Thursday, June 9, 2022

Ruby Runs a Gem at Fairmont for Modified Victory

 A last minute decision found me on the road Wednesday toward southern Minnesota. When the weather cleared and it became clear that Fairmont Raceway in Fairmont Minnesota would be racing, I decided to pay my first visit of the year to that track. 

Several things had changed since last year at this track. They are now racing on Wednesday nights, with this being their third show of the year. New promoters are now running the fairgrounds track with Zach and Leah Gerhardt in charge of things. And lastly, they have switched sanctioning bodies for their shows with USRA sanctioning now in effect for the five classes that race at the track. Some things had happened previously with this track and the former sanctioning body in charge and I believe they ended up racing last year with no sanctioning at all and when Gerhardts took over, it was announced that USRA would now be their sanction of choice. 

There is a mix of sanctioned tracks in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa with virtually every night of the week taken by some track racing, so Wednesday was one of the few open nights. With the occasional Monday night specials at Spencer and Britt, Tuesday night specials at Jackson and weekly racing now Wednesday right through Sunday, there is a real plethora of racing events and tracks to attend and it must be a real challenge to every track and promoter to make a go of it in this crowed market with all the challenges that have risen of late. 

Apparently I picked a good night to attend the races here as from what I was told, this was by far the most successful night o the year so far. With so many tracks racing, just getting race cars is a challenge and on this night, they had what would be considered a good number of cars for these times and against all the competition that exists. They had enough cars for two or three heats in all classes except for the Tuners and sixty cars in total. They also had a very nice Wednesday night crowd in the stands on Kid's Night with the bicycles to be given away to kids lining the entire front chute in front of the grandstand. 

A keynote of this night would be the prompt program that was completed which is essential for a midweek program. The racers on hand would be a mix of USRA faithful from southeastern Minnesota and extreme southwestern Minnesota plus some drivers that towed from South Dakota and northern Iowa. They were joined by racers that have raced at Fairmont as their home track for a long time and adjusted by switching tires and perhaps either bolting on spoilers or taking spoilers off as the rules allowed. 

Racing would start at 7:20 pm and it took only forty six minutes to crack off all the qualifying events. With Logan Kelly waving the sticks(he must flag about eight nights per week!) the program moved along quickly. After a brief break to give away the bikes, the racing promptly started again with the five feature races set to roll. 

While Mother Nature threw the track a scare in whether things would dry off enough so that racing could be held, the watering the skies provided was also a great benefit. The track would be nice and tacky without being hammer down, the groove was wide and with no dust and a smooth surface, it was about as good a half mile racing as could be seen. And this would allow the drivers to race hard and fast but not produce many yellow flag slowdowns, In fact, the five feature races would be contested with only a total of two yellow flags!

There were a couple of runaway events but there were also a couple of features that went right down to the wire. The closest would be the final race of the night, the Modified feature. Duke Erickson would be the early leader of the Modified feature and in fact would lead the majority of the event. However, slowly but surely, Kylie Kath would reel in Erickson and then start to challenge for the lead. Meanwhile, Cole Anderson, Josh Ruby and Don Gerritsen Jr would battle for third with first Anderson looking like he might challenge the leaders before Ruby started to track them down. 

On lap eleven, Kath would pass Erickson for the lead but Duke didn't give up, and would then mount a challenge to take the top spot back. Off turn four, the top two were wheel to wheel, leaning on each other at high speed in a wild duel that saw Erickson retake the lead. Things went bad for Kath when he tried to retake the lead and instead spun in turn one, triggering a two lap sprint to the finish. 

Erickson would hold the lead on the green but Ruby would then charge forward and as they came to the white flag, Ruby would squeeze under Erickson in the same corner where Erickson had made his pass earlier. It was an exciting finish to a good race that provided interesting racing with drivers making surges back and forth. 

The Stock Car feature was just as good with Jeff Larson and Derek Green battling it out right to the finish. Larson took the early lead but Green was challenging him right from the start. Green tried to get past Larson on the low side off turn four and while he got beside Larson, he couldn't quite make the pass and after showing Larson the line, Jeff adjusted his racing line. 

However, Green was determined and he started working around on the track, trying to find another groove that would work to make the pass stick. He tried doing a diamond off turn four but Larson would hold him off. Finally Green decided to ride the cushion all the way around turn four and that worked as he blew past Larson to take over the lead. 

Jeff wasn't done yet though, as he went all out on the last corner, driving low into the turn and while he made it close, Green would hold on for the win. Almost unrecognized, Chanse Hollatz had made a huge move when he finally broke free from traffic. After getting into third, he made up almost a full straightaway on the leaders and finished a couple of car lengths behind them.  A few more laps and we might have had a different winner. 

The other close feature was in the Hobby Stocks where eighteen cars went nonstop in their main event. Jeremy Crimmins used the high side to take the early lead and then for twelve laps, he had Dustin Gulbrandson nipping at his heels, looking to make a pass. Gulbrandson would dive low in the corners and try to beat Crimmins up the track as he would get to the rear quarter panel of Crimmins lap after lap, but just never quite could get the pass completed. One last attempt on the final lap would see him again just come up short as Crimmins drove a fine race to get the win. 

Jared Boumeester was a runaway winner in the B Mod feature. He would start on the pole and lead all laps for the win. A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish but he would pull away from Kullen Kath and Zach Elward for the win. 

And the small Tuner feature field would be led from start to finish by Jerry Coopman who won over Al Lahr and Jaeden Erickson in another non stop main. 

A smooth and fast track and prompt work by all the track officials led to a quick night of racing with the final checkered waving at 9:25 pm. I would think that they picked a very good night to present their "A" game as the big crowd on hand had to be impressed with the show and the early finish and they likely made a very good statement for the remainder of the season as they fight for their place in a crowded entertainment field in the area. 

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