It was a stormy weekend with lots of cancellations, postponements and other adjustments in the planned schedule and that was also a part of my weekend. A last minute change in plans ended up with a not so pleasant Father's Day trip South down I-35 to the Mason City Motor Speedway. It's not that I didn't want to visit Mason City for the races, nor did I not want to catch the Late Models of the SLMR in action for the first time in 2025, but a holiday trip down a busy interstate was not the most pleasant of excursions. But we got it done and arrived just as the pits opened at Mason.
It was clear that they had received plenty of rain in this area also with plenty of standing water and the track prep crew working hard with multiple pieces of heavy equipment on the racing surface. They were finding it hard to dry off things as we were shocked to step out of our vehicle and discover just how hot and humid it was. Wow, what a change for us in just the last few hours. Summer had indeed arrived.
It was clear that it would be a heavy track for all four divisions that were racing on Sunday as they continued to pack and grade at every opportunity, widening the track out the best they could. In reality, considering the conditions they were fighting, the track ended up racing quite well for all classes.
Sunday was a "stand alone" date for the SLMR East which makes it kind of tough to draw cars and the fact that it was Father's Day probably didn't help. However, they did draw twenty six Late Models for the show, helped by the addition of a couple when the PRO Late Model show at Dubuque rained out while the top sixteen in current East points were all in attendance.
It would be the standard format used for the SLMR, a combination of points earned through time trials and heat race results that is so convoluted that no one has ever been able to fully explain it to me. It apparently is heavily weighed however toward time trial results as the three heat race winners ended up starting twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth in the feature race which kind of begs the question of why even bother to run the heats.
The SLMR staff had a tough night with equipment problems as they ended up hand timing the drivers, 1960's style and they also had some glitches in the race results but everybody soldiered and made the best of things.
I would have thought that with only twenty six drivers on hand they could have started them all in the main event and given everyone the chance to earn a check. But they remained firm in their plan of running three heats, taking the top sixteen in points and then running a B Feature and taking four more. They are big on provisional starters though, with three added and three poor drivers watching the feature from the pits. The field was reduced by one before we even started as Jesse Sobbing scratched out of the program after time trials.
The Mason City staff was really trying to hammer things along as the skies to the West were getting increasingly angry looking and the radar looked grim. The entire qualifying for the four divisions racing, plus the Mini Mods, took just one hour but Todd Staley felt the track needed some attention so about a half hour was used to grade and widen things out.
Then it looked like we were ready to go feature racing but instead of the Late Models, we were instead "treated" to the Mini Mods, who behaved and got their main event done in nine minutes followed by a profanity laced interview with Ben Kraus, even though it won the race he was pissed!
Chad Simpson is the current SLMR point leader, even though he had yet to win a feature race in the series so far in 2025. However, that was to change very quickly. After a first lap, three car tangle, the Late Model feature would go nonstop for thirty laps and it would be a Simpson show.
Chad started on the inside of row two but made a great opening lap move to duck inside Curt Schroeder and lead the opening circuit. After that it was just academic as he pulled away from the field and built up a big lead, buoyed by the fact that the yellow didn't wave again to pack up the leaders.
He continued his torrid pace, with only eleven cars left on the lead lap when the checkers flew. There was a good battle for second though with Jason Hahne and Justin Zeitner swapping that spot back and forth as they raced through traffic. In the end, Hahne prevailed for the spot. Dylan Thornton and Blair Nothdurft completed the top five.
Dallon Murty was scheduled to start on the pole but opted to take the bonus challenge if he started sixth and won there was an extra twelve hundred dollars to be gained. It didn't work out so well for him however, as he ended up just where he started, sixth.
Three other USRA classes were also racing on Sunday in regular point paying action. The Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks all had enough entrants for a pair of heats and a feature race, a perfect number considering there was weather to beat as a short Sunday night program is always a bonus.
Jeremy Crimmins led the opening lap of the Hobby Stock feature but then Joshua Monson drove around him to take over the lead. He then began to pull away while a good three car battle between Crimmins, Scott Dobel and Kolby Goepel was carried out.
A late yellow set up a three lap dash to the finish with Monson again easily pulling away for the win. Dobel would hold off Goepel for second.
Ben Moudry got off to a great start in the B Mod feature and that would allow him to pull away early from the field. He started third but used a strong inside move to drive into the lead on the opening lap and then he pulled away from the pack.
After a first lap yellow for two cars hooked together that ended up being a twenty minute delay while they tried to pry the two apart, this race ran off nonstop with Moudry putting plenty of distance on the pack. the only driver that was even close for most of the race was Tianna Mithun and she ended up finishing a strong second.
Point leader Kaden Bronner had back luck early as he got crashed out of a heat race and had to start in the back of the pack for the feature race but he drove his way up through the field, passing Jenae Gustin on the last lap for third.
A dominating green to checkers win in the Stock Car feature by Kevin Opheim ended the evening. He started on the pole and built up a big lead early, only to have Chanse Hollatz race his way up to second and start to close on the leader.
A yellow flag with seven laps to go produced some close racing to the finish. East lap Hollatz would look to the inside of the leader but Opheim had just enough speed to fight him off down the straightaways. This continued for the rest of the race with Hollatz taking one last big swing in turn one on the final lap but he pushed up the track and the race was Opheim's. Myles Michehl completed the top three.
The races were concluded by 9 pm and the good news was that the rain did hold off. It was not many miles North of the track however, before we hit hard rain and some wild lightning.
Thanks to the staff of Mason City Motor Speedway for their efforts, putting in a lot of work to get the show completed as well as the SLMR group.
No comments:
Post a Comment