Scott, Moffitt, and Rose grab wins at Boone

Is was more like chilly football weather than an August night of racing Saturday at the Boone Speedway. Fans were bundling up even before the sun went down and extra layers kept going on all night long. Thankfully, the good racing helped keep minds off of the breezy nip in the air. By my count, 161 cars were on hand to try their hand at the famed home of the IMCA Super Nationals.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature came to the track first after the usual mid-point farming session. Joel Huggins jumped to the lead right away...looking for another win to add to his recent string of victories. Dusty Masolini had other ideas as he took the lead away from Huggins, who would then have to be content to chase him the remaining laps. Dusty Masolini took the win, Huggins was runner-up, third went to James May, his son Josh May followed in fourth, and fifth was Andy Hennigar. Hennigar, the point-leader maintains a sizable lead going into season championships next week.

Rolling onto the track next, was the Northern SportMods for their 18-lap feature event. It took at least two complete restarts before the first lap was able to be scored as incidents happened on the track, bringing out the yellow. Joel Bushore was one of the cars that received significant damage and he was towed from the track; his night ended. When racing did get underway, pole sitter, Brett Moffitt took command of the top spot which he never relinquished. Moffitt took the win, Austin Lucas followed him across the finish line for second, Rick Ringgenberg crossed in third, fourth went to Iowa State student Geoff Olson who had started in eighth place, and rounding out the top five was point leader Scott Davis. Davis has an untouchable lead going into next week's season championship race.

All 26 IMCA modifieds started their A main. On hand were two Kansas drivers, David Murray who is IMCA's all-time win holder at over 400, and Jason Schoenberger from the Russell, Kansas area. Murray was not piloting his own machine, but the #23x of Matt Gilbertson from Minnesota. Schoenberger, who was the Super National's stock car winner several years back, was in his own 6X machine. Both drivers had raced the previous night at Marshalltown Speedway and we were anticipating that they would be in attendance at Boone as well. Also back from Moorsville, NC was James Allbee who piloted the 15J car last evening. We understand that Allbee works for one of the NASCAR teams in that area, having moved from Iowa a while back.

The modified feature yielded multiple yellow flags flying throughout their contest. In fact, the race was put under the time limit signal when it exceeded the one minute per lap rule. Jacob Murray led much of the race with JJ Scott in tow. Murray continued to lead with 11 laps down when the time limit rule was put into effect...meaning the race would be called over if another yellow flag flew. The cars were able to complete under the green flag, but with three laps to go, JJ Scott made the pass around Murray and Jake Durbin followed him to second place. Scott took the win, his first of the year at Boone, Durbin was second, Jacob Murray held on for third, fourth went to Kelly Lyons and fifth to Scott Baker. David Murray was scored in sixth place.
Unofficially, it looks as though Cale Sponsler took over the point lead by four points over Todd Shute, making for a down-to-the-wire championship contest next Saturday.

The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA stock cars were up next. Going into the night, Trent Murphy held a large lead in points and with an 11th place finish last night, his championship is not in jeopardy. Damon Murty sat on the pole and took off like a rocket and stretched his lead.
Battling for second and third behind him, were Ryan Rose and Josh Brauckman. Mike VanGenderen in his yellow 57V ride for the night, was keeping in the hunt as he did battle with Chris Webb and Donavon Smith. With just two laps to go, Murty would exit the track handing over the lead to Ryan Rose. Rose went on to take the win, Donavon Smith advanced to second, Brauckman was third, fourth was The Flying Dutchman, Mike VanGenderen, and Bill Reetz advanced to fifth in the late laps.

Two hobby stock features remained. In the first feature, Pat Mather would repeat a win from last week. He made his way to the winner's circle from starting back in tenth starting spot when he took over the lead with five laps to go. He passed Richard Yaw II who held on for second, Joe Myer worked his way up to finish third, fourth went to Michael Murphy the continuing point leader, and fifth went to Matt Drottz.

The night-ending second hobby stock feature was led early by veteran driver Donnie Gustoff.
At four laps down, Scott Lograsso and Daniel Hilsabeck were both able to get around Gustoff.
Gustoff would fall back several positions as Chris Hupp made his way into third, When the final checkers of the night flew, Lograsso came home to the win, Hilsabeck was second, Hupp in third, fourth went to Leonard Loftus and Alan VanGorp was fifth.

Hard to believe that next week is the season championship, thus ending the regular season racing at Boone Speedway. Then, on Monday, September 7, begins the Speedway Motors IMCA Super Nationals. Racing will begin each day this year at 3 p.m. and a slightly different format will prevail for modified qualifying with 30 heats and the top two going to one of three A qualifiers. We look forward to this event every year as we have since 1988. We are hoping for great weather and know we will see great racing. For more complete details on the Super Nationals, check the IMCA website at http://www.imca.com/ and the Boone Speedway site at http://www.raceboone.com/. Happy racing!

Full results are listed below.

Boone results - 8/29/09

Unofficial results:

Modified - 26 cars

Heat 1 - 3Z Randy Havlik
Heat 2 - 18 Jake Durbin
Heat 3 - 27 Kelly Lyons

Feature

1. 23 JJ Scott
2. 18 Jake Durbin
3. 48J Jacob Murray
4. 27 Kelly Lyons
5. 15X Scott Baker
6. 23X David Murray, Oberlin, Kansas
7. 2L Adam Larson
8. 28R Russ Dickerson
9. 33M Mike Molle
10. 93 Cale Sponsler
11. 62 Greg Cox
12. 15J James Allbee, Moorsville, NC
13. 6 Darren Huntley
14. 02 Brian Law
15. 3Z Randy Havlik
16. 19 Jimmy Gustin
17. c19 Jeremie Hedrick
18. 83G Josh Gilman
19. 32 Lloyd Henderson
20. 5 Todd Shute
21. 1 Bill Davis, Jr.
22. 7C Nate Caruth
23. 58 Denny Pittman
24. 6X Jason Schoenberger, Gorham, Kansas
25. 12X Brett Ladehoff
26. 12 Stacy Warren

SportMod - 34 cars

Heat 1 - 87 Joel Bushore
Heat 2 - 2G Geoff Olson
Heat 3 - 13 Brett Moffitt
Heat 4 - 9X Austin Lucas

B Main - top 4 transfer

1. 18M Matt Deml
2. 2Z Zach Rawlins
3. 34J Jerry Hinton
4. 12C Kent Croskey
5. 4J Josh O'Donnell
6. 21K Brian Kratzer, Seymour, Iowa
7. X4 Jason Purvis
8. 13D Dan Wetzel
9. 9E Eric Elliott
10. 7W Tim Wilcox
11. 9 Craig Elliott
12. 5B Tom Burke
DNS: 50 Carl Ellis
9T Tim Young

Feature

1. 13 Brett Moffitt
2. 9X Austin Lucas
3. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
4. 2G Geoff Olson
5. 81D Scott Davis
6. 41 Jeremy Embrey
7. 5M Matthew Meinecke
8. 20X Luke Wanninger
9. 3L Clint Luellen
10. 35 Bruce Egeland
11. 12C Kent Croskey
12. 2Z Zach Rawlins
13. 1K Kendall Sather
14. 22J Jeff Blume
15. 34J Jerry Hinton
16. 3R Randy Roberts
17. 18M Matt Deml
18. 11P Dalton Dingman
19. 59 Tara Longnecker
20. 66 Cody Hennings
21. 321 Andy Tiernan
22. 6 Whitney Huntley
23. 87 Joel Bushore
24. 27 Tim Love

