Callahan Wins Disjointed Late Model Feature at Dubuque

Sunday night, April 29th, Farley Speedway Promotions Inc. completed opening night at their second track, the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway in Dubuque. On a sunny but slightly cool and windy night, they were finally able to get their opening night of the season in after being delayed by a week, much like most every track in the Midwest this year.

Several new things were unveiled at Dubuque for 2018 and took the spot light tonight. First and foremost was the new earlier starting time. Hot laps now start at 5 pm after the pit gates open at 3 pm, all with the idea to get the show with over as quickly as possible, a key item always for Sunday night tracks. Also, to expedite a quick program, the classes racing have been cut to four with IMCA sanctioned Sport Mods and Mods joined by the FSP Late Models and new to the weekly program this year, the Limited Late Models that race primarily at Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington Wisconsin on Friday nights.

With so many new changes, opening night was a bit of an experiment with some good things happening and some things still needing some slight adjustment. Having to prepare a race track for the earlier starting time is a considerable task, especially with all the sun and wind that the crew faced on opening night. With racing starting so early, it then makes for a lot of racing even before the sun goes down and that provides a challenge in getting the track just right. It will be even more so of a challenge as we get closer to Summer and the whole program will likely be completed even before the sun sets on what could be some blazing hot nights.

On opening night I'm guessing they learned a few things and some adjustments will be in the cards for upcoming weeks. After all, it was just the opener and there are bound to be a few "clunkers" in any opening night and some things that can't be predicted that do arise.

Sunday the track was just too dry and for the majority of the night the racing was real one groove right on the bottom of the track. Those that tried to venture out up against the wall were lost in a sea of loose, powdery dirt. And for us in the main grandstand, we were very lucky that a strong wind was carrying the dust away from us, otherwise it would have been most miserable.

After a couple of misting sessions that were largely unproductive, they watered the track heavy after the Limited Late Model feature and this then required a lengthy packing session. I felt sorry for the Modifieds who got their cars all slopped up as they bore the burden of packing in the track. However, ultimately, this would be the best thing they did all night as while the Modifieds couldn't use the whole track quite as well as the Late Models, when the Lates came out for the last race of the night, they were all over the track and the racy Dubuque track, that had disappeared for most of the night, reemerged and we saw an interesting Late Model feature with some explosive slide jobs thrown in for good measure.

Car counts look like they might be an issue at many tracks in Eastern and Northeastern Iowa this year. A jaw dropping forty six cars were all that signed in Sunday night to race in the four classes offered. A quick look at car counts at a number of tracks in this area, and particularly the Late Model class, show that no one is pulled in more than a dozen or so cars and while there certainly are some not yet done, what is going to happen later during the Summer when blown motors and crashes start to cull the field? For someone who has been up and down the road for awhile, and had some of my first eye opening events with spectacular fields and great racing at tracks in Iowa, it is stunning to me to see where racing is right now in the Hawkeye State. That's not to say that every race track is in trouble but some of the great "name" places I made visits to the "glory" days just aren't the same today.

However, living in the past serves no purchase other than to denigrate the present so the best course of action is to accept the "new reality" and move on. The first race took to the track about 5:30 pm and then it was a quick show from that point with two heats in each class and a very quick break before the features rolled off.  A one spin rule helped also in moving the show along and we even saw Late Models tonight turn their cars around and keep going after spinning.

The first couple of feature races were contested before the top side was watered heavy and the track was considerably one lane right on the bottom. Scott Busch started on the pole and led all the way for the Sport Mod win. He kept his cool and maintained his line through a series of yellow flags. Jerry Miles finished second.

For Tyler Soppe, the defending national champion had a very eventful race. He spun in the first corner on the opening lap and went to the trail, then he and Troy Bauer engaged in a banging double spin after which Soppe let Bauer have it once again to express his feelings.

Soppe wasn't done yet as he killed the car and went to the back once again, yet with all the yellows he was still able to work his way back up to third at the finish.

Dubuque for years has struggled trying to find a fourth class of cars that will work for them. They tried Hobby Stocks and Stock Cars and even Hornets but the numbers for all these classes never got better than tepid. So this year they are trying the Limited Late Model class which consists of a combination of 9 to 1 motors and some crates with other cost beneficial restraints attached to the class. They look identical to the FSP Late Models which likely is confusing to the casual fan.

While it was reported to me that there are a number of local drivers in the process of building cars for this class, unfortunately only eight showed up for opening night so the fourth class trend continues, at least for now.

Lee Kinsella was the runaway winner in a great looking car, by the way with Mike Mills and Steve Schueller following in a race that went green to checkered after a first lap multi car spin. I was kind of surprised when they ran two, four car heats though instead of just combining into one.

An improved track from the watering gave the Modifieds more space in which to race on after they got the track repacked. Jason Schueller chose to use the low side however and he led most of the race. However, Mark Schulte made things interesting as he chose to pound the cushion and he was able to pull up beside Schueller and indeed, edge past him for several laps.

However, the top side seemed to give up on Schulte and the Mods weren't able to use the top shelf as well as the Late Models did later and Schulte slipped back behind Schueller to settle for second with Tyler Madigan third.

The Late Models wrapped up the night with a wild and woolly main event that saw much drama and a lot of action. Most of the Late Models went right to the top, unlike totally the other classes. However, the low side, which had been used by the other classes, was still good to and it made a prefect set up for some wild slide jobs. Eric Pollard led a number of laps but the drivers making the  boldest moves was Jeremiah Hurst who pulled sliders to get past Jeff Tharp and then Pollard to take over the lead.

Just as he started to pull away from Joel Callahan and it appeared the race was over, a puff of smoke came from the Hurst car and he lost power with only four laps left. It was a tough way to lose what appeared to be a cinch victory.

With the leader dropping out, Callahan and Tharp should have lined up side by side for the restart but either Tharp didn't want the spot or Callahan just took off on him as they were in a more like one, two lineup as the green flew. Callahan got the big jump and drove home for the win ahead of Tharp and Johnny Emerson. Earlier I was told that Emerson won at Independence on Saturday using the new motor options available to the FSP drivers, but Emerson told me himself that he was running an IMCA motor.

While there are a lot of new faces with FSP this year, Jerry Mackey remains as the "voice" of the Dubuque and Farley tracks along with Independence, which he has picked up this year, sharing the mic with legendary Jim Roper at that facility.

Mackey had the funniest comment of the night when, as introducing the Modified field, he introduced the #D6 as John Connolly from Delhi. "That's John Connolly Jr, obviously, unless there's some devine guidance going on that I'm unaware of," Mackey stated. Of course, most in the crowd didn't even get the comment as they didn't know who John Connolly was. However, for "old butts" like myself, we knew that John Connolly was one of the greatest Late Model drivers of his era. Unfortunately, Connolly is no longer with us, having passed away many years ago after suffering a heart attack after a race in West Fargo North Dakota, making it unlikely that he was driving on this night!

Joe Hayes has been hired by FSP to act as promoter for them and he is running the show at both Farley and Dubuque.

A decent crowd was on hand for opening night with one of the more pleasant weather nights of the season so far. Even with the long packing session that took place midway through the features, the final checkered flag waved before 8 pm which was most welcomed by myself and I got home before it was even "last call" at the local gin joints. Thanks to everyone at FSP for an entertaining opening night.

Mississippi Thunder breaks Through for First Wisconsin Dirt Racing

I never thought that I would be saying that the first dirt track action of a racing season would be held the last Friday night of April, but that is exactly the case in 2018. When the Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin waved the first green flag of their first Hornet heat race shortly after 7 pm on Friday night, it marked the start of the first dirt track racing program of the 2018 racing season. That it should be at Fountain City is somewhat surprising as they have taken in the last few years to starting their season later than most, but later than most is also earlier than everyone else in this most crazy of Springs. There may be a couple of other tracks in southern Wisconsin that also got their season started on Friday, but none that have raced in any date before last night. Who woulda' thunk it?

Under the direction of Bob Timm, who's own thoughts must have been split as while his son was out in Texas running USMTS, Bob was home running the race track, a five division program under USRA sanctioning took place. Hobby Stocks, B Mods, Limited Late Models and Modifieds run under USRA sanctioning while the Hornets run home track rules.

