Modified Thriller Highlights Midwest Madness In Spencer

Just a few weeks ago we were wondering if it was ever going to rain again in eastern Iowa as the first half of June was the driest on record in several locations. Now we are wondering if it is ever going to stop raining and the good news is that the forecast for the upcoming Independence Day weekend is looking nice. The weather has forced me to make some longer than normal road trips to get a show in here and there and on Tuesday night I finally made it to the Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway in Spencer for the first time ever and with that, I have now been to every active "oval only" track in the state of Iowa!

The third of five nights on the 2021 Midwest Madness Tour would draw in an interesting mix of 165 cars in five divisions and not only would the night allow me to visit a track for the first time, it would also allow me to see several drivers in person for the first time, names that I had only read in the results before. Even though it is a county fair facility, it has more of a "state fair" feel to it with a huge covered grandstand featuring stadium seats plus a big open bleacher seating section toward turn four. The track looks to be about 4/10th-mile with decent banking and it stayed multi-grooved all night producing some great racing, especially in the thirty lap IMCA Modified main event.

After two turn one cautions, the third try would get the race underway with some "Sioux City Excitement" Chris Abelson getting out to an early lead. Another Sioux City driver and a rookie in the Modified division for 2021, Cody Thompson would make his way up from sixth to mount a challenge and on lap seventeen they would race down the back stretch wheel-to-wheel with Abelson down low and Thompson to his right. Neither driver gave an inch as they charged into turn three and while Thompson was able to catch the cushion, Abelson slid sideways and nearly made the save before having to stand on the brakes to keep from clipping the third place car of Jeremy Mills who was taking evasive action. 

On the restart Thompson's high line looked like it would allow him to pull away from the field, but when the caution waved on lap twenty the race would change again. Thompson would take a low line into turn one on the restart before drifting to the cushion in turn two and that would allow Kyle Brown to drive underneath him and take the lead down the back stretch. Back to the cushion Thompson would battle back though only to have Brown come up to block his momentum down the straightaways. As the green flag waved to indicate two laps to go, Thompson was able to squeeze between Brown and the universal barriers exiting turn four, even knocking the right edge of his rear spoiler down as he took the lead.

One last caution would soon follow though as Wisconsin's Marcus Hoeppner spun in turn one and we were now poised for a green, white, checkers restart. This time Thompson did not drift to the cushion in turn two, but Brown still had a run and he would drive under the leader in turns three and four squeezing Thompson out to the barriers down the front stretch and under the white flag. When Cody went a bit too high entering turn one, Kyle took advantage and would lead down the back stretch and the large crowd would come to its feet as Thompson made one last high line charge. Brown knew it was coming going to the cushion to block, so Thompson tried to cross him over only to come up just a car length short at the checkers.

What a race! 

Jeremy Mills had the best seat in the house in third and he was the first to stop and congratulate Brown in victory lane. Another recent Sport Mod graduate, Dakota Sproul from Hays, Kansas, started twelfth and finished fourth while Kelly Shryock passed Lucas Lamberies on the final restart to finish fifth. Another driver who has moved up to the Modifieds from the Sport Mods in the past two years, the Wisconsin based Lamberies had come from the twenty-third starting spot and was the reason for the first caution when he spun in turn one on the first try at starting the race.

The twenty lap Sport Mod feature set the tone for the evening as the first of five with Nebraska's Justin Svoboda and local driver Gregg Hamman swapping the lead early. Svoboda would take control following a lap five restart and it was then that I noticed that Matthew Looft was racing in the fifth position. That was notable because Looft had started from the outside of the ninth row after transferring from a B-Main and his march to the front would continue picking up two positions on lap twelve before taking the second spot with six laps remaining. 

The leader was a sitting duck now and Looft would drive under Svoboda in turn two to take the lead on lap sixteen then cruise on in for the impressive win. Cory Hoogland dropped Svoboda to third in the closing laps, Alec Fett would finish in fourth with Cam Reimers coming from the seventh row to take fifth.

Front row starters Damon Richards and David Smith would swap the early lead in the twenty-five lap Stock Car headliner with Smith then leading the field who had mostly settled on the bottom groove. Young phenom Dallon Murty was the first to try the high line while running fourth, but when he had no luck that was not a good sign and it looked like this would be a catfish parade. Derek Green had other ideas though as he soon stepped to the outside and after a couple of laps he started to have some success and was now coming to the front quickly. On lap ten Green sailed around Smith for the lead and only a caution on lap sixteen, one that he might have had a hand in when the lapped car of McCain Jennings spun on the back stretch, would slow Green's drive to victory lane.

