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.
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