So it is Monday. The last Monday before the fourth of July holiday weekend. What to do? Should I cut the grass today or perhaps try and get caught up on the laundry. Weeds need to be pulled in the flower bed. There's always something around the house that needs doing or repairing. Perhaps I should just spend the day chasing away the five black bears that have taken up residence in our yard, but that is another story for another time.
Wait. Maybe instead of doing any of the above I should just jump in the car, drive to Spencer Iowa and attend night three of the Midwest Madness Tour featuring five IMCA divisions and a guaranteed big field of cars. Yes. That is a much better plan and a wiser use of my precious time.
And so I did. Welcome to night three of the Midwest Madness Tour presented by Western Iowa Race Report.com. I enjoy their website and I get a lot of information off of it. I also got lots of entertainment in witnessing the event they put on Monday, June 29th at the Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway in Spencer Iowa. This was night three of their seven night tour and the car counts remained strong with the travelers supporting the entire series supplemented by area drivers that attend the short series of races that are being held here this year at the Clay County Fairgrounds. In fact this was just the second race at the Fairgrounds so far this year as they run a series of mostly Monday night specials and so far that format seems to have worked well for them.
By my count, one hundred and forty five cars signed in to race here at Spencer with four of the divisions producing over thirty cars per division along with a small handful of Sport Compacts that truly don't even deserve the time they take to run at an event like this. Four strong classes would be plenty of cars until and perhaps when the Sport Compacts could produce a field of cars big enough to even allow on the track.
There is a point series that goes along with this tour and the support, class by class varies wildly. While thirteen of the top fifteen in Modified points traveled on to Spencer on Monday, only seven in the Stock Cars were on hand and even less in the other two classes. The top six in Hobby Stock points were on hand and the top ten in Sport Mods points didn't even bother to show up with the highest point driver, Hunter Longnecker, currently running fourth. No matter though, as with over thirty in each class there were plenty of strong racers on hand.
A series of twenty two qualifying races set the field for the five main events. B Features were required for all classes except of course the Sport Compacts with many fast cars not even making the cut for the main events. The track held up well through all the pounding it was taking and the one spin rule kept the program moving on a number of occasions where if it wouldn't have been in effect, we would have seem a volley of yellow flags otherwise.
The Sport Mod feature was first up on the schedule and how many times do you see a twenty four car field of Sport Mods go non stop, green to checkered? That's what I thought, not very darn often. Well, it happened on Monday and I saw it. And not only did it go nonstop, all twenty four cars that took the green flag were still on the track and racing at the checkered! That doesn't happen often.
And as you can guess, the lapped traffic was unbelievable. Winner Cody Thompson spent the last half of the race bobbing and weaving through very heavy traffic and having to utilize the whole track to find the openings he needed. In fact, when the checkered flew, there were only eleven cars on the lead lap with the rest of the field down one lap which made for a nightmare scoring this event if they were using the old pen and paper style. It would have taken them hours to sort through this logistical nightmare.
Justin Klynsma was the early leader of the race but Thompson swept past him on the high side after a couple laps and then disappearing into the Clay County twilight as Cody kept himself busy weaving through what must have seemed like rush hour traffic in a bottled up MIx Master in Des Moines. But he survived just fine to take the win. Klynsma held off a late race challenge from Doug Smith to retain second.
Even though there were only six Sport Compacts, they managed to stage an entertaining of sorts main event. Kaytee DeVries was the runaway leader early with Jade Lange gradually reeling her in. A yellow bunched the field and on the green DeVries just didn't seem to have quite as much speed as Lange drove past her to get the win, one that was not particularly appreciated by DeVries' hometown fans. Tyler Fiebelkorn drove four hours here to compete and finished third.
Jesse Sobbing started on the pole for the Modified twenty five lapper and he led most of the contest but it wasn't quite as easy as it might have sounded. He got some still early competition from Bob Moore and then a group of about three other drivers worked their way into the mix and it led to an interesting contest.
A couple of late restarts scrambled the running order and Brandon Beckendorf made a determined advancement as he worked his way late into second but it was too late to put a challenge on Sobbing. Chris Abelson and Kyle Brown also advanced nicely through the pack as they both came from the fifth row to third and fourth at the finish.
Jason Kohl led all laps of the Hobby Stock feature but again it wasn't near as easy as it might have sounded. The top side of the track proved to be the dominant lane to run as the evening wore on, and it was a struggle to protect that line while also trying to negotiate through traffic and at the same time protect yourself from the slide jobs that the others were trying.
Kohl had a pair of Nielsen's in his rear view mirror as Brandon and Cody took turns attacking him on the bottom lane while also having to slide back up the track and stay in the fast groove. They were also really battling with each other as they exchanged grooves on the track while at the same time trying to get past Kohl.
Cory Probst came from tenth on the grid to be a part of the conversation as the top four were running in a group. On the last lap, Brandon Nielsen went for broke in an attempt to take over the lead and it cost him second as he couldn't pull off the past and instead slipped off the fast lane. Probst would get the spot behind Kohl who had his hands full with Cody N. next in line. This race had just a single yellow and only three drivers that didn't finish off the event as the theme of the night was both few yellow flags and very few non finishers in the main events.
The Stock Cars wrapped up the night with the same scenario playing out as they went nonstop to the finish and only a single driver didn't finish the event.
This race proved to be a two car battle between Devin Smith and Elijah Zevenbergen for most of the race. Randy Brands started on the pole and he and Zevenbergen raced wheel to wheel on the opening lap. Smith made a brilliant move as he cut low down the back chute and ducked up ahead of Elijah to the dominant top side and then drove past Brands to take the lead.
This move seemed to fire up Zevenbergen who seemd to pick up the pace and then drive to second on the rear bumper of Smith. It was fun for a series of laps as they exchanged slide jobs and swapped lanes on the track as that top side was the place to be and they took turns wrestling for that lane.
However, after some close near misses, Smith started to assert some dominance and he pulled to a several car length lead. Things got dicey once again when the leaders caught traffic and Smith had a few anxious moments before he finally found the holes to get past the slower cars while also pinning Elijah behind them so he couldn't take advantage.
At the finish, Smith has three lapped cars between himself and Zevenbergen while a late charging Jeff Larson worked his way up to a close third place finish and Kelly Shryock came from eleventh to fourth.
As stated earlier, a big crowd was on hand for the Monday night show but many had to get up and leave early as things go a little late before the final checkered flag waved. The track crew did a commendable job running off the program as they were hustling cars out for the next heat almost before the previous one had crossed the line. Track announcer Chad Meyer was scrambling to keep up and when they out race this announcer you know that they are moving things along. All told, they got twenty seven races completed in about three and a half hours which is really moving things along.
The only problem is that they didn't throw the first green flag until almost 8 pm and that simply is too late when the racing card is this big. This was the same problem they had at their last show here. They ran things off great, they just got started too late. So if that means making the cut off earlier, or perhaps not having hot laps which take a considerable amount of time with that many cars, something must change so that they can get started earlier and then they will be able to complete the show early, instead of at 11:30 pm on a Monday night.
Otherwise, it was a good show with an impressive car count and a much better way of spending a Monday night, rather than pulling weeds!
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Late Models Put On The Show At Davenport; Heckenast And Kay Thrill With Late Passes
This is a slightly late report as I was traveling and unavailable to get anything out earlier. However, doesn't diminish the excellent show we saw on Thursday night, June 25th at the Davenport Speedway as the MARS Late Models and IMCA Late Models would provide a spectacular night of racing for a very big midweek crowd on hand.
This would be the first show for the MARS series in 2020 as new owner Tony Izzo Jr has been bitten by the same plague bug that has affected most of racing so far in 2020. A recently announced three night stand for the MARS cars was set up that would involve two Iowa and one Illinois tracks and finally get their season started.
Along with the MARS cars, the only support class, if you can call them fairly a support class after the show they put on Thursday, was the IMCA Late Models and with a rain delayed feature race from one week ago to complete, the fans would see lots of Late Model racing and nothing else for those folks that would prefer just Late Models. This was a rare event these days, and perhaps the big Thursday night crowd was them telling the promoters that once in a while at least, they like like to just have the "turkey and hold the trimmings".
Twenty one cars in each class signed in to race with their being much uncertainty just who would Whshow up to run the MARS series, given that it is really a whole new show this year. To emphasize that, only two of the top ten in MARS points from last year were entered and that would be Brian Shirley and Allen Weisser. Regional open motored drivers from Iowa and Illinois would dominate the entrants with some badly timed scheduling finding several drivers that would be expected to "jump all over these shows" to instead be off traveling this weekend with another series but the cars on hand put on a dandy show and the size of the field probably fit perfectly into the tight time schedule that is required at Davenport.
I guess it must have been some time since I was last at Davenport and I couldn't help but notice just what a nice facility the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds is these days with lots of refurbished buildings and some new construction that really make it one of the nicest Fairgrounds around. The only bad thing is that it is surrounded by the city of Davenport which makes noise issues probably a bigger deal than at some Fairgrounds.
The two Late Model classes running with no other support classes is indeed a rarity these days and it made every event both important and exciting and the action started almost immediately. The running order got messed up a bit right at the start and led to the only delay of the night as the MARS cars were lined up and ready to qualify when an issue was discovered with timing and scoring. After some minutes with no resolution to the problem, the MARS cars were sent to the pits and the IMCA Late Models came out to run their make up feature from June 19th.
It was good that the fans got to see feature racing right off the bat as they were an impatient crowd indeed and cut the officials no slack at all as they demanded action. Fortunately, the IMCA Late Models gave them a dandy race to satisfy their new for action.
Hall of Famer Gary Webb led the opening laps of this race until he was passed by Matt Ryan. While Ryan continued to lead, Justin Kay was on the move as he slowly and then more quickly began to move up through the field. He was using the cushion and after the halfway point of the race was really coming to the front fast. He moved into second and continued to charge and as the leaders were receiving the white flag, he drove past Ryan on the top side and took the exciting win.