Stock Car - 31 cars

Heat 1 - 3W Chris Webb
Heat 2 - 99D Damon Murty
Heat 3 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Heat 4 - 12+ Ryan Rose

B Main - top 4 transfer

1. 32T Tim Feltner
2. 04 Don Vis
3. 26K Butch Bass
4. 73C Carl Yaw, Jr.
5. 3H Ty Hill
6. 04C Roger Verdoorn
7. 6J Jamie Morey
DNS: 3S Bryan Snell
556 Tony Cornelison
22SX Lonnie Hodges
27D Brad Dutton

Feature

1. 12+ Ryan Rose
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 22X Josh Brauckman
4. 57V Mike VanGenderen
5. 26 Bill Reetz
6. 12 Bryan Trogdon
7. 3W Chris Webb
8. 50 Robert Stofer
9. 2J Steve Jackson
10. 9 Jerry Gifford
11. 25 Trent Murphy
12. 45 Larry Crocheck
13. R31 Ryan Leeman
14. 73C Carl Yaw, Jr.
15. 18 Jeff Harkrider
16. 24K Kevin Shaw
17. 32T Tim Feltner
18. 99D Damon Murty
19. 93 Michael Jaennette
20. 83 Mike Harris, Avoca, IA
21. 04 Don Vis
22. 22 Wayne Gifford
23. 26K Butch Bass
DNS: B1 Russ Byriel

Hobby Stock - 47 cars

Heat 1 - 78 Tim Hadley
Heat 2 - B00K Dylan Book
Heat 3 - 11 Beau Kaplan
Heat 4 - 20 Donnie Gustoff
Heat 5 - 83S Scott Lograsso
Heat 6 - 1A Adam Bonnett

Feature #1

1. m15 Pat Mather
2. 20T Richard Yaw II - carb claimed by 14 Matt Wahlert
3. 59 Joe Myer - claimed by 87Z Matt Drottz
4. 25M Michael Murphy
5. 87Z Matt Drottz
6. 23 Cody Gustoff
7. 40 Randy Embrey
8. 78 Tim Hadley
9. 5 Keith Miner
10. 12M Matt McDonald
11. 14 Matt Wahlert
12. 00 Kyle Dirks
13. 47W Shawn Wirtz
14. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
15. 9 Andrew Arends
16. 71 Paul Wheeler
17. 27R Clint Rothfus
18. t15 Jacob Thompson
19. 9R Matt Hudspeth
20. D1 Steve Anderson
21. 1A Adam Bonnett
22. 46J Jesse Hopkins
23. 13 Edward Polzin
DNS: 38R Aaron Rudolph

Feature #2

1. 83S Scott Lograsso
2. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck - claimed by 20 Donnie Gustoff
3. 83 Chris Hupp
4. 2L Leonard Loftus - claimed by B00K Dylan Book
5. 19A Alan VanGorp
6. 5A Tyler Pickett
7. 20 Donnie Gustoff
8. 11 Beau Kaplan
9. 20X Curt Ganoe
10. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
11. 11G Nyle Godwin
12. 18L Kenny Loftus
13. 78B Andrew Burg
14. B00K Dyan Book
15. 12R Steve Roberts
16. 11B Solomon Bennett
17. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
18. 8B Bobby Smith
19. 16B Jay Arends
20. 12 Kenneth Johnson
21. 10 Travis Fenton
22. T10 Tim Barber
DNS: 74J Dean Hartwig

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 01 David Schmalzried
Heat 2 - X50 Joel Huggins
Heat 3 - 57 Tim Hennigar

Feature

1. 8 Dusty Masolini
2. X50 Joel Huggins
3. 88 James May
4. 99 Josh May
5. 15 Andy Hennigar
6. 3C Duane Coffman
7. 95 Mike Kennedy
8. 6 Mike Morrill
9. 66F Eric Hendrickson
10. 01 David Schmalzried
11. 20 Jeff Stensland
12. 57 Tim Hennigar
13. 10 Ivan Guerra
14. 8T Todd Thorson
15. 89 Travis Stensland
16. 37 Mike Thomas
17. 4L Larry Sorenson
18. 76 Terry Sorenson
19. 00 Phillip Reeves
20. 0B Colby Oberembt
21. 9 Rick Taylor
22. 5X Matthew Goodin
23. 41Z Ed Zehm

Ladehoff repeats at Marshalltown and Kansas drivers test the waters

When it continued to rain and rain on Wednesday and Thursday..with inches and inches accumulating, the doubt was once again put in our minds about Marshalltown racing on Friday. Dreary and overcast skies greeted us on Friday morning, but by early afternoon, the sun was shining. Promoter Toby Kruse indicated that more than 5 inches of rain had fallen earlier in the week, but he was confident that Friday night would see racing at the Marshalltown Speedway.
The track was worked for hours and hours on Friday and then around 5:15 p.m., according to announcer Denny Grabenbauer, the water truck was called into action. Fans were treated to another great night of racing at the highbanks of Marshalltown and Mother Nature was defeated again.

Nostalgia cars were on hand and ran their feature first. It's always fun to see those "cars of yesteryear" on a track once again. Jim Clayton in the #66 Mercury Cyclone took the feature win over the #00 of John Schroyer. Third was the #5 driven by I believe, a Graybel.

For the fifth time this year, Joel Huggins visited Victory Lane in his #X50 Dwarf/Mod Lite car. He was chased early by Johnny Mordock and Josh May, however point leader Mike Morrill would come from 10th starting spot of the eleven cars starting, to take the runner-up position as the checkers flew. Mordock held on for third, Josh May was fourth, and his dad James May, rounded out the top five.

The Northern SportMods at the end of the night, would see a new point leader. Kevin Sather captured the win and took over that point lead when Scott Davis spun while in fifth position, recovered and still managed to finish tenth. Unofficially, it appears Sather now leads by four points over Davis making for a down-to-the-wire season championship feature next week.
Sather came through the field to grab the win as cousin Austin Kaplan chased him to the finish line. Jake Strayer had a good run and finished third, Brad Iverson was fourth, and the green-machine of Neil Follett was fifth.

The IMCA stock car feature went flag to flag as all eighteen cars started the A main event. It was two Smith brothers that put the show on for the lead with David Smith in the #8X leading for many of the laps with brother Dustin, point leader at the track, chasing him. Dustin was able to get under David on the backstretch with a few laps remaining, to take the number one spot as he went on to the win. With David Smith in second, third went to Jeff Wollam who had charged through the field with a great run. Fourth went to Dusty Vis and fifth to Damon Murty who had started eighth and ninth respectively. It was announced there was a claim after the feature with the #22K of Kevin Rose claiming Dustin Smith. We understood later, that it was only the shocks that were claimed, but this is unofficial.

The A main for the modifieds, saw the dust flying and with the wind from the north, us fans felt the true meaning of "dirt" track racing. Visitors for the night from Kansas, were David Murray (all time win leader in IMCA racing and who broke the record of the Keokuk, Iowa driver from the '50's and '60's, Ernie Derr) and Jason Schoenberger, the Super Nationals stock car champion from a couple of years back. Schoenberger would be piloting his own #6 modified, while Murray was not in his familiar #97M ride, but in the #23 of Matt Gilbertson from Minnesota. Last week's winner, Brett Ladehoff put his new Dirtworks ride up front early and raced his line consistently even though that visitor from Kansas, David Murray was coming fast. Murray would be able to position himself in second place...coming from starting twelfth, but Ladehoff skillfully maintained that lead on the slick track, to take back-to-back wins. Murray was runner-up, Jimmy Gustin wound through traffic to take third, fourth went to Adam Larson with a great run, and fifth was Jon Snyder who came from near the back of the starting field of nineteen. Ladehoff was excited in Victory Lane after his consecutive wins. David Murray congratulated him on a fine run, exclaiming how it's nice to see new young talent like Ladehoff in the modified ranks.

