O'Neal Gets Retribution at Mason City

 After feeling that he gave one away the previous night at Marshalltown, Hudson O'Neal drove an aggressive but smart race and with an outside wall to help keep him in "the park", he drove away to a twenty grand, fifty lap feature win in the FLO/RACING Night in America series on Wednesday night at the Mason City Motor Speedway in Mason City Iowa. 

USRA B Mods and Hobby Stocks were the support classes for the Wednesday night show and winners in those two divisions include Miken Iverson and Zac Smith. 

A tremendous crowd was on hand for the Wednesday night show, perhaps one of the largest in track history and certainly the largest since the track was shortened from it's original half mile length. With solid planning from the Fair Board, a big horse show was also in progress at the Fairgrounds, thus making spectator parking just as competitive of an event as it was to make the night's feature races. 

The Late Model  field was down slightly from the Tuesday night show, gaining two new drivers while at the same time losing five that raced on Tuesday night. This forced FLO officials to go to the three heat race format but the crowd didn't seem to care that there were a few less drivers on hand and twenty four still started the fifty lap grind. 

With the drivers not knowing what to expect from the racing surface, they were greeted with a "juiced up" track that was very heavy and fast with Brandon Sheppard setting quick time with a lap clocked at 13.357 seconds. Preliminary events went smoothly with not a single yellow needed in the four qualifying races. 

Sheppard had the pole for the Late Model feature but it was O'Neal that got the jump on him and led the opening six laps before Nick Hoffman, showing lots of speedway, drove past O'Neal to take over the lead. The first nineteen laps were run under the green until Tyler Erb slowed with a flat tire and then again, one lap later he spun to trigger yellow number two. 

This was the key moment of the race as O'Neal got a great restart on Hoffman and was able to drive past him to take over the lead. O'Neal then led the rest of the feature race, with his lead being quite comfortable until the last few laps when slower traffic bogged him down and a couple of the other drivers were able to close in on him. 

Ethan Dotson was in a challenging top five spot when he got into the wall in turn two and brought out the third and final yellow which set up the last half of the race going green to checkers. 

Notable was the advance of Bobby Pierce, who started seventh and was only up to fifth at the halfway point but then he really picked up the pace after that and started knocking off driver after driver. He literally did so to Hoffman when he took over second as an ill conceived slider in turn two set Hoffman briefly grinding into the wall while also shooting his blood pressure through the roof and he set off to catch Pierce for second. He didn't get the chance but circumstances played into his favor at the end. 

As the laps ran down, O'Neal was having some traffic give him problems and his pace was slowed. Pierce sensed this was his time and he closed up what had been a comfortable gap between the leaders. Pierce was within a few car lengths as the white flag waved and O'Neal was still stuck behind a slower car. Pierce opted to try and dive low in turn four, hoping to sneak under both the leader and slower driver in one big move but the door was closed to him, he had to back off and Hoffman was able to drive by him on the outside and grab second at the line. 

Unfortunately for Hoffman, just after crossing the line he came upon the slowing Jake Timm who had broken on the final lap and he "smoked" Timm, causing considerable damage to both cars. Boos rained down on Pierce during his post race interview as he made some more "friends" with his racing actions on Hoffman. Keep an eye on those two this coming weekend. 

Ricky Thornton Jr also advanced nicely and with Devin Moran completed the top five at the line. Eighteen of the starters finished the race with four of them being a lap down to the leaders. And while the high side remained the fastest way around the track, the groove opened up as the night advanced while the racing surface did remain nice and smooth all night. 

The B Mod feature had an exciting finish as the preliminary event to the FLO race. Twenty six drivers took the green flag for this event with Miken Iverson starting Brthe pole and taking the early lead. He was pressured early by Jackson Hale and Oliver Sackett but there were also a host of other drivers near by as the lead pack was a big one. Brandon Ahlers was also on the move after starting sixth and by the halfway point of the race had moved into second and was challenging Iverson for the lead. 

Things started getting "chippy" as a number of sliders broke out and there was much scrambling for position as the turn two area seemed to be the focal point for slide jobs and non fender benders. Hale tried a slider on Iverson that spun him out while at the same time taking out himself with car damage. 

Iverson got his spot back but he was now in second, having been passed by Ahlers just before the tangle occurred. Ahlers would hold the lead through the halfway point but then Iverson picked up the pace with Ahlers getting a bit conservative, blocking the low line but letting Iverson drive back around him for the lead. 

In the late going, Iverson continued to hold off Ahlers but Ben Moudry had joined in to make it a three car battle with Taylor Skauge racing to catch them also. The last lap found them in a four car cluster and Ahlers threw a slider to take over the lead. However, Iverson was not done as he came back with his own heading into the final corner and it was a good one as it carried him to victory lane while Ahlers attempt bogged him down slightly and Moudry was able to nip him for second with Skauge being just a bit late to the party and settling for fourth. 

Iverson's grades for the night on his report card included an "A" for driving and strategy and an "F" for his post race interview skills and decorum. Two "F Bombs" out of the mouth of a teenager being interviewed for national tv and thousands in attendance is not what should be heard and someone needs to straighten him out, pronto. That is classless behavior. 

The Hobby Stocks wrapped up the night with their twenty four car field racing for seven hundred and fifty bucks to win. Rylan Curtin started on the pole and after getting the jump on the pack, then led the opening thirteen laps, despite constant pressure from Junior Boyer and Zac Smith. The field found the low side of the track to be fastest and they lined up in quite the long single file order as the race was stopped twice in the first half of it. 

On lap thirteen, Smith was finally able to get a nose under Curtin and he then powered into the lead, maintained the front spot even as several other drivers ran close behind him. 

The inside line status was finally broken by Josh Monson, who while not in the top five apparently decided that he had nothing to lose, stuck where he was so he jumped to the high groove and found it to be excellent for him immediately. 

He started to march forward, passing driver after driver as he drove around them while running much harder into the corners. Soon he was a contender as he continued to pick off driver after driver and it appeared that he might actually steal away the win. 

