Godown Opens Cajun Series with Modified Victory at "The HIll"

 Anyone up for an eleven hundred mile ride South to see some Modified racing this week? The answer was a resounding NO, but I went anyway as I headed for Louisiana for five straight nights of racing, weather permitting of course. 

For a number of years, I have been seeing center steer Modifieds in action once or twice a year as circumstances would permit. Exclusively, I would see them race either in Florida at Volusia in February or at the World Finals in Charlotte in November. 

I always found the cars to be immaculately prepared and always very sharp looking, all chromed up and spotless. Granted, to me the center steer Modifieds are a  bit odd looking but once one gets over the fact that they look like a Sprint Car chassis with a Modified body hung over it and the driver sits right in the middle of the chassis, you appreciate how clean the cars are. 

Frankly, however, while they are very clean looking and certainly unique, especially for us from the center of the country where we never see them in person, I have never found them to race very well and the vast majority of races that I have seen them compete in have been less than stellar. However, they are hugely popular in the eastern region of the country and believing that those race fans must know what they are cheering for too, I have assumed that I just haven't caught their racing on their best days. Perhaps it was the tracks they were racing on , I thought, so I wanted to see them race on a couple of shorter tracks that were prepared somewhat differently on some different dirt and see if that made a difference. And by the end of the night on Tuesday, my answer would be a resounding YES. 

On Tuesday night, November 9th, I made what I hope will be the first of five straight nights of Modified racing in the Cajun state of Louisiana seeing the center steer Modifieds in action. This would be the Cajun Swing of the Short Track Super Series Cajun Region combined event at the historic Boothill Speedway, just West of Shreveport Louisiana which by the way is celebrating its fiftieth year of racing in 2021. Racing this week will be held from Tuesday night through Saturday night at four different tracks across northern Louisiana, ending up with a  $20.000 to win show on Saturday night at Super Bee Speedway. Along with the Modifieds, a variety of classes that race weekly at these five tracks will also be in action on a random basis at the various tracks. 

Racing in the Modifieds will be under the auspicious of the Short Track Super Series and its owner and promoter Brett Deyo. Deyo is one of the hottest young promoter in the entire country and his rise to racing prominence in the powerful East Coast racing scene has been a wonder. Starting out as the promoter of one special event not that many years ago, Deyo now runs a whole gauntlet of racing events including a STSS North and South division series on the East Coast that stands toe to toe with the powerful World Racing Group Super Dirt Car Series with his fifty thousand dollar to win events.  He also is the weekly promoter at three prominent tracks in the Northeast, runs a series for the Sportsman cars, administers the American Racer tire championships and has now started the Cajun Series to try and bring this brand of Modified racing to the southern region for a class that has been pretty much locked up in the Northeast. He may be involved in other things that I have omitted but the bottom line is that he is a promoter on the move and one of the biggest "movers and shakers" on the East Coast. 

This series of races is the second year for the Cajun Swing which is designed to bring some of the eastern stars to this part of the country so fans can see them in action and his eastern drivers can race at some new tracks. It is also designed as a reward of sorts for those southern drivers that have built cars and races his Cajun Series this year plus their chance to race for extra money, far more than they normally do plus rub shoulders with the biggest stars in center steer Modifieds. It also gives the fans of the South a chance to see Stewart Friesen, Matt Sheppard, Mike Mahaney, Erick Rudolph and others in action. 

The series was expanded this year to five nights and the amount they were racing for was also increased with the twenty thou pot at the end of the week. The Cajun Series drivers did support the series soundly with the top fourteen in their points standings on hand and around a dozen or so drivers from the Northeast made the pull down to Louisiana too. Some came directly from the World Finals at Charlotte last weekend while others just drove down this week. John Lutes told me he drove twenty six hours nonstop from northern New York to get to Boothill with only a short nap once he is the Cajun state. 

In all, thirty two Modified drivers signed in to race which was double the number that were on hand for last year's initial series as the number of cars in this area of Louisiana and Texas grows and more of the professional racers look for a nice week of racing in the warm temperatures before Winter sets in as these guys have to battle as harsh of Winters as I do. 

Boothill Speedway here in Greenwood La. proved to be a great track for these drivers to showcase their cars and prove to me that yes, they can put on a show that features passing, wild turns of fate and plenty of  "rubbing is racin." Boothill is a quarter mile oval with fairly tight corners but wide enough that passing can take place. Series officials requested a heavier than what his generally done surface here which required a little more wheel packing than normal. However, it produced a very fast track that was still able to be passed on plus a nice berm built up and even the support class drivers later would comment that they liked the change in the surface as apparently they normally run it pretty slick with not much to get a grip of.  The STSS also runs a format that is attractive to me as a fan as no time trials were held, double file restarts were used up to the last five laps of the main and they redrew the top twelve from the heat races which is a pretty deep redraw compared to most. All these things were attractive to my tastes as a fan and also, by the way, allowed them to start the program about ten minutes earlier than even the advertised start time! This would be the first race ever for this series at Boothill but the drivers quickly adapted to the track. 

Two excellent announcers covered all the action. I apologize that i missed the name of the STSS announcer but the local track announcer who did the support classes was Joshua Bell who also displayed a great singing voice as he did the National Anthem. 

Another appealing consideration for the evening was that the Modifieds would run first with both their heats and feature being up first on the card so that fans could leave early if necessary on a work and school night. Four heats and the only B Feature of the night set the running order for the main event for the STSS. They redrew the top twelve and their were two Cajun Series provisionals so twenty six cars started their main event. 

The Modified feature would see three different leaders during its forty laps and eventual winner Ryan Godown, the New Jersey driver, would start ninth on the grid. The cream would rise to the top during the feature race with the biggest names in this form of racing battling it out for the win. Young Jack Lehner would be the early leader before he was passed by Rocky Warner who would hold the top spot  after Lehner got a flat tire as he collided with a slower car while threading his way through traffic. 

There was quite a disparity between speeds in some of the cars and on this tight track, it made the action both wild and hairy as the fast cars, while battling for position, tried to steer through quite a number of much slower cars. This did result in some wild goings on as after Lehner lost the lead when he banged with a slower car, the same thing would happen to Warner. 

As he and Friesen battled for the lead, Warner banged wheels with a slower car, sending Jimmy McCommas up on his lid and into the night air. He would be OK but done for the night. 

