Wednesday night, April 10th, the Southern Iowa Speedway opened their season on a cool and very breezy night.
In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't really have any plans to attend this race and in fact, wasn't really aware that Oskaloosa was racing on this night until the last moment. Somehow, I got my dates confused and I believed that after having their special Tuesday night opener canceled that they weren't scheduled to start their season until next week. Frankly, the only reason that I was in the state this early in the week was because of the local weather in my area. While not being in the blizzard warned area, I was in the Winter Storm area and with a combination of wet snow and ice, I knew that there would be no racing in the Wisconsin/Minnesota area this weekend and if I wanted to see any racing this week at all, I better "get out of Dodge" before I got weathered in.
For that reason, I left home early on Wednesday morning and even leaving at that early hour, I had to drive through some heavy snow and ice before I crossed the Minnesota border into Iowa. But the good news was that I took the time to double check race schedules and discovered that Oskaloosa was indeed scheduled to race on this night and despite it being a cloudy, cool and windy day, the race was still on as scheduled.
Upon arriving at the Mahaska County Fairgrounds and jumping out of the car, I realized the full effect of the very strong winds and how much they were affecting the temperatures. They made it a rather uncomfortable night and only the hard core fans would be in the stands on this night. Also, it was the hard core racers that also showed up on this night too.
This is the start of the second year of the new format that the Southern Iowa Speedway has operated under. Under the direction of the Race Committee of the Fair Board, the track now runs a four division program with an eight dollar admission price for the fans. Race procedures include a draw/redraw format with the previous week's feature winner starting at the back of the qualified cars and while basic IMCA rules are followed, there are some exceptions including one Stock Car I noticed running American Racer tires.
To keep the show moving this year and in an effort to wrap up race programs at an early hour, a one spin rule will be used in all heat races and after hot laps at 7:05 pm, racing will then start immediately and not wait until last year's announced 7:30 pm start. Later on Wednesday, with the cooperation of the drivers, track officials would demonstrate just how fast they could complete a program.
Forty eight drivers signed in to race on opening night with the highest turnout being in the Sport Mods. With the top five in each heat making the redraw, there was not a lot of drama in the qualifying events as just about everyone in each heat made the draw.
As soon as the heats were completed, the feature races began to line up as announcer Jerry Mackey put out the word to the pits and this was going to be one quick show and everyone should be prepared to go quickly. As windy as it was in the stands, it was probably worse in the Tower, and the wind got to the veteran announcer as his papers got blown all over and the frustration was evident in his voice. Finally, he actually lost is line up for the Hobby Stock feature when it was swept away by the wind and posted likely somewhere in downtown Pella!
The redraw was not helpful to the racing fans on this Wednesday as strong favorites started right up front in most of the features and the main events did not have a lot of drama or late race heroics on this night. The closest thing to a big upset was in the Sport Mod class. Austin Paul started on the pole and took the early lead. However, on the move early was defending track champion Curtis Vanderwal as she quickly moved from fifth to second. Curtis then closed on the leader and the battle was on. A couple of times Vanderwal tried to make a move but each time Paul held him off. As the laps ran off, Paul seemed to stabilize his lead and no matter what Vanderwal tried, he wasn't able to shorten up the lead held by the #A5 car. A last lap attempt came up short and Vanderwal had to settle for second as Paul drove a strong race for the win. Logan Anderson finished third and for some time he looked like he might have something for the top two before settling for third.
The Stock Car feature was a total domination by Cayden Carter. He also started on the pole and after grabbing a slight early lead, he continued to build on it gradually until he was comfortably in front. This race ran off nonstop and that made matters even harder for the field to catch him. At the finish, he had a very nice margin of victory as he drove to the win in his Spaw chassis. Derrick Agee finished second with Michael Peterson next in line.
Brandon Housley started on the pole and led all the way for the Sport Compact feature win. Another defending champion, Housley was in control for most of the contest and while Trent Orwig pushed his car very hard in the corners to try and close the gap, Housley had plenty to hold him off for the win. A late yellow flag set up a two lap sprint to the finish and considerably scrambled the runner order behind the top two when third place Mitchell Bunch didn't come up to speed on the green and there was quite a scramble for position then with Billy Cain winding up third.
Nick Ulin grabbed the lead in the Hobby Stock feature but that didn't last long after he hammered the third turn Armco barrier and limped to the pits. Derek Kirkland inherited the lead at this point but only briefly before Dustin Griffiths drove past him for the top spot. Once in front, he opened a comfortable lead and with another nonstop main, he drove to an easy win. Kirkland held on for second over Clint Nelson.
With only three yellow flags during the entire racing program and none during the qualifying heats, the eleven race program took a grand total of eighty seven minutes to complete. This was greatly appreciated by those in the stands with likely those in the pits just as happy to have made it a short night.
So, the Committee fought the elements and won and while they probably didn't make a small fortune on this night, at least they let the drivers and the fans know that if it's at all possible, they will race as scheduled and also made the point to the fans that their Wednesday night entertainment will be a quick show for those that need to get home for the inevitable Thursday morning. Thanks to all at the track for providing a good opening night with even better(and warmer) nights to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment