For the second Sunday in a row I made my way north to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, this time for a special night of racing honoring the "Urbana 5", five young race fans who tragically lost their lives in a traffic accident in 2014. Through organ and tissue donation though, their spirit lives on with over one hundred individuals who were helped and that is why this is an important night for the Iowa Donor Network as well, to encourage everybody to make sure that they are signed up to be an organ and tissue donor. Of course this means a lot to me as organ donation was a key element of the message that we wanted to get out during the four years of the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure that started in 1998, so if you have not yet indicated your willingness to be a donor, please click on that link and do so.
With $1,000-to-win posted by the track for the Modifieds and Sports Mods, the Urbana 5 group added to that as well making it $1,600-to-win for the Sport Mods and $1,400 for the Mods and for the second week in a row the pit area was overflowing with just shy of 140 race cars in seven divisions.
The Micro Mods were up first come feature time and for the first ten laps I thought that I was re-living last week with Matt Post leading the way and Cole McNeal trying to find an opening under Shawn Fisher for second. On this night though Fisher did leave an opening with two laps to go allowing McNeal to move to second where he then quickly erased the five car length advantage held by Post. Going into turn three for the final time McNeal gave Post a friendly nudge and when Post pushed up the track in four, McNeal zipped under him to take the win at the checkers. Post and Fisher would go second and third, Chad Dugan made the trip down to Waukon to finish fourth and Russ Olson completed the top five.
The Sport Mods were up next for twenty laps and this one would belong to the defending All Iowa Points Champion Cody Thompson. Making the long tow over from Sioux City, Thompson had started last in his heat race, but was able to make his way up to the third and final redraw spot where he pulled the "3". Ryan King and Kevin Goben would make up the front row, but they could not hold back Thompson who would lead the field back to the stripe on lap one.
Just after the second lap was completed fourth starting Kyle Olson spun in turn two collecting Brayton Carter and Tony Olson. The hard contact required Carter's car to be towed to the pits and while Kyle was sent to the back for the restart, Tony was given his spot back since he had spun to avoid.
The caution waved again on lap seven when Ben Chapman spun to the infield on the front stretch and before heading to the pits with his own flat tire, Chapman made sure that Austin Kaplan would join him as he drove up and over Kaplan's left rear during the caution.
Once back to racing Thompson continued to pace the field with Osky regulars Logan Anderson and Dylan VanWyk as well as Super Nationals champ Jake McBirnie trying to keep pace while waging their own battle for position. With just two laps to go Anderson would have his second-place run come to an end with a flat right rear tire and the field was reset for a green-white-checkers restart. That would not effect Thompson though as he again pulled away to win in his first ever appearance at Vinton. VanWyk who is a rookie in the division after racing go karts edged out Tony Olson for the second spot with McBirnie fourth and Austen Becerra coming from twenty-first to fifth.
Later it was announced that Olson had been disqualified in the tech area due to an issue with his carb spacer so that would move McBirnie to third, Becerra to fourth and Kyle Olson, who charged back through the full field after his spin, would now be credited with a fifth-place finish.
The IMCA Stock Cars were up next for twenty laps with front row starters Kevin Rose and Chad Krogmeier completing the first lap side-by-side. Rose would have the advantage on lap two with most of the front runners choosing the low line around the quarter-mile oval. Shawn Ritter chose the top though and he would sail around Rose to take the point on lap three. A pair of cautions on lap nine and lap fourteen kept the field bunched together and Norman Chesmore found that low line to be more productive taking the lead from the high riding Ritter with three laps remaining. Ritter tried to battle back, but could not get it done as Chesmore took the win.
Young Dallon Murty had put his car up and over on its roof during his heat race, but showed no ill effects come feature time as he charged from the back of the twenty car field to finish third ahead of Scooter Dulin and Dusty Vis who had started thirteenth and eleventh respectively.
With Jeff Aikey drawing the pole for the twenty-five lap IMCA Modified headliner I have to believe that many in the large crowd felt that this would be a race for second. Joel Rust had other ideas though as he came from the third spot on the grid to steal the lead from Aikey on the opening lap. With Rust pulling away the action was behind him as Aikey tried to ward off the challenges of Troy Cordes and Richie Gustin and following a lap fourteen caution for Brock Bauman who had driven over the top of turn three you could add the ninth starting Cayden Carter to that mix.
Carter would make his way up to second as the laps clicked off and with four laps to go he had squeezed under Rust entering turn one apparently ready to make a pass for the lead. That effort would be wiped out though as the caution waved one last time when John Oliver Jr. slipped over the top of turns three and four.
Surprisingly Carter would choose the outside of the first double row behind the leader for the restart and he would show just why he made that choice as soon as the green flag waved. With Rust doing his best to guard the bottom, Carter charged into the first corner one line higher and then pitched his car sideways effectively shutting the door on Rust as they made their way into turn two. The plan worked to perfection and as the new leader Cayden Carter would ease way over the final four laps to take the win ahead of Rust and Gustin. J.D. Auringer would finish in the fourth position with Todd Shute coming from fourteenth to finish in fifth.
The Four Cylinders would be up next for twelve laps that would be quite entertaining. Adam Gates and last week's winner Korey Lana would break away from the field with Lana taking the lead away from Gates on lap three with a little contact. Gates was not about to let that slide by so he came battling back and delivered a blow to Lana as well to get back out front on lap five only to have Lana return the favor a lap later.
