Carter's Dominate At Hometown Osky

 On Wednesday night, May 8th, I made the trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Iowa for their regular Wednesday racing program that would present five classes of racing action. It would be my first trip of the year here but there would be many familiar faces on hand as Osky has been a staple for midweek racing action for as long as I can remember. 

Wednesday night was Hall of Fame voting night at the speedway with fans encouraged to vote for their candidates to be added to the speedway Hall of Fame. It was also a good night to be a driver at Osky as plenty of extra cash was on the line for the competitors with over $7,500 added to the regular purse with no entry fees for the drivers. Numerous sponsors pitched in to help out this week, as they do here all year with the local support for the Southern Iowa Fair and activities at the Fairgrounds at a high level. The Race Committee wants to keep racing alive and well at Osky and they find many supporters within the Mahaska County area to do so. 

The track officials here are among the very best around and it doesn't hurt that they have two hundred years of experience between them! That might be slightly exaggerated but there is no doubt that with Jerry Mackey behind the mic, Doug Haack waving the sticks and Kevin Feller doing the scoring they have three key employees that have seen it all and are up to handling any situation. When they are in charge, you know that there will not be any missteps taken. 

Sixty nine drivers would sign in to race on Wednesday with the largest car count in the Hobby Stock division. Osky is not sanctioned by any organization and their procedure is to do a draw/redraw program every Wednesday. Normally the do handicap the previous week's winner to the back of the redraw cars but since this was a special with more money on the line, they did not do this on Wednesday. And this would turn out to benefit three winners from last week's show later. 

Track packing and hot laps would start at around 7:15 pm and the first race hit the track at 7:46 pm. The heat races would click off smoothly with only three slowdowns to stop the action. One however, was for a hard flip in turn three by Hobby Stock driver Cory Vanderwilt. He was OK but in a borrowed ride for the night, he might have to do some explaining to the car owner when he sees his race car!

An improving weather forecast throughout the day made racing possible on Wednesday but with lightning flashing in the Northwestern sky as the heats concluded, the track management wisely went directly into the main events. 

Sport Compacts would roll on to the track first with thirteen of them to take the green flag. This race would be a good, close contest with Nathan Moody taking the early lead. He had Brandon Pickney right on his tail from the start, poking a nose under Moody in every corner as he looked for an opening. On lap four Pickney got past but Moody was saved by a yellow flag and retained the lead. 

Pickney would continue to press and on lap nine when Moody got just a bit high in turn two, Pickney ducked under him and took over the top spot. Moody would then return the favor, pressing Pickney to retake the lead but Brandon would not yield and would drive on for the win. He would deliver the news to Mackey in his victory lane interview that this was his first ever feature win, which brought a nice ovation from the crowd. 

The Non Winged Sprints, who have been a part of the program here for several years now, would then get pushed off for their main event. Nine of them would take the green including Ed Adams who was driving a car that was probably older than half the crowd in the stands! This rather unbalanced division would see A.J. Johnson, winner of both the previous shows here, jump from his second row starting spot into the lead before one lap was completed and he then would disappear into the Iowa evening, leaving the rest of the field miles behind. 

At the finish, he was over a full straightaway in front while running the last half of the race at what sounded like half throttle. Doug Sylvester would fight off a challenge from Lance Schlicher for second. 

Then it would be time for the hometown driving brothers, the Carters, to shine. Stock Cars were up next and while Nathan Wood jumped into the early lead from the outside pole, Cayden Carter would quickly move in on him and with a strong effort, drive around Wood on lap three to take over the lead. With this race going green to checkers, there would be no stopping Cayden as he would pull to a comfortable advantage and not be challenged the rest of the way. Wood racing second throughout the contest but the driver that moved up the most was Zack Vanderbeek who debuted his new Stock Car to a promising result. 

Following his victory lane interview with Mackey, Cayden pulled his car down the front stretch on his way to tech inspection. He was door to door with the Sport Mods, who were coming out on to the track and with his brother Brayton on the pole, sharp eyed fans would see Cayden give a subtle signal to his brother to get to the bottom of the track, where the speed was. 

Not that Brayton needed any help figuring that out but on the green for the Sport Mod main, he got a good jump on Logan Anderson and took the lead. Carter wins with handling, not speed, and while Anderson was sliding up just a bit in the corners, Carter was nailed to the bottom and started to pull away as the leader. 

Near the midpoint of the race, Anderson seemed to be gaining just a bit but then Carter made a nice move to get past lapped traffic while Anderson got held up a bit and then Carter pulled away again, to repeat last week's win here. The fastest driver at the end was Maguire DeJong who started eighth and worked his way up to third at the end and made up nearly a full straightaway on the two leaders. 

The Hobby Stocks then would conclude the evening and what a wild start their race had! A first lap accident exiting turn two saw the car of Jim Alexander Jr. climb up on the car of Rick Goldsberry with both then flipping. While Goldsberry's flip was a minor one(if there is such a thing), Alexander Jr took a very wild ride, getting high in the air as his car cartwheeled. An object came flying out of the car as it was tumbling and I at first thought it to be the fuel cell as when it landed there was a small fire. Turns out I had my ends of the car bass ackward and it was the engine that was hurdled right out of the car as it flipped! Talk about a wild tumble! Fortunately there were no injuries. 

The race was restarted and two time winner Dustin Griffiths, who drew the pole, would pull away from the pack and join Johnson as an undefeated driver at the track, winning his third straight main event. He built up a big lead and was never challenged in the event. The driver that made the most moves, however, was Eric Stanton who started eleventh and worked his way up through the field. Right at the end of the race, he passed Peyton Stephens to claim the second spot and wished he could have started just a little closer to the front, likely.  

All racing was concluded about a quarter past 10 pm and would have been sooner except for the long clean up following the Hobby Stock feature wreck. Thanks to all the members of the Race Committee for their help and it was good sharing a few moments with Jerry Mackey, one of the best in the business. 

Powerful Berry Jr. Performance Nets Challenge Series Win at Independence

 Isn't this great! It's only the first full week of May and we are already doing a plethora of midweek special races. Some promoters sit back and run the same old, same old week after week. Some are successful that way, but many wonder where the fans have disappeared to. Other promoters think outside the box, they run special events on midweek dates and even move the date of their races around to suit their needs and to string together races with other tracks willing to do the same. Once in a while they take it in the shorts on their gambles, but more often than not they come out very well and produce interesting events while shaking up the "norm" just a little. 

