It is hard to believe, but it is now the time to start talking speedway point champions and season finale races, as painful as that thought even is. The first one that I have encountered was Wednesday night, August 10th at the Stuart International Speedway in Stuart Iowa. Along with it being the Jake Durbin Memorial Race with an extra $4700 or more donated to the purse, it was also the final race of the 2022 season at Stuart and they were crowning Season Champions as well.
It seems like only yesterday when Stuart opened up their season with brutally cold conditions and now, just a few short months later, the season would wrap up with a hot and sticky August night full of racing. A nice crowd was on hand for the season finale and eighty seven cars signed in to race in the five IMCA sanctioned classes along with the Bat Wings. There would also be Powderpuff and Mechanic's races to wrap up the night. Those used to be common place but you don't see them very often any more but they still have them at Stuart.
Point championships had already pretty much been wrapped up in four of the classes as long as the leading drivers showed up for the finale and didn't break before the main events started. Tyler Fiebelkorn in the Sport Compacts, Brandon Cox in the Hobby Stocks, Miciah Hildebaugh in the Stock Cars and Happy Gilman in the Modifieds were all pretty much home free but the situation was entirely different in the Sport Mods where Brayton Carter had a one point lead over Izac Mallicoat going into the finale and only two points on Tyler Inman so basically, whoever of those three finished ahead of the other two would win the title.
Lineups would be done the normal way with the point invert in affect and new cars, of which there were quite a few, would start in the back. Lots of out of state cars on hand on this night as the number of travelers in advance of the Boone Super Nationals starts to build up and what a nice opportunity to see drivers from California, Arizona and other western states in action.
As usual, racing would begin within a few scant minutes of the advertised time, even though they ran hot laps before they started, which many tracks have eliminated now. Then we began with what I call the "rush hour." This is the time when all the qualifying events take place and what an intense time it is. Generally speaking, the heat races here are great with some close and highly competitive action and this track never seems to have a period when the racing suffers while the track whips into shape as it seems to be ready for racing as soon as the drivers take to the track. On this night, thirteen qualifying heat races took place, all completed within one hour's time period, and there was not a single yellow flag slowdown during the heats!. That is pretty impressive.
This would allow time to introduce the high point drivers, present three new members of the speedway Hall of Fame and still get the races done, minus specialty races, before 10 pm. What more could one ask for?
The Sport Mod feature would be saved for last and it turned out to be a dandy with a bit of a surprise outcome to boot. Hunter Poston would grab the early lead as he battled with David Schwartz and Garrett Nelson in a tight, three car pack. Brayton Carter would start ninth with Inman right beside hime and Mallicoat right behind him as all three looked for an opening to get to the front ahead of their rivals.
Carter would dazzle as he made the move of the night on lap six. The bottom allowed him to get up to fifth but he had a gaggle of four cars, all battling for the lead, in front of him. Somehow he found a hole right in the middle of them as they drove into turn one and with a move seldom seen, was able to part the waters and when they came out of turn two, he was the leader. It was a spectacular move and certainly would guarantee him the track title as both Mallicoat and Inman were several cars behind.
However, while that move would seem to have guaranteed him a feature win also, that proved to not be the case. Cam Reimers would have something to say about that as he moved up from the fourth row and pulled to the rear bumper of Carter. He made several slide job attempts to take over the lead that failed but on lap sixteen he made the move work with a beautifully executed move that Carter couldn't counter.
Brayton tried to get back around Cam at the end but Reimers was simply a bit quicker on this night and he would drive on to victory. Carter lost the battle but won the war as the point title would be his with Mallicoat fifth and Inman seventh. Schwartz would have a strong run too in finishing third.
The other top notch battle for the win was, not surprisingly, in the Stock Cars where twenty one drivers would go nonstop for twenty laps with the outcome settled in the last corner. Jeremy Gettler started in the second row but he would waste no time getting to the front as he was the leader on the opening lap. Tom Berry Jr and Buck Schafroth would quickly move to second and third and the battle was on.