Rare and freak mistakes would plague some of the biggest names with Sheppard stumbling on a restart and getting run over that would end his night and Friesen would "step on it" while battling for the lead and end up flying through the infield and losing two positions. Meanwhile, Godown gradually worked his way to the front, took over second from Friesen and using the healthy cushion, blast past Warner for the lead with about ten laps to go. He then would pull away for the four thousand dollar victory while Rudolph would charge up from eleventh to pass Friesen for second. Only twelve of the starters were still on the track at the conclusion of this rough and tumble race that was highly entertaining, never the less. 

The support classes were a little light on numbers but there were never the less drivers from four states in action in this area where there is a confluence of states packed closely together. It was reaffirmed that yes, I was witnessing racing in the South when two Bubba's were a part of the field for the first main event.  

The Factory Stocks had a nice field of cars with twenty of them taking the green flag for their main event. Three tries and three yellows and this race would restart single file for the main. Stoney Dubois would lead all twenty laps to win the main event in this class but it was a tight race as Neal Kemp would challenge him closely for the whole distance. Kemp would get a nose under Dubois in every corner and try to beat him back up the track but each lap Dubois would fight him off. 

A late yellow saw more of the same but to Kemp's credit, he ran the leader clean and Dubois would hold on for the win. In victory lane Dubois announced that it was his first feature win in eighteen years of trying so I guess he was more than due. He also announced that with some money in his pocket from the win, he planned on heading up to Ark-La-Tex to race on Wednesday night! Kemp and Ricky Ingalls, of the famous East Texas Ingalls racing family, would trail. 

Fourteen Limited Modifieds would take the green flag for their main event with Derick Grigsby leading the early laps. However, Grigsby suddenly lost power down the back chute and dived into the infield, turning over the lead to Coty Tupper. Tupper didn't wear the lead for more than a few seconds as just after he passed the slowing Grigsby, he dug into the turn three banking and launched himself into the Louisiana sky as he barrel rolled. He was OK but obviously done for the night. 

Chase Hatton would inherit the lead, lose it for one lap to Aaron Roy but then would fight back into the top spot and hold off Roy and Tyler Parker for the win. 

I don't know if fans in this area like to "rumble"  from time to time but a local law presence at this facility was very noticeable. A Caddo Parish Sheriff's vehicle was parked by the pit gate all night and when wrecks were cleaned up such as Tupper's flip, two of the Sheriff's vehicles were first to the scene along with the wreckers. 

The FWD Front Wheel Drive ( or Forward class as they now have been infamously named by Michael Rigsby) didn't get the e-mail that they were racing on this night and only five showed up. However, just that small number still managed to create their share of controversy when Makayla Storm was unceremoniously dumped by Jack Dupont while she was leading the five lap main event. While she went skittering up the banking and rolled a tire off the rim, Dupont drove on to the win, only to be met in victory lane by a chorus of boos and jeers from the fifteen people that stuck around to watch the last race of the night. 

All racing was completed by 10 pm but if you had come to watch the Modifieds alone, you could have left the track well before that time. The Modifieds showed themselves in a new and much more appealing light to me on this night plus the other support classes had a fun night as well. I wish a few more fans had been on hand to watch but this class is relatively new to the race fans of Boothill and indeed, it was a Tuesday night in November. Many likely watched on Flo from the Northeast and I;m sure the live body crowd will increase as we get nearer the weekend. 

Thanks to Brett Deyo and the entire crew along with the workers from Boothill who were putting on their fourth special event in the last six days, something that tracks farther North could only dream about at this time of the year.   

 

Kile Repeats at CJ Turkey Dash

 Racing in November in the Midwest is something that I never had the chance to do for many years. Heck, anything past Labor Day weekend was long considered to be a bold gamble to stage a race at a time when football ruled the roost. Now however, the limits have been pushed and there are many races that fill the Fall months of September and October and even some bold promoters that try to extend the season as long as possible. 

CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction Iowa on Saturday afternoon, November 6th put on the fifth annual Turkey Dash at the Louisa County Fairgrounds and while I had not been to any of the first four events in this series, I was more than happy to drive down for the fifth annual on what was a beautiful Saturday afternoon for racing in the Midwest. According to track announcer Jerry Mackey, while the weather didn't get quite as warm as it did for last year's race with temperatures that set a record for the date, It was still a very pleasant day for race and while the program stretched into the evening before the final checkered flag waved, it still was not uncomfortable by any means. 

Not having been to this event before, I really didn't know just what to expect in terms of number of cars racing, what the crowd would be like etc. and from all standpoints, I think it exceeded my expectations. We were also dealing with day time racing which can be sketchy at times too but from that standpoint everything worked out to be fine also. 

One hundred and twenty nine racers signed in for the show which featured the five IMCA classes that one would normally get to see at most shows in the Hawkeye State with the Sport Compacts topping the chart with thirty one entrants but enough cars in all classes for a good show and along with the Sport Compacts, there would be enough cars racing to require B Features in the Sport Mods also. 

In a move of bravery, I wore my Badger sweatshirt into the pits, not knowing what the response would be following last weekend's beat down of the Hawkeyes in Madison but except for a couple of unspoken but wary looks at the logo, I was good to go. However, if I would have needed backup, there were a few Wisconsin people on hand also, both as spectators and participants as this race drew drivers from a broad area including Minnesota and Illinois as there are still apparently a lot of people interested in stretching the season out one more week. One wonders if the folks at Davenport weren't kicking themselves in the backside just a bit after they cancelled so early and then Friday turned out to be a nice night. It would have made for an awesome doubleheader and certainly would have made the field of cars even bigger with likely more travelers on hand. 

It has been quite a few years since I was last at CJ as they run mostly regular events on their normal race night here and there are a lot of tracks between here and northern Wisconsin. However, the racing proved to be very good all day(and evening) and when considered that the show started somewhere after 2 pm in the blazing Fall sun, even better. A lot of afternoon shows can be pretty brutal but I thought that the racing was good from start to finish. 

CJ is really wide in the corners and despite the fact that it would get black and slick top to bottom, which was certainly expected, there was still plenty of passing and some dandy slide jobs also. 

CJ is a uniquely appearing track in one regard. With the Iowa River running right next door to the track and the whole fairgrounds really part of that river's flood plain, the fairgrounds has been badly flooded a number of times over the years. To protect the buildings and property on the grounds, a large dike has been built that forms a perimeter around the first and second turn and then down the back chute which gives the whole track an unusual perspective. 

