Pardon the play on words in the title, but given that the UMP Summer Nationals now seems to be better known as the "Hell Tour" and the fact that the sky had a sense of Armageddon to it as we ran for our cars Monday night, I could not resist.
After taking another week off from racing to enjoy Burlington's Steamboat Days, topped off on Sunday night by spending over an hour being only about twenty feet from this young lady, I was ready to get back to racing with my original plan to make the drive over to Peoria on Tuesday night for my one and only chance to catch the "Hell Tour" this season. However, when wet grounds postponed Sunday's tour event at Quincy from Sunday to Monday, I decided to make the shorter trip to Quincy instead despite the fact that weather forecasts called for a possibility of strong thunderstorms later in the evening.
As I left Mount Pleasant shortly after 5 p.m. there were already tornado warnings being issued for the Albia area, but it appeared that these storms would stay north of Quincy so I continued on to the speedway where I found there to be a solid field of 33 UMP Late Models signed in along with 21 UMP Modifieds and 12 IMCA Sport Mods.. Included in both the Late Model and Modified rosters were drivers that I had only read about, but had never seen in action before such as Bowling Green Kentucky's Larry Greer and Clarksville Tennessee's Richard Frost in the Late Models, and Josh Harris of Utica Kentucky and Nick Hoffman from Mooresville North Carolina in the Mods, so already my night had some satisfaction.
It was obvious that Promoter Kenny Dobson and his crew had put in quite a bit of work just to make the facility ready for Monday night's show and a decent crowd was in the house despite the fact that the skies were starting to darken to the north and west. Hot laps and qualifying started right at the scheduled time and there was no wasted time as the heat races in all three divisions were completed. In the Modifieds it was David Wietholder, Michael Long and Josh Harris taking heat race wins. In that second heat, both Long and Nick Hoffman were pushed back to row two after a pair of "no starts" and Michael had to work his way around Kenny Schrader to score the win.
The four Late Model heats provided plenty of action even with the UMP format of timing in groups and starting straight up by qualifying times. Bobby Pierce fought off a late charge from Shannon Babb to win the first heat. Earlier in that one Babb waged war with Jason Perry, who was making his first appearance of the year, for position and just before a caution waved Babb had thrown a slider on Pierce resulting in some contact. They played nice though on the restart with the current Hell Tour point leader Pierce taking the win.
In the second heat Keith Pratt took advantage of the UMP "free restart rule" as he hopped the cushion in turn two on the opening lap and then parked it so that he could again restart on the front row and that quick thinking paid off as Pratt would later finish as the runner-up to Gordy Gundaker.
Front row starters Billy Moyer Jr. and Timothy Culp played a little cat and mouse with each other delaying the start of the third heat briefly and then as the first lap was being completed Culp slowed on the track with a flat left rear tire. With no courtesy laps during the heat races, the event went back to green and as lap four was being scored Culp returned to the track and parked his car on the topside of turn four to bring out another caution. He then drove around the track and again headed for the pits, likely being told by officials to do so in a scene that you would more likely see in a beginner class rather than a touring Late Model series. Moyer would then fight off the challenges of Dennis Erb Jr. to take the win while Frost finished third.
The much anticipated war between front row starters Jason Feger and Brandon Sheppard never materialized in the fourth and final heat race as Feger would lead the distance with Sheppard chasing, but it sure was interesting to watch Tyler Erb race his way into a qualifying spot. Running fifth mid-race and needing to get into the top four to transfer the Texas driver threw a massive slider on local driver Justin Reed in turns three and four to take over fourth and then in the closing laps Erb got even more aggressive with Ryan Unzicker to take away third. Yes, it would have been interesting to see if he would have continued to race this way in the feature, but by now you probably know how the night ended.
Two Sport Mod heats went off without a caution and despite the fact that the call had gone out for the Late Model B-Main to hustle into staging only two cars were there when the second Sport Mod heat took the checkers. As the drivers slowly made their way to the track a check of Brent Rosencrans' radar showed a big red blob headed right for Quincy and as soon as I heard track announcer Doug Mealy say "Ladies and gentleman" I grabbed my blanket and started running for the car. The sky to the northwest was dark blue and a shelf cloud was clearly visible. There was no way that I wanted to be sitting in this parking lot when the gust front went through!
I made it to Taco Bell and deliberately parked on the south side, or downwind side of the building and as I ran inside the restaurant I heard something metal hit the front of the Big Lots store across the parking lot. Before ordering my healthy meal I scoped out the best place to take cover in the building should things get worse and while eating I watched the wind whipped heavy rain and the lightning flashed while a steady stream of cars, many likely coming from Quincy Raceways, passed by.
So what now? A rainout of a touring series event after the heat races are completed is about the worst possible scenario that a promoter can face. The drivers expect to be paid since they raced and qualified for a feature, and then head on down the road with no expectation that they would have to return. The fans on the other hand expect to be able to come back at a later date and have the show completed without having to pay anything extra at the ticket gate. Obviously the two expectations don't match up!
If the drivers get paid for Monday's show, that purse comes from the ticket and pit pass revenue from last night. Therefore, any "rescheduled" date if in fact they could even find one, would likely be a completely new program where everybody would have to pay to get in again. "Not cool" says the fan who is not considering the entire situation.
If you don't pay the drivers for Monday night and you do find a date where you could simply complete the show with the Late Model B-Main and the three features where the fans could redeem their rain checks and their pit passes to get back in for free, it is likely that over half the field would not return and instead just have their "start money" mailed to them in Bowling Green and Utica Kentucky or Mooresville North Carolina. The drivers that do return, other than the locals, are mad that they had to spend the money to tow back here again and the fans are mad because not everybody came back.
So as you can see, no matter what direction this thing goes somebody is not going to be happy, and the sad thing is that for many that unhappiness will be directed at promoter Kenny Dobson and the Quincy Raceways rather than the true culprit, Mother Nature herself.
After all the work that they put forth in an effort to put on this show it is a fate that Dobson and his crew do not deserve.
No Peoria for me tonight, instead I will once again tempt Mother Nature and head to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night where the IMCA Late Models will join the program racing for $1,000-to-win. Perhaps I will see you there!
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Another Special Night Of Racing In Vinton
As the cars were signing in on this muggy Sunday evening promoter Mick Trier told me how important it is to have one signature event at your track. Trier has that with the annual Hogan Memorial this year scheduled for Sunday July 12th at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, an event that draws in the cars and packs that grandstand creating the best family atmosphere that I have experienced at a race track in some time. On Sunday night, I had that same experience for the "Urbana Five Memorial and Iowa Donor Network" night at the races with a full pit area and a grandstand full of enthusiastic race fans who were treated to a great night of racing.
The night had a very important theme to it as it first and foremost honored the lives of five area young people between the ages of 12 and 20 who died tragically when their SUV was struck by a semi on April 9th. All of them were race fans and had ties to several of the drivers who compete here on a regular basis. It also provided a forum for the Iowa Donor Network to communicate the importance of being identified as an organ and tissue donor. I am proud to have a "Y" next to Organ Donor on my driver's license, something that we also promoted back in the day with the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure from 1998 through 2001, and on this Sunday night in Vinton more than 100 people newly expressed their wish to be an organ donor. With the large crowd that was on hand I do hope that this number was at a hundred because everybody else already was a donor!