The battle for second over the closing laps was fantastic with six cars in tight formation. Justin Luinenberg would prevail to claim the runner-up finish just ahead of Richards and Murty made a nifty move in the final turns to go from sixth to fourth, Smith would compete the top five.

With 32 events on the schedule it was bound to be a long night and thank goodness both the Sport Compacts and the Hobby Stocks would run each of their features green to checkers.

Drake Bohlmeyer drew the pole for the ten lap Compact finale and he was never challenged cruising to the win. Jaedon Erickson chased him in for second, Jeffrey DeLonjay appeared to make the long tow from Quincy, Illinois, payoff with a third pace finish, but he was disqualified when he failed to report to post-race tech. That would put Zach Bohlmeyer in third, Logan Kelly fourth and Kaytee DeVries in fifth.

Josh Sidles started on the front row of the Hobby Stock finale and he would close out the night with a dominating performance to take the win. Cory Probst moved from ninth to second, but he could not track down Sidles to make a challenge while Luke Ramsey came from twelfth to third. Current All Iowa Points and IMCA National Points leader Daniel Wauters had a tough night pulling out numbers as he started from the back of his heat and from twelfth in the feature, but the eastern Iowa driver passed a lot of cars on the night finishing fourth in the feature while Drew Barglof was fifth. 

The final checkers waved at 11:30 and believe me it would have been much later than that if not for the fact that Mike Van Genderen was serving as the Race Director for the night. The Midwest Madness Tour continues tonight at the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta before closing out on Thursday at the Stuart Speedway with the annual Ron Little Memorial. 

Plenty of action on the schedule for the Independence Day weekend both with weekly shows and specials so make sure that you get out and support the track of your choice. Stay safe and we will see you again soon on the Back Stretch.

Boone Does It Again, Race While Most Cannot

I have eight Saturday night tracks that are closer to my southeast Iowa home than the 180 mile trip to the Boone Speedway and that is why I seldom find my way to the Home of the IMCA Super Nationals for a weekly show. Each time that I do though I sit there and wonder why I don't come here more often. From purely a car count standpoint Boone is rivaled only by the Eagle Raceway in this region and with the lure of getting a night in to do some testing prior to the Super Nationals, you just really never know who might show up on any given Saturday night. I am a huge fan of that scenario, something that I have really missed over the past few years at one of my favorite tracks since they made the decision to go unsanctioned. Add in the fact that they have the equipment to "farm the track" in record time, or on this night save the track after a showtime shower, and the Boone Speedway is an ideal weekly show where the fast guys start mid-pack.

This was another one of those "watch the radar" days and as track after track pulled the plug due to saturated grounds and a forecast for more precipitation, by two o'clock I was down to Harlan and Boone. So my plan at that point was to start driving and by the time that I made it to Des Moines I would make a decision as to where to go depending upon how the radar looked. Just a few minutes later though that plan changed when Harlan had to pull the plug due to another shower so now I could wait until 3:15 to leave with my last backup plan being the Warren County Speedway in Indianola.

After driving through heavy rain just east of Des Moines I figured that my backup plan was no longer a possibility so I pressed on to Boone and as I arrived in town the clouds had thickened, lowered and were steadily misting as hot laps drew to a close. I waited in the parking lot as the drizzle continued listening to announcer Jerry Van Sickel talk about the death defying stunt that he will attempt here on the Fourth of July where he will, without concern for his own safety, vault himself up and over fifteen double decker busses that are scheduled to arrive in Boone sometime this week. It will be a stunning loss to the racing world if he is unsuccessful as Jerry is truly one of the most entertaining announcers that we know. I wish you the best Jerry, if only Ryan Clark were around to talk some sense into you, like he usually does.

By around 7:15 the mist had subsided and the track crew had the quarter-mile ready to race so even with weather that would have rained out most any other facility we were ready to go racing just fifteen minutes later than scheduled with 118 cars in five classes despite the threatening weather and a big money weekend for Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods up in Minnesota. Qualifying races clicked off in quick fashion and we then came to the featured event of the night, the Hawkeye Challenge, where the top four drivers in points in the five weekly classes (Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Mod Lites) were joined on the track by four Sprint Car drivers that had been invited to compete in a race where each class was to complete a certain number of laps.

