The third time proved to be the charm as the Hancock County Speedway in Britt was finally able to get the Night of 10,000* special completed on Tuesday night, August 16th. Their initial attempt to run this event back on August 6th as a part of a two night extravaganza was nixed by rain. Their second attempt was made on Monday night, August 15th but a very unfavorable forecast caused them to make a decision to postpone by twenty four hours even before race day but the third attempt, on Tuesday the 16th, proved to be fine as nice weather and a nice crowd both helped to make it a successful race night.
And for Tom Berry Jr, it proved to be a most successful night as after leading forty eight laps of the feature race, Berry Jr was able to pass Richie Gustin coming to the white flag and then pull away on the last lap to win the event and the five thousand dollar top prize. This race was originally supposed to only pay two thousand to win but some extra money was located, perhaps from sponsor contributions but not made clear to me, that raised the ante for this event.
A full show was also held in the four other classes that routinely race at Britt, all under the umbrella of the IMCA. These winners included Heath Tulp in the Stock Cars, Jared Boumeester in the Sport Mods, Drew Barglof in the Hobby Stocks and Max Heimbuch in the Sport Compacts.
This would be the last race of the year at Britt and due to circumstances it was a bit odd for a track to wrap up their season on a Tuesday night but to all to the color of the night, they also had bus races with ten buses on hand to rub fenders and pollute the air with their black smoke. We're lucky the EPA didn't come in and shut the whole event down at intermission!(Note: you will not find a report on the bus feature race. Sorry!)
I had an interesting conversation with a young Modified driver on the rise in Drew Janssen. While his hometown is listed as Pella, he actually has an apartment in West Union where he keeps his race car as he is an employee of Rage Chassis. He occasionally gets home to visit family and friends but most of his time is spent either working or racing these days. He works shorthanded at the track as he has only one pit crew member who lives two hundred miles away from him and isn't always able to get to the track. He thought this was his thirty seventh night of racing in 2022 and he hopes to be in the fifties before the season is over. On this night he would start ninth and crack the top five at the finish.
Mike McKinney was on hand to drive Timmy Current's Modified once again. It seems that McKinney is spending more time in Iowa racing IMCA type Modifieds rather than he is in his home state of Illinois racing UMP Modifieds which is where he built up his name. He would end up right behind Janssen in the feature.
Mike VanGenderen was on hand to help his buddy Trent Chinn, who is the promoter here, with track prep. He also functioned as the Race Director on this night plus judged the bowling contest among the top ten in passing points to determine who would start on the pole for the fifty lapper. Passing points were used to set the field for the Modifieds while the other classes used the tried and true draw/redraw format.
This race had an interesting purse structure to it. The support classes, other than the Sport Compacts, were all racing for the same top dollar, that of one thousand dollars to win. This setup has been very popular with all the Chinn promoted tracks(Britt, Alta and Spencer) and MVG has even adopted it for some of his shows at Stuart and perhaps also Memphis.
But even more unusual was the purse structure for the Modifieds. The top spot paid five grand to win but positions two through ten all paid the same, a thousand dollars! I can't remember ever seeing that before and my initial reaction was to question how hard drivers in the middle of that group would race, knowing that whether they gained or lost a spot, it didn't make any difference at the pay window. But I have to say that I didn't see an "sand bagging" as the feature progressed and everyone seemed to be taking it like normal.
A couple of weeks ago at Spencer I complimented Andrew Claus on how nice his car still looked at this time of the year. Bad move on my part. Tonight during a heat race he took an ill placed boot in the shorts that led to two quick snap barrel rolls. Surprisingly, he was able to get the car back out for the feature although it was making bad sounds and he did pull to the infield early. We also saw part of a wild flip by Loren Pesicka Jr when he went flying off turn three and barrel rolled. Actually, about all we saw was dust in the air and the occasional flash of tires toward the sky as he went over yet again. Fortunately, no injuries were reported by ace announcer Chad Meyer.
There were some interesting and odd rules used for the Modified feature that struck me. I remembered why I stopped coming to the Night of 10,000 Stars years back because it is a fifty lap race, which is fine, but they split it into twin 25's, taking a ten minute break at the halfway point and rebuilding the race cars on the front stretch. I have never been a fan of interrupted races and if these cars can't go fifty laps with out servicing, then the race should be shortened. What was really strange was after the three wide initial start, which was fine, they then restarted for the second twenty five by going three wide again! That was a new one for me and seemed to totally negate twenty five laps of racing, apparently for nothing.