A long list of sponsors had signed on to support the evening and with increased purses and additional contingencies the car count swelled to a five division total of 119 and even though the track was not as smooth as normal due to the recent heavy rains, there was absolutely no shortage of racing action.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature was first on the docket and when the driver who has won the past two weeks here, Tony Olson, drew a front row starting spot you had to figure that the race would be for second. Olson would set the pace as Sam Wieben and Austin Kaplan dueled for the second spot before the caution waved for a John Schaefer spin on lap four. That same scenario continued for the next four laps before Curt Hilmer and Danny Dvorak tangled in turn two to produce another caution. Once back to green a pattern continued as four laps later Kurt Hogan spun in turn two and on the ensuing restart things got a little wild.
When Kaplan drifted up the track in turn two, contact from another car sent him for a spin and as he recovered Wieben dove to the inside of Olson looking for the lead in turns three and four. This time only one more lap could be scored before Troy Burkhart stopped in turn one and, unfortunately for Kaplan it was the lap where he fell from third to the back of the field for the restart. Dawn Krall created a caution after one more lap was in the books leaving Wieben with just a green-white-checkers opportunity to get around Olson. The young driver from Dysart took his best shot, but could not get around Olson who banked over $1,000 for his third straight Sport Mod victory at Benton County. Matt Petrzelka would follow Wieben in for third, Lucas Lundry followed up his win in Independence the night before with a fourth place finish and Kurt Hogan recovered to complete the top five.
The BCS Micro Mods were up next and again one of the pre-race favorites, Don Erger, drew the front row. Erger would set a fast pace for the first five laps before control of his left front went away possibly from contact with one of the infield tires since the leader was running the lowest line possible around the quarter-mile oval. Erger was doing his best to steer his three-legged mount, but when he checked up entering turn three contact from A.J. Witten sent him directly into the infield tire and Erger's night would end there. Jeff Davis would assume the lead on the restart and would not be challenged the rest of the way as he scored his first career feature win. Witten was the runner-up with Scott Beaty, Jamie Whitaker and Cole McNeal next in line.
As I find at just about every track that has them, the IMCA Stock Cars provided some of the best racing of the night in their 18-lap headliner that saw Matt Brown and Les Blakley lead the first two laps before Jarod Weepie took over on lap three. The caution waved a lap later when Jerry Miles and Scott Pippert stopped near the entrance to the pits and when the caution waved again on lap six the track's all-time winningest driver Damon Murty had settled into second after starting eleventh. The field would only go green for one more lap before Lon Mercer went for a tumble in turn one, closing out the wreck with a tail stand before landing on the back of Duayne Herb's car. Once out of the car it was obvious that Mercer was not happy with Herb as he stripped off the top of his driver suit and was ready for some action before officials and security intervened.
After the cleanup Murty went to work on Weepie and with six laps remaining he was able to find the bite that he needed off the cushion to take over the lead. Weepie was not about to give in though as he kept digging around the bottom and when Murty left the cushion for one set of turns that was all that Weepie needed to regain the lead with three laps to run. Murty again tried to find that high side magic in those final three circuits, but he could not stop Jarod Weepie from winning his first feature in Vinton since 2002. Blakley who made the long pull up from Fairfield finished in the third spot, Norman Chesmore finished fourth and Jerry Miles rallied after his lap four pit stop to finish in fifth.
Thirty-two IMCA Modifieds had signed in for the evening and after four heats and two (??) B-Mains a twenty-six car starting field was ready for 25-laps of action in front of the thirsty crowd. Front row starters Darin Duffy and Ronn Lauritzen completed the first lap in a virtual dead heat before Lauritzen established himself as the pace setter on lap two. A lap four caution for a Kaleb Bentley and Mike Burbridge tangle in turn three delayed the action momentarily as drivers such as J.D. Auringer, Zach Less, Mike Jergens and Scott Hogan were making their way to the front. By mid-race Auringer had come from fifth to second and was closing the gap on the leader while just behind him the race for third was torrid between Tony Snyder, Duffy, Less and Jergens.
A caution for Patrick Flannagan's spin in turn one on lap twenty would set up a five lap dash for the cash and Auringer wasted no time diving to the inside of Lauritzen in turn three on the first lap back to green. The challenger was able to make it stick and take the lead now leaving Lauritzen to deal with the hornet's nest behind him. Auringer would take the $1,250 victory four laps later while Jergens, who made the long pull in from the northwest Iowa burg of Plover would finish second after starting tenth. Less, the Wartburg college wrestler would claim the third position after starting in eighth while Lauritzen would be shuffled back to fourth at the checkers. Scott Hogan who started in row eleven after winning a B-Main would take the fifth position after trading it back and forth with Troy Cordes in the final two laps.
As Auringer was being interviewed in victory lane a few fans shuffled out of the grandstand rather than staying for the final feature of the night for the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Too bad for them!
After winning his first feature ever the night before up the road in Independence Brett Vanous looked like he wanted to get trophy number two in the new case right away as he drove past the front row to take the lead on lap one. However, when the leader stopped on the track on lap six that would produce the first caution of the race handing the lead over to Brian Happel for the restart. With additional cautions on laps seven, eight and twelve even I was tempted to pack up and head for home since the ten o'clock hour had now arrived, but with both Benji Irvine and Nathan Ballard lined up right behind the leader with just four laps remaining I knew that something interesting was bound to happen.
Happel was riding the cushion with Irvine locked on his back bumper and as the leaders took the white flag it looked as though Irvine was setting up for a high-to-low move to try to steal the victory. Instead he went one line higher than Happel in turn three, buried the throttle and hung on squeezing between Happel and the concrete wall on the front stretch and as they crossed under the checkered flag it was Irvine by a bumper for the thrilling victory. Ballard, who had suffered a flat tire during his heat race and who had to start in row twelve of this one was right there ready to pounce had there been any contact between Happel and Irvine, but with none he would collect third place money. Justin Lichty would cross the line in fourth place just ahead of Jeremiah Wilson.
And that was that, another spectacular evening of racing at a place that truly is the thing to do in this rural Iowa community on a Sunday evening. And on this night, that community gathering meant even more to all in attendance, even to someone like me who made the 110 mile drive to join the fun.
A big thanks to Mick Trier for his hospitality, to Ryan Clark for his kind words about Positively Racing and to Mike Van Genderen, Jeff Kropf and the entire crew who presented another fine night of action!
So after three straight nights of racing following a twenty day break for my trip to Italy, I go right back into another self-imposed vacation from racing as this year's lineup at Burlington's Steamboat Days is calling out to me. I will likely still check in here on the Back Stretch with some thoughts of those races that do run in the next eight days, but my next live action will be on Tuesday June 23rd with the UMP Summer Nationals in Peoria. Until then I will count on you to fill those seats at your favorite race track!
