Payne and Smith Headline Thursday Night Action At The Sunflower Showdown

Night number two of the first annual Sunflower Showdown at Lakeside Speedway near Kansas City saw an overflowing pit area and plenty of action on a warm and breezy night. Nearly an inch of rain during the morning hours was partly to blame for having to find new spaces for cars to park, but it was the overall car count that caused the welcomed problem.

With the top six drivers in points from Wednesday's opener already locked in for Saturday night's $10,000-to-win finale there were forty-two USMTS/USRA Modifieds in action tonight with six more drivers slated to make the big show based upon overall points for the evening. Terry Phillips and Ryan Gustin would bring the twenty-eight car field to green for tonight's twenty-lap main event with Phillips racing away to the lead. As the field worked through turns three and four on the opening lap though, the fourth-place car of Darron Fuqua spun sideways off the cushion and down the race track where he was first hit by Johnny Scott and then a split second later when Logan Martin joined the fray Fuqua's car went up and over one and a half times. The melee eliminated four cars overall and after the clean up that included the burn off of spilled fuel, the field went back to green.

This time it was Gustin who would take the point as former teammates Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne raced for second and when the caution waved for debris on lap for those two would line up side-by-side behind the leader for the restart. As the green flag returned Payne drove deep into turn one, slid up the track to shut the door on Gustin and take the lead while Phillips soon followed him into second. The chase was on from there and nobody was going to catch the Arizona native who now calls Springfield, Missouri, home as Jeremy Payne cruised the rest of the 20-lap distance to take the preliminary night victory. Phillips would come home second, Jason Hughes made a big run to third after starting fourteenth, Gustin would hold down fourth and newly crowned USMTS Champion Rodney Sanders finished where he started in fifth.

Tonight was the main event for the three other divisions in action with the USRA B-Modifieds racing for a $2,000 top prize while both the Factory Stocks and the Grand Nationals were aiming at a $1,200 winner's check. The Grand Nationals were up first as 2013 Lakeside track champion Gary Donaldson assumed the early lead, Austin Johnson was cruising on the cushion though and drove to the lead on lap three. A caution on lap eight brought the field back together and on the restart Johnson bobbled in turn two allowing Donaldson to regain the lead. Bud Wilson gradually worked his way up to second and was within striking distance with four laps remaining when a soon to be lapped car spun in front of Donaldson on the exit of turn two causing the leaders to take evasive action. The caution bunched the field one last time and Wilson again went to work on Donaldson over the final four laps. As they raced into turns three and four for the final time using the low line Wilson was able to pull even with the leader, but the momentum off of the top side carried Donaldson to the victory by just less than a car-length. Don Marrs would finish in the third spot, Darren Kling moved from tenth to fourth and Austin Johnson competed the top five.

Wednesday night's winner Yancy Shepard would bring the B-Mod field to the green, but it was his fellow font row starter Brad Smith who vault to the race lead. Mike Higley would soon pick up the chase in second before the caution waved as contact between J.C. Morton and Mason Daughters left both cars stalled on the track. Smith continued to lead following the restart as Higley stalked him and with ten laps remaining Higley made a bid to the inside of turn three. Smith repelled the challenge as Higley regrouped and two laps later Higley again made a bid to the inside of Smith in turn three and the challenger pushed it just a bit too hard as he spun the car and brought out the caution with eight laps to go. Aaron Marrant was now in second and on the restart he tried to pull off the mother of all sliders in turn three sliding all the way up the racetrack and smacking the wall flush with the right side of the car. Somehow Marrant was able to continue although Smith drove back by him to the lead and eventually the win. Tim Karrick was able to move past Marrant over the final laps to take second, northeast Iowa driver Troy Hovey made a late charge to finish fourth after starting in row nine but Jake Richards was the true hard charger coming from the twelfth and final row to finish fifth.