Kay came from sixteenth on the grid to take the win in a race that was only stopped three times for yellows and saw the last eighteen laps go nonstop so with those circumstances, you know that Kay was just flying. It was a great race and just the first of what would be several top notch events.
The MARS officials never could solve their timing issue so their drivers drew for positions for their heats and then qualified for the feature based on the old draw/redraw format. The loss of time trials no doubt sped up the program by considerable measures and was met by smiles from yours truly as not only did it help get the program back on pace, it allowed us to see some intense heat race action where otherwise we likely would have seen a "train" for the heats.
Despite blowing a motor in hot laps and having to roll out a back up car, Bobby Pierce was a heat race winner along with Allen Weisser and Spencer Diercks. An interesting note found Daryn Klein in the ride usually driven by Michael Kloos this week.
No B Features were needed and then it was time to roll right into the second IMCA feature race. And this one was just as good as the previous race. Matt Ryan, trying to make for his late race loss in the first feature, started on the outside pole and took the initial lead. With his good starting spot, it would have seemed that he would likely dominant and while he led most laps, he couldn't put too much distance on the field as he would have liked.
Because, guess what, here came that 15K car again, this time from the eleventh starting spot and gradually and smoothly, he moved up through the field. However, he was only sixth following a lap seventeen yellow, the only slow down of the race. But that gave Kay his opportunity and he moved to the low groove and began picking off cars at a rapid pace. Soon he was challenging Ryan again for the lead and once again, as they came to the line for the last lap, Kay again drove past Ryan and took the win!
It was another spectacular finish for the IMCA cars and two great battles between Kay and Ryan. Very impressive was the fact that Kay won both after starting deep in the field for both and in the first feature he won with an outside pass while in the second he was working the low side of the track. If you can work both lanes of the track and have much success, you know that you have got a real good race car. And how frustrating must it have been for Ryan to lose both features right at the end, and to the same car both times! However, both deserve much credit for putting on a great show.
And let's not forget to credit the track prep crew who provided a great race track that was fast in multiple lanes as they were the ones that allowed the drivers to showcase their talents.
The MARS Late Models wrapped up the night with their forty lap main event which was a dandy too. Pierce led from the outside pole and maintained the lead for the first twenty five laps. However, moving up using the bottom side of the track was Frankie Heckenast who had started ninth and he became a factor near the halfway point of the race.
Continuing to work the low side, he showed himself to Pierce and then made a strong pass to take over the top spot. Pierce was all over the track, trying different lines on both the top and bottom side of the track but he just couldn't find the groove that would get him the lead back.
Later both Pierce and Brian Birkhofer, who was a strong challenger too, would take trips off the fourth corner that would cost them positions. The last twenty six laps of this race would go nonstop and Weisser would pick up the pace late, racing his way into second at the finish ahead of Brian Shirley.
All racing was done by 10 pm in what was a highly entertaining program that was "spot on" in nearly every phase. The track was great, the drivers raced all over it and the show, other than the hiccup with timing that slowed things down if only for awhile, was quickly and efficiently ran off. For the true Late Model fans, it couldn't have been much better and I was glad to see that the promoters were rewarded with a big crowd for their rather daring scheduling move.
This would be the first show for the MARS series in 2020 as new owner Tony Izzo Jr has been bitten by the same plague bug that has affected most of racing so far in 2020. A recently announced three night stand for the MARS cars was set up that would involve two Iowa and one Illinois tracks and finally get their season started.
Along with the MARS cars, the only support class, if you can call them fairly a support class after the show they put on Thursday, was the IMCA Late Models and with a rain delayed feature race from one week ago to complete, the fans would see lots of Late Model racing and nothing else for those folks that would prefer just Late Models. This was a rare event these days, and perhaps the big Thursday night crowd was them telling the promoters that once in a while at least, they like like to just have the "turkey and hold the trimmings".
Twenty one cars in each class signed in to race with their being much uncertainty just who would Whshow up to run the MARS series, given that it is really a whole new show this year. To emphasize that, only two of the top ten in MARS points from last year were entered and that would be Brian Shirley and Allen Weisser. Regional open motored drivers from Iowa and Illinois would dominate the entrants with some badly timed scheduling finding several drivers that would be expected to "jump all over these shows" to instead be off traveling this weekend with another series but the cars on hand put on a dandy show and the size of the field probably fit perfectly into the tight time schedule that is required at Davenport.
I guess it must have been some time since I was last at Davenport and I couldn't help but notice just what a nice facility the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds is these days with lots of refurbished buildings and some new construction that really make it one of the nicest Fairgrounds around. The only bad thing is that it is surrounded by the city of Davenport which makes noise issues probably a bigger deal than at some Fairgrounds.
The two Late Model classes running with no other support classes is indeed a rarity these days and it made every event both important and exciting and the action started almost immediately. The running order got messed up a bit right at the start and led to the only delay of the night as the MARS cars were lined up and ready to qualify when an issue was discovered with timing and scoring. After some minutes with no resolution to the problem, the MARS cars were sent to the pits and the IMCA Late Models came out to run their make up feature from June 19th.
It was good that the fans got to see feature racing right off the bat as they were an impatient crowd indeed and cut the officials no slack at all as they demanded action. Fortunately, the IMCA Late Models gave them a dandy race to satisfy their new for action.
Hall of Famer Gary Webb led the opening laps of this race until he was passed by Matt Ryan. While Ryan continued to lead, Justin Kay was on the move as he slowly and then more quickly began to move up through the field. He was using the cushion and after the halfway point of the race was really coming to the front fast. He moved into second and continued to charge and as the leaders were receiving the white flag, he drove past Ryan on the top side and took the exciting win.
Kay came from sixteenth on the grid to take the win in a race that was only stopped three times for yellows and saw the last eighteen laps go nonstop so with those circumstances, you know that Kay was just flying. It was a great race and just the first of what would be several top notch events.
The MARS officials never could solve their timing issue so their drivers drew for positions for their heats and then qualified for the feature based on the old draw/redraw format. The loss of time trials no doubt sped up the program by considerable measures and was met by smiles from yours truly as not only did it help get the program back on pace, it allowed us to see some intense heat race action where otherwise we likely would have seen a "train" for the heats.
Despite blowing a motor in hot laps and having to roll out a back up car, Bobby Pierce was a heat race winner along with Allen Weisser and Spencer Diercks. An interesting note found Daryn Klein in the ride usually driven by Michael Kloos this week.
No B Features were needed and then it was time to roll right into the second IMCA feature race. And this one was just as good as the previous race. Matt Ryan, trying to make for his late race loss in the first feature, started on the outside pole and took the initial lead. With his good starting spot, it would have seemed that he would likely dominant and while he led most laps, he couldn't put too much distance on the field as he would have liked.
Because, guess what, here came that 15K car again, this time from the eleventh starting spot and gradually and smoothly, he moved up through the field. However, he was only sixth following a lap seventeen yellow, the only slow down of the race. But that gave Kay his opportunity and he moved to the low groove and began picking off cars at a rapid pace. Soon he was challenging Ryan again for the lead and once again, as they came to the line for the last lap, Kay again drove past Ryan and took the win!
It was another spectacular finish for the IMCA cars and two great battles between Kay and Ryan. Very impressive was the fact that Kay won both after starting deep in the field for both and in the first feature he won with an outside pass while in the second he was working the low side of the track. If you can work both lanes of the track and have much success, you know that you have got a real good race car. And how frustrating must it have been for Ryan to lose both features right at the end, and to the same car both times! However, both deserve much credit for putting on a great show.
And let's not forget to credit the track prep crew who provided a great race track that was fast in multiple lanes as they were the ones that allowed the drivers to showcase their talents.
The MARS Late Models wrapped up the night with their forty lap main event which was a dandy too. Pierce led from the outside pole and maintained the lead for the first twenty five laps. However, moving up using the bottom side of the track was Frankie Heckenast who had started ninth and he became a factor near the halfway point of the race.
Continuing to work the low side, he showed himself to Pierce and then made a strong pass to take over the top spot. Pierce was all over the track, trying different lines on both the top and bottom side of the track but he just couldn't find the groove that would get him the lead back.
Later both Pierce and Brian Birkhofer, who was a strong challenger too, would take trips off the fourth corner that would cost them positions. The last twenty six laps of this race would go nonstop and Weisser would pick up the pace late, racing his way into second at the finish ahead of Brian Shirley.
All racing was done by 10 pm in what was a highly entertaining program that was "spot on" in nearly every phase. The track was great, the drivers raced all over it and the show, other than the hiccup with timing that slowed things down if only for awhile, was quickly and efficiently ran off. For the true Late Model fans, it couldn't have been much better and I was glad to see that the promoters were rewarded with a big crowd for their rather daring scheduling move.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Berry Jr Among Dominating Winners at Durbin Memorial
Dominating performances were the order of the night on Wednesday night, June 24th at the Stuart International Speedway as the second annual Jake Durbin Memorial race was held on a spectacular night for dirt track racing in central Iowa.
Tom Berry Jr, Buck Schafroth, Chuck Madden Jr and Owen Richards led for most of their respective feature races to take wins while only the Sport Mods found a late race change as a lap fourteen yellow allowed Brian Osantowski to make andoutside pass and drive on for victory in that race.
It was another busy Wednesday night at the track with another special event featured on the schedule with the second annual Jake Durbin Memorial race being held. The schedule at Stuart holds many more special events than "regular" races during the course of the season and as long as the sponsors and fans continue to support the track, that is the plan they will take.