The night-ending feature was the IMCA hobby stock division. All night long, turn number two had grabbed cars right and left, sending them into spin after spin. This would continue in this main event as well. Todd Reitzler put his car up front early and though he had pressure from both Michael Murphy and Terry Shaffar, he was able to keep the lead and come home to the checkers first. Terry Shaffar was second at the finish line, third was Michael Murphy, fourth went to Devin Smith, anf fifth was "Pistol Pete" Hutzel. Going into next week's season championship night, unofficially it appears that Devin Smith holds a slim 3 point lead over Murphy, which will also make for another interesting season-ending feature event.

This coming Tuesday night, September 1, Marshalltown Speedway will be hosting the rescheduled Deery Brothers Late Model series with races starting at 7 p.m. Also on tap will be the Dirt Trucks, SportMods, and Dwarf/Mod Lites. Then on Friday night, September 4th, the season championship will be held. It was announced that there will be the traditional out-of-car introductions on the frontstretch and an added attraction at the end of the night will be an Australian pursuit contest in each class.

The season is winding down fast but there is still plenty of racing events to be seen, including the IMCA Super Nationals coming up Labor Day week at Boone. Make plans to attend a race before the season is gone. Happy racing!

Double features at Boone gives fans extra racing action

Saturday at Boone, feature action began early with make-up features in every class. Even with an earlier than usual start time by half an hour, it was a long night of racing with close to 180 cars checked in. It appeared drivers are starting to gear up for Supernationals and wanting to test the waters before "America's Racing Vacation" starts.

The first make-up feature to hit the track right at 7 p.m., was the first of two hobby stock A's. Travis Fenton got to the front early from starting in fifth, and from then on there was no denying him a win. Fenton took the win followed by Alan VanGorp, Daniel Hilsabeck, Dylan Book and Beau Kaplan.

Hobby make-up feature #2, was led early by the J4 of John Yaw, Sr. but moving up from starting back in 10th, Pat Mather got himself positioned in the runner-up spot. On a restart, Mather made the pass into first and following him was Cody Gustoff and Michael Murphy. Murphy would have problems and have to exit the track giving third to Rob Allison. When the checkers flew, it was Mather taking the win, Cody Gustoff in second, third to Rob Allison, Yaw would hang on for fourth, and rounding out the top five was Chris Hupp.

In the Dwarf/Mod Lite make-up feature, it was appearing that a hot driver of late, Joel Huggins was on his way to another feature win as he was leading through half-way. Creston driver Johnny Mordock had other ideas, as he made the pass for the lead and went home for the win.
Huggins settled for second, third went to Josh May, fourth to Jeff Stensland and fifth to Matthew Goodin.

Twenty-four SportMods were scheduled to take the green flag for their make-up feature from last week's rain out. However, only 19 cars made the call. We noted that several cars were missing in the make-up features as "travelers" from last week did not return. Outside front-row starter Cody Warrick took the point position early and from there on, he sailed home to a win.
Scott Davis was charging hard through the pack and managed to get into the runner-up spot. Former hobby stock driver, Randy Roberts garnered third, fourth went to pole-starter
Matt Deml from Owatonna, Minnesota, and fifth was veteran racer Rick Ringgenberg.

The IMCA modified class started 19 cars for the make-up feature. Denny Pittman was able to move to the pole starting spot as designated pole position Stacy Warren opted to drop to the back. Pittman, from Jamacia, Iowa, cashed in as he led flag to flag for his first win of the season.
Bill Davis, Jr. earned the runner-up spot and he was followed by Todd Shute in third. Fourth went to Mike Molle and fifth to Cale Sponsler.

The "Class too Tough to Tame", the IMCA stock cars completed the make-up features for the night. With 28 cars slated to take the starting flag, only 23 would start. One of those cars not returning, was the 59 car of Larry Portis from Nora Springs, Iowa. Larry was involved in a car accident the past week and suffered some rather serious injuries, ending his racing for the season. We wish long-time racer Larry Portis, a full and speedy recovery. Ryan Rose led from the pole as Bryan Snell chased him for several circuits. Newton driver, "The Flying Dutchman" Mike VanGenderen was putting pressure on the two front runners and was able to get by both Snell and leader Ryan Rose to take over the point with five laps to go. It was smooth sailing then for VanGenderen in his bright green and white machine, as he took the win. Trent Murphy made his way into the runner-up position from starting ninth, Rose held on for third, fourth went to Jerry Gifford and fifth went to Bryan Snell.

There was a quick farming session before the regular night of racing brought the first heat of hobby stocks to the surface. We noticed that there was an abundance of visiting drivers on hand; some in all classes, as they tested the waters for the upcoming Supernationals. Two B-mains were run--one in the SportMods and one in the stock cars. When the first regular night's feature pulled onto the track, it was after 11 p.m. with lots of action yet to be seen.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature saw a reversal in the final outcome from the make-up feature.
Joel Huggins got the win this time, with Johnny Mordock as runner-up. James May finished in third, Mike Kennedy was fourth and fifth was Ed Zehm who had started back in 10th. I believe this was Huggin's fourth win at Boone in 2009. He has been on a hot streak lately as he won the previous night in Marshalltown where he has earned multiple wins as well.

The Northern SportMods had a bit of trouble even getting their race started as the yellow flew more than once before even one lap was completed. Kent Croskey in the 12c car led early but Boone's Scott Davis was coming quickly to the front. Davis was able to get the lead and would then pull away from Croskey. Later Croskey would exit the contest putting Matthew Meinecke in second place and Northwood, Iowa driver Dan Tenold came from 12th to take over third. At the finish line, Scott Davis was the winner, second was Meinecke, third to Tenold, fourth to Joel Bushore and fifth to make-up feature winner, Cody Warrick.

In the second feature of the night for the IMCA modifieds, it was noted by announcer Bill Hagland, that there were ten previous winners running in the main event. If I recall correctly, those drivers were Denny Pittman (he won the first feature of the night), Skeeter Paris, John Logue, Kelly Lyons, Robert Avery, Todd Shute, Adam Larson, Cale Sponsler, Bill Davis, Jr., and Mike Molle. Would there be a new winner in this feature for the 2009 season? Tonight, it wasn't to be, as Skeeter Paris won for the second time this year. The 48J of Jacob Murray was right behind Paris for the final few laps. Paris would bobble slightly but would recover before Murray could take advantage, as he took the win. Murray was second, and third went to Jammin' Jimmy Gustin from Marshalltown, who had started back in ninth. John Logue proved again what a fantastic racer he is on his hometown track as he finished fourth with a spectacular performance from starting way back in 21st spot. Rounding out the top five was Madrid, Iowa driver, Craig Carlson who was among the top runners all race.

The IMCA stock car feature found cars running three and four wide providing for some exciting action for the fans. During the contest, tight racing was seen between the top running five cars as Wayne Gifford, Jerry Gifford, Mike VanGenderen, Trent Murphy and Josh Brauckman jockeyed for position. With a restart with twelve laps down, brothers Wayne and Jerry Gifford held down 1st and 2nd with Jerry having the advantage. At the checkered flag, Wayne would take the win over brother Jerry, third went to Trent Murpy, fourth to Bryan Trogdon who had started along side Murphy back in 11th starting position, and fifth was Josh Brauckman and sixth went to VanGenderen.

