Wednesday night, June 10th, was a very special night at the Stuart International Speedway(now renamed by me to the Howling Winds Motorsports Complex for obvious reasons) as the Late Models would be making their only appearance of the 2020 racing season in the form of the Malvern Bank Late Model Series. This would be the first race for the eastern region of this series, sponsored by Hoker Trucking and the second point race for the western, Malvern Bank region. It would also be the first combined race of both the season and for the newly split series after the eastern region series was purchased from IMCA in the off season. If all that makes sense, stay with me.
There was lots of rain in the Midwest the early part of this week, but fortunately, most of it missed the Stuart area and after some grim skies and a few showers this a.m, the skies cleared and racing was on as planned. In fact, some heavy watering would be required because of the strong winds, unfortunately blowing out of the North West or if you are direction challenged, directly into the main grandstand. Promoter Mike VanGenderen did his best to keep moisture in the track but with the conditions he was presented and the wide tired Late Models pounding the surface, we were reminded that yes indeed, it was dirt track racing, like it or not.
A very impressive field of thirty nine Late Models signed in to race with more being from the West than the East but there was a decent number of cars on hand representing the old IMCA interests. And by who was there, it was made abundantly clear who plans to race for the Eastern points region which was one of the question marks coming into the opener.
Along with the Late Models, a nice field of Modifieds and Sport Modifieds was on hand plus a very strong field of Stock Cars too, all running under IMCA sanctioning on this night.
The Late Models qualified through time trials(more on that later) while the other classes were simply set up for their heat races. With five big heats of Late Models racing for passing points after already having time trialed(this is a rather confusing combination) and two B Features twenty two cars plus two provisional entries would start the Late Model feature meaning that quite a few entries would be sitting on the sidelines come feature time. The other classes had numbers sufficient that no B Features were necessary and all cars would start the main.
MVG spent more time than normal doing track prep but it was understandable, given the conditions and the basic fact that Late Models are much tougher on a race track and more difficult to prepare for. Still, all the preliminaries flew by and it seemed like we were feature racing in a really quick time frame.
Sport Mods took to the track first for their A Main and this was a two car battle all the way. After a lap three stack up that sent a couple of cars to the rear, Matt Webb took the lead, running the high side of the track. Brayton Carter than moved up from the third row to challenge and a classic, side by side battle then commenced. It was broken up at one point by a mid race yellow but then continued once the feature resumed.
Carter was running the bottom while Webb was up top and each time they came down the chutes, they were side by side. I'm not sure if I just imagined it , or it actually happened, but it seemed to me that once Carter saw the halfway signal he picked up the pace. With only a few laps left he was able to edge ahead down the back chute and then finally clear Webb and in the final laps he put a few car lengths on to his lead as he drove to another win here and kept the string of a at least one Carter winning the feature every time I'm at a track South of I-80(technically the track is a couple miles North of the interstate, but let's not be too technical.) Dusty Masolini would come home third.
As a benefit to the fans on a week night and also likely in an attempt to make it easier on the racing surface, the Late Model feature would be second on the program and twenty four cars would take the green flag.
In this race there would be two early yellow flags in the first six laps for minor issues and then the last thirty laps would go green. Chargin' Charlie McKenna would take the early lead and he was very exciting as he pounded the cushion and edged away from the field. He was driving a hard line and really attacking the track and in the early going it would work. Justin Kay would also be fast on the top side and he would race up to second.
The leaders then moved up and started to catch the lapped traffic and things would then get dicey. As McKenna tried to work his way through several slower cars with brave moves, suddenly he was joined at the front by Pospisil and Bill Leighton Jr. And just at this time, the track started to change dramatically. It started to take rubber in the lower groove, which likely helped both Pospisil and and Leighton Jr in their runs to the front.
