Shryock Has Remarkable Drive In Spencer Fair Race Victory

 Wednesday night, September 16th found everyone back again at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa for night two of the Blue Ribbon Showdown II held during what should have been the annual Clay County Fair. The same five classes, under IMCA sanction would be racing for the second straight night, minus the Late Models who headlined Tuesday night's show. Drivers would be racing for the exact same purses that they ran for on Tuesday night which meant the Stock Cars would be the headline division as they were again running for two grand to win. 

It was another brisk early Fall evening but the sun was shining and another nice crowd was on hand for night two of the (UN)Fair racing. Before the show began, all the volunteers that came together and rebranded racing at Spencer for the 2020 racing season were introduced to the crowd which gave them a warm round of applause. Racing was nearly dead following the 2019 season here but a local group of racers and friends of racing came together to try and save racing at the Fairgrounds. They sought out local sponsors, reorganized the race program and came up with an innovative schedule that they sold to the area race fans who responded in kind with some of the largest crowds I had seen at this track for racing, minus the Fair crowds of course. The Monday night shows, spread out over the course of the Summer seemed to be a hit with the fans and attracted strong fields of race cars for those events. Good weather certainly helped them and 2020 was a rebirth of racing in Spencer, if not weekly at least for more than just during the Fair and optimism runs high for 2021 because quite frankly, if you could prosper during what was a crazy 2020 Summer for everyone, a regular year(which we all hope is in the cards for 2021) should be veritable piece of cake.   

Thirteen race cars that were not on hand on Tuesday night pulled through the gate on Wednesday but some also did not return so the car counts were very similar to the previous night. I thought that perhaps more different cars might be on hand but such wasn't the case. However, except for the Sport Compacts, which have been short on cars all year, the fields of cars were fine. Wednesday night would see point champions crowned in all five classes and rather than the point invert system used for all other races during the year, it would be a draw/redraw night to set the lineups. 

Folks got a scare early when crowd favorite Bubba Brown went off in hot laps in a cloud of smoke and it seemed as if his night might be over early. However, he solved the problem and was able to race all night with no apparent further issues. 

With the Stock Cars the main event with their two grand to win main, it was appropriate that the race of the week was carried out in that very class. It was a race of drama and one of unbelievable comebacks, most notably by race winner Kelly Shryock, who won in the Stock Cars for the second straight night but with this Wednesday night race being a much tougher one. 

Twenty two cars took the green flag for the thirty lap finale with Elijah Zevenbergen coming off the pole to take the early lead. He was chased early by many of the top cars from last night including Chanse Hollatz, Derek Green, and Jeff Larson. Early on Randy Brands and Justin Luinenberg was also in the hunt. 

As the battle continued, Shryock, who started eleventh and was moving forward, rolled to a halt with a flat tire. The yellow waved and he hustled to the hot pit, where he changed the tire and returned to the tail of the field. Zevenbergen would continue to lead with Jake Masters, Hollatz, Larson and Green pushing him hard.

Shryock was making fast time as he hustled back up through the field and was quickly climbing back into contention even though he had to pass a bunch of cars to do so. By the halfway point of the race, he had worked his way back up to fourth behind Zevenbergen, who had led every lap, Hollatz and Masters. 

Stryock continued his torrid pace, as he got by both Masters and Hollatz and set his guns on Zevenbergen. With a strong move down the back chute he drove under the #66z car and took over the lead. The rest of the race would stay under the green and Shryock would just add to his lead as he had more than the competition could handle, driving away to a most impressive win and sweeping the two shows in the Stock Car class. This put a nice four grand into his checking account and probably sold a few more cars for him. Zevenbergen would have to settle for second with Masters third. It was somewhat ironic that Shryock, long known as "Mr. Modified" in the state of Iowa, would dazzle here in the Stock Car class while producing two rather pedestrian efforts in that Mod this week. Shryock would also be crowned the point champion after he came up tied with Masters but his two wins this week tipped the tiebreaker his way. 

The other double winner of the week was Kaytee DeVries who dominated the small Sport Compact field  for the second straight night. With the draw/redraw in effect, she started on the front row, led by lap one and then cruised away from the field for the win. The win was her fifth of the year here and seventeenth overall. She also was obviously the point champion too. Austin Friedrich finished second with Jaedon Erickson third. 

The Hobby Stock feature saw Cody Nielsen take the early lead from the pole as he sought being a two night winner also. However, despite the good starting spot and early lead, he was tracked down by Malik Sampson who drove past him and then fought off all challenges to get the win. Sampson started beside Nielsen and tucked in behind him in the early going with Greg Sidles, Jake Manitz and Bryant Johnson forming the top five. Sampson continued to challenge Nielsen and on lap six drove past him to take over the lead following the only race yellow when Brandon Nielsen got a flat tire for the second straight night while fighting to get to the front. After that Cody Nielsen continued to challenge Sampson for the lead throughout the race but could never get by as Sampson maintained his slight margin to drive on for the win. Cory Probst made a strong run up through the field after starting tenth to finish third and that determined drive would net him the point title in the Hobby Stocks. 