The first of two hobby stock features had 28 cars take the green flag. Chris Hupp led nearly the entire race and came home the winner. Todd Reitzler had a fine run to take second, third went to veteran Randy Embrey who had made his first appearance of the season last week, fourth to Michael Murphy and fifth to Daniel Hilsabeck.

The final feature of the night, the second hobby stock feature ended with Alan VanGorp back in victory lane. He got to the lead early and never looked back. Aaron Rudolph chased him across the finish line for second, third was make-up feature winner Pat Mather, fourth went to Beau Kaplan and fifth was Scott Lograsso.

Racing ended just shortly before 1 a.m. with lots of racing action having been seen over the course of the evening/early morning hours. As I posted the results (see below) in the wee hours of the morning and crawled into bed a bit after 4 a.m., I apologize for not getting this blog written sooner. It makes for a bit more thinking and trying to recall some happenings, but hope it's not too far off!

The 27th Annual IMCA/Speedway Motors Supernationals are fast approaching. We can say we have attended every running since 1988. We have seen many changes over the years as it has grown to the show or "happening" as we often call it, that it is now. I try to catch every race and can hardly bring myself to miss a minute of the action. Make plans to attend at least some of this must-see event that will be held September 7th-12th. Happy racing!!

Boone - 8/22/09

Unofficial results

Modified

Make up feature from 8/15/09

1. 58 Denny Pittman
2. 1 Bill Davis, Jr.
3. 5 Todd Shute
4. 33M Mike Molle
5. 83G Josh Gilman
6. 93 Cale Sponsler
7. 77C Craig Carlson
8. 2L Adam Larson
9. 18 Jake Durbin
10. 15X Scott Baker
11. 6 Darren Huntley
12. 15A Jim Hoyle
13. 28r Russ Dickerson
14. 02 Brian Law
15. 48J Jacob Murray
16. 19 Jimmy Gustin
17. 12 Stacy Warren
DNS: 27 Kelly Lyons
Did not return:
2K Chad Preul
26 Phil Levri
21 David Brown
DQ: 14R Rod Scheuremann
Did not obey black flag

8/22/09 - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 23 JJ Scott
Heat 2 - 19 Jimmy Gustin
Heat 3 - 48J Jacob Murray

Feature

1. 4P Skeeter Paris
2. 48J Jacob Murray
3. 19 Jimmy Gustin
4. 69 John Logue
5. 77C Craig Carlson
6. 58 Denny Pittman
7. 83G Josh Gilman
8. 23 JJ Scott
9. 19J Jay Schmidt
10. 69X Jon Snyder
11. 27 Kelly Lyons
12. 3Z Randy Havlik
13. 12X Brett Ladehoff
14. 5 Todd Shute
15. 93 Cale Sponsler
16. 1 Bill Davis, Jr.
17. 15X Scott Baker
18. 24 Robert Avery
19. 33M Mike Molle
20. 6 Darren Huntley
21. 2L Adam Larson
22. 15A Jim Hoyle
23. 28R Russ Dickerson
24. 45 Levi Nielsen, Mason City, IA
25. 18 Jake Durbin
26. 02 Brian Law
DNS: 610 Joe College
12 Stacy Warren
68 JJ Wise

Sport Mod - Make up feature from 8/15/09

1. 1C Cody Warrick
2. 81D Scott Davis
3. 3R Randy Roberts
4. 18M Matt Deml, Owatonna, MN
5. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
6. 12C Kent Croskey
7. 9 Craig Elliott
8. 18D Scott Demmer, New Richland, MN
9. 41 Jeremy Embrey
10. 6 Whitney Huntley
11. 27 Tim Love
12. 66 Cody Hennings
13. 7W Tim Wilcox, Ida Grove, IA
14. 22J Jeff Blume
15. 57 Lynn Brockett
16. 24 Brian Miller
17. 87 Joel Bushore
18. 5M Matthew Meinecke
19. 27M Mike Munson
DNS: 9X Austin Lucas
9E Eric Elliott
21L Matt Lettow
35 Bruce Egeland
7X Kris Law

8/22/09 - 35 cars

Heat 1 - 86T Dan Tenold, Northwood, IA
Heat 2 - 81D Scott Davis
Heat 3 - 12C Kent Croskey
Heat 4 - 321 Andy Tiernan

B Feature - 4 advance

1. 41 Jeremy Embrey
2. 13 Brett Moffitt
3. 7W Tim Wilcox
4. 35 Bruce Egeland
5. X4 Jason Purvis
6. 11D Daron Slemp, Des Moines, IA
7. 5K Kevin Gyles, St. Charles, IA
8. 59 Tara Longnecker
9. 34J Jerry Hinton
10. 7 Dale VanderWal, Maxwell, IA
11. 13D Dan Wetzel
12. 50 Carl Ellis
DNS: 27 Tim Love
24 Brian Miller
9E Eric Elliott

Feature

1. 81D Scott Davis
2. 5M Matthew Meinecke
3. 86T Dan Tenold
4. 87 Joel Bushore
5. 1C Cody Warrick
6. 66 Cody Hennings
7. 321 Andy Tiernan
8. 7W Tim Wilcox
9. 9 Craig Elliott
10. 41 Jeremy Embrey
11. 6 Whitney Huntley
12. 3R Randy Roberts
13. 18D Scott Demmer
14. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
15. 35 Bruce Egeland
16. 18M Matt Deml
17. 2G Geoff Olson
18. 12C Kent Croskey
19. 22J Jeff Blume
20. 13 Brett Moffitt
21. 84M Brandon Morris, Ely, IA
22. 27M Mike Munson
23. 5B Tom Burke
24. 57 Lynn Brockett

8/15/09 Make up feature

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 25 Trent Murphy
3. 12+ Ryan Rose
4. 9 Jerry Gifford
5. 3S Bryan Snell
6. 26 Bill Reetz
7. 20S Jeff Segebart
8. 04 Don Vis
9. 3W Chris Webb
10. 01U Chris Ullrich
11. 12 Bryan Trogdon
12. 22X Josh Brauckman
13. 6J Jamie Morey
14. R31 Ryan Leeman
15. 3H Ty Hill
16. 17AJ Joe Leuthje
17. 24K Kevin Shaw
18. 50 Robert Stofer
19. 22 Wayne Gifford
20. 35 Donavon Smith
21. 18 Jeff Harkrider
22. 45 Larry Crocheck
23. 27 Gary Bass
DNS: 29L Paul Lawson, Donnellson, IA
4 Mike Wiemann, Webster City, IA
99 Erick Knutsen, Center Pointe, IA
73C Carl Yaw, Jr.
59 Larry Portis

8/22/09 - 33 cars

Heat 1 - 22 Wayne Gifford
Heat 2 - 12 Bryan Trogdon
Heat 3 - 3S Bryan Snell
Heat 4 - 57V Mike VanGenderen

B Main - 4 advance

1. 26 Bill Reetz
2. 45 Larry Croceck
3. 24K Kevin Shaw
4. 14J Michael Johnston
5. 556 Terry Cornelison
6. 27 Gary Bass
7. 69X Shane Nielsen, Panora, IA
DNS: 23A Jeremy Gettler, Adair, IA
55 Cory Bushnell
12+ Ryan Rose
1F Marcus Fagan, Adair, IA
35 Donavon Smith
04 Don Vis

