Monday night, June 1st, Mike VanGendren kicked off the first of many specials he will hold this year with the first of his three nights of the Dirt Duels at the Stuart International Speedway on the North side of that community. Featuring the IMCA Sport Mods and the IMCA Stock Cars, the winners were Paris and Zevenbergen. And no, that is not two cities in Europe but instead Shane Paris and Elijah Zevenbergen.
Both the Stock Cars and Sport Mods would qualify the top four finishers of Monday night's qualifying races for the big main on Wednesday night. The outside row will qualify on Tuesday night and then the main events will be on Wednesday, along with the rescheduled Bill Davis Memorial Race that will feature a thousand dollar to win Modified feature along with Hobby Stocks. Sport Compacts will also join the show on Tuesday night so all of the classes that race at Stuart will get at least one night of racing during this special event. It will be possible for the big winners on Wednesday night to earn up to four thousand dollars so these qualifying nights are very important indeed.
With that in mind, I was a bit surprised that there were not more entrants in each class for this event. While the pre entered list carried more names than actually showed up on Monday night, there were thirty eight each of Stock Cars and Sport Mods that raced on Monday and not a single entrant that wasn't on the pre entered list. I guess that a three night commitment at this time of the year is just a bit difficult for many drivers and perhaps the uncertainly whether or not this race would actually take place kept others away. But there was certainly no complaining about the quality of the field and as we have already seen this year at Stuart, even a weekly show can be spectacular racing.
MVG would not have ordered up the kind of weather he got on Monday ideally. While it was nice to have some warm weather and not worry about how many coats to take in the grandstands, the wind was absolutely brutal and the combination of the heat, super strong winds and low humidity made it difficult to keep moisture in the racing surface. They had multiple water trucks working constantly as they sought to keep moisture in the track while keeping down the sand storm that was howling through the pit area. The one saving grace was that the wind was out of the South so there was no dust in the grandstands once racing began, even as the hurricane continued to howl.
For this reason, they were a little late getting the show started but once the first green flag flew, it was a typical MVG show with the racing being almost nonstop after that.
Four big qualifying heats and a pair of B Features set the grid for the two main events with twenty four cars going for twenty five laps in each one. And has been shown before, time after time, even with big money on the line and lots of cars in the mains, they somehow manage to pull off feature races with few yellow flags and not many non finishers.
An example would be the Sport Mod main, a class that has more than its share of difficulties at some other speedways. On this night they would run the feature with only one yellow flag and only a single driver not completing the distance and NO lapped cars. That is quite a statement to make, all this on a tight quarter mile where the field is running side by side more often than not. So here is proof that it can be done.
A pair of "Flying Dutchmen" from Osky, Carter VandenBerg and Dylan VanWyk, shared the front row for the Sport Mod feature and they battled for the lead for much of the event, slipping in and out of the lead spot. They were joined by Paris and Cody Thompson as the main challengers for the top spot but others like Brian Osantowski and Mitch Morris were also challenging.
A late yellow set up a eight lap dash to the finish and it was Paris, who got up on the cushion, that was able to take the top spot away. Drivers had been trying both the top side against the wall and running right on the tires as the two preferred lines, and for Paris the top side worked for him as he was able to edge into the lead and then hold off challengers for the win. Thompson made a late rush for second and VanWyk, who probably led the most laps of the race, settled for third ahead of VandenBerg and those four will not have to race on Tuesday as their spots are secured.
The Stock Car feature was every bit as exiting. They managed to run the first seventeen laps without a yellow before a spin slowed the proceedings. Jake Masters started on the pole and led until the first restart as he did build up quite a lead running right on the bottom of the track. Behind him it was wild as a whole group of drivers were battling for position and changing spots on virtually every lap.
On the restart, Derek Green managed to get a nose under Masters and as those two battled for the lead, Zevenbergen moved up to the high side and drove by both of them to take over the top spot. Two more late race cautions bunched the field and the action was crazy as everyone scrambled to try and get into the top five.
Green and Todd VanEaton were two that got shuffled back and lost their spots as Zevenbergen continued to bump off the cushion and drove on for the win. Luke Lemmens materialized out of no where in the late going, coming from twenty first to finish third right behind Abe Huls who had started in the fifth row himself. Masters managed to hold on to the last qualifying spot and he had to have wondered why that darn yellow had to fly and break his momentum.
Many strong cars in both classes are not yet in the show and they will come back and do it again to try and qualify on Tuesday night with the Sport Compacts also racing.
Manufacturers Features were also held on Monday after the two main events and Thompson and Lemmens both earned a grand for wins in those races. So they had very good nights , winning and also qualifying for Wednesday night too. Thompson came from the sixth row to win his main while Lemmens stole the win late from Zevenbergen when the cushion finally gave out on him and he spun with only three laps to go while trying to fight off the Wisconsin racer.
The mains were done before 10 pm and all racing was done within another half hour as once they got rolling, things clicked along at typically MVG speed.
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