The Sprint Cars would start up front and they would have to lap the rest of the field at least four times to get to their twenty-five lap target while the Modifieds I believe were set to go twenty-one laps, Stock Cars, twenty, etc., etc. It is a race that is unique to Boone for sure and on the first try at a start the Sprint Cars nearly eliminated themselves in turns one and two as Mike Johnston clipped the rear end of Joel Thorpe and then drove up and over the track taking Mike Houseman Jr. with him. The incident would eliminate Houseman and the field was again assembled to start.

There really is no way to describe this race from a keyboard as you really have no concept of who is leading who, but it is truly amazing to see just how much faster the Sprint Cars are and how patient they need to be as they pick their way through the field. I can't even imagine being in a Mod Lite and all of a sudden having a big right rear wheel of a Sprinter, nearly as tall as my car, sliding up toward me in a turn! Once restarted the race ran without incident and once both the electronic and hand scoring was reconciled it was determined that the Sprint Cars had finished one, two and three with Johnston the $1,000 winner over Ben Woods and Joel Thorpe. Johnathan Logue and Izac Mallicoat were next in line with their Sport Mods and Josh May was sixth with a Mod Lite.

Unique, yes. Crazy, somewhat, but then again they do crazy things here in Boone like Van Sickel risking life and limb as well of the love of a gorgeous celebrity just to try to out do Evel Knievel. He has so much to lose next Sunday.

It was now time to go feature racing with the now IMCA sanctioned Mod Lites up first. My Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele tell me that the Mod Lites will be included for the first time in the 2021 Super Nationals and that they will run their preliminaries during Saturday's Prelude event with last chance races and their first "Big Dance" coming on the Labor Day Monday opening night. It wouldn't surprise me to see more than a hundred of the Mod Lites here to compete for their first ever IMCA Super Nationals title.

On this night nobody had anything for Bryan Zehm who rocketed to the lead on the opening lap from his fifth starting spot and then went unchallenged over fifteen laps to take the win. The battle for second was very entertaining though as Josh May, Randy Bryan and Mike Kennedy slugged it out in three-wide fashion. May would prevail to be the runner-up and when Bryan slowed and pulled to the infield on the final lap that would put Kennedy in third. Jon Braathun recovered from issues in his heat race to come from thirteenth to fourth and Cody Yaw was fifth.

Sixty-year-old Tommy Lathrop was having the drive of his life leading the first thirteen laps of the Sport Mod feature and having seen the personable driver from Ottumwa compete often over the past few decades I couldn't help but pull for him to take the win. And, if not for a couple of late restarts, I think that he would have found victory lane, but he could not hold off Johnathan Logue who came from the twelfth starting spot to win his fourth straight here in Boone. Young Izac Mallioat would drop Lathrop to third at the checkers as Chris Burke finished fourth and another young driver, Camdan Vincent, scored his best finish yet in fifth.

Mike and Rowdee post race - Stolen from MVG's Facebook

One of the hardest working people in short track racing is Mike Van Genderen. He owns and promotes the Stuart Speedway on Wednesday nights, he is the track prep man and the race director for the RaceXR events in Vegas, Bristol and Texas and on Saturday nights he still finds time to bring his IMCA Modified and his son's Stock Car to Boone to do some racing. After doing the promoting in Corning on Saturday nights last year, MVG has been trying to get dialed back in here at Boone and on this night not only would he collect $500 as the top finishing Modified in the Hawkeye Challenge, he would also take the win in the twenty lap main event for his class. Starting eighth on the grid, Van Genderen quickly moved to the front passing Ronnie Hults on lap eight on his way to the win. Cory Sauerman was able to close the gap late and made one last look on the bottom in turns three and four on the final lap as he finished second after starting ninth. Friday's winner at Marshalltown, Paul Nagle made the podium in third with Jeremy Mills taking fourth after starting from the eighth row. Tony Hofbauer came from the sixth row to finish fifth.

Have I mentioned how much I love the weekly lineup procedures for IMCA?