Feature

1. 22 Wayne Gifford
2. 9 Jerry Gifford
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 12 Bryan Trogdon
5. 22X Josh Brauckman
6. 57V Mike VanGenderen
7. 17S Rob Schneider
8. 21 Larry Silbaugh
9. R31 Ryan Leeman
10. 99D Damon Murty (in the 19J car of Jay Schmidt)
11. 3W Chris Webb
12. 20S Jeff Segebart, Westside, IA
13. 26 Bill Reetz
14. 45 Larry Crocheck
15. 6J Jamie Morey
16. 24K Kevin Shaw
17. 18 Jeff Harkrider
18. 3S Bryan Snell
19. 3H Ty Hill
20. 14J Michael Johnston
21. 17AJ Joe Luethje
22. 50 Robert Stofer
23. 22SX Lonnie Hodges
DNS: 01U Chris Ullrich

Hobby Stock Make up features - 8/15/09

Feature #1

1. 10 Travis Fenton
2. 19A Alan VanGorp
3. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck
4. B00K Dylan Book
5. 11 Beau Kaplan
6. 38R Aaron Rudolph
7. 12M Matt McDonald
8. 20 Donnie Gustoff
9. 83 Chris Hupp
10. 9R Matt Hudspeth
11. 00 Kyle Dirks
12. 14 Matt Wahlert
13. 74J Dean Hartwig
14. 87Z Matt Drottz
15. 1A Adam Bonnett
16. 9 Andrew Arends
17. 27 Clint Nelson
18. 46J Jesse Hopkins
19. 911 Darin Rothfus
20. 11B Solomon Bennett
21. 7V Vern Luncsford
22. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
23. 5A Tyler Pickett
DNS: 38 Clint Luellen
25 Mike Nilles, Eddyville, IA

Make up feature #2

1. m15 Pat Mather
2. 23 Cody Gustoff
3. 12A Rob Allison
4. J4 John Yaw, Sr.
5. 83S Scott Lograsso
6. 40 Randy Embrey
7. 8B Bobby Smith
8. 78B Andrew Burg
9. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
10. 59 Joe Myers
11. 27R Clint Rothfus
12. 51 Matthew Webb
13. T15 Jacob Thompson
14. 16B Jay Arends
15. 78 Tim Hadley
16. 13 Edward Polzin, Waukee, IA
17. 25M Michael Murphy
18. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
19. T10 Tim Barber
20. 12 Kenneth Johnson
21. 5 Keith Miner
22. 20T Richard Yaw II
23. 47W Shawn Wirtz
DNS: 12R Steve Roberts

8/22/09 - 56 cars

Heat 1 - 12M Matt McDonald
Heat 2 - 23 Cody Gustoff
Heat 3 - 38R Aaron Rudolph
Heat 4 - 83 Chris Hupp
Heat 5 - m15 Pat Mather
Heat 6 - 22D Daniel Hilsabeck

Feature #1

1. 83 Chris Hupp
2. 22R Todd Reitzler
3. 40 Randy Embrey
4. 25M Michael Murphy
5. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck
6. 59 Joe Myers
7. 23 Cody Gustoff
8. 11G Niles Godwin
9. 78B Andrew Burg
10. 22 Chris Jensen (in 10 car of Travis Fenton)
11. 47W Shawn Wirtz
12. 78 Tim Hadley
13. 1A Adam Bonnett
14. 07 Jacob Keiser, Marengo,IA
15. 16B Jay Arends
16. 5A Tyler Pickett
17. 00 Kyle Dirks
18. 9 Andrew Arends
19. 13 Edward Polzin
20. 7V Vern Luncsford
21. T10 Tim Barber
22. 14 Matt Wahlert
23. 5 Keith Miner
24. 49 Jim Johnson, Cherokee, IA
25. 20 Donnie Gustoff
26. B00K Dylan Book
27. J4 John Yaw, Sr.
28. 911 Darin Rothfus

Feature #2

1. 19A Alan VanGorp
2. 38R Aaron Rudolph
3. m15 Pat Mather - claimed by 11B Solomon Bennett
4. 11 Beau Kaplan
5. 83S Scott Lograsso
6. 12M Matt McDonald
7. 74J Dean Hartwig
8. 2L Leonard Loftus
9. T15 Jacob Thompson
10. 47 Scott Pippert, Elberon, IA
11. 12A Rob Allison
12. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
13. 4W John Watson
14. 20T Richard Yaw II
15. 4M Dave McDonald
16. 27R Clint Rothfus
17. 87Z Matt Drottz
18. 51 Matthew Webb
19. 9R Matt Hudspeth
20. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
21. 11B Solomon Bennett
22. 46J Jesse Hopkins
23. 12 Kenneth Johnson
24. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
25. 59G Joey Gyles,, St. Charles, IA
26. 8B Bobby Smith
27. Clint Nelson
DNS: 22J Jeff Hilsabeck

Dwarf/Mod Lite Make up feature 8/15/09

1. 17 Johnny Mordock
2. X50 Joel Huggins
3. 99 Josh May
4. 20 Jeff Stensland
5. 5X Matthew Goodin
6. 15 Andy Hennigar
7. 64 Randy Bryan
8. 01 David Schmalzried
9. 3C Duane Coffman
10. 37 Mike Thomas
11. 88 James May
12. 8T Todd Thorson
13. 11R Jason Whitehead
14. 89 Travis Stensland
15. 76 Terry Sorenson
16. 4L Larry Sorenson
17. 41Z Ed Zehm
18. 95 Mike Kennedy
DNS: 8 Dusty Masolini

8/22/09 - 24 cars

Heat 1 - X50 Joel Huggins
Heat 2 - 15 Andy Hennigar
Heat 3 - Josh May

Feature

1. X50 Joel Huggins
2. 17 Johnny Mordock
3. 88 James May
4. 95 Mike Kennedy
5. 41Z Ed Zehm
6. 15 Andy Hennigar
7. 5 Troy Hudson
8. 01 David Schmalzried
9. 99 Josh May
10. 66F Eric Hendrickson
11. 3C Duane Coffman
12. 37 Mike Thomas
13. 8 Dusty Masolini
14. 11R Jason Whitehead
15. 20 Jeff Stensland
16. 8T Todd Thorson
17. 89 Travis Stensland
18. 76 Terry Sorenson
19. 4L Larry Sorenson
20. 98 Brad Talbert
21. 5X Matthew Goodin
DNS: 10 Ivan Guerra
64 Randy Bryan
00 Phillip Reeves, Des Moines, IA

Ladehoff snares modified payday at Marshalltown

It was Friday and the weather was putting a question into many people's minds again if the show at Marshalltown Speedway was going to be able to run. With showers and overcast skies lasting in our area well past noon, we were also having our doubts. Thankfully, it cleared earlier at Marshalltown and with the sun shining and the winds brisk, the track dried beautifully. It also produced two-three wide racing all night long. Fun for the drivers and for the fans. The evening felt more like a crisp fall night, but the racing was hot. The program brought a first time ever winner, a first for the year winner, and several repeat winners.

A nostalgia class saw eight "cars of yesteryear" put on a contest that brought back memories of years gone by. The winner of that race was Wade Russell who had first raced at the Marshalltown track back in 1986 in a late model class. His ride for the night was a 1940 Ford with a Chevy heartbeat.