With the lead duo beatin' and bangin' on each other that allowed the ninth starter Luke Benischek to close in quickly and it would be Benischek who would cleanly take the lead on lap seven. As that battle for second continued behind him, Benischek would drive away to take the checkers with Gates prevailing for second ahead of Lana as the two continued to trade pleasantries on the cool down lap. Ashley Reumann would take the fourth position ahead of Travis Losenicky.
Driving a loaner from Leah Wroten, young Kaden Reynolds raced from third to first on the opening lap of the fifteen lap Hobby Stock feature and appeared to be headed for a convincing win until his right rear tire went flat with five laps remaining. Justin Wacha would assume the lead on the restart with Wroten literally knocking on his back door in the closing laps. Wacha held his line despite the pressure and would go on to take the win ahead of Wroten, Matt Brown, Jake Benischek and Brett Vanous.
An eleven car field of IMCA Late Models would complete the full night of action with John Emerson taking the lead from the pole position and then cruising to a flag-to-flag victory. Nick Marolf started sixth and finished second, Jeff Aikey moved from tenth to third in the Rick Dralle owned car, Dalton Simonson who moved up from the Sport Mods for 2019 finished in the fourth spot and Todd Cooney filled out the top five.
Weekly racing action continues on Sunday nights in Vinton with the next big special event here being on Wednesday July 3rd for the 25th and final running of the Hogan Memorial.
My racing for the week ahead will be limited to mid-week action with plans to be in Marshalltown on Tuesday night for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour event followed up by a trip to Stuart on Wednesday where the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Series will hit the quarter-mile high banks. If Mother Nature allows, we hope to see you there!
Monday, June 3, 2019
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Thursday Notebook: May 30, 2019
The weather continues to be the headline when it comes to short track racing here in the upper Midwest, but hopefully that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel will be the sun for at least Friday and Sunday this weekend and hopefully the scattered showers that are in the forecast now for Saturday will not materialize. With all of the recent rainouts the ol' Notebook is a bit sparse, but here goes....
In case you missed it.....four eastern Iowa Late Model drivers obviously took a look at the weather and decided to hit the road this past weekend. Justin Kay of Wheatland and Sam Halstead of New London went west where they raced at the Boone County Raceway in Albion, Nebraska, on Friday night. Kay started twelfth and finished third while Halstead came from eighteenth to cash in tenth. On Saturday night those two also ran with the IMCA Late Models at the Off Road Speedway in Norfolk where Kay started twelfth again and finished second to Eric Vanosdall while Halstead finished where he started in thirteenth.
Todd Frank started his racing career in Wisconsin before transplanting to Montrose, Iowa, a few years ago. On Saturday night, Frank and his son Gunner were part of the twenty car WISSOTA Late Model field at the Hibbing Raceway in Minnesota where the two finished fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.
Fighting off an isolated thunderstorm just before Tuesday's qualifying night the Rolling Plains Motor Speedway in Hays, Kansas, was able to complete their $5,000-to-win Stock Car Shootout last night with IMCA Modified National Champion Jordan Grabouski taking the win ahead of many time Stock National Champ Mike Nichols. Other Iowa drivers in the top ten included Shawn Ritter in fourth and Damon Murty sixth after starting from deep in the pack. Ricky Thornton Jr. was disqualified for a wheelbase infraction and a total of fifty-five Stock Cars made the trip to west central Kansas.
And in another example of "in case you missed it", the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars will race at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville this weekend for the first time ever as dirt has been put down on the quarter-mile paved oval at the historic facility. In a preview, or more likely a test session for the dirt surface the track hosted four divisions of Stock Car racing this past Saturday night with Matt Cooper topping a sixteen-car field of UMP Crate Late Models in the main event. Here's hoping that the dirt at Nashville holds together better this weekend than it did at Rockford a couple of years ago.
In further proof of my Net Zero theory, Raceway Park in Jefferson, South Dakota, came back to life this past weekend and will run Sunday night weekly through September, and a new promoter has been named at the Redwood Speedway in Minnesota with his plans to be soon announced. On the other side of the scales though it looks as though the LaSalle Speedway in Illinois will be shutting down, at least according to the organizers of the annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial race who said "Over the past weekend, we were informed by LaSalle Speedway management that they have decided to cease operations immediately" in a post on Facebook today. Checking the LaSalle Speedway page there was a photo with the text "Stay Tuned For An Official Statement Regarding LaSalle Speedway" included and, seven hours later in the comments Kerry Izzo announced that due to unfortunate circumstances the Speedway is closed for the foreseeable future. She asked that everybody respect the privacy of the family and hopefully we can all do that.
For those of you who don't know what the "Net Zero Theory" is I encourage you to go back through the archives of the Back Stretch. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable journey!
What started out as a sunny Thursday has now turned into a cloudy afternoon with pop thunderstorms in the area, so hopefully your favorite track will not have to take on any more precipitation. I plan on going to a race on Friday night, I just don't know where yet. The Big 8 Late Model Series will be at Hawkeye Downs so I could take care of my urge to do at least one pavement race a year early in the season rather than later when it is usually quenched or I could take in one of the several fine dirt track options within a reasonable drive from my southeast Iowa home; Donnellson, Columbus Junction, Davenport or Marshalltown. Where would you suggest?
Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
In case you missed it.....four eastern Iowa Late Model drivers obviously took a look at the weather and decided to hit the road this past weekend. Justin Kay of Wheatland and Sam Halstead of New London went west where they raced at the Boone County Raceway in Albion, Nebraska, on Friday night. Kay started twelfth and finished third while Halstead came from eighteenth to cash in tenth. On Saturday night those two also ran with the IMCA Late Models at the Off Road Speedway in Norfolk where Kay started twelfth again and finished second to Eric Vanosdall while Halstead finished where he started in thirteenth.