It was a sunny day along the shores of the Mississippi River but a strong Northwesterly breeze howled directly in the main grandstand and it made for anther unpleasant viewing night for the spectators, one of very many so far this year. The opening night crowd was fair but they were bundled up tightly and it was not a night for the casual race fan. This night was for those hard core fans that have been bottled up all Winter, dying to get out to the track.

A nice field of ninety three cars signed in for the five class program with numbers in some classes very good for the opener while one or two other classes were somewhat concerning with their small numbers.

Hornets were strong in their participation. Both the Hobby Stocks and Limited Late Models, fairly new classes that Bob has established at MTS in the last couple of years, look to be on the increase. The LLM had fourteen cars, most of which looked and ran well and it appears that this class has caught on at the track. I did notice that while they used to have all limited type motors in their cars, several of the teams have now switched over to the 604 crate motor.

The Hobby Stock class was started a couple of years ago as a new "feeder" division with the feeling that the previous lower classes had gotten too expensive and while they had a nice number of seventeen of them for the opener, they have already gotten far away from the beginner class concept. But while they can continue to draw a number of cars from Northeast Iowa, they should be OK in their numbers. I am confused a bit by the rules in this class as every other USRA track I've been too has the Hobby Stocks running on street tires but here at MTS they run on racing tires and even use bead locks. They look much more like Stock Cars than Hobby Stocks and the assertion by one of the announcers that the Hobby Stocks replaced the WISSOTA Street Stocks because that class was dying couldn't have been more incorrect.

The B Mod class has always been the "bread and butter" division at MTS and they had a solid field of twenty six of them for the opener. However, the Modified fields have been concerning the last couple of years with often a dozen or less cars turning out to race. That feeling wasn't helped by the fact that only thirteen of them were on hand for opening night with several certain to not be regulars all season. I'm sure that especially with Chateau Raceway, their Friday night competition within USRA now closed, that they would have more cars in the class this year.

And perhaps they will once things get settled down. And a major blow to their opening night plans was leveled when the Deer Creek Creek Speedway, their only USRA partner in southern Minnesota left racing, decided to have their practice night, on of all nights, on Friday night in advance of their Saturday night opener. With all the nights available to have a practice, this seemed like a conflict that could have been avoided and there must have been some ill feelings between the Queensland family and Timm over this. As the only two tracks still running these rules in the southern part of Minnesota, it would seem that it would be in both tracks interests to try and work together better than what was evidenced so far. Deer Creek, by the way, had over seventy cars on hand just for practice and while they do run three WISSOTA sanctioned classes, they do run both USRA Mods and B Mods.

Timm continues to upgrade the MTS facility and the improvements this year include the beginnings of a catwalk on the back chute for the race teams to use to watch the races. They have one section completed on the back chute and plans or for two more of them to be built yet this year, one over the exit of the track in turn one and another over the entrance to the track in turn two.

The program got started just a few minutes late but once they got rolling, it was nonstop racing with one heat race after another entering the track and the preliminaries clicking off very quickly. In just over and hour the twelve heat races were completed which was following by some quick track prep and then it was time to move on to the main events.

The Hornets started off the main events with twenty two of them taking the green flag. And it took only a couple of laps before we saw the first flip of the season when J.R. Tourtellott got escorted into the first turn wall and he turned over once. Another grinding collision on the front chute slowed the action and then they settled down.

Jeremy Johnson started on the pole and he led all the way for the win with Donald Martens and Jason Schloegel having a good battle for second until Martens took the spot. Seventeen of the starters took the checkered flag, all on the lead lap.

Brady Link started on the outside pole for the Hobby Stock feature and he led all the way for the win in this division. He had built up a good sized lead until the lone yellow of the race stopped the action with four laps left. Then he found himself in a fight for the position as Jay Mensink put on lots of pressure. But Link held his line and rode home for the win. Travis Krause, Steve Holthaus and Paul Seabrooke followed.

A big field of twenty five M Mods took the green flag but surprisingly, this race went nonstop from green to checkered. Even announcer Dan Bailey expressed his surprise in the victory lane interview that the B Mods where able to get through their opening night feature without a series of yellow flags.

And the outside pole appeared the be the place to start as Parker Hale came from that spot to lead all the way for the win. He pulled out to a healthy advantage with the only driver able to keep him closse being Dan Hovden. Hale got into some heavy traffic that held him up a bit and the lead shrunk but then Parker made some nice moves, cleared the traffic and then started to pull away near the end. Hovden had to settle for second ahead of J.T. Wasmund, Casey Knutson and Andrew Bleess.

Curt Myers got a new Hughes chassis in the off season and big things were expected from him but he has struggled badly so far this year, to the point that he dropped off the USMTS circuit. However, Friday night he got things together and took the Modified win.

Was it an omen when he drew the outside pole? We'll never know but he went to the cushion to take the early lead and basically played "chicken" with the concrete wall for twenty five laps, pushing his car right up to the limit. That's where he likes to run and the track played perfectly into his thinking.

He got a nice sized lead but as the race wore on, Keith Foss and Dustin Sorensen started to cut into his advantage. In fact, Foss got close enough to try some preliminary challenges near the three quarter mark. However, when Foss was ready to get serious and try to make a pass, Myers came up on a lapped car, made a move to get by and Foss was forced to alter his line to do the same. This gave Myers all the chance he needed to pull away again and lead comfortably to the finish. Cory Crapser and Josh Angst completed the top five in the twelve car field.

When defending LLM champ Lance Hofer drew the pole, things were pretty much settled for the main event. Hofer pulled away from the field and won by nearly half a straightaway in the nonstop main event. Justin Sass led home Barry Johnson, Derek Nelson and Troy Langowski among the challengers.

Three of the five main events went nonstop with another having only one yellow and the Hornets three as it was the smoothest night of racing perhaps ever, let alone for the opener, seen at MTS in a considerable while. The track was in excellent shape for the opener, smooth and wide and while the top side seemed the quick way around, there was plenty of side by side racing. Not a lot of track prep was required as only the watering session after the heats saw anything on the track but the race cars themselves. Worries that the track was soft and spongy proved to be unfounded. Overall, opening night proved to be a well run event and a good start to the new racing season. Now if we could just figure out a way to turn off the "wind machine!" 

Highbanks Hustle To Rust in a Thriller

Thursday night, April 26th was round one of the Twin Highbanks Hustle at the Marshalltown Speedway. I believe this was the fourth attempt to get this program in and since it was first attempted, Late Models were added to the card, making this a five class, IMCA sanctioned program.

What started out as a fine April afternoon suddenly changed when the wind switches to a Northwesterly direction and started to howl at high speed. After that it never settled down, the temperature plummeted, or more correctly, the wind chill plummeted and it turned out to be a miserable, dirty night at the races. The crowd was a decent one, given that midweek work and school on Friday morning was a consideration for many, including certainly some racers, but those on hand stuck it out mostly to the end.

One of the things I like most about Toby Kruse and also one of the things that makes him most successful is that he thinks "out of the box." Who but Toby, having lost his first special event to the weather, would consider putting on a doubleheader program leading off with a Thursday night show and then adding Late Models on top of it? While it probably wasn't a "killer show" for him financially, he likely made out all right with around one hundred twenty cars in the pits, provided a Thursday night race for his drivers that had already lost so many races this Spring, and also provided a place for all the displaced Wisconsin racers to run as they wait for the snow to melt. Plus, it provides a lot of good will for his own race operation.

They were off a little at the start with the first green flag not waving until 7:45 p.m but they were having some problems with their computer scoring system and that likely was the cause of the showdown. And hot lapping one hundred and twenty race cars does take some time. After that, however, it was nonstop racing as they plowed through five sets of heats and B Features for the sport Mods and Modifieds.

The Modifieds had by far the largest car count with forty three of them signing in to race and many of the biggest names in IMCA racing on hand. And they were "the show" on this night without doubt. Four large heat races and two B Features narrowed the field to twenty four of them that set sail on the twenty lap, one grand to win main event. And the feature race proved to be an outstanding one with great racing throughout the pack and a battle for the win plus another battle for third that was epic.

