Happy B-Day to Kay; Dubuque Title and Feature Winner

 A rather lengthy stay, by my standards anyway, in the state of Iowa was wrapped up on a beautiful Sunday evening with a visit to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway on Season Championship night at the northeast Iowa facility. 

Four IMCA sanctioned divisions, the Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks would all be racing a full program along with the unsanctioned Four Cylinders for the last regular season program at the fairgrounds track. 

It would turn out to be a nice way to wrap up the weekend and also celebrate his thirty third birthday for Justin Kay as he would highlight the evening by winning both the twenty five lap Late Model feature and guaranteeing the track title at the same time. Other winners on the night would include Matt Gansen, Ryan Schilling, Brandon White and Josh Starr. 

A nice field of eighty seven cars would sign in to race on Sunday plus the AIRS cars were also a part of the program. Interestingly, the last time I was here they were having trouble getting Hobby Stocks and Four Cylinder cars to race and on Sunday those were the two biggest fields with over twenty a piece in each one. Last time there was a nice field of Modifieds but tonight they had by far the lowest car count so there is no way to predict just what might happen from week to week with earlier action this weekend and upcoming events, of which there are some big ones in eastern Iowa over the Labor Day weekend, likely playing a role in who raced and who didn't. 

Another interesting factoid that I noted was that of the eighty seven cars in the pits, thirty of them were from the great state of Wisconsin, a whopping nearly 35% of the field that had crossed the Mississippi River bridge and forged up the hill to race at the fairgrounds and in all five classes that race at the track. To me this high number is quite remarkable given the fact that there is only one race track in all of southwestern Wisconsin to produce interest and cars and such a different situation from just a few years ago when at Dubuque a car from the "Cheesehead state" was a rare sighting indeed with maybe Darren Mish and David McClain often being the only ones. 

Dubuque is one of those tracks that don't have season championships as such and instead just add up the track points and crown their champions that way on the final regular season night. Sometimes that works out great but on this year at Dubuque, things were rather anticlimactic as four of the point leaders had large leads and would only need to start their respective main events in order to claim titles. 

The only one where there was a remote chance of a change was in the Sport Mods where Scott Busch held a nice sized lead over Tyler Soppe and strange things would have to happen for Soppe to overtake Busch but it was technically possible. However, that remote chance went away when Soppe was involved in a late race crash and would be a DNF for the feature. 

Jacob Welter had such a huge lead in the Four Cylinders that after he hit the wall in his heat and went off on the hook with much damage, he celebrated his title from the back of his trailer as he did not even run the main event. Along with Busch and Welter, other winners of titles would be Kay, Timmy Current and Jimmy Doescher. 

It would be a night of contrasts in the main events and also a night to test the patience of track officals and fans alike. While on one end of the spectrum, the Four Cylinders and Late Models would get through thirty seven laps of feature race action with only three yellows and all three were pinned on the Late Models,  the other three classes would produce a mind numbing eighteen yellow flags in fifty laps of racing action, topped by the Hobby Stocks that wore out starter Doug Haack's left and right arm(there were so many yellows I think he had to switch arms midway through their event) with eight yellows that was only one more than the Sport Mods would produce themselves. 

The Late Model feature was one of dominance by Kay after a dandy early race battle between Ron Klein and Nick Marolf. Klein would lead the first four laps after starting on the pole before Marolf would pass him for one lap, only to see Klein return the favor and take the top spot back. 

Meanwhile, Kay, who started tenth, was moving forward with a surgeon's precision, passing cars both high and low as the situation warranted, and by lap nine he moved past Marolf to take over the lead. NIck stayed close for a lap or two but then Justin moved to the low groove and would then gradually pull away with the last fourteen laps of the race running off nonstop. 

Kay would be an easy winner over Marolf and Luke Merfeld who raced his way up from twelfth to finish thrd. 

The Four Cylinders would start nineteen cars in their main event and to everyone's surprise and shock(at least mine), they would run off their main event nonstop from green to checkered. This race appeared as if two classes were running together, the Four Cylinders and the Super Four Cylinders, as Starr and Joe Zrostlik were so much faster than the rest of the field as to be quite ridiculous. They were nearly a half lap in front of the rest of the field as they three wheeled their way around the track, lifting their left rear tires as a dog does when he is looking for a fire hydrant. 

Starr got to the front first and Zrostlik couldn't catch him as they finished first and second. Is it coincidental that Starr has raced Modifieds and Zrostlik Late Models? I think not. Noah Krahenbuhl would finish first in class and third overall. This race, while not having a yellow flag, did finish under the checkered/yellow when John W. Campbell slammed the back stretch wall on the final tour. He would be OK but not so much his car. 

Eight mind numbing yellows would slow the Hobby Stock feature with Brandon White, who took the lead on lap two, taking the win. He had to show great patience as with all the yellows, one slip up on a restart could have ended his chance for victory. David Crimmins was his main challenger as he took second on lap four and would chase White on every restart. 

Doescher would first appear in the top five on lap eleven but would then advance quickly as he passed a couple of cars and a couple in the top five managed to take each other out, elevating the others. A two lap sprint to the checkers saw things get exciting but White would hold off Doescher and Crimmins to get the hard fought win. Fortunately, White's car was faster than it looked as to all appearances it was the plainest looking car on the grounds but it was indeed fast enough to drive home for the win. 

A two car collision on lap one would set the pattern for the Sport Mods, who came up just one yellow shy of matching the Hobby Stock futility. Grant Manthe would be the early leader of this race with Schilling closely following until lap eight when Grant would make the pass for the lead. There would be one burst of green flag racing before four yellows in the last five laps would bog things down again. 

Busch would start eleventh but with patience and the lack of same by some of the competition, he would find himself up to second with a pass on Manthe with two laps to go. The pressure was on Schilling at the end but he responded with a couple of solid laps and would come home the winner ahead of Busch and Manthe. 

After starting off with a collision on the opening lap, the Modifieds would respond with fifteen clean laps before a couple of slowdowns near the end. After Tyler Kleiner led a couple of laps, it would be Matt Gansen who would drive into the lead after starting seventh. He would then build up a big lead over the field as "Darkside's" Duhme and Current would move into the top three. 

The late race yellows made for nervous time for Gansen but he got away good on both late restarts and would earn the win over the Darkside duo. 

The track seemed to be in fine shape for racing so I'm not just sure what the problems were that caused all the restarts other than over driving but people like Kay showed that there were plenty of grooves to race on and make passes without ending them by spinning donuts. Despite all the yellows, the whole program was completed before 10 pm. 

Thanks to everyone at Dubuque for a fine season of racing but it isn't over quite yet though. Despite the regular season coming to a close, they still have some big events on the schedule. On September 23rd, a Thursday night, the SLMR Late Models will be having a big show at the track and then on October 14-16, Darkside Promotions will be having a three night event at the Fairgrounds featuring Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts racing at some point over the weekend. Check their face book page for more information on that event. 

Moran Dominates The Last Seventy of the Quad Cities 150; Thirty Thousand Dollars Heads to Ohio

 The final night of the first annual Quad Cities 150, held at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport Iowa, was held on Saturday night, August 28th and Devin Moran would take his second win of the weekend. Leading all but one lap, Moran would earn a tidy check for $30,000 for his efforts to go along with the ten thousand dollars he won for the opening night victory on Thursday night. 

IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods would also have their third straight full program of the weekend with their biggest checks of the weekend on the line also and the winners would be Jeff Aikey in the Modifieds and Tyler Soppe in the Sport Mods. 

It was another explosively hot and humid day in the Heartland and the late afternoon provided a scare when a renegade pop up thundershower would build just to the West of the track, getting everyone just a bit nervous. However, after depositing about fifty drops of rain on the fairgrounds, it dissipated just as fast as it built up, the sun came burning back out and the steam bath returned. This area had been walking on a weather tightrope all weekend with large doses of rain falling to the North but the eastern Iowa region was spared any threat of this gigantic weekend of racing being threatened. 

Having lost a couple more Late Models on Friday night to blown motors, a field of thirty one would fight it out for twenty four qualifying spots and a minimum of a grand to start the Late Model feature. Big fields of thirty eight Mods and thirty one Sport Mods would fight it out to get into their respective fields too with two thousand and fifteen hundred bucks to the winners coming for those two races. 

Four heat races and a pair of B Features would set the the starting grid for the twenty four car World of Outlaw main event. In a refreshing change, there would be no time trials for the Late Models on this night as points accumulated in the first two nights of racing would set the  grids for the heat races. However, there was a last minute development in the lineups when several drivers skipped the required autograph session earlier and their penalty was to go to the rear of their respective heat races. The most significant change saw Garrett Alberson not make the feature through his heat and have to run a B Feature but much later he might have been sorry that he made the main after he nosed into the berm in turn one and cart wheeled off the banking on lap ten of the feature. He would be unhurt and would get the award for tallest somersault of the weekend. 