However, the top runners proved a bit harder to pass and while his progress continued, the pace slowed and he ran out of laps pushing so hard. Smith continued to guard the inside line, perhaps unaware of what was going on behind him and he crossed the line as the winner, several car lengths in front of the still charging Monson. Curtin hung on for third ahead of Parker Anderson and Boyer as all but two of the starters were still on the track, all still on the lead lap. 

Just as the night before, racing got started a bit late due to a considerable amount of extra track prep with racing not starting until 7:45 pm but once they got going, they flew through the program with little in the way of delays and the final checkers of the night waved at about 10:30 pm. Most of the fans stayed to the end, somewhat surprisingly given that it was a week night and the Late Model feature was the second on the night but the Hobby Stocks still attracted quite the crowd. .

Clearly, with the huge turnouts both nights, there is an appetite for open motor Late Model racing in this area. Fans will pay to see the stars of the sport in action. As far as next year's schedule and FLO returning, there are many things that would have to fall into place for that to happen so we will all see just what the schedules look like for next year but personally, there are a number of other tracks also that it would be nice to preview to the world that are personally capable of hosting this kind of race. 

Thanks to Janet, Todd, Ryne and the whole staff at Mason City Motor Speedway. Check their website for upcoming events as they still have some specials upcoming before wrapping up 2026. 

Pierce Dominates FLO Night in Marshalltown

 The FLO/RACING Night in America Series came to the Karl Auto Group Marshalltown Speedway on Tuesday night, August 18th and Bobby Pierce was more than ready for the occasion. Despite the fact that there were twenty nine other top Late Model teams on hand, Pierce dominated the fifty lap Late Model feature race, taking the lead on lap fifteen and then driving away from the field with his lead never challenged. 

The support classes for this night were the IMCA Stock Cars and the IMCA Modifieds. Both turned out with nice fields of drivers entered with their wins going to Austin Kaplan and Kyle Brown. 

Despite a long spate of rain in the Hawkeye State and even a threat for Tuesday, the weather turned out to be just fine and a gate busting crowd of race fans from near and far turned out to watch the Late Models put on a show at one of Iowa's raciest short tracks. 

As is the case with Late Model racing these days for any kind of traveling series, time trials would start off the evening's program. Hudson O'Neal is in the Rumley entry this week and he turned the quickest lap of the night at 13.939 seconds as the third driver on the track. The track slowed by about four tenth of a second for the second group which saw Dan Ebert turn the fastest lap at 14.383 seconds, thus guaranteeing both front row starting spots for their heats of which there were four. 

Quite honestly, the heat races were just as entertaining as the main event and when you're away from watching these drivers for awhile and then catch back up with them, you forget just how hard they drive these cars and just how talented they are to put them in the tight holes they do. I had the chance to talk to a veteran driver with much success who has had the opportunity to drive a Late Model for the first time this year. 

I asked him what was the toughest part of the transition and surprisingly, he told me that it is just seeing where you are going. You sit so low in these cars and they are so wide and blocky, it's almost impossible to see to your left and right front, only being able to see right in front of you. Imagine then, with that kind of handicap how skilled these drivers are to put their cars within inches of each other at the speeds that they race. Definitely not something for the meek of heart. 

Four heats and one B Feature set the twenty four driver starting field with Billy Moyer Sr and Brent Larson added to the field. Nick Hoffman got the jump on Dan Ebert to lead the opening lap with Pierce, who started fourth, quickly moving into position number two and then beginning the process of finding Hoffman's weakness and exploiting it. 

He made several preliminary attempts to get past and then, on lap fifteen, slid past Hoffman to take over the lead and once in front, there would be no more battles for first, it was Pierce's. Drivers right behind him early though, had bad luck as first Ebert suffered a flat tire and then Hoffman triggered yellow number two just a lap later when his steering gave him fits and he slapped the back stretch guardrail with both eventually calling it a night early. 

Brandon Sheppard moved into second following Hoffman's difficulties and he stayed relatively close to Pierce but not close enough to really challenge. Devin Moran moved up also while it was fun watching O'Neal work his way forward after botching his heat race and having to run the B Feature which perhaps gave him some more insight on the track. 

He started seventeenth and by the halfway point of the race was up to fifth, engaging in a nice battle with Tim McCreadie for position. Josh Rice spun with thirty thee laps completed, setting up the last slowdown of the race. 

On the green, Sheppard made his biggest charge at Pierce, giving him grief for a few laps but when he couldn't make the lead pass, he began to gradually slip back. Pierce was sticking in the low groove, not using the banking at all but it seemed to serve him well as others searched around but weren't able to find a line that worked as well for them. 

O'Neal continued his march to the front, getting past Sheppard for second at one point but then jumping the cushion in turn four and nearly losing it all but he made the save that he wasn't able to do in his heat. 

Pierce continued to cruise after than and crossed the finish line comfortably in front with Sheppard holding off O'Neal, again charging to try and get second. Moran and a charging Ricky Thornton Jr completed the top five. Fourteen drivers finished the race with all on the lead lap. There were no wrecks of any sort but it seemed on this night that when drivers weren't making any progress, they just pulled off. I guess it is going to be a long week and everyone wants to save equipment and stay away from pointless laps. 

The Late Model feature was run off first to salve the Late Model fans that wanted to head out early as well as the TV audience but most of the live crowd staying to watch their regular Friday night heroes in the Stock Cars and Modifieds. 

No B Features were held so large fields took the green for both these feature races. Twenty six took the green for the Stock Car feature with Texas visitor Tommy Fain grabbing the early lead over Colorado traveler Hunter Smith. However, Austin Kaplan was on the move and raced up to second just as the red flag flew when Lincoln Vansickel took a nasty barrel roll in turn four when he got hung up on the cushion. 

Fain continued to lead with Kaplan and Smith chasing him closely. Jimmy Gustin and Dallon Murty were both moving up be both eventually dropped out with troubles as Racer Hulin cracked the top five and was pushing for more. 