Todd Frank started his racing career in Wisconsin before transplanting to Montrose, Iowa, a few years ago. On Saturday night, Frank and his son Gunner were part of the twenty car WISSOTA Late Model field at the Hibbing Raceway in Minnesota where the two finished fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.
Fighting off an isolated thunderstorm just before Tuesday's qualifying night the Rolling Plains Motor Speedway in Hays, Kansas, was able to complete their $5,000-to-win Stock Car Shootout last night with IMCA Modified National Champion Jordan Grabouski taking the win ahead of many time Stock National Champ Mike Nichols. Other Iowa drivers in the top ten included Shawn Ritter in fourth and Damon Murty sixth after starting from deep in the pack. Ricky Thornton Jr. was disqualified for a wheelbase infraction and a total of fifty-five Stock Cars made the trip to west central Kansas.
And in another example of "in case you missed it", the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars will race at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville this weekend for the first time ever as dirt has been put down on the quarter-mile paved oval at the historic facility. In a preview, or more likely a test session for the dirt surface the track hosted four divisions of Stock Car racing this past Saturday night with Matt Cooper topping a sixteen-car field of UMP Crate Late Models in the main event. Here's hoping that the dirt at Nashville holds together better this weekend than it did at Rockford a couple of years ago.
In further proof of my Net Zero theory, Raceway Park in Jefferson, South Dakota, came back to life this past weekend and will run Sunday night weekly through September, and a new promoter has been named at the Redwood Speedway in Minnesota with his plans to be soon announced. On the other side of the scales though it looks as though the LaSalle Speedway in Illinois will be shutting down, at least according to the organizers of the annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial race who said "Over the past weekend, we were informed by LaSalle Speedway management that they have decided to cease operations immediately" in a post on Facebook today. Checking the LaSalle Speedway page there was a photo with the text "Stay Tuned For An Official Statement Regarding LaSalle Speedway" included and, seven hours later in the comments Kerry Izzo announced that due to unfortunate circumstances the Speedway is closed for the foreseeable future. She asked that everybody respect the privacy of the family and hopefully we can all do that.
For those of you who don't know what the "Net Zero Theory" is I encourage you to go back through the archives of the Back Stretch. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable journey!
What started out as a sunny Thursday has now turned into a cloudy afternoon with pop thunderstorms in the area, so hopefully your favorite track will not have to take on any more precipitation. I plan on going to a race on Friday night, I just don't know where yet. The Big 8 Late Model Series will be at Hawkeye Downs so I could take care of my urge to do at least one pavement race a year early in the season rather than later when it is usually quenched or I could take in one of the several fine dirt track options within a reasonable drive from my southeast Iowa home; Donnellson, Columbus Junction, Davenport or Marshalltown. Where would you suggest?
Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
Monday, May 27, 2019
Thornton, Murty and Birck Headline Albert Auto Service Night In Vinton
The Benton County Speedway in Vinton kicked off what was supposed to be the first event of a doubleheader weekend Sunday night with a night of racing enhanced by extra money and trophies from Albert Auto Service. In fact Sunday's Modified feature would pay out $2,000 to the winner, five hundred more than what Monday's Dirt Knights Tour opener would have paid if not for the rains that came overnight and into Monday morning washing out the Memorial Day event.
I arrived late on Sunday after attending a graduation party for a fantastic young lady and while I missed fourteen of the qualifying heat races, with nearly one hundred and forty cars on hand I still saw plenty of racing in the six divisions.
A nine car field of Micro Mods would be the first feature on the card and the initial start was called back when third starting Cole McNeal was ruled to have jumped the gun sending him to the back of the pack. This would create even more of a challenge for McNeal to stay perfect in 2019 here as he has won the first two main events for the class. Once under green the pole sitter Joren Fisher would spin in turn three on the first lap collecting Matthew Dugan moving McNeal up two more spots for the restart.
Matt Post would secure the lead now that the race was underway and McNeal quickly moved to third, but rather than trying a higher line around Shawn Fisher he waited and waited for the veteran driver to make a mistake and open up the bottom line, but that mistake would never come allowing Post to go flag-to-flag for the win with Fisher edging McNeal for second. Russ Olson and Dugan filled out the top five.
A full field of IMCA Stock Cars would line up next for twenty laps with Dan Trimble setting the early pace. Jay Schmidt and Damon Murty who started fourth and fifth respectively would soon move in to challenge and on lap seven Schmidt slipped under Trimble in turn two to take the lead. Murty would follow him into second and after showing his nose down low, Schmidt went down to protect. That would not stop Murty though who was fresh off of a win in Lansing, Minnesota, on Friday night and he would sail around Schmidt in turn four for the lead on lap eleven.
This race would go non-stop so the leaders had to use their patience and skills to navigate lapped traffic with Murty securing the win ahead of Schmidt. The race to watch over the closing laps was the three car battle for third as Trimble, Tom Schmitt and Johnny Spaw were bobbing and weaving through traffic with Spaw prevailing at the checkers ahead of Trimble and Schmitt.
A stout field of thirty-eight Modifieds had been whittled down to twenty-four of the best for the twenty-five lap main event with Ricky Thornton Jr. drawing the pole position and, to his outside would be long time Late Model star Denny Eckrich in a plain white Precision Performance #50. After the Stock Cars went for twenty laps non-stop, the Mods had some early issues with Mike Burbridge spinning in turn one after the first lap was completed and then the 2018 All Iowa Points Stock Car Champion John Oliver Jr. looped his Modified in turn one on the restart.