The rest of the race would see those three entertain in a highly competitive race that saw Gettler scored the leader on every lap but Berry Jr probably in front just as much but never at the line. The slide jobs they threw at each other were classic but never of a dirty variety and the fans were dazzled by the action.
Th last few laps would see Berry Jr right up beside Gettler but Tom played it clean and never tried to move Jeremy up the track and allowed him racing room. That's twice this year when I've been at Stuart that I have seen Berry Jr take the "high road" when it comes to racing and I applaud him for running a clean race. It also made for spectacular action with the two coming side by side out of the last corner and Gettler edged ahead for the win. Almost missed by the great charge he made was Austin Kaplan who ended up fourth. My only complaint on this race was that it was too short! The twenty laps flew by and left all of us in the crowd hungering for more.
Dallon Murty won his first Modified feature of the year at Stuart after being an almost impossible to beat driver in the Stock Car class. He would start fourth in the main and slide by Randy Foote on lap five after Murty executed a great slider that Foote couldn't counteract fast enough. After that, Murty moved away from the field as the last eighteen laps of this race would go nonstop. A nice drive was put on by Austin Kuehl, who started deep in the field as this was his first visit to Stuart but he would race up to third from tenth as he starts to get his new Rage working. This would be the last time we would see Kuehl who is working his way back to Arizona this weekend as he gets ready to go back to school to finish up his degree in Mechanical Engineering.
The Hobby Stock feature would have a little more contact that some of the others with three yellows during its sixteen lap run. We would also see four different leaders as there was plenty going on up front in the pack. Travis Cavin would lead lap one before he was passed by Rusty Bates for the lead.
John Watson would be on the move and by lap six, he was beating on the rear bumper of Bates for the lead. Following a yellow flag, the two got together which triggered a multi car spin that involved much of the field so they restarted the event to bring some measure of control back to the racing.
Bates couldn't hold off Watson on his second chance either and John took over the lead. But Cox, who started eleventh, didn't let that bother him and after gradually working his way forward, took to the cushion with most of the field racing around the inside and he blew past Watson to take over the lead. And once he was in front, he pulled away to put an exclamation point on his title. Watson would hold on to second over a charging Luke Ramsey.
The Sport Compact feature was a good one too with "The Beard", Mitchell Bunch, holding off a field of chargers to get the win. He would lead the opening lap but Blake McCann would overtake him two laps later to grab the lead. Bunch would fall back some but then gather himself and make a second charge and he would drive around McCann on lap nine to take over the lead.
Along with those two, Dustin Grout and Kolby Sabin were also in the lead group and the four of them battled for the lead the rest of the way. At the finish, Bunch would hold off Grout and Sabin as it seemed that McCann slowed off the final corner and lost two spots quickly before they crossed the finish line.
A word on the race track. It was great! It was slick from top to bottom but had a healthy cushion too and there were multiple grooves to race on. It provided some spectacular slide jobs but also allowed those that like to ride the bottom plenty of bite too so they could race that line too. And not a whisper of dust, even though this track has the fans sitting quite close to the action compared to other tracks.
I thought it was a great way to wrap up their racing season. My only complaint was that with this kind of action I would like to see a lot more weeks of such entertainment. But all good things must come to an end I guess. It is a six hour drive for me to come down to Stuart but I have done it on quite a few occasions this year because the trip is worth it as this track provides action that can't be topped anywhere in the state. Now if I lived in Diagonal or Gravity it wouldn't be such a long trip. (I only throw in those city names because they are so unique).
As always, thanks to Mike VanGenderen and his whole staff for a great year of racing and for all their help this year. I always enjoy hearing Tony Paris on the mic and I will miss his unique call of the races plus his whit and wisdom. I will even miss Rev. Wambat's high pitched scream to start the night. It will be interesting to see what Mike has in the plans for Stuart in 2023.
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