And racers being racers, they have found a way to make that dike aid them as they raced. The first turn has been made so wide now that it comes right up to the base of the dike and now racers are using the dike to give them a "kick" off it and down the back chute. It provides a very unusual perspective to watch the drivers head straight into the first turn, run up the dike to give them momentum, then make a hard left turn off the bank and shoot down the back straightaway. With the track being exceptionally slick with the afternoon show, this blast of momentum was successfully used by a number of drivers and I loved their creativity. 

A topic of discussion was the qualifying format that was used on this day with dashes for the top finishers setting the starting lineups for the front rows of the features instead of doing a draw/redraw which is normally used in this area for special events. There is, I suppose, some merit to having the drivers earn through a race their starting positions as opposed to just being lucky on a draw and who could turn down some generous sponsors if they wanted to be involved in a program. And for a change of pace, why not indeed?

However, as some had predicted though, and this is something that frequently happens with dashes setting the starting order, the winners of four of the five feature races came off the front row and it would have been five for five if not for Dylan Thornton's blown engine while leading the Stock Car main. 

It was a big program with twenty eight races on the card and while the heats had full fields, they could have probably compacted things a bit by taking more cars out of the heats and then having smaller B Features which could have been reduced in number. Any way that laps for an afternoon show can be reduced on the track is always a good thing. However, that is nick picking and overall things ran smoothly with no down time except that required for some track prep before the mains began. 

There were plenty of people on hand to report the results of this race so I wouldn't belabor with a lap by lap account of what happened as that is available elsewhere. 

John Watson dominated the Hobby Stock feature, leading from start to finish. He was one of those running off the dike banking and on nearly every lap he had to skirt around the pack challenging on the inside but he was comfortable doing so and never changed his line throughout the race. A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish and Dustin Griffiths put the heat on after he won an excellent battle for second. Solomon Bennett made quite a charge from the back of the pack after he was forced to start there after leading a heat until his car got too hot and he had to pull off with victory in sight. 

The Sport Mod feature had the fewest yellows of any of the five classes and this was a two car race with Logan Anderson holding off all charges from Tyler Soppe for the win. They put on a good battle from start to finish and Soppe tried every line on the track looking for a little edge but Anderson would have him covered. 

The most dominated performance was put on by Chuck Fullenkamp who would have no challengers in the fifteen lap Sport Compact feature. Leading from start to finish, no one would ever be able to get close enough to challenge. Cory Van Dusen would finish in the second spot as twenty three of the starters would finish the race with only flip victim Dustin Munn not taking the checkered. 

The Modified feature was probably the most exciting and at the same time frustrating as it seemed that just when things were going to get exciting, the yellow would fly for a spin or stall. Six times the yellow bunting would wave by starter Doug Haack and each time, it would interrupt the flow of the race. However, those yellows would always be followed by an exciting restart as Kurt Kile would run up the dike and several times have to split the cars that were battling to get past him for the lead. Whether it was Dylan Thornton or Jarrett Brown, he was splitting hairs very closely to squeeze by, but he did it time after time which was thrilling for the crowd. Thornton and Brown would try different strategy on their restart lines but each time it would be Kile that would slip between them and continue as the leader. At the end it was Brown that settled for second. 

Jason See would be the early leader of the Stock Car feature but Thornton was doing a good job working the track and he would find a way past See to take over the lead. Once in front, he was comfortably in the top spot while a good battle for second would take place. Disaster hit with only three laps to go when Thornton slowed and then lost power down the back chute with a motor failure the apparent problem. Johnny Spaw, who had done as good a job as anyone of working up through the pack after starting ninth, would take over the lead at this point and he would drive on for the win over See and Griffiths. 

It was a long day of racing and the main events weren't perhaps the most compelling ever presented but I enjoyed the show. I thought the track was exceptional especially  given the conditions and circumstances and it was good to see a big field of cars and nice crowd on what would be the last day of racing in the state of Iowa for 2021, except that now hopefully the Shiverfest will get those honors later this month. 

I never did get to say hello to Larry Richardson but would like to thank him and all his crew for a job well done. With Kevin Feller recording the numbers, Doug Haack waving the sticks and Jerry Mackey calling the action, it was good to see that all the veteran race people haven't been "farmed out" to retirement just yet. 

Sabraski Continues To Roll; Two More Feature Wins at Topless Nationals

 The racing season in the Minnesota-Wisconsin region concluded on Saturday night, October 23rd with the final night of the Topless Nationals at the Ogilvie Raceway. After running all the heat races on Friday night, the preliminary action would consist of four B Features in the Midwest Mods and one for the Super Stocks before the five feature races would be run. 

For more drivers showed up on Saturday to run at the back of the fields for those classes with room while one lone driver started at the back of a fairly large Super Stock B Feature but hoped to race his way into the main event. Sadly for him, it didn't happen but he was the last of what turned out to be one hundred and seventy six drivers that took to the banking of the "Big O" for one last race in 2021. 

The afternoon was filled with trick or treating by the kids in the pit area and nearly every one of the racers had either candy or pictures(or both) and even guys like me wearing my own natural Halloween mask were offered more candy that I could handle, leading to a sugar high. 

One of the topics for discussion in the pit area was the upcoming Wild West Shootout, simply because there are so many racers from our area that attend and support that event and are actually the ones carrying the load in terms of car and fan support. Without a big turnout of racers and fans from our area, that race would not be what it has become. 

Of course, by now just about everyone knows that the race for 2022 has been moved to the Vado Motorsports Park in Las Cruces New Mexico because Arizona Speedway is being shut down. While Vado is a great racing facility and certain top ten in the entire country, a lot of racers and fans are expressing some hesitancy about the move, simply because for many it is also a vacation with warm weather and oodles of things to do a part of it and some are not just sure they want to go to the high plains of New Mexico in January. 

It is true that New Mexico is about eight or so degrees, on average, cooler than Arizona and that there probably aren't as many touristy kinds of things to do there, but for those coming there for the races, they won't find many tracks anywhere nicer than Vado. I guess we will wait to see just how many make the pull there in January. 

Well known Late Model driver Don Shaw has added a Modified to his stable of cars and Iowa racing fans will recognize that he got the JMR car from Scott Fitzpatrick who is getting the chassis from Jay McDonald in North Dakota and then putting them together. 

Shaw owns a winter home in Arizona that he spends considerable time at and when they aren't racing Late Models out there, he wants to be able to race other cars so he bought an IMCA car since all the Modified racing in the Phoenix area is of the IMCA type. This weekend he converted this car over to WISSOTA with their tires and a big spoiler but left the crate motor in the car. Don told me he was hoping for a slick track on Saturday as while he did OK on Friday, he said he had the car "to the boards" just to try and keep up. Later he would start sixth in the Modified thirty lapper and slip to tenth at the end. 

Racing action would start just after 5 pm to try and beat the cool weather again predicted for Saturday but with the bright sun the track was tough and there were an excruciating twenty one yellow flags in the five B Mains which were painful to watch. Finally they got them done, the sun set, the top qualifiers took to the track for the main events and the racing went much smoother.  

Quite the opposite of the B Features, the five main events were all smoothly run shows with few yellows, lots of side by side racing with two settled right at the finish line and other not much much more in separation. 

Continuing a pattern that he has maintained most of the Summer, Shane Sabraski was again a double winner, taking both the Modified and Super Stock main events. It has been another monster year for the Rice Minnesota driver, with his two wins this weekend putting him right at sixty feature wins for the year between the two classes he races in. He also won yet another WISSOTA national title in the Super Stocks and finishing painfully close in the Modifieds, coming up just two points short of Hickson North Dakota's Tyler Peterson. Sabraski had two shots late in the year where feature wins would have given him the point lead but he came up short in both, finishing second both nights. 

He told be before the show that he was happy to have a weekend where he didn't have to worry about  points and could just race. He also admitted the race where he was passed at this very track on the last corner by Dan Ebert that likely cost him the title will haunt him for quite some time. 

Matt Aukland would lead the first two laps of the Modified main before Sabraski would pass him and after that, it would be Shane to lead the last twenty eight. He was really flying on this night and opened up a full straightaway over the field that was never really challenged. Jody Bellefeuille moved up to second but then he faded and it was Clayton Wagamon who drove up from eleventh and would eventually take the second spot. 

A late yellow would set up a two lap sprint to the finish and Sabraski would fight off the best efforts of Wagamon to pull off the upset. Aukland would finish a solid third as he keeps getting faster and faster since he quit IMCA racing, got himself a new Lethal chassis and has been getting better and better each week. 

A mention should also go out to Jeremy Nelson(4) who ran well on Friday night, only to get DQ'd for his deck height. He started twenty fifth and raced his way up to fourth at the finish. 

The Super Stock feature started  inauspiciously as polesitter Dan Nissalke jumped the start. The starter waved the yellow quickly while the field was still pounding down the front chute. The front half slowed, the back half didn't and a major wreck ensued that eliminated four cars before the green was waved. 

Nissalke was set back a row and the race restarted with Josh Zimpel leading a single lap before Sabraski came up from the second row to take over the lead. Sabraski would lead the rest of the way but that would be slightly misleading. He would build up a big lead in what would turn out to be a nonstop race but lapped traffic was brutal and it bogged Sabraski down some. 

Meanwhile, Nissalke was driving the wheels off his car and he cut a full chute lead to a few car lengths in the last few laps. In fact, twice in the last five laps, Nissalke got beside Shane but Sabraski was able to find his way through traffic just a bit quicker and at the finish he held the slimmest of margins over Nissalke, who if he hadn't lost his pole position because of the jump, might have won the event. Another big winner this year, Dave Mass, would come home third. 

The two biggest nail biters were the Street Stock and Midwest Modified mains. Justin Vogel would start on the pole for the Street race and lead the first twelve laps but Kyle Dykhoff would gradually reel him in and on lap thirteen, Kyle would drive under Vogel and take over the lead. 

However, Vogel would fight back and the last seven laps would see the two drivers, who race each other weekly and more than once a week most times, battle side by side. Dykhoff would run the low side while Vogel, who loved the high side, would work that line. They would jockey back and forth, taking turns leading at the line. 

On the last lap they remained in this fashion but Vogel got a great run off the final corner, squeezed up against the wall and would edge Dykhoff by inches in what was an excellent race between drivers that race each other harder than hard but respect each other too. 

While the leaders fought it out, there was a great battle for third between three drivers that saw Zach Elward roll on the final corner. He was awarded third with another driver sent to the end of the running order but that probably wasn't a great deal of consolation to him. Vogel would conclude the event as he likes to when he wins a big race, parking his car against the home stretch wall and then doing a "burndown" until the whole victory lane is obscured  by tire smoke. 

Ashley Mehrwerth would lead one lap of the Midwest Modified feature before Travis Schulte took over the top spot. He would then have to weather an assault from three different drivers before he could park in victory lane. First it was Mitch Weiss that would challenge and then Brennan Blascyk would try to get by. 

His biggest challenger though would be Cody "The Cobra" Lee who would come from tenth to challenge. Lee, driving a new car that he got near the end of the year. is a hard charger of repute and he used that strategy as he high balled his way up to second and then began to pressure Schulte. Lap after lap, Lee would fling his car into the corners, rolling up to the door of Schulte who would coolly maintain his line while Lee would back off and race him clean. 

They did this right up to the final lap where Lee made one last blast into turn four, but Schulte trusted his instincts and Lee's judgement and Cody left him a lane where Schulte squeezed by to win by a whisper with Blascyk finishing third. 

The Mod Fours would see Bob Holtquist lead the first half of the race before his son Dustin would make a great outside move on his "Old Man" and drive into the lead. Once in front, Bob would keep him close but Dustin would drive on for the win with Jamie Flickinger taking a tight battle to finish third. 

The feature races would go off smoothly and all racing would be done just after 10 pm after which I slipped back to my car where it was a comfortable thirty three degrees on this pleasant Minnesota Fall day. A very nice crowd was on hand for the feature races so along with a jammed pit area, this turned out to be a very good weekend for the track when racing is a gamble this deep into the Fall. 

Thanks to the Wagamon family and promoter Nate Fischer and all his crew for a good final experience of racing for this year. With all racing in this area now complete, any further activity will require considerable driving so we will see what the rest of the season brings. 

Sabraski Shines in Topless Nationals Prelims

 The last racing weekend in the state of Minnesota for the 2021 racing season kicked off on Friday night, October 22nd at the Wagamon's Ogilvie Speedway, home of the Big O near Ogilvie Minnesota. The Big O hosted the eleventh annual Topless Nationals with five classes in racing action on this night. 

An open competition show, the five classes racing were the Street Stocks, Mod Fours, Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks and Modifieds. Since the Big O is WISSOTA sanctioned, three of the classes were those that are unique to WISSOTA while two of the open wheel classes allowed the basic rules of whatever sanctioning body the car raced under.