That got the yellows out of their system as the race would then go green for twenty-two more laps with Thornton setting a torrid pace and putting some wicked sliders on the lapped cars as if he had someone within striking distance, which he didn't. The race for second was a good one though as Troy Cordes and Richie Gustin were soon joined by Cayden Carter and when contact with another car sent Kyle Madden spinning into the infield on the front stretch it would be Gustin and Carter lining up directly behind Thornton for the green-white-checkers restart.
Gustin would pull even with Thornton in turns one and two, but with the momentum off the top the Arizona native would again pull away down the back stretch before completing the dominating victory. Gustin would be the runner-up with Carter going third after starting ninth. Cordes would lock down the fourth spot ahead of J.D. Auringer with sixth through tenth crossing the line in a tight pack; Brennen Chipp, Jeff Aikey, Eckrich, Ronn Lauritzen and one of the B-Main winners Joel Rust.
The Sport Mods didn't get the memo about minimal cautions as six of them would fly over the eighteen lap distance. The battle up front would normally be seen at Quincy Raceways on a Sunday night as Canton, Missouri, driver Adam Birck was working hard to fight off Austen Becerra from Carthage, Illinois, and they were later joined by Oskaloosa's Brayton Carter, another infrequent visitor to Vinton to make it a three car race for the lead. Through all of the restarts Birck was able to hold his line and capture his first career win at Vinton making the three hour pull well worth it with a vigorous victory lane celebration. Carter edged out Becerra for second as track regulars Tony Olson and Joe Docekal went fourth and fifth. Although Docekal was behind the wheel of a car that he had built for southeast Iowa driver Ron Kibbe, so even his #89 was unfamiliar to the large crowd that was enjoying the action.
Twenty Four Cylinders had started out the evening, but only thirteen remained when their fourteen lap feature lined up for action. Among the drivers not making the call were two-time defending All Iowa Points Champion Barry Taft who suffered mechanical issues and fellow southeast Iowa driver Alyssa Steele who took a tumble in turn three during the heat race, the second time that she has rolled a car in the past few weeks.
Adam Gates would lead the opening lap, but Korey Lana was on a mission charging from fifth to first in just two laps. Trent Orwig had started just behind Lana and the driver from Ottumwa was poised to challenge, but there would be no catching Lana who captured his first career feature win. Orwig slipped over the top of turn three on the final lap dropping him from second to seventh at the checkers as Chuck Fullenkamp, Luke Benischek, Travis Losenicky and Gates made up the top five.
Twenty Hobby Stocks for sixteen laps would put a wrap on the evening and with Nathan Ballard drawing the pole position it was going to be tough for anybody to beat him. Kaden Reynolds gave it his best though as the young driver who moved out of the Micro Mods and into a Hobby Stock late in 2018 came from fifth to second but could not find a way past Ballard who took the win. Leah Wroten finished in the third spot followed by Brett Vanous and Justin Wacha.
I am usually one of those fans that hates being late to a race, but on this night everything worked out perfectly. Congratulations Whitney, you have big things ahead of you! And as always a big thanks to Mick, Mike, Ryan, Jeff, Jeremy and the entire BCS crew for a fantastic night of racing.
Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day and I hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch.
I arrived late on Sunday after attending a graduation party for a fantastic young lady and while I missed fourteen of the qualifying heat races, with nearly one hundred and forty cars on hand I still saw plenty of racing in the six divisions.
A nine car field of Micro Mods would be the first feature on the card and the initial start was called back when third starting Cole McNeal was ruled to have jumped the gun sending him to the back of the pack. This would create even more of a challenge for McNeal to stay perfect in 2019 here as he has won the first two main events for the class. Once under green the pole sitter Joren Fisher would spin in turn three on the first lap collecting Matthew Dugan moving McNeal up two more spots for the restart.
Matt Post would secure the lead now that the race was underway and McNeal quickly moved to third, but rather than trying a higher line around Shawn Fisher he waited and waited for the veteran driver to make a mistake and open up the bottom line, but that mistake would never come allowing Post to go flag-to-flag for the win with Fisher edging McNeal for second. Russ Olson and Dugan filled out the top five.
A full field of IMCA Stock Cars would line up next for twenty laps with Dan Trimble setting the early pace. Jay Schmidt and Damon Murty who started fourth and fifth respectively would soon move in to challenge and on lap seven Schmidt slipped under Trimble in turn two to take the lead. Murty would follow him into second and after showing his nose down low, Schmidt went down to protect. That would not stop Murty though who was fresh off of a win in Lansing, Minnesota, on Friday night and he would sail around Schmidt in turn four for the lead on lap eleven.
This race would go non-stop so the leaders had to use their patience and skills to navigate lapped traffic with Murty securing the win ahead of Schmidt. The race to watch over the closing laps was the three car battle for third as Trimble, Tom Schmitt and Johnny Spaw were bobbing and weaving through traffic with Spaw prevailing at the checkers ahead of Trimble and Schmitt.
A stout field of thirty-eight Modifieds had been whittled down to twenty-four of the best for the twenty-five lap main event with Ricky Thornton Jr. drawing the pole position and, to his outside would be long time Late Model star Denny Eckrich in a plain white Precision Performance #50. After the Stock Cars went for twenty laps non-stop, the Mods had some early issues with Mike Burbridge spinning in turn one after the first lap was completed and then the 2018 All Iowa Points Stock Car Champion John Oliver Jr. looped his Modified in turn one on the restart.
