IMCA Speed Week continued on Wednesday night, August 6th at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa. The Hunting For Heroes Salute to Veterans Tour race here had been rained out in July and was originally scheduled for Tuesday night. However, with all the Speed Week activities and races going on, the date was eventually changed to Wednesday night so that a full week of racing could take place in northwestern Iowa, topping off with the Night of 1000 Stars at Britt.
Tonight's race almost didn't take place again as heavy over night storms hit the area and then headed to the Southeast. Well over an inch of rain fell at the track and around the community and there were those that wanted to cancel the event. However, there were others that definitely wanted to race and with the help of some fine, community minded business with access to heavy equipment, the grounds and race track were prepared and racing was completed as scheduled.
The dirt pit area was opened up to the sun and wind and by late afternoon, except for a few minor puddles, there were no problems reported there. Of course, all those rigs that parked out on the concrete in the parking lot always enjoy their stay here, except for the fact that they are so far away from the track itself.
The racing surface stayed smooth, which was a concern of some, but it was soft and quickly rolled up into a monster cushion. Time and time again, the cushion was scrapped and packed by equipment but each time it returned quickly, bigger and badder than ever. For most, it was the place on the track to race as it provided plenty of speed, but it was also a very tricky place to race as a few found out over the course of the evening.
All five classes, under IMCA sanction, were racing as normal on Wednesday. The top prize was two grand that would go to the winner of both the Stock Car and Modified main events while the other classes also got a boost up to a grand a piece except the Sport Compacts who raced for three bills.
Part of the Hunting With Heroes promotion involves race cars receiving military and historic wraps and there were about a dozen drivers that had them on their cars. They were on display in front of the grandstand before the races and all veterans on hand on this night got in free along with a lot of other goodies they collected on.
Unfortunately for those of us hoping to see a quick show and get on the road, this was not a night filled with good time management. Each feature race was proceeded by a flag carrying ceremony of all drivers which I get and extensive photo opportunities which are all part of the event. Therefore, the pace tonight would not be near as brisk as for most events here and indeed, later with things running quite late, both the Stock Car and Modified feature races were cut by five laps to try and move things along.
The part I objected to was that with much ceremony before the first green flag dropped, the first heat didn't hit the track until 7:49 pm, way too late for any night of the week but especially during the week. And the problem here is that for some reason they feel that they must hot lap every class, no matter the situation and no matter the time. There are plenty of big time events that don't feel the need to hot lap any classes and on a night when things are running late and it's going to be a long night, just simply don't have hot laps. In my area at this time of the year, hot laps are rarely done, and everyone still survives just fine.
The drivers were really late arriving on Wednesday, perhaps because it was a week night and also perhaps because they were working on race cars that needed attention following two or three nights of racing already with more to go. The final total was one hundred and ten drivers in five classes signed in to race. These numbers work well as they provide full size heat races without the need to run time consuming B Features.
Let's focus on the two biggest paying events of the night. The Stock Car feature started twenty six drivers going for twenty laps. The redraw was interesting tonight with no glaring advantages gained on the redraw for anyone, making this race one hard to call, unlike Boone the night before when I picked all three winners before the first green flag was dropped.
Chris Palsrok had the pole position and he took the early lead with Jason Fisher and Mike Albertsen moving in behind him. There was plenty of jockeying back in the pack as a couple of drivers made some moves to the front. Primary among them was Justin Leinenburg who moved up from his ninth starting spot although he was probably not making any friends as there was plenty of contact as he moved forward. Chanse Hollatz also cracked the top five early on.
Fisher was really flying and he was able to slip past Palsrok and take over the lead just before the halfway point of the race. So after, Leinenburg moved up into second and the biggest battle of the race took place as Leinenburg really worked to get past Fisher. Both drivers were using the cushion , as was most of the field, and it was to a height by this time that they could really bang off it all the way around the track.
However, lap fourteen brought disaster for Leinenburg when he caught the cushion wrong in turn one, his car reared up on two wheels and then took off on a monster series of flips that saw him roll all the way over the banking and out of sight. Fortunately, he was OK but the same couldn't be said of the car.
The last six laps saw Fisher hold off all challenges from several different drivers and the veteran driver from Minnesota crossed the line first to take the win over Mike Albertsen and Jake Masters who started way back in seventeenth.
I have been seeing Fisher race at a lot of races over the years in this part of the country in Stock Cars and Modifieds before that and I can't ever remember seeing him win a feature race before so he was more than due.
Joel Rust had showed much speed at Boone on Tuesday night but ran out of laps. In Spencer tonight, he started on the outside pole and led all twenty laps to take the win. He was strong from start to finish and was never really challenged at any point. Brandon Beckendorf looked quick also as he moved from the fifth starting spot into second but he stalled out there, just not able to track down Rust.
This race had only a single yellow flag and the field got kind of stretched out with the dominant top side used by just about everyone. Nick Meyer, one of those that always has a military themed car for this race, finished third with Jacob Snyder back in his own car tonight and claiming the fourth spot.
The Hobby Stock feature was a wild one that saw several yellows for spins and wrecks and also included a flip by Kalyb Brunssen when he dug into the surface exiting turn two. Dillon Richards started on the outside pole which normally would mean he would run away with the race, but not on Wednesday when he was beaten to the early lead by Evan Schettler. Schettler and Richards then engaged in some entertaining slide job action, with Schettler able to fight off every attempt by Richards to take over the lead.
Racing hard and close, Schettler had bad luck strike him just when it looked like he might prevail when he pounded the turn one cushion and rolled a right rear tire off the bead while leading. He then triggered a yellow, changed the tire and eventually would work his way back up to tenth.
Richards still wasn't out of the woods as he had both Skylar Pruitt and Cory Probst then challenging him. Pruitt would actually get past but Richards was saved by the yellow flag. A two lap sprint to the finish was shuffled when on the green, Probst had a motor let go in a smoky cloud and he slowed, which allowed Richards to gain just enough that he could hold off Pruitt and Brandon Nielsen for the win.
Mike Smith led from start to finish to win the Sport Mod feature race but it wasn't quite as easy as that might indicate. Even though he took the early lead, he was chased hard by Matt Avila who had moved up from the third row to challenge.
Several times Avila tried to get under Smith coming off the corners until he unfortunately came off four just too hot, banged into the side of the leader and gave himself a flat tire while calling it a night.
Smith then dominated from this point, leading the rest of the way. A late restart saw Justin Klynsma make a great move as he passed both Payce Herrera and Alec Fett to move up to second and then hold off Zach Davis who made his own charge up from the sixth row to finish a close third.
It took Oliver Monson only one lap to move up from the second row and pass Kaytee Devries and take over the lead in the Sport Compact main event. This race ran green to checkers and Monson was able to extend his lead and drive home for a pretty easy win. Devries held on for second with Tyler Thompson pushing her at the end.
J Van and Chad Meyer were again providing the entertainment but it wasn't nearly as good as at Boone the night before, mainly because the sound system at Spencer, under the big roof, just isn't very good and while I could hear Chad as he delivered the opening remarks before the show started, once the racing starts it's almost impossible to hear them. I hope the entertainment attractions during the Fair have better audio then they provide on race night.
Lots of work for Trent Chinn and his staff to get this show completed and they got it done, even if it was almost Midnight by the time I hit the road. Thanks again.
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