The nineteenth annual Fall Classic concluded on Saturday night, October 8th at the Ogilvie Raceway. All eight divisions participating would be running feature races and for some divisions, B Features, after the heat race action was concluded on Friday night.
Improving weather conditions would greet the fans and competitors on Saturday with temperatures about ten degrees warmer and with the starting time moved up two hours from the Friday night action, it was much more comfortable attending on Saturday night. This was reflected by a full house that would attend the second to the last racing weekend of 2022 at "The Big O."
One thing I neglected to mention in yesterday's report was the condition of the race track and that deserved to receive mention. With over thirty races and literally hundreds of laps of racing action on Friday night, you would naturally conclude that the track would turn one lane and take rubber at some point during the evening. However, that was not the case at all. Once the first green flag dropped on Friday night, there was absolutely nothing done to the race track as with the very cold weather, the point was to get the show done as quickly as possible and therefore there was not mid race delays for watering, scrapping or tickling of the track at all. What is was, was what the drivers raced on. And the great thing was that while the track became icy slick, it was still wide and did not take rubber at all. I base this on the cool weather, the racing order that saw the wide tired cars hit the track early and some good pre race prep.
On Saturday there would be several sessions of misting of the track between races with some brief "roll in " time needed, but again the track raced well all night and the dreaded "rubbered up" track conditions never appeared as I will take any kind of surface over a "rubbered up" track. And I think the drivers pretty much feel the same way.
Chris McClain, who flipped his car on Friday night and Zach Beaulieu, whose earlier problems were detailed in last night's report, both returned to race on Saturday night.
Racing would begin just a few minutes after the advertised time due to one more squirt of water applied that required just a bit of extra track rolling. On tap to begin the evening would be eleven B Feature races for those classes needing one or more of those events to whittle down the fields to twenty five for feature action. As you might expect, these races are often the most trying with everyone wanting to race the main events and willing to do just about anything short of larceny to get into the "big shows." Only two of the eleven races didn't have yellow flags and there were two separate incidences of cars rolling over as they tried oh so hard.
Finally it would be feature time and we would see quite a variety of feature races laid out for us. There were some strange things that happened in between the close battles and dominating racing and we saw everything from one driver inheriting the lead when the first and second place cars both dropped out of their race at the same time, to one winner announced only after a post race disqualification of another driver for technical issues to one driver waved off the track when he was the leader due to another technical issue to a mass disqualification post race in another class where we saw a little of just about everything!
The Street Stocks would lead off the action with former national champion Tim Johnson taking the early lead. He would be constantly challenged by Nick Traynor who would try both high and low to get past Johnson while Tim hung in the low side groove. Meanwhile, Justin Vogel, another former national champion and the best rim runner around, would try up against the wall to pass both but fair early. However, he would not give up and continued to press the issue.
A late yellow would bunch the field with only eight laps to go and Traynor would pick the high side for the double file restart. This would cost him as Vogel would get past for second and then do what Traynor was unable to do throughout the race, pass Johnson on the high side. This is Vogel's specialty and he would do it once again, driving by Johnson with seven laps to go and then pulling away for the win. Traynor would then try up top again and Braden Brauer would pass Traynor for third at the finish.
As he often does following big wins, Vogel would park his car up against the concrete wall and then do a smoky burn down for the crowd to celebrate. Apparently the tire shortage has eased!
The Midwest Modified feature would see the most dominate run of the night with Jason VandeKamp leading from wire to wire to beat a field of twenty six drivers for the win. He would start on the outside pole, take the lead from the green and then hold on through three yellow flags to claim the win.
The last fourteen laps of the race would go nonstop and VandeKamp, who has not had his usual strong season, would pull away from the field for a comfortable win. Travis Schulte, looking for a repeat win in this event, would drive up from the third row to finish second with Haley Lee third.
All twenty eight cars that signed in for the Late Models would start their forty lap feature race. Don Shaw started third but he ducked inside Harry Hanson on the first turn and would lead the opening lap. He then would go on to lead the first twenty two laps of the feature which would include four minor yellows.
behind him, an excellent battle would take place for position between Dave Mass, Hanson, Doar and Shane Edginton. Doar would move in to challenge Mass and they would execute a pair of sliders with Mass tagging the wall quite hard in retaining his spot. When the yellow flew for debris, Mass stopped and then pulled from the track.
Meanwhile, Shaw was showing smoke from the rear of his car and while he tried to restart, it was clear he had lost power and he dived to the infield. When another spin slowed the action, Doar suddenly found himself in the lead and for Doar, who runs very well here, it was then no problem as he would lead the rest of the way for the win. Edginton would drive a determined race to finish second and Jeff Massingill, who was bogged at mid pack for much of the contest, would come screaming forward from his fifteenth starting spot to finish a sparkling third.
The Modified feature would be a two driver battle between Shane Sabraski and Jody Bellefeuille. Jody would take the early lead with Shane right on his tail and the sparing would begin with Sabraski trying different lines around the track and Bellefeuille using counter measures to keep him in second. Sabraski would get by for the lead on lap eight but Bellefeuille would stay right with him and not give him any breathing room. Clayton Wagamon would pound the cushion to move up to third and Dan Ebert was making a big charge from the eighth row up to fourth at the halfway point.
The next ten laps would produce some great, exciting racing as Bellefeuille picked up the pace and he and Sabraski did some bold, slide jobs back and forth on each other with Bellefeuille gaining the lead for three laps until Sabraski got it back.
