Night number two of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals at the Cocopah Speedway near Somerton Arizona would roll off on Thursday night, January 4th. Again, as they will through the rest of this eight night series, five divisions of IMCA racing would compete in a full program for all divisions. On another cool January night but with no threat of rain spoiling the action, two hundred and forty seven drivers would sign in to compete with seven drivers making their first appearance of the week.
The track would be just a bit different on Thursday with more traditional watering rather than what fell from the sky and this would produce some different racing conditions. The track would get super slick but still wide to race on with seemingly every yellow flag in the main events allowing different drivers to surge forward based perhaps on their chassis setup and driving style but it made for some wildly entertaining main events. At one point they announced that some track prep would be coming after the completion of the B Features but then they changed their mind and went right into the mains, a good choice from my perspective as I saw no indication that the track was starting to "rubber" and I don't think it ever did. But it was slippery for sure.
The closest feature finish of the week would be generated by the Modified division on Thursday along with a pair of repeat winners and the first local feature winner after the Arizona contingent got shut out on opening night. Iowa would have another pair of winners on this night while the "Cheeseheads" had cause to celebrate with the late charge of Cole Czarneski that saw him take the Stock Car feature.
The format for Thursday would be exactly the same as the previous night with the exact same number of races and same qualifying format. The only difference was that they rotated the Modifieds and Stock Cars with the open wheel cars being the lead off division on the program.
While it really wasn't manifested until feature time, it was clear that the opening night "kid glove" approach to driving was off the table on Thursday with many taking a much more aggressive approach to their driving. This resulted in many more incidents, torn up and abused race cars and many more yellow flags than had flown on opening night. I suppose it to be inevitable that this would happen but so many nice looking race cars from opening night action ended up torn and abused on Thursday before the final checkered flag flew.
The main event racing would run the gamut on this night with three drivers leading from green to finish to win main events with each receiving various amounts of pressure. The closest race of the night would see the Modified feature settled on the final straightaway as two drivers raced to the line and a late race charge would net a new winner in the Stock Cars.
Twenty nine drivers would take the green flag for the Modified main with Eddie Belec taking the early lead. In fact, Belec would lead every lap except the one that paid off and that was the final one. Jason Noll and Chaz Baca would be his early challengers but Belec was running a smooth line and managed to put some distance on the field.
The early laps of this race went slowly with five yellows in the first sixteen laps. Through all the yellows, Belec would continue to lead. By lap eight, Ethan Braaksma, who started eighth, would move into the second spot and he would put the hardest challenge on Belec, nosing under him on a couple of occasions and nearly getting past before a yellow slowed that effort. Kollin Hibdon would move into third and by the halfway point, he was pushing Braaksma for second.
The final yellow waved with sixteen laps complete so the final nine would go green. Belec got a good restart while Braaksma and Hibdon continued their battle. Belec looked to be in good shape until with about five laps to go, Braaksma really picked up the pace, pulling away from Hibdon and closing rapidly on Belec. Each driver had a better corner and it was interesting to watch their adjustments based on what the other driver was doing.
Braaksma caught Belec with two to go and the race was on. Ethan would pull up beside the leader as the white flag was waved and they would circle the track side by side. It looked like Belec was going to hold on but Braaksma made a great final corner, came surging to the line on the inside and nipped Belec by .019 seconds for the thrilling win. It was an excellent finish to a solid race. Hibdon, Tim Ward and Jeremy Mills would fill out the top five.
Speaking of unpredictable finishes, the Stock Car main certainly provided that. This race saw three different leaders, much shuffling among the top five runners and the winning pass came with just two laps to go.
Rob Van Mil would take the early lead with Justen Yeager who started beside him in the front row and Chase Berkeley providing plenty of pressure. Most of the Stock Car drivers were running the low line and using the inside berm to race off of. This provided them with good thrust off the corners but it was also a bit bumpy there with occasional moments of lost control spicing things.
Van Mil would have Yeager aggressively challenging him and when Rob bounced off the bottom lane on lap six, Yeager was right there to steal the lead. Those two, along with Berkeley would continue to battle for the lead with a swarm of cars close behind, jockeying for position. Yeager would continue to lead until Van Mil surprised him with an outside move and would drive back into the lead on lap eighteen.
By this time Curt Lund and moved into third while Cole Czarneski had quietly moved from tenth into the fourth spot when the final yellow waved with just five laps to go, setting up a sprint to the finish.
Czarneski surprised everyone in the house by roaring off on that final restart as he drove by both Lund and Yeager and then, with one more power move in the second lane, drove past Van Mil to take over the lead in a stunning and surprising turn of events.
In the final few laps, he pulled away from the field, not receiving a challenge as he drove on for the win. Yeager would fight his way back past Van Mil for second with Lund and Shelby Williams completing the top five. Until that final few laps, Czarneski had not showed particular speed and his sudden advance was a surprise to all.
Miles Morris has always been one of the top local racers at this series and he has won his share of Sport Mod features at this track. It was no surprise that he would be the first local racer to break into victory lane as he would lead from start to finish to take the win. He would start on the outside pole and get the jump on Kaden Woodie and then put distance on the field.
It was tough to gain much ground though, as this race would be plagued by yellow flags, with that yellow bunting flying seven times during the event. It got so bad that the field even when single file for their restarts after the fifth yellow.
Dylan Jones would run second for a number of laps until he spun out of that position and several of the front runners would fall to various forms of calamity. Woodie, who slipped as far back as fourth would pick up his pace and fight his way back into the second spot where he would reside after lap eleven as the running order didn't change much in the final laps.
Morris would take a dominating win over Woodie with Jason Bannister, Fred Ryland and Nathan Speten following.
The first repeat winner of the week would emerge in the Hobby Stocks as Cody Williams, after drawing the pole, would lead all the way to dominate the Hobby Stock main. Williams would have Brycen Daffern chasing him for the first seventeen laps as Daffern stayed close but you got the feeling that Williams was just riding along as fast as he needed to.
Three late yellows in the last five laps packed the field but each time Williams would pull away. Late in the going, Blake Luinenburg, who started seventh, would drive into the runner up slot but while he got to that position, he would have nothing for the leader as "Meatloaf" drove home uncontested for the win. Daffern would settle for third ahead of Colin Hein and Jaeden Strandburg.
The Sport Compact feature would start off on the rocky side. They were racing six to perhaps eight wide down the front chute on the green until they hit turn one and then cars went flying in all directions. A couple were hurdled straight into the wall with Joseph Baker impacted the concrete hard with the roof of his car. It was a scary looking ride but all drivers were OK.
The restart would then see the field race green to checkered and it was last night's winner Kaytee DeVries that would dominate once again. She opened up a big lead and was never challenged for the point with her biggest worry being some of the slower cars that tended to wander all over the track, racing at half speed to the leaders.
She did manage to navigate the traffic successfully and would drive home for an easy win. There was a good battle for second though, with four cars at minimum dicing for the spot. At the line, it would be Jacob Cordova that would take the spot with Blake Andrus, Oliver Monson and Josh Maleski trailing.
With all the yellows, it was a long night of racing, despite the fact that they were able to start on schedule after last night's rain put off the start time, with the final checkers waving well after Midnight. While this format is an attractive one for the drivers with a full show of racing each night, the down side is that with big fields of cars and five classes racing, it makes for a lot of races that can tend to lead to a long night. It certainly isn't a conducive one for the local race fans with the early start time likely before they are done with work and the last hour not favorable for the working man either. Virtually all the spectators for these shows so far are either with the teams themselves or fans that have traveled in for this event, with early morning work not a worry.
Night number three is scheduled for Friday night, January 5th.
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