The MLRA series moved on from I-80 Speedway on Tuesday night East on that same freeway across the border in Iowa and to the Stuart International Speedway in Stuart. Going from one end of the spectrum to the other, the drivers would instead of racing on a big track with long chutes and high banked corners, they would instead be racing on the tight confines of the Stuart bullring, barely a quarter mile if measured around the outside line on the wall, where some would indeed be racing there later.
For many of the Late Model drivers, it was their first chance to race at Stuart and most looked at it before hand as a fun looking, rather cool little facility and the track would later race just like that. Slick from top to bottom, there would definitely be two distinct lines around the track and it would be to each driver to search out and fine the line that would be most comfortable for them and produce their best results, just as it should be.
There was much activity in the Late Model pits during the afternoon as several teams had to do some serious work. The Jake Timm team discovered that their motor had some questionable metal deposits as residue from Tuesday night so to be on the safe side, they swapped out their motors and went to their back up engine. "Not the thing you want to do on the first night of a five night swing and when you're running for points," team owner Bob Timm told me. However, they felt it the safest thing to do.
Fellow Minnesota racer Jordan Yaggy, who pulled off Tuesday night in a cloud of smoke, was also working on their engine. They had better news as it appeared they just had a bad oil leak and after they got that repaired, it appeared that their Pro Power was OK and they would later go on to race without any after affects.
Jason Papich and Jesse Stovall would both switch race cars for Wednesday night and the move would later be confirmed when Stovall would win the main event, even though he backed into the win in some regard. And while it was reported that he was driving a Black Diamond chassis to the win, I believe I saw a Rocket notice on the roll cage of the black car that he raced to the win.
Thirty one Late Models would sign in to race at Stuart with most of the I-80 local participants staying West of the Iowa border on Wednesday but the race did gain five new entrants for Wednesday included strong runners Ryan Gustin, Mitch McGrath and Frankie Heckenast. Gustin would later be right in the midst of the race night controversy at night's end.
Along with the Late Models, track promoter Mike Van Genderen would also race all five of the classes that make up a part of his weekly show. And while I understand why he raced all his classes on this night to help swell his pit area count on a brutally cold April night when even though he had a great special attraction to offer the spectator crowd was not good, it just might have been a little bit too much as evidenced by the fact that the curfew caught them and two feature races had to be postponed until next week.
For the second straight night MLRA had issues with their timing as they had trouble recording laps for a number of the cars and finally ended up having to move to single car qualifying to get the job done. You would think that they would test everything out during hot laps to make sure all systems are go but I am no expert on this so I don't know all the issues involved. What I do know is that as a fan it is frustrating to have to sit though any longer than necessary time trials and the only important part of them, the results, can't seem to be reported due to technical problems. They have one more chance on Thursday at Davenport to hopefully get it right. Wrestling with this problem, the show started nearly forty five minutes late, something a MVG produced race never does.
MVG also spent more time than usual working on the track between events but quickly as he always does. Perhaps it was the finicky nature of the Late Models or the strong wind that was blowing right across the track all day but he spent much more time on the track as usual and unfortunately, much like opening night, we had to eat a little dust until he got everything just as he wanted.
However, it was more than worth the inconvenience as the track was great for the Late Model feature which is the ultimate goal. It was black and slick, top to bottom and produced a great feature race that was unfortunately tainted by post race activity. Heckenast, Stovall and Gustin were the prime contenders and they went back and forth for the lead throughout the race. A couple times they made their cars fit through holes that didn't seem possible and they worked every inch of the track. Stovall made a great run for the lead but then Gustin did him one better late in the race when he went to the top side in earnest and was able to drive past Jesse and then hold off a late charge for an exciting win.
The spectators all left the track thinking that Gustin was the winner and with track officials hustling the program along due to the cold and the late hour, there were no post race interviews to clue us in on what was actually happening.