After completing his victory lane interview Van Genderen nervously stayed in the field as his fourteen-year-old son Rowdee would start the Stock Car main event from the outside of row one. In just his fifth night of racing RVG had earned the spot after nearly winning his heat race and he would cross the stripe with his fellow front row starter Mike House side-by-side for the lead on lap one. House would take the point on lap two as Rowdee got a bit high and dropped to fifth, then two laps later he misjudged his entrance into turn three a bit and got into the back of Devin Smith sending both drivers for a spin. A lesson learned by a young man to keep your eye on for the future.

House would continue to lead the field after the restart, but as lap ten was scored he and Kyle Everts would make contact going down the front stretch. House was able to keep from nosing into the wall while Everts drove up and over turn one and then on to the pit area. David Smith took advantage of the situation to steal the lead and on the following lap House would spin in turn two.

Once back to green David's brother Donavon Smith would keep the pressure on throughout, but there would be no passing the eldest of the phenomenal Smith brothers from Lake City as he scored the win. Matt West would edge out Tyler Pickett for third at the checkers while Jay Schmidt filled out the top five and Devin Smith battled his way back up to sixth.

David Smith too would watch his young son Mike start the Hobby Stock feature as he completed tech inspection from the infield and with a year or two of experience already under his belt this one would turn out better as Mike charged from the eighth starting spot to take the win. I had made an early exit to get started on the drive home, but could still hear Van Sickel's call as I filled up at the Casey's across the street. I just hope that it won't be the last time that I hear his voice. Oh Doctor.......

Shaun Wirtz, Matt McDonald, Solomon Bennett and Luke Ramsey were the top five in the Hobby Stock finale.

It is always a pleasure to watch a night of racing with Dick and Joyce Eisele and Warren and Carol Busse and always remember that if you are looking for the stories of race nights in Oskaloosa, Marshalltown and Boone you can find them on the 4dFan Report. Here is Dick and Joyce's take on last night. And surprisingly Boone was not the only track in Iowa to race last night as the rain missed Indianola as well and my backup plan would have still been in play if needed.

A family reunion with the chance to spend four days with my grandkids will keep me busy over the Holiday weekend, but before that I am considering another road trip that could take me to Spencer for the first time ever on Tuesday before a return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Wednesday.

Hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!

 

Cooney Rules Cresco; Panos, Hovden and Larson Score In Front of a Mighty Howard County Fair Crowd

Three hours and ten minutes for the drive up. Two hours and fifty minutes of racing from the start of hot laps at 6:30 to the final checkered flag at 9:20. Three hours and twenty-five minutes for the drive home with the delay due to torrential rains over the final twenty-five miles. All on a Thursday night where I would still get up for my morning workout and be ready for a conference call at work at 8 a.m. Most people, including my racing friends would consider that to be "crazy", but this was a special whirlwind road trip for me. It was my first return to an event that was so special to me over a four year run from 1998 through 2001 and if the 17-part series on the National Kidney Foundation Heartland Tour for a Cure didn't catch your attention over the winter, I do hope that you will take some time to check it out now beginning with this first "chapter" 

In it you will see that the first person to ever book one of our events was Tom Barnes and The Mighty Howard County Fair and in each of the three following seasons Tom would be the first to book the Fair's date into the schedule. We had so much fun coming to Cresco each year for one of the best county fairs that you will find anywhere and amidst all of the people we made some great friends on the Tour who called Cresco their hometown and, or their home track. Two of them, Steve Holthaus and Jeff Larson, were there last night and if not for the 8 a.m. conference call the next morning I would have went to the pits afterwards to track them down. Believe me, I knew that one Hamms would lead to another and that it would be impossible for me to break away in a reasonable amount of time, so instead we will need to have that reunion some other time in the near future!

My original plan for the night was to head for the Spoon River Speedway in Canton, Illinois, for a UMP Summer Nationals show, but when rain pushed that back to Wednesday July 7th I decided to check the weather for a potential trip to Cresco. At three o'clock future radar showed storms developing right over Cresco around race time and then pushing south, but I wasn't about to let "future radar" keep me home and when I arrived at the fairgrounds just prior to 6:30 The Mighty Howard County Fair was bustling with activity. There were lines at every food vendor, the carnival was hopping and there were lines at both the ticket window and the entrance to the grandstands for the night's featured attraction, the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series Late Models proudly supported by USRA sanctioned Stock Cars, B-Mods and Hobby Stocks.