Monday night, May 6th, the Independence Motor Speedway was in action with the first of the new IMCA Modified Summer Challenge Series races, a six race series that features strong payoffs for the drivers plus a nice points fund. The idea of promoters Mike VanGenderen and Trent Chinn, the series will visit four tracks in Iowa and then end up at the two South Dakota tracks that are right across the street from each other. A number of Modified drivers plan on following the entire series which gives them a chance for some nice payoffs plus a point fund while not tying up too many racing dates over the course of the Summer. 

Along with the Modifieds, four other IMCA classes would be in action on Monday night, all racing for extra cash too. One hundred and nineteen cars signed in to race with the Modified field especially strong with forty four entrants and a lot of talented drivers fully capable of winning. 

It was a warm Monday for racing given recent trends but another of the windy days that have dominated the Spring so far this year. However, the track held up well against the assault of many cars and it was remarked to me how many grooves the Modified drivers were using in their main event while not spraying we the fans with the amount of dust I was afraid we might have to endure. 

The big Modified field, divided up into five heats and two B Features, would use a different format to qualify for the main event than often seen. IMCA tracks seen to be big fans of the draw/redraw format which I don't believe works so well when dealing with such large fields of cars. For this race, promoter VanGenderen used passing points with the top sixteen in passing points moving on to the main event with the highest in passing points starting in the front. Everyone else would go into the two B Features to determine the rest of the starting field. 

While there is no perfect way of lining up races and determining just who should move to the main, I still favor the passing points format where every position gained is big in the heat races. You don't see drivers getting into a redraw position and then just cruising which is seen way too often in weekly shows. And to back that up, the heats were quite spectacular on Monday with some great battles and wild moves that had the crowd talking. 

Tom Berry Jr was the class of the field in his Lethal chassis on this night, starting right in his heat race where he made some bold moves that saw him eventually garner the most passing points and then start on the pole. He would lead all thirty laps to take the two grand win but there was some excellent battles going on behind him. Tim Ward and Ethan Braaksma had a dandy race for second as they swapped the spot several times, with yellow flags causing them to use strategy to determine whether they wanted the outside or inside line. There were only three yellows in the race but two occurred in the last eight laps, making for a late push by some drivers. 

Through all this, Berry Jr would not be challenged as he would drive on for the win. Braaksma would finish second and Ward third although Joel Rust had made a nice charge up to that spot, only to nearly fly off the end on the final lap and give up one position. 

The Sport Mods would be racing for a grand to the winner but more importantly, the outcome would mark a milestone for winner Brayton Carter. He would lead all twenty laps for the win and that victory would mark feature win number one hundred for the Oskaloosa racer in Sport Mod competition. The win was far from easy as Taylor Kuehl raced up from fifth to challenge Brayton in the nonstop main and very nearly was able to make a pass for the lead. 

She was finding great success in turns three and four and very nearly nosed under Carter to take over the lead near the halfway point of the race. However, she just couldn't quite complete the move and Carter, who is very good at searching the track to find the line that works best for his car, was able to make an adjustment and then start to pull away as Kuehl had some tire issues of her own at the end. Cole Suckow made a big charge at the end from tenth to complete the top three. 

Tom Schmitt was not messing around on Monday. The Stock Car driver started on the outside pole, would take the lead on the opening lap and then would drive on for twenty more to take the win. There would be no catching him as he delivered a strong performance that included having to carefully pick his way through considerable lapped traffic as this race would go green to checkers. Cayden Carter started sixth but charged up to get to second but he was unable to cut into the lead of Schmitt and would have to settle for second. Cole Mather was entertaining as he three wheeled his way to a third place finish. 

Calvin Dhondt had to weather a storm of pressure from Nathan Ballard to win the Hobby Stock feature but he was able to do so in a tight finish. Dhondt started on the outside pole and took the early lead but had to fight off a strong challenge from Ballard at the end to hold on for the win. 

Ballard started way back in twelfth position but he worked his way forward and appeared to be the fastest car on the track. Once Ballard got the trunk of Dhondt's car, he spent a number of laps trying to get past for the lead. He tried to duck inside but Dhondt was solid and smooth and didn't give any room. 

A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish and Ballard was glued to the rear bumper of Dhondt's car but Calvin made no mistakes as he drove a smooth line and came home the winner. Ballard should be congratulated also as the opportunity was there to put the horn on Dhondt but he chose to race him clean to the checkers. A disqualification moved up Bradly Graham, driving a different car on this night, to third. 

While the Hobby Stocks showed good sportsmanlike racing, the Sport Compact could not say the same. The two leaders hammered each other back and forth with the winning move being a pancake blow on the final corner. 

The race started out wild enough with four different leaders in the first few laps. Jake Anderson, Chris Pittman and Oliver Monson took turns leading the first three laps before Stephen Randall would make a big move and drive around Monson to take over the point. 

From that point, it was a two car battle with Monson all over Randall as he looked for a way to make the pass to regain the lead. Those two would pull away but would continue their torrid battle for the top spot. With just two laps go go, Monson would drive deep into turn three, and use up Randall considerably as he drove past and took over the lead. 

This seemed to fire up Randall and he gauged his assault. As the leaders raced down the back chute on the final lap, Randall replicated the move of Monson except with just a little more force as he moved Monson far up the track, drove under him and then raced home as the winner as the crowd cheered the fierce action on the track. Monson would straighten out his car and then would cross the line second. An illegal spring would cause the third place racer to be disqualified with Pittman taking that spot. And while there seemed to be no "marching orders" to either of the drivers for their late race escapade, I would have been tempted to park both of them for obviously rough driving. I guess I'm just no fun!

Thanks to MVG and Dana Benning for putting on this midweek special. A nice crowd was on hand for the fast paced program which got done at a decent hour, especially considering the large field of cars and resulting number of races run. Inde comes right back with a big show this coming Saturday night as Late Models of the SLMR are the featured attraction. 

Hoffman and Chisholm Top Dairyland Showdown Opener at MTS

 One of the first big events of the 2024 racing season in the upper Midwest kicked off on Friday night, May 3rd as the World of Outlaws Late Models opened up at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin. 

The Dairyland Dash was originally scheduled to be a three night show with double preliminary feature races on the first two nights, followed by a thirty five grand to win main event on Saturday night. However, all the rain of the past couple of weeks caught up with MTS and the opening night action was cancelled very early in the week due to a very unfavorable weather forecast for Thursday and for once, their threats of miserable weather actually held up with an all day rain hitting most of the Badger State. 

