The Dirt Crown Stock Car Summer Series East division as well as the Dirt Crown Sport Mod Summer Series North division were both in action on Tuesday night, May 14th at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa for the Dirt Crown Dual and the winners were Dylan Thornton in the Stock Cars and Matthew Looft who topped the Sport Mod feature race. The other three division that typically race at Spencer events were also in action with Tim Ward, Cory Probst and Oliver Monson taking checkered flags in their divisions.
Tuesday would bring one of the nicest nights for racing so far in 2024 and it felt good to be at the track and not either dodging rain or shivering under multiple layers of clothing. Instead, it was just a fine Spring night.
This race has been fighting the rain, as has much of the special event schedule and even weekly shows, for weeks now and this particular race had been rescheduled I believe, twice already. However, Tuesday they would get it in with no problems and serve as a final tune up before next week's mega spectacular $250,000 Challenge race that features the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Modifieds in three nights of racing action.
The Stock Cars would be "The Show" on this night as along with a very nice two thousand dollar top prize to the winner, the winner of Tuesday night's feature race would also be an automatic qualifier for the Knoxville Dirt Crown finale in September. Plus many drivers were on hand simply to get a shot at tuning up their cars before next week's event.
A great field of forty seven Stock Cars were in the pits for Tuesday night's show which meant that five heat races and a pair of B Features would be needed just to set the lineup for their thirty lap feature race, paying that two grand to the winner. Twenty five cars would take the green flag with Derek Green leading the opening lap. However, he could only hold that spot for one lap before his front row partner Dustin Reeh would execute a fine pass and that over the point. As these two battled back and forth, Dylan Thornton, Tim Ward, Kelly Shryock, Jake Masters and Jason Fisher were all running in a tight pack behind them.
Things got crazy when the leaders, in the midst of their big battle for the lead, banged wheels with each other in turn four with both spinning. This made for a tough call for the officials but I think they got it right when they sent both to the back as they both did stop and they both were clearly involved.
This would give the lead to Thornton, who started eighth, and he would then go on to lead the rest of the laps for the win. However, it was much harder than that sounds, as he had constant pressure on him, primarily from Shryock who always seems to run very well here. There was constant change right behind the lead duo also, with drivers coming and then some fading back as different drivers would surge toward the front.
Two yellow flags in the last five laps kept the pressure on Thornton but each time he would hit his marks and not offer any openings for Shryock to pass him. They would cross the line in that order. Making big charges were Dallon Murty who started sixteenth to third and Johnny Spaw who came from twenty first to fourth with Looft rounding out the top five. Masters, Elijah Zevenbergen and Ward were also players for much of the contest also. Eighteen cars would finish the contest and all would be on the lead lap.
Before Looft would finish in the top five in the Stock Car feature, he found even bigger success in the Sport Mods as he would dominate that event. The race had three different leaders early with Jake Sachau taking the early advantage, only to soon be challenged and then passed by Cam Reimers. Looft, who started sixth on the grid, then quickly moved past Maguire Dejong and Sachau and closed on Reimers.
Looft was flying and just before the halfway point of the race, he blew past Reimers to take over the lead and once in front he then pulled away. This race was stopped just once for a second lap spin with the last nineteen laps going green and Looft used this to his advantage as the long green allowed him to build up nearly a full straightaway advantage over Reimers.
With nothing to hold him up, he then drove home for a strong win. Reimers was comfortably in second for most of the contest but there was plenty of action behind him. Colby Fett made a big charge that brought him up to third at the finish with Willy Kirk another who gained considerable positions while Sachau hung on for fifth. Amazingly, there was only one car in the twenty three car starting field that failed to finish. Looft would earn a grand for his win.
The Hobby Stocks would produce a full field of cars for their main event and this one would get wild also. Mike Smith started on the outside pole and with him grabbing the early lead, he seldom if ever gets passed in a situation like this. He was the leader through the halfway point of the race but Cory Probst, Colby Christensen, Brandon Nielsen and Drew Barglof were all within striking distance. Probst in particular was giving Smith a major headache as he continued to press for the lead.
It was fun watching the leaders shift lanes on the track almost constantly as the looked for the best speed for their cars while also trying to put the block on their competition. Both Smith and Probst were jockeying back and forth and they worked high and low on what was a black slick track but one that provided multiple lanes for racing.
Just at the halfway point, Smith got a bit high coming out of turn four and as he tried to drive low into corner one, he and Probst made contact with Smith spinning out. Once again a tough call had to be made and I think they got it correct again as Smith actually cut off Probst and created the contact himself.
Smith would go to the tail and Probst was then home free for the win, although he still had to hold off tough challengers in Nielsen and Justin Frederick to claim the win. Smith did a marvelous job after going to the tail as he worked his way back up to fifth at the finish.
While the Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks had big fields of cars, the Modifieds had a meager field of just ten cars, even though they were racing for a grand to the winner. So just two small heats would set their lineup for the main event. Cole Bents would do himself up proud as he started on the pole and led the first half of the race, despite heavy pressure from Cody Knecht and Tim Ward. Ward would turn into his biggest challenger and with a strong move on the outside, drive past Bents just one lap after the halfway point to take over the lead.
Once in front, Ward would pull away for the win with Brandon Beckendorf, who looked to be the fastest car on the track at points during the race, would execute a late race pass to come home second ahead of Bents.
Sport Compacts rounded out the field and perhaps, based on their performance, that other tracks besides Britt should consider dropped this class from their lineup. Only seven of them were on hand and their nonstop snoozer would see Oliver Monson come from the second row on the opening lap and after taking the lead, disappear into the western Iowa sunset as he would win by a full straightaway over Levi Volkert and Brooke Osler.
Worthy of note on Tuesday was both the great race track and the fine administration of the program by track workers. The track may have been in the best shape that I have seen in quite some time and while it got black, as it usually does, there were several distinct racing grooves and drivers were all over the track. There was no dust and very few stoppages to work on the surface. It provided some of the best action that we have seen here for awhile.
And what a smooth running show it was on Tuesday. Things have been getting a bit late for some of the shows here lately but it was a top notch performance by all tonight. They got the hot laps done quickly and were able to get the first race on the track by 7:18 pm and after that, it was virtually nonstop racing. I loved the very organized way that they had the upcoming races lined up and as soon as one took the checkers, the next race was on the track and ready to take the green. Everything just seemed to flow so smoothly on Tuesday and to get twenty races completed by 10;30 pm was an excellent job by all.
Next up for Spencer is their huge $250,000 Challenge, set for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with gigantic money on the line, primarily for the Stock Cars and Sport Mods.
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