Isn't this great! It's only the first full week of May and we are already doing a plethora of midweek special races. Some promoters sit back and run the same old, same old week after week. Some are successful that way, but many wonder where the fans have disappeared to. Other promoters think outside the box, they run special events on midweek dates and even move the date of their races around to suit their needs and to string together races with other tracks willing to do the same. Once in a while they take it in the shorts on their gambles, but more often than not they come out very well and produce interesting events while shaking up the "norm" just a little.
Monday night, May 6th, the Independence Motor Speedway was in action with the first of the new IMCA Modified Summer Challenge Series races, a six race series that features strong payoffs for the drivers plus a nice points fund. The idea of promoters Mike VanGenderen and Trent Chinn, the series will visit four tracks in Iowa and then end up at the two South Dakota tracks that are right across the street from each other. A number of Modified drivers plan on following the entire series which gives them a chance for some nice payoffs plus a point fund while not tying up too many racing dates over the course of the Summer.
Along with the Modifieds, four other IMCA classes would be in action on Monday night, all racing for extra cash too. One hundred and nineteen cars signed in to race with the Modified field especially strong with forty four entrants and a lot of talented drivers fully capable of winning.
It was a warm Monday for racing given recent trends but another of the windy days that have dominated the Spring so far this year. However, the track held up well against the assault of many cars and it was remarked to me how many grooves the Modified drivers were using in their main event while not spraying we the fans with the amount of dust I was afraid we might have to endure.
The big Modified field, divided up into five heats and two B Features, would use a different format to qualify for the main event than often seen. IMCA tracks seen to be big fans of the draw/redraw format which I don't believe works so well when dealing with such large fields of cars. For this race, promoter VanGenderen used passing points with the top sixteen in passing points moving on to the main event with the highest in passing points starting in the front. Everyone else would go into the two B Features to determine the rest of the starting field.
While there is no perfect way of lining up races and determining just who should move to the main, I still favor the passing points format where every position gained is big in the heat races. You don't see drivers getting into a redraw position and then just cruising which is seen way too often in weekly shows. And to back that up, the heats were quite spectacular on Monday with some great battles and wild moves that had the crowd talking.
Tom Berry Jr was the class of the field in his Lethal chassis on this night, starting right in his heat race where he made some bold moves that saw him eventually garner the most passing points and then start on the pole. He would lead all thirty laps to take the two grand win but there was some excellent battles going on behind him. Tim Ward and Ethan Braaksma had a dandy race for second as they swapped the spot several times, with yellow flags causing them to use strategy to determine whether they wanted the outside or inside line. There were only three yellows in the race but two occurred in the last eight laps, making for a late push by some drivers.
Through all this, Berry Jr would not be challenged as he would drive on for the win. Braaksma would finish second and Ward third although Joel Rust had made a nice charge up to that spot, only to nearly fly off the end on the final lap and give up one position.
The Sport Mods would be racing for a grand to the winner but more importantly, the outcome would mark a milestone for winner Brayton Carter. He would lead all twenty laps for the win and that victory would mark feature win number one hundred for the Oskaloosa racer in Sport Mod competition. The win was far from easy as Taylor Kuehl raced up from fifth to challenge Brayton in the nonstop main and very nearly was able to make a pass for the lead.
She was finding great success in turns three and four and very nearly nosed under Carter to take over the lead near the halfway point of the race. However, she just couldn't quite complete the move and Carter, who is very good at searching the track to find the line that works best for his car, was able to make an adjustment and then start to pull away as Kuehl had some tire issues of her own at the end. Cole Suckow made a big charge at the end from tenth to complete the top three.
Tom Schmitt was not messing around on Monday. The Stock Car driver started on the outside pole, would take the lead on the opening lap and then would drive on for twenty more to take the win. There would be no catching him as he delivered a strong performance that included having to carefully pick his way through considerable lapped traffic as this race would go green to checkers. Cayden Carter started sixth but charged up to get to second but he was unable to cut into the lead of Schmitt and would have to settle for second. Cole Mather was entertaining as he three wheeled his way to a third place finish.
Calvin Dhondt had to weather a storm of pressure from Nathan Ballard to win the Hobby Stock feature but he was able to do so in a tight finish. Dhondt started on the outside pole and took the early lead but had to fight off a strong challenge from Ballard at the end to hold on for the win.
Ballard started way back in twelfth position but he worked his way forward and appeared to be the fastest car on the track. Once Ballard got the trunk of Dhondt's car, he spent a number of laps trying to get past for the lead. He tried to duck inside but Dhondt was solid and smooth and didn't give any room.
A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish and Ballard was glued to the rear bumper of Dhondt's car but Calvin made no mistakes as he drove a smooth line and came home the winner. Ballard should be congratulated also as the opportunity was there to put the horn on Dhondt but he chose to race him clean to the checkers. A disqualification moved up Bradly Graham, driving a different car on this night, to third.
While the Hobby Stocks showed good sportsmanlike racing, the Sport Compact could not say the same. The two leaders hammered each other back and forth with the winning move being a pancake blow on the final corner.
The race started out wild enough with four different leaders in the first few laps. Jake Anderson, Chris Pittman and Oliver Monson took turns leading the first three laps before Stephen Randall would make a big move and drive around Monson to take over the point.
From that point, it was a two car battle with Monson all over Randall as he looked for a way to make the pass to regain the lead. Those two would pull away but would continue their torrid battle for the top spot. With just two laps go go, Monson would drive deep into turn three, and use up Randall considerably as he drove past and took over the lead.
This seemed to fire up Randall and he gauged his assault. As the leaders raced down the back chute on the final lap, Randall replicated the move of Monson except with just a little more force as he moved Monson far up the track, drove under him and then raced home as the winner as the crowd cheered the fierce action on the track. Monson would straighten out his car and then would cross the line second. An illegal spring would cause the third place racer to be disqualified with Pittman taking that spot. And while there seemed to be no "marching orders" to either of the drivers for their late race escapade, I would have been tempted to park both of them for obviously rough driving. I guess I'm just no fun!
Thanks to MVG and Dana Benning for putting on this midweek special. A nice crowd was on hand for the fast paced program which got done at a decent hour, especially considering the large field of cars and resulting number of races run. Inde comes right back with a big show this coming Saturday night as Late Models of the SLMR are the featured attraction.
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