After a rain out the previous Wednesday, the Stuart International Speedway was back in action on Wednesday night, April 24th which turned out to be one of the nicest evenings in recent memory to be outside and at the races.
And this was not just a regular early season event, as big money was on the line for both the Stock Cars and Sport Mods. The Crown Stock Car Summer Series event would be paying two grand to the winner of the thirty lap main event as well as a guaranteed entry for the special at Knoxville in September when they are racing along with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series.
For the Sport Mods, The Leiting Motorsports Summer Series event would pay a grand to the winner of that event. Plus, Wednesday night would be the points opener for the other three classes that race at SIS on Wednesday nights and the Outlaw Mini Mods would also be in action.
One hundred and ten cars plus the Mini Mods would sign in to race on Wednesday as the pits area was packed from right behind the grandstand all the way up the hill to the street that delivers the traffic to the track. And with the transporters getting bigger every year and just about everyone with enclosed trailers these days, the pits space is used up even quicker. If the success continues at SIS, Mike's going to have to petition the city to close the street so they can use that area as pits on race night because the spectators need some place to park too and it's almost getting to that point.
The big field of entrants would be topped by thirty seven Stock Cars and twenty nine Sport Mods and those two classes would require B Features on this night, something that generally isn't the case for the weekly shows here. And it would go without saying just how strong the fields are for both these classes with any number of top drivers on hand fully capable of winning the main events.
When you get a first glance at SIS, you perhaps even wonder how they race on this track because it is small. No doubt about that . In fact, since the nickname "Bullring" is already taken, I'm going to start calling SIS "The Saucer" , since it's almost a circle but the beauty is that it's wide enough for plenty of passing despite it's small size. Wednesday the groove moved around more than an antsy kid in Sunday School as depending on the race, drivers were working high or low or a combination. This makes for great racing.
And the other thing is that despite all the passing and very close, side by side racing, they don't wreck very often here either. For example, Wednesday night offered a twenty event program, disregarding the Mini Mods which I always do, yet there was not a single race all night, features included, that had more than two yellow flags! And in one hundred and ten green flag feature race laps, there were only a total of six yellows, no race with more than two and the Modifieds went green to checkers. That's what makes watching racing here so entertaining and you sit so close to the track here it almost feels like you are a part of the action.
The featured event of the night was the Stock Car main, going for thirty laps. The field was trimmed down to twenty four cars and not often at all in this class would you see such domination as was on display on Wednesday. Jesse Sobbing would start on the pole and would lead all thirty laps and while that might sound boring, it was anything but. Two yellows in the first third of the race kept the field bunched(as if that would be a problem in this class) and Sobbing had to be on point on every lap as he was running the low side of the track and needed to nail every corner to keep his lead.
However, Sobbing, who will again be racing in three divisions this year, would never falter, even when he got to lapped traffic late that made his decision whether to move out of his groove to get by the slower car, a tough one. And while Sobbing led every lap, the battle for second was epic with Cayden Carter, Dallon Murty, Dylan Thornton and Mike Nichols racing in a pack for virtually the whole race. They swapped spots back and forth before late in the contest Carter would nail down second with Murty pounding the cushion and edging into third right at the line. Only three starters failed to go the distance in this race yet the whole field was so balanced that Sobbing lapped only one car!
The other extra cash race of the night was for the Sport Mods and they would also go for thirty laps. This race would see three different leaders and a late race yellow, the only slowdown of the entire race, would change the running order dramatically.
Matt Avila would take the initial green but would only hold the top spot for a single lap before he was passed by Alec Fett who would then lead the majority of this race. Fett was running magnificently as he would pull away from the strong field and build up a comfortable lead over the pack. There was plenty of battling behind him though, as Avila fought to hold second with with Jake Sachau moving up from sixth, along with Logan Anderson and Mitchell Morris.
Then it happened. With a big lead, the yellow would fly with seventeen laps complete for a spinning car, taking away the big lead that Fett had built up. Back on green, suddenly Alec was not getting away from the pack this time. Sachau moved into second and then began to challenge Fett for the top spot. And when Alec slipped off the bottom in turn two, on lap twenty one we had a new leader as Sachau would blast into the top spot.
