The good Lord taketh and the good Lord also giveth. After a miserable Saturday when I made all the wrong moves and ended up on the couch watching the Lucas Oil Late Model feature from Florence through a scowl, knowing that I should have been at a race somewhere except for my blunders, only twenty four hours later I caught the good end of the stick when I was able to attend the opening night of the 2023 racing season at the Mason City Motor Speedway while many other people had been rained and/or stormed out from attending their selected shows.
And we at the North Iowa Fairgrounds facility were mighty lucky as we did have to hang tight through some mid afternoon showers but in the end it was more than worth it. When I arrived it looked to be a nice day but soon some very threatening looking dark clouds rolled into the area on a day when they were not in the forecast. It rained lightly for a period not never really cut loose like it appeared it would. And to the credit of the management at the track, they continued to work on the track right through the rain with the one armed man, Todd Staley, driving the Terragator around the track right through the showers. And despite what looked to be a very bad scenario, the monsoon never came and soon the skies began to brighten and the sun popped back out and remarkably, it turned into a top three weather night for being outside and watching racing for the whole year so far.
And the drivers arrived and the spectators came, as Ryne Staley had worried about, although as is often the case for Sunday night tracks, the spectators arrive when they can with often times just as many coming after the first green flag drops as previous to that.
Five classes of USRA cars would be racing on this night plus the Bat Wings but if you need a report of their part of the show, you'll have to check elsewhere because the Bat Wings are my concession and bathroom break time. I do know that there were over twenty of them on hand, to go along with nearly ninety cars in the other classes, including a twenty eight car B Mod field that required a B Feature.
After having lost several shows early this year like many tracks in this fickle Spring, this would be the 2023 season opener for the Mason City Motor Speedway. And even now, almost a year since its great transformation, the changes to the track still remain stunning. And for me, very positive. I know that there are still some half mile fans out there, just as there still are at Davenport, but for me, the positive things that the new track brings are so much better than just the display of raw speed that the half mile could bring.
And the changes and improvements continue here. A large number of big billboards now surround the third turn, giving good exposure for the sponsors while helping block the sun as the drivers pound down the back chute. The uphill driveway up to the track from the pits has been paved to help traction. Five new light poles will soon be erected to help with the dark spots, which there area few, on the track. New caution lights will also soon go up as they are without them at the moment which is just a bit scary to me as track officials are relying on the Raceceivers to slow the drivers down and warn them. Hand rails have been put up in what can be very slippery grandstands in bad weather and a new handicapped viewing area in available in turn four. I also thought I heard some talk about a cat walk in the works but what I really want to see in a scoreboard or at the minimum, a lap board so we can follow the progress of the races. But all in all, this place and its former self don't even compare and that is a good thing. Shelby County Speedway and here have, in my opinion, made the biggest positive moves with their race tracks of any in the state of Iowa that last couple of years.
And they really do fly around this high banked third mile now, again, much like they do in Harlan. And despite the weather trying to throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings, the racing started very near the advertised time and as we would expect from a Staley promoted show, the pace was fast with little in the way of breaks, particularly so for a Sunday night venue.
While there was plenty of side by side racing and passing throughout the night, one odd statistic of the night found the race leader of each of the five charted feature races still leading at the checkered. That might make the racing sound boring, but it wasn't with plenty of action but that strange fact does still remain.
There are not a lot of Tuners in North Iowa and only eight would take the green for their feature race, the first of the night. Oliver Monson would draw the pole and as one of the fastest cars in this region, it would make for easy money for him as he pulled away immediately and no one would challenge him in the nonstop feature. Ryan Bryant was running a strong second until he broke with Max Heimbuch ending up second and Dalton Fels third.
The Hobby Stock feature would be the Chris Hovden show as from the outside pole, he would lead from start to finish, surviving three yellow flags that would bunch the field. The final lap would prove difficult for the Koop family as Carter would get too high in turn two and give up second to Scott Dobel while Weston would have troubles and lose a number of spots, falling out of the top five. Every single car that started the Hobby feature would still be running at the end.
All B Mods still running at feature time made the show with twenty three taking the green flag and it would be Northeast Iowa veteran Brandon Hare that would get the jump on Noah Grinstead and the chase would be on. For twenty laps Grinstead would dog the leader but Hare would fail to make even a single error as he rode the high banks and proved to be unflappable as Grinstead tried to pressure him.
With only three minor yellows for spins, this race would be completed very quickly too and Hare would drive on for the win with Grinstead settling for second ahead of Josh Roney, Dan Hovden and George Nordman.
Andrew Eischens would get the jump on Paul Conrad and lead the first two laps of the Stock Car feature when it was stopped by a spin. After that, the race would go green to checkers with Eischens fighting off some stiff challenges, first from Conrad and then later from Nate Whitehurst. Nate started fifth and was one of the few able to make the low groove work and he gradually eased his way forward, finally getting past Conrad near the end and closing quickly on Eischens. Andrew nearly gave away the farm on the final corner when he went high but he was able to straighten out his car and nip Whitehurst as the line for the win with Conrad third.
Chanse Hollatz put on a show as he started fourteenth and worked his way up to fourth, also using the low line and he would likely have gained more spots but ran out of time.
Aaron Benson had looked very fast in his heat race and when he drew the outside pole, he continued his fast pace in the Modified feature , leading from green to checkered to get the win. This race ran off nonstop and Rodney Sanders was probably hoping for a yellow flag or two, as he worked his way up from ninth into second but with no slowdowns, by the time he got past Al Hejna for second, Benson had a good sized lead.
It did get dicey near the end as Benson had some difficulty with one of the slower cars and Rodney pulled to within a couple of car lengths. However, Benson saved the day with a bold inside pass down the front stretch that gave him a bit of breathing room and he would go on for the win with Rodney and Hejna next in line.
This smoothly run show lasted just over three hours and the final checkered waved just at 9 pm, perfect for those folks needing to go to work on Monday morning. Management here really wanted to get this first race in but they were leery that with the threatening conditions that they might not have neither competitors or fans on hand but it appeared that both worries weren't creditable as the had both a nice pit and a good grandstand. Thanks to Ryne, Todd, Janet and the rest of the MCMS crew for their efforts and with many big events on their schedule this year, it should be a big year for the North Iowa facility.
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