The Dwarf/Mod Lites ran their feature next with winner Joel Huggins leading nearly the whole race. Huggins captured his 4th feature win of the season as he outpaced a rapidly approaching Tim Hennigar who had started dead last. Hennigar finished in the runner-up position ahead of Randy Bryan in third, Josh May in fourth and Johnny Mordock in fifth.

The IMCA Northern SportMods was won by Kevin Sather for the 9th time this season. Sather made his way to the front from well back in the field to score another win. Kyle Brown in the #21 led with five laps to go but Sather would make the pass a lap or two later after restarts, to seal the win. Brown had to settle for the runner-up spot, Scott Davis followed Sather through the pack to take third position, fourth was Brad Iverson and fifth went to Jake Strayer.

Twenty-three IMCA stock cars were on hand and all started their feature race. Rob Schneider put his 17s machine to the point early on and he would lead the rest of the way, scoring his first ever career win. Jeff Wollam made his way through the field to take the runner-up spot at the checkers. Dusty Vis scored third, fourth went to visiting driver Aaron Haggerty (who had spun earlier and had to tag the tail) and fifth and sixth went to Dustin Smith and Damon Murty, though I am not certain how they were scored. Murty was piloting Jay Schmidt's stock car for the night. Schneider said in victory circle that he had just tried to maintain his chosen high line though he knew cars were running close in lower lines. It paid off and he now has that first elusive win under his belt. Congratulations to Rob Schneider on his first win.

The modifieds were running for a $500 payoff plus a huge trophy on Custom Concrete night at the track. Brett Ladehoff and Kyle Krampe sat on the front row for the start with Ladehoff quickly getting the lead. Jay Schmidt had Ladehoff in his sights but the lead would stretch for the 12X even after restarts. Meanwhile, point leader Jimmy Gustin was battling for position with Schmidt and Adam Larson and was successful in taking over second. When the double checkers flew, Ladehoff snagged his first feature win of the year and Gustin settled for second. Third went to Adam Larson, fourth to Jay Schmidt and fifth to Ronn Lauritzen. Ladehoff was a happy camper in Victory Lane and was pleased with the performance of his newly acquired DirtWorks chassis ride.

The IMCA hobby stock feature saw the 27 of Clint Nelson lead the race from his pole starting position until lap nine when Michael Murphy made his way into the lead. Nelson would fall back a couple of positions as hard chargers, Todd Reitzler and Terry Shaffar battled past him. Taking the win for the second time this season was Michael Murphy, Terry Shaffar was second followed by Todd Reitzler in third, Clint Nelson held on for a fourth place finish, and fifth went to Jennifer Hulin.

A King of the Hill contest for the Dwarf/Mod-Lites capped the evening. Johnny Mordock outlasted Joel Huggins, Mike Morrill bested Josh May and Dusty Masolini beat Eric Hendrickson. In round two Mordock went up against Morrill and Morrill took the checkers. The championship round pitted Morrill against Masolini and Morrill would "take the crown" as the king of the event.

Next week see another regular season event at the speedway which will include another round of cars from the past with nostalgia racers bringing their '50-'60's cars to the track. Make plans to attend another exciting night at the Marshalltown Speedway. Happy racing.

Iowa State Fair--Good Times and Good Racing

Our tradition continued this past Tuesday evening, when we attending yet another race event at the Iowa State Fair. There was a nice crowd filling the huge grandstands and the pits were filled with over 160 cars. It's always a pretty sight to see the cars on the track, with the colorful midway lights shining off of turn one...something that hasn't changed for us in years and years.
A brief recap of the night follows, but be sure and catch Ryan Clark's "In Staging" and Kevin's "Tapfan's Tours" on Positively Racing for a more in dept take of the races.

First feature to hit the track was the two hobby stock features. The first half of the race was led by the #19 car driven by Steve Jones, and he was chased by Daniel Hilsabeck. With one lap to go, a hard charging #99JR of Nick Murty managed to get around Jones as did Hilsabeck...an exciting finish at the line! When the first checkered flag flew, it was Nick Murty taking the win, Hilsabeck in second, Jones fell to third, fourth went to Matt Drottz with a good run, and fifth was Kenny Loftus.

The second hobby stock feature was won by Kris Walker who I believe has been a winner at the State Fair race before. Kenny Hansen was runner-up, Rob Allison was third, fourth went to Beau Kaplan and rounding out the top five was Alan VanGorp. I scored the 2N of Donavan Nunnikhoven in second, but have heard that he was later dq'd for an infraction of the rules.

Kevin Sather won and made it look easy as he cruised to the IMCA SportMod checkers. Crossing in second was Jesse Sobbing, third was Dalton Dingman, fourth to Rick Gladson and fifth was Bryon Weyer. Earlier, in a scary incident, Kevin Fee was on the worst end of a racing incident involving lap-traffic. He flipped several times on the front stretch before coming to a stop in front of the stage. Thankfully, he was fine, but the car appeared to sustain a great deal of damage.

The IMCA stock cars brought an exciting and intense race to the fans. Front row sitters, Josh Daniels and Steve Jackson drew the lucky pills for their starting spots. Jackson took the lead early but he certainly had company as behind him Donnie Bown, Donavon Smith, brother Dustin Smith, and Damon Murty were putting up the good fight. Donavon Smith seemed to prefer the low-line of the track as Jackson kept his machine higher. That low line paid off as the cars came to the final circuit out of turn four, and Smith was able to get by Jackson for the win. This race saw many battles behind the leaders as they swapped positions many times. Behind the top two finishers, third place would go to Donnie Bown, fourth to Dustin Smith and Justin Temeyer who traveled from the eastern part of Iowa, was fifth.

Bryan Nevins led the Dirt Truck feature until Ed Nelson was able to make the pass on the backstretch. Brett Moyer made the pass on Nelson only to be relegated to second after a caution came out. After the restart, it took little time until Moyer did take over the first position which he held until the finish. Ed Nelson held on for second, third went to Bob Murray, fourth to Brad Moyer in the #21, and Bryan Nevins finished in fifth.

The IMCA Deery Brothers 35-lap feature race was a fitting finish to the evening. Todd Cooney redrew lucky #1 and with his experience on the famed Iowa State Fair Speedway, many were thinking it might be a walk-away win for him. Other drivers, had other ideas. Ray Guss, Jr. driving the #58 of Herschel Roberts, raced into the lead and was putting some distance between himself and second place Cooney. Point leader, Jeff Aikey quickly made his presence known as he advanced from starting around the seventh starting spot and soon found himself in second.
Aikey showed why he is the Deery Brothers point leader as he took that number one spot and came home the winner again. Ray Guss, Jr. took the runner-up spot, third went to Jay Johnson, fourth to Tommy Elston and fifth was Jason Frankel.

With Mother Nature not cooperating very well for racing on this day, we will turn our hopes for better racing weather come the weekend. Marshalltown Speedway has had to scrap their Deery Brothers IMCA late model race for tonight due to the rain and it will be made up on September 1. The Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa has also called off their regular night of racing tonight due to wet grounds. Let's all hope for some drier weather. Happy racing!

Some unofficial results are listed below.

Iowa State Fair race 8/18/09

Here's some unofficial results from the State Fair race. Announced 160 cars in the pits.