The night had a very important theme to it as it first and foremost honored the lives of five area young people between the ages of 12 and 20 who died tragically when their SUV was struck by a semi on April 9th. All of them were race fans and had ties to several of the drivers who compete here on a regular basis. It also provided a forum for the Iowa Donor Network to communicate the importance of being identified as an organ and tissue donor. I am proud to have a "Y" next to Organ Donor on my driver's license, something that we also promoted back in the day with the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure from 1998 through 2001, and on this Sunday night in Vinton more than 100 people newly expressed their wish to be an organ donor. With the large crowd that was on hand I do hope that this number was at a hundred because everybody else already was a donor!
A long list of sponsors had signed on to support the evening and with increased purses and additional contingencies the car count swelled to a five division total of 119 and even though the track was not as smooth as normal due to the recent heavy rains, there was absolutely no shortage of racing action.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature was first on the docket and when the driver who has won the past two weeks here, Tony Olson, drew a front row starting spot you had to figure that the race would be for second. Olson would set the pace as Sam Wieben and Austin Kaplan dueled for the second spot before the caution waved for a John Schaefer spin on lap four. That same scenario continued for the next four laps before Curt Hilmer and Danny Dvorak tangled in turn two to produce another caution. Once back to green a pattern continued as four laps later Kurt Hogan spun in turn two and on the ensuing restart things got a little wild.
When Kaplan drifted up the track in turn two, contact from another car sent him for a spin and as he recovered Wieben dove to the inside of Olson looking for the lead in turns three and four. This time only one more lap could be scored before Troy Burkhart stopped in turn one and, unfortunately for Kaplan it was the lap where he fell from third to the back of the field for the restart. Dawn Krall created a caution after one more lap was in the books leaving Wieben with just a green-white-checkers opportunity to get around Olson. The young driver from Dysart took his best shot, but could not get around Olson who banked over $1,000 for his third straight Sport Mod victory at Benton County. Matt Petrzelka would follow Wieben in for third, Lucas Lundry followed up his win in Independence the night before with a fourth place finish and Kurt Hogan recovered to complete the top five.
The BCS Micro Mods were up next and again one of the pre-race favorites, Don Erger, drew the front row. Erger would set a fast pace for the first five laps before control of his left front went away possibly from contact with one of the infield tires since the leader was running the lowest line possible around the quarter-mile oval. Erger was doing his best to steer his three-legged mount, but when he checked up entering turn three contact from A.J. Witten sent him directly into the infield tire and Erger's night would end there. Jeff Davis would assume the lead on the restart and would not be challenged the rest of the way as he scored his first career feature win. Witten was the runner-up with Scott Beaty, Jamie Whitaker and Cole McNeal next in line.
As I find at just about every track that has them, the IMCA Stock Cars provided some of the best racing of the night in their 18-lap headliner that saw Matt Brown and Les Blakley lead the first two laps before Jarod Weepie took over on lap three. The caution waved a lap later when Jerry Miles and Scott Pippert stopped near the entrance to the pits and when the caution waved again on lap six the track's all-time winningest driver Damon Murty had settled into second after starting eleventh. The field would only go green for one more lap before Lon Mercer went for a tumble in turn one, closing out the wreck with a tail stand before landing on the back of Duayne Herb's car. Once out of the car it was obvious that Mercer was not happy with Herb as he stripped off the top of his driver suit and was ready for some action before officials and security intervened.
After the cleanup Murty went to work on Weepie and with six laps remaining he was able to find the bite that he needed off the cushion to take over the lead. Weepie was not about to give in though as he kept digging around the bottom and when Murty left the cushion for one set of turns that was all that Weepie needed to regain the lead with three laps to run. Murty again tried to find that high side magic in those final three circuits, but he could not stop Jarod Weepie from winning his first feature in Vinton since 2002. Blakley who made the long pull up from Fairfield finished in the third spot, Norman Chesmore finished fourth and Jerry Miles rallied after his lap four pit stop to finish in fifth.
Thirty-two IMCA Modifieds had signed in for the evening and after four heats and two (??) B-Mains a twenty-six car starting field was ready for 25-laps of action in front of the thirsty crowd. Front row starters Darin Duffy and Ronn Lauritzen completed the first lap in a virtual dead heat before Lauritzen established himself as the pace setter on lap two. A lap four caution for a Kaleb Bentley and Mike Burbridge tangle in turn three delayed the action momentarily as drivers such as J.D. Auringer, Zach Less, Mike Jergens and Scott Hogan were making their way to the front. By mid-race Auringer had come from fifth to second and was closing the gap on the leader while just behind him the race for third was torrid between Tony Snyder, Duffy, Less and Jergens.
A caution for Patrick Flannagan's spin in turn one on lap twenty would set up a five lap dash for the cash and Auringer wasted no time diving to the inside of Lauritzen in turn three on the first lap back to green. The challenger was able to make it stick and take the lead now leaving Lauritzen to deal with the hornet's nest behind him. Auringer would take the $1,250 victory four laps later while Jergens, who made the long pull in from the northwest Iowa burg of Plover would finish second after starting tenth. Less, the Wartburg college wrestler would claim the third position after starting in eighth while Lauritzen would be shuffled back to fourth at the checkers. Scott Hogan who started in row eleven after winning a B-Main would take the fifth position after trading it back and forth with Troy Cordes in the final two laps.
As Auringer was being interviewed in victory lane a few fans shuffled out of the grandstand rather than staying for the final feature of the night for the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Too bad for them!
After winning his first feature ever the night before up the road in Independence Brett Vanous looked like he wanted to get trophy number two in the new case right away as he drove past the front row to take the lead on lap one. However, when the leader stopped on the track on lap six that would produce the first caution of the race handing the lead over to Brian Happel for the restart. With additional cautions on laps seven, eight and twelve even I was tempted to pack up and head for home since the ten o'clock hour had now arrived, but with both Benji Irvine and Nathan Ballard lined up right behind the leader with just four laps remaining I knew that something interesting was bound to happen.
Happel was riding the cushion with Irvine locked on his back bumper and as the leaders took the white flag it looked as though Irvine was setting up for a high-to-low move to try to steal the victory. Instead he went one line higher than Happel in turn three, buried the throttle and hung on squeezing between Happel and the concrete wall on the front stretch and as they crossed under the checkered flag it was Irvine by a bumper for the thrilling victory. Ballard, who had suffered a flat tire during his heat race and who had to start in row twelve of this one was right there ready to pounce had there been any contact between Happel and Irvine, but with none he would collect third place money. Justin Lichty would cross the line in fourth place just ahead of Jeremiah Wilson.
And that was that, another spectacular evening of racing at a place that truly is the thing to do in this rural Iowa community on a Sunday evening. And on this night, that community gathering meant even more to all in attendance, even to someone like me who made the 110 mile drive to join the fun.
