in an IMCA Modified after taking a couple of All Iowa Points Limited Modified championships of his own in 2021 and 2022. Zogg would finish second, Bill Roberts Jr. came from eighth to third, Oliver slipped to fourth and Cayden Carter finished out the top five.
The final checkered flag waved at 10:41 bringing an interesting and exciting night of racing to an end and it was definitely fun for me to just kick back, relax, and enjoy a night of racing at my "home track". Plans for next week include a trip to Stuart on Wednesday night for the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel featuring the Dirt Crown Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks, then on Friday night we will be back with the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders for the highly anticipated return to the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction. Hope to see you again soon here on the Back Stretch!
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