After that, Sachau would pull away from the pack as he would extend his lead and drive on for the win. Fett tried different lines at the end in an effort to gain ground but he simply had lost that edge and when he went cushion side on the final lap, Avila was able to nip him for second with Anderson and a late charging Taylor Kuehl completing the top five. And only four cars failed to finish this extra distance event also.
The Modified feature would go twenty laps nonstop and by this time the track was black and slick, top to bottom but that allowed the drivers to search out their best line. Justin Zeitner would start on the pole and hug the low groove like Sobbing did in the previous race. However, that wasn't the way to go for the Mods as Izac Mallicoat quickly moved to the cushion and his pounding of the high side quickly moved him into contention. He nearly got past Zeitner but couldn't and that revealed to Justin where he needed to be as he then moved up to the cushion to block Mallocoat where he also helped him pick up speed.
For most of the rest of the race, it would be those two, plus Todd Shute hammering the cushion in an effort to gain ground. However, late in the race Tim Ward would start to make the inside line work and he would edge his way forward, passing Mallocoat on the final lap for second. However, no one was catching Zeitner in his Edge chassis as he drove on for the win.
The Hobby Stock feature would provide us with an excellent four car battle for the lead that was interrupted only twice and both times very early in the contest. And for the majority of the race, it would be Skylar Pruitt that would hold the top spot down but for virtually the whole race, he would have Dillon Richards racing up to his outside while Solomon Bennett and Calvin Dhondt would be tapping on his back bumper.
On the black slick track, the drivers had to be precise, and they ran as a pack inches apart with each one making strides one lap and then losing a bit of ground on the next revolution. In the final few laps, Richards started to make things work in the middle groove and with just five laps to go, he was able to edge past Pruitt to take over the lead. Pruitt tried to fight back but Richards would hold him off for the win with the top four tight together at the line as Dhondt settled for third ahead of Bennett and Buddy Haidsiak.
The Sport Compacts would provide a slamming finish to their event that would leave more than a few folks upset with how the race ended. The Sport Compacts would race their event first, right after the track prep at intermission and the track was tacky and fast, not the best combination for these low powered cars.
Craig Furstenau would lead the opening lap but he pushed up the track and Jake Paysen would fly by and take the lead one lap later. Paysen was the only driver that had the slick track figured out and he would simply fly away from the field.
While the pack battled for second with Furstenau, Caine Mahlberg and Tyler Fiebelkorn fighting for second, Paysen would literally have half a lap on the field. Unfortunately, the yellow would fly with just five laps to go for a spinning car and things would go South in a big way for Paysen.
When the green dropped, Jake found he couldn't get away from Mahlberg who was right on him and pressuring for the lead. Mahlberg was able to get a nose inside of Paysen in the corners and as the laps ran down, the battle for the lead proved to be tight. They were nearly side by side as the white flag flew and Mahlberg was able to pull up beside Paysen down the back chute.
With Mahlberg on the inside, he didn't hesitate to drive right up and into the leader as they bounced off the final corner and they crossed the finish line so tight it was hard to tell who won. The official numbers were Mahlberg by .016 seconds over Paysen for the win. Unfortunately, after the checkers flew, Mahlberg just kept on pushing into Paysen and ran him right into the first turn wall in what was just a bit of a tacky finish by him. The winner drove to victory lane while the second place car went back to the pits on the back of the wrecker. I believe I smell payback in the wind. Brooke Osler made a late charge, coming from ninth to finish third.
With all the extra races and extra laps, the only down side to the evening was that it did run a bit later than normal, but that it to be expected with all that went on. Still, subtracting away the time required to do a quite extensive "farming session" following the heats, the show was run off in about three and a half hours which is not unreasonable by any means. And again, for those that like racing, there was much to like about the show with lots of close racing, surprise finishes and no dust either.
It was reported to me by MVG that the PPV for the event was very successful also. The combination of some popular classes and drivers for this midweek night plus a less than favorable forecast for other live racing this weekend all probably paid a part in this. MVG will be a busy man this week, flying on Thursday to Hutchinson Kansas to prepare that track for Friday night racing and then returning by air to get Inde ready for Saturday night. Wow, and I thought I kept busy!
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