A big thanks to Mick Trier for his hospitality, to Ryan Clark for his kind words about Positively Racing and to Mike Van Genderen, Jeff Kropf and the entire crew who presented another fine night of action!
So after three straight nights of racing following a twenty day break for my trip to Italy, I go right back into another self-imposed vacation from racing as this year's lineup at Burlington's Steamboat Days is calling out to me. I will likely still check in here on the Back Stretch with some thoughts of those races that do run in the next eight days, but my next live action will be on Tuesday June 23rd with the UMP Summer Nationals in Peoria. Until then I will count on you to fill those seats at your favorite race track!
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Sunshine and Racing In Independence
Saturday was another one of those days that racers and fans alike have faced often in 2015, trying to find someplace that was dry enough to still race. Personally I was supposed to be filling in for Rich Adams on the microphone at 34 Raceway in Burlington, but after mowing my yard over the noon hour in broken sunshine just twenty-two miles from the track I came in to find that it was absolutely pouring in Burlington and that the races had been cancelled. West Liberty and Maquoketa had suffered the same fate leaving me to make the choice between the World of Outlaws at the Knoxville Raceway and the Vern Weber Memorial night action at the Independence Motor Speedway.
Both tracks were wet, very wet in fact, but since neither had seen any race day rain as of yet both were doing everything possible to get the show in. I studied the radar and checked the forecasts before taking my shower, and then went through the whole process again an hour later before literally making my decision as I was backing out of the driveway at four o'clock. Something told me that Knoxville had more of a chance of getting wet than Indee so I pointed the car to the north. I knew that I would be driving in light rain until at least Cedar Rapids and when I cleared the city of Five Seasons I was pleased to see some sunshine up ahead. I was happy with my decision.
Long-time friend Kevin Kemp greeted me at the pit gate and rather than wading through the mud to track down promoter Dana Benning and my colleague/announcer Ryan Clark, I instead headed for the stands to get ready for hot laps. It was obvious that Benning and his crew had put forth a tremendous effort to get this show in as the infield was impassable and the track was narrow, but by taking some extra time to pack between each and every race the solid crowd in attendance was treated to some great "fast track" racing action come feature time.
This night was in tribute to the late Vern Weber, one of the original promoters of the speedway, and joining his wife Coralee were IMS legends Ed Sanger, Curt Hansen and Gary Crawford to present the big trophies to the night's winners.
The IMCA Stock Cars were the first to take the track come feature time and it was important to make a move early if you wanted to get to the front of this fifteen-lap event. Jason Hocken did just that coming from the inside of row two to snare the lead entering turn one following the drop of the green and he was never seriously challenged as he raced to victory. With Ryan Clark on the microphone fans are always treated to an array of interesting statistics and with this win by Hocken there have now been six different winners in the first six Stock Car features at Indee in 2015. Cole Mather chased him the entire distance to finish second. The race to watch was for third as Chris Luloff and Roger Ciesielski swapped the spot numerous times before contact between the two with four laps remaining caused flat tires on both cars. Jarod Weepie would then finish in third followed by Russell Damme Jr. and Norman Chesmore.
A full field of twenty-six Modifieds including first-time visitors for this season such as Jeremiah Hurst, Milo Veloz Jr., Joel Rust and Tyler Madigan lined up next for twenty laps with veteran drivers Mike Burbridge and Keith Pittman bringing the pack to green. After two no-starts and a third mis-fire when the legends decided to drive their cart across the track, the green waved and stayed on with Burbridge getting an immediate edge. The track was now fast and racy and that allowed J.D. Auringer to make the moves that he needed to quickly advance from his fifth row start up to second by lap seven. Getting around Burbridge was no easy task though as Auringer was able to pull even with the leader in the turns on each of the next four laps only to be denied in his bid to take the point. Finally on lap twelve Auringer was able to nose ahead entering turn three and he then slid up the track to shut the door on Burbridge in four.
As Auringer increased his lead while mastering traffic both Ronn Lauritzen and Jeremiah Hurst were also working their way to the front. Lauritzen needed a last corner pass in his heat race to get the fourth spot and make the invert and he then made the most of that by coming up from the fourth row. As a newcomer tonight, Hurst landed in the twelfth starting position and he too was making a charge before the caution waved on lap eighteen for a spin by Madigan in turn three. This would give the challengers one last shot at Auringer, but there would be no catching J.D. who pulled away to victory. Lauritzen was the runner-up with Burbridge in third, Hurst finished in the fourth spot and, despite driving off the top of the track mid-race, Vern Jackson was able to hold on for fifth. Current point leader Troy Cordes struggled all night failing to make the top four in his heat race and on the late restart he lined up thirteenth. He made the most of those final two laps though getting up to ninth at the checkers.
The IMCA Hobby Stock 15-lap main event was next to the track and this one would go non-stop with pole-sitter Adam Speicher leading the way. I will always remember Adam as being the driver who rolled his Hobby Stock over the fence and into victory lane during a NKF Tour Hobby Stock event at the Knoxville Raceway several years ago and I couldn't help to hope to see him just drive into victory lane here tonight. One slight mistake kept that from happening though as Speicher went off the top edge of the front stretch briefly on lap ten and by the time he recovered he had dropped back to third. Brett Vanous seized the opportunity, took the lead and then held it the final six laps to checkers to score his first Hobby Stock victory here at Independence. Speicher was able to get back around Benji Irvine to finish in the second spot while Justin Lichty and Neal Miller completed the top five.
The Late Models thundered to the green next for 25-laps of foot-to-the-floor action with front row starter Jerry King setting a torrid pace. Tyler Droste was the driver who caught my eye as the youngster was gradually picking up positions using whatever line he needed to get by the driver in front of him. Cautions on lap six and sixteen brought the field back to King and on lap nineteen Droste drove under Luke Pestka for the second spot. Pestka who had kept King honest in the early going then had his night end early the following lap as smoke billowed from his car and the caution waved with five laps to go.
On the restart Droste went to work on King and made the pass for the lead with three laps remaining. Just after that the caution waved again as Curt Martin slid sideways in turn two and when Chad Holladay spun to avoid, Martin continued on allowing him to restart in the sixth position. Droste would pull away on the restart and celebrate his nineteenth birthday with a win that he will never forget as he was joined in victory lane by Hansen, Sanger and Crawford, drivers who used to battle with his grandfather Red Droste on a regular basis. Hansen quipped "I think he's even better than his grandpa was."
King would have to settle for second ahead of veteran driver Rick Wendling. Travis Smock had another strong showing in fourth while teenager Tanner Allen came from fourteenth to fifth. Martin, who started at the back of the eighteen-car field, would hold on for sixth at the checkers.
Lucas Lundry made the most of his pole position start in the Sport Modifieds as he went flag-to-flag to win the fifteen lap main event. Tony Olson advanced from eighth at the start to second at the checkers while Kevin Hurst finished third. I found myself rooting for current track point leader Alex Zwanziger for two reasons, one I was sitting with his very nice cheering section and two he carries my favorite number (32). Alex started ninth and finished fourth on this evening. Ryan King would complete the top five.