While Joel Rust led all the way for the win, that statement does not at all describe what we actually saw. Rust did indeed move out to a nice sized lead as the first fifteen laps ran green. However, watching Hunter Marriott and Tyler Droste knife through the pack was worth the price of admission alone. While Marriott was dive bombing the low groove and sliding under drivers to gain spots, Droste was riding a lane far up the track that didn't look like it even existed but he managed to keep his car from launching off the track and actually gain ground. Ricky Thornton Jr. locked onto Droste's line also until he contacted the front stretch wall, messed up his steering and flew off of turn one, requiring the yellow and setting up five lap sprint to the finish.

And what a great five lap race it was. Marriott dived under Rust and they ran wheel to wheel, each trying to find that extra bit of traction on the super slick track. They slid through the corners, each on the very edge of control  and once they banged wheels quite hard under the flag stand, but "no harm, no foul" as they kept right on going.

Marriott made one last attempt on the final corner but Rust had just enough momentum to hold him off by a couple feet for the win. Meanwhile, Droste and Tim Ward were doing the same thing for third and they crossed the line in side by side fashion with Droste edging out for the third spot. It was an excellent race and only three of the starters failed to finish.

The Late Model field was disappointing as only eleven cars showed to race. Hopefully that isn't an indication of how many Late Models are left in central Iowa as if so, it could be a long year for those tracks running them regularly. Let's face it, Marshalltown's adding of the class is one of the very few tracks in the Midwest that have added the Late Model class in recent years so let's hope that the drivers don't waste this opportunity.

For home town resident Darrell DeFrance, it was a nice night as he led from start to finish to take the win. However, it was a good thing it was only a twenty lapper as Chad Holladay was closing fast at the end.

This race had a wild start as while running in a tight pack, a car got sideways and triggered a wild wreck with cars flying off the track in all directions and two cars rolling over. Curtis Glover ended up on his roof while Todd Cooney took what appeared to be an even wilder ride well off the back of the back chute and with all the dirt piles back there, it was a little tough to track the entire route of his wreck but he was also reported to have turned his car over on its lid too. Fortunately, there were no injuries but the field was nearly halved by the accident.

A couple of drivers continued their strong early season performances. Damon Murty won yet another Stock Car feature over what was to me a bit of a disappointment with only seventeen of them on hand. Murty had an early battle with Paul Shepherd and Jay Schmidt before he took control on the high banks and then pulled away in the nonstop main event. A fine ride was turned in by Jeff Mueller who had the low side working and drove up from the fourth row to finish a strong second.

Shannon Anderson won another Hobby Stock feature also. Anderson's win, much like Sunday night in Vinton, was a contested one as he has not been dominating fields to this point, but he has still been winning. Thursday night he took plenty of heat from Eric Stanton who raced in his tire tracks for many laps and continuously tried to get under Anderson, but Shannon was just strong enough off the corners as for most people on Thursday, the high side was the fast way around the track.

It was close at the finish but Anderson showed the way to edge out Stanton and Gene Nicklas. Justin Wacha and Keeron Sampson completed the top five. This was the only race of the entire night where we kind of got "stuck in the mud"with five yellows in the first ten laps keeping things bunched.

A Sport Mod master of this track is Jared VanDeest and he did it again Thursday, winning another main here. After an early yellow, the drivers raced the last seventeen laps nonstop with not a single drivers getting lapped and only three not making the checkered.

VanDeest came from the second row, got the lead early and then pulled away from Braydon Carter who was trying to track him down. But the show was put on by Austin Luellen. He got DQ'd follwing his heat race win(not sure of his violation) so he started twentieth in the main event and boy, did he cut through the field.

He was passing high and low, where ever the holes were, he found them. He continued his strong charge toward the front as he got all the way up to third but the top two had checked out and with no yellow forthcoming, he had to settle for that spot. It could have been much different if that yellow bunting had flown, but that's racing.

The  track was great for Thursday's show. It was smooth and slick from top to bottom. Drivers were able to race all over it and much side by side racing was seen. It was a driver's track with the icy conditions and I love it that way. Both lanes of the track worked if you had the car from them and could drive it. It was quite dirty though, but mostly because of the gale force winds which were, of course, blowing from totally the wrong direction. Is it just me or does this feel like the windiest Spring ever?

So once they got racing, the program itself lasted just over three hours, very good for the size of the field and the number of races to be run. In summation, a nice night at the races. I just wish I hadn't had to be so bundled up as I would have enjoyed it even more if I wasn't holding on for dear life to keep from getting blown out of the bleachers!

Plenty of Riled Feathers on Opening Night at Benton County

Sunday night, April 22nd, the regular season opener was held at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Having just ran their Frostbuster a week ago Thursday, the track was idle last week with Sunday night starting off the point season at the black dirt quarter mile oval on Vinton's South side. And it would be a night be fitting the tight little bullring with lots of close finishes, a few spectacular wrecks and at least two of the feature events resulting in more than a few hard feelings, something that will have to monitored as the season progresses.

You would never have known that it was just the opener and it was only April, the way the drivers tore into each other, giving no quarter and asking for none in return except for the opportunity to lay a bumper on each other when the moment was right.

By my count, there were ninety four cars that signed in for the five IMCA sanctioned classes at the track with no B Features required but a couple of fully stacked main events. Once again Don Burkey had the track in fine shape, although it was considerably drier than for the Frostbuster and gave the drivers quite a different look. While the technique to get around the track quickly was somewhat different than for the Frostbuster, there was plenty of side by side racing and both a strong low and high side to race on. Most did choose the top side to race on but the way the track was racing, it provided the opportunity for some aggressive "slide jobs" in the corners and these little nuggets of racing excitement led to both some bold passes and some bent up cars and hard feelings.

The Sport Mod feature was the first main to grid and this event provided the biggest field of cars with a full twenty four set to go for twenty laps. This was the one race of the night that had a tough time staying under the  green as the yellow waved eight times, more than the rest of the night combined. However, with all the action going on trackside, it really didn't seem to drag out as much as you might imagine.

With many of the top Sport Mods in the area on hand, there was a front five rows of all star caliber including pole sitter Tony Olson. However, it was the outside row that moved at the start and Ben Chapman took the early lead. Olson, Dan Drury, Gage Neal and Tyler Soppe were all among those challenging. While Chapman continued to show the way, the battle for second went back and forth with Drury eventually taking the spot.

Then things got even wilder. Following a restart, Drury threw a wicked slider at Chapman in turn one and while it wasn't a thing of beauty, it allowed him to squeeze by for the lead. However, Chapman ended up spinning and being collected by Vern Jackson. Chapman was riled up and when Drury came back around the track, Chapman met him nose to nose, resulting in minor contact between the top. Chapman was sent pit side for his actions but Drury received no penalty for his part in the bruha, which didn't seem totally fair.

The scramble for positions saw Olson scored ahead of Drury but then, in another weird circumstance, Olson later broke under the yellow and needed a wrecker to be removed from the track, turning the lead back over to Drury. He held on the last few laps, beating home Soppe and Neal for the win. In victory lane he apologized for the "dust up" which probably didn't make Chapman feel any better as their were under currents of grumbling in the crowd.

However, this race just served as the warm up for the main event and that was the Hobby Stock main. Set to do battle were national champion Shannon Anderson and local power house, Nathan Ballard in a fifteen lap chain match to the finish.

Earlier, they had gone round one in a heat race with a spirited, side by side battle for the lead that saw Anderson get crossed up near the end and fall back three spots with possible contact between the two.

Come feature time, Anderson was the luckier of the two, starting from the second row with Ballard right behind him. Anderson quickly got to the lead but Ballard was glued to his rear bumper, and occasionally, checking the quality of its construction as he rapped on it. Nathan put extreme pressure on, but Anderson refused to yield. It was great quarter mile racing with plenty of spunk.

Ballard continued to dive inside Anderson in each corner as Anderson's car tended to push up the track slightly, but each time Anderson would have enough momentum for fight off Ballard. For the most part they raced each other clean, but one time Ballard got a bumper into Anderson and both fought for control before they continued on. Ballard could never make the pass as Anderson held him off for an intense win.

