Monday, April 15th. A day of dread for some people based on what that day means in terms of their governmental responsibilities being upheld. But for some others this year, It instead means a day of fun and enjoyment. And where would you rather be, thrashing on some tax forms to beat the deadline or getting ready for a night of dirt track racing at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa?
That's what I thought. Among the many things that you can give credit to the folks at the Clay County Fair Speedway for is their schedule which is among the most interesting and varied of any track in the Midwest. They are racing at widely different nights of the week, featuring different classes of cars and presenting a bold and innovative schedule, and especially so this year. Ever since Trent Chinn took over as the promoter at Spencer, they have been doing things their way and not following the normal path such as their famous Monday night races that have set them apart from the competition and their business plan certainly has had some influence from Mike VanGenderen, the master of the bold when it comes to scheduling and who Chinn learned track prep and promotion from.
And so it was that was that on the third Monday of the month of April, the Clay County Fair Speedway opened up their 2024 racing season with a five division program of IMCA racing. I can't believe that I have ever been to a Monday night show so early in the year and in fact, other than these few tracks in Iowa that make Mondays work, never on a Monday, a Monday, a Monday. And it sure didn't hurt that the air temperature was at or above eighty degrees on this windy Monday. The event, titled a "Frostbuster", was a bit of a misnomer but who cares as long as we were at the track.
The track prep crew was probably the only ones not digging the weather as the gale force winds on top of a dry Spring made prepping the track a big challenge. They did get some dust but the wind was kind enough to blow it away from the stands and they ended up with a nice, smooth race track that everyone seemed satisfied with. Crazy Martin was in mid season form as he roamed the pits and lifted "Hero" cars from many of the drivers and all was right with the world.
Eighty cars in those five classes signed in to race on Monday, about as low of car count as I can ever remember for a race at Spencer. Likely there are a number of teams that just aren't ready yet and there were plenty of folks out in the fields on this Monday and certainly at least some of them had to be either drivers or fans that were forced to take advantage of the good weather to get their crop work done. No B Features would be needed on this night but the Modified car count was shockingly low with only nine of them signing in to race for a grand to the feature winner. Hmmm.
Certainly the story of the night was the one that developed in the Stock Cars where their feature was undoubtedly the event of the night. Sporting the highest car count at twenty six, their main event would be a dandy, and would fall just short of classic status simply to the rash of yellows at the end that broke it up a bit. But I'm sure that rookie Stock Car driver Colby Fett didn't complain about their being too many late yellows and he was able to hang on a beat some tough competitors to earn his first ever Stock Car feature win in the first night of him driving in the class. Wow!
As we all know, Fett is one of the top notch Sport Mod drivers around but there is a difference between open wheels and cars with fenders and this wasn't just some weekly show win against a small field of cars. This was for a grand and against some very fine competitors.
Here's how it happened. In this race, the first thirteen laps went off green with no stoppages. Jeffrey Larson would take the lead from the outside pole and stretch it by a few lengths as McCain Jennnings led a group that was battling for second. Jake Masters was on the move after starting sixth and when he finally got past Jennings for second, he began to reel in the leader.
By the halfway point, Masters was on the move as he closed on Larson while Fett was up to fourth with Kelly Shryock right behind him. Masters was catching Larson at a rapid pace and the crowd was on their feet. Masters and Larson exchanged slide jobs a couple times with Larson retaining the lead. Then Masters went flying by Larson down the back chute to take over the lead but he couldn't get slowed in time to avoid plunking the wall hard and his flat tire both triggered the yellow and gave Larson back the lead.
The pack style restart would see Fett, who had been gradually moving up, drive past Larson to take over the lead on lap fourteen with Larson and Tim Rupp right behind him. This is when things went sideways as with this big group of competitive drivers, they started bunching up and four straight times the yellow was triggered as some were over driving the track. The last yellow, which set up a two lap sprint, occurred when Larson got crowded off the back chute and when flying off the track. He returned to the racing surface and then parking on the track, forcing a yellow. If I was the Race Director at this point, I'm afraid I would have taken harsher action against him for ruining the show, but they eventually encouraged him to exit the track, after a bit of a debate.
All these delays must have been difficult for Fett, but he handled the last two laps masterfully, keeping his line and being smooth as he held off a late charge from Rupp and Shryock to take the win. Derek Green came from twenty fifth to four with Austin Brands trailing. This will certainly be a memorable win for Fett and he earned it in the best possible way against some very good drivers who threw everything they had at him.
The other feature race that was a very close one was the Sport Mod feature where Justin Klynsma held off Matthew Looft for the win, something that hardly anyone has been able to do for the past several years in this area. Connor VandeWeerd would lead the first three laps before Klynsma, who started outside of him in row one, would get a good run and then take over the lead.
Klynsma would put some distance on the field as Looft worked to get past VandeWeerd for second, something that didn't happen until the second half of the race. A yellow for a spinning car changed the dynamic of this race with everyone being bunched up for the restart. Looft was able to move into second on the green and when Klynsma blew turn four and got way high, suddenly we had a battle for the lead.
Looft would get a nose inside of Klynsma at least twice but both times, Justin would fight him off and in the final couple of laps, again start to pull away as his speed was superior to that of Looft. Charlie Stevens would race up to third at the end as there was a happy Klynsma family in victory lane.
Tim Ward would lead from start to finish to top the small Modified field. He would pull away from Kelly Shryock and would maintain nearly a full straightaway lead as this race would go green to checkers for twenty laps. Brandon Beckendorf would complete the top three.
Mike Smith has been a fast Hobby Stock driver so far this season and he would chalk up another win on Monday. This feature race would also go green to checkers and it took Smith only one lap to pass Justin Frederick for the lead. and once in front he would pull away and never be challenged. Frederick had a nice run to finish second with Cory Probst coming from eighth to third.
Apparently I took a small nap during the Sport Compact feature and missed some really important action. What I saw was Levi Volkert take the lead and hold first for the opening lap before he was passed by Tyler Thompson who would then drive on for the win. This race would also go nonstop and it all seemed relatively straight forward as to what was going on.
However, when Thompson drove past victory lane and instead headed for the scales, even announcer J VAN, who was coming to interview him, seemed surprised. And to put one over on Jerry takes some doing. Apparently, somewhere during the course of the event, and since there were no yellows it must have occurred on the start, Thompson was called for a jump start and was thus docked two positions. Since there were no yellows during the race, that penalty couldn't be enforced until after the checkered flag so Thompson actually finished third. Oliver Monson was elevated to the win with Volkert being awarded second officially. And there you go.
All racing was completed a little after 10 pm on what was a good opener for the track. They next have another Monday night race upcoming, that being late in the month of April. Thanks to Trent Chinn and everyone at the track for a good way to open the racing season in northwestern Iowa.
No comments:
Post a Comment