The 20-lap Factory Stock headliner was marred by two multi-car accidents on the back straightaway and while there was a bunch of damage to the race cars thankfully all the drivers involved escaped injury. The first crash happened on the second lap and involved eight cars and then following a mid-race restart a wild accident at the pit entrance saw Mark Carter's car for a wild series of flips while Joe Smith Jr.'s car wound up on his roof outside of the turn three wall wedged up against the Christy's Tasty Queen sign. Under green flag conditions this year's track champion Brett Heeter was able to fight off challenges from Jerry Schmidt to take the win. Tyler Seifert finished in the third spot while Lucas Conley was fourth.

Eleven MLRA Late Models hot lapped during the evening as that division will join the Modifieds both tonight, Friday, and again on Saturday as the Sunflower Showdown continues at Lakeside.

A big thank you to Todd Staley and his entire staff for their hospitality and for putting on an efficient show around the long delays that were required by the multi-car accidents. If you are in the KC area this weekend, make sure you are at Lakeside for more fantastic dirt track action!

Four All Iowa Points Titles To Be Decided In October

One of the things that has always surprised me about compiling the All Iowa Points for the past thirty-four years is just how seldom it is that a championship goes right down to the wire. Usually by mid-August it was pretty clear who would be sitting on top of the standings at the end of the year as drivers like Gary Webb, Ed Sanger, Curt Hansen, Roger Dolan, Ray Guss Jr., Ron Barker, Danny Wallace, Greg Kastli, Jeff Anderson, Dustin Smith, Jesse Sobbing, Bryan Nevins, Joe Zrostlik, Terry McCarl, Randy Smith and many more have essentially ran off and hid when it comes to winning the All Iowa Points. That has always amazed me, just how dominant one driver can be within a division across an entire state as you would figure that at least one or two other drivers might have similar spectacular seasons in a different region.

Once again in 2013 we have several divisions that are “runaways”. After two straight years of dominating the Limited Modified standings Jesse Sobbing has done the same during his rookie year in the Modified class and will earn his fourth straight All Iowa Points crown.  Damon Murty shattered his trend of leading the Stock Car points early and then fading by continuing to dominate throughout the 2013 season and he will win his first Stock Car AIP championship with ease. For the second year in a row Merv Chandler made a mockery of the Four Cylinder point race and in this, the first year of tracking the Mod Lite division in the All Iowa Points, Jimmy May ran away from the pack. Two of the Sprint Car divisions, the 410’s and the 305’s were closer battles, but with no more events on the schedule for each they are now decided with Mark Dobmeier and Mike Boston claiming titles.

So that now leaves us with something that we haven’t seen in awhile, four divisions where the All Iowa Points championships will be determined by the results of the October special events schedule that gets underway this coming weekend in Oskaloosa and West Liberty, and that is currently scheduled to conclude at Lee County Speedway’s “Shiverfest” on October 26^th.

In the Late Model division Justin Kay leads Todd Cooney by a mere three points although the two remaining events for the division at West Liberty and at I-80 Speedway are not likely on Cooney’s schedule. On the other hand look for Kay to run in both the IMCA and the Open Late Model fields at West Liberty this weekend.

There is still plenty of Limited Modified racing to be had in October and, since qualifying night features at two-day shows pay the same point structure as the main events, four drivers are still mathematically in contention. After Doug Smith’s win in Spencer on Thursday night and Carter VanDenBerg’s victory in Webster City over a field of 51 cars on Saturday night, these two drivers are separated by just one-point as they both look for their first AIP championship. Not only does VanDenBerg hold that one-point advantage, but for Smith to prevail he will need to do some traveling as all of the remaining events are at tracks that he does not run at on a regular basis. Both Joel Rust and Tony Dunker can still win it, but they would need to win just about every race night remaining and have VanDenBerg fail to run in the top five even once during the month for that to happen.