It was after the win that Anderson fanned the flames even more, as he conducted quite a blunt interview and lobbed a few insults in a "flame thrower" manner at Ballard. Most of the Benton County crowd, that was cheering for Ballard, really let Anderson have it after he piped up on the microphone. Not knowing Anderson, I don't know if he was sincere in his comments or just going for "good theater." In any event, I suspect that we have not seen the end of this rivalry but Anderson was coy about revealing whether he would return to Benton County next week.

A nice field of sixteen Sport Compacts was on hand and Ryan Havel was the class of the group, coming from the fifth row and dominating the class. What most people in the crowd didn't know was that the fourth place car, misidentified all night even when he won a heat race, was Zach Jackson, from Bemidji Minnesota. For hundred and seventy six miles from home, he also raced earlier in the weekend at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska.

Eighteen Stock Cars were on hand but the nearest thing to a guarantee, that Damon Murty would win, was fulfilled. He started on the outside of the second row, took the lead early and ran away for the win. John Oliver Jr made the long pull again and finished second ahead of Paul Shepherd.

Focusing on his Modified to this point, Jeff Aikey won his first main event of the year in the open wheel class. He started on the outside of row one, rode the high side all the way and won over Ethan Dotson and Joel Rust. While the race was in doubt to the checkered, Aikey maintained a smooth line and took the win.

Other than the Sport Mod main that had more than its share of yellows, the rest of the late afternoon into the evening ran off very smooth. The races went off like clock work and there were no delays except for some clean up some of the three roll overs. This is the way to be successful on a Sunday night program with the final checkered flag waving before 8 pm. It was a good, entertaining program.

Kay Works Hard for Deery Victory at Tipton

Saturday night, April 21st, the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models kicked off their season as the series marked opening night for the thirty second year of this traveling series for the IMCA Late Models. Amazingly, Saturday night's show will mark the first time ever that the Cedar County Speedway in Tipton has been the opening race for any of the thirty two years of this series. The Deery Brothers Automotive Group has now sponsored this series for twenty seven consecutive years.

Along with the Late Models, IMCA rules Modifieds and Sport Mods, although not sanctioned on this night would also race along with the Street Stocks which were a combination of the Quad Cities Streets and a few IMCA Stock Cars.

Huge questions surrounded the opening night's action and all focused on the Late Model class. It is no secret that it has been a stormy off season for the Late Model division in the state of Iowa, and even though I am not in the middle of the issue, I, along with many others, were still watching to see just how things would shake out. IMCA lost some of their Late Model tracks during the off season to the rules package that allows both open and spec engines to compete and several tracks in the state of Iowa moved away from the IMCA for this new set of rules, most notably Farley, Dubuque and Webster City. Which drivers would continue to run IMCA and which would switch their cars over to the new rules was the sixty four thousand dollar question. And there didn't seem to be a lot of people that had the answers either. Many were just waiting to see who would show up.

I talked to IMCA Deery Brothers Director Kevin Yoder before the show started and he was about as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof. And he claimed to not really know more than anyone else. He really had no idea how many cars would show up and just who would be racing on this night. Plus, he had several other issues on his plate for opening night.

One of the changes that the Deery Series has made for 2018 is that they have gotten away from the old draw/redraw format to a modified passing points format. The heat winners still redraw for the top positions but the rest of the top twelve are filled in from passing points, not how they necessarily finished their qualifying events. Brett Root has been pushing for the passing points method while Kevin hung tough that winning a heat race should have extra value, thus the compromise made that utilizes a modified passing points format but still gives the top starting positions to the heat winners. We will have to see what the reaction is of the drivers after they use this method a few times.

But not only was the new format a big change, other things are also going on too. The Deery Series is now using transponders and Kevin was over to Tipton early on Saturday to lay the wire under the front chute. While most tracks now have a wired buried on the front chute for scoring, by luck of the draw it turns out that the first three races on the Series this do not have a wire crossing the track, thus just one more complication in what has already been a complicated off season. At least they weren't fighting the weather here on Saturday, as that has been an issue so far, just as it has for most tracks in the Midwest.  They are also going to the My Race Pass program so in the future race fans should be able to monitor the series in real time, anywhere they have access to a mobile devise. So, Kevin had lots of things going on, all at once for the opener. Ryan Bergeson is also not the Official Starter any more for the series as he is also doing computer work on the new programs on race night and Saturday the regular starter from Davenport was utilized on the flag stand.

When the gates were finally shut and all cars accounted for, twenty nine Late Models had signed in for opening night action. Twelve of the top twenty in 2017 Deery Brothers points returned for the opener although the top two from last year were missing. Jesse Sobbing has retired and Jake Neal has apparently went the open motor route for this year. Eastern Iowa supplied the majority of the entries and I did not see any new faces to the division in the opening night roster. Significant also was that all time Deery Brothers feature win leader Jeff Aikey was on hand with his Modified but did not field a Late Model on this night. With the other three classes on hand, unofficially ninety three cars signed in to race.

Four heats and two B Features set the twenty four car starting field for the fifty lap main event with no provisionals on this night. The Late Model main turned out to be an excellent race with much battling for position throughout the field. Despite the fact that there were only two leaders, that statistic does not tell the story of how competitive the race was and how much passing and side by side racing took place. And just because Justin Kay was the winner, don't be misled by that as he had to work like the devil to take the win, making the winning pass with only four laps to go.

Ryan Dolan led the majority of the race, building up a big lead early but then having the field drawn back toward him after long green flag stretches. Kay and Andy Echrich and a prolonged battle for position with Todd Cooney, Terry Neal and Matt Ryan among others that charged toward the front while surprisingly, Denny Eckrich slipped back in the field after a good starting spot and he would eventually drop off the pace.

After an early yellow with nine laps complete, they raced thirty six nonstop laps with much happening on the track. Dolan continued to lead and Kay was interesting to watch as he tried both high and low on the track with the racing surface being excellent for multi groove racing.

But the driver that really picked up the pace was Neal. Working the inside line, he drove past Andy Eckrich and Kay and sailed into second but just as he was setting up a possible winning pass, the motor let go and he was done. Kay then altered his line and moved back to the top side where he found some momentum and he blasted past Dolan, who was starting to slip and slide near the end, for the lead. Just then the yellow flew for a stalled car and a three lap dash for the finish was required.

Kay pulled away on the start and drove home unchallenged but Dolan was the loser as he gave up second to Ryan at the finish with Cooney and Andy Eckrich in the top five. Jeremiah Hurst finished eighth as after hot laps, his car was scratched and he took over the ride of David Webster for the balance of the night. Only two yellows in fifty laps and not a lapped car at the end made it a solid opening night for the Deery Series.

Twenty seven Modifieds signed in to race and speed the show, Bob Wegener made the call to skip the B Feature and start all twenty seven which included three drivers that hauled all the way down from Wisconsin for the evening.

In this race, two drivers shined about the rest and they were Brad Dierks and that same Justin Kay. Dierks started on the outside pole and he showed incredible speed as he drove away from the field, building up nearly a straightaway lead before a late yellow set up a four lap sprint to the finish.

Meanwhile, Kay was showing just how much passing you could do in a twenty lap feature race. He had earlier been leading a heat race when he suddenly drove into the pits, I believe the victim of a deflating tire but I can't say for sure.

This forced him to start twenty first in the main event but that didn't seem to deter him. He went to the cushion on the start and flew by cars and when that lane was blocked, he dove to the low side. While the field was battling three wide throughout, Kay drove through the pack like a hot knife through butter, soon finding himself in the top five. But he didn't stop there and soon raced into second.

When the late yellow waved, it seemed like we were in for a shootout. However, Dierks got a great start and showed again his blazing speed while Kay didn't get a good start and actually had to fight his way back past Aikey for second and thus had nothing to offer Dierks in the way of a challenge for the win. Behind those three, Mark Schulte and Stephan Kammerer completed the top five.

The twenty four car Sport Mod feature race remains a mystery to me at this point. About all I can say is that Austin Heacock was the winner. He started on the outside pole and used the top side to drive past Kyle Olson and take the lead early. From that point on, he maintained the lead while drivers like Tyler Soppe and Tony Olson came charging through the pack.