After two nights of some struggles with the racing surface to make it like it has been most of the year here at Davenport, they picked the right night to hit things correctly as Ricky Kay prepared a surface that allowed the drivers to race all over the track for seventy laps and also gave them a berm to race off of. After either not taking the time earlier in the week or not being allowed the time to hit the track one last time before feature racing, depending on who's telling the story, everything fell into place and the drivers were given the kind of track that they were looking for. 

Moran was clearly the dominant driver, leading all but lap five when Brandon Sheppard was able to slip to his outside and lead one lap before Moran got past him but while Devin controlled most of the race, there were still some periods when his lead was under the gun and also much going on behind him. 

Sheppard followed him for much of the early race with Bobby Pierce moving into third while Jimmy Mars, Boom Briggs, Ryan Gustin, Chris Madden and several others all fought a spirited battle behind them as they jockeyed for position. By the halfway point Mars had moved to fourth with Briggs and Gustin close behind. 

Following a yellow when Shannon Babb slipped off the end of the track, Pierce got past Sheppard for second and put the pressure on Moran. Twice Pierce threw nasty sliders at the leader, taking the lead on one end of the track, only to see Moran return the favor and be scored the leader of that lap also. 

Almost unnoticed was Brian Shirley who was slowly but methodically working his way to the front and after being scored eighth at the halfway point, he really started advancing as he used the low side of the track. 

With Moran still in control, things got very testy for the second spot and on lap sixty five, Pierce and Madden, fighting for that spot, got together with it appearing the Pierce got the back of Madden and turned him on the back chute. The yellow flew and while Madden kept moving, he was forced to use the "blend in" rule of the Outlaws and he fell to sixth in the running order while Pierce was able to retain second, much to the majority of the crowd's displeasure. 

The last ten laps saw Moran pull away again but many were pleased when Shirley drove under Pierce and took away the second spot. Those two also had several close misses on the back chute as they battled for second. Moran would drive on to take the win uncontested with Shirley second while Pierce jumped over the banking on the last corner in an effort to retake second and would lose two spots as Briggs and Sheppard would get past him in the last corner. 

After the race, Madden and Pierce would exchange pleasantries while being careful not to touch each other which would have resulted in disqualifications. I suspect we have not heard the last between these two following this "dust up" and while he has some very loyal followers, Pierce seems to be fitting in very nicely as the Midwest "Bad Boy."

However, Moran was clearly the best in this race and he maintained that edge throughout the seventy laps of the feature, which went by very fast on this quarter mile. 

Special mention should be made of the great run by Briggs who was very much a factor throughout the race while finishing a strong third and I must also mention the job that Mike Fryer did too. After racing two nights and being low in points, David Webster turned the seat of his #44w Late Model over to Mike Fryer who had driven the car previously and was on hand to race his Modified. Fryer then did the unthinkable as he came from the back in his heat to qualify for the feature race and though he dropped out early with a smoking engine, just the fact that he was able to qualify was quite remarkable. In fact, while he made the Late Model feature, he was edged out on the last corner of making the Modified feature in a B. 

The top twenty four Modifieds would start their twenty lap main event and with a tremendous opening lap charge, Jeff Aikey would come from the outside of row two to take the lead on the opening lap. He would surrender that lead for one lap to Mitch Morris on lap five but then pick up the pace and retake the top spot just a lap later. He would then lead the rest of the way, gradually pulling away in what would be a nonstop main event. 

Shane Devolder and Morris would battle for much of the race for second before Devolder would yield his position to the hard charges of Ethan Braaksma and Cayden Carter who would come up from the fourth and fifth rows respectively. 

Aikey, who has been known to gamble on starts and restarts, using them to gain an edge with the often being positive and once in a while being set back when he misjudged those starts, seemed to get a great one on this night that allowed him to shoot into the lead on the first lap. However, Jim Sandusky, who was starting in front of Aikey in row one didn't seem to agree, and following the checkered he rammed into the front end of Aikey's car, breaking the right front suspension so that Aikey had to limp to victory lane. 

Even though Sandusky got lapped in the twenty lap feature, he apparently thought the initial start was his downfall, not the eighteen positions he lost during the race and the after event contact cost him a disqualification from the event. 

The Sport Mods got off to the same rocky start that they have had the last couple of nights with two yellow flags in the first four laps but then they settled down and ran the rest of the race green to checkered. I'm not sure just exactly how many laps they did run as it was announced that there would be a deduction in laps for every yellow that was thrown in this race, as the previous night's mains for this class had their "moments". 

Apparently Tyler Soppe showed Aikey how to get to the front quickly as he too came from the second row outside to lead before one lap was completed and then would lead the rest of the way in the Sport Mod feature. While he didn't get rammed following the race, his route to victory was much like the one that Aikey would later take. 

Cole Suckow would chase Soppe all the way after moving up from the third row and Ben Chapman would come all the way up from the fifth row to get third as for the third straight night the /Sport Mods all raced right in the "ditch" with no one having any success at trying a higher line. 

It turned out to be a great three days for this initial event. There were large crowds on hand all three nights and from my perspective it was a very successful event. The crowds seemed enthusiastic and excited to see the Late Models particularly and there were certainly a lot of out of town and out of state fans that drove in to watch this event. Just as a suggestion for the next year, I think they could have gotten by nicely with just one support class which would have allowed them the time to do some extra things and also more time for track prep if needed. The Late Models really needed just one class for a break and it seemed like the whole program was just a bit rushed with the three classes to try and get done before curfew. The Mods put on a good show and they are pretty dependable at racing without a lot of yellows while the Sport Mods struggled all week in that regard. Otherwise, the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds is a great facility for such an event and I see this race as just getting bigger each year. 

Thanks to the folks from the Outlaws and K Promotions for allowing me to be a part of this race. 

Sheppard Tops Night Two at Davenport

 Friday night, August 27th, it was night two of the Quad Cities 150 for the World of Outlaws Late Models plus IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods, all three again racing a full program. It was another blazing hot Iowa day with humidity to match the heat and both combined to make it a mighty uncomfortable day and evening. However, that didn't seem to phase the fans on hand from near and far as for the second straight night a bug crowd would pack the huge old classic grandstand that is as much of the Davenport Speedway scene as perhaps anything on the grounds. 

Not surprisingly, with the format established for this event, there would be no new Late Models in attendance as with the two night points accumulation setting up the heats on Saturday(thankfully one night without qualifying), not being on hand for the first night's points would render anyone without a possible chance to make the Saturday night main. 

However, with this being the regular night for racing at Davenport, there were nearly twenty new cars on hand in the other two classes as a number of weekly competitors that normally race here but couldn't make it for the Thursday night show were on hand Friday. The fact that they are running full shows each of the three nights makes each night a new experience with new cars on hand for each race. 

The Late Models would actually be down two cars from Thursday night with Chad Simpson's documented motor issues sending him home while Vic Benedetto headed back across the river after a poor outing on Thursday night, likely to find a track closer to home and with a slightly less powerhouse field in attendance, where ever that might be. Two more would be lost during the evening on Friday as both Brian Harris and Daniel Hilsabeck appeared to explode motors. 

The exact same format would again be the order of the night for the Late Models with Chris Madden being quickest overall at 13.784 seconds. Four heats and a pair of Last Chance Showdowns would set the twenty four car starting field for the forty lap main event that would be the last point earning race to set the lineups for Saturday night's feature, scheduled for seventy laps. 

It would not be a stretch to admit that probably every one on the grounds, including those in the pits and in the grandstands, would be disappointed in what transpired in the Late Model feature. One thing that I, in my rare visits here, along with the many regulars that attend this track weekly, have found is that Davenport is generally a wide track with many racing grooves that even the finicky ways of the Late Models can make work to allow side by side racing and much passing. 

Sadly, that was not the case on Friday night as the track quickly took rubber on the top lane and everyone lined up and played follow the leader for the course of the event. 

Brandon Sheppard would get the jump and would quickly move to the top where he stayed for forty laps. Bobby Pierce would also move to that groove quickly and would pull into second after passing Feger and Madden.  The best race was for third as Jason Feger had that spot and Devin Moran wanted it in the worst way, pulling slide job after slide job on Feger until he was finally able to squeeze by in turn four. 

Jimmy Mars was the sacrificial lamb on this night as he decided to run the bottom lane and while he nearly got up to third early, eventually he would get hung out to dry and would have to blend back in and by that time he had to slide up behind fellow MB racer Cade Dillard. 

After a first lap yellow when Richie Gustin tangled with Dennis Erb, the last thirty nine laps of the race would go green to checkered. Sheppard would continue to lead with Pierce following closely and everyone else lining up behind them. By the halfway point, the top ten had been established and in a worst cast scenario, not a single position in the top ten was exchanged in the second half of the race. Cars were strung out all the way around the track and all were running in exactly the same groove where the rubber was and no one ventured out of that line. 