Hobby Stock -

Heat 1 - 20 Jeremy Auten
Heat 2 - 10R Brandon Ratcliff
Heat 3 - 17 Kenny Hansen
Heat 4 - 11 Beau Kaplan

Hobby Stock Feature #1

1. 99JR Nick Murty
2. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck
3. 19 Steve Jones
4. 87Z Matt Drottz
5. 18L Kenny Loftus

Hobby Stock Feature #2

1. 18 Kris Walker
2. 17 Kenny Hansen
3. 12A Rob Allison
4. 11 Beau Kaplan
5. 19A Alan VanGorp
6. 10S Ray Stock, Jr.

SportMod

Heat 1 - 99 Jesse Sobbing
Heat 2 - 41 Jeremy Embrey
Heat 3 - 3 Kevin Sather

Feature

1. 3 Kevin Sather
2. 99 Jesse Sobbing
3. 11D Dalton Dingman
4. 20 Rick Gladson
5. 27 Bryon Weyer
6. 13 Brett Moffitt
7. 41 Jeremy Embrey
8. 57 Tyler Gross
9. 56 Kyle Webb
10. 64N Paul Nagle

Stock Car

Heat 1 - 85 Dustin Smith
Heat 2 - Steve Jackson
Heat 3 - 23HR Rod Richards

B Feature - 6 advanced

1. 4 Danny Hill
2. 2 Dave Atcher
3. T2 Todd Holsteen
4. 24B Randy Bieterman
5. 42B Jon Byriel
6. 3W Jeff Wollam

Feature

1. 35 Donavon Smith
2. 2J Steve Jackson
3. 6 Donnie Bown
4. 85 Dustin Smith
5. 56T Justin Temeyer
6. 99D Damon Murty
7. 63 Mike Nichols
8. 57V Mike VanGenderen

Trucks

Heat 1 - 1 Bryan Nevins
Heat 2 - 03 Ed Nelson

Feature

1. 98 Brett Moyer
2. 03 Ed Nelson
3. 47X Bob Murray
4. 21 Brad Moyer
5. 1 Bryan Nevins
6. 3M Brett Moffitt
7. 3 Carl Moyer

Deery Brother Late Models

Heat 1 - 58 Ray Guss, Jr.
Heat 2 - 28C Terry Neal
Heat 3 - Todd Cooney
Heat 4 - 15 Tommy Elston
Heat 5 - 77 Jeff Aikey

B#1 - 3 transferred

1. 92 Josh Most
2. 42R Fred Remley
3. 15K Justin Kay

B#2 - 3 transferred

1. 99D Darrel DeFrance
2. X10 Ryan Griffith
3. 95 Craig Jacobs

Feature

1. 77 Jeff Aikey
2. 58 Ray Guss, Jr.
3. 93 Jay Johnson
4. 15 Tommy Elston
5. OH Jason Frankel
6. 39 Rob Toland
7. 76 Jason Hahne
8. 95 Craig Jacobs
9. 42R Fred Remley
10. 38 Colby Springsteen
11. 29 Brett Diercks
12. 30 Todd Cooney

Boone - 8/15/08 heats and B results only

Unofficial heat/B results. Rained out after these were completed. Double features next week. Hot laps next week will be 6:15 and races at 7 p.m.

Modified - 22 cars

Heat 1

1. 33M Mike Molle
2. 93 Cale Sponsler
3. 15A Jim Hoyle
4. 12 Stacy Warren
5. 18 Jake Durbin
6. 2K Chad Preul, Deloit, IA
DNS: 02 Brian Law

Heat 2

1. 58 Denny Pittman
2, 19 Jimmy Gustin
3. 1 Bill Davis, Jr.
4. 5 Todd Shute
5 14R Rod Scheuermann
6. 26 Phil Levri

Heat 3

1. 48J Jacob Murray
2. 27 Kelly Lyons
3. 83G Josh Gilman
4. 2L Adam Larson
5. 77C Craig Carlson
6. 15X Scott Baker - new wrap
7. 21 David Brown - new Harris

SportMod - 35 cars

Heat 1

1. 3R Randy Roberts
2. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
3. 87 Joel Bushore
4. 7W Tim Wilcox, Ida Grove, IA
5. 66 Cody Hennings
6. 26X Jason Purvis (in car formerly driven by Jason Carney)
7. 321 Andy Tiernan
8. 34J Jerry Hinton
9. 5B Tom Burke

Heat 2

1. 1C Cody Warrick
2. 5M Matthew Meinecke
3. 9X Austin Lucas
4. 18D Scott Demmer, New Richland, MN
5. 9 Craig Elliott
6. 21L Matt Lettow
7. 35 Bruce Egeland, Marshall, MN
DNS: 72J Clint Potter, Crooks, SD

Heat 3

1. 81D Scott Davis
2. 18M Matt Deml, Owatonna, MN
3. 27 Tim Love
4. 22J Jeff Blume
5. 12C Kent Croskey
6. 2G Geoff Olson
7. 7X Kris Law (in car formerly driven by Joey Edler)
8. 97J Jacob Smith, Argyle, IA
9. 3L Clint Luellen

Heat 4

1. 41 Jeremy Embrey
2. 24 Brian Miller
3. 27M Mike Munson
4. 6 Whitney Huntley
5. 57 Lynn Brockett
6. 9E Eric Elliott
7. 50 Carl Ellis
8 86T Dan Tenold, Northwood, IA

B Main - 4 transferred - yellow checkered as rain fell with a lap or two to go.

1. 9E Eric Elliott
2. 21L Matt Lettow
3. 35 Bruce Egeland
4. 7X Kris Law
5. 321 Andy Tiernan
6. 64 Brandon Leeman
7. 5B Tom Burke
8. 97J Jacob Smith
9. 34J Jerry Hinton
10. 3L Clint Luellen
11. 2G Geoff Olson
12. 26X Jason Purvis
13. 50 Carl Ellis
DNS: 86T Dan Tenold
72J Clint Potter

Stock Car - 28 cars

Heat 1

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 29L Paul Lawson, Donnellson, IA from the tail
3. 3H Ty Hill
4. 25 Trent Murphy
5. 4 Mike Wiemann, Webster City, IA
6. 18 Jeff Harkrider
7. 04 Don Vis
8. 12 Bryan Trogdon
9. 24K Kevin Shaw
10. 6J Jamie Morey

Heat 2

1. 3S Bryan Snell
2. 3W Chris Webb
3. R31 Ryan Leeman
4. 20S Jeff Segebart, Westside, IA
5. 99 Erick Knutsen
6. 73C Carl Yaw, Jr.
7. 22 Wayne Gifford
8. 59 Larry Portis
9. 22X Josh Brauckman

Heat 3

1. 35 Donavon Smith
2. 12+ Ryan Rose
3. 50 Robert Stofer
4. 26 Bill Reetz
5. 01U Chris Ullrich
6. 45 Larry Crocheck
7. 27 Gary Bass
8. 17AJ Joe Luethje
9. 9 Jerry Gifford

Hobby Stock - 49 cars

Heat 1 -

1. 8B Bobby Smith
2. 14 Matt Wahlert
3. 23 Cody Gustoff
4. 12R Steve Roberts
5. 12A Rob Allison
6. 87Z Matt Drottz
7. 9R Matt Hudspeth
8. 00 Kyle Dirks
9. 20 Donnie Gustoff - first night out
10. 38 Austin Luellen
11. 74J Dean Hartwig
12.9 Andrew Arends
13. 25 Mike Nilles, Eddyville, IA