The program was reformatted then, with a full, one feature race event for Friday and Saturday with each night's main event to pay twenty five grand to the winner. The Modifieds, under ONUM rules, would have a full show each night also and they proved to be a very strong "supporting" division for this weekend. 

Thirty three Late Models signed in to race on Friday night, a decent number and likely what we should expect to see at most of the events this year. It just is not like times in the past when the kind of payoff numbers we were talking about for this weekend would have pulled in a gigantic field of cars. Except for a few very rare and glorified events, those days are long past. 

The top thirteen in WoO points and top eighteen of twenty were on hand and after that, it would be just a smattering of travelers and local and regional drivers that would produce the rest of the field.  A very large crowd was on hand on one of the first nice evenings we have had in quite some time to see the changes made to MTS and the new court yard worked out well for the food vendors and race tram trailers for apparel. The new stage was also utilized with live music going on right after the final checkered flag fell. 

An interesting change was made right before the program started and one that many of the fans perhaps never even caught. As mentioned in last week's report from here on their opener, they had small plastic barrels to mark the insides of the corners and keep the drivers from cutting too far into the infield and dragging dry dirt on to the track. We weren't very far into hot laps before a couple of these were clipped by the Late Models and dislodged from their moorings. Soon after, and I'm not sure following who's orders, but wreckers were seen hauling big tractor type ute tires across the track and replacing the little blue barrels in the corners. That took care of that problem and there would be no bogus yellows caused by these barrels on the track, as I also reported in last week's report had been a problem. I'm not under who's orders this change took place but there was certainly immediate action taken when someone in charge saw the need. I'm also happy to report that no one hit the big ute tires and damaged their car as some were painted white but others were still in their original black colors. 

The WoO format would be their standard one of qualifying split into two groups based on numbers, four heats and a pair of B Features before the main. Cade Dillard and Nick Hoffman would be the quick qualifiers from their groups with Dillard overall quickest at 13.596 seconds as the track quickly slowed up once qualifying began. The heat races and two Last Chance events went off smoothly, however bad luck struck Clayton Stuckey who pulled all the way from Louisiana only to wreck on the first lap of his heat and need two wreckers' assistance to leave the track. He did return with what I believe to be a back up car for the B Feature but didn't make the show. 

Twenty six cars would start the fifty lap main event as four provisional starters  were added to the back of the field. Brian Shirley, who redrew the pole, would lead the opening lap with Hoffman, Dillard, Brandon Sheppard and Bobby Pierce quickly moving in on him. It would not be Shirley's night as Hoffman would blast past him on lap six and after that Shirley would fade back in the field, eventually just making the top ten. 

Hoffman was very fast and he started to pull away from the field as Dillard and Sheppard had a great battle for second. They exchanged the position several times as Hoffman continued to run with a comfortable edge over the rest of the field. Pierce was on his way forward, gradually moving up to join the battle for second along with Ryan Gustin. 

With only two of the starters eventually pulling off the track, traffic was very heavy and Hoffman was constantly challenged to find a way past and through the slower cars. As this was going on, Pierce started to get considerably faster as he closed in and then passed both Dillard and Sheppard, after quite a battle and took over second. 

Hoffman was doing a fine job with the traffic as he maintained his lead, even as he came up on a group of slower cars running together that threatened to slow his progress. 

Things changed with just fifteen laps to go when the first and only yellow of the race took place when Dustin Sorensen slowed with a flat tire. This would give Pierce his shot at the leader but Hoffman was up to the challenge as he quickly again pulled away and opened up some distance as he was clearly the class of the pack on this night. Sheppard would give Pierce a brief battle for second before falling back and settling for third with Gustin's late charge giving his fourth and Chris Madden, never a challenger earlier, would come up quickly at the end for fifth as Dillard slipped back. Twenty six of the starters were still on the track at the finish. 

The Modifieds were listed as the support class for this event and what a support class they proved to be! Fifty Modifieds signed in to race on Friday night and their numbers and quality would likely be more appropriate as the headline attraction for many shows. There were drivers on hand from thirteen states plus Canada for this event. 

MTS is feeling the glow of the one hundred grand to win show that will come to them the end of this month and as a result of this, drivers from near and far are coming when the chance presents itself to test the track and make themselves fast for that event. 

One top of the always strong southern Minnesota Deer Creek field of cars in this class, with USMTS rained out this weekend some of their drivers also gravitated North to run this show. Throw in such heavy hitters as Kyle Strickler, Michael Leach, Ethan Dotson in Steve Arpin's car, Dallon Murty, Bobby Pierce, David Stremme and Curt Spaulding and you have as tough a field of drivers as will likely gather at one track all year. All this to race for, I believe two grand, with double that on Saturday. 

The ONUM(One Nation Under Modified) rules were in effect which is basically that each driver declares their sanctioning body and those rules are followed so there were both American Racer and Hoosier tires on the track and some sporting big spoilers and others none. All this in preparation for the big money race the end of this month. 

The Modified portion of the show would be a passing points affair with the drivers drawing for starting positions in the heats and then five heats plus two B Features to set the starting positions for the main event plus one track provisional, giving them twenty five drivers for forty laps. 

Lucas Schott would start on the pole and would take the early lead. Only one lap was completed before Kyle Strickler would spin, slowing the action for the first of three times during the race. 

Schott continued as the leader but Jim Chisholm, from the third row, quickly moved into second and began to challenge for the lead. Jake Timm, Leach and Cole Czarneski were also in the lead pack early on. 

Chisholm continued to put  the pressure on Schott and on lap fifteen he blew past him off turn four and took over the top spot. Stremme was working his way forward into the top ten after starting in the seventh row when he slowed one lap short of halfway and the yellow flew once again. Timm, Schott, Brandon Davis and Leach were the top five at this point. 

Following each yellow, Chisholm would again pull away from the field as no one had anything for the young driver from Northeastern Iowa. Davis continued his march to the front, moving past Timm for third. Then Jake slowed with a flat tire and called it a night, leaving just five laps to go. 

And while Davis had shown speed, climbing forward throughout the race, he had nothing for Chisholm over the final five laps as Jim once again pulled away from the pack to claim the win and his second straight here at MTS, having won the regular season opener here last Thursday as well. Davis would finish a solid second with Schott, Rodney Sanders and Curt Spaulding completing the top five. Nineteen of the starters were still on the track at the finish. It was another strong showing for Chisholm, who is very rapidly climbing the ladder of recognized Modified drivers. 