Heacock continued to show the way but there was a wild scramble for position behind him which included a late race five lap dash to the finish. Heacock maintained the top spot and drove home for the win but behind him, things were nutty. On the last corner, Soppe got clipped by a lapped car and spun while he was running second. A mad scramble saw cars going every which way and the yellow waved and as the cars slowly circled the track, the checkered came out.

However, no ruling was announced and no finishing order was announced either. I'm assuming that Soppe was restored to  second and they scored back to the white flag, but that is just an assumption at this point as I have not been able to find any official finish. Stay tuned.

Enough Street Stocks were on hand for two small heats and a main, split about evenly between Streets and Stock Cars. When Jeff Struck Jr drew the pole, based on his strong performance from the previous night, it seemed to be bad news for the field. and that's just how it turned out. He led all the way, although he didn't dominate like I thought he might. Tony Von Dresky, driving a second car for Jesse Owen, pushed Struck Jr throughout the race but could never make a serious bid for the win. Chuck Fox, Jeremy Gustaf and Greg Gill finished off the top five.

The track was in excellent shape for the opening night racing action. It was very smooth and after being a little heavy early, it slicked off very nicely from top to bottom, black and icy and made for good racing. There was a cushion to work off of, but many of the drivers were also able to make the low groove work, thus plenty of side by side racing and multiple ways to get to the front. And on top of all this, no dust at all. It was a very fine racing surface.

Shane Davis stepped in the call the action on this night. It must have been a frustrating night for him as a couple of prolonged technical issues left him "speechless" for long periods of time. Trouble before the show made for a later than planned start and then half way through the heats things went dead again for a long period of time.

Fortunately repairs were made and he was able to call all the feature racing action uninterrupted. He did a good job getting the names straight and identifying who everyone was for the crowd. Speaking of the crowd, it was a very late arriving group on Saturday but appeared to be decent sized once everyone finally got there.

It was a good night of racing and thanks to Drt Trak Racing, Inc. for a very entertaining two night experience. And for perhaps the first time all year, it was two straight nights of racing with no chasing things because of the weather. Perhaps we have finally turned the corner.

Chris Simpson In Control at Davenport

The MLRA returned to the Hawkeye State of Iowa for a weekend doubleheader with their Friday night venue being the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds  and the Davenport Speedway.

After a couple of false starts to begin the thirty lap Late Model feature, Chris Simpson established control and everyone else was left to battle for second in the thirty lap main event. Other winnners in the support classes included Jeff Struck Jr. in the Street Stocks, Tony Olson in the Sport Mods and Justin Kay in the Modifieds.

A fine field of thirty five Late Models signed in for the race, contested on one of the finest weather nights of 2018 so far, and personally it was a pleasure not to have to be bundled up like an Eskimo for the first time in a long time and not have to walk all hunched over to keep from getting blown over by the wind! It was just a nice Spring night.

One of the Late Model drivers on hand for the first time was largely in the pits just to get away from the horrible weather back home. Lyndon Bolt is from Rapid City South Dakota and has been racing Late Models a couple years after having run Modifieds previously. He is a WISSOTA from the western part of that organization and even though he lives several hundred miles from me, I have seen him race several times at big WISSOTA events. While the snow is not piled up too deep in Rapid City, he said that eastern South Dakota was still buried and it will be several weeks before any wheels turn on race tracks in that part of the world. He was running mainly to get the experience as his car carried a WISSOTA spec motor as he has no open motors at this point. Unfortunately for him, he got to the high side in turn two, three laps into his heat race and got forced into the formidable concrete wall that enclosing the half mile here, and after making hard contact, his night was done.

All classes were racing on the half mile on this night, one of the few times all year the big, old flat half mile is used. I have definite feelings against using this track but that is my own personal opinion. Why you would race on a narrow, rough, hard to pass on half mile when you have a perfectly nice, wide and racy quarter mile just setting there is a good question, but some people like the brute force speed that the half mile provides and the cars were certainly storming down the long straightaways on Friday night. Next time MLRA is in town, they will race on the quarter mile.

Jason Feger fans got a scare when he left the track in a cloud of smoke during hot laps but he returned for his heat race so the issue, while serious looking, was apparently a minor one.

Only nine of the top twenty in MLRA current point standings were on hand Friday night, but those points were skewed because the MLRA opener was run very early in the year and in Illinois, an area that provided plenty of cars for that event but not ones that would likely follow MLRA all year. Ricky Weiss retained the point point but as things settle down, it looks like it will be the Simpsons and perhaps Brian Shirley to battle it out for the points title.

For the first time this year, passing points were used to line up the main event and B Feature for the Late Models after they qualified at LaSalle. No one seemed to disapprove of the idea and with a tight curfew at Davenport, they were able to start the first race right at 6:30 pm, something that never would have happened if they had to qualify on the half mile.

The early start on a Friday does make for a scramble for both the local drivers trying to work a full day and for the fans also. There always is a late, last minute scramble of racers checking in right at cut off and Davenport has more fans that arrive after the show has already started than any place I can think of. However, most importantly, they do come.

Four heat races and a B Feature plus the inevitable provisional starters set the twenty five car grid for the Late Model feature. It took three tries to get the race started, and this was the most critical time for Chris Simpson of the entire race. Sharing the front row with Brian Shirley, both knew who won the first lap would likely win the race. On the first attempt, Simpson bobbled in turn one and Shirley got the jump. However, Jesse Stovall stalled in turn four and a restart was called for.

Shirley knew he had to get the jump because just like ninety nine per cent of the time at all races everywhere, the inside row gets the jump at the start. However, he was just a bit too obvious in trying to get a rolling advantage and while he got the lead, that start was called back.

The third time Simpson had a clear jump and the race took off with Shirley and Chad Simpson chasing his brother. They were the top three for much of the race and there were some good battles going on behind them as attrition played a big part in this race.

Jonathan Brauns looked very impressive all night and he raced into the top five, only to break the right front of his car.  Others that were running in the top five to ten and eventually dropped out included Rickey Frankel, Tad Pospisil, and Will Vaught.

Tyler Breuning and Payton Looney probably passed the most cars under the green flag as both raced into the top five at the finish. Chad Simpson had very bad luck when he lost his second place with just eight laps to go when something broke on the right front and he plowed the first turn wall. While the quarter mile is a very forgiving track, the half mile is anything but with a cement wall all the way around the narrow track and big ute tires that always seem to catch at least a couple cars over the course of the night. One reached out and shoved Spencer Diercks left front back several inches and ended his night earlier.

At the end,  Chris Simpson cruised home for the win, comfortably in front of Shirley and Breuning with Tony Jackson Jr. running consistently for fourth ahead of Looney.

The support classes were pretty weak. Apparently the combination of running the half mile, no track points plus a regular purse did not excite many drivers as there were only thirty four drivers split between the three support divisions.

However, while that might have been the case, perhaps the best race of the night was the Modified feature where Kay charged up from the fifth row after a bad redraw to take the win. Eric Barnes was the leader early but charging up through the pack was Jeff "Bone" Larson and Kay and they were really working hard to make passes on the difficult to pass on track. After two very early yellows, the last nineteen laps went nonstop and Larson and Kay were relentless as they worked their way forward.

Larson got stuck to the outside of a lapped car and Kay was able to pass him for second and then eventually track down Barnes for the win. Rob Toland had stalled on the opening lap and dropped to the back and he made a charge of his own, working his way up to third near the end of the race and pressuring Barnes for second.

The Sport Mod feature saw Olson get to the front quickly and while he was pressured by Keith Blum the rest of the way, he held on for the win with Dustin Schram coming home third.

There were only six Street Stock and while Struck Jr was clearly the fastest, it did take him several laps to work his way into the lead after his own bad redraw. Jesse Owen came home second ahead of Jeremy Gustaf.

Some construction work is going on with the grandstand at the Fairgrounds and an alternative entrance and ticket booths were in effect for this event. It was nice to see what was the first perhaps really big crowd in the grandstands for any event I have been to this season so far. Good weather just means so much for the success of any racing promotion. The show started promptly, moved along well and the Late Model feature was done by 9:30 pm with the Sport Mods wrapping up their event well before 10 pm. Thanks to Carrie Rouse, Bob Wegener and the rest of the staff for a well organized and run event.