And I guess the surface at Britt must really need some new dirt as during the ten minute break, they misted the race track and "tickled" the corners with the equipment as I was told that this track couldn't go fifty laps without rubbering up bad. And I guess that must be correct as Chinn and MVG know dirt as well as anyone and if they felt the surface would have been OK, they wouldn't have taken the time and effort to do it. But it seemed unfair to the drivers who then basically ran on a hammer down track for the whole race and this didn't give the track the chance to change and for drivers to adjust and find the new fast line, which I always like to see. But whatever.
Gustin would lead the first twenty five laps of the race from the pole after he bowled the best. There would be three yellows during that first twenty five laps. Jeremy Mills would challenge early and then it would be Cody Thompson and Berry Jr that would provide the most consistent challenges in the first half of the race.
Mills would bow out at the break with a broken brake rotor and it would be Berry Jr who would take over second and chase Gustin the later half of the race. Berry Jr was putting on plenty of pressure in the last ten laps, diving under Gustin in each corner as Richie tried to find a line that would allow him to keep Berry Jr behind him. In both halves of the race, Gustin had taken off strong, built up a lead but then saw Berry Jr reel him in. j
Tom gave it his best efforts but it seemed that Gustin would be able to hold him off, as Richie seemed to just be able to pull away enough to keep Tom behind him. But then an enormous yellow flew with only two laps to go when, the only yellow of the second half of the race, when a car flew off the end.
The two lap sprint to the finish saw Berry Jr find some extra traction on the inside line. He pulled next to Gustin down the back chute and was able to take the lead as they raced to the white flag. Gustin tried to come back on the final corner by using the tall side of the track but it was no use as Berry Jr accelerated away from him to drive home for the win. What a great comeback it was for Berry Jr and it must have been a crushing blow to Gustin to lead all that way and then be felled because a back marker triggered a late yellow that killed him. Cody Thompson ran third most of the event with Branden Beckendorf and Janssen rounding out the top five.
The Sport Compact feature would go to Max Heimbuch who led from start to finish over a small field of competitors. Logan Kelly, the flagman/racer, would run close behind but when he tried a last lap slider to take the win, he almost gave up second but managed to hold off Brooke Osler for the spot.
A nice field of Stock Cars was on hand and this race would be dominated by Heath Tulp. He took the lead on lap two and then would drive away from the field. There would be only one yellow flag early in the event, and while there was a good battle for second, no one was able to stay with Tulp. Kelly Shryock used the inside line to race past Troy Swearingen to take second while Swearingen, the early leader of the race, would settle for third.
The Sport Mod feature would see a familiar face in victory lane as Jared Boumeester has won a lot of races over the years at this track. The race was a two car shootou with Jake Sachau making a great move on the opening lap as he came from fourth to take the lead by the completion of lap one. Boumeester moved up from sixth and the battle was on. Jared tried several passing attempts as they raced hard for the lead with Boumeester finally able to get to the inside of Sachau in turn one just at the halfway point of the race to take over second.
One lap later Sachau tried to get a big run by diamonding off the turn one banking and shockingly, he spun around on his own, triggering a yellow and ending his charge. After that, it was easy sledding as Boumeester would lead the rest of the way for the win. Nate Whitehurst would run second for quite some time until he broke and Stacey Mills would eventually grab second and hold that spot to the finish. Kip Siems would make a nice run from eighth to get third.
After a first lap spin, the Hobby Stocks would go green to checkered to round out the program. Brandon Nielsen would take the early lead and my thought was that he might run away with things. However, his car seemed to push up the track in the corners and he left the bottom open and Drew Barglof, who started fifth, drove under him for the lead and then pulled away. Chris Krug would race into second and the top three would then run the rest of the race pretty evenly spaced out on the track to the finish.
With the roar of buses in the back round, I left that cultural event to those that remained as I headed out about 10:40 pm. It was a good show overall and I was impressed with the size of the crowd, given the night of the week and the fact that this event had been rescheduled so many times. It seemed to me that Hancock County Speedway made a nice comeback in 2022 after a tough period of time and while I never attended any weekly shows, it seemed like the special events I was at always had nice crowds. Thanks to Chinn and the Hancock County Fair Board for their help on this night.
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