The Sport Compacts had the highest car count at twenty-nine and they would be the first of five feature races to hit the track as the sun faded in the west. Defending Shiverfest champion Jason Ash would draw the pole position and he would lead the first two laps before Chance Bailey stopped in turn two. Following the restart two more laps would go in the book before Zyan Triplett blasted the turn two guardrail to bring out the second caution of the fifteen lap event. Then on this restart as the field went into turn one the car of Ricky Miller Jr. got sideways and then went for two or three barrel rolls before ending up on its roof. Thankfully Miller emerged from the wreckage unscathed.
Once back to racing Ash would continue to lead with Trent Orwig and Cody Phillips in hot pursuit, but as the laps ticked away first Phillips slowed and pulled to the infield and then one lap later Orwig suffered the same fate. This would allow Ash to repeat his Shiverfest win without a serious challenge as Jeffrey DeLonjay made the charge of the night coming from the eleventh row to finish second. Cody Staley finished in the third spot with Kimberly Abbott and Chuck Fullenkamp next in line.
A short field of twelve Stock Cars were up next and this one was pretty much decided as the field raced through turns one and two for the first time. At first it looked like Jeremy Pundt was going to come from the second row to take the lead, but as the tightly bunched field exited turn two there was John Oliver Jr. digging on the inside. Oliver had started seventh and he would lead the field into turns three and four for the first time in amazing fashion.
The only caution of the raced waved on lap four when Chris Wibbell spun on the back stretch and once back to racing there was no staying with Oliver as the 2018 All Iowa Points Stock Car champion took the win in dominant fashion. Abe Huls who had started from eighth would chase him in for second. Jason Cook passed Chad Krogmeier in the final two turn to take third and Andrew Schroeder driving the car that we have seen Tyler Moore in for the 2019 season finished in the fifth position.
Eleven Late Models would line up for their twenty lap main event, but we would lose one before the green flag even waved as Gunnar Frank would drop a driveshaft out of his new car during the pace lap. Nick Marolf would set the pace from the pole and he would never be challenged as the event ran off non-stop. Chad Holladay was closing in the final laps, but would settle for second while National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Ray Guss Jr. would drive the Lynn Richard owned #15R in for third. Dave Wada held off the challenges of the 2019 track champion here, Tommy Elston to finish fourth.
Twenty Modifieds for twenty laps were up next with Monroe, Wisconsin, driver Derek Thompson leading the opening lap from the pole position. A young driver who has recently stepped up from the Sport Mods, Daniel Fellows would take the point on lap two, but when he jumped the cushion in turn three two laps later contact with the guardrail would allow Tyler Madigan to get a run. As the two leaders came off of turn two there was contact that both were able to shrug off, only now the smoke was starting to roll off the right rear on the lead car apparently from the damage incurred the lap before.
As Fellows slowed on the bottom of turn four, Madigan was trapped and dropped back to the fifth spot as Thompson assumed the lead once again. Fifth-starting Denny Eckrich was now up to second and he would quickly close on Thompson before taking the lead on lap eight. The caution would wave on lap fourteen due to debris and following the restart Eckrich, Thompson and Madigan would get spread out in front of a tight pack of four cars that were battling for fourth.
That would be how they would come to the checkers with Eckrich taking his first win in a Modified followed by Dubuque Speedway regulars Thompson and Madigan. That entertaining battle for fourth would go to Jeff Waterman with Ethan Braaksma and Mike Van Genderen next in line while Bruce Hanford would close out a stellar forty-one year career in dirt track racing with an impressive drive to seventh after starting seventeenth.
The Sport Mods would close out the night with eighteen laps of racing with Logan Anderson taking the lead from the outside of the front row at the drop of the green. The caution would fly after just two laps were scored when Jace Gay spun in turn two and collected Steven Berry. Austen Becerra had started eleventh and he was on the move getting to second before the caution waved again on lap seven for a Kyle Hamelton spin in turn four.
The race was on now as Becerra went to work on Anderson following the restart and on lap ten it would be Becerra at the line to take the point. One lap later Colton Livezy slowed while running in the top five and the caution would wave to bunch the field together once again, but they would go without Brayton Carter who pulled to the infield after coming from ninth to sixth.
Anderson would battle back to take the lead on lap thirteen, Becerra would come right back to lead lap fourteen only to have Anderson return the favor one lap later. This great race for the lead would take second priority though when the engine compartment on the car of James Thompson was now engulfed in flames as he raced down the back stretch and into turn three. Thompson was able to pull the fireball to the infield in turn four and as track worker Jeff Kropf helped him to get out of the car, several fire extinguishers were exhausted before the fire finally went out. Thankfully all involved were not injured.
Three more laps of racing would close this one out and it would now be Jason Roth putting the pressure on Anderson for the lead. Roth was able to pull nearly even as the lead duo took the white flag and the two made contact with each other as they exited turn two. Both did a nice job of making a save though and it would be Anderson prevailing at the checkers ahead of Roth and Becerra. Brandon Dale would come from thirteenth to finish fourth while Bobby Six completed the top five.
A big thanks to promoters Brian and Marcie Gaylord for their hospitality and for keeping Shiverfest alive and well as a fun end of the year event for the entire family. Also, a note of appreciation to announcer Tony Paris for his kind words about what we do at Positively Racing. Make sure that you check in there tomorrow to get Ed Reichert's report from Shiverfest in One Fan's Travels, for news from this weekend's Kenny Pratt Memorial in Quincy check in with Danny Rosencrans at Racin' Down The Road and for news from the World Nationals in Marshalltown visit Dick and Joyce Eisele in the 4dFan Report.
Next up for many of us race chasers here in the upper Midwest will be the two day Turkey Dash at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction next Saturday and Sunday November 2nd and 3rd. Promoter Larry Richardson told me that he has had phone calls from all throughout the region and that if he has sunshine and temperatures in the 40's or 50's the show will go on as planned. Of course that all depends on the two rounds of potential snowfall in the area this week, so let's hope that there is minimal precipitation and that the grounds will be dry enough to go racing next weekend where, of course, we will hope to you there!
