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.
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