Friday night, August 28th would be a very big and long night of racing at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin. It would be Season Championship night when they add up the track points earned all year and crown champions. This would involve all five classes that race at MTS during the year. However, as a bonus, the Late Model and Modified features from the Dairyland Challenge last Friday night, that were rained out, would also be held in addition to the regular show. And to sweeten the pie for the Open Late Models and try and get more of them to return, along with the make up feature, they would also be running another full show for the Open Late Models paying two grand to win.
So we would be having six classes in action which would include two, forty lap main events left over plus another full show in all six classes that would include championship races for the regular divisions. And of course, with the rains having passed and the sun back out, all the racers want to get one more show in during the regular season so there were one hundred and thirty five racers on hand from the three state area near Fountain City. Our program would consist of twenty seven races including eight feature races. Sounds like a long night, doesn't it? Well, indeed it was and I think every race fan on hand would say that they got their monies worth on this night, since it was just regular admission to attend after last week's disappointment when the last two features couldn't be run due to the rain.
For Chad Simpson, the trip back from eastern Iowa was worth the effort to him as he was a double feature winner. Despite the offer of another feature race to entice the Open Late Models to return, eight of them opted not to so there were only seventeen on hand to race for five and two grand feature races.
Jake Timm, who had started on the pole, led the first ten laps of the Dairyland Challenge makeup feature before James Giossi, who has been tearing things up lately in the area winning big race after big race, perhaps destroyed his car when he went head on into the first turn wall. He needed two wreckers to assist his car to the pits and he was done for the night.
On the restart, Timm's car started pushing badly in the corners and Simpson quickly drove under him to take over the lead. Once in front, he kept that position the rest of the race. Jimmy Mars worked his way up from a tenth starting position to put some pressure on Simpson at the end and actually closed to within a car length at the checkered as Simpson struggled to hand on with the challenging track conditions that saw a blinding fast track that developed lots of "character" as they say. Jesse Glenz would finish third.
Of course, even with everything else going on, the Open Late Models would have to qualify for the second feature race, despite all the other divisions drawing for heat race positions. Simpson was the first one out for qualifying and not surprisingly, was the fastest qualifier. He then won a heat race that featured no passing, giving him the pole for the main event.
This race went nonstop for thirty laps and only Jeremy Grady would not be around at the finish. This one was a walkover for Simpson who built up a big lead nd then cruised for the win. Lance Matthees ran second for much of the contest before being passed by Dustin Sorensen in the late going for the runner up honors. It turned out to be a very successful night for Simpson and his return was a wise choice.
The Dairyland Challenge for the Modifieds was a war of attrition as the same bad fast but character building track faced the Modifieds for their make up feature. Twenty one cars started this race and only seven were still standing at the end.
It was a good night for Dustin Sorensen too as he would win the makeup feature for the Modifieds. He set a blistering pace and would open up nearly a full straightaway on the field. Among those contenders not around at the finish included Jake Timm who spun and collected Lucas Schott, Ashley Anderson with all three out and Josh Angst who was running in the top three when he hit the wall and was done too.
Sorensen continued to set a pace that no one could stay with and he would win by a big margin over Cory Crapser and Alex Williamson.
The championship feature would see Schott build up a big lead over Angst until a late yellow nearly cost him. Anderson charged on the inside and nearly slipped into the lead before Schott moved back up the track and used the banking to pull away in the late laps over Angst and Anderson. Angst would be the track champion.
Seventeen Hornets would fight it out for the track title with point leader Brandon Gleiter eliminated in a grinding early race crash that would also take care of contender Jason Johnson. Hunter Miller would move on to take over the lead, win the race and also become the track champion with Don Martens giving him a severe challenge that involved some contact near the end of the race.
Twenty four USRA Hobby Stocks would complete their season with Iowa's Scott Spilde taking the win. Point leader Chris Hovden and Steve Holthaus would both be early outs with mechanical issues but Hovden would have a big enough lead to guarantee him the track title. The feature race itself was a good one, despite several yellows that saw Spilde hold off Levi Sand and Cody Rollinger for the win.
Flyin' Ryan Olson would live up to his nickname as he stormed around the high side of the track to take the lead and then hold off a strong late challenge from Jim Chisholm to take the B Mod feature win. Olson would also be the track champion in the division. Chisholm had made a determined charge up from the sixth row and was working the low groove well and moved into second. A late yellow, the only one of the race, saw a five lap battle for the win. Chisholm pushed Olson hard and very nearly slipped past him in the last corner. Fortunately for Olson, it was a twenty lapper and not a lap more. Danny Sauquitne finished a strong third.
The USRA Late Models also had a field of twenty cars for their season finale. Track champion Lance Hofer would put on a strong drive, moving high and low on the track as needed as he charged up from the third row to take the lead and pull away for the win.
A couple of early yellows kept things bunched up but when the last nineteen laps ran off green to checkered, Hofer was able to pull away. Olson, doing double duty, had an impressive run too as he came from eleventh to finish in the runner up slot with "quick" Kyle Johnson finishing third.
Thus you have the very abridged addition of what happened at MTS on Friday night and into Saturday morning as it were. The first green flag waved at 6:55 pm and Friday and it was exactly one am Saturday morning when the final checkered waved. One thing everyone could agree on is that we saw all the racing that we wanted for one night, plus some.
MTS still has one more big weekend of racing upcoming before they finally put the 2020 racing season to bed. Set for September 9-12, the 9th annual Modified Nationals will feature three full programs for the B Mods and Mods. The payoff is progressive with lots of money on the line. Paying the same purse for both classes, which is an interesting concept, the shows will pay two, four and a whopping ten grand apiece to win on Saturday night. Check the MTS face book page for more information. Thanks again to Bob Timm and his crew at MTS.
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