So we had the Street Stocks(although one Stock Car managed to sneak in and I don't know how that happened), Mod Fours and Super Stocks running WISSOTA rules while the Midwest Mods had IMCA and USRA cars running under their own rules as well as IMCA and USRA Modifieds running under their own rules. 

This all made for an interesting mix of drivers and certainly many that don't get a chance to race at Ogilvie any other time during the season. And one would think that a lot of racers have had enough by this time of the year, particularly on what was predicted to be a sunny but very brisk forecast for the weekend with the first killing frosts of this growing season just happening the night before this race with that type of weather expected throughout the weekend. 

However, for a race that is always very hard to predict just what the car counts will be, the pit area was jammed with race cars with the overflow field behind the back chute even being utilized as one hundred and seventy two cars signed in to race in just five divisions including a whopping seventy eight Midwest Mods. 

And to prove that there were still plenty of drivers anxious to race, drivers were on hand from five states and two Canadian Provinces to wrap up their 2021 racing seasons. 

And the one common denominator that all cars had, no matter what class they were in was that all ran without roofs for this weekend. Some had apparently prepared weeks ahead for this race as many of the bare roll cages were cleverly decorated as a "Best Appearing" is a part of this event. Everything from blinking lights to pumpkins, skulls and whole skeletons were riding along with some of the drivers in a once a year appearance while some of the teams were still frantically removing the roofs of their cars after arriving at the track. 

This whole event is a fund raiser for the Hope Chest for Breast Cancer and Susan G. Komen Foundation research via Angie's Army and while the wall surrounding the track wasn't painted pink as in some years past, there were pink ribbons everywhere and kid's trick or treating including the pit area, Halloween costume contests for kids and adults alike, live music and dancing after the races on Friday night and a myriad of other things going on to celebrate the last race of the year. 

Friday night would feature heat races only for all divisions with B Features, as needed, along with all the main events on Saturday night. There would be twenty heat races of ten laps apiece contested on Friday night using the draw/redraw format so it was important to draw a good number of a "soft" heat, or perhaps both. Finding the "soft" heats was a challenge so an up front starting position would be important. 

While eight of the nine Midwest Mod heats were won right off the front row, it was not because the track was unpassable but more that some really strong cars started up front. Chris VanMil was an exception as he came from the fourth row to win his heat race. Josh Mattick would win a heat in his first appearance of the year here and rookie driver Jake Hagemann would also top a heat and North Dakota driver Jarret Carter would come from the back row of his heat to make the main. 

Kegan Stueve would have perhaps his best run ever as he came from the fourth row to win a Street Stock feature while northwestern Minnesota aces Justin Vogel and Kyle Dykhoff would also take wins. 

Eric Lamm, Shane Sabraski and Matt Aukland would win Modified heats and Sabraski would back that win with another in his Super Stock, being the only double winner of the night. Dave Mass, Dan Nissalke and rim riding Josh Zimpel would be other Super Stock winners. The Mod Four field has been depleted by this time of the year and their lone heat saw South Dakota's Bob Holtquist top son Dustin in that race. 

B Features will be required for the Midwest Mods and Super Stocks before the main events proceed on Saturday with an early start time to try and beat the worst of the cool weather. 

Track officials at Ogilvie ran off another  efficient program as they have been doing for all their Fall specials this year with all racing being completed in under three hours with the final checkered flag waving just after 10 pm. The temperature indicator in my vehicle said it was thirty three degrees when I started it up so it was indeed a cool Autumn night. The pit area was jammed with onlookers and while the main grandstand was a bit light on Friday, many more people are expected to be on hand for the main events on Saturday. The dance was well under way by the time I cut through the main building on my way to the parking lot so those on hand were having a good time, cool weather or not. 

Nate Fischer and his crew produced another good racing surface for the drivers with plenty of side by side racing and not a whisper of dust. 

Angst Tops Five Star Classic

 The Mason City Motor Speedway wrapped up their 2021 racing season on Sunday afternoon, October 17th with the concluding race of the Five Star Classic which featured the six classes that routinely race at Mason City, the USRA sanctioned Modifieds, B Mods, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and Tuners plus the Mini Mods which also race quite often at this track. 

Originally scheduled to be a Friday night, Saturday night doubleheader, those plans had to be changed due to the fact that the special part that the electricians are waiting on to get the new lightning system up and running still hasn't arrived on the boat from somewhere and so the lightning system still doesn't function. Therefore, Todd, Ryne and the folks from Webster City opted to run a Saturday and Sunday afternoon doubleheader which gave me the chance to drive down on Sunday and catch the Sunday portion of the show with Sunday races being rare indeed this time of year. 

Normally an afternoon race, no matter the time of the year, would send up warning signs threatening dust, rubbered up racing conditions and an overall poor experience but as we would all find out later that day, none of these proved to be the case on this Sunday and instead we had the pleasure of watching a good racing program and enjoying sitting out in some beautiful Fall weather conditions. 

I waited until the last race of the year to make my first visit to the Mason City Motor Speedway this year but I should probably qualify that statement by saying that this is my first visit to the Mason City Motor Speedway times two. 

The reason that I say this is that last year, when Mason City reopened after having been cut down from a big half mile to the third mile track that it now is, Todd, Ryne and the folks that run the show here just weren't totally happy with what they had created. I was here once last year and thought the racing was not bad but there was indeed something about the corners that just didn't sit quite right. 

At least that's how they felt so they totally ripped up the corners and started over with that newest track being debuted again this Summer. It still is a work in progress as was mentioned above, the lightning still doesn't work, the pits are still plenty rough off corner three and there is plenty of landscaping yet to be done, and I can't provide a complete analysis of the track until I see some racing under the lights, but from what I did see today, it looks to me like they definitely got it right this time.  

In fact, the show on Sunday was a very good one and almost hard to believe that it was daytime racing as there was next to no dust, the track was wide, racy and fast and they didn't really have to spend an inordinate amount of time between races to keep it that way. Being as they didn't have any lights, they had to get done by a certain time anywhere or race in the dark but that was never a danger either. 

Here is an interesting story about one of the competitors in the Mini Mod class. Levi Randt is I believe eleven years old. On Saturday night, I saw the Randt racing team in action at the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior Wisconsin with older son Landyn (age fourteen) racing his WISSOTA Mod Four. The Mod Four is a smaller version of a Modified with a four cylinder engine in it and is a popular class at certain tracks in Minnesota and a long sanctioned class in WISSOTA. Landyn is a rookie in the class after racing Mini Mods previously. They raced on Saturday night, (Landyn finished sixth),  then pulled the seventy two miles home to their house in Siren Wisconsin. They swapped cars and then drove the two hundred and eighty seven miles to Mason City so that Levi could race on Sunday afternoon in Mason City where he finished third. 

