Friday, May 15, 2009

Southern Iowa Speedway Season Opener

It was a beautiful night for watching a race at the big half mile in Osky. We can say it was the most comfortable we've been so far this racing season here in Iowa. It was a little strange to be sitting there on a Thursday night however, instead of the regular Wednesday night. Promoter Todd Staley made the call to postpone on Wednesday due to the rain, and race on Thursday. Good call! We got to see some great racing action and watch some veteran drivers as well as some newcomers, try to tame the track.

The B modifieds had 19 cars in attendance and some new faces among the competitors..for us anyway. It was a veteran racer who took the win however, as Kevin Fee from Knoxville took his number 52 machine to victory. Following him across the line was Josh Modde, young Cayden Carter, Tyler Groenendyk and Mike Shelton. However, the 10 car of Carter was later dq'd for "a non-working rev limiter" ...as announced by Tony Paris. Jason McDaniel made his debut at the track in a B mod, switching from his previous hobby stock class and looked impressive at times. Look for him to visit the winner's circle before the season is over.

The stock cars at Osky are FAST! On this night, 13 of the cars were on hand and it was 3 wide racing at times. Zack VanderBeek kept his car out front and stretched the lead to take home the win. Behind him came Mike VanGenderen, Matt Greiner, and Brian Mitrisin who put on a fierce battle for position. Nathan Wood rounded out the top five.

The hobby stocks took to the track next for their feature. Bobby Greene took the win and gave the crowd his famous back flip from the car in Victory Lane. Dale Porter was second, TJ Henderson third, Andy Coleman fourth, and Kris Walker came home fifth. Rookie driver Dan Dyer in the #2D car, was impressive and though he did have a mishap in turn two which brought him to a stop, it was with much appreciation from the crowd, that he fired it up and continued on instead of bringing the racing action to a halt.

The final event of the evening was the USRA modifieds. Once again a familiar face visited the winner's circle as Zack VanderBeek took the win. It was noted that he has switched colors of his machines this year in both the stock and modified class. He was no longer in the familiar red, but in nice looking orange machines. Coming home second was another veteran driver, Brad Pinkerton, who no doubt will be in Victory Lane several times as he looked strong. Richie Gustin, another very fast car, came home third, followed by Scott Dickey and the visiting Missouri driver, David Holder.

It was an entertaining night of racing and the program was done by 9:30, always a plus for the fans. Next week, there will also be a "switch" on racing days, as Osky will be running a USMTS show on TUESDAY, and no racing there on Wednesday. Marshalltown Speedway will be running a USMTS show at their improved facility on Wednesday.

Results are listed below. Happy racing!

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