As reported in last week's story, new dirt has been put on MTS this year and for the second straight night it held up well, especially under heavy pounding from so many cars. It remained smooth and along with the reshaping of the corners, has helped the drivers to move around on the track more and run more different grooves with not nearly as much cushion pounding as this track used to have. But as also suspected, it does come with the cost as quite a bit of dust in the air was noted and without a favorable wind at our backs on Friday, we did look like we attended a dirt track race afterward. All racing was complete by just about 11 pm. 

Thanks to all the folks that work for the World of Outlaws for their help, along with Tyrone Lingenfelter and the crew at MTS as they all hosted a large contingent of race fans on this night. The second half of this doubleheader will be held on Saturday with the money up for the Late Models and the Modifieds racing for more. 

Chisholm Trails No One at MTS Opener

 Here's an interesting story relative to the 2024 season opener at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway about one mile East of that body of water just North of Fountain City Wisconsin. Normally a Friday night track, MTS announced just about a week ago that they would be switching their season opener to Thursday night of this week. The reason being is that the USMTS was scheduled to race on both Friday and Saturday night of this week at the Deer Creek Speedway, about forty miles West of here, as they attempted to make up the 2023 Fall Jamboree that was wiped out by rain. MTS had already announced their schedule when the Jamboree was rained out. 

When 49% of the ownership in Deer Creek was sold last year to the Sorensen family from Rochester Minnesota, it seemed that relations between the two tracks improved considerably with them working together on several scheduling issues since that time as before, the relations between the two seemed a bit cool, shall we say. Mike Sorensen and Bob Timm, the majority owner of MTS, have raced together for years and now both have sons racing each other and there is a mutual respect between the two. 

So, even though it was a bold move to reschedule the opener to a week night, MTS went ahead and did so, knowing the Deer Creek will not race against them next week when MTS hosts the World of Outlaws Late Models for three nights. The gamble for MTS is whether fans and racers would and could show for a weeknight event while the upside would possibly provide a number of extra Modified drivers would stop in to race on Thursday on their way to Deer Creek. MTS raised the pay to two grand to win in that hope and with a one hundred thousand dollar to win Modified race next month at MTS, there are plenty of drivers wanting to get laps at MTS anyway. 

The irony of this way, due to the bad weather forecast for the weekend, Deer Creek cancelled the whole show so many of those drivers didn't come North at all. Still, MTS would have twenty seven Modifieds on hand, and plenty of quality as well. 

Very quietly and under the radar, MTS may have made as many significant improvements to their racing facility as any track in the Midwest. I was stunned and surprised to see all that they had done and had heard nothing about most of it. 

To start with, the track has a whole new racing surface. Gone is the black dirt,  replaced by brown dirt found locally. And for the first night on it officially, it held up very well. It was smooth and the groove widened out nicely and polished up shiny, and seemed to provide more racing grooves which was the hope. The old dirt always seemed to favor a top side hammer down type of race and that is what they were hoping to change. 

The exit to the track in turn one is gone, filled in by a solid concrete wall. The only exit now in off turn two, the same place where the cars enter the track. This was done in the interest of safety and seemed like a very good call. The Kart track in the infield is gone and the whole infield has been leveled. This also allowed them to widen the inside of the corners too. The wall has been painted white and blue in alternative sections. 

Off the track, fan improvements were made too. Gone is the old and quite small concession stand. It has been leveled and part of the building that housed storage for equipment was repurposed to a concession. More windows are now available and more room for the workers. This also opened up more space in the commons area and the stage for music has been moved to that area too. There are plans in the works to perhaps have a covered pavilion built there too. 

And if all this wasn't enough, the track also added one more class of competition. They are now running Eco Mods in addition to the five other classes that they already had. With a goal of developing a lower cost open wheel class, the Eco Mods are similar to the Midwest Mods that race in southern Missouri and Kansas. Whether this works out or not, remains to be seen. They had eight for their opener with a combination of drivers moving up, some moving down and some new to the sport. 

It was not that long ago that it would be unheard of for a track to change an opening night and especially to a week night but things have changed so much in the past few years that some things old goats like me think would never work, seem to work out just fine. And MTS , dating back to the Covid days, has always maintained a very aggressive pattern when it comes to scheduling and adding races. 

Thursday night would show that they know what they're doing as a very nice crowd was on hand and one hundred and twenty six race cars filled the pits with thirty nine B Mods to go with the twenty seven Mods. The numbers were so high that B Features were needed for both B Mods and Mods. 

Racing would get started just a few minutes late after one of those long driver's meetings that typically happen on opening night. However, after that it would be pretty much nonstop racing action. They would fly through fourteen heat races with the yellow flag waving only four times.   Things were even more amazing come feature time. They would run off six main events and there would be no more than one yellow in each one, even with full fields of cars and the newness of opening night. That to me was rather remarkable. 

All classes here except for the Eco Mods are USRA sanctioned and on opening night, it would be draw/redraw to determine the feature race lineups except for the Mods that were using passing points. 

The Hobby Stock feature would be up first on the agenda and this race would go green to checkers for the eighteen cars starting. Paul Seabrooke would get the jump from the outside pole to lead the opening lap but he would soon be challenged by Scott Spilde for the lead. The track had been "juiced up" for the Hobby Stocks and they found it best to hug the inside line for best speed. Seabrooke continued to lead but Spilde was all over him, right on his rear bumper. Eventually they would be joined by Caden Helle and Chris Hovden in a four car chain. 

They would remain in that order right up to the finish. Seabrooke would hold on for the win by a half car length over Spilde who should be congratulated for racing the leader clean on the last circuit and doing a NASCAR type of hammer job. Hovden would move up to third in a photo finish. 

Twenty four B Mods would take the green for their main event. Erik Kanz started on the pole and led the opening lap. Taylor Skauge would use his second row starting spot to go to the cushion where his car was working well and on lap four, he would blow past Kanz to take over the lead. 

The yellow would wave with nine laps in the book when one of the corner blue barrels would be knocked on to the track.. These barrels would be one of the few sore spots of the night, as they triggered three yellows on the night with hopefully some other plan coming up to keep drivers from cutting the corners without also triggering those annoying  yellow flags. 