The extra time that was taken, and definitely needed, to pack the track between races forced me to pass up the Micro Mod feature and head for home, but I understand that it was Minnesota driver Troy Soiney who took the win.
Once I was in my car a quick call to Barry revealed that Knoxville was in a rain delay and that it looked like they would not be back to racing action until around midnight, or just about the same time that I would be pulling back into my driveway after a fun night in Independence. For once, my weather instincts were correct!
Hopefully the weather cooperates again tonight as I plan to return to the same neighborhood at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the Iowa Donor Network Urbana Five Memorial event. It should be a great night of racing and a great night for the racing community to raise awareness for organ and tissue donor ship. Hope to see you there!
 |
| Another night of battling wet grounds. |
Long-time friend Kevin Kemp greeted me at the pit gate and rather than wading through the mud to track down promoter Dana Benning and my colleague/announcer Ryan Clark, I instead headed for the stands to get ready for hot laps. It was obvious that Benning and his crew had put forth a tremendous effort to get this show in as the infield was impassable and the track was narrow, but by taking some extra time to pack between each and every race the solid crowd in attendance was treated to some great "fast track" racing action come feature time.
This night was in tribute to the late Vern Weber, one of the original promoters of the speedway, and joining his wife Coralee were IMS legends Ed Sanger, Curt Hansen and Gary Crawford to present the big trophies to the night's winners.
The IMCA Stock Cars were the first to take the track come feature time and it was important to make a move early if you wanted to get to the front of this fifteen-lap event. Jason Hocken did just that coming from the inside of row two to snare the lead entering turn one following the drop of the green and he was never seriously challenged as he raced to victory. With Ryan Clark on the microphone fans are always treated to an array of interesting statistics and with this win by Hocken there have now been six different winners in the first six Stock Car features at Indee in 2015. Cole Mather chased him the entire distance to finish second. The race to watch was for third as Chris Luloff and Roger Ciesielski swapped the spot numerous times before contact between the two with four laps remaining caused flat tires on both cars. Jarod Weepie would then finish in third followed by Russell Damme Jr. and Norman Chesmore.
A full field of twenty-six Modifieds including first-time visitors for this season such as Jeremiah Hurst, Milo Veloz Jr., Joel Rust and Tyler Madigan lined up next for twenty laps with veteran drivers Mike Burbridge and Keith Pittman bringing the pack to green. After two no-starts and a third mis-fire when the legends decided to drive their cart across the track, the green waved and stayed on with Burbridge getting an immediate edge. The track was now fast and racy and that allowed J.D. Auringer to make the moves that he needed to quickly advance from his fifth row start up to second by lap seven. Getting around Burbridge was no easy task though as Auringer was able to pull even with the leader in the turns on each of the next four laps only to be denied in his bid to take the point. Finally on lap twelve Auringer was able to nose ahead entering turn three and he then slid up the track to shut the door on Burbridge in four.
As Auringer increased his lead while mastering traffic both Ronn Lauritzen and Jeremiah Hurst were also working their way to the front. Lauritzen needed a last corner pass in his heat race to get the fourth spot and make the invert and he then made the most of that by coming up from the fourth row. As a newcomer tonight, Hurst landed in the twelfth starting position and he too was making a charge before the caution waved on lap eighteen for a spin by Madigan in turn three. This would give the challengers one last shot at Auringer, but there would be no catching J.D. who pulled away to victory. Lauritzen was the runner-up with Burbridge in third, Hurst finished in the fourth spot and, despite driving off the top of the track mid-race, Vern Jackson was able to hold on for fifth. Current point leader Troy Cordes struggled all night failing to make the top four in his heat race and on the late restart he lined up thirteenth. He made the most of those final two laps though getting up to ninth at the checkers.
The IMCA Hobby Stock 15-lap main event was next to the track and this one would go non-stop with pole-sitter Adam Speicher leading the way. I will always remember Adam as being the driver who rolled his Hobby Stock over the fence and into victory lane during a NKF Tour Hobby Stock event at the Knoxville Raceway several years ago and I couldn't help to hope to see him just drive into victory lane here tonight. One slight mistake kept that from happening though as Speicher went off the top edge of the front stretch briefly on lap ten and by the time he recovered he had dropped back to third. Brett Vanous seized the opportunity, took the lead and then held it the final six laps to checkers to score his first Hobby Stock victory here at Independence. Speicher was able to get back around Benji Irvine to finish in the second spot while Justin Lichty and Neal Miller completed the top five.
The Late Models thundered to the green next for 25-laps of foot-to-the-floor action with front row starter Jerry King setting a torrid pace. Tyler Droste was the driver who caught my eye as the youngster was gradually picking up positions using whatever line he needed to get by the driver in front of him. Cautions on lap six and sixteen brought the field back to King and on lap nineteen Droste drove under Luke Pestka for the second spot. Pestka who had kept King honest in the early going then had his night end early the following lap as smoke billowed from his car and the caution waved with five laps to go.
On the restart Droste went to work on King and made the pass for the lead with three laps remaining. Just after that the caution waved again as Curt Martin slid sideways in turn two and when Chad Holladay spun to avoid, Martin continued on allowing him to restart in the sixth position. Droste would pull away on the restart and celebrate his nineteenth birthday with a win that he will never forget as he was joined in victory lane by Hansen, Sanger and Crawford, drivers who used to battle with his grandfather Red Droste on a regular basis. Hansen quipped "I think he's even better than his grandpa was."
King would have to settle for second ahead of veteran driver Rick Wendling. Travis Smock had another strong showing in fourth while teenager Tanner Allen came from fourteenth to fifth. Martin, who started at the back of the eighteen-car field, would hold on for sixth at the checkers.
Lucas Lundry made the most of his pole position start in the Sport Modifieds as he went flag-to-flag to win the fifteen lap main event. Tony Olson advanced from eighth at the start to second at the checkers while Kevin Hurst finished third. I found myself rooting for current track point leader Alex Zwanziger for two reasons, one I was sitting with his very nice cheering section and two he carries my favorite number (32). Alex started ninth and finished fourth on this evening. Ryan King would complete the top five.
The extra time that was taken, and definitely needed, to pack the track between races forced me to pass up the Micro Mod feature and head for home, but I understand that it was Minnesota driver Troy Soiney who took the win.
Once I was in my car a quick call to Barry revealed that Knoxville was in a rain delay and that it looked like they would not be back to racing action until around midnight, or just about the same time that I would be pulling back into my driveway after a fun night in Independence. For once, my weather instincts were correct!
Hopefully the weather cooperates again tonight as I plan to return to the same neighborhood at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the Iowa Donor Network Urbana Five Memorial event. It should be a great night of racing and a great night for the racing community to raise awareness for organ and tissue donor ship. Hope to see you there!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
MLRA Delivers Again At Lee County
When the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models made their one appearance at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson last year it ended up being my "race of the year", so expectations were high as the series returned to the southeast Iowa oval Friday night. And with just one caution and five lead changes over forty laps the MLRA Late Models delivered another gem that has set the bar high again for 2015.
