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.
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