Harley Dais, one of the promising young talents in the Midwest, was a double winner as the twenty eighth annual Fall Futurity began on Thursday night, October 8th at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Iowa.
Modifieds, Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks all kicked off the program on Thursday night as they ran a full show, the first of three to be run this weekend at the short half mile here at the historic Hamilton County Fairgrounds. A number of Late Model drivers practiced over the course of the night also as that class will be added to both the Friday and Saturday night shows
About sixty drivers were on hand for the opening night of three with more expected for the two weekend shows. The track was in good shape for the opening night of racing with a smooth, relatively slick surface that did see the drivers moving around on the track and trying different lines.
The Stock Car feature, which had the largest number of entrants, rescued the night for the fans as the other three classes saw dominating performances with didn't provide a lot of drama. However, leave it to the Stock Cars to come up with a tight feature race that saw a number of drivers run in a tight pack for most of the event.
Braden Brauer got the jump from the pole and led the opening pair of laps with Jesse Brown and Dais close behind. The race was then stopped by a wild wreck which saw the only red flag of the night wave when Rick Todd jumped the outside wall on the front chute, flew into the grassy area in front of the turn one bleachers and then rolled over on to his roof. Todd was OK but it took several minutes for rescue workers to get him out of the car and get it removed from the awkward place it landed.
Brauer continued to lead on the restart with both Derek Green and Brandon Hare moving into positions to challenge and suddenly the lead pack was up to five drivers. Brauer was pounding the cushion as Green continued to advance after starting sixth on the grid.
Another yellow flew with seven laps complete as Travis Shipman rolled to a stop on the back chute. Green was now up to second and on the restart, he attacked Brauer on the top side while Dais worked low and tried to sneak under the leaders.
The next several laps were entertaining as Brauer fought off Green on the tall side while Dais poked his nose under both coming off the corners. Dais started to find some great traction coming off the corners and on lap ten he edged into the lead.
Green was all over the track, trying high to get past Brauer and then switching to the low side to gry and pass both. He switched up his line several times, finally getting past Brauer for second and then trying to get past Dais, again using the whole track.
Harley was solid on the bottom though and despite Green closing to several car lengths, Dais would fend him off for the win with Green trying a last lap banzai move on the cushion that came up short. Brauer crossed the line third but in the official finish is listed dead last among those cars that finished so I'm not sure if he failed tech or just what the explanation was.
This did move Hare to third with Brown fourth and Randy Foote completing the top five. with all finishers still on the lead lap.
The Modified field has been short here all year and such was again the case on Thursday night with only seven drivers on hand to fight for the top spot of a grand. Dais made short work of the field, leading from green to checkers to take the win. Alex Williamson stayed with him for a few laps but Harley gradually pulled away and had a comfortable margin at the finish line.
Lyle Sathoff finished third with Ben Nading and Jason Hahne, driving one of the Elliott cars, next in line.
Dan Hovden started on the pole for the draw, redraw B Mod feature and that was bad news for the competition as he took the immediate lead and would dominate the event. Two early yellows slowed the action, the second of which eliminated Ty Griffith from the event with mechanical issues as he was probably the best competition for Hovden in the early going.
The last dozen laps ran off green to checkers and Hovden pulled away from the field, winning by nearly a full straightaway over Jake Richards. The biggest charge was put on by Taylor Skauge who started ninth and worked his way into third in the late going but was way too far behind to advance any farther. Ben Moudry and Dale Schwamman completed the top five.
The brothers Monson battled it out in the Hobby Stock class, as they have done on numerous occasions this year with Josh coming home the winner on this night. Josh started on the pole but it was Jocob who used the outside line to get past Parker Anderson and take the initial lead. Josh then pulled up beside him and they raced side by side for two laps before Josh claimed the top spot.
Two early spins kept the field bunched but when they got back to green flag racing, it was Josh that gradually pulled away from the pack. Jacob had his hands full with Bryce Sommerfeld who came from the third row top put heat on him for second.
Several times Sommerfeld nearly got by for second but each time Jacob fought him off. Up front, Josh was long gone and he drove home for the win unchallenged while Jacob fought off Sommerfeld for second. Anderson and Tanner Green rounded out the top five.
Racing started right at 7 pm and two hours later the quick moving program was completed. I thought it to be a very nice night for racing but as I left the grounds, I was surprised to see that it was lightning to the West. A quick check of the radar showed a storm barreling in from Fort Dodge so it was a good thing that the program was a quick one.
Friday night will see the same classes in action plus the Late Models, Tuners and Crown Vics with racing again around 7 pm.