As the race moved into its second half, Fain and Kaplan were able to separate themselves from the rest of the pack and it came down to a two car race for the win. Kaplan was really pushing Fain by this point with Tommy seemingly getting just a bit slower. Kaplan was on his rear bumper for several laps and then, just as the white flag was about to wave, Kaplan moved one lane up the track. 

And at the exact time that Kaplan found an opening, Fain began to slow dramatically with some sort of mechanical problem as the field streamed past him. Kaplan drove on for the win with Jake McBurnie, who started seventeenth, racing into second on that last lap. Hulin, Smith and Johnny Spaw completed the top five with Fain dropping all the way back to tenth. 

Twenty five Modified drivers would take the green flag from "The Foxman", Jeremy Fox to begin their twenty lap main event. Kyle Brown spends his racing time jumping back and forth from IMCA to open Modified racing these days but Tuesday, he was the master of the IMCA field, leading the entire twenty laps to take the win worth a grand. 

This race was a smooth one, with just a single yellow flag on lap three to hold up the action and the long green flag stretches really helped Brown as he drove away from the field, eventually pulling to nearly a full straightaway over the pack. He did hit a group of slower drivers near the end of the race but they caused him no problem and he put four lapped cars between himself and second place finisher Izac Malllicoat at the checkers. 

Mallicoat had held that position since lap two and while he was able to hold off those chasing him, including Joel Rust, Cody Laney and Jenae Gustin for position, he could offer nothing in the way of a  challenge to Brown. Only three drivers dropped out of this race. 

The show got off to kind of a slow start with time trials and considerable track prep delaying the first green flag until almost 8 pm which couldn't have made the East Coast viewers pleased, but once it got rolling, the show move along at a very quick pace with the final checkers of the night waving just after 10:30 pm. 

Marshalltown doesn't have the best setup for track officials with timing and scoring done in the infield, a throw back to the old days while the announcers are high above the grandstand on the front chute in a sort of deer hunting type perch. However, that hasn't worked well for the tv broadcast and for the second straight year, FLO announcers Dustin Jarrett and Ben Shelton broadcast the race remotely from an RV studio parked behind the grandstand, calling the race while watching it on tv. 

Everyone got a chuckle when we noted that the infield tech area was sponsored by the Wollam family Dairy Queen in Marshalltown with a huge DQ sign hovering over the activities going on in that area. 

As always, a fine show put on by the folks at M'Town with thanks going out to JVan and the rest of the crew  at "America's Bucket List Track."

Avila Walks Out of Eagle River Ten Grand Richer

 Night two of the first annual Rumble at the River was held on Tuesday night, August 11th at the Eagle River Speedway in Eagle River Wisconsin. Set to be determined on Tuesday night would be the winner of the inaugural ten grand plus B Mod feature along with a second full program of the week for the IMCA Stock Cars plus also a full show for the United Street Stocks of eastern Wisconsin.

Arrival at the track brought news that there had been a big shape up in the finish of the second B Mod feature race on Monday night. Apparent winner Brady Harshbarger was disqualified for having a motor with too much compression, apparently registering far too high on the meter. The announcement was not made until today because they allowed the car to sit overnight and the motor to cool, trying to give Harshbarger as much flexibility as possible but when the motor was checked twice more and registered badly both times, track officials were forced to disqualify him from the race and he did leave the facility. 

I would assume he must now sit out for a period of time and probably pay a fine before he returns to racing. The result of the disqualification moved everyone up on position and allowed Harley Dais to then move into the top five, avoid having to run Last Chance races and allowing him to draw for perhaps the pole position if he was lucky. Dais would eventually redraw the seven spot for the fifty lap main with Jared Siefert, who by the way is trying to sell his Late Model, redrew the pole. Four drivers did not return to race on Tuesday and of course, there were no new drivers due to event rules. 

Five Last Chance Heats and a pair of B Features would quality the rest of the starting field and with local driver Ryan Brown earning the promoter provisional, there would be twenty five starters for the main, probably as many drivers as they have ever started in a race at this track. 

Wisconsin has  rolled out the welcome mat on repeated occasions for Matt Avila with back to back ten grand wins at special events at 141 Speedway. And after Tuesday night, he could add Eagle River as another track that he conquered, having headed back to Iowa with another ten grand after dominating the feature race. 

The thing that some feared when this race was announced was that with its extremely tight racing surface and particularly with many unfamiliar drivers trying to get around it, that things might get wild with much crashing and bashing. Monday's show went fairly well with not more than the normal racing type incidents going on. However , with the big money on the line Tuesday, it was still to be determined just how the racing would play out. 

To be quite honest, Tuesday night's feature race was not particularly entertaining. There were so many yellows, eleven in all, that the race was quite broken with nine green flag laps in a row being the longest stretch of all out racing until the end of the race. It did go on for quite some time and there were numerous spins, flat tires and at least a couple of multi car crashes. No doubt much of that was due to the fact that so much money was on the line and with so many drivers not having many laps here, it was the formula for this type of race to take place. 

Iowa drivers dominated with the top two finishers being Hawkeyes and they were followed by a pair of Wisconsin drivers and then one for the U.P. of Michigan. The record will show that there were three different leaders of the race with Siefert leading the first two laps before he was passed by Jake Sachau who had started fourth. It took Avila a number of laps to get into a challenging position after he started eighth but he gradually worked his way forward, taking advantage of the numerous yellow flags to gain ground. 

By the fourth yellow on lap eighteen, he had cracked the top five and then quickly, in the next two laps, passed both Cole Czarneski and Marcus Dunbar to move into third. One lap later he got Siefert and the race was on for the lead. 

By this point the track was getting very slippery and while Sachau chose to continue running the cushion, Avila switched it up to running low down the chutes and then trying to beat Sachau up the track in the corners. He tried this several times with Sachau crossing him over but finally, just as the race hit the halfway point. Avila's cross over worked and he took over the lead. Siefert was still third at the halfway point, ahead of Shane Bahr and Tyler Vernon. 

