The Midwest Madness Tour continued on Tuesday night, June 30th as the troops rolled North across the border into Minnesota for one night before heading back South to wrap up the series with three more nights of racing during this grueling week of racing. The target on Tuesday was the big half mile at the Martin County Fairgrounds, the Fairmont Raceway for round four of the series.
It was another steamy day on Tuesday and while not at all unexpected for this time of year, it still presents a challenge to all the teams to keep their cars maintained and their crews fresh while fighting the oppressive heat and humidity. Fortunately on this day there was quite a stiff breeze out of the Southeast that kept things a little more refreshing and was probably good news for everyone but the track prep crew who were presented with an even more difficult task of trying to keep the dust down when the winds were blowing very much toward the main grandstands.
Car counts still remained strong with one hundred and three cars on hand in the four classes racing for points in this series plus another thirteen Sport Compacts also racing on Tuesday for a total of one hundred and eighteen race cars jammed into the infield in what remains one of the few tracks still pitting in the infield, although there still may be more of these types of tracks in Iowa than perhaps any other state in the Midwest.
Fairmont also remains one of the few tracks left where the track packing is done in the opposite direction of how the racing will be done later. There was a surge of the clock wise packing at tracks for awhile before most went back to a more familiar way of doing it, and I never did get a reasonable explanation of why track packing should be done in the opposite way that the racing is carried out. It was a fad that eventually went away at most places but is still carried out at Fairmont. And we did see lots of track packing on Tuesday as in response to the temperatures and strong winds, the prep crew really dumped the water on the black dirt racing facility and in late afternoon cloud cover blocked out the sun and suddenly we had quite a muddy mess on our hands. It made for a late start to the program and a number of the early heats were compromised because it was still very slick and additional laps of packing the cushion were needed after just about every heat. It did take away the dust threat though but also might have helped develop a couple of significant holes in the first turn, but perhaps those would have been there one way or another.
Still covering the action at Fairmont Raceway was track announcer Lonn Oelke and his wit and humor never gets old at the track. He is a character all of his own and his style has never been copied by any other announcer in the business. Lonn tells me that he still stays busy announcing even though he gave up traveling with the USMTS years ago as he still announces at Alta and Mason City as well as here. The starters duties were also well taken of here with the highly competent Grant Ostvig waving the flags on this night.
Car counts were biggest in the Modifieds and Stock Cars as you might imagine and a B Feature was required in each class with the other classes just running heats and their mains. Fourteen of the top fifteen in series points in the Modifieds were on hand so it appears that those desirous of chasing points have made themselves known. The other classes were much less so with only half the Stock Cars tops in points on hand and even less in the other two classes with track regulars filling in the gaps when many of the top point cars opted not to travel to all the series stops.
The track was still pulling hard come feature time and the twenty five lap mains for the Modifieds and Stock Cars were tough ones on the equipment with lots of overheating racing machines and an attrition rate that was quite high.
Twenty four of the thirty seven Mods on hand made the main event with Kelly Shryock and T.J. Wyman taking provisionals with Shryock just taking the green and pulling off. Chris Palsrod was the early leader with a quick yellow when challenger Brandon Beckendorf shut down quickly and contender Chris Abelson also called it a night quickly.
Jeff James overtook Palsrod following the green and he led for the next three laps until the yellow flew again. This would be it for the yellow flags and the last twenty laps would go nonstop. And Hobscheidt, who started fifth, would blow past James on the restart and that would be the story for the rest of the Modified feature. Hobscheidt found a groove that would really let him motor around the track and while it was dangerously close to the walls in the turns, he never faltered once and soon his lead became astronomical in distance as he built it to a full straightaway and the only question was whether or not his car would hold together under the terrific beating he was giving it as cars dropped out , many with cooling problems.
However, Jacob never backed off but kept his frantic pace as he worked through lapped traffic near the end of the contest and he managed to put five lapped cars and most of the front chute between himself and James when he took the checkered flag. Kyle Brown had a nice run for third and point leader Jesse Sobbing padded his lead with a strong run from seventeenth to fourth at the finish.
Attrition in the Stock Car feature was even higher with only eleven of a twenty four car field running at the finish. It took three tries in fact to get the first lap complete with two early leads by Bubba Alvarado lost when the yellow waved.
