When most race tracks over the Midwest postponed or canceled their events for Saturday, March 19th, the Humboldt Speedway and USMTS flew in the face of that and ran off their scheduled MSD Central Region opener at the Southeast Kansas oval. And it was a cool night for racing in March, no doubt about that. In fact, reinsert COLD for cool as it was down right miserable with the stiff breezes making the temperatures feel even cooler. But the racers proveiled and the hearty fans saw a racing program marked by a strong field of Modifieds and B Mods along with USRA Stock Cars and the local Pure Stocks.
Humboldt is well known for completing race programs in some pretty harsh conditions and the USMTS the same also. Many times I think Todd Staley runs off shows in marginal conditions like this just as a reward for his traveling drivers who come out and support him. The worst thing the race teams can have happen to them is to tow a long distance and then not get to race, so he usually tries if at all possible to reward them with a show even when he knows its not going to be an overwhelming success at the front gate. In fact, it was so miserable on Friday night that even Staley and Humboldt threw in the towel on that show, thus making it even more important that they try and get Saturday's event in the books.
A solid field of thirty nine USMTS Modifieds was on hand for the show, but there was no question that there would have been a number more if the Friday portion of the weekend had not been cancelled. Even so, most of the big names of the series were on hand with a solid contingent of area and regional racers and even on such a poor weather weekend, there were still cars on hand from as far away as North Dakota.
An interesting addition to the field was IMCA star Hunter Marriott, making his first USMTS start since 2012. I think the win by Mike Hanson last week with his crate motor against the big and powerful USMTS spec engines has opened up a lot of people's eyes, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more drivers that are not regular runners show up for USMTS events. After all, USMTS pays good money and if a driver is able to just bolt on a bigger spoiler and run this series, why not give it a try? This could make for some interesting racing as the summer progresses and especially when the tracks start to really slick off. Some new rivalries could be in the offing. As it turned out, Marriott ran a strong fourth in the main event and was one of the few drivers able to pass on a track that went one lane very fast.
The track was surprising on Saturday and not in a pleasant way. Probably due to all the rain lately, but the track was left open to dry most of the afternoon and the wind did what it was supposed to do, and that was to dry out the track. They didn't put much water on it, and it was noticeably drier than the normal here right from the start. They must have sensed that what happened was going to take place, as a rare farming session was scheduled before the feature races took to the track. On such a cold night, this was a rather peculiar decision but one they must have felt was necessary. As it turned out, while it made the first three feature races OK, the track took rubber almost immediately in the Modified feature and it was a one groove, hang in the rubber type of track which made passing almost impossible. It was kind of disappointing, especially when it was such a miserable night for the strong will fans that stuck it out. Jason Hughes jumped right off the pole and led the whole race, and while Ryan Gustin followed closely, unless Hughes pulled a "boner" there would be not change of leadership. The race went an extra two laps in honor of Grant Junghans.
The much anticipated debut of Arizona's Ricky Thornton Jr. was plagued by mechanical problems all night. Thornton Jr. took an early lead in his heat race, only to suddenly dive into the infield with problems and leave the track on the wrecker. Mike Jergens then took over the lead in the heat, only to have the same thing happen to him. Jergens would eventually qualify through a B while Thornton Jr. was again in the show during the B, only to make the infield dive once again and return to the trailer. Hopefully better days are ahead for him.
The USRA Ironman B Mods had a nice field of thirty three, which of course looked tiny compared to what they had on hand last week. A good three car battle for the lead between Mike Streigel, Brian McGowan and Andy Bryant kept getting ruined by the yellow flag which flew an ungodly eight times for various spins and other shenanigans. The most nonstop racing they got was the last three laps of the event where Streigel held off McGowan for the win. Southern Iowa fans probably couldn't help but note that Andrew Schroeder was running a B Mod Saturday. Schroeder is always one of the top racers in the Modifieds at Oskaloosa when I go there. When I asked them about their change in plans for 2016, it seems this was their older car, and while they had thoughts of selling it, they came up with plan B which was to turn it into a B Mod and race the Ironman Series. Osky fans shouldn't worry however, they have another car at home with a crate to run IMCA events.
Stock Cars aren't big at Humboldt and the few they have generally stay home when the Ironman Series comes to the track. Such was the case again Saturday, so that left it to about a dozen Stock Cars from central and northeast Iowa to battle it out for the win. Kyle Falck started on the pole and ran away with the event.
Fourteen Pure Stocks finished off the action with their event going off smoothly and Devin Phillips winning the main.
Other than the break to farm the track after the heats, it was a smoothly run off program as would be expected at Humboldt. An early starting time was called for due to the anticipated cold weather, however they were quite a bit behind on that for whatever reason with the first green flag actually flying about forty minutes last. Still, the show was completed by about nine fifteen at which time my car thermometer said it was thirty four degrees. Factor in the wind chill and we're talking mid twenties. Lovely.
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