In any event, Skauge would maintain his edge on the restart as he had the line and the car to beat and he would drive on unchallenged for the win. Kanz would hold on for second and Hunter Kennedy would come from seventh to finish third. 

The Stock Car feature would be the most competitive of the six main events with four different leaders during hits twenty laps of racing. Blake Adams would take the early lead and hold the top spot for the first six laps. Jason Schlangen had started on the front row with Adams and started to catch him and then it seemed that Adams was starting to have difficulties. Schlangen was able to get past for the lead and then one lap later Adams would pull up lame, out of the contest and also triggering the only yellow of the event. 

Schlangen began to fell the heat and just two laps later Brian Mahlstedt was able to drive past him and take over the top spot. Brayden Gjere was on the move also and he worked into second and began to put lots of pressure on the leader. Gjere moved to the outside line and with just three laps to go, was able to drive past Mahlstedt and take over the lead. He then would pull away as the defending track champion would show his speed as he drove on for the win. Mahlstedt would settle for second and Brandon Hare, in a Stock Car this year, would come from ninth to complete the top three. 

J.T. Wasmund would take the early lead in the twenty four car Modified feature after starting on the pole. Keith Foss and Jim Chisholm would drop in behind him as the yellow waved for another errant barrel on the track. 

Back on green, Chisholm went to the outside and found immediate success ad he roared past Foss and then, on lap seven. would pass Wasmund to take over the lead.  Chisholm would build up a nice lead and would never be challenged after that with the race going to the checkers with no stoppages after that. In fact, the two three would maintain their running positions right to the completion of the event. 

Eighteen USRA Late Models would take the green for their event with Triton Krause pulling to the early lead. Defending USRA National Champion Cade Nelson would waste little time getting to the front as he started sixth but was up to third after one lap. when the only yellow of the track was triggered when Ryan Olson rolled to a halt. 

Back on green, Nelson would continue to charge as he went back to the cushion and blew past both Kenny Wytaske and Krause on the next lap, pulling into the lead and disappearing into the night as he was flying on the cushion. Late in the race the top side seemed to slow and Nelson had a little trouble with traffic, and while Krause was able to cut the advantage some, Nelson was still able to drive home comfortably to the win. Larry Fitzsimmons would advance from seventh to finish third. 

Marcus Berndt would start on the pole and lead all the way to become the first ever feature winner in the Eco Modifieds. Tony Bloom would finish second with Troy Hale third.

It was a solid opening night for MTS as they start what will be a very busy season. Up next will be one of their biggest races of the year with the Late Model Outlaws in town next week. Thanks to promoter Tyrone Lingenfelter and owner Bob Timm and the staff at MTS> 

Sobbing and Sachau Top Specials at Stuart

 After a rain out the previous Wednesday, the Stuart International Speedway was back in action on Wednesday night, April 24th which turned out to be one of the nicest evenings in recent memory to be outside and at the races. 

And this was not just a regular early season event, as big money was on the line for both the Stock Cars and Sport Mods. The Crown Stock Car Summer Series event would be paying two grand to the winner of the thirty lap main event as well as a guaranteed entry for the special at Knoxville in September when they are racing along with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series. 

For the Sport Mods, The Leiting Motorsports Summer Series event would pay a grand to the winner of that event. Plus, Wednesday night would be the points opener for the other three classes that race at SIS on Wednesday nights and the Outlaw Mini Mods would also be in action. 

One hundred and ten cars plus the Mini Mods would sign in to race on Wednesday as the pits area was packed from right behind the grandstand all the way up the hill to the street that delivers the traffic to the track. And with the transporters getting bigger every year and just about everyone with enclosed trailers these days, the pits space is used up even quicker. If the success continues at SIS, Mike's going to have to petition the city to close the street so they can use that area as pits on race night because the spectators need some place to park too and it's almost getting to that point. 

The big field of entrants would be topped by thirty seven Stock Cars and twenty nine Sport Mods and those two classes would require B Features on this night, something that generally isn't the case for the weekly shows here. And it would go without saying just how strong the fields are for both these classes with any number of top drivers on hand fully capable of winning the main events. 

When you get a first glance at SIS, you perhaps even wonder how they race on this track because it is small. No doubt about that . In fact, since the nickname "Bullring" is already taken, I'm going to start calling SIS "The Saucer" , since it's almost a circle but the beauty is that it's wide enough for plenty of passing despite it's small size. Wednesday the groove moved around more than an antsy kid in Sunday School as depending on the race, drivers were working high or low or a combination. This makes for great racing. 

And the other thing is that despite all the passing and very close, side by side racing, they don't wreck very often here either. For example, Wednesday night offered a twenty event program, disregarding the Mini Mods which I always do, yet there was not a single race all night, features included, that had more than two yellow flags! And in one hundred and ten green flag feature race laps, there were only a total of six yellows, no race with more than two and the Modifieds went green to checkers. That's what makes watching racing here so entertaining and you sit so close to the track here it almost feels like you are a part of the action. 

The featured event of the night was the Stock Car main, going for thirty laps. The field was trimmed down to twenty four cars and not often at all in this class would you see such domination as was on display on Wednesday. Jesse Sobbing would start on the pole and would lead all thirty laps and while that might sound boring, it was anything but. Two yellows in the first third of the race kept the field bunched(as if that would be a problem in this class) and Sobbing had to be on point on every lap as he was running the low side of the track and needed to nail every corner to keep his lead. 

However, Sobbing, who will again be racing in three divisions this year, would never falter, even when he got to lapped traffic late that made his decision whether to move out of his groove to get by the slower car, a tough one. And while Sobbing led every lap, the battle for second was epic with Cayden Carter, Dallon Murty, Dylan Thornton and Mike Nichols racing in a pack for virtually the whole race. They swapped spots back and forth before late in the contest Carter would nail down second with Murty pounding the cushion and edging into third right at the line. Only three starters failed to go the distance in this race yet the whole field was so balanced that Sobbing lapped only one car!

The other extra cash race of the night was for the Sport Mods and they would also go for thirty laps. This race would see three different leaders and a late race yellow, the only slowdown of the entire race, would change the running order dramatically. 

Matt Avila would take the initial green but would only hold the top spot for a single lap before he was passed by Alec Fett who would then lead the majority of this race. Fett was running magnificently as he would pull away from the strong field and build up a comfortable lead over the pack. There was plenty of battling behind him though, as Avila fought to hold second with with Jake Sachau moving up from sixth, along with Logan Anderson and Mitchell Morris. 