I would imagine that many fans are not learning until this am that Gustin was indeed disqualified and Stovall was the winner. I am by no means a tech wizard and don't understand all the inner workings of suspension parts etc. on race cars but it was reported that some suspension part on his chassis was bent and it was supposed to be straight. I must admit that other than tires and weight, I didn't know that there was much that couldn't be done to a Late Model to the point that it would be disqualified. Gustin has been running a national tour and national events all Spring and I can't imagine that he put on a special part just for a five grand to win race in central Iowa so I must assume that he has been running the part in question for some time. So my feeling is that he either never got caught under some other sanctioning body or MLRA rules are different than other groups. And I find that hard to believe given that MLRA seems to be trying to emulate their "big brothers" at Lucas Oil. This whole area is one that has always frustrated me about rules enforcement in racing and yet never seems to change.
In any event, it was a great win for Stovall and after all the bad luck he has had so far this year, he as much as anyone in the pits has needed a win to get him going. Perhaps this will be the thing that turns his season around. The top five in the adjusted finish would showcase good runs by both Garrett Alberson and Chris Simpson who both needed to get their seasons going in a better direction and Timm would get a top five finish he was looking for.
Part of the problem at trying to get the whole show in on Wednesday was that the Sport Mods and Stock Cars, both of which usually run nonstop or with very few yellow flags in their main events, both were yellow flag plagued on this night. A variety of spins kept the yellow one five times during the Sport Mod feature and led to a single file restart procedure. The winner was no surprise as Brayton Carter moved from the second row quickly and cruised to an easy win as he and his brother are both very hard to beat at this track. Brett Vanderheiden would get a solid run to finish second with Cam Reimers third.
There was no surprise either in the Stock Car main when Dallon Murty crossed the line as the winner. What was a surprise as this class, frequently green to checkered in their mains, was slowed six times by spins and crashes. And it was truly a heart break adventure for Bob Daniels who led for seventeen of the twenty laps.
Most of the race, he hugged the low groove and kept the Murty family occupied as they tried different lines to pass him but just couldn't quite get the job done. Time after time, following yet another yellow, Daniels would take off hugging the bottom and either Dallon or Damon would try to race around him but just couldn't quite get past but would keep trying, lap after lap.
However, everything changed following a lap seventeen yellow when Daniels tried to take off and he lost power immediately, dumping fluid all over the track and ending his night after a great run. Dallon would inherit the lead and drive off in the final three laps for the win. Jeremy Gettler was the story of he race though, as he started sixteenth and drove to the front, still passing cars on the last lap to get second over Buck Schafroth.
A strangely small Modified field was also able to get their main in and this race did run off nonstop. California invader Shane Devolder would start on the outside pole and would drive away from the field, never being challenged as he drove to the win in impressive fashion. At the end, Tim Ward was starting to catch him but never got close enough to provide a stiff challenge. Cayden Carter started too far back to get to the front but he did manage to drive from ninth to third at the end.
The Sport Compacts tried to run their feature race after the Late Models were done. Most folks had already left the stands and those left were likely frozen to their aluminum seats and couldn't move!
In any event, the event took the green and pole sitter Clayton Portwood spun broadside in turn one and got nailed very hard right in the driver's door by another car, triggering an immediate red flag. Emergency vehicles raced to the scene to aid the driver and with the hour being late, and some time needed to attend to the driver and clean up the accident and with curfew approaching, it was decided to call it a night and run double features for this class and the Hobby Stocks, who didn't get to race their main either. As I left the grandstand I ran into MVG who said he believed the driver to be OK but that the decision to halt things at this point a good one for all. An update later found that both drivers involved in this grinding wreck were taken to area hospitals and while both did suffer some injuries, thankfully neither had serious injuries as indeed it was a very hard hit at a most vulnerable point in a race car.
It was a good night of racing and the Late Model feature itself was very good, and it was unfortunate that things played out as they did, but that's racing, as they say. Thanks to MVG and his crew as usual and we hope he had a strong pay-per-view for this race as with the brutal weather conditions he knew that his at the track crowd was not going to be good yet he still went on with the show, thus not disappointed the traveling drivers and die hard fans like myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment