If they had been bowling, a three hundred would have been a perfect score but since they were instead dirt track racing, it was a perfect move on lap seventeen by Josh Richards during the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series that earned him his "300" score and then the win in the main event Monday night at the 300 Raceway in Farley Iowa.
IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods were also a part of the program with Jeff Aikey and Jason Roth the winners in those two events.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series came to the 300 Raceway on a beautiful Monday night as a part of their traveling series and there were twenty seven cars on hand to compete. One local driver, Colton Leal, tried to enter the race also but was turned down by series tech officials as some of his safety equipment did not come up to the standards as required by the Lucas Oil Series.
Before the races started, I was able to have nice discussion with James Essex, the "voice" of the Lucas Oil Series and it was very interesting to get his take on the state of dirt track racing these days in the midst of our current pandemic and unfortunately, both of us feel that there might still be some very rocky days ahead of us that might even transfer to the next racing season. So we are both of the feeling that we should enjoy very race day that we have because the future is still a very uncertain thing.
I also ran into Jerry Ingvalson from Blooming Prairie MN in the pits before the races. Jerry was largely the person behind the whole idea of the Gopher 50 which was held over the years at the Chateau Raceway, the fairgrounds half mile at Owatonna MN and now at Deer Creek Speedway. It was one of the first and biggest mega events for Late Models in the Midwest and a huge success for the non profit entities that were involved with the race.
Of course Jerry was feeling pretty low about this year as the Gopher was one of many races to fall by the way side due due to the pandemic and I believe he told me that this was only the second race he had been to all year. Like all of us, he is hoping for the best when it comes to the rest of the racing season and beyond.
Three heats and a B Feature set the field for the fifty lap main event for the Lucas cars and they produced a very entertaining event for the fans. Richards, Kyle Bronson and Jimmy Owens battled it out for most of the race with Richards leading early and then eventually being overtaken by the other two.
However, he fought back and caught them and on lap seventeen made a spectacular move down the front chute as he split the other two and roared into the lead and he would lead the rest of the race. While he would control the final laps, he was never out of the woods as first Bronson and then Owens would close in on him but each time he fought off the challenges.
In the final laps, it was apparent that Richards was fighting his car in the corners and Owens closed up on him but Josh had enough to fight off Owens and take the win, which was his second on the tour so far this year.
There were a lot of yellow flags; too many to make this a classic and they highly affected the running order of the race with several drivers that were challenging the victim of flat tires, which were the source of most of the yellow flags. For what reason this kept on happening, I'm not sure and I would imagine the crews for the various teams would like to know the same thing. In fact, the yellow waved seven times during the course of the race with the longest stretch of green flag racing being the final twenty laps.
There was a huge reword of the track done before the Late Model feature, which was run as the first main event of the night. It did take a long time on a week night but was probably worth it as it made a considerable difference in the quality of the race itself and allowed the drivers to run all over the track.
The Lucas Series seldom disappoints as they supply on a consistent basis the best drivers in all of dirt Late Model racing and they drive very hard every time they race. They don't mess around and they put on a quick and interesting show.
It was a very good idea to run the Late Models first on this week night, thus allowing those people that had to leave an early exit from the speedway and they will remember that the next time 300 proposes a week night special. I only wish that more tracks would see this as a smart thing to do but still far too many tracks want to save the special event for last, even though way too often it then gets too late and the track may already past its prime due to other divisions racing and wearing it out.
On this night for example, the crowd would have been most upset if they would have had to wait until last to see the Late Models as both the Mods and Sport Mods, while indeed providing interesting races with quality fields of cars, had a tough time getting consistent green flag laps and their part of the show ran on until almost 11:30 pm before they got done.
Seldom do you see Justin Kay start on the pole for a Modified feature and then not be a factor but he really wasn't on this night. It was Aikey, who surged up from the third row with some bold outside moves, that took the win. For the longest time during the race, he was battling with young Kollin Hibdon for the win, with both these cars coming out of the same racing trailer.
However, late in the race, Jeff "Bone" Larson made a strong march to the front and he was able to split those two and take a runner up slot finish.
The Sport Mods saw about five top runners battling for most of the race until Jason Roth moved up from the fourth row and took the win. He passed a bunch of really fast cars to do so and left guys like Justin Becker, Tony and Kyle Olson and Tyler Soppe in his wake as he drove to a most impressive win.
The track held up well after the "farming" at intermission and gave all three classes a good racing surface to use. The program moved along well and the only down side was the late hour for those that wanted to see all three features. Probably those that left after the Late Models were done were probably even singing higher praises for the night. By the way, the crowd was huge and management had to have been pleased by the turnout of fans. The facility looks great and the shorter racing surface and pitting outside the track is the smartest thing they could have ever done here.
It was a very good night of racing and everyone had to have walked away from this evening feeling like they had been entertained by dirt track racing at its best. Thanks to the management of 300 and best of luck with the rest of their season, one that interestingly will be virtually all specials conducted on Wednesday nights. Perhaps the wave of the future is race tracks not running every single week but instead highlighting specials and utilizing quick, midweek shows so that they don't have to battle all the different forms of competition for the racing fan's dollar that are offered on the weekends.
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