In the Hobby Stock division the two drivers who have split the past five championships are again at the top with Devin Smith leading Shannon Anderson by one feature win, five points. The remaining events are all at tracks that neither driver have raced regularly at this year, so this one just might be over although Chris Luloff would still have a mathematical chance of by-passing both if he would hit the road and win often.

The final 360 Sprint Car event of the season will be at I-80 Speedway on October 12^th and Gregg Bakker is now just two points behind Clint Garner. Garner, the Knoxville track champion, seems to have shut down for the season while Bakker has been known to travel to southeast Nebraska in the past. He would need to finish fourth to tie, and third or better in that final race to win his first All Iowa Points title.

The 9/29 update of the All Iowa Points should be posted at Positively Racing soon. And, for your Missouri drivers and fans, I hope to be caught up in the next couple of weeks well before the final race of the Show Me state on November 23^rd in Springfield. Keep checking in here for the updated standings soon.

There are plenty of special events on the schedule for this weekend around the region as well so make sure that you get out and enjoy the action near you. A couple of shows that are coming up and are not yet on our specials schedule is an October 19^th event at the Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa. Also, the season finale at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah that was rained out this past Saturday will now run on Saturday October 12^th.

With family and social commitments for this coming weekend I had hoped that I could fit in either the Friday night show of the Liberty 100 or the Sunday finale of Oktoberfest in La Crosse. But now it looks like my only chance to go racing this week will be on Thursday night for the Sunflower Showdown featuring the USMTS Modifieds at Lakeside Speedway. Maybe see you there!

Richards Rules On Opening Night of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals

It was a beautiful late September night in south central Iowa as the Tenth Annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals kicked off in front of a nice crowd on a Thursday night and it was a pair of World of Outlaw regulars who would finish up front on the first night of qualifying.

Brandon Sheppard and Jason Utter started the twenty-five lap, $7000-to-win main event from the front row with the youngster Sheppard taking the early lead. A four car scramble in turn three on lap seven left Joel Callahan and Dennis Erb Jr. up against the guardrail and in need of a tow. Jimmy Owens and Austin Hubbard were also involved and headed to the pits during the red-flag cleanup for repairs.On the restart Josh Richards threw the slider on Sheppard and when Brandon got into the guardrail exiting turn two he dropped back to fifth. Darrell Lanigan then took up the chase of Richards with Jason Feger racing in third and Sheppard trying to make his way back to the front. Just as Lanigan put a nose under Richards in turn three on lap fourteen Scott Bloomquist slowed on the front stretch with apparent suspension issues slowing the field once again.

Lanigan continued to pressure Richards following the restart as Dale McDowell moved to the fourth spot, but the caution came out three laps later as Frankie Heckenast jumped the cushion and drilled the guardrail in turn two. It was a tough break for the Chicagoland driver who had been fast all night riding the high side. Bub McCool, who had started thirteenth was now up to fifth for the single-file restart as Richards would bring Lanigan, Feger and McDowell back to the green with eight to go. Lanigan was able to pull even with Richards on three occasions, but could not complete the pass as "Kid Rocket" would score the victory. Lanigan was second, Feger and McDowell swapped the third spot back and forth following the final restart with Feger joining the podium while McDowell and McCool filled out the top five. Billy Moyer finished in the sixth position, Chad Simpson was seventh, John Blankenship came from the back to finish eighth, Sheppard faded to ninth and Earl Pearson Jr. started last and finished tenth.