The second half of the race went much smoother with only the two yellow flags and more consistent racing but by this time we were down to about half the starting field still racing. The track did go one groove at this point with a lot of laps on the surface and even Sachau gave up trying the cushion, moving to hug the inside tires and hoping that Avila would either screw up or a lapped car might take him out. 

Neither happened though as Avila maintained his lead and didn't have to deal with much slower traffic. He came home the winner with a comfortable cushion over Sachau. Only twelve drivers were running at the finish. 

The Stock Car feature was led from start to finish by Kyle Frederick who dominated all twenty laps. Mitch Stankowski ran second for a number of laps and pushed the leader until Czarneski decided to put on a show. 

Starting tenth, he moved up to the outside of the track, running where no one else would tread, and he quickly made that work and after driving by Hot Rod Snellenberger, he moved to the second spot. 

The race then turned into a good three driver duel with Czarneski and Snellenberger pushing Frederick for the lead. It seemed like Czarneski had the momentum but once he got to second, he seemed to be treading water, not having the forward drive that he has shown earlier and instead of battling Frederick for the lead, he was fighting to stay in front of Hot Rod. 

Frederick, meanwhile, was not bothered by all the other action. He hugged the inside tries, never made a mistake and was very consistent, driving on for the victory. And for a driver with a cushion driving inclination, he never got off the bottom here for two straight nights. Snellenberger drove his way past Czarneski to take second with Stankowski and Jason Zdroik completing the top five. 

The Street Stock feature was a thriller with Quentin Morrison making a last lap pass to get the  win. Morrison had led the majority of the race but lost his lead on the white flag lap, only to make a comeback and lead the only lap that really matters. 

Twenty one drivers started the Street Stock feature with Josh Joslin leading the opening lap. However, he couldn't keep his car on the bottom groove and one lap later Morrison, who started third, was able to drive under Joslin and take over the lead. 

Nick Allard had worked his way up to third behind Jake Brickner at the midpoint of the race and when he made the decision to go up and try the cushion, Allard was really able to pick up speed. Slowly he gained on and then passed Brickner for second and then went after the inside tire hugging Morrison for the lead. 

A slowing driver created a yellow with just four laps to go, just what Allard was looking for. As Morrison continued to guard the inside, Allard again went to the cushion and as the field took the white flag, he surged into the lead. 

However, as good as his run was, the last lap was not his friend. He got too hot into turn three as they raced side by side, badly spun his tires and that allowed the consistent Morrison to drive back under him and take the checkers first. Brickner would settle for third with point leader Jason Eisel and Joslin following. 

In summary, this was a bold move by track owner Pat Zdroik to schedule a race of this magnitude. They did a very good job of preparation however, and you never wouldn't have known that they weren't experienced in running these kind of races. The field of drivers was certainly acceptable , especially for an unknown commodity. The crowd was very large on Tuesday so the local race fans bought into their plan. In the coming months I guess we sill see whether they were satisfied with the event and choose to do it once again next year. 

In any event, thanks go out to track owner Pat Zdroik, all his employees and especially Dawn and Mickey Nosser along with track announcer Joe Verdegan for all their help.

 

Sachau and Harshbarger Top Eagle River Prelims; Stankowski Stock Car Winner

The Eagle River Speedway in Eagle River Wisconsin was the scene of the opening night of the first annual Rumble At The River on Monday night, August 10th, a B Mod two day special that features a fifty lap, ten thousand, two hundred and fifty dollar top prize on Tuesday night.  

Along with the B Mods, the IMCA Stock Cars are running a full show on both Monday and Tuesday night and the local Street Stocks, running Wisconsin Unified Street Stock rules, will also be competing on Tuesday night. 

This is a huge show for Eagle River Speedway and its owners, Pat and Patti Zdroik as never before has this track attempted such a large event, both in terms of drivers competing and in terms of prize money paid out. 

The race track is in a rural area, hacked out of the woods about one mile West of Eagle River Wisconsin and just across the street from the Wisconsin River. Eagle River is a small town with a population of just over two thousand people, located in the North woods of Wisconsin and most famous for the World Championships of Snowmobile racing that are held at another track, the derby track right in town. This is a busy area in the Summer though, with tourists from all over the Midwest on hand to enjoy the boating, fishing, swimming, biking and all things outdoors. 

The Eagle River Speedway has been around since the mid 1970's, first owned by Ken Glembin, hence the original name of the track, KG Raceway. It has had several owners since, with the Zdroiks buying the track several years ago and making some considerable improvements to the facility during that time. They have added classes, cleared up rules, got sanctioned by IMCA for Stock Cars and started to put on special events for Midgets and Sprint Cars. But this is the first time they have ever attempted such a big purse race before. 

The B Mods are a combination of rules, with IMCA, WISSOTA and USRA cars all on hand. Each group must run their own rules package with everyone using either G-60 Hoosiers or American Racer G-60 tires as tires are always the sticking point and the WISSOTA drivers are the ones at this event that get shorted, not being able to use their own tires that are deemed to be too good, I guess. In any event, the three seem to be relatively equal overall and the uniqueness of this track probably cancels out any advantage that one group might have over the other. There certainly seem to be drivers from all groups here on hand, with the purse large enough to overcome any rules shortcomings that some might believe. 

Tech is always a fun thing at an event like this and pre tech resulted in one driver being sent home when the body on his car allegedly did not conform. of course much more aggressive tech inspection will take place after the big money race on Tuesday night. 

The purse in this race certainly caught the eye of many drivers, no matter what the sanctioning body with a top prize of $10,250, $5250 for second, $3000 for third and $500 just to start. For that reason, fifty seven B Mod drivers signed in to race on Monday night from as far away as Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska and Canada. IMCA drivers like Sachau, Reimers, Zdroik, Czarneski, Avila, White and Woodard were joined by WISSOTA drivers like Vernon, Dishaw, Simpson, Rodin, Dalbeck, Truscott,  Koehler and Kitchner while USRA had Wheeler and Dais while wildcards like Siefert and Jake Timm were also part of the field. 