Certainly for this event they had a huge number of businesses and individuals they threw many and product into the purse that swelled it and made it a very attractive midweek stop. While I thought the crowd was down just a bit from perhaps some of the earlier specials here, that may have just been a reaction to the fact that this is a pre holiday week and many people may have been trying to just plan for a big week over the fourth. A factor to be considered also is that while there may have been a few less "butts in the stands", we don't know how many people bought the "pay per view" that might have been more handy for them as they get ready for the fourth of July holiday. That's a wild card that also must be fashioned into the equation these days.
Ninety four cars signed in to race in the five IMCA divisions that I monitor with the largest turnout being the Modifieds with twenty eight that required a B Feature and twenty four Stock Cars were all would start the feature.
A source of early evening entertainment even before the racing begins is the occasional controversy over the pit parking situation. It doesn't break out every week but every so often you can witness an entertaining and interesting flare up as crews "discuss" who should be parked where and how much room they should be allowed. It is interesting to watch them as they "arrange" just who should be parked where and to make sure that they aren't an inch over where they are supposed to be. These same people will them park their pick up trucks all kitty wampass in the McDonalds parking lot, take up three spaces and never give it a second thought! Figure that out.
Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Modifieds all used the draw/redraw format for racing on this night with the other divisions using their regular point average system. Did that have anything to do with the dominating performances that two of these three divisions had? Probably not, at least on this night as one of the winners came from the second row, one the third and one from the fourth row.
The track was in excellent shape once again, both smooth and fast and while later promoter Mike VanGenderen had to a couple times either sprinkle the track or scratch it slightly, that was done just to try and "even up" the track if one groove looked to be dominating more than the other. None of this took much time or slowed down the speed of the program.
Good track conditions probably had much to do with the fact that once again, the program moved by so quickly. There were only a total of two yellow flags in thirteen qualifying events and not a single event all night that saw more than two yellow flags. All this has much to do with spinning off a quick program which is very important for mid week shows.
The feature that was most contested was the Sport Mod main and it did come at a bit of a surprise as Brayton Carter was the driver that was overtaken by a late race pass and generally speaking, if he is in front near the end, he will likely win. But not so on this night. He had driven into the lead following an early yellow when he was able to make the pass on early race leader Cam Reimers.
Once in front, Carter dropped to the low groove and seemed comfortable there. However, Reimers started to work the top side and seemed to be gaining ground when a spin by Cody Thompson with fourteen laps complete really changed things up.
Reimers had a bad restart and dropped back but Osantowski went to the cushion himself and Carter found himself to be a "sitting duck" as Brian drove around him in the few laps that remained and Carter was unable to fight back and had to settle for second behind the Nebraska driver. Dusty Masolini came from eleventh to finish third.
Dominating the Sport Compact feature race was Owen Richards who started on the pole, led all laps and was never really challenged. Last week's winner Hunter Patrick settled for second with Brian Fiebelkorn third.
Riley Songer led the first two laps of the Hobby Stock feature until the yellow waved and following that slow down, Chuck Madden Jr drove past on the high side and pulled away for a comfortable win in a race that was not stopped again. Dylan Nelson got second over Brandon Ross.
Jeremy Gettler was the early leader in the Stock Car feature but it didn't take Schafroth long to come charging up from the third row and once he got to the top side of the track, he blasted into the lead and pretty much left the field behind him. Gettler was involved in a big battle for second when the lone yellow for a spin came out with fourteen laps complete.
Things really got shuffled on the restart, as they often do. Schafroth was not involved as he was long gone but Gettler and Mike Goldsberry both were the losers as they lost several positions at the end. The Murty's came charging to the front with Dallon and Damon ending us second and third as they tore to the cushion and gained some positions near the end.
The Modified feature did see three different leaders before Berry Jr took over. Dylan Thornton led at the beginning before being passed by Jordy Nelson for the top spot. A lap six yellow proved to be key as Berry Jr, who had started eighth, had worked his way up to third before the yellow waved.
On the green, he got a great run into turn one, slid up the track and was able to get past both of the cars in front of him to take over the lead. Once in front, he was gone as he pulled away from the pack.
Following a lap thirteen yellow, Richie Gustin was the challenger as he tried a couple sliders to get past Berry Jr but was unsuccessful as he experimented with an unusual line around the track. The last few laps saw Berry Jr draw away from the field and complete the win in style. Gustin held on for second while a late charge saw Cayden Carter finish third.
All racing was complete by 10 pm as another MVG promoted race ran off with a quick and organized fashion. Jeff Broeg was pinch hitting as the announcer on Wednesday with Tony Paris predisposed and he did his usual fine job, jumping right in and unless you knew that he wasn't the regular announcer, you would not have known the difference as he had the upcoming schedule, sponsors and other key facts covered. It helps that Broeg is one of the few announcers that still takes a tour of the pits to see who is on hand and what is going on, rather than just show up and be "fed" the script.
Next week its another special event at Stuart and a really big one. Racing on Thursday next week, it will be the twenty first annual Ron Little Memorial race which is a part of the Midwest Madness Tour this year which means it is a special for all five classes that race and will be traveling with the tour next week so expect a gigantic field in all five classes.
Tom Berry Jr, Buck Schafroth, Chuck Madden Jr and Owen Richards led for most of their respective feature races to take wins while only the Sport Mods found a late race change as a lap fourteen yellow allowed Brian Osantowski to make andoutside pass and drive on for victory in that race.
It was another busy Wednesday night at the track with another special event featured on the schedule with the second annual Jake Durbin Memorial race being held. The schedule at Stuart holds many more special events than "regular" races during the course of the season and as long as the sponsors and fans continue to support the track, that is the plan they will take.
Certainly for this event they had a huge number of businesses and individuals they threw many and product into the purse that swelled it and made it a very attractive midweek stop. While I thought the crowd was down just a bit from perhaps some of the earlier specials here, that may have just been a reaction to the fact that this is a pre holiday week and many people may have been trying to just plan for a big week over the fourth. A factor to be considered also is that while there may have been a few less "butts in the stands", we don't know how many people bought the "pay per view" that might have been more handy for them as they get ready for the fourth of July holiday. That's a wild card that also must be fashioned into the equation these days.
Ninety four cars signed in to race in the five IMCA divisions that I monitor with the largest turnout being the Modifieds with twenty eight that required a B Feature and twenty four Stock Cars were all would start the feature.
A source of early evening entertainment even before the racing begins is the occasional controversy over the pit parking situation. It doesn't break out every week but every so often you can witness an entertaining and interesting flare up as crews "discuss" who should be parked where and how much room they should be allowed. It is interesting to watch them as they "arrange" just who should be parked where and to make sure that they aren't an inch over where they are supposed to be. These same people will them park their pick up trucks all kitty wampass in the McDonalds parking lot, take up three spaces and never give it a second thought! Figure that out.
Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Modifieds all used the draw/redraw format for racing on this night with the other divisions using their regular point average system. Did that have anything to do with the dominating performances that two of these three divisions had? Probably not, at least on this night as one of the winners came from the second row, one the third and one from the fourth row.
The track was in excellent shape once again, both smooth and fast and while later promoter Mike VanGenderen had to a couple times either sprinkle the track or scratch it slightly, that was done just to try and "even up" the track if one groove looked to be dominating more than the other. None of this took much time or slowed down the speed of the program.
Good track conditions probably had much to do with the fact that once again, the program moved by so quickly. There were only a total of two yellow flags in thirteen qualifying events and not a single event all night that saw more than two yellow flags. All this has much to do with spinning off a quick program which is very important for mid week shows.
The feature that was most contested was the Sport Mod main and it did come at a bit of a surprise as Brayton Carter was the driver that was overtaken by a late race pass and generally speaking, if he is in front near the end, he will likely win. But not so on this night. He had driven into the lead following an early yellow when he was able to make the pass on early race leader Cam Reimers.
Once in front, Carter dropped to the low groove and seemed comfortable there. However, Reimers started to work the top side and seemed to be gaining ground when a spin by Cody Thompson with fourteen laps complete really changed things up.
Reimers had a bad restart and dropped back but Osantowski went to the cushion himself and Carter found himself to be a "sitting duck" as Brian drove around him in the few laps that remained and Carter was unable to fight back and had to settle for second behind the Nebraska driver. Dusty Masolini came from eleventh to finish third.
Dominating the Sport Compact feature race was Owen Richards who started on the pole, led all laps and was never really challenged. Last week's winner Hunter Patrick settled for second with Brian Fiebelkorn third.
Riley Songer led the first two laps of the Hobby Stock feature until the yellow waved and following that slow down, Chuck Madden Jr drove past on the high side and pulled away for a comfortable win in a race that was not stopped again. Dylan Nelson got second over Brandon Ross.
Jeremy Gettler was the early leader in the Stock Car feature but it didn't take Schafroth long to come charging up from the third row and once he got to the top side of the track, he blasted into the lead and pretty much left the field behind him. Gettler was involved in a big battle for second when the lone yellow for a spin came out with fourteen laps complete.
Things really got shuffled on the restart, as they often do. Schafroth was not involved as he was long gone but Gettler and Mike Goldsberry both were the losers as they lost several positions at the end. The Murty's came charging to the front with Dallon and Damon ending us second and third as they tore to the cushion and gained some positions near the end.
The Modified feature did see three different leaders before Berry Jr took over. Dylan Thornton led at the beginning before being passed by Jordy Nelson for the top spot. A lap six yellow proved to be key as Berry Jr, who had started eighth, had worked his way up to third before the yellow waved.
On the green, he got a great run into turn one, slid up the track and was able to get past both of the cars in front of him to take over the lead. Once in front, he was gone as he pulled away from the pack.
Following a lap thirteen yellow, Richie Gustin was the challenger as he tried a couple sliders to get past Berry Jr but was unsuccessful as he experimented with an unusual line around the track. The last few laps saw Berry Jr draw away from the field and complete the win in style. Gustin held on for second while a late charge saw Cayden Carter finish third.