The only tricky part was for Sheppard who had to keep Pierce behind him without running up the tail pipe of the slower cars that he had reached. I thought that Pierce would try to pin Sheppard behind a slower car and then try to slide under him and for thirty grand he might have, but on this night he was content to ride along in second and harvest points for Saturday night. 

With only a couple of laps to go, Sheppard caught a break when Justin Kay, who was at the back of the pack and the car Sheppard was running up on, pulled off and that gave Sheppard enough room that he could accelerate enough to keep Pierce behind him. Twenty of the twenty four starters were still running at the finish with all on the lead lap as the train was a long one. 

With their skinnier tires, the Modifieds were able to use a little more of the track with most running right in the ditch but some ventured out on to the rubber stripe left by the Late Models. It was a long way around up there though, and not too many were comfortable racing up that high on the track. 

And one of those that just couldn't seem to decide where he wanted to run was Tom Berry Jr. Berry had taken the lead from the pole but things then slowed down with three yellows in the first five laps including a multi car crash in turn one that saw Jon Werner shoved over on his side. 

When things got straightened out, they than ran the last fifteen laps nonstop. Berry Jr continued to lead but Mike McKinney was pushing him hard. Berry appeared to not be comfortable running the bottom and he then shot up to the top side of the track where he ran a couple of laps. But then McKinney started to pass him so he dived back to the bottom, trying to cut off McKinney at the pass. 

However, Berry Jr  couldn't get his car to turn on the bottom and he slide to the middle of the track, no man's land, and McKinney drove under him for the lead on lap twelve. McKinney would then drive on for the win and while Berry Jr then moved back to the top, it wasn't a fast enough lane to keep Denny Eckrich from passing him for second. Chris Simpson and Brad Dierks would complete the top five in the fine, thirty six car field. 

The Sport Mods would complete the evening and they were all right in the ditch, digging and trying to slide under each other right on the bottom as they tried to gain positions. This led to a rather tedious race with five yellows in the first ten laps as with all cars allowed to start the main and with twenty seven of them answering the call, there was some nonsense going on in the back of the pack. 

Up front, pole sitter Ryan Reed would lead all fifteen laps with Ben Chapman trying and trying some more to get past him. Several times Chapman would get up along side but couldn't get a good enough run off the corners and would have to settle back in line.

Late in the race, Reed would really smooth out his line and start to put distance on the field as his line was effective if extremely boring to watch as he "cat fished" just to the right side of the ute tires in the corners. 

Reed would take the checkered flag and celebrate with a post race interview as this would be the first win of his five year career. But wait a moment! Post race analysis, as provided by My Race Pass would indicate that Reed was disqualified for some unnamed transgression and Chapman would be the winner with Brandon Jewell second and Thursday night winner Logan Velez third. Of all the cars, Velez was the only one able to make ground on the top side of the track as he moved up from eleventh to third. 

Overall, the Friday night show was lacking compared to Thursday night and while I was surprised that nothing was done to the track before the Late Model feature, I can't see that happening again on Saturday. The management of this facility carries too much pride in the great racing conditions that this track rightly brags about and they will do whatever is necessary to provide a top notch surface for Saturday, I believe. 

A late development finds that the state of Wisconsin is under water and no racing will be taking place there on this Saturday so it looks like I will be on hand for night three of the Quad Cities 150. 

Moran Tops Quad Cities 150 Opener

 Thursday night, August 26th found me at the Davenport Speedway at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport Iowa for night one of the Quad Cities 150, a huge three night show for the World of Outlaws Late Models plus three full shows for the IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods as the support classes. 

The first two nights would be qualifying nights for the Late Models but unlike most qualifying nights, both would be at the regular pay for a WoO event, meaning that while everyone was earning points for Saturday night's big finale, they would also be racing for ten grand to win both on Thursday and again on Friday. The support classes would be racing for a very nice purse also along with national points on the first two nights but unsanctioned on Saturday due to other tracks in the area racing on that night. 

It was another scorcher, as it seems to have been for most of the past month and even folks down here, more used to hot temperatures at the end of August than folks like myself, who are already tuning up our snow blowers and lining up our shovels, are complaining. But the big issue on this night was the considerable number of heavy thunderstorms that were blanketing the state of Iowa. Except the Davenport area, it seems. Central Iowa got rocked and also extreme southern Iowa but everything seemed to split as it approached the Quad Cities and never did it even look threatening the whole night. Score one for the good guys. I don't mind sweating as long as I don't have to dodge hailstones. 

With this much money on the line at one place, it was not surprising to have a strong field of race cars sign in to race on Thursday. Thirty eight Late Models would be racing on this night along with well over twenty Sport Mods and thirty IMCA Modifieds. The top nine in WoO points as well as the best from the state of Iowa along with regional stars and the inevitable strong field from across the border in Illinois all made this a very strong field of racers on hand. For this event, the Late Models all got to pit on blacktop in the parking lot just off turn four that according to local racing guru Mike Ruefer, was last used for Late Models way back in the early 2000's. Sport Mods and Mods pitted behind the back straightaway of the half mile amidst all the campers back there. 

For area race fans, the biggest bit of news involving their favorites was that Chad Simpson was debuting a brand new Black Diamond chassis with all new colors. Sadly, unless you were in attendance on Thursday night, you won't get to see that car the rest of the weekend as he blew a motor and with I guess no other powerplants available to him, the car was parked for the rest of the weekend. 

Brandon Sheppard, the first car out for qualifying, set a new track record as he hustled around the quarter mile to the tune of 13.588 seconds. This would be the highlight of Sheppard's night as during the feature race he was just another racer on this night. 

Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the twenty three car starting field as after Simpson qualified in his heat and then scratched out, for some reason they didn't add another starter so thus the odd number for the green flag. 

The forty lap feature would be a showcase for Devin Moran, who would lead thirty nine of the forty laps, only getting passed once on the second lap. He would take the lead from the outside pole, lose the lead for one lap to Chris Madden, and then fight his way back into the top spot. 

Moran started by working the outside line but quickly migrated to the low groove, as did most of the field. Madden chose to stay out on the high side and it would cost him as he went straight backward, barely holding on to a top ten finish. It would seem that the moisture hung around right on the tires on the bottom of the track and that was where everyone needed to be for success. 

After Madden faded, the main challenger to Moran was Bobby Pierce who was up to second by lap six when the first yellow appeared when Ryan Gustin went flying off the track. Pierce would then dog Moran the rest of the way, sometimes very close and sometimes falling a few car lengths behind, depending on how both caught the corners. 

After a yellow on lap twelve, the last twenty eight laps would spin off nonstop and with about a dozen laps to go, Pierce would make his strongest charge, nearly getting a nose under Moran off turn two. Both were trying to fight their way past Jason Feger who they were lapping and the lapped cars were running the same line and things got dicey. 

Pierce shot to the top, hoping that Feger would block Moran and he could sneak by but at that same time the doors opened and Moran would shoot under Feger and then have clear sailing. Pierce was not able to mount any kind of charge in the remaining laps and would settle for second as Moran would drive home for the win. 

A battle of Illinois drivers saw Frankie Heckenast outduel Shannon Babb to get the third spot and Nick Hoffman had a fine run in the Bloomquist car to complete the top five as only three drivers would not complete the full race and only two were a lap down.  Point leader Sheppard would settle for seventh as he spent too much time trying to make the high side work and it never really came in at all. 

Three big heats and a B Feature would set the field for the Modified feature with twenty four cars going twenty laps. And it would be Jordan Hicks who would start on the pole and would lead all twenty laps in a strong performance that would net his a grand. As in the Late Models, most of the field was running the low side and bumping around the hub with them bouncing around as they sought and grabbed traction. 

Hicks would get a strong challenge early from Timmy Current and Mitch Morris but he would not make a mistake and would continue to hold them off. The race would go thirteen laps before the first yellow waved and then, in total, there were only two yellows during the contest. Morris would become the primary challenger for the second half of the race with Tim Ward recovering after a bad start to also move back into a challenging role. 

The last yellow set up a three lap sprint to the finish and Ward decided to try the high side and made a late rush, getting by Morris for second and closing the gap on the leader but Hicks would drive home for the win. UMP Modified star Mike McKinney would come home fourth with Brad Dierks one to pound the cushion to fifth. I believe that McKinney was driving the car of Ryan Duhme that had been reskinned in McKinney trim and numbers and sporting sponsorship from event sponsor Hoker Trucking. 

A big disappointment was when Kenny Schrader, on hand to race his Modified, had some sort of problems and scratched out of the whole night of racing. 

Logan Veloz was "the man" in the Sport Mods as he took the lead on lap six and would lead the rest of the way in a strong performance to win the Sport Mod feature, which would start all twenty two cars that were running for their fifteen lap main. Veloz would earn $750 for his win. 