Wolff Rides the Salina Highbanks To Victory

How I ended up in Northeast Oklahoma for a Saturday night race when I started out the weekend in Iowa and then made a side trip to another race in Kansas is a story for another time. The point is, on Saturday night, April 14th, I was at the Salina Highbanks Speedway east of Pryor for their NASCAR season opener.

Salina was one of the few tracks in the entire Midwest to get their race program completed on Saturday and if truth were told, they probably would have been well served and no one would have questioned them if they had also "pulled the plug." It was brutally cold under a gray, threatening sky and even with all the large buildings on the front stretch to help block the wind, it was miserable. Even worse was the pit area where the wind had an open shot at the crews as they tried to stay warm and perform maintenance on their race cars. I'm not sure if the track needed to get the season started so that they had the proper number of programs completed with regards to their NASCAR sanctioning or they were just getting tired of getting all their shows cancelled after fighting through several postponements of their B Mod Bedlam event that was eventually cancelled for 2018.

I had last been at Salina back in the early eighties, long before the current ownership had taken over the track. If you recall back from those days, that was the bizarre time when the land owner directly behind the track had a major "beef" going on with the track and in protest, the land owner bought some super big pa speakers and he would have them blaring out music as loud as possible all through the race program. It was one of the weirdest things I have even seen. Interestingly enough, I was told by promoter Bryce Hall that the same people still own and live on the land right behind the track parking lot but he said the current ownership is on much better terms with them. Odd indeed.

Many of you know of Bryce Hall, the former "voice" of the USMTS who resigned from his position with that organization to go back home at take over as the promoter at Salina. Well, the "new" Salina Highbanks Speedway is a real show place. It has the best of everything and immediately reminded me much of the way the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland is laid out. It looks like it was fashioned after Wheatland and many of the great things that Lucas Oil offers are also on hand at Salina.

Top notch lighting, a high banked three eighth mile oval, great sound system, nice restrooms, scoreboard and concessions and even the shuttle vehicles to transport spectators from their vehicles up the inclined walk area to the grandstands. This track has just about got it all. The place is stunning.

This was their opening event for the 2018 racing season and four classes were in competition, highlighted by the Modifieds and buoyed by B Mods, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks. Eighty five cars signed in to race on opening night with only the B Mods requiring a B Feature, just as with most tracks these days.

The Mods and B Mods run under USRA rules although not sanctioned by them while the Pures and Streets run much the same rules as other tracks in the area like Muskogee, Tri State and others. One thing I noticed was when the cars were called out to track pack, they went around the track backwards. That's something that I used to see all the time around this local area as there was a theory about packing backwards that it would make the track smoother and not as likely to "hump up." However, that whole train of thought was dumped years ago and Salina was the first track that I noted this practice in effect in ages. Whether or not it actually works, I do not know and it certainly wasn't an issue on Saturday as the track was wide, smooth and slick but because of the high banks it was still very fast.

Wolff started on the pole for the Modified feature and led all the way for the twenty lap win. He was pressured throughout by Chad Wheeler but each time Wheeler would show a nose under him, Wolff would pull away and the eventual win. Mitch Keeter, who was the driver to beat in these parts last year, did a good job of salvaging would could have been an awful opener. The field didn't come up to speed properly in one of the heats, he had to spin to avoid a collision and he was clobbered from behind and was off on the hook before the green even waved.

He was able to make repairs and due to the fact that so many drivers wanted to go tail back for some reason, he actually got to start tenth in the main and did a fine job racing up to third at the finish. Steve Holzkamper and Mickey Lassiter completed the top five.

The B Mods signed in thirty two cars and needed a couple of B Features to set their lineup and it was Missouri hot shoe Mike Striegel who led from start to finish to take the win. Striegel was one of two drivers that, trying to avoid the weather and find someplace to race, ventured to 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas to race on Friday night and then returned back to Salina on his way back to Missouri. The win made all the extra miles pay off as he also finished sixth with his Modified. The other driver to make both shows was Kyle Schmidt and he had nothing but problems on both nights.

Striegel had the other Wheeler Metals car, driven by Tate Cole, chasing him throughout the race but he fought off all challenges for the win. Brett Hansen, Hunter Byers and Danny Jolly, last year's big winner at Salina in the B Mods, trailed.

The Street Stocks and Pure Stocks are virtually identical in appearance and trying to tell which cars are in which class is strictly a crap shoot. They run the same tire and unless you either crawl under them to check the suspension or pop the hood and check the carburetor, they are all the same.

Apparently however, there must be some difference in what it costs to put one on the track as there were only a dozen Street Stocks and double the Pure Stocks.

The Street Stock feature was the only nonstop main and after starting on the pole, Kyle Slader drove off into the night, winning by a large margin. He was trailed by Neil Johnston, Nick Artherton, Jeff Metcalf and Jason Wayne.

Jake Kirby was the only winner of the night not to start on the front row and he came from position number three to win the Pure Stock main. Driving a spectacular looking #7k, he quickly got to the front and then drove away from a big field of cars. He ran away from Nathan Campbell, Josh Shive, Steve Freeman and Roger Starling. This race was stopped for a spectacular crash that saw Brett Testerman take a wild flip and the entire rear end assembly pulled right out of the car of Brandon Leland.

The only flaw in the entire operation was spotted when I came around to the main grandstand in preparation for the start of the show after roaming the pits earlier. Only then did I realize that this fine track suffers from what I refer to as "the Cedar Lake Syndrome." This is named after the track that offers the worst case of this scenario and that is when not enough pre planing is done before the front stretch wall and grandstands are built. Planks fastened to the ground with a low pitch between rows are not a good substitute for a high rise grandstand, especially when the racing is done right up against the front stretch wall. The result, all the fans sitting in the main grandstand can see when the cars pass by is just the tops of the roofs. It's virtually impossible to tell one car from another and sponsors are wasting their money putting their names on the right sides of any cars that race there because they'll never be seen by the public. It's hard and frustrating to watch when you can't tell one car from another until they poke out from behind the wall when they race into turn one.

Of course, all this was done long before the current management took over the track and to correct this would be a major expense. Actually, the solution was probably right in front of me as the track has built a brand new, 1,600 seat high rise grandstand on the back chute. However, on this night, with the wind screaming right into your face for those few tough enough to sit back there, I chose to stay where I was and grumble a bit instead.

What I was most impressed with was the speed with which the show was completed. Many of the drivers waited until the last possible minute to show up at the track. I'm sure they weren't anxious to have to hang out in the pits any longer than necessary and many from a distance probably waited until the last minute for fear of a late cancellation. So, right at cut off time, they were bombarded with entries. Yet they got the show started only six minutes past the advertised time.

And even better, once they got started, they really kept things moving. Yellow flag situations were handled very quickly and many times on the following lap they were already taking the green. If was impressive, particularly on opening night when things can easily go hay wire.

And it was a good thing as it was really miserable sitting in the stands. And to make matters worse, I caught some sort of a bug and my health was really going downhill as the evening progressed. And for someone who never leaves early, I seriously was considering leaving after the heats. And in fact, if there would have been any delay after the heats before the B Features started, which there was none of, I would have walked out.

But since they were moving things along so well, I tried to stick it out. The drivers cooperated and the final checkered flag waved at 9:30 pm, making for a two and a half hour show. Outstanding!

Things didn't get any better for me. Ever try to blast your way through a foot and a half of snow on the highways while battling a bad case of diarrhea? It ain't pretty!!!

My apologies to Bryce and the staff at Salina for this late race report but I have been in bed for two days, trying to recover from this case of "crud" I picked up somewhere. 

Carter Surprises With Last Lap Pass at Vinton

The "Frost Buster" moved on to night number two of its four night swing through Iowa with a visit to one of the Hawkeye State's real action tracks, the Benton County Speedway in Vinton.

Many of the same drivers that raced the previous night at Donnellson were on hand again with also a number of different cars including some travelers from as far away as North Dakota and Wisconsin who couldn't make it on Wednesday for whatever reason. Imagine what there disappointment must have been when they were shut out of their final two races when the weather really went sour for the rest of the weekend.