A yellow slowed the action at this point and following that pause, it was Sabraski that picked up the pace and no matter what Jody tried the last few laps, he simply could not repass Shane and would have to settle for second as Sabraski recorded his twentieth Modified feature win of 2022. Ryan Gierke came on strong at the end to pass Wagamon for third.
The Super Stock feature would see Sabraski start on the pole and with him dominating the division this year and ready to collect another national title, this race would be presumed to be his. However, as is often the case in racing, one can never predict that outcome as Sabraski would never lead a lap of the race and have to settle for fourth at the finish.
Denis Czech would lead the first six laps of the feature before he was passed by a strong running Dexton Koch. Dexton had started ninth on the grid but using the extreme low line, he was able to drive his way to the front, ultimately passing Sabraski, Jeremy Nelson, Dave Mass and Czech to take over the lead.
He then began to pull away from the strong field and he looked to be in great shape. He had a comfortable lead when the yellow flew on lap twenty one for debris on the track. Turns out the debris was a muffler and it was identified as the muffler off the car of Koch. Losing a muffled on the track is and automatic DQ and Koch disgustedly pulled off the track and rightly so.
Mass would inherit the lead at this point and the race seemed to be his but with a surprise move, Nelson would drive to the outside of Mass, take over the lead and then pull away for the win. Mass would settle for second and Brandon Duellman would storm up from sixteenth to pass Sabraski and get third. And it was true heartbreak for Koch.
The Mod Four feature would produce quite a surprise also. Bob Holtquist would lead the first five laps until he was briefly overtaken by Landyn Randt who would lead one lap before Holtquist would pick up the pace and regain the lead. Tommy Bawden would also move in and it became a three car battle.
Following a yellow flag, Bawden would make a big move in turn one and pass Holtquist for the lead but seconds later, Holtquist would spin in turn one and the yellow would wave once again. The decision was to send Bawden to the tail of the field, a call he and many others questioned.
However, Holtquist would regain the point but he was soon challenged again by Randt who brought along his younger brother Levi, age twelve, and both would put the pressure on Holtquist for the top spot. The Randt brothers would surround Holtquist and on lap fifteen, Landyn would drive past and take over the lead.
A late yellow would set up a two lap sprint to the finish but Landyn was up to the task and he drove away for the win. The yellow would prove costly, however, for Levi who lost his second spot with David Slovick from eighth, and Connor Haas, from fifteenth, rounding out the top five.
Landyn barely made it to the track on time on Friday to race as he had to play a high school football game for the Siren Dragons before his Mother rushed him to the track just in time to race with the rest being history.
The last two race of the evening proved to be a crazy duo of racing events. The Pure Stocks had a small field of cars but they managed to keep people talking long after the checkered flag waved. Ryan Olson would take the early lead as he battled with Austin Carlson but James Rahn, who started thirteenth on the grid, soon moved into contention. On lap seven, Rahn would get to the inside of Olson and take over the lead.
A couple of restarts would slow the action and then Rahn and Olson would rub as they battled for the lead and Rahn got a flat tire, taking him out of the lead and necessitating another yellow for a tire change.
Josh Berg would take over the lead at this time but Olson then began to pressure Berg for the lead as Rahn tore back up through the field, a driver on a mission. Berg felt the pressure too much which resulted in a spin by him and that gave Olson the lead with only four laps to go.
However, it took Rahn only two laps to power past Olson and retake the lead as he would drive on for the win, or so we thought. Following the victor's interview and the photos, Rahn headed for tech and the word came soon after that his car had been DQ'd and that Olson would be awarded the win. For Rahn, he earned the daily double as his car had also been DQ'd following his heat race win on Fridya night, which resulted in his deep starting position.
For Olson, the high school senior, he came back out and got his victory lane pictures taken at the end of the night. No word on whether the big check came into his possession too.
The Hornets would wrap up a long evening with another feature race that ended up with a crazy finish. Jena Hagemann would lead the opening lap before she was passed by Brandon Nyberg for the top spot. Hagemann would continue to challenge to get the lead back until she was replaced by Nathen Kohl in the race for the top spot.
Kohl would make what was the winning pass on lap eleven but this race would go right down to the wire. The last nine laps would see Kohl and Nyberg racing wheel to wheel for the front spot, never getting more than a car length apart. The front of the field was producing some fine racing while the back half of the pack seemed intent on destroying each other's cars as some hits that were clearly intentional started and then continued, even to the pit exit after the race was over.
As for the leaders, they ran side by side right to the checkered with Kohl edging out Nyberg by a car length for the win. However, while Kohl would be OK, the rest of the finishers still had to fear the tech area and when all was said and done, second, third, fourth and fifth place finishers were all disqualified for technical infractions, along with the worst offender in the back of the pack demo derby. When all was said and done, Kohl was trailed by Hagemann and Jesse Turnvall.
The tech team may have set some kind of record as for the night, there were a total of eleven cars disqualified. Add in the six from Friday night and the two night total of seventeen might also be some sort of record, dubious though it may be. One would think that this was the first race of the year, not the last.
So it was certainly a wild conclusion to a big weekend of racing. FYE Motorsports Promotions once again produced this show and thanks go out to Chris Stepan and everyone from FYE as well as Nate Fischer, the Wagamon family and all the workers from the Big 0.
Ogilvie still has one more weekend of racing upcoming with the 12th annual Topless Nationals to be held on October 21st and 22nd. This is another race that generally produces a large field of race cars representing many different sanctioning bodies and produces interesting racing.
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