The format for this event saw all drivers draw a number and on set of twelve lap heats was held with the ASCS passing points system used which I believe rewards gaining positions but also docking points for losing spots. The top thirty in total points move into the twin qualifying features, straight up and then a pair of B Features would add five more drivers to each feature, making them twenty car shows which on this tight track, is about all the cars that can be run although I believe Tuesday night's finale is scheduled to start twenty four. 

The top five in each feature make the big show and then all ten will redraw on Tuesday night for starting positions. Everyone else will run again on Tuesday using the same format to fill out the rest of the starting field. 

After a practice night on Sunday, no hot laps were held before the show on Monday night and a one spin rule was used for both the heat races and B Features to try and move things along. 

One worry as this race was announced was that on this tight, less than quarter mile oval that is also uniquely shaped as well as being short, that the program would turn into just a crash fest and that likely kept the entries down some for this year. 

However, based on opening night, that didn't turn out to be the case as there were no more yellows than a normal night of racing at many tracks. Now, we haven't yet seen what the big feature will produce, but so far so good. 

Ironically, the one driver knocked out of racing action was George Dalbeck from Wakefield Mi. He is a weekly racer here, has been one of the big supporters of this event as well as being a sponsor but just one lap into the first heat and an overly anxious driver behind him turned him, creating a multi car crash that took out the front end of Dalbeck's MB. 

The twin twenty five lap qualifying features saw Nick Koehler start on the pole as the passing points lead and he then led the first fourteen laps of the race with Sachau starting third and taking second early. Koehler was riding the rim around the track while Sachau worked low. 

A yellow flag completely changed things as Koehler found the top side to be going away as Sachau drove past him on the restart and would then lead the rest of the way for the win. Koehler faded all the way back to fourth before he could get in line with Chris Budzban and Jesse Denome also passing him. Nick Avila rounded out the top five. However, it didn't really matter on the finishing position as long as you were in the top five. Four yellows slowed the first feature, most for one car spins. 

The second qualifier followed very much the same scenario as the first race. After Brady Harshbarger got the jump on the opening lap, Michael Truscott went to the cushion and drove past into the lead. He then led for the first half of the race until the top side again started to slow down and Harshbarger, who was putting around on the inside, was able to drive under Truscott and take over the lead with Shane Bahr also passing. 

There was one unfortunate late crash that had an impact on the finishing order. Following a late spin that set up a two lap dash to the finish, a scenario that often creates problems, much of the field got stacked up in turn one on the restart with Caleb Woodard, who was in the top five, leaving the track on the hook. 

Harshbarger would continue on to take the win with Bahr second. Truscott, who had faded back to fourth fought his way forward one spot with Marcus Dunbar and Jared Siefert completing the top five. All except the top ten will race once again on Tuesday. 

The IMCA sanctioned Stock Cars were also a part of the program and a nice field of nineteen showed up on a Monday night to race. 

All nineteen started the main event but there was drama just before the start when pole sitter, Hot Rod Snellenberger, failed to show up on the track. Snellenberger, who is by far the driver to beat here, would likely have killed the field had he started up front and just as the green was about to wave, Hot Rod came roaring out of the pits and went to the tail of the field. No word what had delayed him but I'm guessing he had some kind of mechanical issue that either delayed him or perhaps his car wouldn't start. We will see if we can find more out. 

In any event, he turned out to be the driver to watch along with a good battle for the lead. Kyle Frederick started on the outside pole and jumped out to a nice lead early as he rode the cushion to step away from the field. 

However, the "swan song" of the cushion bit him also, as it did for both the B Mod features as the outside gradually started to slow down and the inside line either picked up speedway of just looks so as the outside slowed down. 

In any event, by lap ten, Mitch Stankowski, putting around on the inside, drove past Frederick to take over the lead. At the same time, Snellenberger was on the move, running a high side line that no one else even attempted, but Hot Rod was making it work. While he hadn't cracked the top five by the halfway point, by the time the yellow waved with fourteen laps complete for a spinning driver, he was up to third!

However, both Stankowski and Frederick, who both were running the inside line by now, were quick enough that Hot Rod couldn't reel them in and he settled for third but was certainly "The Show."

Pat Zdroik and Jeff Bodendorfer completed the top five in a race that saw only one driver not go the distance. 

The final checkers waved at just about 10:30 pm, not bad at all given the amount of racing that we saw. A good sized crowd was on hand but not the throng that is usually present for their Tuesday night races but that will probably happen for the main events. Tuesday night, including the big money race, the Unified Street Stocks will also be in action. 

Management here does not believe in streaming races as they want fans to come out to the track, so there will be no way to watch the action live, at least not this year. 

Tyler Erb, Doar Top Cedar Lake USA Nationals Prelim

 The thirtieth annual USA Nationals at the Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond Wisconsin kicked off a three night run on Thursday night, July 30th. Running this weekend at Cedar Lake are the World of Outlaws Late Models plus the local Saturday night Late Models, most of which are WISSOTA  based drivers. 

The opening night show was a full show for both classes. However, it is important to note that while the Outlaw show was a full point show, it has no relevance to the rest of the weekend with Saturday night's one hundred thousand dollar to win show based on qualifying and heat races that will be held on Friday night, weather permitting. 

The local Late Models also ran a full show with each night of the weekend being a full show, separate and complete with each night the winning share goes up. 

It was a steamy hot but sunny Thursday night to start the weekend and a strong turnout of drivers was on hand in both classes. The top fourteen drivers in WoO points were on hand and seventeen of the top twenty. After that, the rest of the field was filled in by drivers that on occasion race with the WoO plus regional drivers with open motor packages. 