Qualifying Notes.....Seventy-two Late Models signed in for the tenth edition of this event that grows in popularity each year. The field has been split in two for qualifying as the first 36 cars out to time will run heat races one two and three while the second half of the field will run heats four, five and six. Don O'Neal established the early mark to beat at 17.363 while young Ryan Gustin posted the second quickest time in his first appearance here at the legendary half-mile. Scott Bloomquist qualified third quick in that first group behind O'Neal and Gustin despite being impeded on his first lap by Canadian Stewart Hayward. Brian Birkhofer has to be disappointed with his 28th best time in that first group ......The second group is now qualifying with Dale McDowell establishing the time to beat at 17.718 and that will hold up. Jesse Stovall is the final car out to qualify and he goes second quick in this group while 2006 race winner Brian Shirley is third in group two......All eight former champions of this event are in competition with Scott Bloomquist being the only two-time champion.....Eight cars are inverted in each of the six qualifying heats with the top three going to the A-Main, the next three to the B, seventh through ninth to the C and the remainder of the field will be running the D-Main......Fast qualifier Don O'Neal suffered a flat left rear tire on the opening lap of the first heat race. Rodney Sanders would lead the field back to green for the restart, but he then slowed to a halt in turn two, a tough break for the USMTS Modified star who has been moonlighting in a Late Model in 2013. Brian Harris was running second mid-race before motor issues forced him pitside. Billy Moyer would take the win, Jared Landers finishes second and Jason Feger holds off a late charge from O'Neal to take third.....Ryan Gustin caught the berm in turn three on the second lap of heat number two and then spun up the track collecting Chris Spieker. Former winner Tim McCreadie stopped on the front stretch on lap three, but pushed off and restarted far back from the field. Bub McCool passed Ryan Unzicker on the lap three restart and then held on for the win. Unzicker was the runner-up and Austin Hubbard fought off World 100 champ John Blankenship to qualify in third. Brian Birkhofer picked up some speed and finished in fifth.....Yankee Dirt Track Classic champion Joel Callahan fought off UMP Summernationals champ Brandon Sheppard by a nose at the stripe to win the third heat. Callahan had just taken the lead from Kent Robinson two laps earlier. Frank Heckenast Jr. passed Robinson for fourth while Scott Bloomquist is going to the B-Main in fifth....Earl Pearson Jr. spun on the second lap of the fourth heat. A few of the drivers were caught sleeping on the restart allowing Dale McDowell to make a big move up to second. Matt Furman dropped out while fourth on lap six of twelve. Tony Jackson Jr. ran away with the victory over McDowell and Jason Utter.....Congratulations to my niece Maeve Broeg who was just named the Homecoming Queen at Williamsburg High School!.....Texas native Morgan Bagley opened up a big lead early in heat race number five only to have it erased when Tim Isenberg spun in turn four with three laps remaining. Bagley then held back Josh Richards on the restart to complete the win. Chad Simpson moved to third ahead of B-Main transfers Brady Smith and Jimmy Owens.....The field went four-wide down the front stretch at the drop of the green for the sixth heat. Steve Francis, Darrell Lanigan and Dennis Erb Jr. were the top three and Jimmy Mars passed Justin Kay on the final lap for fourth.....Jesse Stovall has a hole in his radiator and has scratched for the night.....Jason Jaggers smoked a motor in hot laps and did not qualify.....Unofficial event rookies include Gustin, Sanders, Michael Smith (West Virginia), Dennis Vandermeersch, Stewart Heyward, Greg Kimmons, Travis Dickes, Ray Sveegen and Jonathan Brauns.....Mike Fryer and Andy Eckrich were also early scratches for the evening......Four cars will move from the D-Main to the C-Main. A pair of young Iowans Ryan Gustin and Spencer Diercks started form the front row in the D. Gustin was gone from the drop of the green  and won by a full straightaway over Rodney Sanders, Tim McCreadie and Matt Furman. It was a new 10-lap track record for the Late Models at Knoxville with a time 3.12.000.....Once again the top four will move up out of the C-Main to the B-Main and Gustin will be one to watch scheduled to start 19th. Chris Simpson dropped out on the first lap after starting third and on the third lap the caution waved for a slowing Jonathan Brauns. Brian Shirley hopped the cushion in turn two on the opening lap allowing fourth starting Shannon Babb to take the lead. Babb would dominate for the win with Mike Marlar second. Brian Shirley and Terry Phillips raced for the third spot while Ryan Gustin made an amazing charge in the closing laps erasing a straightaway difference to challenge for the final transfer on the final lap. Gustin was able to pull even with Phillips in turn three as Phillips tried to pass Shirley and when Phillips came up the track in turn four he closed the door on Gustin and held him off by a car-length at the checkers. Gustin will regroup and come back on Friday to try to improve his point total.....The B-Main lineup was stacked with O'Neal, Bloomquist, Owens, Blankenship, Mars, Pearson and Birkhofer among the drivers who were looking for the final six transfer positions in the 15-lap event. Eddie Carrier Jr. opened up an early lead as O'Neal, Owens and Bloomquist raced for second and this one went non-stop with no change of position in the top five. Carrier was the winner followed by O'Neal, Owens, Bloomquist and Blankenship. The sixth and final transfer came down to the final lap and when Denny Eckrich stumbled a bit coming off of turn two that allowed Earl Pearson Jr. to blow past him entering turn three and make the A-Main.