I bought my ticket and set a blanket down to claim a seat before heading out to find something good to eat and by the time I returned midway through hot laps the crowd had pretty much filled the grandstands. Hearing Les Askelson again on the P.A. made it official, it was great to be back at The Mighty Howard County Fair!

The track was nice and racy during heat race action and with some extra moisture added and packed in on the high side during intermission we were ready for four feature races with the B-Mods up first for twenty laps. Dayton Swatek and Dom Mueller would bring the field to green but it would be third starting Jason Schlangen who would take the lead on the opening lap. The hometown favorite, Schlangen was dominant in his heat race and tried to open up another big early lead before the caution waved on lap three for an Adam Mietzner spin.

On the restart Brandon Hare found the cushion to his liking and passed at least four cars in turns one and two as he continued his march to the front after starting eighth. Sixth starting Dan Hovden would follow and we soon had a great three car battle for the lead with Schlangen trying to ward off challenges from both high and low. Hare would sail around the outside of Schlangen in turn two to take the lead on lap twelve while Hovden would use the low side to drop the former leader to third.

That low line would prove to be the better one two laps later as Hovden took the point on lap fourteen and three laps later the caution would wave when Jett Sorenson stopped on the front stretch with a broken left tie rod. On the restart Hare would again try to the top for some momentum, but when he slipped a little too wide he gave up several spots so at the checkers it would be Hovden taking the win over Troy Hovey, Schlangen, Ben Moudry and Hare. While Hovden had started the race from sixth, he actually went too high in turn one on the opening lap and had dropped to fourteenth going down the back stretch so his drive to the win was even more impressive than the stats would show.

The SLMR Late Models would go green next for thirty laps with Darrel DeFrance and Jeff Tharp earning the front row after each were impressive moving toward the front in their heat races and earning those passing points. Tharp would lead the first two circuits, but Todd Cooney was on a mission tonight and flew around him on the outside of turn four to take the lead. After sitting out most of 2020 with health issues that he had experienced prior to the pandemic, Cooney is back and getting faster each night it seems as he tried to pull away from the field. Another veteran driver, Dave Eckrich would not let him out of his sights though and as the duo worked traffic mid-race Eckrich was within five car lengths of the lead before the chaser drifted high in turn four and lost a lot of ground.

That miscue would be the difference on this night as after recovering Eckrich gradually closed the gap once again and as the green flag waved signifying two laps to go he took a look under the leader entering turn one. Cooney would fight off that challenge and after taking the white flag Eckrich would again make a run on the bottom in turns one and two. There would be no mistake from Cooney though as he would hold his line and take the $3,000 victory. Dave's brother Andy Eckrich would be a distant third, Tharp would hold on for fourth while series point leader Justin Kay finished fifth after starting seventh. Last week's winner at Eldon, Chad Holladay was sixth, Jason Rauen finished seventh, Jason Hahne moved from thirteenth to eighth, DeFrance fell to ninth and Jeff Aikey rounded out the top ten.

Fifteen laps of Hobby Stock action was up next with B.J. Dahl leading the way early before Steve Larson powered by on the bottom of turns one and two on lap four. Josh Ludeking would be the man on the move coming from eighth and he be Larson's primary challenger late in the race, but Larson would hold him off on a green, white, checkers restart to take the win. After winning his heat race in fine fashion earlier in the night, former NKF Tour champion Steve Holthaus would finish in third with Paul Seabrooke and Austin Hoeft taking fourth and fifth.

Stock Cars would close out the evening for eighteen laps of non-stop action with pole-sitter Lynn Panos opening up a big lead while Kevin Donlan and Dillon Anderson raced side-by-side for several laps battling for second. This left both Brady Link and Mitch Hovden looking for racing room behind them and by the time Hovden cleared Donlan and Anderson for second on lap ten, Panos had nearly a full straightaway advantage.

I though that we would see Hovden cut into that lead, but instead he had to deal with a renewed challenge from Donlan for second and that would allow Panos to walk away with a convincing and popular victory with the large crowd. Hovden would prevail in the battle for second over Donlan while Link would finish fourth ahead of Tom Schmitt.

It was invigorating to be back at a county fair race with fans young and old filling the stands and enjoying the action. And from my experience at The Mighty Howard County Fair twenty years ago, I knew that it would be well worth the Thursday night road trip! Thank you Tom Barnes for being the first to book the NKF Tour each year. Thank you Lynn Panos, Kevin Donlan and a few others who were in action tonight for racing with the Tour twenty years ago and for still going strong today. Thank you Steve Holthaus and Jeff Larson for being two of the most inspiring people that I have ever met, I am sorry that I did not come over to say "Hi".