They have been doing this all Summer, trading off so that both Landyn and Levi get to race with most of Landyn's shows being fairly close by to them in Minnesota while they have had to pull the Mini Mod all over neighboring states to race. But they have done it sixty times this Summer. 

But they will do it one more time this coming week and get this. On Friday night at the last race in the state of Minnesota for 2021, Levi will qualify the Mod Four on Friday night as Landyn has a football game. Despite being just a scrawny Freshman in high school, he is a two way starter on the Siren nine man football team and they start state playoffs on Friday night against the Shell Lake Lakers. Levi, just eleven, will qualify the car on Friday and Landyn will drive it on Saturday night after having hopefully celebrated a football playoff victory. After that, I believe Dad is ready to call it a season.  

Just over eighty cars were on hand in the five classes that were racing on this Sunday plus the Mini Mods. The field was a mixture of USRA cars that race in Iowa and southern Minnesota along with some area and local drivers that run with IMCA also. Cars ran their own sanctioning body rules and the Mods were allowed to put on a big spoiler if they normally didn't do so. 

 No B Features were required and the eleven qualifying heats, of which only two required yellow flag slowdowns, went by really quick so even with a thirty minute late start due to some last minute track prep on this warm and sunny Sunday and a bit of an equipment failure that slowed things down briefly, the feature races were ready to roll early on. 

The Modified feature, as you might expect, was the highest paying race of the day and young Jayden Larson, who seems to have cars to fit every sanctioning bodies rules, would be the early leader. He had Josh Angst close behind and when he jumped the cushion, Angst slipped by him to take over the lead. Larson caught a quarter panel as Rodney Sanders made a pass on him that wouldn't qualify for the Hall of Fame of clean passes, but the race was then on between Angst and the former USMTS champion. 

Angst refused to yield and no matter what Sanders tried, he couldn't quite catch Angst. He tried to set him up for a late race slider but Angst was just too hard to catch and Josh would drive on for the win. Dustin Sorensen, current USRA national point leader and winner on Saturday, would climb from eighth to finish third ahead of Larson. 

Rookie Brady Link would lead the first half of the Stock Car feature with Calvin Lange and Bill Crimmins chasing him. They were running tightly together with Lange continually trying to sneak under Link for the lead. However, it would be Crimmins that would show the field the fast lane as he moved up the banking and drove past both Lange and Link to take over the lead just past the halfway point. 

After that Link also moved up the banking and stayed tight on Crimmins' rear bumper. A late yellow set a two lap sprint to the finish but the veteran Crimmins would hold off the upset attempt of Link to get the win with Lange and Travis Shipman following. 

The B Mods would start the biggest field with twenty one taking the green flag and Ty Griffith the early leader. A good battle would see George Nordman and Josh Appel putting pressure on him while Ben Moudry would work his way forward after starting sixth and would eventually take over second. 

A long green flag period would see Griffith start to struggle in the corners as his car wanted to slide high as by this time the groove had moved back from the top to the low line. Moudry would drive under him and take over the lead as Griffith would continue to slip back in the field. Again in this race, a late yellow would set up another two lap sprint to the finish but Moudry had his line nailed and while Brandon Maitland would close as he went back to the top, Moudry would take the double checkers as the winner. Nordman would finish third. 

Dylan Clinton would attempt to be a weekend double winner in the Hobby Stocks as he would lead the first half of that main with Carter Koop and Dustin Gulbranson close behind. Eventually the speed of the current national point leader would take over and Gulbranson would drive under both to take the point and once in front, there was no dislodging him as he would drive on for the win. Koop made a late charge on the top side but settled for second over Clinton. 

The Tuner feature, after a first lap yellow for a collision, would go nonstop from green to checkered. Max Heimbuch would take the early lead over over his team mate Devin Jones with Jaeden Erickson tight behind them. There was much bumper to bumper to bumper racing among the top three with Erickson somehow squeezing between the team mates to grab second. Heimbuch would be slow off the corners before he gained speed and there would be much Talladega style bumper tag down the chutes with the starter at one point threatening the black flag as things got quite physical. 

Erickson got shuffled back to third and that is how they crossed the finish line with Heimbuch holding off Jones and Erickson for the win. 

The new track is both nice and wide and really high banked and the cars really do fly around this oval. They were very fast for this day race so I can't imagine just how quick they will be when they go under the cover of darkness. There was much side by side hard racing for this afternoon show and as I said, a very good one for a day race. With the shortened size of the track, the whole of the grandstand is now excellent seating where when it was the big half mile, the overhanging VIP porch made a whole portion of the grandstands worthless to sit in so I would say that everything about the new track is a positive and with some laps and some minor refinements, this should be one of the better, fastest and most exciting places to watch racing in the whole state. 

Thanks to Todd(who held up to his nickname by hammering another wall with his Stock Car in the main), Ryne, Janet and the other track officials for a good concluding show to the season which allowed me to be on the road home before 6 pm. 

Bruening Dominates SLMR East at Dubuque

 It was a rare week night race near the end of September as the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway hosted the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series on Thursday night, September 23rd as the fast third mile at the Fairgrounds in Dubuque. Thursday night would be the first of three straight nights of SLMR racing in eastern Iowa, topped by the Iowa Governor's Cup event on Saturday night at the Davenport Speedway. 

Along with the Late Models there would be racing in three IMCA divisions, the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. The Nostalgia Late Models and Jalopies would also be racing on this night and if you were like me, your first thought was that was too many divisions for a Thursday night program with work and school awaiting on Friday am. However, the folks at DRT TRAK Promotions, under the direction of Bob Wegener, knew what they were doing and they produced a very fast paced program that got us all on the road early for those that had to get up early or otherwise had a four and a half hour drive home. 

This would be the first appearance of the SLMR East at Dubuque this year and the first promotion of DRT TRAK Promotions at Dubuque also this year. They would also be in charge of the following two nights of racing. Steve Kosiski was on hand to run things for the SLMR and Wegener's top notch crew took care of the other five classes. 

Thirty Late Models were on hand to perform on this evening, a fine turnout that saw twelve of the top fourteen in East points on hand for the show missing. Surprisingly missing was second in points Todd Cooney who was only twenty two points behind point leader Justin Kay coming into Thursday night's show. No explanation was given for his absence but the other driver missing, Jeff Aikey, was racing his Modified at the big show in Batesville Arkansas this week. Replacing Aikey on this night was Hall of Famer Ray Guss Jr who was also driving a Nostalgia Late Model for Keith Simmons. 