Then it happened. With a big lead, the yellow would fly with seventeen laps complete for a spinning car, taking away the big lead that Fett had built up. Back on green, suddenly Alec was not getting away from the pack this time. Sachau moved into second and then began to challenge Fett for the top spot. And when Alec slipped off the bottom in turn two, on lap twenty one we had a new leader as Sachau would blast into the top spot. 

After that, Sachau would pull away from the pack as he would extend his lead and drive on for the win. Fett tried different lines at the end in an effort to gain ground but he simply had lost that edge and when he went cushion side on the final lap, Avila was able to nip him for second with Anderson and a late charging Taylor Kuehl completing the top five. And only four cars failed to finish this extra distance event also. 

The Modified feature would go twenty laps nonstop and by this time the track was black and slick, top to bottom but that allowed the drivers to search out their best line. Justin Zeitner would start on the pole and hug the low groove like Sobbing did in the previous race. However, that wasn't the way to go for the Mods as Izac Mallicoat quickly moved to the cushion and his pounding of the high side quickly moved him into contention. He nearly got past Zeitner but couldn't and that revealed to Justin where he needed to be as he then moved up to the cushion to block Mallocoat where he also helped him pick up speed. 

For most of the rest of the race, it would be those two, plus Todd Shute hammering the cushion in an effort to gain ground. However, late in the race Tim Ward would start to make the inside line work and he would edge his way forward, passing Mallocoat on the final lap for second. However, no one was catching Zeitner in his Edge chassis as he drove on for the win. 

The Hobby Stock feature would provide us with an excellent four car battle for the lead that was interrupted only twice and both times very early in the contest. And for the majority of the race, it would be Skylar Pruitt that would hold the top spot down but for virtually the whole race, he would have Dillon Richards racing up to his outside while Solomon Bennett and Calvin Dhondt would be tapping on his back bumper. 

On the black slick track, the drivers had to be precise, and they ran as a pack inches apart with each one making strides one lap and then losing a bit of ground on the next revolution. In the final few laps, Richards started to make things work in the middle groove and with just five laps to go, he was able to edge past Pruitt to take over the lead. Pruitt tried to fight back but Richards would hold him off for the win with the top four tight together at the line as Dhondt settled for third ahead of Bennett and Buddy Haidsiak. 

The Sport Compacts would provide a slamming finish to their event that would leave more than a few folks upset with how the race ended. The Sport Compacts would race their event first, right after the track prep at intermission and the track was tacky and fast, not the best combination for these low powered cars. 

Craig Furstenau would lead the opening lap but he pushed up the track and Jake Paysen would fly by and take the lead one lap later. Paysen was the only driver that had the slick track figured out and he would simply fly away from the field. 

While the pack battled for second with Furstenau, Caine Mahlberg and Tyler Fiebelkorn fighting for second, Paysen would literally have half a lap on the field. Unfortunately, the yellow would fly with just five laps to go for a spinning car and things would go South in a big way for Paysen. 

When the green dropped, Jake found he couldn't get away from Mahlberg who was right on him and pressuring for the lead. Mahlberg was able to get a nose inside of Paysen in the corners and as the laps ran down, the battle for the lead proved to be tight. They were nearly side by side as the white flag flew and Mahlberg was able to pull up beside Paysen down the back chute. 

With Mahlberg on the inside, he didn't hesitate to drive right up and into the leader as they bounced off the final corner and they crossed the finish line so tight it was hard to tell who won. The official numbers were Mahlberg by .016 seconds over Paysen for the win. Unfortunately, after the checkers flew, Mahlberg just kept on pushing into Paysen and ran him right into the first turn wall in what was just a bit of a tacky finish by him. The winner drove to victory lane while the second place car went back to the pits on the back of the wrecker. I believe I smell payback in the wind. Brooke Osler made a late charge, coming from ninth to finish third. 

With all the extra races and extra laps, the only down side to the evening was that it did run a bit later than normal, but that it to be expected with all that went on. Still, subtracting away the time required to do a quite extensive "farming session" following the heats, the show was run off in about three and a half hours which is not unreasonable by any means. And again, for those that like racing, there was much to like about the show with lots of close racing, surprise finishes and no dust either. 

It was reported to me by MVG that the PPV for the event was very successful also.  The combination of some popular classes and drivers for this midweek night plus a less than favorable forecast for other live racing this weekend all probably paid a part in this. MVG will be a busy man this week, flying on Thursday to Hutchinson Kansas to prepare that track for Friday night racing and then returning by air to get Inde ready for Saturday night. Wow, and I thought I kept busy!

Tight Finishes The Norm at Benton County Opener

 I have  been exceedingly lucky in my trips down to the state of Iowa so far this year. Two weeks ago I was fortunate enough to see three straight nights of Frostbuster action that were excellent in all regards and now again this week, between Inde on Saturday and Benton County on this night, I was again able to see some excellent short track action with good fields of cars, top notch game management by the promoters and track workers and a whole host of thrilling racing events. 

Sunday night, April 21st was the season opener for the Benton County Speedway "Bullring" after their Frostbuster event got cancelled by the weather. Six classes of cars would be racing on this night including the PRO Late Models. And how often is it that the Late Models produce the largest field of the night but that would be the case on Sunday as a fine field of twenty two of them signed in to race. The field of cars was almost perfect in size, providing full fields for racing but not so many that any B Features would be required, a no- no for Sunday night racing when program length is important. One hundred and nine cars did sign in to race on Sunday. 

And early in the season, Benton County starts their programs earlier to beat the cold and get the kidlets home early for school on Monday morning with hot laps at 4:30 pm with racing to follow. For someone with a five plus hour drive home, there is no such thing on a Sunday as starting too early. The one down side for such an early start is what the sun and wind might do for track conditions but that certainly wasn't an issue for this opener. The track was great with racing from top to bottom despite the sun bearing down on the track and the wind  whipping. And there was no dust either. 

Specialty Racing Promotions(Rick and Corey Dripps) are in their fourth year of promoting the "Bullring" and things seem to be getting better and better each year for them. I took a few minutes before the show started to talk with Corey and get some more information on the PRO Late Model series. Rick was managing much of the pre race action on this night since Corey was taking advantage of the opportunity to race his Late Model at his home track. He runs the Late Models now instead of the Mods since he has had shoulder issues, saying that the Modifieds just beat him up while the Late Model type car is so much easier to drive. Mechanical issues would drastically shorten his night Sunday. 