Next time my friends!

Tonight's Sprint Invader show at the Davenport Speedway has been washed out for the second year in a row and hopefully southeast Iowa can avoid another drencher today, tonight and tomorrow so that the Invaders can run at 34 Raceway Saturday night. If they race, I hope to see you there.

 

Strothman, Banks, Heckart, Wauters and Staley Beat The Storm At CJ

I had a plan for Friday night and I was already a half hour into the drive when I started to reassess. With the Lee County Speedway already canceled as of early afternoon the possibility that some of those cars might swell the field at the CJ Speedway started to change my mind and once I realized that I would be able to watch the feature highlights on YouTube the next day of my original destination (which I just did, it was good race), I decided that being two hours closer to home and being able to catch up with several friends in Columbus Junction was a better option for me. The decision was made, so after wasting away an hour at the Riverside casino I earmarked my four dollars of winnings to go toward my tenderloin for the night and headed to the track.

While a decent field of cars filed in I was a bit surprised that only two Donnellson regulars, Jared Heule and Jason Cook made the trip and perhaps that was because of the storms that were still in the forecast to develop over southeast Iowa after nine o'clock. Promoter Larry Richardson was aware of the forecast as well and the show was moved along at a sharp pace with features ready to hit the track around 8:45. 

The Sport Compacts were up first and the twelve lap event would include two of the top ten drivers in the state right now in Cristian Grady and Logan Clausen, but it would be front row starter Alex Hayes that would jump out to a big lead. Defending track champion Cody Staley started ninth and was the driver on the move passing Jared Heule for second at the mid-race mark, but he had nearly a straightaway to make up on Hayes.

Just three laps later Staley was on the rear bumper of the leader and ready to pounce when the caution came out for Heule who had spun in turn two. On the restart both Staley and Grady were dead even with Hayes as they took the green so starter Doug Haack called it back and on the second try Hayes was able to lead the pack into turn one. He would hold off the challenges for one more lap, but it would be Staley taking the lead coming to the white and he would go on to victory over Hayes and Grady. Clausen picked up the fourth spot while Darin Smith came from eighth to finish fifth.

Tylar Heckart - Photo stolen from Cory Benge's proud Dad Facebook post

The Sport Mods were the largest class of the night with seventeen and they also had the most issues come feature time with four cautions and one red flag to clean up fluids on the track over the first five scored laps. Brendan Schultheis had lead lap one before yielding to the fourth starting Tyler Heckart and once the yellow fever had subsided the driver from Ottumwa was well in control and this would be Heckart's first win after taking a couple of years off. Current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson found himself restarting at the back of the field early and he would rally to pass Troy Philpott late for second. Colton Livezy would take fourth after starting from the fifth row and Todd Hansen filled out the top five.

The Hobby Stocks would go fifteen laps non-stop and this class too would feature the current All Iowa Points leader in Daniel Wauters. Wauters is also the current National points leader for the IMCA Hobby Stocks and he would have to work hard to add to his win total tonight. After nearly spinning in turn two on the opening lap and falling back to third, pole-sitter Dan Kessler would come charging back to lead the field to the stripe and set the pace. Randy Lamar would keep the heat on Kessler as Wauters moved from fifth to third and the move of the race came on lap six.

As Lamar got loose exiting turn two he would have three handfuls of steering wheel trying to recover as Wauters charged by on the outside. Then, when Kessler went to the middle entering turn three Wauters went to the cushion and the two drivers from Tipton were side-by-side in turn four. It wouldn't be a true Hobby Stock race without some rubbing, but Wauters was able to keep his car off the wall exiting the turn and he would take the lead on lap six. Kessler tried to keep pace, but Wauters would pull away for his eighteenth win of a season that is not yet halfway finished. Jared Miller would chase Kessler in for third, Lamar would hold on for fourth and Jacob Floyd was a distant fifth.

The Modifieds were up next for twenty laps with Kyle Madden showing the way early on. Brandon Banks started fourth and was soon closing in to challenge for the lead throwing a perfect slider on Madden in turns one and two to take the point on lap six. With Banks pulling away Jarrett Brown was working hard to get by Madden for second and then trying to close the gap, but he would come up about five car lengths short at the checkers as Banks scored his second straight victory here at CJ. Madden would join the podium in third with Dakota Simmons and Dalton Simonson next in line.