That got the yellows out of their system as the race would then go green for twenty-two more laps with Thornton setting a torrid pace and putting some wicked sliders on the lapped cars as if he had someone within striking distance, which he didn't. The race for second was a good one though as Troy Cordes and Richie Gustin were soon joined by Cayden Carter and when contact with another car sent Kyle Madden spinning into the infield on the front stretch it would be Gustin and Carter lining up directly behind Thornton for the green-white-checkers restart.
Gustin would pull even with Thornton in turns one and two, but with the momentum off the top the Arizona native would again pull away down the back stretch before completing the dominating victory. Gustin would be the runner-up with Carter going third after starting ninth. Cordes would lock down the fourth spot ahead of J.D. Auringer with sixth through tenth crossing the line in a tight pack; Brennen Chipp, Jeff Aikey, Eckrich, Ronn Lauritzen and one of the B-Main winners Joel Rust.
The Sport Mods didn't get the memo about minimal cautions as six of them would fly over the eighteen lap distance. The battle up front would normally be seen at Quincy Raceways on a Sunday night as Canton, Missouri, driver Adam Birck was working hard to fight off Austen Becerra from Carthage, Illinois, and they were later joined by Oskaloosa's Brayton Carter, another infrequent visitor to Vinton to make it a three car race for the lead. Through all of the restarts Birck was able to hold his line and capture his first career win at Vinton making the three hour pull well worth it with a vigorous victory lane celebration. Carter edged out Becerra for second as track regulars Tony Olson and Joe Docekal went fourth and fifth. Although Docekal was behind the wheel of a car that he had built for southeast Iowa driver Ron Kibbe, so even his #89 was unfamiliar to the large crowd that was enjoying the action.
Twenty Four Cylinders had started out the evening, but only thirteen remained when their fourteen lap feature lined up for action. Among the drivers not making the call were two-time defending All Iowa Points Champion Barry Taft who suffered mechanical issues and fellow southeast Iowa driver Alyssa Steele who took a tumble in turn three during the heat race, the second time that she has rolled a car in the past few weeks.
Adam Gates would lead the opening lap, but Korey Lana was on a mission charging from fifth to first in just two laps. Trent Orwig had started just behind Lana and the driver from Ottumwa was poised to challenge, but there would be no catching Lana who captured his first career feature win. Orwig slipped over the top of turn three on the final lap dropping him from second to seventh at the checkers as Chuck Fullenkamp, Luke Benischek, Travis Losenicky and Gates made up the top five.
Twenty Hobby Stocks for sixteen laps would put a wrap on the evening and with Nathan Ballard drawing the pole position it was going to be tough for anybody to beat him. Kaden Reynolds gave it his best though as the young driver who moved out of the Micro Mods and into a Hobby Stock late in 2018 came from fifth to second but could not find a way past Ballard who took the win. Leah Wroten finished in the third spot followed by Brett Vanous and Justin Wacha.
I am usually one of those fans that hates being late to a race, but on this night everything worked out perfectly. Congratulations Whitney, you have big things ahead of you! And as always a big thanks to Mick, Mike, Ryan, Jeff, Jeremy and the entire BCS crew for a fantastic night of racing.
Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day and I hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Carter's Third, Orwig Repeats, Vandenberg and Kirkland Also Score At Osky
With all of the rain over the past several days the Southern Iowa Speedway needed a day of sunshine and wind to have a chance to get in its third weekly show of the season on Wednesday and for once the weather cooperated. In fact ol' Mother Nature did such a good job that she dried out the big half-mile a little too much leading to some ride the hub racing rather than the wide multi-grooved surface that we are used to seeing at Oskaloosa.
The Sport Compacts were up first come feature time and after last week's photo finish where he heard boos in victory lane from fans who disagreed with the final result, it looked like Trent Orwig was on a mission to get back there and hear some cheers. Brandon Allison would lead the opening lap, but when he slipped wide out of turn two the second trip around Orwig took the point after starting fifth. One of the hottest Four Cylinder drivers in the area so far in 2019, Jacob Houston made the trip up from Burlington for the first time this year and he moved to second looking to apply the pressure on Orwig.
But Allison was not about to give in and he would get back to second at the mid-race point dropping Houston to third and wanting to turn the tables on Orwig. As the lead trio was coming to the white flag, Allison was right on Orwig's tail but when he took a shot in the rear end from Houston in turn four that allowed the leader to get away a bit and go unchallenged over the final lap to take the win. This time as Trent climbed out of the car in victory lane he received a nice round of applause for his victory ahead of Allison and Houston. Billy Cain and Nathan Moody rounded out the top five.
For the third race night in a row the Stock Car count was at nine, even with the return of Howard Gordon Jr. who missed last week and the first appearance of the year from Brett Lowery who started from the front row outside of Dustin Griffiths for the sixteen lap main event. Third starting Nathan Wood would get his nose under those two going into turn one though and they would go three-wide through the first set of turns and down the back stretch. Wood would get the advantage in the preferred low line and he would be the leader as the first lap was scored.
It didn't take long for Cayden Carter to get to second after he started from fifth and the young driver then showed his patience as he waited for Wood to make a mistake and come off the bottom. When Nathan got into turns one and two just a bit too high on lap twelve Cayden was ready to pounce and he drove under Wood in turn two to take the lead. There would be no keeping up with Roger Kelderman's Orange Krush #10cc from there as Carter stayed perfect on the year here with his third feature win. The defending track champion Wood was the runner-up, Dustin Griffiths finished third as Michael Brown and Jason McDaniel completed the score sheet on lap sixteen.