The first five laps were led by northern Iowa invader Jimmy Broszeit, driving a car that I last saw with Cole Suckow behind the wheel. He would start on the pole and lead early but Veloz would waste little time in challenging him for the top spot and would burst past and take over the point. 

Once in front, there was not touching him and with the race going green the last nine laps, no one would catch the break they needed with a bunched up field. Suckow would hold on for second after a good battle with Brandon Jewell while Todd Dykema and Ben Chapman would complete the top five. Top contender Tyler Soppe was a no show for the feature after breaking in his heat race and Chuck Fox did also not run the main after rolling in his heat after flying off the banking in turn one. He was uninjured in his wreck. 

To be perfectly honest, the racing was not quite up to par with what I had seen here before this year as while their were instances when drivers were running side by side and using the whole track, all three divisions just didn't seem capable on this night of making the high side work and most were running the "ditch" exclusively. However, I expect that to change as racing continues on Friday night. There were seats available last night, so if you're interested in seeing some of the finest Late Model drivers in the country, the green flag flies at 7 pm both on Friday and Saturday. 

Point Titles Decided During the Last Beaver

 I have been trying to get to "The Beaver " all Summer and it's a good thing I didn't wait any longer as Wednesday night, August 25th, was the last race of the 2021 season at the Buena Vista Speedway, or the BVR or even better, the "Beaver." It seemed like either the schedules didn't work out or the weather didn't cooperate, including one Wednesday I made it as far as Storm Lake before they canceled and that was a long and miserable night killing time at the hotel. 

But the final Wednesday night was a good one and even though it was another Iowa steam bath, it was worth it to finally make the long trip pay off. On this final night, the five IMCA sanctioned classes that routinely race at BVR would be in action along with a "King of the Hill" event for the Hobby Stocks last on the card. 

This would also be the last night for track points and incredibly, three of the divisions had a tie for the lead going into the last night of racing while the other two classes had a five point margin in one and eighteen in the other, all five of which would be decided as there was not a large enough margin to ensure the title without racing. 

Sixty two cars signed in to race in the five classes on the final night. Included were one of the larger Hobby Stock fields of the year with twenty of them and the Modifieds had enough cars for two heats on this night, something that often doesn't happen. Only the Stock Cars and Sport Compact lagged on this night. 

Promoter Trent Chinn is an incredibly busy guy at this track as it seems that he is in charge of everything here and he meets himself coming and going from time to time. However, I was able to steal just a minute or two away from him to ask a couple of questions. He informed that he definitely would be returning as the promoter at Spencer next year as they had a really great season, as just about everyone knows. They still have two more races on their agenda during the Clay County Fair in September that will include Late Models, 410 Sprints and all the classes that race at Spencer routinely. 

BVR is still up in the air at this point. Trent will need to talk to the Fair Board after the season is over before making any decisions about 2022 as his contract was for just one season and talks must take place before anything is decided for next year. Trent will still have some track prep assignments on his plate besides Spencer as he has been traveling to Texas weekly with MVG to do the track prep at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track and Trent will also be involved with track prep for Vegas in November and Bristol next Spring again. He sound just about as busy as MVG and that takes some doing. 

Although I must confess that I don't know as many of the racers down here as I do up North, I did take a moment to talk to one this night. Jackson Mulder was making his first ever start in the Modified class at the BVR on Wednesday. His story is an interesting one as his closest race track is Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids where he races a B Mod under USRA rules and actually, he took one of his B Mods and converted it into an IMCA Mod which he was racing on this night. There aren't too many racers that run regularly under different sanctioning bodies but Jackson is one that does. On this night, something happened to his car during his heat and he failed to start the main event. 

When they dropped the first green flag I made a discovery and that was another in a long line of track scoreboards that aren't operating this year. I'm not sure if repair parts for scoreboards are as scarce as racing tires, but there sure seem to be a lot of scoreboards that just aren't lighting up the night this year. 

All right, let's get into those five point battles that will settle track titles. The heat races spun off at record speed with nine qualifying events being completed in thirty nine minutes. We then took some time to give some bikes away and give the kids rides in the race cars. Then it was time for feature racing. About the only thing significant during the heats was that the Stock Car racing brothers of David and Devin Smith both had trouble in the heat with a flat for one and a yellow causing tap in the bumper for the other but since both with near the back in a small Stock Car feature, it wasn't as devastating as it could have been. 

Kaytee Devries and Caine Mahlberg were tied in points heading into the last Sport Compact feature of the night. She would start in row two of the feature while Mahlberg had a bad heat and would start in row four. Colton Ransom would lead the first lap of the nonstop feature race before Corey Namanny would pass him and take over the lead. Devries was right behind Namanny  and would challenge him several times for the lead. 

However, Namanny would not give up control and he would go on for the win. Devries would finish a strong second and after Mahlberg had yet another bad race, finishing eighth, Kaytee would be track champion by five points. 

After three smooth Hobby Stock heats, their feature race was absolute craziness. There were so many spins and other forms of accidents including cars flying off the ends of the track and crackups, I almost lost count. 

Going into this race, Mike Smith had the biggest lead of any of the five point leaders as he was eighteen points in front of James Johnson and seemed pretty comfortable. That is, until they dropped the green flag and because Smith didn't have a good heat, we was starting fifteenth on the grid. One of the back markers spun right in front of him, clipped him and tore the rear end of his car loose. He was done almost before he got started and was scored twentieth in the field. Now, it was a question of whether or not Johnson could gain enough spots to make up the difference after he started tenth. All the yellows helped him and he advanced to the fourth position. 

Meanwhile, a great battle saw Drew Barglof holding off Dillon Magnussen for the lead with Magnussen throwing big sliders at Barglof who managed to hold him off through five yellows. Unfortunately, yellow number six was for Barglof himself as he broke just as Magnussen passed him for the top spot. 

With this being the sixth yellow, they pulled the pin on this event two laps early and threw the checkered with Magnussen the winner over Dylan Fitzpatrick and Johnson. However, Johnson came up just short on the points and Smith hung on by the narrow margin of two points to be the champion. 

The Sport Mods saw Tim Rupp leading Rusty Montague by five points as they rolled off for the last feature of the year. Rupp would lead the opening laps as he wanted to end up with a bang. However, Jake Sachau had plenty to say too. 

He put heavy pressure on Rupp as they exchanged slide jobs in a very entertaining battle. Finally, Sachau was able to change up and attack low on the track and he was able to slip into the lead down the back chute. Once in front, he was able to pull away slightly while Rupp and Zech Norgaard had another great battle, this time for second. Norgaard took the spot but late in the contest, Rupp was able to take it back and he would finish second behind Sachau while Norgaard would settle for third. With Rupp finishing second and Montague settling for seventh, it was Rupp the champ by ten points. 

There was tension in the Smith family as brothers David and Devin were flat out tied as they dropped the green flag for the last feature of the season. However, David made a great move right off the bat as he came from the fourth row and quickly worked his way into second behind Brian Blessington. While those two put on a heck of a battle for the lead, they managed to also pull away from the pack where Devin was stuck in traffic. 

The race for the lead was a dandy with David getting to the inside of Blessington but Brian simply refused to yield. David took the lead for one lap but Brian then fought back and took over the point once again and in the last few laps, put some distance on David as he drove on for a very satisfying win. David would settle for second but with Devin stuck in sixth, David would take the title by four points. 

The battle in the Modifieds was essentially settled before the green flag even flew. Going into the race, Jesse Rogotzke and Chris Abelsen were the third pair to be tied in the points. However, with both scheduled to start in the third row of the feature race, it looked like a real war would develop. 

However, everything changed when the car scheduled to start on the outside pole opted to go to the tail and Abelsen was able to advance one row ahead of Rogotzke. That would be all he would need as he got ahead of Rogotzke right at the start and then battled with Doug Smith for the win. Rogotzke got mired in the pack and couldn't fight his way up into the top five. Abelsen tried hard, but found Smith just too tough on this night as Doug would drive on for his first ever Modified feature win at BVR. Abelsen would settle for the track title by four points. 

The evening would conclude with a King of the Hill event for the Hobby Stocks with Brandon Nielsen earning two hundred bucks for topping Johnson in the finale. . 

Thanks to Trent Chinn and everyone at "The Beaver" for a good night of racing and with a nice crowd in the stands, a good way to conclude their season. 

   

Mahder Tops Dirk Kings at MTS

 The Dirt Kings Late Model tour would make their last western Wisconsin visit of 2021 with a Friday night trip to Bob Timm's Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin for the  Rumble by the River 40, with an enhanced purse including $5,000 to the winner on Hurco night at the speedway. Along with the Late Models, USRA sanctioned Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and B Mods would all be racing on another Wisconsin "cooker" of a night. Everyone, including track officials, were keeping an eye peeled toward the western horizon on this night, as predicted storms for late in the evening would keep everyone moving at top speed and monitoring the situation on phone radar. 