Guss did struggle with the Late Model, not making the show but as "Raymie" explained in victory lane after he won the Nostalgia feature, he hadn't been in a Late Model since 2016 and the cars have changed quite a bit and with just a few practice laps, it was asking a lot of him to jump right in and whip some pretty good competition. 

Also appearing as a replacement driver on this night would be Chad Simpson who was driving the car normally driven by Wisconsin's David Webster. Simpson was having a good top ten finish until he got dumped by another driver and only eleven laps left and ended up near the tail of the field. 

Before the show, I ran into an interesting gentleman in the pits. Galen Muller is from Monticello and along with Tom Muller, they run the big Rod and Custom show in Monticello every year in February. He is very much interested in all forms of racing and was on hand to check out the Late Models. He would like to have a Late Model as a part of his Rod and Custom Car Show to be held on Feb. 26 and 27, 2022 at the Berndes Center in Monticello so if their is any Dubuque area Late Model driver that would like to put their car on display and get some great advertising for their sponsors, contact Muller. 

I also ran into award winning photographer Mike Ruefer in the pits also. He was able to get back from his work assignment early this week and was able to drive up to Dubuque from Davenport where he lives. He tells me that his retirement, planned for this December, is still on track and with no work and travel to worry about starting next year, one can only image how many races he will cover next year which is great news to all the race fans he entertains with his crack photography. 

I also had the chance to talk to promoter Bob Wegener briefly before the show and it is always a pleasure to cover races put on by his group as they understand that a quick show is a good show and they crank off the program with the best of them which is particularly important on a week night. Later, a good crowd would be on hand to see the first green  flag of the night wave.

Shane Davis, voice of the Davenport Speedway and East Moline Speedway, would be calling the action on this night, and the Nostalgia Late Model would give him ample opportunity to fill in many of the fans on the history of racing in the state of Iowa. I only had wished that I had my latest issue of Speedway Illustrated magazine with me that had a great interview with Ed Sanger as the Hall of Famer and most successful Late Model racer of my generation was sitting two rows in front of me in the grandstand, as he frequently does for races at Dubuque. 

Jeff Tharp has one of the more interesting sponsors in the sport on his car as his Late Model is sponsored by the Tri State Cremation Center! No sure how much business his sponsorship generates among the racing crowd but Jeff told me he is also a family friend. 

Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the field for the Late Model thirty lap main event. SLMR uses and interesting variety of formats to set their race lineups. They time trial the cars, then invert six for their heat races and then take the top sixteen in passing points for the main with the rest going into B Features. I'm not sure why they would both qualify and then use passing points as one seems to defeat the purpose of the other. I never am a fan of time trials but they did run them off very quickly and for once, the extra laps didn't seem to hurt the racing surface which was in excellent shape all night and promotes lots of side by side racing from start to finish. 

Tyler Bruening was home on break from the World of Outlaws Late Model tour and he would dominate the later half of the feature to get the win after having a good dog fight early on with Andy Eckrich. Erkrich would lead the first four laps of the race before Bruening would pass him on the high side and then a classic side by side battle, Eckrich low and Bruening pounding the cushion would last through lap sixteen with them exchanging the lead three times before Bruening would claim it for good. 

Luke Goedert seemed to be a real challenger but he would be the victim twice on restarts that would hamper his charge. Following a lap seventeen spin, on the restart Goedert seemed to have a good run on the leader until he got squeezed up into the wall and lost time and two laps later, on the only other restart of the race, he would get wacked again on the green and have to regroup with him still finishing fifth. This was the restart triggered when Simpson got dumped in turn one by heavy traffic. 

Bruening would experiment with the low side briefly but his car worked better on the cushion and with the final eleven laps green to checkered, he would get his momentum going and would pull away for the win. Eckrich would run a strong second and Spencer Diercks would come from eighth to finish third. Jason Rauen would get up to second for a bit but then he would fade back to finish behind Diercks with Goedert holding on to complete the top five. 

The support classes had just the right number of cars for their classes, just as DRT TRAK had predicted as they had a couple of heats and their main events. Their classes didn't exactly provide a great deal of drama as all three were runaways with two of them going smoothly and the third a debacle. 

The Hobby Stocks would go green to checkered and after an early battle that saw Jimmy Doescher and Kodey Miles exchange the lead on the opening two laps, Doeschner would buckle down, take the top spot and proceed to run away from the field for a dominating win. He would finish far ahead of Miles with Scott Wetter third. 

The Modified feature would produce an even more dominating run as after Tyler Madigan would lead the first four laps, Matt Gansen would get up on the banking and blast into the lead and once in front, he was gone. The last seventeen laps of this race would go nonstop and Gansen would dominate with his only trouble be in fighting through all the lapped traffic he would come up on. 

He had three lapped cars between himself and Madigan when the checkered flew as he had the better half of a full straightaway over the field. Mike Burbridge would best Bill Roberts Jr and Mark Schulte in a good battle for third.

The Sport Mods had one of those nights where they all couldn't get their act together and it seemed like they took turns spinning out, maddening to the crowd and also the track officials. Tony Olson had started on the pole and had a big lead anyway as it seemed that no one would touch him for the win but it would have been nice to see a few more green flag laps strung together. 

The only driver that seemed a threat, Tyler Soppe, did a good job moving up from the eleventh starting spot into second as he used every one of the copious number of yellows to gain positions. 

Finally they put out the word that the next yellow would end the race and they couldn't even make it to turn one before a couple more cars turned turtle and the checkered flag flew. Olson was ruled the winner over Soppe and Kyle Hoffmann as they did get around eleven laps in before the track officials stuck a fork in the proceedings. 

With the Jalopies yet to run and it being an early evening, I did a rare early exit with the long highway home awaiting me. With the road pretty much to myself except for a couple "loonies", I rolled into my driveway at 1:59 am. 

Thanks to Bob Wegener, Carrie and all the staff at DRT TRAK Promotions for an excellent night of racing and as we all know, midweek shows are just a special bonus at this time of the year. Hopefully I will be back in the Hawkeye State a time or two more before the snows fly. 

Kay Nips Ryan As 300 Raceway Concludes Regular Season

 It was championship night on Wednesday night, September 1st at the 300 Raceway very near Farley Iowa. On the eve of their historic and famous Yankee Dirt Track Classic, the folks at 300 had reset championship night to this night after having had their planned regular season opener a couple of weeks ago weathered out. 