A second round of qualifying will ire off on Friday night with the big finale on Saturday. Unfortunately I have other plans for the next two nights so make sure that you check in with the live results at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com to stay up-to-date on the results and notes from Bill Wright.

Selvage Scores A Win, Hall Secures a Championship at 34 Raceway

The 2013 schedule for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders drew to a close Saturday night on the high banks of 34 Raceway near Burlington and it was the top two drivers in the final point standings that battled it out for victory in the 30-lap main event. At the checkers it was Dustin Selvage who would take the race win while runner-up Russ Hall secured his first series championship.

A stout field of thirty-two Winged 360 Sprint Cars were on hand for the season finale, two more than were here for the opener back on March 30th putting a nice cap on a successful season for the organization. C.J. Houseman in his first night out for 2013 would earn the pole position for the finale with Hall lining up to his outside needing to only take the green flag to clinch the Invaders title. It was Houseman who would sprint to the front though at the drop of the green with Hall and a fourth-starting Dustin Selvage in hot pursuit. Selvage would take advantage of a slight mistake by Hall to move to second on lap seven and when Houseman hesitated for a split second working traffic two laps later, Selvage moved to the lead. In his haste to try to regain the lead Houseman then went too hard into turn one and slid over the top of the corner to bring out the caution. And that caution quickly turned to red when the #10T of Tim Moore got upside down in turn four.

Once back to racing Joe Beaver, Jon Agan and Jerrod Schneiderman tried to add their names to the battle up front, but Agan's charge was squelched when he slipped off the top of turn two on lap eleven. The driver from Knoxville recovered, but lost several positions as Selvage and Hall again pulled away from the pack. As the leaders got back into traffic Hall was able to stick a nose under Selvage on three occasions while Schneiderman, now running third, was trying to make it a thrilling three car battle. The caution waved again with seven laps remaining when Jimmy Davies slowed in turn two and that was a break for Selvage as with open track in front of him the rest of the way, Hall was not able to mount another challenge as "The Shocker" placed the Bragg Ag Drainage #73 squarely in victory lane. Hall celebrated a series championship as the race runner-up on this night, Jerrod Schneiderman was solid in third, Joe Beaver was fourth and young Paul Nienheiser charged from fifteenth to fifth at the checkers.

A diverse field of nineteen Modifieds were on hand as one of two support classes and it was local driver Bill Roberts Jr. who raced to the front as the twenty-lap main event took the green. Three Independence Motor Speedway regulars had made the trip down and two of them, Chris Snyder and Josh Sherbon, took up the chase of Roberts. A caution on lap six for a spinning Dugan Thye then led to two more cautions on the next two attempted restarts and once back to green flag action Sherbon moved to second as Roberts maintained the lead. Steve Stewart and Tyler Glass were on the move now and they became the primary challengers as the laps wound down with Sherbon's night coming to an early end as he pulled to the infield with three laps to go. With Stewart and Glass waging their own battle for second it appeared that Roberts had the win locked up when the caution light had to come on for a spin by Levi Smith just after the white flag had been shown to the leaders.