With all of the heavy rain in the area the past couple of days it was the dedication of Dave Sapp, Mike Van Genderen and the entire Lee County Speedway crew that made this event possible as they rescued a quagmire and produced a usable racing facility with only a few peeks of the sun on a humid day. The Late Models had to park their big rigs outside of the normal pit area in the gravel parking lots and even Austin Seibert found that to be a bit treacherous as a tow truck was pulling his hauler out of a mud hole when I arrived. Nearly all of the other tracks in the area had cancelled due to wet grounds so each of the five weekly divisions had a few visitors on hand giving this the feel of a mid-week special and a good crowd was on hand to take in the action.
Twenty-seven Late Models signed in with the top sixteen in passing points from the three heat races moving directly on to the main event. California driver Jason Papich, who I found to be a bit of a surprise entrant after running the first two events of the UMP Summer Nationals, ran away with the win in the first heat. Defending series champion Chad Simpson came from sixth to finish second while Ryan Gustin struggled dropping from third to fifth at the checkers. Jason Utter gave a preview of things to come by charging to the win in heat race number two. Current point leader, and the race winner here last year, Terry Phillips looked like a lock to win this one from the front row, but Utter blew by him with four laps remaining to take the victory. Having started fifth this would tally enough points to put Jason on the pole for the main event.Jesse Stovall and Denny Eckrich swapped the lead back and forth through the first half of the third heat race before Stovall pulled away to take the win. After starting third in the heat, Stovall would earn the outside front row start in the main event.
Both R.C. Whitwell and Clint Kirkham would scratch from the B-Main, each suffering damage in a first lap tangle with Dick Weber in the second heat race although Whitwell would later start the A-Main as a series provisional. Jamie Wilson, who won the UMP Late Model feature at Quincy on May 31st, would take the win in the B-Main over Dustin Griffin while IMCA Late Model regular Jay Chenoweth would take third.
Stovall would get the jump at the drop of the green for the forty-lap headliner and he would lead the field down the backstretch only to have Utter drive it deep into turn three to officially hold the lead on lap one. Stovall would again use the high side in turns one and two to go to the front, but before the second lap would go in the books the only caution of the race would wave when Austin Seibert would spin in turn two collecting both J.C. Wyman and Chenoweth.
Utter would be placed at the point for the restart with one lap scored and on lap four Stovall again used the high line in one and two to take his first official lead of the race. Chad Simpson was making it an entertaining three-car race for the front and on lap six he powered by on the inside to take the lead. The top three were using any and all lines around the speedway to negotiate lapped traffic and when Simpson found himself pinned behind a lapper for a split second Utter took advantage and regained the lead on lap seventeen.
Jason would have a skirmish of his own with a lapped car first making contact on the front stretch that would then cause him to clip the track tire entering turn one as Simpson returned to the point on lap nineteen. The three contenders would continue to entertain the crowd as they all stayed close together while working through the slower cars that even late in the race included Phillips and with just four laps remaining Stovall again used a higher line to drive past Simpson for the lead. We were setting up for a big finish now as Chad was set to fight back, but when he appeared to make contact with the lapped car of Scott Lewis the following lap, the ball joint on the left front broke and he drove the car into the infield. Utter's chance to make one last bid for the win went away when his right rear tire went down as he was taking the white flag so after battling two other drivers throughout the race, Stovall now just had to ease it on in for the checkers and the $3,000 top prize.
Utter had enough of an advantage over the third-place car that he was able to limp around the final lap and still take second by a car length over Jason Papich. Denny Eckrich had raced Papich for position throughout the event and he came home fourth while Ryan Gustin came from the sixteenth starting spot to finish in fifth.
Outside of a few too many cations and one red flag in the Sport Mods, support class action was solid as well. The Sport Compacts would kick things off with a non-stop fifteen lap event that saw "The Party Animal" (well at least that's what we called him thirty years ago!) Mike Reu take the lead for the opening laps. Kimberly Abbott would take over the lead on lap three and would then hold it for one more circuit before a hard charging Josh Barnes would go by. Barnes had started tenth and his colorful "Darkside" #13B was lightning quick as he pull away to take the win over Abbott and Mike's son Brandon Reu. Former track champion Darin Smith would take the fourth spot while Papa Reu completed the top five.
Last week only two IMCA Hobby Stocks were on hand for weekly racing action and one of them did not return tonight. Fortunately a few more made the trip tonight and the six-car field put on an entertaining fifteen-lap event that saw Leah Wroten and Brandon Symmonds racing hard for the top spot. Those two swapped the lead three times over the course of the race with Wroten prevailing at the checkers. Symmonds would take second, Brandon Potts was close behind in third, early leader Kevin Koontz was fourth and Daniel Wauters completed the top five.
Twenty-eight Sport Mods required four heats and a B-Main to set the feature field and the first six laps went green with Dan Keltner leading the pack. The first caution waved when Phillip Cossel slowed on the front stretch and on the restart, when Keltner bobbled in turn four, Joey Gower was right there to take advantage. The caution waved for Brett Lowry's spin in turn two and following the restart a great three-car battle ensued between Gower, Jim Gillenwater and Dustin Crear. The caution flew again with just three laps remaining for a slowing Austen Becerra and on the restart a mad scramble in turn one sent cars looking for open space and Crear was one of a couple who were eliminated.
With the field set to go back to green Adam Birck was now in the first row behind the leader and, after starting fifteenth, he wanted to complete his march to the front. Birck moved to second with two laps to go only to spin at the exit of turn four and that caused them to literally stack up as six cars were involved with Keltner's car lifted up and wedged up next to Birck's on its side. The red flag waved and safety crews worked to pull apart the mess after making sure that all drivers were okay.
One last restart then saw Gower hold off the challenge from Gillenwater to take the win. Tanner Klingele and Brandon Lennox finished third and fourth respectively while Brandon Dale returned from a late race tire change to finish in fifth.
Stock Cars and Modifieds would run their features after the Late Models and all but the die-hard Late Model fans knew to stick around for this action. The Stock Cars had a few more cautions than usual with four in their twenty-lapper, but each were more of an opportunity to catch your breath rather than a nuisance as Todd Reitzler tried to hold off the challenges of several drivers throughout the race. While he was officially scored the leader for every lap, Reitzler gave up the lead on at least three occasion only to come right back at the stripe by sticking to his low line around the speedway. Four cars were in contention for the win as the white flag waved and as they came off of turn two it looked like hometown driver Jeremy Pundt would capture a thriller as he pulled even with Reitzler going down the back stretch and had the momentum to the high line in turn three. All it took though was one slight bobble and Pundt dropped back to fifth at the checkers as Reitzler scored the victory. Abe Huls edged Nathan Wood in a photo-finish for second while Jeff Mueller aboard the 3D Roofing #3 for the first time this year nipped Pundt at the line for fourth.
With the Hawkeye Dirt Tour next on the schedule here for next Thursday, June 18th, there were several Modified visitors on hand tonight including long-distance traveler Levi Nielsen who pulled in from Mason City. They would all end up chasing a track regular though as Tyler Groenendyk drove past the front row of Lonne Heap and Steve Stewart to take the lead on the opening lap and he would go the distance for the win. Track point leader Scott Hogan, who makes the long pull down from Vinton every Friday night, came from seventh to finish second, Bill Roberts Jr. was third, the current National point leader Kyle Brown was fourth after starting tenth and Brandon Rothzen who was originally slated to start sixth, but for some reason took the initial green from the back of the twenty-one car field finished in fifth.
It was another memorable night of racing at the Lee County Speedway and as a fan who has not been to a race in just short of three weeks I have to thank everybody who worked so hard to get the facility ready for the night's action. And, little did I know just how close we were to an earlier ending as just two miles north of the track it was raining quite hard on the way home. Two years in a row now. I am sure that I don't have to beg Mike Van Genderen to book the MLRA Late Models at Lee County again in 2016!
I see that at least one track has cancelled racing for tonight due to some morning rain here in eastern Iowa. If the weather holds off I am looking forward to filling in for my good friend Rich Adams at 34 Raceway in Burlington tonight, perhaps I will see you there!
With all of the heavy rain in the area the past couple of days it was the dedication of Dave Sapp, Mike Van Genderen and the entire Lee County Speedway crew that made this event possible as they rescued a quagmire and produced a usable racing facility with only a few peeks of the sun on a humid day. The Late Models had to park their big rigs outside of the normal pit area in the gravel parking lots and even Austin Seibert found that to be a bit treacherous as a tow truck was pulling his hauler out of a mud hole when I arrived. Nearly all of the other tracks in the area had cancelled due to wet grounds so each of the five weekly divisions had a few visitors on hand giving this the feel of a mid-week special and a good crowd was on hand to take in the action.
Twenty-seven Late Models signed in with the top sixteen in passing points from the three heat races moving directly on to the main event. California driver Jason Papich, who I found to be a bit of a surprise entrant after running the first two events of the UMP Summer Nationals, ran away with the win in the first heat. Defending series champion Chad Simpson came from sixth to finish second while Ryan Gustin struggled dropping from third to fifth at the checkers. Jason Utter gave a preview of things to come by charging to the win in heat race number two. Current point leader, and the race winner here last year, Terry Phillips looked like a lock to win this one from the front row, but Utter blew by him with four laps remaining to take the victory. Having started fifth this would tally enough points to put Jason on the pole for the main event.Jesse Stovall and Denny Eckrich swapped the lead back and forth through the first half of the third heat race before Stovall pulled away to take the win. After starting third in the heat, Stovall would earn the outside front row start in the main event.
Both R.C. Whitwell and Clint Kirkham would scratch from the B-Main, each suffering damage in a first lap tangle with Dick Weber in the second heat race although Whitwell would later start the A-Main as a series provisional. Jamie Wilson, who won the UMP Late Model feature at Quincy on May 31st, would take the win in the B-Main over Dustin Griffin while IMCA Late Model regular Jay Chenoweth would take third.
Stovall would get the jump at the drop of the green for the forty-lap headliner and he would lead the field down the backstretch only to have Utter drive it deep into turn three to officially hold the lead on lap one. Stovall would again use the high side in turns one and two to go to the front, but before the second lap would go in the books the only caution of the race would wave when Austin Seibert would spin in turn two collecting both J.C. Wyman and Chenoweth.
Utter would be placed at the point for the restart with one lap scored and on lap four Stovall again used the high line in one and two to take his first official lead of the race. Chad Simpson was making it an entertaining three-car race for the front and on lap six he powered by on the inside to take the lead. The top three were using any and all lines around the speedway to negotiate lapped traffic and when Simpson found himself pinned behind a lapper for a split second Utter took advantage and regained the lead on lap seventeen.
Jason would have a skirmish of his own with a lapped car first making contact on the front stretch that would then cause him to clip the track tire entering turn one as Simpson returned to the point on lap nineteen. The three contenders would continue to entertain the crowd as they all stayed close together while working through the slower cars that even late in the race included Phillips and with just four laps remaining Stovall again used a higher line to drive past Simpson for the lead. We were setting up for a big finish now as Chad was set to fight back, but when he appeared to make contact with the lapped car of Scott Lewis the following lap, the ball joint on the left front broke and he drove the car into the infield. Utter's chance to make one last bid for the win went away when his right rear tire went down as he was taking the white flag so after battling two other drivers throughout the race, Stovall now just had to ease it on in for the checkers and the $3,000 top prize.
Utter had enough of an advantage over the third-place car that he was able to limp around the final lap and still take second by a car length over Jason Papich. Denny Eckrich had raced Papich for position throughout the event and he came home fourth while Ryan Gustin came from the sixteenth starting spot to finish in fifth.
Outside of a few too many cations and one red flag in the Sport Mods, support class action was solid as well. The Sport Compacts would kick things off with a non-stop fifteen lap event that saw "The Party Animal" (well at least that's what we called him thirty years ago!) Mike Reu take the lead for the opening laps. Kimberly Abbott would take over the lead on lap three and would then hold it for one more circuit before a hard charging Josh Barnes would go by. Barnes had started tenth and his colorful "Darkside" #13B was lightning quick as he pull away to take the win over Abbott and Mike's son Brandon Reu. Former track champion Darin Smith would take the fourth spot while Papa Reu completed the top five.
Last week only two IMCA Hobby Stocks were on hand for weekly racing action and one of them did not return tonight. Fortunately a few more made the trip tonight and the six-car field put on an entertaining fifteen-lap event that saw Leah Wroten and Brandon Symmonds racing hard for the top spot. Those two swapped the lead three times over the course of the race with Wroten prevailing at the checkers. Symmonds would take second, Brandon Potts was close behind in third, early leader Kevin Koontz was fourth and Daniel Wauters completed the top five.
Twenty-eight Sport Mods required four heats and a B-Main to set the feature field and the first six laps went green with Dan Keltner leading the pack. The first caution waved when Phillip Cossel slowed on the front stretch and on the restart, when Keltner bobbled in turn four, Joey Gower was right there to take advantage. The caution waved for Brett Lowry's spin in turn two and following the restart a great three-car battle ensued between Gower, Jim Gillenwater and Dustin Crear. The caution flew again with just three laps remaining for a slowing Austen Becerra and on the restart a mad scramble in turn one sent cars looking for open space and Crear was one of a couple who were eliminated.
With the field set to go back to green Adam Birck was now in the first row behind the leader and, after starting fifteenth, he wanted to complete his march to the front. Birck moved to second with two laps to go only to spin at the exit of turn four and that caused them to literally stack up as six cars were involved with Keltner's car lifted up and wedged up next to Birck's on its side. The red flag waved and safety crews worked to pull apart the mess after making sure that all drivers were okay.
One last restart then saw Gower hold off the challenge from Gillenwater to take the win. Tanner Klingele and Brandon Lennox finished third and fourth respectively while Brandon Dale returned from a late race tire change to finish in fifth.