All racing was complete by 10 pm as another MVG promoted race ran off with a quick and organized fashion. Jeff Broeg was pinch hitting as the announcer on Wednesday with Tony Paris predisposed and he did his usual fine job, jumping right in and unless you knew that he wasn't the regular announcer, you would not have known the difference as he had the upcoming schedule, sponsors and other key facts covered. It helps that Broeg is one of the few announcers that still takes a tour of the pits to see who is on hand and what is going on, rather than just show up and be "fed" the script.
Next week its another special event at Stuart and a really big one. Racing on Thursday next week, it will be the twenty first annual Ron Little Memorial race which is a part of the Midwest Madness Tour this year which means it is a special for all five classes that race and will be traveling with the tour next week so expect a gigantic field in all five classes.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Ricky Thornton Jr Wins Again at "The Creek"
The annual "Clash at the Creek" wrapped up on Thursday night, June 18th at the 141 Speedway just North of Francis Creek Wisconsin and for the third time since this event was started, it was Ricky Thornton Jr who again sat in victory lane and collected the ten thousand dollar top prize. Support class winners, worth a grand each were Barry Maas in the Sport Mods and Luke Lemmens in the Stock Cars. Lemmens was a story in itself as he managed to sweep both nights of Stock Car action against a field of forty top notch entrants.
It was another beautiful night for racing in eastern Wisconsin with sunny skies, warm temperatures and quite a breeze out of the South. The only person that these conditions wouldn't favor would be the person in charge of track prep as keeping moisture in a race track would be very tough under these conditions. The result of that issue would pop up later in the evening.
One hundred and fifty four cars would sign in to race on Thursday with only two of the Modifieds that were on hand Wednesday not returning. They were Michael Long and Luke Lamberies, both of whom had miserable nights on Wednesday with Long returning to Illinois and not even being on the grounds while Lamberies didn't bother to unload his car, given where he was starting in a Last Chance race.
The program for Thursday would include five Last Chance races for the Mods plus the "Final Four" race that would qualify the last entrants. The Sport Mods and Stock Cars would draw once again on Thursday and both would run a full program.
Once again the show would start right at the advertised time and with less races on the schedule for Thursday, we would get done even earlier than the previous night, even though the show was topped by a fifty lapper for the Mods.
Twenty qualifying races for the three divisions would proceed the three main events and when it comes to racing here, they just simply race and don't cause yellow flags. Any driver that spins knows he better move quick or he will be in the pits and that's just what they do. It is so refreshing to not have the evening bogged down by a torrent of yellow flags being waved. On this night in those twenty qualifying races, all of which are very important and carry significance, the yellow flag waved only six times in total! That is remarkable to me but allows a speedy program to be run and the fans to know that they won't be spending a late hour at the track and those two things help make the show interesting and refreshing and that may very well be a top reason why 141 draws so many racers and fans.
One of the most crowd pleasing moments of the night occurred during a B Feature for the Sport Mods where female racers from Arizona, Shelby Frye and Taylor Kuehl finished first and second with both making the main and pleasing the crowd with their performance.
Sport Mods were up first for their main event and this was another race that went nonstop, green to checkered. The starting and finishing positions in this race might not reflect just what happened. Barry Maas and Derek Fehling started and finished first and second but that doesn't tell the tale of what actually happened in the race.
In truth, they battled side by side for the entire twenty laps, going side by side for almost the entire race and trading the top spot at the line more times than I can remember. First one, than the other would sure ahead but never by enough to clear the other driver and perhaps change lines on the track. So basically they raced side by side for twenty tours, racing for the lead.
In the late going Jayden Schmidt picked up the pace after starting fifth and he closed in to make it a three car battle. He might have been the fastest car on the track in the late going, but it was tough to find an opening to make a pass.
The top three raced to the line in a bunch with Maas holding on by half a car length for the win and Fehling nipping Schmidt by inches for second in and entertaining race.
Luke Lemmens has been dominating here all week in his Stock Car and he did it again on Thursday as he took his second win of the week. He started sixth but quickly closed in on leader Brandon Ross and when Ross slid up the track, Lemmens was right there to drive under him and take over the top spot.
Lemmens was able to put a little distance on the field but the race for second was a pack style event with about five cars jockeying for position. This race had two yellows and the last ten laps ran off nonstop with Lemmens adding to his lead at the end.
Ross hung on for second with Josh Mroczkowski edging Jeremy Christians and Kyle Frederick behind the dominating Lemmens.
Then it was time for the Modified fifty lap feature. The top ten in points earned on Wednesday night redrew for their positions in the starting field, an exercise that didn't seem quite fair since that was the whole point of Wednesday, to earn as many points as possible to start up front, or at least that's what I thought they were racing for.
In any event, when Thornton Jr redrew the pole, it was bad news for the field. He would have started outside pole if the passing points were used straight up, so it really didn't matter. Thornton Jr got the jump on Mike Mullen and led all fifty laps for the win.
Quite frankly, it was a rather anticlimactic way to wrap up two nights of spectacular racing but that is the way things play out sometimes. Sadly, the track locked down after about ten laps and it was a race to the bottom lane and then follow the leader after that.
There were four yellows in the first half of the race, most the by product of drivers running over the top of each other trying to get to the tires in the low groove. A few drivers would experiment with moving up a lane and sometimes they were able to gain a position, only to lose two if they tried the same move again. The last yellow, with twenty three laps complete, was when Tyler Stevens, who had been able to gain a few positions with this strategy, dumped Felix Dart on the front chute with both drivers calling it a night.
Terry Phillips got by Mullen for second and he occasionally tried to move up the track, usually on restarts but soon gave up on that and tucked in behind the smooth running Thornton Jr, who was hitting his marks on lap after lap and not providing any openings.
Near the end of the race, for the first time, the leaders caught the back of the pack without a yellow to bail them out, and it was up to Thornton Jr to maneuver through them. Dave Zeitler moved out of the way nicely and Thornton Jr timed his runs so that he could catch the back markers but not be forced to try a passing move as all cars were about the same speed at this point.
They were nose to tail the last few laps as Thornton Jr was not about to try a risky second lane pass and while Phillips rode him close, he was there to collect a check and not try any wild and unlikely to succeed last lap banzai outside run, so he just tucked in behind Ricky and rode it home for a second place finish. Mullen would be third with Ethan Dotson and the race's hard charger, Billy Kendall. completing the top five.
It was a somewhat disappointing end to what had been quite a couple of days of racing but sometimes that does happen, despite the best intentions of everyone. The same nice weather that everyone enjoyed was also the culprit in large measure that provided the kind of track that we saw for the finale. We all know that prepping a dirt track is about the toughest thing in our sport to do and sometimes the weather just throws a curve ball but by the same measure it is disappointing when it happens.
I waited around for Thornton Jr to do the traditional dive into the pond in the infield at 141 and he never did do it. I'm not sure if he did it later or not but I gave him plenty of time to do it and no belly flops were ever produced. Perhaps three times a winner is getting to be "old hat" or perhaps our current health situation had something to do with that.
The crowd was a huge one and perhaps the biggest ever I've seen at 141. For those states still with restrictions, forget it, we were shoulder to shoulder and butt to butt in the packed grandstands and the only mask I saw all week was when I was forced to wear one at my motel. That doesn't necessarily mean it's right, it's just a statement of fact.
Kruse, meanwhile, continues to hit "home runs" with his promotions and what a turnaround he and his top notch crew have done to convert an abandoned asphalt track in the middle of Wisconsin farm country into one of this country's most successful race tracks is a story for the ages. Thanks again to everyone at 141 for a great couple of nights of racing.
It was another beautiful night for racing in eastern Wisconsin with sunny skies, warm temperatures and quite a breeze out of the South. The only person that these conditions wouldn't favor would be the person in charge of track prep as keeping moisture in a race track would be very tough under these conditions. The result of that issue would pop up later in the evening.
One hundred and fifty four cars would sign in to race on Thursday with only two of the Modifieds that were on hand Wednesday not returning. They were Michael Long and Luke Lamberies, both of whom had miserable nights on Wednesday with Long returning to Illinois and not even being on the grounds while Lamberies didn't bother to unload his car, given where he was starting in a Last Chance race.
The program for Thursday would include five Last Chance races for the Mods plus the "Final Four" race that would qualify the last entrants. The Sport Mods and Stock Cars would draw once again on Thursday and both would run a full program.
Once again the show would start right at the advertised time and with less races on the schedule for Thursday, we would get done even earlier than the previous night, even though the show was topped by a fifty lapper for the Mods.
Twenty qualifying races for the three divisions would proceed the three main events and when it comes to racing here, they just simply race and don't cause yellow flags. Any driver that spins knows he better move quick or he will be in the pits and that's just what they do. It is so refreshing to not have the evening bogged down by a torrent of yellow flags being waved. On this night in those twenty qualifying races, all of which are very important and carry significance, the yellow flag waved only six times in total! That is remarkable to me but allows a speedy program to be run and the fans to know that they won't be spending a late hour at the track and those two things help make the show interesting and refreshing and that may very well be a top reason why 141 draws so many racers and fans.
One of the most crowd pleasing moments of the night occurred during a B Feature for the Sport Mods where female racers from Arizona, Shelby Frye and Taylor Kuehl finished first and second with both making the main and pleasing the crowd with their performance.
Sport Mods were up first for their main event and this was another race that went nonstop, green to checkered. The starting and finishing positions in this race might not reflect just what happened. Barry Maas and Derek Fehling started and finished first and second but that doesn't tell the tale of what actually happened in the race.
In truth, they battled side by side for the entire twenty laps, going side by side for almost the entire race and trading the top spot at the line more times than I can remember. First one, than the other would sure ahead but never by enough to clear the other driver and perhaps change lines on the track. So basically they raced side by side for twenty tours, racing for the lead.
In the late going Jayden Schmidt picked up the pace after starting fifth and he closed in to make it a three car battle. He might have been the fastest car on the track in the late going, but it was tough to find an opening to make a pass.