The regional drivers division is made up primarily with WISSOTA spec engine drivers racing although Cedar Lake flies against most other tracks in this area by allowing open motor drivers to also race, using a restrictor plate. Thus, a few drivers from eastern Wisconsin and beyond join the field, as the money for this class is also good and there are a surprising number of drivers that like to race at a show with the national drivers on hand running also. 

Fifty drivers signed in for the WoO portion of the show while forty three of the local Late Models signed in for their portion of the show. The WoO would use their typical format which included qualifying, six heat races and a  pair of B Features. 

Twenty six drivers started the WoO feature with the provisional starters being Dennis Erb and Brent Larson. The distance for a ten grand to win show was only thirty laps, which seemed just a bit on the short side for such a show.

Tyler Erb was the driver in control in this race, leading from start to finish. He redrew the pole after winning his heat race and he would be chased by both Hudson O'Neal and then Brandon Sheppard but neither could put a winning move on him. 

The race was slowed three times with yellows on laps eight, nine and twenty three. Developments that caused the first yellow between Ethan Dotson and Dan Ebert led to some dirty looks between the two which may be something to watch the rest of the weekend. A heat race scrum on the final lap between Bobby Pierce and Tyler English led to perhaps some last lap payback also, so that might be something to watch the rest of the weekend also. 

O'Neal tried to use the low like to get past Erb but was not able to do so and then later in the race, after Sheppard worked his way forward from the third row to move into second, he tried both the high side and the low groove but there would be not catching Erb on this night. He was using a slightly novel approach to the corners, dipping in low and then bowing up the track and that seemed to allow him to keep his momentum up, which was key. 

Nick Hoffman and Devin Moran filled out the top five and ran in those positions for most of the second half of the race, but were never able to move any farther forward. Most drivers seemed to be taking the position that this was a nice race but I'm using this as a paid practice session for Friday night, when the ante is considerably more important. Only three drivers failed to finish the contest and everyone was on the lead lap at the end. Every time Erb seemed close to the back of the pack, the yellow bailed him out with a clean track following each slowdown. 

Twenty four drivers started the local Late Model feature and this race saw more passing, at least early in the contest. There were actually three different leaders in the first seven laps before things settled down a bit later. 

Gavin Tarras was having a strong night and he would start on the pole and lead the opening lap. I should mention that this class used passing points in their heats, after they drew for  heat race starting positions. The only odd thing is that they invert the top six in passing points for some reason, thus punishing those drivers that do really good in their heats for some reason. This is also the format that they use for their weekly shows. 

In any event, Tarras led for that single lap before Kevin Eder got up on the cushion and made the pass for the lead. It was not long, however, before Pat Doar moved into a challenging position. He started fourth on the grid and had a car that he could put where ever he wanted, using both the top side and more importantly, the middle line where he was able to either drive around or under those pounding the cushion. 

On lap seven he got past Eder for the lead and he then led the rest of the twenty five laps to record the win. Doar is the second highest feature winner in CLS Late Model history and is closing in on leader Rick Egersdorf for that honor. 

Eder held tough through the halfway point of the race with Ashley Anderson , Adam Hensel and Tarras still in the top five. Anderson quickly then took second and he was the driver able to stay closest to Doar. 

In the later half of the race, Ashley got a nose under Doar running low off the corners several times but Doar was able to roll through the middle of the corners and keep his momentum up as he drove on for the win. 

Nick Pantitzke, who started fourteenth, made a late charge that saw him move up to the third position as he finished just ahead of Eder and James Giossi. Only four drivers failed to finish the race, one of which was Steve Arpin, the co-owner of Longhorn chassis who was making his first Late Model racing start in a number of years. Arpin, who is a native of Fort Frances Ontario, made a lot of laps at tracks in this area before moving on to bigger things and he had co-owner of longhorn, the Leach family, providing him with one of their cars for this weekend. 

The racing at CLS continues on Friday night with qualifying and heat races that set the front rows for Saturday night's hundred grand to win show plus some dashes. The local Late Models will run another full show also. 

The opening night crowd was very large indeed, with most of the empty seats already reserved but just not used on Thursday. Camping is totally sold out as it seems this event just keeps getting bigger every year. 

Wagamon Mops Up at USMTS Princeton Mod Wars

 The first night of the "Mod Wars USMTS vs. WISSOTA" was dominated by local driver Clayton Wagamon who led all fifty laps on the high banked quarter mile oval at the Princeton Speedway to earn a resounding victory over the traveling crew from USMTS and a solid field of thirty one drivers just about evenly split between USMTS regulars and local and regional WISSOTA drivers.  

Wagamon, who is the current point leader at the track for the weekly WISSOTA shows, used that knowledge to find the quick way around the quarter mile and then fight off both challenges from other drivers as well as successfully work his way through some occasionally heavy traffic to win his first ever USMTS win. 

Three divisions of WISSOTA sanctioned racing were also on the program Friday night, with Dustin Holtquist, Dexton Koch and Jason VandeKamp the winners in those main events. 

With a "feels like" temperature of ninety nine degrees when the first green flag was waved, it was another hot evening in the upper Midwest but a nice sized crowd was on hand, curious to see if their Friday night heroes could match up with the traveling Modified drivers that were in town for this special event and in the end, they held up rather well, thank you. 

For the first time in well over a week, weather almost played a part in the proceedings on Friday as we watched from the grandstand to see big thunder heads build almost right over the race track and the lighting show as they drifted off to the East was impressive but they didn't threaten the racing action. 

The track prep crew was challenged on this day as along with the exceedingly hot temperatures, a strong wind was blowing but the crew, headed by promoter Nate Fischer, did a fine job and gave the racers a good track on which to run. 

The usual format for USMTS was in play with Talon Willis the quickest overall at 13.943 seconds with the second group, headed by Ryan Gierke, nearly a half second slower at 14.351 seconds. Ironically, while both Willis and Gierke showed big speed early, after having good runs for part of the feature race, neither would be on the track at the finish. 