Those little green blobs on the radar were now starting to grow and when the Stock Cars completed their parade lap the lightning started to flash as if on cue. Corey Strothman who has apparently had some bad luck here thus far in 2021 landed on the pole of the lineup that had the top ten qualifiers inverted by average points and he opened up a nice lead in the opening laps. The only caution of the race came on lap three when contact from Austin Kemper sent Johnny Spaw for a spin in turn two and both drivers were sent to the rear of the fourteen car field.

Once back to green Strothman was able to drive away as the battles for position behind him entertained the crowd and with the lightning increasing the checkered flags waved over the winner Strothman. Adam Bell came from ninth to second, Kirk Kinsley passed Shane Richardson late to finish third and Richardson settled for fourth after starting eleventh. Spaw would battle back to complete the top five.

With a nice crowd on hand on this sultry June evening I hustled out to my car to beat the rush and as I was driving out of town my phone popped up with a weather alert stating that a Severe Thunderstorm Warning had just been issued for Louisa County. It is always nice when a race program can beat the weather!

A big thanks to Larry Richardson and his entire crew for their hospitality and a special thanks to announcer Jerry Mackey for his kind words about Positively Racing. I hope to be back at CJ sometime before then, but you want to mark your calendar for Thursday August 19th as that is when the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series event has been rescheduled for at CJ Speedway. The Late Models have been rained out twice over the past two seasons here so hopefully the third time will be a charm. Also, the final race of the 2021 season in the state of Iowa is currently scheduled for here on Saturday November 6th with the annual Turkey Dash.

After six races in seven nights I am now due for a break so my next action will come next Friday and Saturday June 25th and 26th for a Sprint Invaders doubleheader. Friday night we will be on the quarter-mile at the Davenport Speedway and on Saturday it is back to the Invaders home track at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Get on out and support the sport!

Busy Qualifying Night Sets The Stage For Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel At Stuart

It was a busy Tuesday night of racing action at the Stuart Speedway as eight drivers in each of three divisions, the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks, locked themselves in to tonight's Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel. The quick quarter-mile was in prime racing condition on the night producing plenty of three and four wide action with eight of the ten feature races running green to checkers!

Four-wide Sport Mods from left to right Josh Appel, Chris Burke, Mike Dullard and Colby Heishman - Barry Johnson photo

Two qualifying features for the Sport Mods were up first with the top four finishers in each locking in to Wednesday's $2,500-to-win Dirt Duel. In this first twenty lapper rising star Izac Mallicoat would lead the way for the first eight laps before falling victim to a perfect slide job from third starting Dylan Van Wyk. A rash of three cautions in the final half of the race kept the field bunched together and while Van Wyk went relatively unchallenged to take the win, the battle behind him was intense running three-wide to determine the final three transfers and in the end it was Colby Fett coming from ninth to second, Cam Reimers from eighth to third and Jake Sachau held on for fourth. Mitchell Morris came up one spot short of a transfer after starting tenth.

The second Sport Mod qualifying feature was a classic battle between two drivers from east of I-35 as Shane Paris and Brayton Carter seemed to never be more than a car length apart from each other most of the race. Switching lines and throwing sliders at each other saw Paris hold the advantage at the line the first sixteen laps, but when Carter was finally able to complete the pass with three to go he would pull away to claim the win. Paris will regroup for Wednesday after his runner-up finish while current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson chased them in for third. Brett Vanderheiden made it a three car battle for the lead in the early laps and he would make the show in fourth while Missouri's Tim Eaton finished in the fifth position.

There were four cautions in the first Sport Mod feature and three in the second, but the remaining eight races would all go green to checkers as promoter Mike Van Genderen kept the track in prime condition with some well timed watering on another day that saw high temperatures and low humidity here in central Iowa.

The first qualifier for the Stock Cars saw young phenom Dallon Murty start from the pole position and while he would lead all twenty laps, it was far from a "walk away". Minnesota's Derek Green kept the heat on Murty and on lap seventeen he had a big run off the top of turn four. As Murty went around the slowing car of Bill Atcheson on the outside, Green aimed for the inside and as Atcheson started to edge toward the infield Green had to go even lower thus pinching off his momentum and ending his one best shot at making a run at the leader. Dallon would take the win over Green with his father Damon Murty coming home in third. Illinois traveler Abe Huls would lock himself in finishing fourth while Michael Jaennette will have to go through the qualifying process tonight after finishing in fifth.