The top three raced to the line in a bunch with Maas holding on by half a car length for the win and Fehling nipping Schmidt by inches for second in and entertaining race.
Luke Lemmens has been dominating here all week in his Stock Car and he did it again on Thursday as he took his second win of the week. He started sixth but quickly closed in on leader Brandon Ross and when Ross slid up the track, Lemmens was right there to drive under him and take over the top spot.
Lemmens was able to put a little distance on the field but the race for second was a pack style event with about five cars jockeying for position. This race had two yellows and the last ten laps ran off nonstop with Lemmens adding to his lead at the end.
Ross hung on for second with Josh Mroczkowski edging Jeremy Christians and Kyle Frederick behind the dominating Lemmens.
Then it was time for the Modified fifty lap feature. The top ten in points earned on Wednesday night redrew for their positions in the starting field, an exercise that didn't seem quite fair since that was the whole point of Wednesday, to earn as many points as possible to start up front, or at least that's what I thought they were racing for.
In any event, when Thornton Jr redrew the pole, it was bad news for the field. He would have started outside pole if the passing points were used straight up, so it really didn't matter. Thornton Jr got the jump on Mike Mullen and led all fifty laps for the win.
Quite frankly, it was a rather anticlimactic way to wrap up two nights of spectacular racing but that is the way things play out sometimes. Sadly, the track locked down after about ten laps and it was a race to the bottom lane and then follow the leader after that.
There were four yellows in the first half of the race, most the by product of drivers running over the top of each other trying to get to the tires in the low groove. A few drivers would experiment with moving up a lane and sometimes they were able to gain a position, only to lose two if they tried the same move again. The last yellow, with twenty three laps complete, was when Tyler Stevens, who had been able to gain a few positions with this strategy, dumped Felix Dart on the front chute with both drivers calling it a night.
Terry Phillips got by Mullen for second and he occasionally tried to move up the track, usually on restarts but soon gave up on that and tucked in behind the smooth running Thornton Jr, who was hitting his marks on lap after lap and not providing any openings.
Near the end of the race, for the first time, the leaders caught the back of the pack without a yellow to bail them out, and it was up to Thornton Jr to maneuver through them. Dave Zeitler moved out of the way nicely and Thornton Jr timed his runs so that he could catch the back markers but not be forced to try a passing move as all cars were about the same speed at this point.
They were nose to tail the last few laps as Thornton Jr was not about to try a risky second lane pass and while Phillips rode him close, he was there to collect a check and not try any wild and unlikely to succeed last lap banzai outside run, so he just tucked in behind Ricky and rode it home for a second place finish. Mullen would be third with Ethan Dotson and the race's hard charger, Billy Kendall. completing the top five.
It was a somewhat disappointing end to what had been quite a couple of days of racing but sometimes that does happen, despite the best intentions of everyone. The same nice weather that everyone enjoyed was also the culprit in large measure that provided the kind of track that we saw for the finale. We all know that prepping a dirt track is about the toughest thing in our sport to do and sometimes the weather just throws a curve ball but by the same measure it is disappointing when it happens.
I waited around for Thornton Jr to do the traditional dive into the pond in the infield at 141 and he never did do it. I'm not sure if he did it later or not but I gave him plenty of time to do it and no belly flops were ever produced. Perhaps three times a winner is getting to be "old hat" or perhaps our current health situation had something to do with that.
The crowd was a huge one and perhaps the biggest ever I've seen at 141. For those states still with restrictions, forget it, we were shoulder to shoulder and butt to butt in the packed grandstands and the only mask I saw all week was when I was forced to wear one at my motel. That doesn't necessarily mean it's right, it's just a statement of fact.
Kruse, meanwhile, continues to hit "home runs" with his promotions and what a turnaround he and his top notch crew have done to convert an abandoned asphalt track in the middle of Wisconsin farm country into one of this country's most successful race tracks is a story for the ages. Thanks again to everyone at 141 for a great couple of nights of racing.
Thursday, June 18, 2020
141 Speedway Sees Schmuhl and and Lemmens In Victory Lane
After and early morning wake up call and a drive through much of Iowa and across Wisconsin, I pulled into the parking lot at 141 Speedway between the burgs of Francis Creek and Maribel. Wednesday night was night one of the twelfth annual Clash at the Creek featuring IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods.
This is one of Toby Kruse's signature events at this unique shaped track resting in the bucolic hills of eastern Wisconsin between Manitowoc and Green Bay. You know you're in "God's Country" when announcer Kruse makes a joke on a bad restart, calling it a "Minnesota Viking Cheerleader restart, plUGLY."
Modifieds will be racing for a ten thousand dollar top prize in Thursday night's fifty lap main event and Wednesday would be qualifying night, along with a full show of Stock Cars and Sport Mods, both of which will be racing for a grand.
The car counts would be impressive as they always are for this event. Seventy six Modifieds would sign in to race along with forty eight Sport Mods and thirty nine Stock Cars. Since each night's show is an independent one for the last two classes, there likely will be some additional entries on Thursday that couldn't make it for tonight's show. One hundred and sixty three cars signed in to race alone for Wednesday night's show, and that in only three classes.
The format would be pretty straight forward for the two support classes, heats, a couple or three(depending) B Features and a main event for each class. Things were slightly more confused for the Modifieds. Each driver will race twice with the lineup for the second go round of heats flipped from the first set of heats. Each driver will race against the same drivers in each heat but from a totally opposite starting position. Finishing and passing points will be calculated for both heats with the grand totals at the end of the night locking in the top ten straight into the feature on Thursday with the other drivers running Last Chance Races plus the "final four."
Drivers from fourteen or so (I lost track, sorry) states were on hand for the Modified portion of the program with cars from as far West as the coast to Arkansas and Missouri and of course, most of the other Midwestern states.
Heat races were twelve lap events with ten or so cars in each one and a total of eight heats in the first set. The support classes ran in between and then the Modifieds did eight more heats to wrap up the night.
When all was done, the top total point earned would be Terry Phillips, with his decision to race here as opposed to doing the USMTS thing so far a good choice. Ricky Thornton Jr would be second and Jeremy Thornton would be third in points. I talked to Ricky in the pits before the show and told him we missed him at Stuart and he said he would have liked to go but was afraid that if he had any problems that he wouldn't have been able to make it to 141 and that was his primary goal for the week.
Phillips showed again what a versatile driver he is, having jumped into a car he had not been racing, doing some practice laps and then winning one heat and being edged at the line for the other. It was not a particularly good night for the local drivers as only Mike Mullen, Todd Dart, Shawn Kilgore and Dave Zeitler would be among the top ten. Tyler Stevens, Ethan Dotson and Billy "The Kid" Kendall would also go directly to the main on Thursday night.
Sixteen heat races were contested for the Modifieds and that is a lot of racing on a track, plus all the support class races. They misted the track and tried to keep it in top notch shape but there was a strong sun beating down on it plus it was also quite windy. Their best efforts lasted through most of the night but it locked down pretty hard for the second set of heat races.
For those that haven't been to 141 before, it is definitely a unique shaped, one of a kind track. I would best describe it as kidney bean shaped with the three four corner much tighter that the other corner and the back straightaway is mostly a turn into the ultra tight corner three. This track throws a monkey wrench into many driver's strategy and even veteran drivers here struggle from time to time. Throw in the slick, almost icy conditions that this track normally presents, and it can be a handful, no doubt.
The other amazing thing about this track is how quickly they run off their shows. Wednesday night they had a total of thirty races. Of those races, there was only one all night that had more than one yellow flag! Amazing! Most ran green to checkered. Laying down the law at the driver's meeting plus strict enforcement of the one spin rule keep the drivers moving if they error and the yellow flag is a rare thing to see. It is also a beautiful way to run a race program if you want to keep your customers entertained and not flat bottomed as they get huge fields of cars here for regular shows and pull off the same kind of quick paced program. Toby Kruse and his staff are right there with Mike VanGenderen in running off the quick kind of program that every track operator in the country should be doing.
Wednesday, despite the logistics of signing in over one hundred and sixty cars and having them parked all over the lot, the program started at 6:05 pm and was done four hours later. I think you would be hard pressed to match that any where else.
With Tyler Soppe on the pole, it seemed that the Sport Mod feature would be decided early. However, that was not the case as Soppe just had a tough time getting his car to turn in the corners and he quickly fell back in the field. From the second row, Jeff Schmuhl drove into the lead and then pulled away from the field. There was just a single yellow on lap three(no surprise) and he was able to pull away from the pack yet not deal with lapped traffic as the field was pretty well matched up and despite only two cars not going the distance and the last eighteen laps going green, he had to deal with only a single lapped car!
Tim Warner ran second and Jayden Schmidt completed the top five in a field that saw several cars all the way from Iowa and Illinois in the field.
The Stock Car feature saw a dominating performance by Luke Lemmens. Stuart Iowa fans saw earlier this year how fast Lemmens can be and after starting on the outside pole in this race, he simply ran away from the field. A good battle with the position swapped back and forth saw Modified ace Benji LaCrosse edge out Rick Dix for second. This race was the only one all night that saw the yellow waved more than once with this one having a heaping two yellow flags, although the last nine laps ran off green.
Aaron Karcz made quite a run as he drove up from seventeenth to finish fourth. Even making the feature fields here is especially tough as with the size of the track they normally only start twenty cars in their mains.
A big crowd was on hand for this mid week preliminary which has turned into a party week for the Wisconsin faithful with the camping lot having expanded greatly over the last couple of years and many people on hand to have fun and watch a few races.
Thursday night the Modifieds will crown a new champion while the other two classes will again run full shows.
This is one of Toby Kruse's signature events at this unique shaped track resting in the bucolic hills of eastern Wisconsin between Manitowoc and Green Bay. You know you're in "God's Country" when announcer Kruse makes a joke on a bad restart, calling it a "Minnesota Viking Cheerleader restart, plUGLY."
