With things very wet in the local area on Sunday, June 16th from massive overnight rains that pretty much ended all motorsport activity in the area, on a whim I jumped in the car and headed the four hours South to the Mason City Motor Speedway in Mason City for their Father's Day special event. Substituting for the Modifieds on Sunday, the PRO Late Models would be on the card along with the USRA Hobby Stocks, Stock Cars and B Mods.
In my rush, I didn't check out the weather too fully and when I arrived, I found myself to be far overdressed as perhaps the only person on the grounds not wearing shorts. With a temperature of ninety degrees and a wind blowing out of the South at a conservative speed of about one hundred miles an hour, if felt like a blast furnace and I was the one getting blasted. However, in the greater scheme of things, this was still better than forty degrees below zero, the polar opposite of a day like this.
Along with all the normal track officials hired to run the show here at Mason City, with the weather being so contrary, the USMTS show in Minnesota was flooded out and Todd and the crew from there were also in attendance, helping run off the program as they prepared to make a trip to Nebraska and then on to Kansas next week.
With the weather conditions as they were, track prep and maintenance were both a big concern and they did have to mist the track on several occasions but overall, I thought the track held up very well, provided good racing with lots of side by side action and certainly, such a big improvement from the old half mile that it goes without saying. I can think of a few other tracks where the biggest improvement they could ever make would be to make the same bold move they did here at Mason City by shortening up the track and banking the heck out of it.
The PRO Late Model Series, under the direction of Brandon Davis, is still fighting to find their place among the Late Model series currently in place in Iowa but they are managing to book some dates and allow fans to see their cars at more tracks. Mason City and Webster City are among those were they have races scheduled this year beyond their home track of Independence.
They had a dozen cars with them on this steamy Sunday night as they continue to learn how to walk before they can start to run. Car counts in the other three classes were also OK with the B Mods having the highest count of any of the four classes.
The program would be a nice quick and smooth one on this Sunday, something very important to do on a regular basis for a Sunday night program to be successful. The first green flag dropped at 6:18 pm and thirty seven minutes later, all the qualifying was done and it was time for the four feature races. Interestingly, the yellow flag waved just one time during the heat races which were smoothly run and also included the one spin rule which kept everyone moving.
Jesse Brown took the early lead as the Stock Car feature would be the first to run their main after the track was freshened. There was a good battle for second as Nate Whitehurst, Andrew Borchardt and Blake Adams all battled for position. Near the halfway point, Whitehurst ended up spinning and taking Adams with him.
This moved Borchardt into the second spot and slowly but surely he began to close in on the leader and did eventually make the pass to take over the top spot. He then drove on to take the win with Brown close behind. Unfortunately, Brown would fail technical inspection and this elevated Chanse Hollatz to the runner up spot with Travis Shipman officially scored third.
The Late Model feature saw J.D. Auringer lead from start to finish to take the twenty five lap win. He battled with Jeff Aikey early and then pulled away from him to open up a big lead. the best battle was for second as Sean Johnson moved into that spot after starting fifth but then had to fight off challenges from Nick Marolf.
Marolf put the pressure on for second and just after the halfway point was able to take over second. However, even a late race yellow that set up a four lap sprint finish would not allow Marolf to challenge as Auringer had the car to beat on this night and did drive on for the win. Late in the race, as Johnson fought to hold his car on the bottom lane, Zach Less drove past him to get third.
There was one very scary moment during the race that didn't even draw a yellow but was nevertheless hearting stopping. Logan Duffy was racing down the back chute and got moved up the track by another car. Faced with creaming the opening at the end of the wall in turn three, he instead flew off the drive way at high speed but was able to get shut down as he roared into the pits. This potential safety hazard would flair up again later in the show. Stay tuned.
The Hobby Stock feature saw Kolby Goepel take the lead from the outside pole and lead for most of the event. However, moving up after starting fifth, Josh Monson would put the pressure on Goepel and near the end of the race, make a pass that would stick and give him the victory. Goepel had his hands full at the end but managed to hold off Scott Dobel for second.
The B Mods wrapped up the night with a wild event that saw plenty of action and a number of cars test out the concrete walls for rigidity. It was also a race that saw really tough luck strike Taylor Ausrud, who led the majority of the contest, ended up going to the back of the pack before fighting his way back up to fifth with a wild ride through the pits thrown in for fun.
Ausrud sat on the pole and was the early leader with Harley Dais, the track point leader, moving up from fourth to soon chase Ausrud for the lead. Dais put the pressure on Ausrud and they went side by side for the lead.
Coming out of turn two, as they raced for the top spot, a car in front of them slowed and was trying to get off the track. Just as that car slowed and tried to get high on the track to exit in turn three, Ausrud was already committed to going around that car on the high side. Ausrud inadvertently got forced up the track and with little choice, took a wild ride off the track exit as opposed to creaming that same opening at the end of the wall that nearly took out Duffy in an earlier race. Ausrud slid to a half and his car was OK and he was allowed to return to the track and get his place back.
Unfortunately, just a lap later Ausrud would have a right rear tire go flat and he spun on the front chute, triggering another yellow. I suspect that the wild ride down the driveway may have damaged the tire and then it went flat when he tried to race on it.
Meanwhile, Dais moved into the lead and then would be the leader for the last half of the race. Despite four late yellows for spins and cars crashing into the walls, Dais held off a hard challenge from Dan Hovden to get the win. Ben Moudry finished a close third while Ausrud hustled to the pits, changed the tire and raced his way back up to fifth at the finish.
It would seem that the blunt end of the wall in turn three is just an accident waiting to happen as we saw in two near misses on Sunday. Despite being protected by some big tires, running into those would hurt also. To ease the problem, the drivers might need to be instructed not to use that exit when the race in going on and instead, if they broke or slowed to instead pull into the infield and not try to get off the track by using that driveway. Still, a long term solution is needed too.
It was a quick program from start to finish and they managed to run off the full show without having to turn on the track lights. And despite the heat, a nice sized crowd was on hand for the show as it seems that Mason City always has supported the events here well. Thanks to everyone at Mason City for their help and for cranking off a nice quick show on a Sunday night.
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