Monday night, May 16th was an absolutely gorgeous night to be at the races as the weather produced one of the best nights of the season to date. And a large crowd was on hand Monday night to see the drivers in action at the Stuart International Raceway for the Dynamic Driveline Dirt*Duel. The four core classes that normally compete at Stuart, the Modifieds, Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks would all be racing for extra money due to the generous sponsorship by businesses from the area. The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks would be also be making their first appearance of the year and the Bat Wings were also on hand as they often are here.
Features for all but the Trucks and Bat Wings would be paying a grand to win along with other extra monies(apparently the Hobby Stocks were supposed to race for $500 to win but a clerical error somewhere along the line saw that inadvertently boosted up also so Mike VanGenderen went along with it and paid them the big bucks too.) They did respond with a very nice field of twenty four cars and more than held their own in feature race action and excitement.
After some experimentation, MVG has apparently settled on what kind of a schedule his track will have going forward. He no longer has a weekly show although the drivers end up getting just as many races here as most weekly tracks do provide. Just about every race is some sort of special with extra money on the line and he's not afraid to race various nights of the week, running on virtually every night from Monday to and including Sundays, It all seems to depend on how the calendar falls, who else is racing and when and also making his schedule fit with traveling series' needs. He also needed to make the Stuart schedule fit with his increased traveling needs as his skills in track prep are in demand at big races nation wide. He has more than proven by now that it doesn't make that much difference what night a race is on, it can be successful with the right kind and amount of promotion and changing things up and offering different kinds of cars and groups is key. I think one of the things that has caught people's eyes and made MVG's promotions more interesting and successful is that he isn't afraid to try different things and race on nights that most promoters would opt out of without a second thought. Shaking up the norm sometimes works, even in the world of racing where change is most often met with much skepticism
An almost perfect sized field turned out for Monday night's show. There were eighty five cars on hand in the four core classes plus another eleven Trucks and there heats worth of Bat Wings. Just enough cars to provide full heat races but not quite enough to require B Features, perfect with the time constraints that a Monday night show always carries.
New this week was the scoreboard that I have been longing for ever since I started attempted MVG's promotions here. And it will be great when it actually becomes operational. This week we just had a whole board of #7's on it but soon I would expect it to be totally working and at Stuart, mostly I just need something to show me laps, I can figure out the rest on my own. Also on display but actually working was a very nice new water truck as Mike adds to his arsenal of tools for track prep and dust control on the property. One other change on this night saw Jeremy "The Foxman" waving the sticks and he would do a fine job at one of the track's most difficult and visible assignments.
The track was in terrific shape on this night and as good as perhaps it will be all Summer. It was smooth and slick from top to bottom but also had a groove right up against the Jersey barriers so drivers were racing all over the track. It was a great "slider" track and we saw some dandy ones being through in all classes and there is nothing more exciting in the world of dirt track racing.
On Sunday night I was at the races at the Casino Speedway in Watertown South Dakota and then here on Monday. Both are terrific little bullrings and among the best tracks of their type anywhere. Two nights in a row featured terrific track prep and spectacular racing. Thirteen qualifying races plus the Bat Wings were accomplished in fifty four minutes on this night with only two yellow flags necessary as I say "God bless the one spin rule."
When you think of Stuart, you think of some of the dominant drivers who have really figured this place out and the names Berry Jr, Carter and Murty come to mind immediately and all three had banner nights with all of them winning feature races, most in spectacular style. .
Berry Jr. had perhaps the most dominating performance of the night as he was totally in control of he Modified feature. Nick Roberts would lead early with Tim Ward pressuring him but it took little time for Berry Jr to blow by both of them and once in the lead, he was gone. This race would go twenty two laps straight through and Tom's only challenge was working through lapped traffic. This he accomplished with little scary moments and he drove home well in front for the win. Ward and Todd Shute would be chasing at the checkers.
It seems nearly impossible to expect that Brayton Carter could possibly be a challenger in the Sport Mod feature, starting twelfth in a strong field of drivers. But the way he maneuvers through traffic is a treasure to watch, with him moving high and low on the track and picking his holes with expertise. Dusty Masolini would be the early leader but then he was passed by Logan Anderson for the top spot.
This race would be the only one of the night with too many yellows as they managed to race nearly the first half of the event caution free and then once the yellow waved once, the proverbial wheels came off with six yellows in the next seven laps.
By the halfway point, Carter was up to third with him soon moving into second, dragging Cam Reimers on his coat tails. Then it got interesting as Anderson and Carter battled in a thrilling and spectacular fashion, trading sliders on the track before Carter was finally able to nail down the lead.
Then things got strategic with Carter in front and with the yellows, Anderson trying to decide whether to take the top or bottom for the restarts and which could possibly gain him an edge. In the end, he tried both but came up just a bit short as Carter would take another win here with Reimers settling for third.
A big and strong field of Stock Cars was on hand with the early battle seeing Miciah Hildebaugh take the lead with Elijah Zevenbergen pressuring him. It didn't take Dallon Murty long to make it a three car battle(Damon was in the field on this night), and when Dallon found an opening, he blew past both to take the lead.
He then built up an advantage not normally seen in Stock Cars as he had most of a straightaway on the field as he pounded the cushion. The best battle in this race was for second as Hildebaugh opened some eyes and he hung right with Zevenbergen, trading punches as they fought for second. At the end, experience won out with Elijah finishing just in front of Miciah for second while Murty withstood a late yellow to cruise home the winner
The Hobby Stocks wrapped up the evening with a nice feature race of their own. Twenty two started and twenty were still on the track at the finish and only one car was lapped so that shows that the field was pretty well balanced. Dylan Nelson would take the early lead and actually would pace the field for most of the race.
He was challenged by Brandon Cox and John Watson who was making things especially interesting by pounding the cushion very hard. Eventually Cox would get some momentum built up and would drive past the bottom hugging Nelson down the front chute to take the lead. He would then stretch his lead in the closing laps. Cox, who earlier in the evening nearly ran me over the pits(inadvertently) would wrap up his drive as he rode home for the win while I learned one spot not to stand in the pits! Nelson would hold off the challenges of Watson to finish second.
The Track feature saw would see Shawn Cooney, who has raced in nearly every division available at the track, take the lead on the opening lap and run away with the win over Shonn Mapes and Rod Richards. All racing was complete just after 10 pm as Stuart, which has justifiably earned a reputation as a "pretty racy joint" further cemented that label on Monday.
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