The Dirt Kings Late Model tour is the only all Wisconsin based traveling Late Model series in the Badger state and while the majority of their races are held on the eastern side of the state, occasionally they do get to the western side of the state and this would be one of those fairly rare visits to the left coast of Wisconsin. 

The Dirt Kings are a loyal group to their series, recognizing the this tour is one of the very few things going that keeps Late Model racing operational in eastern Wisconsin since only two tracks run Late Models in eastern Wisconsin on a weekly basis and of course, both race on Saturday nights! If not for the Dirt Kings, which visit a lot of eastern Wisconsin tracks that would otherwise not have a single Late Model show, their offerings would be far and few between. This is one of the biggest reasons why they get such strong support, even though many of their races are not for what you would call top dollars with this being one of their bigger races of the year. On this night, nine of the top ten in points and fifteen of the top twenty would be in attendance, even though for many the trip would be four or more hours to this western Wisconsin track. Helping to supplement the races on this side of the state are the WISSOTA regulars from the area and a few drivers that run open motors. Of course, Red Cedar in Menomonie was running on this night only an hour away so that helped to split the WISSOTA cars but there was still a solid field of twenty five Late Models in attendance with it not being totally surprising that Rodney Sanders was also on hand with both his Late Model and Modified. 

My only problem with this series, which mixes open motors, spec motors and crate motors, is that only on the half mile tracks do they require a restrictor on the open motors so on a very fast , high banked third mile like MTS, the spec engine cars, which they need to make things fly especially on this side of the state, go into battle giving up one hundred or more horsepower to the open motor cars with their also being a surprisingly high number of eastern Wisconsin cars that also are running a spec engine too, partly a throwback to the days when eastern Wisconsin tracks were also WISSOTA sanctioned and partly due to the cost factor. However, due to the high quality of the spec engine cars in this area and a group of top notch drivers, they still manage to be very competitive, thank you, and later on this night, we would see that take place when a spec engine car would win the five grand top prize. One thing that the Dirt Kings do that gives everyone a better chance is not run time trials but instead draw for starting positions and then use passing points to line up the main events. This is so much better in my mind, allows the track to start their show right on time and also doesn't wear out the fast groove with all those pointless laps on the same part of the track in this heat that kills the surface and makes the heat races most often very boring. Instead we saw four heats where Gunner Frank, Troy Springborn and Jimmy Mars, among others, made some real progress passing cars and thus improving their starting position for the main event. 

With their major improvements this Spring including the addition of several thousand high rise bleachers behind the old slabs where most people sat in lawn chairs, MTS has really upped their game and certainly would be in the conversation as one of top tracks in the Midwest for sure. And they continue to improve things with more plans for 2022 that include tiered parking for spectators, a new campground adjacent to the track and enlarging the pit area. They have also really upped their marketing and even the hot laps had a sponsor on this night!

Twenty four of the twenty five Late Models would start the forty lap main event which would turn out to be a very entertaining race. While the statistics will show that Chad Mahder led all forty laps, it was not near as easy as that sounds and would not factor in the great battles for positions that we saw, the wild negotiating through lapped traffic and the nasty slide jobs that eliminated a couple cars and certainly have opened the door for some follow up, repayments planned for the future. 

Mahder would take the lead from the outside pole and running right up against the wall, set a blistering pace. Dustin Sorensen would move into second and strong early runs were also shown by Gunner Frank, Taylor Schleffler and James Giossi. Lapped traffic would become a factor early and the leaders were challenged to get through the traffic smoothly but quickly. Sorensen was pushing Mahder hard for the lead and made a couple of attempts to get past but was repelled. 

Suddenly the character of the race changed when Sorensen slowed when his motor went up in a cloud of smoke and triggered the yellow on lap twenty eight, which would be the only yellow of the whole race. 

The restart was frantic with everyone of the opinion that they must get to the top of the track quickly with Scheffler throwing a wicked slider on Frank which saw them tangle and Scheffler get a flat tire and be done. With their being a huge clot of drivers racing together during this scramble , a couple found great openings to advance. Mars went from sixth to second on the restart and Nick Anvelink went from seventh to third. 

Meanwhile, the war continued among a few of the drivers. Jake Timm was throwing nasty sliders like there was no tomorrow as first he tangled with Frank which would eventually cause Frank to slow and pull off after he had put on perhaps the finest drive I had ever seen him accomplish and then Timm would throw another slider at A.J. Diemel, ugly to the point that Diemel would try to retaliate and mess up the front end on his own car. And all this was going on while the green stayed out, which made it even wilder. 

Meanwhile, up front Mahder continued to lead but Mars was sizing him up. He tried to get under Chad several times but Mahder used the high side to keep his momentum up. On the final lap, the two leaders came upon a lapped car that was meandering down the back chute and Mahder had to do a wild slide low in turn three, but he was able to keep his momentum up and Mars' run off the high side came up short with Chad driving on for the win while Anvelink settled for third. 

Mahder, who was drivingt he tribute car to his late father Duane, which they debuted last week at the Mahder 55 at Red Cedar Speedway, plans to run that look on the car the rest of the year according to Chad's brother Shawn who I spoke to before the races. Chad, who jumps back and forth between open and spec engines, was running his spec engine on this night as he prepares for the many specials which come after Labor Day in our region. Mars, who also jumps back and forth between motor types along with Anvelink, was uncertain to me on this night which kind they had. 

The Late Model feature was run second on this night, both likely to help the track and also just in case the weather soured. But before and after, three more feature races were held by the weekly classes. 

A full field of twenty cars would start the Hobby Stock feature with Gavin Bartel coming off the outside pole to take the early lead. He would be chased by Scott Spilde with fellow Iowa drivers Steve Larson and point leader Austin Hoeft also on the move. 

Larson would continue his charge as he got by Spilde for second and then, following a lap eight yellow, drive under Bartel to take the lead. In the last few laps he would pull away and would win comfortably over the field. In the last corner of the race, Bartel got used up by Spilde who would go on to finish second while Bartel would manage to salvage third. 

The B Mods would be dominated by another Iowa driver as a strong contingent of USRA drivers from Northeast Iowa quite often do well at MTS. In this case, it was the hard charging Jim Chisholm winning another main event. Chisholm, who was racing with a $200 bounty on his head, would start ninth in the main event that would see four different leaders before the checkered flag would wave.

Nate Butterfield would lead lap one, only to be passed two laps later by Taylor Skouge. Skouge would hold the top spot for five more laps before Shawn Walski would drive past him and take over the top spot. 

The first yellow would wave on lap twelve and by that time, Chisholm was up to second as he showed great speed up on the cushion. On the green, Walski failed to cover the top side of the track and Chisholm blew right past him to take over the lead and once in front, he was gone. He built up a nice lead in the remaining laps and would cruise home for the win. So, while no one would collect the bounty, in a fair manner since he had won, collections from businesses and individuals saw his winnings raised by $300. It was his sixth straight win at MTS and the twenty fourth of his season to date. 

The character of the Modified feature was changed early when Lucas Schott blew a motor while leading his heat race and he was on his way home before the Modified feature took the green. Cory Crapser would be the early leader from the pole with Josh Angst, Rodney Sanders and Timm chasing him. Crapser would lead the first seven laps before he started to push in the corners and before he knew what had hit him, he was back to fourth. Soon he would stop with a flat tire with nine laps complete which would be the only yellow of the race. 

Angst would continue as the leader as he hammered the cushion with Sanders trying to get under him by running down a lane on the track. Initially it didn't work and Angst opened up some space but gradually as the race continued, Sanders would start to close the gap. In the last five laps he would get close and the last lap was very close. Sanders would drive hard up beside Angst on the last turn and get inside him but unlike some of the driving seen earlier in the evening, Sanders, being the professional that he is, would leave Angst one lane on the top of the track and that was just enough for Josh to maintain his momentum and come home the winner by a car length. Dustin Sorensen would make a nice run up to third ahead of Timm. 

Even with the extra distance Late Model race, all action was done before 10:30 pm to beat the rain in what I thought was one of the better programs I had seen at MTS. Personally, it makes such a difference to me with their new grandstands as for me, sitting in the lawn chairs right beside the track was far too close and much too dirty for me and things are far more pleasurable at this track now in my opinion. They also have far more seating now and I suspect, while things have been pretty quick so far in terms of what the plans are for 2022, with their two day World of Outlaws Late Model show a success, I would look for more big things for next year. 

Thanks to Bob Timm and all the folks at MTS for a good night of racing. 

Carter, Shute Impress While Avila Shocks as Stuart Concludes Racing Season

 It is hard to comprehend but we are already talking about race tracks wrapping up their 2021 campaigns and that was the situation on Wednesday night, August 11th as the Stuart International Speedway held its last race of the 2021 racing season. Track champions would be crowned in all classes plus point champions were also introduced to the crowd on what would be a busy night as some awards left over from the 2020 season were also handed out since the track couldn't have a banquet off season plus three more folks were inducted into the Stuart Speedway Hall of Fame. 

Added to the Hall were Jeff Anderson, Michael Walrod and Steve Jackson. It was interesting to hear them talk about their careers and brought back memories to me of a volatile period of racing that was largely the result of the infamous claim rule used by multiple sanctioning bodies back then and all the trouble and grief the claim caused. They sort of looked back on it tonight through a different color of lenses but back then it was a very stormy issue as both Jackson and Anderson stated that they had lost over a hundred engines a piece due to being claimed and all the drama caused by them being claimed and then they returning the favor to some people that perhaps used to be their friends! I can't imagine such a thing in this day and age when everyone is so on edge to begin with. Claims these days would probably be settled by having a duel, winner takes all, loser joins the crowd on Boot Hill!

Seventy five cars signed in to race on Wednesday night plus the Mini Mods and Mod Lites which were both racing also. Mini Mods had multiple heats and a feature while the Mod Lite group was rather small on this night. 

At the driver's meeting before the program began, Mike VanGenderen addressed several issues but the most important words he had for the drivers was to announce that despite rumors to the contrary, Stuart would be running a weekly program again in 2022 and not just special events which is apparently the rumor that has been floated recently. 

It was another steamy night in central Iowa with the race time "feels like" temperature at 97 degrees with an especially nice dose of humidity. This would make the race track quite different than it has been for most nights. Instead of getting slippery from top to bottom like it often does, it was very tacky and produced some very high speeds. Even several packing sessions failed to knock down the berm so for those drivers that like bite and plenty of speed, it was their night as right to the end, the cushion held. I would say they were racing just as much side by side as normal, just at higher speeds with some banging hard off the cushion. It was a nice change of pace in that it still didn't affect the quality of the racing. 

Action started early on as Solomon Bennett caught the dirt berm during hot laps and barrel rolled his Hobby Stock down the back chute. Despite this, and even though he had a badly bashed up car, he would make the call for his heat. It did probably affect the quality of his racing though as he would finish deep in his heat and pull off during the feature race for the Hobbies. 

As usual, the program screamed through at high speed with all the heat races being knocked off in forty minutes after which the ceremonies took some time. Crowned as track champions were Colby Sabin, Brayton Carter, Eric Stanton, Buck Schafroth and Josh Gilman. Of the five, only two would go on to victory lane later in the evening. 

The Stock Car feature race would produce a stunning upset, at least in my mind. Scott Bailey would lead the first few laps in his bright green machine. He was challenged by young Rowdee VanGenderen until a motor issue sent Rowdee to the infield. 

Coming up strong on the inside was the #69 car, seen by me before with Johnathan Logue behind the wheel but driven on this night by Matt Avila. He drove under Bailey and took over the lead and was flying in the low groove as he put distance on the field with many of them engaged in some pretty heavy duels. Brock Badger would break into second and try to hunt down Avila, but Matt continued to lead past the halfway point and deep into the contest. 

Just when it looked like he would be home free, a late spin set up a two lap sprint to the finish and I thought he might be in trouble. However, he took off with the calm of a veteran and using that fast low groove, pulled away from both Badger and Brandon Pruitt to score and impressive win. 

Here's where things got very interesting. I have to admit that I had never heard of Matt Avila before and I had to contact Tony Paris and MVG in the tower to try and find out the story on this winner. From what I could gather quickly, Matt is a crewman for the three car team of Todd Van Eaton and Buck Schafroth for which Logue also drives for. Apparently, while Logue drives the car at Boone, Avila has been driving the car on Wednesday nights recently at Stuart and despite just a handful of appearances, he drove it like a veteran on this night as he recorded his first ever feature win! Looks like they might have to expand that team to a four car operation. 

A couple drivers scored wins with remarkable efforts on Wednesday night too. Todd Shute had a miserable heat race and would start tenth in the Modified feature. However, in the feature race he was ungodly fast, coming from the fifth row to challenge for the lead very quickly. By the halfway point of the race, he made a pass on Randy Foote and then drove off into the Iowa sunset as there was no one that could even begin to stay with him. It was impressive to say the least. A great battle for second saw Gilman fight off Tom Berry Jr for that spot with Paul Nagle close behind. 

The other outstanding performance took place in the Sport Mod feature where Brayton Carter drove the wheels off his car as he came from tenth to win the main event, much like the charge Shute had put on. However, it took Carter longer to get to the front as he was mired in heavy traffic for a number of laps and even at the halfway point of the race, was still back in fourth. 

However, he kept digging and digging, working the low groove while most hammered the cushion and eventually it began to pay dividends when some holes opened up for him. 

He was still third with five laps to go but worked inside Colton Nelson and Josh Sink, who had led most of the race and with only two laps to go, made the winning pass in what was an outstanding drive to the front. Hunter Longnecker would come from fourth in the last five laps to grab second away from Sink. 

One lap into the Hobby Stock feature, Stanton would get turned on the front chute and spun in front of the several cars, all of which managed to avoid him. When Stanton was given his spot back and another driver sent to the back, this highlighted the profound change that has taken place in Iowa racing in the last couple of years. 

Back in the day, if you were stopped when the yellow waved, you went to the back no matter if you were turned by someone else. Now, however, Race Directors and those in charge of the program try to determine who caused the yellow and punish them which is something that has been being done for ever in my home area. Both methods have their good and bad points but as usual, it depends on the skill of the Race Director to make the right calls in these situations. 

Colby Christensen would lead the first half of the Hobby Stock main off the front row before being tracked down by Luke Stanton who moved up after starting eighth. Just past the halfway point, Stanton would bore low in turn four and make the pass on Christensen, perhaps not a very esthetic maneuver but effective nevertheless. He would then pull away as the race remained under the green and drive home for the win. Late in the contest, Rusty Bates would get past Christensen for second. 

Even though there was a small field of Sport Compacts(is there any track that gets more than ten or so?), their main event came right down to the wire. Mark Smith led the opening laps before being overtaken by Mitchell Bunch. He was in turn challenged by Curtis Masterson and Sabin and the last few laps saw those two go side by side for the win. Sabin pulled off a tough outside pass with just two laps to go and would drive on for the win over the same driver that he edged out for the track title. Bunch would settle for third. Things must have gotten a bit rough in this class lately as several of the drivers were in different rides than when I saw them earlier this year. 

While I didn't make it to Stuart as many times as I did last year, every trip was a good one with close short track racing at its best being featured. It is also most enjoyable to watch good racing being carried out in a quick and efficient manner and they specialize in that here. So thanks to MVG and all his staff and employees here at Stuart. MVG is carrying on a break neck schedule, commuting to Texas weekly to do track prep down there that will last right past the Super Nationals. Special thanks to Logan of the Stuart staff for tracking down my camera which some moron(that would be me), nearly lost. I look forward to seeing what promotions MVG has up his sleeve for 2022. 

One last thing, drivers, are you checking your trailer lights before you pull out of the pits? Last night on my way back to Des Moines I passed two race trailers with no working lights and that is the second time that has happened this year leaving Stuart.    

Hobscheidt Wins Iron Cup at Park Jefferson

 The Iron Cup at the Park Jefferson Speedway was completed on Tuesday night, August 10th and Jacob Hobscheidt went home with five thousand dollars for his thirty five lap feature win in the IMCA Modified division. His win would be a tough one but he would also lead all the laps in the main event. A full show was again contested in four other IMCA divisions and the highlight of that group was the win by Minnesota's Justin Luinenberg which saw him win back to back Iron Cup mains and total two thousand dollars that he took back across the border with him. 

Car counts were very similar to Monday night's show with about ten new drivers entered in the second night of racing while some could not return due to various reasons, thus leaving the car count in each class just about what it had been for the opener.

The Modifieds would compete in a pair of heat races that would set their running order behind the already qualified cars while the Sport Compacts, Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks would all run qualifying heats that would set their lineups for their main events. 

While the Modified feature did not see a single pass for a change of leadership, it was still an interesting race that did see a lot of infighting for other positions. Hobscheidt would start on the inside pole after garnering the most points in Monday night racing and he would immediately set out to a nice lead as he out fought Bobby Moore in the early going and then started to pull away from him. Anthony Roth was third in the early going with Cody Thompson next in line. Most of the drivers were running the low line on the slick track but Chris Abelson moved to the top side immediately and when he started to have some success and started to gain from his eleventh starting spot, Brian Osantowski jumped up there too and they both started to advance. 

With the green remaining out, Hobscheidt would build up a big lead with nearly a full straightaway over the field. The driver that looked fast and was starting to move up was Thompson as he moved into third and looked to be the fastest on the track. However, just before the halfway point, he clipped a ute tire in turn two, broke his front end and after fighting the car for a lap or so, gave up and headed for the infield. 

Hobscheidt was in heavy traffic at this point and he did a masterful job working his way above and below the slower cars, lapping seven of them just before the only yellow of the race occurred when sheet metal littered corner one, slowing the race with twenty four laps complete.