Many familiar faces in the crowd here on Sunday. Positively Racing was well represented with both Jeff and Danny in the crowd so we have coverage of this race surrounded. Crack announcer Jerry Mackey was spotted enjoying the action and good to see him out after his heart scare last Winter. Speaking of announcers, the duo of Ryan Clark and Jerry VanSickel were calling the action and the more I hear them, the more I think that there can't be a better duo working racing anywhere in the Midwest. They play off each other so well and while they keep us entertained, they also provide all the information that we need and deserve to know. And somehow Ryan manages to keep JVAN under control for the most part. 

Since we have such extensive coverage of this event, I think it not necessary to give a blow by blow account of what happened in each and every race. I'll cover the highlights and leave it at that. Do know that most of the feature races came right down to the wire and at least two of them were not settled until the final lap. It was almost hard to keep track of the action as it was so hot and heavy with so many great battles on the track. 

I declare that the Stock Car feature was the best race of the night but that would be a close call with some others nearly as exciting. But this race was a dandy and was only stopped once for a yellow flag. Gage Neal was the early leader and put some distance on Dustin Griffiths but as the laps rolled by, Neal got looser and looser with Griffiths finally ducking inside him. Meanwhile, John Oliver Jr and Kaden Reynolds had caught up and suddenly it was a three car duel for the lead. 

It would be heart break for Griffiths when he broke while leading on lap fifteen and Oliver Jr inherited the lead. But he had Reynolds all over him and then they were joined by Kyle Olson who had started tenth. They battled right down to the wire when Reynolds made a great move off the final corner, shot low and slipped under Oliver Jr to take the thrilling win. Interestingly, Reynolds made exactly the same move in a heat race with the same result. 

The Hobby Stock feature also saw a last lap pass for the win. The two most successful Hobby drivers so far this year, Bradly Graham and Nathan Ballard would lock up in an epic fight for the win. Graham would take the lead on lap two from Joren Fisher and then lead the rest of the way, that is until the final lap when Ballard, who started ninth , would catch him. 

They would race side by side down the back chute where Ballard would out break Graham to slip into the lead and then hold him off to take the win. 

The Late Model feature would get bogged down a bit by yellow flags(six in all), but the race would still provide a close finish. Jeff Aikey would start on the pole and when given that opportunity, he generally doesn't yield to anyone. He would lead the first twenty one laps of the race but his constant challenger would be Dylan Thornton. Looking for a weekend sweep, Thornton was all over Aikey, looking to his inside on nearly every corner and several times the two ran breath takingly close together. This continued through four yellows for spins. 

Finally, Thornton got a good run down the back chute and slid up in front of Aikey to take over the lead, a move that was a tight one and not appreciated by Aikey when the yellow  would fly one more time. However, Thornton was able to get away clean on the final green and not give Aikey any shot, as Jeff slid a bit high and opened the door to a strong running J. D. Auringer who would go on to hold off Aikey for second as Thornton pulled off the weekend double. 

Troy Cordes, who has been running strong this early season, would take the early lead in the Modified feature. However, Dallon Murty would discover the high side to be working for him and he flew up from a sixth starting spot to motor by Cordes on lap five and after that, it was try and catch the flying #99x. Tim Ward would get to the second spot at the halfway mark but despite pushing hard, he wasn't able to flag down Murty. 

Several times in the second half of the race, Ward would get close but each time Murty would power away as he drove on for the win. Cordes would settle for third.

Shane Paris would start on the pole for the Sport Mod feature and he would use that nice redraw to lead all fifteen laps and collect the biggest pay check. He was fast indeed and there would be no one to challenge him despite a late yellow. The best battle for position would see the Olson's battling for a spot and also the Hillmer's. At the finish, it would be Tony over Kyle with Brady Hillmer settling for fourth. 

After a grinding first lap collision stopped the Sport Compact feature, the race would then go green to checkers with Jake Anderson leading the first four laps before Lukas Rick would sneak inside Anderson and take over the lead. They would then run in this fashion the rest of the event with Rick driving on for the win with just about everyone hugging the inside line. Christian Grady would settle for third. 

I was in my vehicle and driving out of the parking lot by 8:30 pm, perfect for such a Sunday night show. I even got to thank Rick Dripps one more time as ala Randy Queensland at Deer Creek Speedway, Rick was standing at the bottom of the grandstand, thanking folks for coming. A nice touch. 

This was a good, entertaining show from start to finish. Too bad that it's not exactly in my back yard but I would highly recommend it to any race fan looking for some Sunday night action. Thanks to the Dripps'  and to all the track workers for their efforts. 

Dylan Thornton Tops PRO Late Models at Inde

 Lots of bad weather throughout the Midwest this week and into the weekend made for a scramble to find a race to attend. Rainouts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week made me less than a cheerful soul but I was determined if at all possible to fill my dance card for this weekend, even if it meant doing a little driving. 

Friday night found me pleasantly satisfied as I attended an entertaining night of racing in Nebraska, even if the management didn't recognize Positively Racing, thus allowing me to take a night off from the detailed reporting. 

However, Saturday night, April 20th was all systems go as with a pleasant welcome from the management, I would be at week number two of the racing season at the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence. They would be featuring their regular six division program plus the Outlaw Mini Mods would be racing too so seven big classes would be on the card. All week they had been advertising the fact that due to the expected cold weather for the evening, the show would be moved up with the first warmup session scheduled for 5 pm with racing to follow. This they accomplished and it would be appreciated later for the early start, something that more tracks should think about doing when the weather is not so pleasant. It's also interesting how the whole culture of short track racing has changed in recent years as I can remember a time not so long ago when it would be impossible to do things like change the starting time, perhaps even change the day of the race at the last minute but things are certainly different than they used to be. Old guys like me sometimes struggle with this change. You really have to be paying attention to what is happening or you'll get left in the dust. 

One hundred ten cars signed in to race plus the Mini Mods so it was a full pit area. Only the Sport Mods stumbled with just nine cars racing in this class after they had only a dozen last week. I'm not sure what is going on there as usually this is a class that has overwhelming numbers of entrants. In any event, there were plenty of cars in the other classes to make up for any shortcomings in this division. 