The second Stock Car main belonged to Chanse Hollatz as the driver from Clear Lake started from the pole and stayed just ahead of Elijah Zevenbergen the entire distance. The battles for the final two qualifying positions kept the crowd's interest in this one as close quarters action included some beating and banging with drivers trying to lock in for Wednesday's $3,000-to-win finale. At the checkers it would be Buck Schafroth taking third after starting from eighth. Eastern Iowa veteran Joe Zrostlik would take the final transfer in fourth and Missouri hot shoe Austin Bouzek will have to qualify again tonight after finishing fifth.

Twenty-five Hobby Stocks signed in so the two qualifying races was more about the opportunity to start in the first four rows for tonight's $1,500-to-win Duel as unless some more drivers show up tonight, all will run the finale. Jack Phillips would lead the first two laps in the first qualifier before Dylan Nelson took the lead. Nelson had started fifth, but he wasn't the only driver on the move as Jeremy Purdy was riding the high line coming from eighth to challenge for the lead. Purdy would drive around Nelson to take the lead on lap seven and he would hold it to the checkers to take the win. Nelson was the runner-up while Jason Kohl capped off a frustrating night where he was taken out a couple of times by qualifying in third. Eric Stanton would finish fourth with Tom Killen Jr. fifth.

There was no touching Braden Richards who paced the field for all eighteen laps to win the second Hobby Stock qualifier. Aaron Rudolph was not far back throughout, but could never mount a challenge as he finished in second and Brandon Cox finished where he started in third. Tanner Dixon found redemption as he came from twelfth to finish fourth after being black flagged while leading his heat race due to fuel spilling out of his car. Solomon Bennett filled out the top five.

Sport Compacts and Mod Lites ran full shows on Tuesday night and in the twelve lap Sport Compact feature Braxton Wallace picked up his first career feature win in dominating fashion winning by more than a straightaway over Mark Smith who had worked his way up from seventh. Owen Richards crossed the line in third, but after he failed tech that moved Andrew Mills into the third spot. Harold Robb Sr. and Curtis Masterson would complete the top five. 

Bakersfield, California, driver Kaden Cochrun dominated the Mod Lites on this night winning both the heat race and the feature without a challenge. The Raffurtys from Kansas City, Dillon and Michael finished second and third respectively with Josh May and Nathan Wolfe completing the top five.

There was still some bonus racing to be had as the Manufacturer's Race for both the Sport Mods and the Stock Cars would complete the evening. Izac Mallicoat would charge from fourth to the front early in the Sport Mod event, but there was Brayton Carter coming up fast on the top line after starting eighth and he would cruise to the lead on lap four. It was all Carter from there as the defending All Iowa Points champion held his second victory lane photo, including a dog no less, on the night. Mallicoat, Dylan Van Wyk, Cory Pestotnik and Jake Sachau were the top five.

Can anybody beat the Murtys in the Stock Cars? It will be a tough task tonight as father and son, Damon and Dallon finished first and second in the eighteen lap Manufacturer's Race and it wasn't easy as Damon had started fourth and Dallon came from seventh. Michael Jaennette came from eighth to third, early race leader Bob Daniels finished fourth and Derek Green had another impressive run in fifth.

After all of the action on Tuesday, you definitely do not want to miss Wednesday's finale of the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel at the Stuart Speedway with hot laps at 6:45 and racing to follow. And if you are not able to attend in person, you can also tune in at RaceXR. IMCA Modifieds and the Outlaw Mini Mods will be there tonight as well.

I will be filling in for Tony Paris who will be off calling some harness racing so, just like when I grab the mic at a Sprint Invaders show, the notebook will be left in the car. It will come back out on Thursday though when I have to decide between two great shows available to fans in southeast Iowa. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars will be at 34 Raceway in West Burlington and the Hoker Trucking SLMR series will bring Late Models back to the Super Half-Mile in Eldon for the first time in many years. Two "must see" shows on a Thursday night within forty-five minutes from my home, have I mentioned how lucky I am to be a race fan in Iowa?

Get out and support the tracks of your choice!