The Sport Mods were interesting tonight from a couple of standpoints. First was the roster as once again opening night winner Austin Paul was not in attendance and neither was last week's winner and multi-time track champion Curtis Van Der Wal. Brayton Carter who went to Stuart and won last Wednesday night had his car here tonight, but with brother Cayden behind the wheel instead while young rookie Dylan VanWyk who was fourth here last week and then won his first career feature at Memphis on Friday night was also missing. I am guessing that there was something going on at the Oskaloosa High School that they couldn't, or didn't want to miss?
A new face at the speedway, Jason Bass from Fort Dodge would race out to the lead from his pole position in the sixteen lap main event and after wining his heat race in dominating fashion, it looked like Bass would cruise to a win in this one as well. With the racing groove on the bottom lapped traffic would really come into play and Bass had no problem slipping by his first challenge while that first lapper did create some havoc for the second spot.
When Carter Vandenberg tried to squeeze under the lapped car exiting turn four, contact between the two allowed Cayden Carter to drive by on the outside and move to second still several car lengths behind Bass and with the laps winding down. Tommy Lathrop would be the next car ahead of the leader and when Bass saw the waving green indicating just two laps remaining he tucked in behind Lathrop entering turn one rather than taking the risk of trying the next groove up. This allowed Carter and Vandenberg to close quickly and as the white flag waved the fours cars were nose to tail.
Carter would be the first to break out of line going one groove up into turn one and when Bass tried to get up there as well that opened the bottom for Vandenberg. Lathrop was now a big part of this race and he did as he should by holding his line, but with Bass trapped right behind him he soon found himself in third instead of the lead heading down the back stretch and into turn three. Now it was a battle between the two cousins and with Vandenberg on the bottom he made sure that Cayden was not going to beat him as Vandenberg won the drag race to the stripe. Bass was impressive, but a bit too conservative at the end to land him in third, Blaine Webster finished fourth and Cory Van Zante was fifth.
The Hobby Stocks would close out the evening with fourteen laps of caution free racing and that was just what Derek Kirkland was hoping for after starting from the front row. Kirkland had chased in Dustin Griffiths the first two weeks of the season and tonight, by the time that Griffiths emerged from a tight three car battle with Dylan Nelson and Brad Stephens to take second on lap five, Kirkland had built up nearly a full straightaway lead.
Griffiths was able to close the gap a bit over the final nine laps, but it was still a comfortable lead for Kirkland as he took the checkers. Stephens finished third in his first appearance of the season, Nelson was fourth and Christian Huffman filled out the top five.
Racing action wrapped up at 9:14 p.m. allowing me to drive back home to southeast Iowa where I was greeted by even more rain, lightning and thunder. That additional rain, along with the forecast for more both tonight and tomorrow will force the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson to cancel the Sprint Invaders program for Friday night and will now send this good uncle to a dance recital instead.
Here's hoping that the forecasts are wrong and that you can get out to a track of your choice this Memorial Day weekend!
The Sport Compacts were up first come feature time and after last week's photo finish where he heard boos in victory lane from fans who disagreed with the final result, it looked like Trent Orwig was on a mission to get back there and hear some cheers. Brandon Allison would lead the opening lap, but when he slipped wide out of turn two the second trip around Orwig took the point after starting fifth. One of the hottest Four Cylinder drivers in the area so far in 2019, Jacob Houston made the trip up from Burlington for the first time this year and he moved to second looking to apply the pressure on Orwig.
But Allison was not about to give in and he would get back to second at the mid-race point dropping Houston to third and wanting to turn the tables on Orwig. As the lead trio was coming to the white flag, Allison was right on Orwig's tail but when he took a shot in the rear end from Houston in turn four that allowed the leader to get away a bit and go unchallenged over the final lap to take the win. This time as Trent climbed out of the car in victory lane he received a nice round of applause for his victory ahead of Allison and Houston. Billy Cain and Nathan Moody rounded out the top five.
For the third race night in a row the Stock Car count was at nine, even with the return of Howard Gordon Jr. who missed last week and the first appearance of the year from Brett Lowery who started from the front row outside of Dustin Griffiths for the sixteen lap main event. Third starting Nathan Wood would get his nose under those two going into turn one though and they would go three-wide through the first set of turns and down the back stretch. Wood would get the advantage in the preferred low line and he would be the leader as the first lap was scored.
It didn't take long for Cayden Carter to get to second after he started from fifth and the young driver then showed his patience as he waited for Wood to make a mistake and come off the bottom. When Nathan got into turns one and two just a bit too high on lap twelve Cayden was ready to pounce and he drove under Wood in turn two to take the lead. There would be no keeping up with Roger Kelderman's Orange Krush #10cc from there as Carter stayed perfect on the year here with his third feature win. The defending track champion Wood was the runner-up, Dustin Griffiths finished third as Michael Brown and Jason McDaniel completed the score sheet on lap sixteen.
The Sport Mods were interesting tonight from a couple of standpoints. First was the roster as once again opening night winner Austin Paul was not in attendance and neither was last week's winner and multi-time track champion Curtis Van Der Wal. Brayton Carter who went to Stuart and won last Wednesday night had his car here tonight, but with brother Cayden behind the wheel instead while young rookie Dylan VanWyk who was fourth here last week and then won his first career feature at Memphis on Friday night was also missing. I am guessing that there was something going on at the Oskaloosa High School that they couldn't, or didn't want to miss?