McKenna got caught in the upper groove and he was "freight trained" by both Pospisil and Leighton as the majority of the field suddenly dove to the low side and started to "catfish" on the tires. Kay was stuck up top too but managed to find a hole as he dove low back into the third spot. McKenna decided to go for broke, hoping the top side would come back in but after a number of cars drove under him, he finally threw in the towel and found a hole in the freight train and would eventually end up eighth.
The remaining laps would see the field roll around the bottom with leader Pospisil following Joel Callahan who was at the back of the pack but making no attempt to pass him for fear of getting hung up out of the lower groove. They continued in this fashion to the finish with Leighton Jr settling for second ahead of Kay, Kyle Berck and Jason Hahne.
While I think MVG did just about everything he could to provide a track that would hold up for thirty five laps, the environmental forces against him were just a bit too strong on this night and while no one likes to see a rubbered up track, sometimes it happens anyway.
The interesting thing as that while the Late Models were locked to the bottom, the two upcoming feature races would give no appearance of such an issue as the size of the tires and apparently the horsepower make a huge difference in where the cars can run on the track.
For instance, the Stock Cars came out to race their main directly after the Late Models and the put on the best show of the night using the same track the Late Models had just got done running on. This would be another two car battle to the wire, settled in the final laps.
Mike Nichols benefited in the early going when leader Shawn Ritter was turned around by Brad Derry on lap three and the yellow waved. Both went to the back and Nichols inherited the lead for the restart. He ran pretty much in the clear until he was tracked down by Damon Murty.
Murty started eleventh on the grid and after some tough racing was able to pass Todd Van Eaton and Josh Daniels and move into second. While Nichols was running the low side, Murty was pounding the cushion and was gaining on Nichols at a noticeable pace. Soon he was right behind Nichols and the race was on. Just as it looked like Murty might be able to drive around Nichols, who's car was starting to grow in width, the yellow waved for a spin and the field was bunched for a three laps sprint to the finish.
Nichols did a good job of doing what he needed to do as the green waved again. He moved his line around on the track, first going high and then changing up and diving to the bottom so that Murty didn't exactly know where to go and Damon had to go top speed to try and get by Mike as Nichols was still plenty fast.
Their closest encounter was coming to the white when Murty tried to dive under Nichols down the front chute and Mike sealed him off as they slid into turn one. Murty was able to come off the corner faster and he would hold on for the win. Van Eaton would finish third.
The Modifieds would finish off the night and when pole starter John Davis would have trouble on the pace lap and opt for the back, that would put Ricky Thornton Jr on the pole, as if he needed any help. The race, for all intents and purposes, was over when the green flew as Thornton Jr powered up to the cushion, the same line the Late Models could not run, and led comfortably all twenty laps for the victory. Tom Berry Jr would make a nice drive, starting seventh and making a fleeting attempt to get past Thornton Jr at the end but settle for second while Todd Shute finished a strong third.
Not to harp on it, but the format for qualifying the Late Models did seem a bit strange. While I am totally adverse to time trials, I must admit that they moved through them very quickly on this night. However, if they are going to qualify, then those times should mean something more than just setting the invert for passing points heats. I have not seen the passing points scale they use, but if it is like most, it would seen to me that drivers should "sand bag" in qualifying just a little so that they can start in row one or two of their heats, rather than farther back in say like the third row when the heats are only eight laps and passing is tough.
Normally series will either do draw/redraw, passing points or time trials but not a combination of them. But I guess this is a discussion that will never end and everyone has their own opinion on what is the best way of doing it. The ultimate, after all, is to produce the fairest method and the one that provides the best show come feature time.
However, if time trials are to be an important part of the program, the least they should do is keep the spectators informed by announcing the times, as the set up on this night didn't apparently afford announcer Anthony Ainslie the opportunity to do so and to just say that an app is available to see the times just doesn't cut it with me.
As usual, MVG and crew set a frantic pace to the program all night and the final checkered waved at 10:15 p.m., outstanding given that an extra distance feature was a part of the program. As veteran race chaser Gary Lee told me, MVG and Bob Sargent should hold a seminar for track owners and race directors to show them how to run off a quick race program.
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