Point titles would be decided in all four classes that race on a regular basis at 300 and that would be the IMCA sanctioned Sport Mods and Mods, Stock Cars and the Late Models. All four point races were close with only the Modifieds showing a double digit lead going into the finale. However, that statistic is slightly skewed due to the smaller car counts that generally race here which makes it tougher for one driver to separate himself enough from another competitor to gain a significant number of points. 

Again on this night, as it has been the two other times I have been here this year for Wednesday night racing, the field of race cars was quite small with only two small heats in each class except for the Stock Cars who could only muster a single heat. 

However, I could think right off hand of a couple of reasons why the count might be smaller for this event. Number one, it is a rain dated event and often there are just some drivers that have conflicts for rescheduled races. Also, and perhaps more telling, with the Yankee coming up this weekend and all four classes that are racing on Wednesday a part of that event, unless you are right in the midst of a point fight, many would opt to save their equipment for the weekend when the stakes are much higher that they were on Wednesday. 

A reoccurring theme that I heard in the pits on this night and hadn't considered before was that some drivers are staying away from this track  because it is too high speed and they never lift which puts a strain on the motors and in order to save their equipment, they aren't racing here. I guess I can't speak to that other than to say that it indeed is a fast track for its size and they really do fly around it and on the other two times I have been here it has been rather heavy and "hammer down" but I guess you would have to poll the drivers to get a feeling whether that sentiment trends strongly or not. 

Seven qualifying heats would set the running order for the four main events to follow and to the credit of management, they took just a very short break before moving into the main events after the heats were completed. Some would fell compelled to stretch things out a bit to make up for the lack of races but the 300 staff moved quickly into their features. 

With Kevin Miller scratching from the pole after slamming the wall in his heat race and Ron Klein never finding the track after reported truck trouble on the highway, only eight cars would take the green for the main in the Late Models but their feature would be the most entertaining and closely fought of all four. 

Bryan Moreland would be the early leader but he had Eric Pollard all over him trying to get by and take over the lead. Behind them, Matt Ryan and Justin Kay were moving into third and fourth and closed to make it a four car race. Pollard would attempt lap after lap to get by Moreland on the inside but he just couldn't quite get it done with Moreland leading past the halfway point. 

Then Pollard tried the outside and that helped him pick up speed. He was just ready to pass Moreland down the front chute on lap fourteen when his motor went up in a cloud of smoke and steam. This provided the only yellow of the race and on the green, Ryan would drive past Moreland and take over the lead. 

Kay would quickly follow and it became a two car race with Kay looking lap after lap to the inside of Ryan who appeared to be struggling just a bit as the low side of the track began to dry out and blacken up. Kay nearly got by with five to go but Ryan fought him off. 

Kay then backed up a bit and made one more late run, getting close as the white flag waved. He stuck his nose under Ryan in turn three as they approached a lapped car and Kay was able to squeeze past coming off turn four in what was a tight but clean move. At the line, Kay won by just under a car length in what was a thrilling finish to the evening. However, because Ryan finished only one position behind Kay, Ryan would take the point title by the narrow margin of two points. 

Jeff Aikey would just into Joel Callahan's car for the feature race, start in the back and come home third. This is interesting because in my area, drivers are not allowed to be switched once the racing is started but apparently it is perfectly fine in IMCA as Aikey was left without a car after motor problems with his Modified in the heat race. 

Earlier, Tom Schmitt won a tight battle with Johnny Spaw to take the Stock Car feature. They went three wide for the lead on the opening lap with Chase Zaruba getting the lead but the three wide battle saw him get turned sideways and by lap two, Schmitt had moved into the lead. 

Spaw was on the move as he squeezed into second with Zaruba catching a piece of the wall and eventually dropping out. The battle was then on between Schmitt and Spaw and the last half of the race saw Spaw try a multitude of moves to get past Schmitt but Tom hung tough on each one and continued to hold a very small lead. 

Spaw would try one last time on the final lap but Schmitt held his ground and Spaw, to his credit, raced him clean and did not try a nasty slider or try to move him up the track and Schmitt would cross the line for the win with Phil Holtz third. Spaw would be point champion by nine points. 

The Sport Mod feature was another two car battle that boiled down to a battle between Justin Becker and "King Kong" Bauer. Becker had a great opening lap as he moved to the tall side of the track and swept from the outside of row two into the lead before one lap could be completed. Bauer had to come from the fourth row but would eventually move to second in the nonstop main and then zero in on Becker. 

Justin was running the higher side of the track and Bauer would have to drive under him for the lead and it took him several laps as he gained inch after inch with each lap completed as he worked to Becker's inside and gradually would move under him, finally clearing him on lap ten for the lead. 

Becker tried to move even higher on the track to get a run on Bauer and it almost worked as he caught back up but it was too tricky up there and Bauer was just a bit too strong as he would drive on for the win and also take the track title by thirteen points. Becker would settle for second with Jason Roth third. 

With Aikey out after heat race problems, there would be twelve to start the Modified feature race and Tyler Madigan would lead the first twelve laps of this event. He started on the pole and set a fast pace with Eric Pollard staying with him and setting up a very interesting battle as they raced side by side for a number of laps. Pollard tried his best to get by but Madigan was just quick enough to hold him off. 

Meanwhile, on the move from farther back in the pack were Timmy Current and Bone Larson . Current was really flying and on lap ten he was able to drive under Madigan and take over the lead. Just after that, the only yellow of the race would fly from Doug Haack when Jamie Pfeiffer slowed on the track. 

The last seven laps saw a shootout with Larson trying his best to get under Current but Timmy was too strong and would drive home for the win with Larson a close second. Bone would also earn the point title by thirteen with Mark Schulte coming home third in the feature. 

Of course it would have been better to have a few more cars on hand and make the feature races just a bit bigger. However, all four feature races were good, close contests with passes for the win coming late in most and they were entertaining and not plagued by a bunch of yellow flags. Management did a good job of moving things along and the final checkered waved just around 9 pm with quite frankly, is not a bad thing on a week night with a long holiday weekend ahead. 

I enjoyed the show and the crowd seemed satisfied in the racing that they saw. No doubt both the crowd and the car count will be substantially bigger for this weekend's Yankee events at this long standing racing tradition. 

Thanks to the folks at 300 for allowing me to be on hand on this beautiful Wednesday night.