I was told that things were a bit choppy with the track last week which is not unexpected for a season opener early in April. However, plenty of work was done on the track this week and it provided a very positive racing surface for this Saturday night's show. The track started off just a bit heavy but smooth and as it dried out, it got black and slick from top to bottom and allowed much side by side racing and plenty of thrilling slide jobs. This whole process was repeated after the heat races as apparently if the track is allowed to race start to finish without some attention, it might rubber up but that was not the case Saturday as it was good for all classes and winning drivers(as they usually do), praised the track and the improvements of this week. 

Racing started at 5:24 pm and the heats moved through swiftly. Only one B Feature was needed and that was for the Stock Cars, a race that only eliminated ONE car and could have easily been eliminated following the Jeff Broeg rules of order.

Twenty four cars would start the Hobby Stock feature, a race that got off to a shaky start but then smoothed out as the event rolled on. Pole sitter Garrett Ball would spin on the opening lap, giving Bradly Graham the early lead as the yellow waved. Three more times the yellow would wave in the first half of the race, all with Graham still holding the lead. 

The second half of the event was quite the opposite as it would go off without a single slow down. Graham would continue to hold the lead with Shaun Kuennen chasing him. Kuennen would stay within a couple of car lengths as the leaders pounded the high side but wouldn't be able to provide a stronger challenge. Tyler Ball would run third for much of the event until he went flying off the end of the track, something that we saw all night by multiple drivers as they tried to run the cushion but often, just missed their marks by inches and went flying off the ends. 

Graham would not falter as he maid no mistakes and led Kuennen home for his third win of the season already with David McCalla quietly moving up from thirteenth to round out the top three. 

The Late Model feature would see thirteen cars take the green flag in what was one of the better races of the night. I have been unclear just what the PRO Late Models are since they started racing at some tracks in Iowa in the last year of so. So I asked Ricky Kay who was along with Dylan Thornton on this night and he told me that the rules were designed to let the IMCA type Late Models race with the SLMR type Late Models. The IMCA cars can run either their crate motor or the old style IMCA spec type engines while the SLMR type cars must use restrictor "pucks" in their carburetors, all in an effort the even out the class and allow more drivers to race. Next week the PRO series points start and there were a few drivers on hand tonight to try things out, drivers that could not race under IMCA rules. 

Brandon Davis would take the early lead in this race with Sean Johnson all over him in an attempt to get past. Logan Duffy, Thornton and Jeff Aikey were close behind as a pack of five battled early. Seconds after Johnson would pass for the lead on lap ten, Davis would loose control and slide into one of the ute tires, damaging his front end and ending his night. 

Johnson was not the leader but Thornton would get by Duffy for second and close. Lap after lap, he would try to get past Johnson as they raced hard for the lead but Johnson would fight him off. Finally, with just a few laps remaining, Thornton would get under Johnson down the front chute and slide past into the lead, after which he was able to pull away. 

Thornton would then get the win as he would open up some distance late. Aikey would make a late charge and get by Johnson for second. It would be the first Late Model win for Thornton, a young veteran of both the Modified and Stock Car classes. 

Twenty three Stock Cars would take the  green flag in a race that was stopped just once by the yellow, and that with just two laps to go. Cole Mather would use the outside pole to take the early lead and the rest of the pack would be chasing him throughout the race. Mather was solid on the cushion and John Oliver Jr would work into second and try to flag down the leader. He would stay within a few car lengths of the top spot, but not get any closer. 

Lapped traffic would get dicey and this would be Oliver Jr's best chance but Mather, after a few tense moments, was able to fight his way through the five slower cars running in a pack and hold on to his lead. With just two laps to go, a spinning car would set up a quick blast to the finish but Mather would pull away for  the win over Oliver Jr. Kaden Reynolds would finish third while Damon Murty would  make a charge from eleventh to fourth. 

An entertaining Modified feature would see three different leaders in the first ten laps of that race with Jason Morehouse taking the initial lead before Kolton Osborn passed him two laps later. Brennan Chipp was on the move after starting fifth and he would challenge Osborn for the lead. 

Kolton was running right up against the cushion just as high as possible but when he got just inches too light, Chipp drove under him to take over the lead just at the halfway point and just as a slowing car slowed the race for the first and only time.

Troy Cordes would get past Osborn for second and put the heat on Chipp, nearly getting by on the low side a time or two but each time, Chipp would reach back and find just enough speed to hold off the veteran. Those two would cross the line in that order with Jeremy Mills and Dallon Murty, from the fourth and fifth row, next in line. The Modifieds have a special event coming up in early May and there were some visitors in this class also, checking things out so to speak. 

One of the best races of the night was, God forbid, the nonstop Sport Compact main event. There were three different leaders of this race in the first three laps and a side by side battle for the win that wasn't settled until the final few laps. 

Jaice Tuttle would lead the opening lap before being passed by Christian Grady for the lead. However, one lap later it was Ryan Bryant who would get past Grady for the top spot. Then things really got good as Grady would fight his way back beside Bryant and they would circle the third mile side by side for the majority of the contest. Several times it looked like Grady would slip back but each time he would fight his way back beside the leader. 

Then, with just a few laps left, Grady picked up the pace and slowly, he would be able to inch away from Bryant until he had him cleared and could move up the track. Bryant would be right behind at the finish but it was Grady who took the win. Tuttle hung in there also to finish a close third on Bryant's rear bumper. 

Only eight cars would take the green flag for the Sport Mod feature which Tony Olson would lead in from start to finish. He was secure up front but drivers trying to catch him were flying in all directions as both Cole Suckow and Tyler Soppe went flying off the track as they chased the leader. Rayce Mullen would run second most of the race as the top two behaved themselves while things were crazy behind them. 

Suckow would throw a "haymaker" on Brandon Tharp near the end that saw Tharp go flying off turn two and draw a penalty for Suckow. At the finish, Olson and Mullen would finish first and second with Soppe fighting his way back up to third. 

The early start was a very good thing as the final checkered waved just at 9 pm, thus allowing the fans to avoid the extreme cold that would settle in later. The crowd was not a big one but that was to be expected with perhaps the pay per view making up the difference for those folks that elected to stay home. 

Plenty of familiar faces working the action as Bucky Doren is back in the local area and served as the play by play announcer. The Legend, Jim Roper, even on this cold night, was in attendance and served as color man. Co promoter Dana Benning did the victory lane interviews while Mike Van Genderen served as Race Director while also busy with track prep. Thanks to all of them on this night. There were not many places racing on this night and I was happy to be at one that was.