A green-white-checkers restart was now in order and when Stewart went high entering turn one he dropped back to fourth, but another caution for a spin by Skyler Stark before the lap was completed saved Stewart and put him back in second for the next restart. Again the leader showed his strength and with his two challengers doing some bumping and grinding of their own Bill Roberts Jr. completed the victory in a flag-to-flag fashion. Glass, who had started tenth on the grid would prevail over Stewart in the battle for second, Snyder would hold on for fourth while 2013 track champion Mitch Morris came from twelfth to finish in fifth.

Nine Four Cylinders added to the show as well with Adam Gates scoring the win. Ken Stogdell and Wayne Noble held early leads before yielding to Gates who had started on the outside of row four. Brian Mehaffy made a late charge to take second ahead of Justin Chamberlin who was fast in his first night ever in a race car. Stogdell and Shawn Baker were the final two cars on the track at the checkers.

This will wrap up the oval track action at 34 Raceway for this season, but coming up next Saturday night September 28th the facility will host another exciting night of Quads and Pit Bike racing on a motocross course in the infield. Gates open early and racing starts at 5 p.m.

The Knoxville Raceway springs back to action this coming weekend with the annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and I hope to at least make one of those shows. Hope to see you there!

Season Championship Night Is The Last Wednesday Race of The Year at Osky

I love going to the races on a Wednesday night as, for me at least, it fits my schedule the best. My lovely wife usually has something of her own going on, or she at least doesn’t have me scheduled to be with her at whatever she is doing that evening and a night at the races is a perfect way to break up the work week. Add to the fact that since it is a night when there is seldom competition from other tracks you just never know who might show up. Last night was my 57^th night at the races in 2013 and 14 of them (24.6%) have been on a Wednesday night, two more than my next closest race night Friday (12) and four more than the night that probably leads the list for most fans, Saturday with ten. My first race of 2013 was actually on a Wednesday when I huddled up with Ed and Linda Reichert on a chilly night in Tucson,Arizona, and sadly last night would be my last Wednesday night event of the year as it was season championship night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa where I have now spent nine of those Wednesdays. It was only fitting that I said “hi” to the Wisconsin traveler Ed Reichert as we were leaving the grandstands after another fine mid-week show that even on the final night of the regular season had some interesting visitors in the pit area.

Merv Chandler was the best of a three-car field in the IMCASport Compacts as that division kicked off the five feature races.

Aaron Osweiler continues to improve in this his rookie season behind the wheel of an IMCA Hobby Stock and he would hold back the challenges of Doug Sylvester through the first six laps before the caution waved for Dustin Griffiths who had stopped in turn four. On the restart Osweiler was able to lead for one more lap before Danny Thrasher went flying by and when Bill Bonnett tried to follow him through he made contact with Osweiler entering turn one. Aaron was able to recover, but dropped three positions as Bonnett, now in second, tried to chase down Thrasher although that bid ended just a half-lap later when Bonnett’s right rear tire went flat forcing him to the pits. Sylvester then came back to life and closed in on Thrasher and with just three laps remaining the two raced side-by-side down the back stretch. Thrasher used the high line in turns three and four to retain the lead that he would then hold to the checkers. Sylvester was impressive in second, Craig Brown was in town to tune up for the 27^th Annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge to be held here on October 4^th and 5^th and Brown came from the outside of row four to finish third. Mike Hughes and Justin Hook completed the top five.