Four heats, a B Feature and then the provisional starters added on the back gave the fans a twenty seven driver starting field for the fifty lapper around the Princeton oval. Wagamon started on the outside pole for the main event and took an early lead over Willis. Trevor Hughes was strong early as he drove under Willis for second and began to pressure the leader. Wagamon was driving the high side, dangerously close to dropped off the banking on the steep track which has no outside walls, thus if you get just over the edge, you drop off to the run off area but there is no saving the car if you do so, it is all or nothing. 

Nevertheless, for Wagamon with much experience racing here, it was just a routine run but he did an exceptional job of working the lapped traffic, keeping distance between himself and Hughes. By the halfway point of the race, Wagamon continued to lead over Hughes and Willis with Gierke having worked his way up to fourth and Brandon Davis quietly cracking the top five. 

The scoreboard went dark just before the feature started so it was difficult to tell just where we were in the race, a fact that Wagamon mentioned after the feature was concluded but something we fans were grumbling about even before that. 

Lap thirty one found fourth place Gierke slowing and pulling off the track, done for the night. Davis was now up to fourth with Zach Benson cracking the top five. Four laps later, Willis would be done for the night with a flat tire and Davis was now up to second, having passed Hughes for that position. 

The final fifteen laps went green to checkers. Davis was trying just a lane lower than Wagamon was running to find some bite but the momentum favored Wagamon as long as he didn't dance off the ends as the track was getting increasingly tricky as the laps clicked off. Davis pushed as hard as possible but it was clear it was Wagamon's race to lose but Clayton had a steady grip on the wheel and rode the cushion home to take the win. Davis finished a strong second with Rodney Sanders, Jake Timm and Kyle Brown all making progress in the last twenty laps to finish behind the two leaders. Only six drivers dropped out of the fifty lapper and a key to victory was Wagamon ability to get through traffic and maintain his lead. 

For those that don't know, Wagamon's parents and grand parents are the promoters here at the Princeton Speedway. Fischer has been hired by them to run the weekly shows but they write the checks at this Mille Lacs County  fairgrounds facility. Wagamon's also own the Ogilvie Raceway where they will be racing at on Saturday night with Fischer in charge their also. 

Princeton Speedway went viral this week on the internet after a robber tried to steal one of the track's water trucks during the week. He was caught on video cameras taking the truck but instead of driving it away, he ended up crashing it into the welcome gate to the fairgrounds. He went off in cuffs and while the fender was bent, Fischer was using that same truck to water the track on Friday night!

VandeKamp, the track point leader in the Midwest Modifieds, dominated the twenty driver field in that class, leading from start to finish and never being seriously challenged. He started in the second row but passed both Ariel Mueller and Brady Larson before the first lap was completed and after that, it was a battle for second amongst the rest of the field as he was long gone. 

Larson and Dustin Nelson would maintain second and third for the first half of the race but Ryan Putnam made a charge after that, working his way into second in the final few laps and with a late, two lap dash to the finish, providing VandeKamp his toughest challenge but no positions were changed as Vande drove on for the win. Nelson held on for third. 

Dexton Koch grabbed the lead early in the Super Stock feature and despite several very fast drivers chasing him, he held his line and fought off the other drivers as he drove on for the win. Using the high side, he rode off the banking and built up a nice sized lead early as Dustin Nelson, Dylan Kromschroder and Shane Sabraski all battled for second. Sabraski got to that spot by the halfway point of the race and it looked like a battle might be brewing but on this night, it was Koch that had the fastest line. 

With only a single yellow at the halfway point of the race, Koch kept pushing hard and he pulled away from the field. Sabraski did a very rare fade for him, dropping from second as both Kromschroder and a late charging Dylan Nelson got past him. 

Holtquist was the third leader in a competitive Mod Four feature that had three different leaders over the twenty lap distance. Andrew Funt led the opening lap before being passed by Ashton Schwinn for the lead. Holtquist started sixth but quickly moved into contention and as Schwinn rode the cushion on the track, Holtquist was nailed to the inside line which worked for him as he drove under Schwinn on the seventh lap for what would be the winning pass. 

The second half of the race got tedious with multiple yellows for spins that kept bogging down the race and finally forced officials to line the driver up single file with the hopes of finally being able to complete the event. 

Holtquist kept maintaining the lead, despite all the disruptions and despite Schwinn going back to the cushion and making some progress on cutting the lead, Holtquist held on for the win with Dustin's father Bob racing up to third despite having smashed his bumper on one of the ute tires during the race. The last race took some time and the final checkers waved just at the 11 pm track curfew for a track that sits right in the city of Princeton and is bordered on one side by state highway 169 and by a cemetery to the North of the track. 

The Princeton Speedway races every Friday night all Summer and features a number of WISSOTA sanctioned classes. 

Jim Chisholm Holds Off Challengers at Park Jeff

 Nigh number one of the South Dakota Challenge took place on Wednesday night, July 15th at the Park Jefferson International Speedway located near Jefferson South Dakota. The USMTS Modifieds were the traveling attraction featured on this night with three other support classes also a part of the program. 

The USMTS will race one more night here in South Dakota before moving further North and racing the Mod Wars at three tracks in Minnesota before this long week of racing will be complete for them. Tanner Mullens currently leads the USMTS points but has Brandon Davis, Jim Chisholm and Rodney Sanders all within a hundred points of him and many more nights of racing still left to go in this season. 

It was another hot and humid race day in the Midwest, as it has been for nearly a week already but promoter Trent Chinn and his crew did a great job prepping the track for racing action. The track stayed smooth all night with drivers using multiple grooves on this now high banked facility with the old track just a mere memory these days, the new configuration so much vastly superior. 

Positively Racing's kingpin, Jeff Broeg was calling the action on Wednesday night, as he will be for most of the weekend, having only to return to Osky on Thursday to call a Sprint Invaders show there before getting back on the highway and making what could be a harrowing trip North through the Twin Cities on a Friday to get to Princeton Speedway, the destination for the USMTS troops as they begin their Minnesota swing. 