Things worked out beautifully on Wednesday for Modified driver Brandon Beckendorf. Despite the fact that he started sixth in the Modified feature, he was able to drive up and pass Dylan Thornton near the halfway point of the race and then hold on for the win. When point leader Chris Abelson broke at the midpoint of the race, Beckenorf was able to gain enough points on him that he would eventually win the point title too, all very valuable items in his corner as he chases a national point championship in the Modified class. Thornton was the early leader of the race, chased by Jesse Rogotzke and Austin Wolf. Beckendorf quickly moved up to fourth and then with a strong effort was able to move into the runner up slot. One lap short of the halfway point, he was able to drive under Thornton and take over the lead with Abelson following him into second. It looked like a shootout between the two was likely but just one lap later Abelson slowed on the back chute and pulled into the infield and his chase of the point title was done. Beckendorf then led the rest of the laps and held on through a late race challenge by Ethan Dotson to take home the win. Dotson's second place finish was a story too as he was late getting on the track for his heat race, being almost a full lap behind the field and he had to settle for last in that event. That meant he would start fifteenth in the feature race and he put on quite a show as he charged through the field, ending up one position short at the finish. Shryock would hold off Ryan Ruter, who also came from the back after spinning early, for third. 

Brian Osantowski would lead all laps to win the Sport Mod main event. He started in row one, took the initial lead and then maintained that position for the whole race. His lead was fairly comfortable until the late going when Curtis VanDerWal found a fast line around the track and really started to reel in the leader. At the finish, Osantowski would hold on for the win but another lap or two could have spelled quite a different outcome as VanDerWal was gaining ground at a rapid pace at the end. Jared Boumeester would finish a solid third. 

Wednesday night's program was one of the smoothest of the year. There were few yellow flags all night, no big wrecks and the show was completed just a few minutes after 10 pm, by far the earliest finish of all the races I attended at Spencer this year. That is probably the one area that could stand some attention for 2021 and that would be getting the races started a little earlier which would then allow them to get done a little earlier too. No complaints about how they run the program; it's just that they always seem to get started just a bit late for a week night. Overall though, it has been a most successful season for the track here in Spencer and they head into 2021 with much optimism for the coming season and I appreciate their help for the races that I have attended at Clay Co. during this year. 

Olsen and Shryock Top Spencer (Un)Fair Race

 Tuesday night, September 15th, the Blue Ribbon Showdown was held at the Clay Co. Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa. Dubbed the (UnFair) by track announcer Chad Meyer due to the fact that except for the Pandemic, this would be the first night of the annual Clay Co. Fair races, the races went on despite the fact that the midway was empty and the cattle barns vacant with only the dirt track being used this week. 

Set for racing on this night would be the five regular IMCA sanctioned divisions that have raced here all year for specials during the week plus the Tri State Late Models would also be on hand, having added that class and group to the program on Tuesday. It was an unusually warm early Fall evening and a delightful night for dirt track racing and with the smokey skies due to all the wild fires out West, the back drop was spectacular with the setting sun. Of course, probably not quite as spectacular as it would have been if we would have had a full midway of rides and the backdrop of Ferris wheels and other rides might have been even more novel. 

In honor of it being Fair week irregardless of the fact that there was no Fair, many of the food vendors were open and serving food and the midway outside the grandstand was just about as full as it might have been if the Fair was going on. In fact, many folks from town were driving out to the Fairgrounds, ordering food and then leaving, not even staying for the races but just hungering for Fair food. I can understand that too, as of all the races I have seen this year, not a single one has been associated with a Fair race, but many were racing despite the fact that various Fairs had been canceled. 

A thousand dollars was on the line for the winners in all classes except the Sport Compacts and Stock Cars. The Sport Compacts were still racing for more money than usual while the Stock Cars were racing for a whopping two grand to win as were the Late Models also. And even with all that cash on the line, spectator admission was only twelve bucks, a great deal for the loyal spectators of this track. 

Ninety seven cars signed in to race in the five regular divisions plus twenty one Late Models so well over one hundred cars were on hand. Particularly impressive was the twenty one Late Models as this was a Tuesday night show, none of these drivers are professionals and most come from a base quite a distance from Spencer. Yet they were there to wrap up their season with a non points race while the five other classes were still racing for track points with champions to be crowned following the Wednesday night show. 

