The 2021 dirt track racing season in the state of Nebraska,, one that we all hope will be an uninterrupted and full one, began on Friday night, April 2nd at the Kosiski family I-80 Speedway midway between Omaha and Lincoln and as the name implies, within sight of interstate 80. This would be only the second race in the entire state so far this year with Beatrice having managed to get one race in earlier this Spring.
Friday night was night one of the annual Spring Meltdown at the track, this year featuring the Malvern Bank 360 Sprint Cars, the Malvern Bank West Super Late Model Series and the track's own Sport Mod division. The former two classes were running preliminary feature races in advance of their big money mains on Saturday night while the Sport Mods were making a one night stand before they get replaced as the third division on Saturday night with the Modifieds.
It was a spectacular day for just the second day in April with temperatures in the seventy degree range, a bright April sun with the down side only being the blast force winds screaming out of the South that never relented over the course of the day or evening. However, those winds were also the factor in the warm temperatures as sometimes you have to take some bad to get the good.
The troublesome winds however, would make track prep a challenge, particularly for opening night on a new racing surface refreshed for the 2021 season. But I must say that the track prep crew, under the direction of Steve Kosiski, did a magnificent job of giving the drivers a great track. Yes it did turn slick from top to bottom but there is nothing wrong with that as long as drivers can pass and we saw that all night. There was a touch of dust but those same strong winds that produced the dust also swept it far away from the grandstands and there was not so much as a hint of dust in the stands. Corner two would prove to be the tricky spot as everyone tended to slid up toward the wall exiting that corner and several drivers had hard contact with the concrete or were forced up into the wall when the driver running below them on the track moved up and pinching them off.
This would be the first point race of the year for the Malvern Bank West SLMR group and a field of twenty seven Late Models signed in to race on Friday night. I must admit that I expected more like thirty five to forty cars for this race but perhaps my expectations were a bit too high. I did, however, expect to see more SLMR East regulars on hand then there were and the only really out of region driver to join the field was South Dakota's Gary Brown Jr.
Also on hand were twenty six 360 Sprints with several cars on hand from both North Dakota and the Knoxville area. It seems that Malvern Bank is the name associated with all racing in eastern Nebraska now as they have taken over the sponsorship and administration of the former Nebraska 360 group too.
The Sport Mods had a very nice turnout of cars with thirty one of them signing in to race with a mix of weekly competitors and a number of drivers from both central Nebraska and western Iowa on hand too for what was likely the first race for nearly all of them.
I am just not able to escape the qualifying method of time trials for Late Models so far this year as even the Malvern Bank West series did qualifying on this night. However, I must say that if time trials must be done that I-80 did about the best job I have seen of making it a quick and rather painless process. They qualified four cars at a time and with their outstanding scoreboard, they were able to project the times so everyone could see them and not have to rely on the announcer to try and get that information out. Nearly as much of a peeve to me as time trials are the fact that when they are done, the track seldom does a decent job of getting that info out to the fans so if they are that important, then shouldn't the fans at least be made aware of how everyone is doing? I-80 has that covered. Tad Pospisil was blazing fast in qualifying, being the only driver under eighteen seconds and almost a half second quicker than the second fastest qualifier.
And let's recognize the fact that I-80 is certainly one of the very premier facilities in the entire Midwest as just about every part of their operation is top notch. I would be hard pressed to name many tracks that can hold a candle to their operation.
The Late Models ran a rather unusual format for their opening night action. After qualifying, they ran heat races with what appeared to be a six car invert for the heats and then qualified for the feature based on passing points. How they keep the fast cars from "sandbagging" I'm not sure, but the passing points appeared the set the lineups for the feature, straight up.
However, everyone ran a feature on Friday as the field was split into two groups that both ran main events of fifteen laps with each winner receiving fifteen hundred dollars. This format led me to believe that they were also planning on more cars being on hand than did actually show up.
The first feature started fourteen cars for fifteen laps and there were three different leaders during that rather short event. J.C. Wyman led first off the pole but was passed on lap three by Brian Kosiski. However, Kosiski could not hold off Pospisil who would make the winning pass on lap ten. Pospisil would then pull away from the field during the last five laps for a strong victory over B. Kosiski, Andrew Kosiski, Ben Schaller and Wyman.
The second feature saw Josh Leonard take the early lead and hold the front spot for the first three laps. The only yellow of the two mains was triggered when Zach Zeitner was forced up into the turn two wall while battling for the lead.
Billy Leighton Jr got a great restart and he came from the third position to take the lead the next lap and then pull away for the win. Trying to keep up with him and finishing second was Jesse Sobbing, who seems to drive in virtually every class available to dirt trackers at one point or another. Leonard would settle for third ahead of Todd Cooney and Corey Zeitner.
The 360 Sprints would have three heats and a B Feature to set their twenty car field for their twenty five lap main event. Terry McCarl would sit on the pole and with him in that position, he seemed like a strong candidate to wire the field. And the first ten laps would follow that exact pattern at McCarl took the lead and stretched it out in the early going. There was a good battle for second between Clint Garner, Lee Grosz and Chris Martin.
Martin would eventually gain the second spot and when McCarl got hung up in traffic, Martin would gain much ground on him and was in position to steal the lead when he blew a right rear tire and triggered the first yellow with ten laps complete. Just at the same time, Jack Dover was on the charge after starting tenth, and he nipped past Grosz to take over second with Martin falling out just as the yellow waved.
The race had a tough time getting going thereafter, with two quick yellows slowing the action. Finally however, the last thirteen laps would go green and it was a McCarl-Dover battle for the lead. Terry was able to hold off Jack until lap nineteen when Dover blew by on the high side and proceeded to pull away during the last six laps to record a strong victory. Grosz hung on for third ahead of Jason Martin and Garner.
The Sport Mods did a nice job with their main event also with twenty of them scheduled to go eighteen laps for their finale. Defending track champion Matt Andrews started on the pole and again it seemed like a wire to wire victory might be in the cards but once again that theory was shot up, this time by a hard charging Devyn Peterson. However, before that it was Rick Rohr who would surprise Andrews and get the jump on him and lead the first eight laps. But Peterson was very quick and moved up after starting sixth and following a yellow for debris, he blew past Rohr to take over the lead.
Andrews found himself in second and tried to stay with the leader but Peterson managed to hold a several car lengths lead throughout the contest. Both Andrews and Rohr ran into late race problems with Andrews fading back to fifth in the last couple of laps and Rohr breaking and heading for the infield.
At the line, it was Peterson comfortably in front with Tyler Nerud charging up to second and closely followed by Adam Armstrong. Brian Osantowski and Andrews would complete the top five.
I-80 is one of those tracks that knows how to run off a quick racing program and it was shortly after 10 pm that the final checkered flag waved and with the running order of events, many of the wind swept fans had already matriculated toward their vehicles in the parking lot before the final checkered waved. It was a solid night of racing for the opening night event and more is expected on Saturday night.
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