A new face at the speedway, Jason Bass from Fort Dodge would race out to the lead from his pole position in the sixteen lap main event and after wining his heat race in dominating fashion, it looked like Bass would cruise to a win in this one as well. With the racing groove on the bottom lapped traffic would really come into play and Bass had no problem slipping by his first challenge while that first lapper did create some havoc for the second spot.
When Carter Vandenberg tried to squeeze under the lapped car exiting turn four, contact between the two allowed Cayden Carter to drive by on the outside and move to second still several car lengths behind Bass and with the laps winding down. Tommy Lathrop would be the next car ahead of the leader and when Bass saw the waving green indicating just two laps remaining he tucked in behind Lathrop entering turn one rather than taking the risk of trying the next groove up. This allowed Carter and Vandenberg to close quickly and as the white flag waved the fours cars were nose to tail.
Carter would be the first to break out of line going one groove up into turn one and when Bass tried to get up there as well that opened the bottom for Vandenberg. Lathrop was now a big part of this race and he did as he should by holding his line, but with Bass trapped right behind him he soon found himself in third instead of the lead heading down the back stretch and into turn three. Now it was a battle between the two cousins and with Vandenberg on the bottom he made sure that Cayden was not going to beat him as Vandenberg won the drag race to the stripe. Bass was impressive, but a bit too conservative at the end to land him in third, Blaine Webster finished fourth and Cory Van Zante was fifth.
The Hobby Stocks would close out the evening with fourteen laps of caution free racing and that was just what Derek Kirkland was hoping for after starting from the front row. Kirkland had chased in Dustin Griffiths the first two weeks of the season and tonight, by the time that Griffiths emerged from a tight three car battle with Dylan Nelson and Brad Stephens to take second on lap five, Kirkland had built up nearly a full straightaway lead.
Griffiths was able to close the gap a bit over the final nine laps, but it was still a comfortable lead for Kirkland as he took the checkers. Stephens finished third in his first appearance of the season, Nelson was fourth and Christian Huffman filled out the top five.
Racing action wrapped up at 9:14 p.m. allowing me to drive back home to southeast Iowa where I was greeted by even more rain, lightning and thunder. That additional rain, along with the forecast for more both tonight and tomorrow will force the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson to cancel the Sprint Invaders program for Friday night and will now send this good uncle to a dance recital instead.
Here's hoping that the forecasts are wrong and that you can get out to a track of your choice this Memorial Day weekend!
Monday, May 20, 2019
Rainouts, Every Year Seems To Get Worse
It has been a difficult start to the 2019 racing season coming off one of the worst Winters ever and now dealing with a very wet Spring. Year to year when a situation like this happens, the sense of recency always makes us say "well this is just the worst yet", but with my data set limited to just the past three years what is happening right truly is the worst!
For the tracks where drivers earn All Iowa Points I started entering the full schedule three years ago to serve as my "checklist" to make sure that I had entered the results from each race date using color coding system. Red was a date that had been scheduled, black was a date that had been completed and blue was a date that had been cancelled, so going back to 2017 and checking the statistics for events scheduled through the third weekend in May, here was the "success rate" for each track as well as the overall totals.
Now here are the stats for 2018
And finally the stats for 2019
As you can see the success rate has gone from 57% to 52% to 45% and I also found it interesting that the number of events scheduled up through this point in the season has gone from 231 to 221 to 219. So does that mean that promoters are learning a lesson about how hard it is to get a show in during the Spring? My perception is that has been easier to get shows in during than the Fall the past couple of years so that will be my next statistical project. Unfortunately with the forecast for the week ahead, I should have plenty of time to complete it.
Stay dry and we hope to see you somewhere soon on the Back Stretch!
For the tracks where drivers earn All Iowa Points I started entering the full schedule three years ago to serve as my "checklist" to make sure that I had entered the results from each race date using color coding system. Red was a date that had been scheduled, black was a date that had been completed and blue was a date that had been cancelled, so going back to 2017 and checking the statistics for events scheduled through the third weekend in May, here was the "success rate" for each track as well as the overall totals.