Fine fields of cars were on hand in all four classes with the Sport Mods tipping the scale with the largest count, and at nearly forty cars, they also required the only multi race B features to wean down their entrants into the main. The Modifieds also needed a B feature to cut down the entrants to the main.

Despite the fact that there was still some hard packed snow in the ditch lines noted on the way to the track, the racing surface was in super shape for the opening night event. Despite the fact that extra laps were put on the surface with the special, the track held up very well as it remained smooth, fast and the drivers were able to run multiple grooves. Sometimes Vinton can be a handful, especially early in the season, but it was in beautiful shape on this night.

Despite the presence of many new drivers and the pressure of the special event, the heat races just blew by. Fifteen preliminaries were completed and remarkably there was only one yellow flag flown during the course of all these heats. The combination of good driving and drivers realizing that if they stopped on the track, they were done, kept everyone moving with the only yellow being when Scooter Dulin dinged up his beautiful new Stock Car on one of the ute tires.

Before we knew it, it was feature time and the Stock Cars rolled out first. With Damon Murty on the pole, it didn't look good for the rest of the field and that's just the way it played out. Murty lead all the way for the win, despite some early pressure from Canadian Kody Scholpp. Scholpp, who returned from a flip on Wednesday night in Donnellson, was running very well and pressuring Murty when he suddenly shut down his car and dived into the infield, usually the sign of some serious issues. Scholpp, who built this Stock Car to sell it before he moves back into his Modified, showed some good speed both nights but had nothing but bad luck to go with that speed.

Todd Reitzler, off to a good start in 2018, gave a late race charge that netted him second at the finish. A carburetor issue cost Brian Mahlstedt third spot and elevated Steve Meyer, Jay Schmidt and John Oliver Jr into the top five.

The Sport Mods provided the only tedious race of the night, if you were only scoring yellow flag slowdowns. They had five slow downs, not that bad really but glaring on this night when the yellow hardly ever flew. A stunning finish was the result of this race after Johnathan Logue Jr battled in the early going with Arie Schouten until Schouten flew off the end of the track and he dropped many spots.

Logue seemed to be in control as the last seventeen laps ran nonstop with Joey Schaefer running fairly close. As the white flag flew, the leaders were nearing heavy traffic and when Logue suddenly lifted and pulled over, it gave all the appearance of him misreading the flags and thinking the race was over. However, that was not the case as the #69jr suffered a steering issue and he did a good job under the circumstances of not creating a big wreck. Schaefer took advantage of the situation to then go on for the win with Tyler Soppe, Sam Wieben, Joe Docekal and Ethan Braaksma next in line.

The Hobby Stock feature generated some "old time" racing with the leaders laying on each other as they battled for the top spot. It boiled down to Eric Stanton and David Rieks fighting it out for the win. Rieks used some "quarter panel" action to take the top spot and Stanton returned the favor as he shoe horned his way back into the top spot. The last couple of laps saw then battle hard, running dangerously close to each other and seemingly on the edge of taking each other out.

However, while they ran very hard the last couple of laps, neither pulled a "dirty" on the other and the finish saw Stanton edge Rieks for the win. Justin Wacha, Bradly Graham and Matt Pohlman trailed in what was a thrilling race.

Another surprise wrapped up the evening's action when the Modified feature had a stunning finish. Hunter Marriott had worked his way into the lead and when in front, he is seldom passed. However, in the waning laps, he adjusted his line and dropped to the bottom of the track, almost like he felt his cars' handling starting to slip away and he was trying to protect the lead. Cayden Carter, who had been running a strong race, moved in to seriously challenge as the white flag waved. Still, most thought that Marriott would just block the low line and Carter wouldn't be able to drive around him in a single lap. So, it was very surprising when Marriott simply couldn't hold his car on the bottom and Carter drove cleanly under him to take the lead as they raced down the back stretch and come home to a stunning win. It was a well deserved victory and proof once again that you just never know what might happen at the end of a race. The top five got further shuffled when third place finisher Richie Gustin got "tossed" for a chip violation, moving up Kyle Brown, Joel Rust and Ethan Dotson.

It was an excellent show and run off in a prompt manner on a week night in April. My apologies for the last report but travel issues and illness put me behind in completing this report.

Shryock Busts "The Frost" at Lee County

After having the entire series postponed by bad weather for a week, the 2018 version of the "Frostbuster" got started on Wednesday night, April 11th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. And totally unlike its name, the weather was marvelous for the opening night race with temperatures near seventy degrees and a caressing breeze out of the South.

For those of us from the Northland, it was almost like a godsend to not have to be all bundled up for at least one night. However, it sounds like the "other shoe" will drop again later this week and a slap of reality will once again strike everyone full on in the face.

Likely because this whole week had been postponed once and the coming forecast for the weekend is dire indeed, the car count wasn't what it might have been perhaps one week earlier and in preceding years. Still, there were plenty of cars on hand to put on a good show and at least nine states plus Canada represented in the pits.

Because of the one week postponement, this race was not the first for 2018 in the Hawkeye State but was still nevertheless one of the first for the Midwest region. As usual, promoter Mike VanGenderen was a busy man before the races, tending to the race track and all the other details that opening night brings. Special work was needed on the track above and beyond the normal preparation as much dirt had been moved on the speedway during the off season. A lot of the racing surface that had been kicked over the guardrail was retrieved, plus a lot of new dirt added. In some places, three feet of new dirt sat on top of the old racing surface. With this in mind, it was suspected that the surface could be a bit rough for the racing on Wednesday and that did indeed prove to be the case. While it was one of the rougher nights I had seen this track produce, it still remained racy and there were definitely multiple grooves available to pass on. No one likes the face that the cars were bouncing around and some damage was inflicted by the bumps, but it is not always possible to have a perfect racing surface, and especially so at this time of the year.

With one hundred and twenty four race cars on hand, multiple heats were held for all five classes with B Features required for both of the open wheel classes. Draw/redraw was the format on Wednesday so drivers were racing hard to both make the show and key to a good night, also making the redraw.

The biggest money was on the line for the Modifieds and they went twenty five laps in their main event after fighting it out in six qualifying events. And when all was said and done, it was the veteran Kelly Shryock that stood in victory lane. Early in the race, Shawn Ritter, Chad Holladay and Richie Gustin battled for the lead, but Shryock started fourth and remained among the leaders from the onset. He made a spectacular move going into turn three where he split two cars and found himself in the lead and once in front, he moved out to a comfortable edge.

Hunter Marriott redrew badly and had to fight his way up from eleventh but he was game to do so and worked his way up to second. It looked like a battle would soon ensue for the top spot but Shryock was having none of that. He found a groove where he ran high in one end and on the bottom in the other and no matter what Marriott tried, he could not close the gap. Carter VandenBerg and Jeff Aikey battled for many laps for third before Carter took the spot and former Late Model driver Chad Holladay completed the top five. Only two yellow flags slowed the Mod main with a third of the field dropping out to save their equipment when it was clear they wouldn't challenge for the top spot.

The Stock Car feature also had only two yellow flags but it started out with a bang when a wild scramble just as the field took the green on the main chute saw cars flying in all directions and Canadian Kody Scholpp end up going over. It was unfortunate for Kody as he looked to be a factor in the race and to have someone travel so far for so few laps was disappointing to everyone. This crash took out at least four cars missing for the restart.

Damon Murty started on the outside pole and he took the lead right away and built up some distance on the field. However, a driver that had looked fast all night was Todd Reitzler and after redrawing badly to ninth, he came charging through the field.

He had shown the ability to be quicker on the low side going into turn three than any driver in any class and he used that knowledge to drive past cars in bunches. He reeled in Murty and after a spirited battle for the top spot, Reitzler drove past to take over the lead. Once in front, he was able to pull away as the last seven laps ran green to checkered. John Oliver Jr finished third with former Late Model driver Tom Bowling Jr and Jason See next in line.