Following hot laps, heat races were started at about 7:45 pm and eighteen qualifying races were spun off in rapid fashion with only a handful of yellows as the track was in fine and fast shape and the one spin rule kept the fields moving. 

After a very quick break that lasted just a few minutes to roll in the track's cushion, it was time for feature racing action and the Sport Compacts would lead the way. As has been the case here all year, the Sport Compacts always seem to have by far the smallest field of cars and such was the case again on this night. Shannon Mahlberg took the lead right from the pole and would head the first half of the race. The dominant driver here, Kaytee DeVries, then got up on the wheel and would drive past Mahlberg and then pull away to win once again here at here home track. The nonstop race saw Austin Friedrich came home third as all eight cars would complete the event. 

Sport Mods would be next and twenty five cars would start the main event. And despite the big field, there would be only two yellow flags during the contest, both during the first few laps of the race. Zech Norgaard would take the lead right from the pole but Matt Looft would waste no time getting up from the third row and on the second lap, he made the pass to take over the lead. While he would lead through the two yellows, the driver on the move was Brian Osantowski who has started way back in thirteenth. He was second by lap three and the main challenger to Looft. In the late going he made a strong run but came up short as Looft would take the win with Osantowski outfighting Norgaard for second. One of the early yellows would involve strong challenger Doug Smith and he would barrel off the track less than pleased when sent to the back of the pack. 

The Modifieds would come out next and James Slawson would lead the first four laps of the main event. An early crash in turn four would eliminate the cars of Jeremy Smith, Jayden Larson and Don Gerritsen Jr with Slawson continuing to lead following the yellow. However, Nick Meyer was on the move after starting right behind Slawson and on lap five he would take over the lead. With no more yellows and no lapped traffic, Meyer would run freely in the lead. Chris Abelson would then drive into second and try to track down the leader but on this night Meyer had the field covered and no matter what Abelson tried, he would be a second place car to the strong run by Meyer. Brandon Beckendorf would settle for third. 

Late Models would be up next and they pulled off a very entertaining twenty five lap main event that saw a couple of different leaders and some spectacular slide jobs. Gary Brown Jr would lead the opening laps with Chad Olsen moving in from the fifth starting spot to challenge Brown Jr for the lead. As the top two started to work lapped traffic, Justin Boomsma would catch them and suddenly we had a three car battle for the lead. Olsen would slide job his way to the top spot on lap eight but one lap later Brown Jr would return the favor and retake the point as these two were dive bombing through the traffic as they carried on their own battle with slide jobs in nearly every corner. Things came to a head when they were battling with each other while a lapped car was the "meat" their sandwich and the two leaders would come together and spin and Boomsma would crash into them before he could stop. Track officials had to make a decision and then called the yellow on Brown Jr who then exited the track with brake and suspension issues too. Boomsma couldn't get his flat tire changed and Olsen now found himself in the lead again with point champion Blair Nothdurft now in second. Olsen would pull away from him with Nick Beyenhof eventually taking the second spot but he had nothing for Olsen who drove on for the win. Troy Daly would make a nice charge up to finish third. 

Cody Nielsen would probably score the most dominating win of the night as he led from start to finish to win the Hobby Stock feature. He beat Josh Sidles to the lead right at the start and would have Sidles chasing him for fifteen laps  but never getting too close. Only one yellow slowed the contest when Brandon Nielsen got a flat tire while battling Cory Probst for fourth. Cody would take off on the restart of the late yellow and drive home unchallenged with Sidles and Malik Sampson trailing. 

The big dollar, Stock Car feature would go to Kelly Shryock. He would take the lead right from the beginning and while he had several competitors challenge him during the race, he would lead all lapas and always maintain a few cars lengths lead over whoever was chasing him. The best battle of the race was for second with Derek Green, Jake Masters and Jeff Larson going back and forth as they raced for that spot. Green got a scare early in the race when he seriously got up on two wheels in turn four as the Late Models had roughed up the track a bit and the Stock Cars found the corners to be somewhat challenging by the end of the night. Meanwhile, Shryock seemed to have found a smooth line around the track and while others were bouncing and bucking, he was just cruising around the oval and not getting out of shape at all. A late yellow set u a two lap sprint to the finish but it was no problem for Shryock who pulled away at the start and put distance on the pack as he drove on for the win. Masters would end up second with Larson third. 

Kudos to the Clay Co. Fair Board and race committee for still putting on the race program even though there was no Fair to support the event. Telling people that there was Fair racing going on even though there was no Fair on a Tuesday night in the middle of September might seem absurd to some but to the large number of spectators and racers on hand, to not race at all would be the travesty and giving in to the Pandemic. They will do it all again on Wednesday night minus the Late Models with the same large purses for the other classes in effect once again.