The Modifieds were up next and while their car count was a bit light with nine, all of them were capable of taking the checkered flag in the 16-lap feature. Bill Davis Jr. was a rocket at the drop of the green as he moved from the outside of row two to the lead before the field hit turn one for the first time. With Davis threatening to make this a runaway that field of nine was whittled down a bit on lap five when Casey Greubel, Brandon Banks and Scott Dickey tangled in turn four. Greubel drove away from the scene, Banks had to change a tire and Dickey was towed to the infield. On the restart Davis was still fast, but Cayden Carter was now at least keeping him within his sights. Around lap ten Davis started having some minor handling problems and Carter began to close the gap. Then, with three laps remaining, it became evident that the right front tire was going down on the leader’s ride. Davis was trying to muscle his way to the checkers and when he slipped high in turn three coming to the white flag Carter slipped by for the lead and, one lap later, the win. Somehow Davis was able to maintain enough speed and still turn the car for one more lap around the big half-mile and he crossed the line just ahead of Andrew Schroeder to finish second. Tyler Groenendyk and track champion Jacob Murray would fill out the top five.

The IMCA Sport Mods were up next for 16-laps with another improving rookie Logan Anderson leading the way in the early going. A caution for a spin by Eric Flander in turn one slowed the pace with four laps down and on the restart Curtis VanDerWal showed why he is the 2013 track champion as he made a big move to the front. The competition is tough here at Osky each week though as the 2013 IMCA Super Nationals Sport Mod champion hails from here as well and Carter VanDenBerg closed in on VanDerWal as the laps clicked away. With two to go VanDenBerg drove hard to the bottom line in turn one and made it stick as he passed VanDerWal and the young speedster then pulled away by a few car lengths to take the win. VanDenBerg’s victory puts him back on top of a very tight All Iowa Points race in the Limited Modified division. VanDerWal was the runner up while the third-place driver was Matthew Looft from the north central Iowa town of Swea City. Looft was tied for second in the IMCA National Points going into last weekend and he was very impressive here in what I believe to be his first ever trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway as he started eleventh and finished third behind two of the best in the region. Tyler Heckart held down the fourth spot at the checkers while Brett Lowry was fifth.

Fifteen IMCA Stock Cars would close out the evening for 18-laps and an opening lap melee changed the roster of competitors quickly. The tightly packed field was racing through three and four when one of the lead cars got a bit too sideways. This sent another driver spinning and the rest of the field scrambling with six cars piling into each other in turn four. Several drivers went to the work area while the car of soon-to-be All Iowa Points champ Damon Murty had to be towed to his trailer. On the restart the Stock Cars went right back at it Southern Iowa Speedway style as Rich Vogt, Don Nunnikhoven, Brad Pinkerton and Corey Stout raced four-wide for the lead off of turn two and all the way down the back straightaway! Nunnikhoven would emerge from that pack as the leader and he would continue to set that pace until the caution waved on lap five. This caution was due to debris from an apparent blown engine on a car #18c driven tonight by winged Sprint Car driver Russ Hall of Pleasant Hill. It was my first time to see this car and it was painted similar to the car #45c that Hall races at Knoxville and around the upper Midwest so perhaps he will be doing some Stock Car racing this Fall as well. Russ will look to wrap up the 2013 Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders point championship this coming Saturday night September 21^st at 34 Raceway near Burlington.

While under the caution Nunnikhoven pulled into the pit area handing the lead over to Pinkerton and as the laps wound down Todd Reitzler mounted a challenge on the lead and with just a couple of laps to go Cayden Carter made it a three-car battle for the win. Pinkerton would fight off the challenge though to take the popular win while Reitzler would finish in second. Carter would take third in his first night out with four fenders driving a Roger Kelderman entry with a #10cc on it. Corey Stout and Jason Minnehan were next in line at the checkers as only six cars went the distance.

It was another entertaining night of racing presented by Mike VanGenderen and his crew with the final checkered flag waving at 9:40 p.m. While Wednesday night racing is now complete for the season here don’t forget the Fall Challenge mentioned above on October 4^th and 5^th. I am hoping to make the Friday night edition of that event which will pull “the best day of the week” one closer to “hump day”.

Plenty of great Special Event racing coming up so get on out and support the show of your choice. I will be in Burlington this Saturday night and I do hope to see you on the Back Stretch!