Stock Cars and Modifieds would run their features after the Late Models and all but the die-hard Late Model fans knew to stick around for this action. The Stock Cars had a few more cautions than usual with four in their twenty-lapper, but each were more of an opportunity to catch your breath rather than a nuisance as Todd Reitzler tried to hold off the challenges of several drivers throughout the race. While he was officially scored the leader for every lap, Reitzler gave up the lead on at least three occasion only to come right back at the stripe by sticking to his low line around the speedway. Four cars were in contention for the win as the white flag waved and as they came off of turn two it looked like hometown driver Jeremy Pundt would capture a thriller as he pulled even with Reitzler going down the back stretch and had the momentum to the high line in turn three. All it took though was one slight bobble and Pundt dropped back to fifth at the checkers as Reitzler scored the victory. Abe Huls edged Nathan Wood in a photo-finish for second while Jeff Mueller aboard the 3D Roofing #3 for the first time this year nipped Pundt at the line for fourth.
With the Hawkeye Dirt Tour next on the schedule here for next Thursday, June 18th, there were several Modified visitors on hand tonight including long-distance traveler Levi Nielsen who pulled in from Mason City. They would all end up chasing a track regular though as Tyler Groenendyk drove past the front row of Lonne Heap and Steve Stewart to take the lead on the opening lap and he would go the distance for the win. Track point leader Scott Hogan, who makes the long pull down from Vinton every Friday night, came from seventh to finish second, Bill Roberts Jr. was third, the current National point leader Kyle Brown was fourth after starting tenth and Brandon Rothzen who was originally slated to start sixth, but for some reason took the initial green from the back of the twenty-one car field finished in fifth.
It was another memorable night of racing at the Lee County Speedway and as a fan who has not been to a race in just short of three weeks I have to thank everybody who worked so hard to get the facility ready for the night's action. And, little did I know just how close we were to an earlier ending as just two miles north of the track it was raining quite hard on the way home. Two years in a row now. I am sure that I don't have to beg Mike Van Genderen to book the MLRA Late Models at Lee County again in 2016!
I see that at least one track has cancelled racing for tonight due to some morning rain here in eastern Iowa. If the weather holds off I am looking forward to filling in for my good friend Rich Adams at 34 Raceway in Burlington tonight, perhaps I will see you there!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Points Update
After an eleven day trip to Italy I was really looking forward to getting back to racing tonight at the Southern Iowa Speedway, but the weather had other ideas so now my sights are set on the MLRA Late Models show in Donnellson Friday night. It has now been nineteen days since I last saw a race, perhaps the longest that I have ever gone during the heart of the season and I am getting jittery!Obviously a lot has transpired in the world of racing while I was on vacation, but rather than recapping I am going to choose to instead just give you an update on the points that I just got caught up on and then get back to actually writing once I see that next race.
I just sent the All Iowa Points update to the webmistress and she should have them up soon on the Points page at Positively Racing. Once they are up you will see that Justin Kay maintains the lead in the Late Model division as he looks for his third consecutive All Iowa Points title. It is interesting though that he has raced his IMCA Modified more often than the Late Model over the past two weeks. Chris Abelson paces the Modified field as he looks for his second straight AIP crown and Damon Murty is possibly on his way to a third straight Stock Car championship. Interesting to note that in the Stock Car class there are three of the Smith brothers currently in the top six with Donavon in second, David in Fourth and Devin in sixth.
Clint Luellen continues the list of defending champions who are currently leading the points as he holds the top spot in the Limited Modifieds while his brother Austin is setting the pace in the Hobby Stock division. Jay DeVries is the new leader in the Four Cylinder standings dropping Kimberly Abbott back to second. Danny Lasoski leads the way in the 410 Sprint standings as he looks for his sixth AIP title, the last one coming way back in 1993. The 360 chase is close with Justin Henderson holding a one point lead over Lee Grosz and in the 305's Matt Moro has a one point advantage over defending champion Clint Benson.
The points chase goes into full swing now with weekly racing and a multitude of special events that you can always find on the Calendar page at, where else but Positively Racing!
If you think that we have experienced a bunch of rainouts up here in Iowa this season, the number of washouts is nothing compared to what they have dealt with in Missouri in 2015! The current points for the Show Me state follow, but I must point out that I have not been able to get any of the results from the Callaway Raceway in Fulton (they have a Results tab on their website that is blank when you click on it) and Monett seems to be a bit slow in posting results as well. Who knows, maybe running "secret races" is the way to go these days.
Finally, at the bottom you will find the current top fifty plus ties in my National Dirt Late Model points, the system that I use to complete my ballot for the weekly Dirt On Dirt Top 25 poll. Yes, Ron Meyer, I was the one idiot who still had Shane Clanton ranked number one over Jonathan Davenport this week.
Donnellson, Burlington and Vinton are my targets for the weekend and if rain interferes with any of them you can bet that I will be looking for my closest dry option! Perhaps I will see you on the Back Stretch.
| Missouri Points | ||||
| Winged Sprints (410 & 360) | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Jonathan Cornell | Sedalia | 15 |
| 2 | . | Joey Montgomery | Fredericktown | 14 |
| 3 | . | Tommy Worley Jr. | Bismarck | 13 |
| 4 | . | Jerrod Hull | Sikeston | 12 |
| 5 | . | Brad Loyet | Sunset Hills | 10 |
| 6 | . | Joey Boyd | Farmington | 7 |
| 7 | . | Josh Baughman | Odessa TX | 7 |
| 8 | . | Randy Martin | California | 7 |
| 9 | . | Jimmy Hurley | Springfield IL | 6 |
| 10 | . | Christopher Bell | Norman OK | 5 |
| 11 | . | Danny Lasoski | Dover | 5 |
| 12 | . | Paul Nienheiser | Chapin IL | 5 |
| 13 | . | A.J. Bruns | Lincoln IL | 4 |
| 14 | . | Evan Martin | California | 4 |
| 15 | . | Jason Sides | Memphis TN | 4 |
| 16 | . | Ricky Stangl | Kansas City | 4 |
| 17 | . | Joe B. Miller | Springfield IL | 3 |
| 18 | . | Joey Saldana | Brownsburg IN | 3 |
| 19 | . | Kasey Burch | Farmington | 3 |
| 20 | . | Keith Burch | Farmington | 3 |
| 21 | . | Ryan Kempin | Catawissa | 3 |
| 22 | . | Tyler Blank | California | 3 |
| 23 | . | Daryn Pittman | Owasso OK | 2 |
| 24 | . | Tyler Thomas | Collinsville OK | 2 |
| 25 | . | Austin Alumbaugh | Higginsville | 1 |
| 26 | . | Corey Nelson | Eugene | 1 |
| 27 | . | Ian Madsen | Sydney NSW | 1 |
| 28 | . | Adam Parmeley | Cadet | 1 |
| 29 | . | Sammy Swindell | Bartlett TN | 1 |
| 30 | . | Tayor Walton | Warrensburg | 1 |
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