And just as often happens, a yellow and its restart would shuffle the field. While Hobscheidt would break back into the lead, Shane Demey, who started tenth and gradually worked his way forward, would surge ahead of Moore on the green and take over second and the race was on. 

With an open track, it would be a showdown for the win and Hobscheidt no longer had the best handling car as the track had changed and he was struggling through the corners. Demey pushed the issue and got close to him on several occasions, getting a nose inside twice in turn one but each time Hobscheidt would somehow fight him off. In the last few laps Hobscheidt would alter his line through the turns and that seemed to help him as he was able to pull away by a few car lengths. Demey had no last lap heroics to try and would settle for second as Hobscheidt would come home the winner by several car lengths. The battle for third would end up to be a great one following the yellow with a three car cluster for the spot and as they flashed across the line together, it would be Jay Noteboom edging out Abelsen and Osantowski for third. 

The Stock Cars would participate in a nonstop green to checkered feature as a part of the overall program that went much smoother on night two. Mike Albertsen inherited the outside pole when Devin Schelm opted for the tail and he would lead the opening lap. But just like on Monday, he was soon tailed by Luinenberg who seems to have found the hot setup for this track. It took him only one lap to size up Albertsen and then he blasted under Mike to take over the lead. 

And once in front and with no yellows to bunch the field, he was gone as he pulled away by nearly a full straightaway for what at least looked like an easy run to the checkered. For Justin, it was a repeat of Monday night and another thousand dollars into the racing check book. 

The race for second was a dandy however as Albertsen fought to hold off Chanse Hollatz who dogged him for most of the track. Hollatz made repeated efforts to get by for second but lap after lap, Albertsen would hold him off. Finally, with just a few laps to go, Chanse would get by down the back chute and once in front, pull away to take second. However, he was way too far behind the leader to made a push in the remaining laps and would settle for second over Albertsen, Jason Schneiders and Travis Barker.

The Sport Mod feature also went nonstop and produced by far the closest finish of the night. Wayne Becker took the initial lead and would move away from the field, running by himself in the lead. All eyes were focused, however, deep in the pack where the action was. Keegan Nordquist, who failed to run his heat race after hot lap difficulties, started eleventh on the grid but he didn't stay there long. 

Using the low line of the track, he was picking off competitors at the rate of a car a lap as he charged to the front. While Becker continued to motor along as the leader, Nordquist continued his surge. He got past Josh Blom for second with five laps to go but it seemed the distance to make up was too much. 

Not so, as Nordquist quickly proved as the distance between himself and Becker was shortened dramatically and he caught the leader with two laps to go. Becker tried to protect the low line but he gave Nordquist just enough room to poke a nose under him but somehow, Becker fought him off. 

They came out of the last corner side by side but Becker got just enough of a run off the middle lane to hold on and edge out Nordquist by half a car length for a thrilling win. 

The Hobby Stocks, for the second straight night, spent as much time beating on each other and spinning out as they did racing and for their feature race was marked by several yellow flags, However, also for the second straight night, the battle for the lead was a good one right down to the wire. 

Tony Fetterman would lead the first two laps before he was overtaken by Kaylb Brunssen for the lead. Storming up from the third row, Dylan Fitzpatrick would move into second and the battle would be on. Lap after lap, though interrupted three times by yellow, Fitzpartick would try to find a way past Brunssen, looking both high and low. He would get beside the leader several times, but just could not make his maneuver stick. 

A late yellow would set up five laps of green flag racing and on the final restart, Fitzpatrick would not get a good start and that opening suited Brunssen who would then go on uncontested for the win with Fitzpatrick settling for second and David Miller third. 

The Sport Compacts had another small field on Tuesday and national point leader Caine Mahlberg would lead this race from start to finish. Having switched cars from Monday night, he would again race a car with just a taped on number , but it was fast, as he would pull away for a relatively easy win. Second place finisher Kaytee DeVries was more concerned with holding off challenger Trent Reed for second than challenging for the win. It would be nice if the national point leader had a race car that was just a bit more appealing but perhaps he is so busy racing that he doesn't have time to put some decent graphics on it or perhaps is swapping so many cars back and forth that there isn't the time. 

For all the laps on the track over two straight nights under blistering heat and bright sunshine, I thought the track held up well and provided smooth racing for the drivers. Even to the end, the Modified drivers were finding lines to run that didn't involve just hugging the bottom lane. 

I spoke briefly with track owner Adam Adamson before the show and asked him if he was disappointed in the rather small car count, especially in the Modifieds. He did say that the Siouxland area is lucky in that they have a considerable number of cars so that they can put on a solid show even if no travelers arrive but also that, fair or not, the Siouxland area has gained a reputation of having drivers that race very hard, which he did not totally disagree with and that sometimes, because of that, it is hard to get drivers from the East to come over for their events. Nevertheless, I thought the racing was good and the track a very good one. 

An interesting thing I discovered about this area occurred as I was searching out lunch today. I made what turned out to be a ten minutes drive to a restaurant but it turns out, during that ten minute drive, I actually passed through three states! I started out in South Dakota, passed through Iowa and sat down for lunch in Nebraska! I wonder how many other parts of our country is it possible to do that?

Thanks to Adam Adamson and all the folks at Park Jefferson for a couple entertaining nights of racing.  

Luinenberg Handles Stock Cars for Iron Cup Opener

 On an incredibly hot and sultry August night in the Siouxland, Justin Luinenberg would top the Stock Cars on the opening night of the eighth annual Iron Cup at the Park Jefferson International Speedway near Jefferson South Dakota and across the street from Raceway Park South Dakota. 

The Iron Cup, sponsored by J&J Fitting LLC, would feature two full programs for the IMCA Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts while the IMCA Modifieds would run double heat races on Monday, August 9th in advance of the their $5,000 to win, $400 to start main event on Tuesday night. 

A solid field of cars was on hand for all five classes with eighty three cars signing in to race on Monday. Of somewhat surprise, the Modified field is not yet full as I would assume that at least twenty four cars will start the feature on Tuesday night, yet only twenty one signed in to race on Monday. That means that at least three feature spots in a five thousand to win, four hundred to start main are yet to be filled. I was told that cars could still show up on Tuesday but would have to start at the back of the two last chance heats so it will be interesting to see if any additional drivers do pull in. 

One surprise to me was the entry of Jay Noteboom driving a #27 car. I had not seen Noteboom's name in any results yet this year and believe that perhaps this might be his first racing of the 2021 season. The rest of the field would be mostly Siouxland drivers with the exception of Jimmy Reeves. In the other classes, it would also be mostly local and area competitors with a few drivers from southwestern Minnesota also joining the field. 

One thing I like about Park Jefferson is that the race track is consistent and always seems to race pretty much the same way. Drivers like it when they know what kind of surface they will be racing on and would prefer a predictable track and that seems to be the way Park Jeff has been in both times I have been here this year. It usually takes a few races for it to dry off but then it slicks up and really becomes an "icy" track with handling in the corners and not raw horsepower the most important thing. And depending on how the race cars are handling, there was both high and low grooves to pass on and without the outside wall, the track is very forgiving. However, the down side to that is some yellow flags for drivers that push too hard and go over the edge. One great thing they did on this night was to use the one spin rule which really made a difference in the heat races and the number of yellow flags we saw.

Unfortunately, the one spin rule couldn't be used in the feature races and  we saw a couple of the mains that really dragged out with multiple yellows and one that even got cut short by the time limit established for each class. Apparently they have had to implement this due to problems in the past. While the heats wen off very smooth, the features had some problems to them.

The Stock Cars had a grand on the line to the winner and an invite for the B & B All Star Invite at Boone on the line and twenty drivers would take the green for this main event. Kipp DeGroot would take the lead in a car that looks like one that Johnny Cash smuggled out of the auto assembly line one piece at the time as no two body panels match in color but what it lacks in esthetics it made up for in speed as he would lead the opening five laps with several in hot pursuit. 

Unfortunately, his great run would come to an end when he looped it in front of the whole field in turn four and only great driving would keep the rest of the pack from smashing into him. Mike Albertsen would inherit the lead on the restart with Luinenberg up to second after starting way back in eleventh and Travis Barker third. Luinenberg would make a dandy move and pass Albertsen for the lead but Mike would come right back to battle along with Barker in a good three car race. 

Two yellows would slow the action before the last five laps would go green to checkered. Albertsen was trying very hard to slide under Luinenberg in the corners and there were several near misses. Finally, Albertsen would slide high and Barker would take over second. He made several attempts in the last few laps to get past but would choose to race Luinenberg clean when the opportunity to dislodge him from the top spot was available and he would race home second as Luinenberg would take the win with Albertsen settling for third. More feisty driving would take place in this event with a couple of drivers running each other off the third turn at high speed and one eventually getting the black flag for his hijinks. 