Modifieds will be racing for a ten thousand dollar top prize in Thursday night's fifty lap main event and Wednesday would be qualifying night, along with a full show of Stock Cars and Sport Mods, both of which will be racing for a grand.
The car counts would be impressive as they always are for this event. Seventy six Modifieds would sign in to race along with forty eight Sport Mods and thirty nine Stock Cars. Since each night's show is an independent one for the last two classes, there likely will be some additional entries on Thursday that couldn't make it for tonight's show. One hundred and sixty three cars signed in to race alone for Wednesday night's show, and that in only three classes.
The format would be pretty straight forward for the two support classes, heats, a couple or three(depending) B Features and a main event for each class. Things were slightly more confused for the Modifieds. Each driver will race twice with the lineup for the second go round of heats flipped from the first set of heats. Each driver will race against the same drivers in each heat but from a totally opposite starting position. Finishing and passing points will be calculated for both heats with the grand totals at the end of the night locking in the top ten straight into the feature on Thursday with the other drivers running Last Chance Races plus the "final four."
Drivers from fourteen or so (I lost track, sorry) states were on hand for the Modified portion of the program with cars from as far West as the coast to Arkansas and Missouri and of course, most of the other Midwestern states.
Heat races were twelve lap events with ten or so cars in each one and a total of eight heats in the first set. The support classes ran in between and then the Modifieds did eight more heats to wrap up the night.
When all was done, the top total point earned would be Terry Phillips, with his decision to race here as opposed to doing the USMTS thing so far a good choice. Ricky Thornton Jr would be second and Jeremy Thornton would be third in points. I talked to Ricky in the pits before the show and told him we missed him at Stuart and he said he would have liked to go but was afraid that if he had any problems that he wouldn't have been able to make it to 141 and that was his primary goal for the week.
Phillips showed again what a versatile driver he is, having jumped into a car he had not been racing, doing some practice laps and then winning one heat and being edged at the line for the other. It was not a particularly good night for the local drivers as only Mike Mullen, Todd Dart, Shawn Kilgore and Dave Zeitler would be among the top ten. Tyler Stevens, Ethan Dotson and Billy "The Kid" Kendall would also go directly to the main on Thursday night.
Sixteen heat races were contested for the Modifieds and that is a lot of racing on a track, plus all the support class races. They misted the track and tried to keep it in top notch shape but there was a strong sun beating down on it plus it was also quite windy. Their best efforts lasted through most of the night but it locked down pretty hard for the second set of heat races.
For those that haven't been to 141 before, it is definitely a unique shaped, one of a kind track. I would best describe it as kidney bean shaped with the three four corner much tighter that the other corner and the back straightaway is mostly a turn into the ultra tight corner three. This track throws a monkey wrench into many driver's strategy and even veteran drivers here struggle from time to time. Throw in the slick, almost icy conditions that this track normally presents, and it can be a handful, no doubt.
The other amazing thing about this track is how quickly they run off their shows. Wednesday night they had a total of thirty races. Of those races, there was only one all night that had more than one yellow flag! Amazing! Most ran green to checkered. Laying down the law at the driver's meeting plus strict enforcement of the one spin rule keep the drivers moving if they error and the yellow flag is a rare thing to see. It is also a beautiful way to run a race program if you want to keep your customers entertained and not flat bottomed as they get huge fields of cars here for regular shows and pull off the same kind of quick paced program. Toby Kruse and his staff are right there with Mike VanGenderen in running off the quick kind of program that every track operator in the country should be doing.
Wednesday, despite the logistics of signing in over one hundred and sixty cars and having them parked all over the lot, the program started at 6:05 pm and was done four hours later. I think you would be hard pressed to match that any where else.
With Tyler Soppe on the pole, it seemed that the Sport Mod feature would be decided early. However, that was not the case as Soppe just had a tough time getting his car to turn in the corners and he quickly fell back in the field. From the second row, Jeff Schmuhl drove into the lead and then pulled away from the field. There was just a single yellow on lap three(no surprise) and he was able to pull away from the pack yet not deal with lapped traffic as the field was pretty well matched up and despite only two cars not going the distance and the last eighteen laps going green, he had to deal with only a single lapped car!
Tim Warner ran second and Jayden Schmidt completed the top five in a field that saw several cars all the way from Iowa and Illinois in the field.
The Stock Car feature saw a dominating performance by Luke Lemmens. Stuart Iowa fans saw earlier this year how fast Lemmens can be and after starting on the outside pole in this race, he simply ran away from the field. A good battle with the position swapped back and forth saw Modified ace Benji LaCrosse edge out Rick Dix for second. This race was the only one all night that saw the yellow waved more than once with this one having a heaping two yellow flags, although the last nine laps ran off green.
Aaron Karcz made quite a run as he drove up from seventeenth to finish fourth. Even making the feature fields here is especially tough as with the size of the track they normally only start twenty cars in their mains.
A big crowd was on hand for this mid week preliminary which has turned into a party week for the Wisconsin faithful with the camping lot having expanded greatly over the last couple of years and many people on hand to have fun and watch a few races.
Thursday night the Modifieds will crown a new champion while the other two classes will again run full shows.
Ramirez Leads USMTS Troups in Stuart Conquest
For the first time ever, the Modified stars of the USMTS got to race at the Stuart International Speedway on Tuesday night, June 16th. They were making their first visit as the opening night of a five night swing through Iowa in perhaps their longest string of races back to back so far this year. Along with the Modifieds, the Iron Man Series for Stock Cars and B Mods was also on hand with management opting to also include the Hobby Stocks and Tuners(USRA's name for the four cylinder class) so it was much like a regular Wednesday night show in the classes offered, just with slightly different rules and big blades on the Mods.
With USMTS not in one of their "hot beds" as far as drawing cars here, they made a strong push to try and minimize any rules differences so that the local and area cars could and hopefully would join to help beef up the field. By my count, nine what I would call IMCA cars were on hand that made the difference from it being a skinny two car heat event to what amounted to a full field of cars.
Among those that joined was Cayden Carter in a brand new Vanderbilt dressed up with USMTS body rules but still using a crate motor. Kyle Brown would be very much a presence later on during the evening as he "upgraded" with an open motor for his car while Chase Rudolf was driving a sparkling new entry also. All of the top ten in USMTS points were on hand for this show except Terry Phillips who instead opted to go racing in Wisconsin this week.
The usual format of passing points heats set the grid for the fifty lap feature race and on this night, we didn't have to endure a meaningless B Feature that would simply set the line up for those cars not already in the show. Jeff Broeg must have loved that!
All twenty four on hand took the green for the fifty lap finale with Joe Duvall pulling out a back up car after he missed his heat race with his primary entry. Rookie USMTS driver Calvin Iverson got the jump using the high side but Rodney Sanders quickly slid him for the lead. While Iverson and Jason Hughes were battling for position, Hughes slid Calvin in not the prettiest of moves and Calvin responded by "dumping" Sanders on the front chute, resulting in the first yellow and sending Iverson to the tail.
Sanders continued to lead while pounding the cushion as Tanner Mullins moved in to challenge him. For one of the rarest of times that I have seen these top drivers in action, it seemed to me that both Sanders and Mullins didn't see the track starting to change as the low groove started getting faster and faster. Perhaps it was just their unfamiliarity with Stuart, as Sanders is about the best around at spotting the fast lane on a track but when he got hung on the outside by a lapped car, Mullins drove under him and took over the lead.
As these two battled, Ramirez was making time on the bottom, a lane that he usually likes and he closed in on Mullins for the lead as Sanders continued to lose time pounding the cushion. A lapped car that slowed Mullins gave Ramirez his chance and Derek jumped on the opportunity, driving into the lead.
With the track now noticeably taking rubber in the low groove, drivers started to migrate to the bottom but Ramirez had things under control. He did have a few tense moments near the end of the track when he caught the back of the pack who were going just fast enough that he dared not get out of the groove of rubber and try and pass them on the outside, but he timed it well and kept Mullins behind him as he took his first win of 2020 with the series.
Brown really impressed fans in the second half of the race. It took him a while to get going but when he did he really came charging up using the low groove while a couple of the other drivers were still deciding where they wanted to go and his third place finish was very impressive as he passed both Sanders and Hughes near the end. The last thirty eight laps of the main went off nonstop and there were only three cars that failed to finish the distance.
Buck Schafroth really took it to the Stock Car field as he dominated their main event. He started on the pole and was the only one to truly navigate the cushion of the track which still existed when the Stock Cars ran. Other drivers were testing out grooves and moving around on the track but he just pounded the cushion constantly and pulled away, opening up nearly a full straightaway on the field. USRA Stock Car racer Austin Bouzek tried to stay with Buck but gradually slipped backward.
There was a nice scramble of cars racing for position behind the leader when a late race yellow set up a two lap sprint. This kind of messed up Schafroth as he had to regain his line while not letting the rest of the field sneak under him on the restart but he got his momentum going and drove away to record the win.
There was a wild scramble for position behind him on the last two laps and Josh Daniels able to take advantage of that as he drove up to second with Doug Keller, in a very fast but very ratty looking car finishing third.
A late yellow almost cost Dan Hovden in the B Mods too. He took the lead early and was also pounding the cushion as Brayton Carter and Josh Roney chased him. Carter would try both the top and bottom side of the track but just couldn't seem to close the gap on Hovden, who had some nice momentum built up using the top side of the track.
However, a late yellow set up a four lap dash to the finish and Carter, who has been running very well here of late, used the low side of the track to close in on Hovden who suddenly found the cushion not quite as quick. Carter was closing and it looked like a last lap dash to the line would be happening. However Hovden could also see things were starting to go bad and down the back chute on the final circuit he dove to the bottom, in essence cutting off Carter and taking away his line.
The strategy was sound and it took away any chance that Carter would make a last corner pass as he settled for second to Hovden with Roney and Trevor Fecht following.
