Thursday night, May 18th, the Kossuth County Speedway at the fairgrounds in Algona Iowa was back in action with their second Thursday night race of 2023. They got their opener in two weeks ago but then lost last week's race due to rain, a repeating theme for this track located in Northwestern Iowa on highway 169.
On tap Thursday would be their regular five class program of IMCA racing plus the two man Cruisers, a staple here for as long as I can remember and one of the very few tracks in the state still running Cruisers after they went through a period of extreme popularity across the Midwest.
It was another strange weather day as a number have been lately and the strange thing was again those hazy skies with at times, even the faintest aroma of burning wood, the result of some huge forest fires in Canada that with the winds have sent their smoke hundreds of miles South. How awful it must be up there. I guess that is one weather occurrence that folks in Iowa don't have to cope with very often.
Fifty three cars would sign in to race in the five IMCA classes with the field being a little light in the two open wheel classes. However, most of the local fan favorites were on hand and that is an important thing for this primarily local crowd.
However, the name Sam Hoffman from Montana keeps popping up as racing in the local area and I had to find out if he was on vacation, racing the Midwest this Summer or what. Turns out that Sam felt like he was getting crowded out of his part of Montana and that it was getting too expensive to live there. So last Winter, he drove back to Iowa spent time hunting around for jobs and a place to live and found both of what he wanted in Spencer where he now lives and has purchased a home. He is in the aircraft maintenance field right now but is also a crop duster pilot by trade too. I turns out that he knows the two crop duster pilots I know that are also race car drivers, one from North Dakota and one from Minnesota. So far he is very pleased with the move and has had no problems getting adjusted to Iowa. He is however, looking for a bigger shop to keep and work on his Modified.
I always look forward to visit to either Algona or Britt so that I can visit with the voice of both tracks, Chad Meyer. Chad is one of the best at his craft with a dry sense of humor and a great resume of big races that he has worked at. He knows his stuff and is also not afraid to call a spade a spade if need be. It is also refreshing to here a race call without a huge litany of sponsors being constantly referred to.
A fast track would greet the drivers on Thursday night, the result of much rain in the area recently and they would be flying through the early events. However, the program would go off quickly with the first yellow flag on the entire night not needed until the Sport Compact feature, the tenth race of the night.
The track did start to build up some humps in the corners by this time as that wet soil started to roll up some and for the last race of the night they moved out the dreaded infield tractor tires so the racers would run above the humps and that seemed to help. From start to finish, all the qualifying heats were completed in just forty three minutes and with a break short enough to just about have a swig of pop, the Cruiser feature was on the track.
For me, the highlight of the night was the Hobby Stock feature, won by Chris Krug in a car older than quite a few of the fans! Krug would make a thrilling last lap pass on Brandon Nielsen to get the win and put the crowd on their feet. The biggest field of the night, eighteen cars, would take the green for the Hobby Stock main and Nielsen would lead every lap except the money one.
Early on he was chased by Dan Hanselman but after Hanselman and Seth Butler both rolled tires off the rims of their car, it was up to Mike Smith and Krug to try and track down Nielsen. Smith was putting plenty of pressure on Nielsen but after a lap eleven yellow, Krug suddenly burst forward, passing Smith for second and applying heavy pressure on Nielsen for the lead, with Brandon appearing to suffer from a right race car that wasn't turning as it should.
Coming out of turn one on the final lap, Nielsen pushed up the track, Krug dove to the inside and made the pass for the lead and made it stick as he then pulled away for the win.
In victory lane, Krug's car, which frankly looks like a tank, was told to Meyer to be a 1999 Landshark chassis, a brand and year that I hardly remember. He also said that he was going to break out a new car on Friday but would put this beauty in the shed to break out for specials! When asked by Meyer how he managed to make that last lap pass, Krug replied that he "had a horseshoe up his a**," something I'm willing to take as fact since he's way to big to argue with. Nielsen and Smith would complete the top three.
Two other class features would be determined by late race passes also. The Modified feature would see Nick Meyer lead for much of the contest after starting on the pole but he would be constantly challenged by Jeremy Mills for the top spot. Several times Mills, who appeared to have the quicker car, would try to get past but each time Meyer would somehow hold him off.
Finally, on lap fifteen, Mills would find a hole on the low side of the track and squeeze past to take over the lead which he would build to the checkered. Meyer would settle for second with Cody Knecht third. Chad Meyer stated that the win was Mills' eightieth feature win at Algona over the years, one of the tops in track history..
Also making a late race pass for the win was Oliver Monson who drove pass Lucas Parsons with just two laps to go to win the Sport Compact feature. They had a small field of cars but their feature remained in doubt until the very end. Monson is plagued by the fact that he wins too often as his win was met by resounding boos from the crowd.
Two drivers dominated their main events. Jake Simpson led from green to checkered to win the Sport Mod feature and was never really challenged in a race that was stopped only once. He had a comfortable margin over Colby Fett and Charlie Stevens at the finish. The feature win was reported to be the fifty first at Algona for Simpson.
A shocking development occurred in the Stock Car feature when Kevin Opheim rolled out a new race car for Thursday night's action after having raced the same Stock Car for about as long as Krug raced his Hobby Stock. Although it looked as cobbled together as his cars always do, it was a new car with good equipment from Chanse Hollatz. and Opheim would race it to a third place finish in its first outing. As for the winner, Derek Green would drive past Gary Pesicka on the third lap and would then pull away from the field for an easy win., his thirtieth feature win at Algona. These feature win stats were provided by Chad Meyer from his research.
The final checkered flag waved at 9:29 pm to conclude a smooth, two hour and ten minute program, just what is needed for a midweek show to be successful. Thanks to track promoter Ron Reefer, Meyer, Logan Kelly for officiating a quick program and to the rest of the staff at Kossuth County Speedway.
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