| Worthington MN | 0 | for | 0 |
| Alta IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Oskaloosa IA | 2 | for | 5 |
| Algona IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Columbus Jct. IA | 5 | for | 6 |
| Spencer IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Denison IA | 3 | for | 5 |
| Davenport IA | 4 | for | 7 |
| Farley IA | 4 | for | 7 |
| West Union IA | 2 | for | 5 |
| Fort Dodge IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| Hawkeye Downs IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| Donnellson IA | 4 | for | 9 |
| Marshalltown IA | 4 | for | 9 |
| Rock Rapids IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Chateau MN | 2 | for | 6 |
| Fairmont MN | 5 | for | 7 |
| Darlington/Lancaster WI | 2 | for | 5 |
| I-80 Speedway NE | 5 | for | 9 |
| 34 Raceway IA | 6 | for | 8 |
| Corning IA | 4 | for | 7 |
| Boone IA | 4 | for | 9 |
| Webster City IA | 4 | for | 7 |
| Britt IA | 4 | for | 6 |
| Independence IA | 4 | for | 7 |
| Maquoketa IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Knoxville IA | 3 | for | 6 |
| Harlan IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Decorah IA | 2 | for | 5 |
| Cresco IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| West Liberty IA | 3 | for | 6 |
| Deer Creek MN | 3 | for | 6 |
| Jackson MN | 2 | for | 3 |
| Eagle NE | 4 | for | 7 |
| Badlands SD | 1 | for | 1 |
| Park Jefferson SD | 4 | for | 7 |
| Vinton IA | 4 | for | 8 |
| Dubuque IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Mason City IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| Stuart IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| East Moline IL | 6 | for | 7 |
| Quincy IL | 4 | for | 6 |
| Raceway Park SD | 3 | for | 5 |
| Memphis MO | 2 | for | 2 |
| Tipton | 1 | for | 2 |
| Sioux Center | 0 | for | 0 |
| Bloomfield/Eldon | 3 | for | 4 |
| Totals: | 131 | for | 231 |
| 57% |
| Alta IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Oskaloosa IA | 3 | for | 5 |
| Algona IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Britt IA | 1 | for | 6 |
| Chateau MN | 0 | for | 0 |
| Columbus Jct. IA | 5 | for | 5 |
| Darlington/Lancaster WI | 3 | for | 5 |
| Davenport IA | 5 | for | 6 |
| Denison IA | 2 | for | 5 |
| Donnellson IA | 5 | for | 9 |
| Fairmont MN | 1 | for | 8 |
| Farley IA | 2 | for | 5 |
| Hawkeye Downs IA | 1 | for | 3 |
| I-80 Speedway NE | 5 | for | 8 |
| Jackson MN | 1 | for | 2 |
| Marshalltown IA | 5 | for | 9 |
| Rock Rapids IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Stuart IA | 1 | for | 3 |
| West Union IA | 1 | for | 5 |
| 34 Raceway IA | 5 | for | 8 |
| Eldon | 1 | for | 1 |
| Boone IA | 5 | for | 7 |
| Corning IA | 4 | for | 7 |
| Decorah IA | 1 | for | 3 |
| Deer Creek MN | 3 | for | 6 |
| Eagle NE | 5 | for | 7 |
| Harlan IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| Independence IA | 2 | for | 7 |
| Knoxville IA | 5 | for | 6 |
| Maquoketa IA | 4 | for | 6 |
| Park Jefferson SD | 3 | for | 8 |
| Webster City IA | 2 | for | 5 |
| West Liberty IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Worthington MN | 0 | for | 0 |
| Bethany MO | 2 | for | 3 |
| Dubuque IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| East Moline IL | 4 | for | 7 |
| Fort Dodge IA | 3 | for | 5 |
| Mason City IA | 0 | for | 3 |
| Quincy IL | 5 | for | 7 |
| Raceway Park SD | 3 | for | 7 |
| Spencer IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Vinton IA | 5 | for | 7 |
| Cresco IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Memphis MO | 1 | for | 5 |
| Sioux Center | 0 | for | 0 |
| Tipton | 1 | for | 3 |
| Warren County | 2 | for | 3 |
| Totals: | 115 | for | 221 |
| 52% |
And finally the stats for 2019
| Alta IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Oskaloosa IA | 2 | for | 6 |
| Stuart IA | 4 | for | 6 |
| Algona IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| Britt IA | 3 | for | 4 |
| Chateau MN | 1 | for | 3 |
| Columbus Jct. IA | 3 | for | 6 |
| Darlington/Lancaster WI | 2 | for | 6 |
| Davenport IA | 3 | for | 6 |
| Denison IA | 4 | for | 5 |
| Donnellson IA | 6 | for | 8 |
| Farley IA | 2 | for | 2 |
| Hawkeye Downs IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| I-80 Speedway NE | 5 | for | 8 |
| Jackson MN | 0 | for | 2 |
| Marshalltown IA | 4 | for | 11 |
| Rock Rapids IA | 0 | for | 3 |
| West Union IA | 1 | for | 4 |
| 34 Raceway IA | 4 | for | 8 |
| Eldon | 0 | for | 2 |
| Boone IA | 5 | for | 7 |
| Corning IA | 3 | for | 8 |
| Decorah IA | 0 | for | 4 |
| Deer Creek MN | 2 | for | 6 |
| Eagle NE | 5 | for | 8 |
| Fairmont MN | 0 | for | 0 |
| Harlan IA | 2 | for | 4 |
| I-90 Speedway | 0 | for | 2 |
| Independence IA | 1 | for | 3 |
| Knoxville IA | 2 | for | 6 |
| Maquoketa IA | 3 | for | 7 |
| Park Jefferson SD | 2 | for | 7 |
| Webster City IA | 4 | for | 10 |
| West Liberty IA | 1 | for | 2 |
| Worthington MN | 0 | for | 0 |
| Bethany MO | 3 | for | 4 |
| Dubuque IA | 1 | for | 6 |
| East Moline IL | 4 | for | 7 |
| Fort Dodge IA | 0 | for | 5 |
| Mason City IA | 0 | for | 0 |
| Quincy IL | 4 | for | 8 |
| Interstate Speedway | 0 | for | 0 |
| Spencer IA | 2 | for | 3 |
| Vinton IA | 2 | for | 6 |
| Cresco IA | 1 | for | 1 |
| Memphis MO | 1 | for | 5 |
| Tipton | 1 | for | 1 |
| Warren County | 2 | for | 3 |
| Totals: | 99 | for | 219 |
| 45% |
As you can see the success rate has gone from 57% to 52% to 45% and I also found it interesting that the number of events scheduled up through this point in the season has gone from 231 to 221 to 219. So does that mean that promoters are learning a lesson about how hard it is to get a show in during the Spring? My perception is that has been easier to get shows in during than the Fall the past couple of years so that will be my next statistical project. Unfortunately with the forecast for the week ahead, I should have plenty of time to complete it.
Stay dry and we hope to see you somewhere soon on the Back Stretch!
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