The Hobby Stock field was a small one as trying to see this event to the IMCA cars was a tough sell since the USRA cars are on racing tires this year and it's not really a fair match against the street tired IMCA cars. So only nine cars took the green with USRA hotshots Eric Stanton and Dustin Gulbranson battling for the win.
All the Hobby Stocks were hugging the tires and when Gulbranson decided to try the top side to make a pass that cost him the race as he was passed by Chris Hovden for second and would eventually dive back to the bottom. This race went nonstop and Stanton drove to an easy win over Hovden and Gulbranson.
Tuners(or Sport Compacts or whatever they were calling them on this night as I heard both names used) saw Denny Berghahn Jr tow over from Nebraska and lead the opening laps but he couldn't get his car to hold the bottom and Hunter Patrick drove under him for the lead. Once that was accomplished, things stayed pretty much the same with those two running first and second to the finish ahead of Kolby Sabin in another nonstop main event.
Mike VanGenderen was Race Director on this night as Todd Staley focused on his Stock Car and we got the best of MVG as he cracked the show along at a crisp pace and on a Tuesday night, the final checkered in the Modifieds flew at just 10 pm, perhaps for the night. A big crowd was on hand and I suspect it won't be twenty some years before the USMTS reappears at Stuart. Thanks to both Todd Staley, his staff and MVG and his crew who worked together smoothly to put on a brisk and entertaining night of racing.
With USMTS not in one of their "hot beds" as far as drawing cars here, they made a strong push to try and minimize any rules differences so that the local and area cars could and hopefully would join to help beef up the field. By my count, nine what I would call IMCA cars were on hand that made the difference from it being a skinny two car heat event to what amounted to a full field of cars.
Among those that joined was Cayden Carter in a brand new Vanderbilt dressed up with USMTS body rules but still using a crate motor. Kyle Brown would be very much a presence later on during the evening as he "upgraded" with an open motor for his car while Chase Rudolf was driving a sparkling new entry also. All of the top ten in USMTS points were on hand for this show except Terry Phillips who instead opted to go racing in Wisconsin this week.
The usual format of passing points heats set the grid for the fifty lap feature race and on this night, we didn't have to endure a meaningless B Feature that would simply set the line up for those cars not already in the show. Jeff Broeg must have loved that!
All twenty four on hand took the green for the fifty lap finale with Joe Duvall pulling out a back up car after he missed his heat race with his primary entry. Rookie USMTS driver Calvin Iverson got the jump using the high side but Rodney Sanders quickly slid him for the lead. While Iverson and Jason Hughes were battling for position, Hughes slid Calvin in not the prettiest of moves and Calvin responded by "dumping" Sanders on the front chute, resulting in the first yellow and sending Iverson to the tail.
Sanders continued to lead while pounding the cushion as Tanner Mullins moved in to challenge him. For one of the rarest of times that I have seen these top drivers in action, it seemed to me that both Sanders and Mullins didn't see the track starting to change as the low groove started getting faster and faster. Perhaps it was just their unfamiliarity with Stuart, as Sanders is about the best around at spotting the fast lane on a track but when he got hung on the outside by a lapped car, Mullins drove under him and took over the lead.
As these two battled, Ramirez was making time on the bottom, a lane that he usually likes and he closed in on Mullins for the lead as Sanders continued to lose time pounding the cushion. A lapped car that slowed Mullins gave Ramirez his chance and Derek jumped on the opportunity, driving into the lead.
With the track now noticeably taking rubber in the low groove, drivers started to migrate to the bottom but Ramirez had things under control. He did have a few tense moments near the end of the track when he caught the back of the pack who were going just fast enough that he dared not get out of the groove of rubber and try and pass them on the outside, but he timed it well and kept Mullins behind him as he took his first win of 2020 with the series.
Brown really impressed fans in the second half of the race. It took him a while to get going but when he did he really came charging up using the low groove while a couple of the other drivers were still deciding where they wanted to go and his third place finish was very impressive as he passed both Sanders and Hughes near the end. The last thirty eight laps of the main went off nonstop and there were only three cars that failed to finish the distance.
Buck Schafroth really took it to the Stock Car field as he dominated their main event. He started on the pole and was the only one to truly navigate the cushion of the track which still existed when the Stock Cars ran. Other drivers were testing out grooves and moving around on the track but he just pounded the cushion constantly and pulled away, opening up nearly a full straightaway on the field. USRA Stock Car racer Austin Bouzek tried to stay with Buck but gradually slipped backward.
There was a nice scramble of cars racing for position behind the leader when a late race yellow set up a two lap sprint. This kind of messed up Schafroth as he had to regain his line while not letting the rest of the field sneak under him on the restart but he got his momentum going and drove away to record the win.
There was a wild scramble for position behind him on the last two laps and Josh Daniels able to take advantage of that as he drove up to second with Doug Keller, in a very fast but very ratty looking car finishing third.
A late yellow almost cost Dan Hovden in the B Mods too. He took the lead early and was also pounding the cushion as Brayton Carter and Josh Roney chased him. Carter would try both the top and bottom side of the track but just couldn't seem to close the gap on Hovden, who had some nice momentum built up using the top side of the track.
However, a late yellow set up a four lap dash to the finish and Carter, who has been running very well here of late, used the low side of the track to close in on Hovden who suddenly found the cushion not quite as quick. Carter was closing and it looked like a last lap dash to the line would be happening. However Hovden could also see things were starting to go bad and down the back chute on the final circuit he dove to the bottom, in essence cutting off Carter and taking away his line.
The strategy was sound and it took away any chance that Carter would make a last corner pass as he settled for second to Hovden with Roney and Trevor Fecht following.
The Hobby Stock field was a small one as trying to see this event to the IMCA cars was a tough sell since the USRA cars are on racing tires this year and it's not really a fair match against the street tired IMCA cars. So only nine cars took the green with USRA hotshots Eric Stanton and Dustin Gulbranson battling for the win.
All the Hobby Stocks were hugging the tires and when Gulbranson decided to try the top side to make a pass that cost him the race as he was passed by Chris Hovden for second and would eventually dive back to the bottom. This race went nonstop and Stanton drove to an easy win over Hovden and Gulbranson.
Tuners(or Sport Compacts or whatever they were calling them on this night as I heard both names used) saw Denny Berghahn Jr tow over from Nebraska and lead the opening laps but he couldn't get his car to hold the bottom and Hunter Patrick drove under him for the lead. Once that was accomplished, things stayed pretty much the same with those two running first and second to the finish ahead of Kolby Sabin in another nonstop main event.
Mike VanGenderen was Race Director on this night as Todd Staley focused on his Stock Car and we got the best of MVG as he cracked the show along at a crisp pace and on a Tuesday night, the final checkered in the Modifieds flew at just 10 pm, perhaps for the night. A big crowd was on hand and I suspect it won't be twenty some years before the USMTS reappears at Stuart. Thanks to both Todd Staley, his staff and MVG and his crew who worked together smoothly to put on a brisk and entertaining night of racing.
Friday, June 12, 2020
Aikey The Winner as SLMR Moves On to Hamilton County
The Malvern Bank sponsored SLMR Late Model Series traveled to their next destination on Thursday night, June 11th and that was the historic Hamilton County Speedway right in Webster City Iowa. The Late Models would be joined by three of the weekly USRA sanctioned classes that race weekly at the half mile here at the Fairgrounds.
The SLMA has been traveling well this week with the vast majority of the drivers that raced at Stuart on Wednesday night moving on to Webster City this night. A few didn't make the extra distance trip, while four new drivers showed up to spice the Late Model field and in total, a solid group of thirty five were on hand for the show.
Today I got a little more information on the qualifying format and after hearing about just how the details work, it made a little more sense with particularly the "sand bagging" part of the qualifying not really a workable part of a driver's strategy for the event. In fact, their format would be much like one used by Knoxville for their Sprint shows as the time trials also receive points and a combination of qualifying points plus points earned during heat race action set the sixteen cars that automatically moved on to the main event and avoided the dreaded B Feature(s). So while I'm still not a fan of time trials and never will be, at least this format weighs both time trials and heats and does promote hard racing in the heats, particularly with a six car invert.
However, as several of the drivers told me, time trials are still very important and weighed heavily. For example, Kyle Berck crashed out of his heat race tonight and finished dead last in that event but because he was the quick qualifier for the night, he still had the outside pole for the B Feature, an event that he opted out of to take a provisional instead.
Speaking of Berck, the defending point champion has had a couple of tough nights this week. He had just an average performance for him last night in Stuart and tonight was even worse. After being the quick qualifier and being several tenths of a second faster than anyone, he took off like a rocket in the first heat race, passing a couple of cars from his third row starting spot immediately and looking to take second after just one lap. However, he tried to throw a slider in turn one for that position and went into the corner way too hot and slammed the outside wall hard.
He went off on a hook and ended up using that provisional to start nineteenth and was only able to work his way up to twelfth at the finish when he looked to have the dominant car of the night.
It was a wild and crazy day for track promoter Todd Staley. He was torn between two venues on this day as along with having this race at one of the two tracks he promotes, his USMTS traveling series was in night one of their big three night show at the Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin which is one of their "showcase" races of the year.
He left Hamilton Co. in the hands of his finely trained weekly crew while he took off up to Wisconsin but when one of his employees became ill, he had to make a banzai run back down here to Webster City this afternoon to help. He was doing everything from watering and tiling the track to helping run off the program all the while trying to monitor what was happening in Wisconsin. And after he got everything wrapped up here, he would have to make a return trip back up to Wisconsin for the rest of that racing event on Friday and Saturday. Ain't promoting fun?