The Sport Mod feature would see Keith Sanders use the high side to take the early lead over Jeff Brunssen and Dudley Schroeder Jr. Justin Klynsma was on the move after starting fifth and he would drive under the competition as he moved up the the third spot. He would continue to advance and after a lap four yellow for a spinner, he would drive under Sanders and take over the lead.

Three more yellows would keep the field bunched but on each one, Klynsma would pull away from the pack. Keegan Nordquist was able to stay close and would attempt to drive under Justin but was not able to pull off that maneuver and would have to settle for second as Klynsma drove across the line for the win. Brunssen would come back up to take third. 

The Hobby Stock feature was marked by a fierce battle for the lead, a whole series of yellows for spins and collisions and eventually, a fork stuck in the event two laps early due to the repeated yellow flags. 

The story of the race was the battle between Dylan Fitzpatrick and Cory Probst. Fitzpatrick would use the outside line(you wanted to be on the outside for the green for sure) to take the early lead over Blake Luinenberg and Probst. Cory wasted no time getting up to second and then put the heat on Fitzpatrick for the lead. Following a wild collision between Jay DeVries and Joel Magee that eliminated both, Probst was able to edge his way past Fitzpatrick and take over the lead. 

That wasn't the end of it however, as every time there was a yellow, the Delaware restart would allow Fitzpatrick a clean run at the leader and several times they raced down the back chute, side by side and banging doors all the way. But each time, by the narrowest of margins, Probst would be his rival to the corner and hold on to the lead. 

Following a sixth yellow on lap ten, management would pull the pin and go green, white and checkered and again it was Probst who would hold off Fitzpatrick and Luinenberg for a stirring win. 

A small field of Sport Compacts would see Kaytee DeVries lead from start to finish for the win. She would have a stiff challenge from Trent Reed and Caine Mahlberg but would cover the groove well and not give either a chance to get past her. 

Each Modified ran two heats and as of post time, I have not seen a point rundown from the heats but with double wins, Bobby Moore and Jacob Hobscheidt would have to be at the top of the list. I believe that a couple of Last Chance heats will set the complete running order for the main event. 

The other classes will be back for another complete program and the Hobby Stock and Stock Cars should again provide entertaining shows and with it being a full complete show once again, it will be interesting to see just who else might show up. Race time is 7:30 pm Tuesday. 

On a side note, you can certainly tell that Sturgis is fully underway as the route across southern Minnesota on I-90 was littered with broken trailers, motor cycles and pieces of bikes as folks' dreams of getting away for a peaceful time in South Dakota were shattered. 

 

O'Neal Handles Stock Cars For Five Grand Win at Clay County

 The Clay County Fair Speedway wrapped up their regular season on Monday night, August 2nd with the running of the Philip "Fatty" Oviatt Memorial race. It was a Stock Car special with the winner on this night earning five thousand dollars while the other four classes would run for their standard purse which is a thousand dollars to win all the other classes except for the Sport Compacts who race for $200 top money.

Temperatures at race time had dropped nearly twenty degrees from last Wednesday night's show and it was a very comfortable night to wrap up the regular season at this track. Despite the fact that the track had just run a very big event only five days previous, one hundred and twenty five cars signed in to race and another large crowd was in the spacious grandstands here at Spencer to watch the action. 

Qualifying would be using the draw/redraw format as always but the big field of cars would require that a B Feature be run for the Modifieds and two B Features for the Stock Cars to set their fields for the main event. Everyone on hand in the other three classes would take the green for those main events

The track proved a bit more challenging to prepare on this night for some reason and we actually saw a water truck on the track a couple of times on Monday as the surface was being a bit more difficult and was "cleaning off" slower than normal but finally it came together and we gradually had that wide and slick surface that seems to make for the best racing here. On this night the eventual fast line was on the bottom in turns one and two and as high as possible up against the concrete in three and four. This redirecting of the fast line made things interesting as the evening progressed with lane changes without signal lights being used often which made for some interesting encounters.

With five grand on the line and forty three Stock Cars on hand, their main was obviously the chief focus of the night and was also saved for the last event of the program. However, unlike virtually every Stock Car feature run at any track in the country, this one was not hotly contested and there was not a single lead change once the green flag was waved. 

The reason for this was that Jake O'Neal was so strong and when he redrew the outside pole, that was bad news for the competition and also the fans wanting to see some door to door racing. That's not to say that there wasn't still some good battles going on and O'Neal had a couple of drivers that pushed him at various times, but not once would he relinquish the lead. 

Winning his second feature here at Spencer within the last week, O'Neal is driving a cobbled together looking car with various alternating black and white body panels that make the car look more like a recycled cop car and all it needs is a red light on the roof and it could be a Hoboken cop car! But while it might look a little "rugged" it is also a very fast car. 

O'Neal fought off early challenges from Randy Brands and then a big push from Tom Berry Jr who tried to use the high side to drive around O'Neal but couldn't quite pull it off. late in the race, Kelly Shryock would come all the way from thirteenth to second with a smooth and steady charge and would put the biggest push to O'Neal following a yellow with eight laps to go. 

The track appeared to be taking rubber late in the race and O'Neal almost got out of the rubber as Shryock got a door under him in turn four but Jake would fight him off and that is as close as anyone would get to making a pass. Shryock and Berry would follow O'Neal home for second and third while Dallon Murty would charge from from sixteenth to fourth.  Earlier Murty would take what I would guess might be his first laps in Modified racing as he drove a car provided by Harris Auto Racing but a bad draw for his heat and a smoking motor in the B Feature would keep him out of the main. 

The Modified field on this night was just about as big racing for a grand as it was last Wednesday with two and a half times the cash on the line. Tonight's race would see three different leaders in the main before Brandon Beckendorf would nail down the win. Dalton Magers would be the early leader until Jesse Sobbing drove around him to take the top spot. 

Sobbing would soon feel the pressure from Beckendorf and it was interesting to watch Sobbing, who was running the high side, try to fight off Beckendorf. Sobbing would climb the banking in turns three and four and then have to knife down across the track down the front chute to get to the low side first in turn one and three times he cut it so close the his car brushed up against the right front wheel of Beckendorf who was running low on the track but each time, amazingly, both would race on like nothing was happening. 

Finally, Beckendorf was able to edge by to take the lead and he would then pull away by several car lengths in a race that had only one yellow. Shryock would make a late push that would see him get the runner up spot for the second time this night while Cody Thompson would come from seventeenth to fourth. 

For Sobbing, it was a late race decision that even saw him race his Modified on this night. He had originally planned on just racing his Stock Car and hadn't even entered his Modified but when his Stock Car had problems in hot laps and was parked, he was a late race addition to the Modified field, starting tail back in a heat but charging to the third spot in his heat which guaranteed him a good starting spot in the main. 

Malik Sampson would lead from start to finish to win the Hobby Stock feature race. Early on their was excitement as pole starter Drew Barglof would get turned and create a mess but when things settled, it was Sampson leading with stiff pressure from Zach Hemmingsen. Eventually it would be Cory Probst, making another of his charges to the front that would see him come from twelfth to move into second and push for the lead but Sampson had the field covered and Probst would have to settle for second with Hemmingsen third. 

Sport Mods also battled it out with three different leaders as John Foreman would hold the point for the first few laps until overtaken by Jake Sachau for the lead. However, Foreman wouldn't go away and fought back into the top spot which was traded back and forth a couple times between the two 

However, as they fought, Colby Fett moved up strongly and neither could hold off the charging driver, who raced past Sachau to take over the lead. He would go on for the win with Sachau and Matt Looft, up from ninth, to finish third.

A small field of Sport Compacts would see R.J. Esqueda lead from start to finish to win that main over Cade Lehr and Kaytee DeVries. 

The regular season is now complete here at Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway and what a year it has been. I have been to all four races that they have held this year and every single one of them was very successful with large car counts and most importantly, great crowds. I was wondered how this quick turnaround from the last race would work but again the grandstand had lots of spectators and the pits was full. 

This formula that they have use this year wit only a limited number of races, good pay for all classes and events run on off nights so as not to clash with other tracks seems to have worked spectacularly well and while I'm sure they will again follow that pattern next year, It would perhaps behoove other tracks to consider some kind of similar formula which has certainly turned things around here from a track that was struggling to find their foothold in the busy western Iowa racing scene. Again, thanks to Trent Chinn for his help this year and to all the folks who work at the track that have become familiar faces to me. 

A couple of things I would like to put on the wish list that  would include a scoreboard which this track desperately needs as I can't believe they haven't had one long ago and some work to the p.a. system so we can hear Chad Meyer if we are seated under the roof. And somehow something has to change so that the races will start a bit more promptly and closer to the advertised starting time which would help get them done a bit earlier, with the late finishes on several nights probably the most glaring thing that could be addressed. 

There are still, two Fair races left on the calendar that will feature Sprint Cars, Late Models and the regular five IMCA classes too. Check the Fair website for more information on them.