On Wednesday, May 13th, The Wisconsin State Supreme Court announced the decision that they had overturned Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers "Stay at Home Order" on a four to three vote, thus basically eliminating all restrictions on citizens in the state except for those countries that had passed their own restrictive laws or ordinances that were still in effect in their counties.
Suddenly the state of Wisconsin turned into the "Wild, Wild West" with bars ope ning at 8 am the following morning along with restaurants and many other kinds of businesses that had been closed. Many folks were just as giddy as if it were Christmas morning. Being cooped up for weeks, this was their response.
Shortly after the announcement was made on Wednesday, Bob Timm, owner of Mississippi Thunder Speedway and his promoter Tyrone Lingenfelter, made the announcement that they would be racing on Friday night. Two weeks earlier MTS also raced in the well publicized "Race to be Essential" event that broke ground as the first event held in Wisconsin in 2020. So it was not a surprise when MTS quickly organized a race even though they had only two days of preparation time. In this new era, people are checking face book pages and websites almost continuously for the latest information and it definitely doesn't take long to get the word out to both participants and spectators.
Proof of that is clear in what the turnout was on Friday night. One hundred and fifty cars were on hand to race in what turned out to be a six class program after Timm decided to all the Open Late Models for the second time this year to his five USRA classes. However, once again this was not a sanctioned show but used the USRA basic rules while allowing the WISSOTA and IMCA racers to run with only minor changes needed to their cars. Late Models pulled from as far away as central Iowa while even the Hornet drivers came all the way from Iowa and central Minnesota to compete as their are many racers very anxious indeed to turn their first laps of the season.
A surprise entrant was young Drake Troutman from Pennsylvania who was on hand to race both Mods and Late Models after just picking up a new MB Customs Mod at Mars shop only about an hour North of MTS. And as crazy as it might sound, they were headed back home with a sixteen or so hour pull for a race in their home state on Saturday night after they got done at MTS!
The management didn't really have a sense of how many spectators would come out under such short notice and with some people still having qualms about being in public. But they were pleasantly surprised when a very large crowd, spread out "socially" as they were advised to do, was on hand for the show on Friday. Some masks were worn but not too many in the crowd chose to do so.
Solid fields of cars were on hand in five of the six classes with only the USRA Late Models appearing to be a little slow getting their numbers up so far. They were dropped from the first show because their pre entry list was so low and they still managed to only marshal eleven cars two weeks later for this show. However, that number is expected to grow in the coming weeks and it is surprising that even at this late date in the year for race openers, there are always those teams that just can not get ready for the opener, no matter what time of year it might finally occur.
Running lots of cars in their main events, only the B Mods and Mods needed B Features so after lots of smoothly run heat races with few yellow flags, it was time for the main events. The Hornet field was big with thirty two of them signing in to race. They were divided up into two huge sixteen car heat races and everyone went to the main event. Twenty nine were still running to start the feature race and this event was also a smooth one with only a couple yellows for detached wheels that were bouncing around the track, a situation that does seem to happen quite often in the Hornet class.
Armond Love led all the way to win the Hornet main but it was a close contest all the way. There were about five cars that ran away from the field and engaged in their own battle for the win but Love led every lap to get the victory.
His biggest challenge came from Jeremy Johnson who was close until the final lap when his car broke and he failed to finish. Love brought his brand new car home for the win with Cole Alberts taking advantage of Johnson's problem to finish second. They were trailed by Chad Prissel, Grayson Pratt and Jesse Lutz. Pratt came all the way from central Minnesota to race on this night.
The Hobby Stock feature was one that was not decided until the top five checked in for tech and most people went home not knowing the the apparent winner failed in his inspection.
Steve Dwyer started on the outside pole and led all eighteen laps to apparently win the main. He was chased by Chris Hovden as those two pulled away from the field. Dwyer held off the challenges of Hovden to take the win, the trophy and the winner's interview but he wasn't able to get through tech quite as smoothly. As it turns out, the apparent third place finisher, Levi Sand, was also DQ'd so the finishing order was certainly scrambled.
Hovden got the official win with Tim Helle, Chris Dahl, Kevin Hager and Jake James completing the top five as tough Northeastern Iowa drivers finished first and second.
The USRA Late Model feature got off to a crazy start as challenger Joe Provinzino got into the wall in a tangle with another car and nearly went over while setting off quite a show of sparks as he rode the concrete right down the front stretch. Joe Provo was OK but his car was done for the event.
Bob Fort, a long time competitor at the track, took the lead and led most of the way. However, he was challenged hard by Lance Hofer and with just a couple of laps left, Hofer was able to drive by on the outside and take the lead which he held the rest of the way. Fort finished a strong second with defending USRA national point champion Lucas Peterson in third and Derek Nelson and Michael Bruggeman following.
Thirty seven B Mods whittled their way down to the best twenty four for their twenty lap feature event. And they did themselves up proud with twenty one finishing the main and the race went green to checkered, a rarity for this class. Taylor Skauge was the early leader but then Shaun Walski found the top side of the track and he then took off like a rocket. He blew past Skauge and pulled away, stretching his lead to nearly a straightaway over the field.
Lapped traffic was a concern but he handled it well and gave himself plenty of wiggle space with five lapped cars between himself and Skauge at the finish. Ben Moudry finished third with opening night winner Ryan Olson settling for fourth ahead of Parker Hale.
Open Late Models were up next with the field again represented by open motor cars plus a few of the spec engined cars also competing. Jake Timm has been on a roll lately with some strong performances on tv national races as he has been really fast with his MB using a motor that the Timm's build themselves, a rarity in this day.
Jake started on the pole, moved to the cushion and decimated the field, winning by a full straightaway over Jimmy Mars. Mars had his hands full with Chad Simpson, who was a surprise entrant along with Jeremy Grady, also from Iowa. Simpson dogged Mars the second half of the race, trying to get under Jimmy several times before settling for third. Jeremiah Hurst finished fourth ahead of James Giossi, opening night winner and the first spec motor across the line.
The evening wrapped up with the Modifieds going non stop for twenty five laps, the third straight feature race to go green to checkers. Dan Ebert made the tow over from central Minnesota and in a rare appearance, he led from start to finish to take the win. He was very dominant with only Dustin Sorensen able to stay close to him. Ebert was also working the top side of the track and while Sorensen was able to get close, he never really provided a stiff challenge.
Ebert was excellent in lapped traffic and when he put six cars a lap down on him, he was able to buy some valuable space that kept Sorensen from challenging at the end. Jacob Bleess ran a strong third while Timm, who started eleventh, ran out of time as he was the one driver really moving up through the field and likely would have gained even more positions in a longer race. Tony Schill had a fine run to complete the top five.
Except for starting just a bit late, the program really moved along at a rapid pace and while it did get a bit late before the final checkered flag waved, there is no fast way to run off a program with that many race cars and races to complete. Timm had to have been thrilled with the size of the crowd, particularly for a program thrown together at the last minute.
Bob is taking advantage of the fact that he is one of the few tracks in the tri-state area able to race right now. His scheduled USMTS show next Friday has been "doubled down" as the USMTS Mods will now be in town for two straight nights of racing. With them also will be the first race of the Dirt Kings Late Model tour based out of eastern Wisconsin and there were rumblings also that they might extent their show to be a two night event also so I would check to see on that also. It is going to be that kind of year with tracks changing schedules and adding extra events at the last minute and social media being the primary source of obtaining this information as most other media sources just can't respond quickly enough to the fast breaking changes.
It was a good show and well attended, so it appears that his efforts earlier this year to get the season going that probably cost him some money are now starting to bear fruit.
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