Speaking of promoting, I had the chance to spend a few minutes talking with Ricky Kay this afternoon in the pits. Of course he is a busy man too, managing the race team of his son Justin along with his farming and other businesses. And of course, he added to his "plate" last Summer when he took over as the promoter at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Davenport Speedway. It was interesting getting his perspective as one new to promoting but having been involved in racing for many years in other facets of the sport. It made it clear that one of the big reasons that he took over as promoter at Davenport was because that track and the Fair itself was something near and dear to his heart having had three generations of his family involved in activities at the Fair and its close proximity to where he lives.
It was also interesting to hear some of the things that come up when trying to run a race track and dealing with so many different elements that a promoter must that quite frankly, I never would have thought of. It is a full time job that unfortunately, pays off more like a part time job, if at all! So most do it simply for the love of the sport or to keep tracks "on the edge" surviving. Although lots of track owners and promoters seem pretty gruff, most have a soft spot in their hearts for the tracks they are trying to help survive these especially tough times.
As far as the racing itself, it is always high speed at the big half mile which is looking so much nicer since Staley took the place over. So many improvements have been made and it is just a much more appealing place that it was for the longest time. Jeff Aikey was a man on a mission Thursday night as he started on the outside of row two but boldly went to the high groove, a lane that most were avoiding and perhaps all his years of racing here gave him knowledge of, and it took him just over a lap to take over the top spot.
After that, he maintained a comfortable advantage for thirty laps and took the win. This race did come off nearly as smooth as the previous night with several yellow flags, many late in the contest when Aikey would just as well have seen the checkered flag.
Three times they had to do the green, white and checkered before they got it right and all three times Aikey pulled away for the most deserving win as he was clearly the fastest car on the track most of the night as we never really got to see what Berck could have offered.
The battle for second was full scale war as Tad Pospisil and Billy Leighton Jr made hard contact a couple of times on restarts as they battled for second. One time, they collided so hard in turn one that Pospisil took a little air but he kept right on going and on another occasion they were leaning on each other down the front chute as they took the green, followed by a couple of cross over moves that Pospisil retain the second spot. Josh Leonard and Andy Eckrich, up from tenth, completed the top five.
The support classes were pretty light on competitors on Thursday night and whether it was because they will be racing here again in just two nights for a weekly show or it was just tough to get here on a Thursday night, the field in all three classes offered was on the small side.
The Hobby Stocks were the best of the three with fourteen cars and they provided a good feature race to wrap up the evening. Daniel "Dilly Bar" Ayers sat on the pole but it was Cory Roe that was the early leader. This race ended up being a three car battle between Roe, Eric Stanton and Eric Knutson. Stanton would eventually make the winning pass with just a few laps left and then pull away slightly from Roe for the win. I was disappointed to see that Stanton has given up the Hatchback look with a more standard looking race car this year, but it is also probably his finest looking car, and clearly just as fast as the "grocery getter" was. The Hobby Stocks have a new look this year as they are on racing tires as opposed to passenger car tires that they used to run and by both looks and performance, on this big track they are hard to tell apart from the Stock Cars and that must be slightly confusing to the casual race fan.
Ten B Mods took the green for what would be a nonstop main event for them. Levi Chipp would lead from start to finish with early pressure from Ben Moudry until he broke and pulled off the track. After that, it was Ty Griffith who spent the entire race trying to track down Chipp but he couldn't do so and had to settle for second.
The Tuners couldn't even hit a "high C" on this night as there were only three of them on hand and their race was a "flat" one with the Alto section a half beat behind! Matt Oberhelman held off John Gill(not the Modern Day Cowboy but the Marshalltown one) to take the win but in victory lane he was as happy and giving out hugs as if he had just won the Daytona 500 so good for him. As for me, they could have used just a few more Baritones.
All racing was done around 10:30 pm and would have been done earlier if not for the protracted Late Model event. Everyone on board seemed happy with the results as the weather finally cooperated and they were able to finally get a Late Model special completed here.
The SLMA has been traveling well this week with the vast majority of the drivers that raced at Stuart on Wednesday night moving on to Webster City this night. A few didn't make the extra distance trip, while four new drivers showed up to spice the Late Model field and in total, a solid group of thirty five were on hand for the show.
Today I got a little more information on the qualifying format and after hearing about just how the details work, it made a little more sense with particularly the "sand bagging" part of the qualifying not really a workable part of a driver's strategy for the event. In fact, their format would be much like one used by Knoxville for their Sprint shows as the time trials also receive points and a combination of qualifying points plus points earned during heat race action set the sixteen cars that automatically moved on to the main event and avoided the dreaded B Feature(s). So while I'm still not a fan of time trials and never will be, at least this format weighs both time trials and heats and does promote hard racing in the heats, particularly with a six car invert.
However, as several of the drivers told me, time trials are still very important and weighed heavily. For example, Kyle Berck crashed out of his heat race tonight and finished dead last in that event but because he was the quick qualifier for the night, he still had the outside pole for the B Feature, an event that he opted out of to take a provisional instead.
Speaking of Berck, the defending point champion has had a couple of tough nights this week. He had just an average performance for him last night in Stuart and tonight was even worse. After being the quick qualifier and being several tenths of a second faster than anyone, he took off like a rocket in the first heat race, passing a couple of cars from his third row starting spot immediately and looking to take second after just one lap. However, he tried to throw a slider in turn one for that position and went into the corner way too hot and slammed the outside wall hard.
He went off on a hook and ended up using that provisional to start nineteenth and was only able to work his way up to twelfth at the finish when he looked to have the dominant car of the night.
It was a wild and crazy day for track promoter Todd Staley. He was torn between two venues on this day as along with having this race at one of the two tracks he promotes, his USMTS traveling series was in night one of their big three night show at the Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin which is one of their "showcase" races of the year.
He left Hamilton Co. in the hands of his finely trained weekly crew while he took off up to Wisconsin but when one of his employees became ill, he had to make a banzai run back down here to Webster City this afternoon to help. He was doing everything from watering and tiling the track to helping run off the program all the while trying to monitor what was happening in Wisconsin. And after he got everything wrapped up here, he would have to make a return trip back up to Wisconsin for the rest of that racing event on Friday and Saturday. Ain't promoting fun?
Speaking of promoting, I had the chance to spend a few minutes talking with Ricky Kay this afternoon in the pits. Of course he is a busy man too, managing the race team of his son Justin along with his farming and other businesses. And of course, he added to his "plate" last Summer when he took over as the promoter at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Davenport Speedway. It was interesting getting his perspective as one new to promoting but having been involved in racing for many years in other facets of the sport. It made it clear that one of the big reasons that he took over as promoter at Davenport was because that track and the Fair itself was something near and dear to his heart having had three generations of his family involved in activities at the Fair and its close proximity to where he lives.
It was also interesting to hear some of the things that come up when trying to run a race track and dealing with so many different elements that a promoter must that quite frankly, I never would have thought of. It is a full time job that unfortunately, pays off more like a part time job, if at all! So most do it simply for the love of the sport or to keep tracks "on the edge" surviving. Although lots of track owners and promoters seem pretty gruff, most have a soft spot in their hearts for the tracks they are trying to help survive these especially tough times.
As far as the racing itself, it is always high speed at the big half mile which is looking so much nicer since Staley took the place over. So many improvements have been made and it is just a much more appealing place that it was for the longest time. Jeff Aikey was a man on a mission Thursday night as he started on the outside of row two but boldly went to the high groove, a lane that most were avoiding and perhaps all his years of racing here gave him knowledge of, and it took him just over a lap to take over the top spot.
After that, he maintained a comfortable advantage for thirty laps and took the win. This race did come off nearly as smooth as the previous night with several yellow flags, many late in the contest when Aikey would just as well have seen the checkered flag.
Three times they had to do the green, white and checkered before they got it right and all three times Aikey pulled away for the most deserving win as he was clearly the fastest car on the track most of the night as we never really got to see what Berck could have offered.
The battle for second was full scale war as Tad Pospisil and Billy Leighton Jr made hard contact a couple of times on restarts as they battled for second. One time, they collided so hard in turn one that Pospisil took a little air but he kept right on going and on another occasion they were leaning on each other down the front chute as they took the green, followed by a couple of cross over moves that Pospisil retain the second spot. Josh Leonard and Andy Eckrich, up from tenth, completed the top five.
The support classes were pretty light on competitors on Thursday night and whether it was because they will be racing here again in just two nights for a weekly show or it was just tough to get here on a Thursday night, the field in all three classes offered was on the small side.
The Hobby Stocks were the best of the three with fourteen cars and they provided a good feature race to wrap up the evening. Daniel "Dilly Bar" Ayers sat on the pole but it was Cory Roe that was the early leader. This race ended up being a three car battle between Roe, Eric Stanton and Eric Knutson. Stanton would eventually make the winning pass with just a few laps left and then pull away slightly from Roe for the win. I was disappointed to see that Stanton has given up the Hatchback look with a more standard looking race car this year, but it is also probably his finest looking car, and clearly just as fast as the "grocery getter" was. The Hobby Stocks have a new look this year as they are on racing tires as opposed to passenger car tires that they used to run and by both looks and performance, on this big track they are hard to tell apart from the Stock Cars and that must be slightly confusing to the casual race fan.
Ten B Mods took the green for what would be a nonstop main event for them. Levi Chipp would lead from start to finish with early pressure from Ben Moudry until he broke and pulled off the track. After that, it was Ty Griffith who spent the entire race trying to track down Chipp but he couldn't do so and had to settle for second.
The Tuners couldn't even hit a "high C" on this night as there were only three of them on hand and their race was a "flat" one with the Alto section a half beat behind! Matt Oberhelman held off John Gill(not the Modern Day Cowboy but the Marshalltown one) to take the win but in victory lane he was as happy and giving out hugs as if he had just won the Daytona 500 so good for him. As for me, they could have used just a few more Baritones.
All racing was done around 10:30 pm and would have been done earlier if not for the protracted Late Model event. Everyone on board seemed happy with the results as the weather finally cooperated and they were able to finally get a Late Model special completed here.
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