The third try was the charm but this time it was Jake Masters who took over the top spot and he would hold the lead for the rest of the race. Alvarardo would soon be out of the contest after rolling to a halt and Elijah Zevenbergen would challenge for several laps but would eventually fade when he just couldn't match Masters' pace.
Jeff Larson and Austin Jahnz would both move up and challenge but both of them would suddenly drop out of the race too with mechanical issues. Derek Green would come up from the fourth row to finally grab the second spot but he could offer no serious challenge for the lead and was happy to be able to run second as Masters drove away from everyone.
The last eighteen laps went green and Masters just continued his pace and no one could stay with him. Finishing third behind Green was Dusty VanHorn with a solid run from tenth.
The Sport Mod feature may have been the most entertaining race of the night as it had only a single yellow flag and we got to see some very aggressive driving from a number of drivers that started a little further back in the pack than they preferred but quickly had their target of getting to the front.
James Richert led the opening laps but all eyes were on Jared Boumeester, Josh Most and Matt Looft and the trio of heavy weights were on a charge to the front. Driving without abandon, they were thrilling to watch with the later two especially interesting as they motored to the front after starting in the sixth row.
However, Boumeester had the advantage of starting three rows ahead of the other two and he was the one to catch and then pass Richert for the lead. He began to build on that advantage until a late yellow, the first of the race, set up a four lap sprint to the finish. The top three were pretty even after that and Boumeester was fast enough that he was able to keep some distance between himself and the charging Most who did everything he could but had to settle for second with Looft third as Boumeester drove on for the win.
The Hobby Stock field in this area has an apparent fascination with the number #27 as there were no less than five cars with that number racing in their main event, and yes, one of the #27 cars did win the main with a late race pass.
Jason Fusselman took the lead from the outside pole after one of the other #27 cars spun on the opening lap and he would lead for all but the last lap of the feature. With only two minor yellows in the race, this class would get to do some racing and Fusselman built up a strong lead, only to see it start to be cut down when Malik Sampson would move into second.
The last few laps of the race saw Sampson began to seriously shorten the distance and with only two laps to go, Sampson had found the rear bumper of Fusselman. There was contact between the two in turn four as they came to the white flag and more contact in turn one on the last lap. Sampson got to the inside and took over the lead with what wasn't the prettiest of passes but since no penalty flag was waved in his direction, I guess it was just a beautiful move as he pulled away down the back chute on the final lap and drove home for the win with Fusselman settling for second and another #27, this one Jason Kohl, in third. With his strong run, Kohl likely has taken over the point lead for the series in this division.
The Sport Compacts did not play well on this night with a couple of penalty decisions required by track officials before the eight laps were over. Brandon Hartmann was the initial leader of the race but it took only about a lap and a half and Nate Coopman had stormed up from row three to take the lead and he quickly pulled away in what looked to be a runaway race.
However, with just two laps to go, Bubba Brown hammered the turn four wall and a red flag was needed to check on his condition. He eventually would get out under his own power and walk away but he was shook by the impact.
During this red, it was announced that Coopman would be sent to the back of the pack for not stopping quickly enough when the red flag was waved. He discussed the situation briefly when the cars started to roll once again but then complied.
The race resumed with Jaedon Erickson leading and Coopman on the charge. However, the yellow waved again for debris on the track setting up a one lap sprint to the finish with Coopman back up to fifth.
The last lap was wild with cars charging for the finish. Coopman made heavy contact with the car in front of him as they raced into the final corner with Coopman sitting third. This set off a wild series of events with cars flying in all directions and the finish a mess. Track officials black flagged Coopman for rough driving and the win was awarded to Erickson with Calvin Hinz second and R.J. Esqueda ruled third.
Again on this night, once they got the show started the officials did a great job of moving things along and rolling into the following event as soon as the previous one was complete. They completed the entire show in about three and a half hours which was quite good considering the amount of cars and the fact that half mile racing just takes a bit longer. However, for the second straight night they didn't come close to hitting their starting time as the first heat race didn't take the green until just about five minutes before 8 pm which is way too late for any show, but particularly one that is being held mid week with this driving the finishing time back to 11:30 pm, again, way too late.
Much of the delay was due to the extra track packing needed because of the wet track conditions which was somewhat understandable but I still would have hoped that we could have started a little closer to the planned time. Otherwise, it was a good show and a nice facility and a good addition to the series.
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