Car counts for the USMTS events have been a concern at times this year and this swing North would showcase some of those issues. The top thirteen drivers in USMTS points were on hand, but not much else. The problem when racing at a place like Park Jeff is that all the local drivers are of the IMCA persuasion and most of them feel they aren't competitive against the more open motored entrants plus there is also an issue with the tire brand used. USMTS does what they can to make it easier to race, but its is a difficult problem. Once they move North into Minnesota, the more equal WISSOTA competitors will be on hand to protect their home turf. 

Eighteen drivers signed in to race on this night, but I heard no complaints from crowd members so it appeared they were just happy to see these drivers in action, even if there weren't a ton of them. And to the credit of USMTS, instead of trying to drag out the proceedings by making three heats out of what they had, they instead lumped the field into two big heats and then just raced a feature event and again, I heard no one complain when they did so. 

The USMTS still qualifies their drivers with Jim Chisholm, the seventeenth driver out, setting fast time at 15.796 seconds which is pretty impressive. They then picked their starting spots for their heats, earned points through those events and that set the running order for their forty lap main event. 

I thought the top side of the track was slowing down by the time the Modifieds took the green flag for their race, but Talan Willis proved me wrong by getting the jump on Chisholm to take the early lead. Willis was fast and opened up a decent sized lead in the early going but eventually Chisholm, who dragged along Tanner Mullens and Rodney Sanders, started to close up on him. 

Willis was having a terrible time getting past the first back marker and was losing his lead quickly as he just couldn't find a way past that slower driver. Finally, just as the race reached its midpoint, that driver pulled into the infield, giving Willis a clear track again. However, things came completely unglued for Willis when he clobbered one of the corner ute tires and spun out, triggering the first yellow flag of the race. Willis retired from the event at this point, either due to damage or perhaps just out of frustration. 

In any event, this elevated Chisholm to the top spot but the restart allowed Mullens to get a great run on the top side and take over the lead for a few laps before Chisholm would be able to pass him on the bottom and again claim the top spot.  However, things got quite tough for him at the end as his own bouts with the ute tires had left his front end damaged also and his handling seemed to go drastically away on him in the closing laps. 

Kyle Brown had muscled his way into second where he battled with Mullens with both putting pressure on Chisholm who was just trying to "horse" his car around the track the last few laps. Near disaster struck when as the leaders came around corner four on the last trip, that same driver that had given Willis so much grief earlier was back at it, spinning right in front of Chisholm and forcing him into evasive action. But what was worse was now the race wasn't over but instead went into a two lap sprint to conclude the race. 

However, Chisholm got away well and Brown was fighting with Mullens for second which caused them to lost touch with the leader, and Chisholm took advantage of that to drive home for the win. Mullens out fought Brown for second with Sanders and Brandon Davis completing the top five. Only three drivers failed to finish the event. 

There were also three support classes in action with Hobby Stocks, B Mod/Sport Mods and Stock Cars all racing a full show. Their numbers were relatively small in all three classes but again, a disparity between rules packages is and was a problem for some of those classes. 

The Hobby Stock feature did see a good race in their main however, with three different leaders in the first four laps. Dustin Gulbranson was followed by Nick Brady and then Landon Krohn as the leader with Krohn taking that spot on lap four and then leading the rest of the way. 

It was far from an easy win, as Gulbranson put heavy pressure on in the later laps. In fact, if Krohn hadn't used a lot of track, he likely would have been passed but each time Gulbranson made a run at him down the chutes, Krohn bowed out and cut off his line and Gulbranson played it clean rather than just dumping him. They finished in that order with Brady third. Wyatt Johnson, in fifth, received "Best in Class" honors for IMCA as their DOT tires certainly put them at a disadvantage against the wide tires that USRA allows, which likely explains why there were not more locals entered. 

The Stock Car feature was even better with a very close finish favoring Greg Peck over Ryan Harris, two drivers that race here often as the difference in rules for the Stock Cars was not so glaring. 

There were actually four different leaders in this eighteen lap race with Peck out front early before Colby Klaassen led a lap, only to have Peck get back in front. 

Then Chad Overgaard led for a lap before Harris took the lead on lap sixteen and the final battle was on. Peck moved to the cushion and challenged Harris on the final few circuits and on the last corner got a great run off the banking and swept past Harris on the high side, scrapping right up against the concrete wall to make the winning pass in what was a thrilling finish to the Stock Cars. 

The B Mods/Sport Mods often race against each other straight up these days and they seem fairly well suited to each other. They had the biggest field with twenty three drivers signing in to race and all would start the twenty lap main. 

Brock Hess led the opening lap but he was passed on the inside by Duke Erickson one lap later who was working well right on the inside. Erickson was getting great bite off the corners and would surge ahead as he stayed nailed to the inside line. 

This race had more issues than the others, with the yellow flying five times for spins. However, with pressure on him on each restart, Erickson would again hold off the others and then stretch his advantage further. 

The last came with just four laps remaining but again Erickson got a great start and was not challenged as he continued to hit his marks, lap after lap and not give anyone an opening on the inside. His last challenger was Tanner Koster who moved into second on lap thirteen after starting thirteenth on the grid as there was considerable shuffling back in the pack. Koster would hold on for second over a charger Geoff Olson, the first IMCA driver across the line. 

It was an excellent night for Erickson as not only did he win the B Mod feature, he finished eighth in the Modified feature using a 604 crate motor, a sign that perhaps more of the local Modifieds should have made an appearance on this night. As an aside, I have known "The Duke" for a lot of years and seen him race at a lot of different tracks across the country under different sanctioning bodies, but this is the first time I believe, that I had seen him win a feature so congrats to the Sioux Falls driver. 

We know the humidity helped, but I was impressed with what a nice track Chinn and his group put together for this night's program, which was a good one and promptly run off. The crowd was decent sized but late arriving on a week night which is understandable. They were no doubt also pleased when the racing action was nearly nonstop with an early conclusion. Thanks to Todd, Trenton and all the USMTS staff along with track officials from Park Jeff for their help and hard work.