Austin Howes dominated the Sport Mod feature. After an early battle with Daniel Fellows, Howes was able to claim the top spot and he fought off several challengers to take the win. The stiffest challenger at the end was Jake McBernie who made several low dives to attempt and get past Howes for the lead. McBernie showed his nose to Howes several times at the end but Austin was able to utilize the high line and maintain control to the finish. Austen Becerra came from the sixth row to finish third ahead of Tyler Soppe who came from one row deeper in the pack than Becerra and Arie Schoutten completed the top five as there were many cars that gained positions during the race. Once again though, there were only two yellows to slow the action.

The most dominating performance of the night was in the Hobby Stock class and not surprisingly, it was Shannon Anderson at it once again. He quickly moved from the third row, drove past Leah Wroten and Eric Knutson and pulled away to the win. Much like last year, Anderson appeared to be in a different class from everyone else as he made the win look easy. Eric Stanton, in his hatchback, came from the fifth row for second ahead of Wroten, Knutson and David Rieks. Stanton and Wroten had a crowd pleasing battle for second for a number of laps before Stanton drove by on the high side.

A big field of Sport Compacts took to the grid for their main event and the bumpy surface took its toll on the small cars, with wheels flying off the vehicles left and right, front and bad. In fact, it was a lost wheel that cost Josh Barnes a likely win in the feature event.

He had worked his way up from the third row to challenge and finally pass Barry Taft for the lead as the two really went at it for the top spot. Just as it appeared that Barnes had it salted away, he lost a right front wheel, caused by structural failure , and it gave the lead back to Taft.

He wasn't out of the woods however, as Jake Benischek moved up from the fourth row to challenge. It was a two lap shoot out for the win after a yellow and while Benischek gave it his all, Taft held on for the win. Darin Weisinger Jr finished third with William Michel and Brandon Reu trailing. Almost as many Sport Compacts didn't finish as did as this was really the only race where the track "ate up" some of the cars.

I'm sure some will complain that the track was too rough and I'm sure there isn't anyone, including MVG, that wouldn't have liked to see it as smooth as glass. But it is a dirt track and sometimes the weather and other factors fight everyone's best intentions. The racing, I thought, was very good from start to finish with plenty of side by side racing, pack style racing and plenty of passing. A rare occurrence was the appearance of some track prep equipment part way through the program as that doesn't happen very often at MVG shows.

With the long line of drivers waiting to draw and with it being opening night and some not having their proper licenses, it was a miracle that they started just a half hour after posted hot lap time and after that, the program moved along at a very good pace. Considering the track and how hard everyone was racing, the number of yellows was very minimal.

I thought it was a good night of racing with plenty of entertaining action. The only disappointment for me was the size of the crowd which quite frankly, was not very good. This was MVG's only show of his own here at Lee County and if he hadn't put it on, there would not be a "Frostbuster" event at this track. Let's hope tonight's show doesn't dissuade him from trying it again next year.

Chris Simpson Rim Rides For LaSalle Big Bucks; Fifteen Grand on a Cold March Night

The second half of the seventh annual Thaw Brawl at the Izzo family LaSalle Speedway was held on Saturday night, March 31st. The Late Models would be going an extra twenty five laps on Saturday night but would be well rewarded with an extra ten grand in additional prize money to the winner. Along with the Late Models of MLRA, the IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods would both be running another complete show.

For once, the weather prognosticators were "right on" as just as had been predicted, some light rain rolled through northern Illinois on Saturday morning. It was hardly enough to settle the dust though and by Noon the sun was out and the wind was blowing a gale. Out of the wind it wasn't half bad during the afternoon but you just kind of knew that as evening settled in, it was going to be a cold night for racing. Everyone kind of held their breath to see what management's decision was but before lunch time they had already announced the things were full speed ahead and that the show would indeed be held. The grandstand, enclosed as is is the whole length of the front chute, would provide some relief to the race fans in the main grandstands but in the pits it would be absolutely brutal was in anything, the wind seemed to pick up speed and cut to the bone.

The car count was down just a bit with a few less cars in each of the support classes and the Late Model field was down nine from Friday night. The usual mechanical issues put a few cars on the sidelines for Saturday and the only new car was that of Kolby Vandenbergh, who after two nights of promises that he was on, finally showed just in time to tail a heat race event.

The track was considerably different from Friday night's track. Another full day of track work plus the strong wind dried the track out considerably and made for a much different type of race. In fact, the four heat races were pretty lifeless with everyone hugging the inside berm and not much happening.

Thank goodness for Scott Schmitt. The surprise quick qualifier got hung to the outside in his heat and went backward to the point he had to run a B Feature. In that race, he went to the top side early and showed blazing speed as he ran away with that event and showed everyone that the high side was now good.

The brothers Simpson shared the front row and it was Chad that took the early lead, building up a nice edge in the early going. Some of the best racing of the night occurred with Chris Simpson then moved to the top side, despite his better judgement, and quickly became much faster. He battled with Ricky Weiss for second and as they swapped lanes on the track and multiple near misses, it was breathtaking racing. Chris was finally able to take the second spot  following a lap sixteen yellow and once in second, he quickly reeled in his brother.

Despite being a driver that thrives on the low groove, Chris was extremely fast on the top side and he quickly disposed of his brother to take over the lead, and once in front, he pulled out to a comfortable margin.

Lapped traffic was a challenge a couple of times with Rusty Schnenk also pounding the cushion as he moved into second. The nearest anyone got to Chris Simpson was when he kind of got hung up in the traffic, but with a couple of beautiful moves he freed himself and then regained his margin.

One last yellow with five to go gave the field one more shot but Chris got away good on the green and moved comfortably back in front. Weiss, who spent much of the feature event jumping from groove to groove, trying to figure out the best line, finally settled for the low groove which began to pay dividends at the end and Schnenk only nipped him by inches for second at the line. Chad Simpson settled for fourth and Brian Shirley completed the top five.

There were only four yellow flags in the seventy five lapper and only five cars that didn't make the distance. Simpson's biggest scare came early in the race when three back markers stacked up in turn four and Simpson slid into them, trying to avoid the wreck. He suffered some sheet metal and spoiler damage but it didn't seem to affect his car's performance.

Illinois race fans, rightly proud of their strong Late Model contingent, took a hit to their egos on this night as the top four finishers were from out of state and Weiss didn't damage the reputation that he has built this Spring with a couple of strong runs. It was disappointing that Brandon Sheppard scratched out of the show with mechanical problems following qualifying.

For the second straight night Rodney Sanders and J.C. Wyman had to rely on MLRA provisionals to make the feature as Sanders continues to struggle with his new chassis and also for the second straight night, Hoker Trucking, the event sponsor, saw their sponsored car take victory lane.

The Modifieds ran non stop in their twenty five lap feature race and it was Missouri star Hunter Marriott that took home the big check. He started fifth in the main and by the time he worked his way into second,  Matt Werner had built up a considerable advantage. However, Marriott was really "up on the wheel" as he pounded the outside cushion while most of the field hugged the low side. He gradually caught up to Werner just as they hit lapped traffic and with plenty of cars to work past, Marriott stayed on the high side which allowed him to find racing room and take the lead.

Once he got the top spot, he continued to push that line and he pulled away for the win. Friday night winner Justin Kay started eighth and it took him a number of laps to find some open racing room. Once that happened, he was able to charge forward and he worked his way to third and was closing on Werner but ran out of laps. Rookie Jaden Fryer finished fourth ahead of Tim Hamburg.

The Sport Mods saw the biggest increase in entries with six new entries on Saturday night. However, after one night to figure out the track, defending national champion Tyler Soppe came from the fourth row  to win the main. Hunter Longnecker started on the pole and led a number of laps but Soppe was on the move from the get-go and he quickly caught the leader, sweeping past him and taking over the lead. One late yellow gave the field one last shot, but Soppe pulled away for the win. Behind Longnecker, it was Justin Green, Dustin Schram and Brandon Setzer. Earlier, last night's winner Schram and strong running Johnathan Logue collided with only three laps completed, ending each's chance to win the main.

Hot laps started an hour earlier on Saturday night and by reducing the number of qualifying events and there being less yellows, the time of the show was reduced substantially. The final checkered flag waved before 9:30 pm but with the weather conditions being what they were, the crowd was considerably less than that of Friday night. It probably didn't help either that Friday night's show didn't end until Midnight. Both nights featured good, action packed racing with is expected anytime a big show hits the track at LaSalle.