After a two plus week break to refresh and rearm their equipment, the "Road Warriors" of the United States Modified Touring Series returned to action on Wednesday night, July 17 at the the track located right at the home base of the USMTS, The Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Iowa.
Along with the Modifieds of the USMTS, the Iron Man Series for the B Modifieds and Stock Cars would also be in action along with the local Hobby Stocks.
My assumption would be that there would be some extra pressure felt by the sanctioning body with this race being held at the home track of the organization plus Todd Staley, the head of the USMTS, taking over as the promoter of the Hamilton County Speedway this year. However, quite the opposite seemed to be the case, as everything seemed to be moving at a very leisurely pace with the pit gate not opening at the advertised time and the first green flag flying nearly a half hour late. However, after that time the pace was quick with very few, if any beaks in the racing and the final checkered flag flew just after 10:30 pm.
Thirty Modifieds signed in to race for the show on Tuesday. Actually, all the sign in sheets showed thirty one cars but Ryan Gustin, although he was listed as being there on paper, was no where to be found in Webster City in the real world. The numbers might be slightly misleading as around ten of the participants were regulars at Webster City on Saturday nights and were running under transition rules which means that when the true USMTS cars show up, they haven't a bloody chance in Hades of winning but do add to the numbers and can race for a nice check and help fill out the field.
The top twelve in USMTS points were on hand so the names that were advertised to be on hand did deliver and the fans got to see the best of the racers that run with this group. Four heats and two B features set the starting field for the main event which started the odd number of twenty three cars on this night.
The Modifieds finished up the program with their thirty five lap main event. Once the racing got started track officials did no additional track prep except to roll in the cushion a couple of times early with the heats and the track made some interesting changes as the night progressed, changes that would affect the outcome of the main event for the Modifieds.
Stormy Scott would start on the pole and lead the early first few laps with Lucas Schott moving up to challenge him. One of the bright young stars in Modified racing right now, Schott would jump up to the high side of the track where the Stock Cars were running and blast past S. Scott to take over the lead. Soon joined by Johnny Scott, the top three would pull away from the pack and form their own race. Schott would continue to lead but the Scott brothers were applying plenty of pressure.
The first yellow on lap fifteen would be significant as Johnny would go to the top side on the restart and drive around his brother Stormy who seemed to be more "married" to the low groove. Stormy then settled in for third as the laps clicked by.
Soon after, the track quickly changed as it started to take rubber and the leaders all dropped to the low side. With the last twenty one laps running green to checkered, the leaders soon got into lapped traffic and that is when things got dicey for Schott. He was running up on the back of the lapped cars but couldn't get past them and Johnny moved out just enough so that Schott could see him, even though there was little to no chance that Johnny could make an outside pass.
Schott, however, felt the pressure to pick up the pace and he made the decision to try and pass a slower car approaching turn one. However, as soon as he got out of the rubber he was in trouble and Johnny blasted under him to take over the lead.
Thus the new running order was established and that's the way it would stay the last few laps. Johnny had his own issues with a lapped car but he chose to tuck in behind that car on each corner when he couldn't get past down the straights. This proved to be the wise thing and on the final lap that car slipped up the track, Johnny drove under and past him and was then home free. Schott finished a close second with a lesson probably learned and Stormy was third.
Rodney Sanders was surprisingly never a real factor but he did catch the top three late in the race when the lap times got much slower as they fought with the slower cars. Casey"Duece" Arneson borrowed his brother's car and had a solid top five finish. The race was a smooth one with only the two yellows and only four of the starting field weren't around at the finish. The track didn't match the expectations set by the race I attended here several weeks ago but that could have been the product of many different things including such things as the weather.
An interesting Stock Car feature saw an outcome that was both surprising and unusual. When is the last time you saw the promoter of a race also win a main event? It's been a while for me too although if you were a regular fan at Hamilton County Speedway, you saw it again just a few weeks ago.
Todd Staley, the head of the USMTS, has been "playing" with a Stock Car for a number of years. He doesn't get to race too often but perhaps more so this year due to his promoting at Webster City. After a nine year break, he won the Stock Car feature there just a couple of weeks ago and backed it with another win on Tuesday night. He drew the outside pole and led all twenty laps of the race, although it was anything but an easy win.
When the Stock Cars were running their main, the top side was very dominant and Staley used his preferred starting spot well. Lap after lap, he would pound the cushion up against the guard rail and continue to hold off Dillon Anderson who was challenging him. But Staley maintained a very smooth line and didn't let the pressure bother him.
A late race yellow changed things when with four laps to go, Kevin Donlan took a chance on the restart and tried the inside line. It worked well and he suddenly found himself in second and challenging. In fact, he was actually able to drive inside Staley and take over the lead briefly. But the dominating character of the high side came back and to Staley's credit, he didn't panic and change lines and instead pounded the cushion even harder. He was able to retake the lead, holding off Donlan and a charging Lynn Panos who started fifteenth.
I always felt it was a mistake for Staley to race at his own track or promotion as only bad things can happen from such a combination but so far, I'm not aware of any issues that have resulted from his participation at this own promotions and clearly he has a good staff that can run things even if he isn't always available. However, Staley minimizes the time he isn't right on top of things by having a crew that does all the prep work on the race car. He just wears his driver's suit while carrying on his other responsibilities and jumps in the car at the appropriate time.
A surprisingly small field of fifteen B Mods was on hand and it was Doug McCullough who led from start to finish to win the main event. He was pressured by Jake McBernie and Rocky Caudle throughout the race and a late race yellow made things a bit dicey but McCullough held on for the win.
The Hobby Stocks forgot about the race on Tuesday with only nine of them on hand. Surprisingly, for such a small field, they managed to produce quite a bit of action. Jeff Fink and Eric Stanton were battling for the lead early when they got together and Fink received a flat tire as a result of their confrontation. Fink changed a tire and went to the rear and Stanton was also sent to the rear for over aggressive driving.
The green flag saw another driver crowd Stanton up into the jersey barricades just past the flag stand. He hit the concrete with tremendous power, the car climbed the wall and he flipped once. He was OK but obviously out of the race.
Seth Jansen inherited the lead and most of the field following him either blew up or whipped out before the checkered could be thrown with only three cars still moving at the checkered. Dakota Feichert and Bryan Derry were the other survivors.
The crow, while late arriving, seemed OK on what was another hot and steady night in America's Heartland.
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