Heat 2

1. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
2. 59 Joe Myers
3. 83 Chris Hupp
4. m15 Pat Mather
5. J4 John Yaw, Sr.
6. 78 Tim Hadley
7. 47W Shawn Wirtz
8. 27R Clint Rothfus
9. 16B Jay Arends
10. T15 Jacob Thompson
11. 13 Ed Polzin, Waukee, IA
DNS: 83S Scott Lograsso

Heat 3

1. 5A Tyler Pickett
2. B00K Dylan Book
3. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
4. 19A Alan VanGorp
5. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
6. 20T Richard Yaw II
7. 911 Darin Rothfus
8. 38R Aaron Rudolph
9. 11B Solomon Bennett
10. 7V Vern Luncsford, Des Moines
11. 1A Adam Bonnett
DNS: 11 Beau Kaplan

Heat 4

1. 12M Matt McDonald
2. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck
3. 46J Jesse Hopkins
4. 10 Travis Fenton
5. 5 Keith Miner
6. 27 Clint Nelson
7. 78B Andrew Burg
8. 25M Michael Murphy
9. 40 Randy Embrey - first time out
10. 51 Matthew Webb, Des Moines
11. 12 Kenneth Johnson
12. T10 Tim Barber

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 19 cars

Heat 1

1. 99 Josh May
2. 01 David Schmalzried
3. 3C Duane Coffman
4. 20 Jeff Stensland
5. 41Z Ed Zehm
6. 5X Matthew Goodin
7. 37 Mike Thomas
8. 11R Jason Whitehead
9. 8T Todd Thorson
10. 4L Larry Sorenson

Heat 2

1. 15 Andy Hennigar
2. 17 Johnny Mordock
3. 95 Mike Kennedy
4. 8 Dusty Masolini
5. X50 Joel Huggins
6. 88 James May
7. 64 Randy Bryan
8. 89 Travis Stensland
9. 76 Terry Sorenson

"Mopar" and Simatovich repeat at Marshalltown

It was a night that saw repeat winners in all divisions and a little added entertainment with the "cardboard cruisers" as the youngsters and even promoter Toby Kruse, foot raced down the track. This is always a fun time for participants and spectators alike.

Mike Morrill found himself back in Victory Lane in the Dwarf/Mod Lite feature. After a spectacular start to his season and going undefeated on his first seven outings at Marshalltown, it had now been several weeks until he finally visited the winner's circle again. He would make quick work of getting into the lead from starting around the eighth spot. Randy Bryan held the second position until being overtaken by Andy Hennigar. Hennigar made his way through the pack from starting deep in the field. At the finish line, it was Morrill taking the victory, Hennigar was runner-up, third went to James May who had remained consistently in the top runners throughout the race, fourth was Mike Kennedy, and fifth went to Matthew Goodin. As has been his tradition when he wins, Morrill gave his trophy to another lucky youngster. Those kids had started anticipating his victory well before the final flag flew as they waited near the fence.

Adam Shelman would lead early in the Northern SportMod A-Main until an unfortunate spin in turn four, found him then having to play catch up through out the remainder of the race. Inheriting the lead, was Grinnell's Brad Iverson. Incidents on the track caused multiple yellows to fly; one of which found Kevin Sather and Ryan Ashton hooked together in turn two. It appeared Sather was slowing dramatically on the track, and Ashton, right behind him, had no where to go. This would end the night for Sather. The 18J of Jake Strayer was making his way quickly through the field as was Scott Davis who chased him to the checkers. At the finish, it was Iverson taking his second win of the year at the track, Strayer was second, Davis was third, fourth went to Zack Rawlins and with a good run to take fifth, was Neil Follett.

The IMCA stock cars were up next on the program. Michael Johnston and veteran Tommy Thompson sat on the front row. Johnston would relinquish his early lead to Steve Meyer and then Michael Jaennette threw his hat into the ring. He passed Johnston as well, to take over the runner-up position. When a yellow flag flew, it was the familiar #85 of Dustin Smith, who was up to do battle with Meyer and Jaennette after the restart. After just a circuit or two, Smith took that point position and would go home to his ninth victory of the year at the Marshalltown Speedway. Chasing him across the line was Michael Jaennette, third went to Jeff Wollam who had moved up nicely from starting around the ninth position, fourth went to Tracy Gienger, and Michael Johnston held on for fifth spot.

The IMCA modifieds were racing for a $500 payday to the winner. Last week's winner, Scott Simatovich, started third, but took the lead early and would stretch that lead impressively through much of the race. Battling behind him were Jay Schmidt, Scott Hogan and Adam Larson. At the finish, it would be Simatovich taking his second win in as many weeks, as he put his "Mighty Mopar" back in victory lane. Jay Schmidt finished second with a good run on J & V Napa Night at the Speedway, Adam Larson was third as he got past Scott Hogan who finished fourth. Rounding out the top five was Mike O'Lear who had come from well back in the pack.

The hobby stocks saw a good run by front row sitter "Pistol" Pete Hutzel as he lead nearly the entire race. Nearly all however, was not good enough, as Devin Smith managed to lead about the last 30 yards to take the win. Hutzel had to settle for second, Terry Shaffar had a good run to come home in third, fourth went to Michael Murphy and fifth went to Jennifer Hulin.

So ended another of "What Friday Nights are Made For" at the Marshalltown Speedway. Next Friday will have the classic racecars of yesteryear on hand for Nostalgia Night. Before that however, the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA late models will be rolling into town on Wednesday, August 19th. It was announced that hot laps will be scheduled for 6:15 and races to start at 7 p.m. The Deery Brothers will be appearing the previous night, August 18th, at the Iowa State Fair. Make plans to attend one or all of these races...we are. Happy racing!

Lyons wins mod and Roberts repeats in sportmod at Boone

The temperatures were hovering around 90 degrees as we arrived at the Boone Speedway on Saturday night. There proved to be hot racing action on the track too. It brought a repeat winner in the SportMod class, and a first time winner in the hobby stock division and the kids would enjoy a candy toss.

The Dwarf/Mod Lites were first on the program for their feature event. Seeing the bright yellow X50 of Joel Huggins sitting on the front row, we anticipated that he would be keeping it out front, and that is just what he did. He took the lead at the onset of the race and maintained that spot the entire race to add another victory to his list. Eric Hendrickson, who ran second for most of the race, claimed the runner-up position. Mike Kennedy came from starting 10th to claim third, Duane Coffman was fourth, and visiting driver, Jason Masengarb from Calona, Illinois, was fifth. Huggins had won the previous night at Marshalltown Speedway and has been having a great run as of late.

Thirty-five Northern SportMods signed in and they had to whittle the starting feature field to twenty-four by running a B-Main. There were several new drivers on hand..mostly from the Sioux City area. One of those drivers, the 9N of Kyle Nordquist of Beresford, South Dakota claimed the consy win. Randy Roberts, last week's winner, got his machine to the number one spot around mid-point of the race, from starting sixth. Joel Bushore, who had started in the row right behind Roberts, followed him into second position. Though Bushore tried to close the gap and catch Roberts, he was not successful as Roberts went home to the win for the second week in a row, and Bushore had to settle for the runner-up spot. Two fifth row starters, Matthew Meinecke and Jeremy Embrey finished third and fourth respectfully. Point leader Scott Davis, finished in fifth. It was a quickly run race, as it was run flag to flag.

Like the SportMods, the IMCA modifieds would also run their feature caution free. Kelly Lyons put his flashy green and white car to the front immediately as Skeeter Paris and Rod Scheueremann were tagging right behind him. Scheueremann made the pass on Paris to take over second spot and he would begin the task of closing the gap on Lyons. "Toddzilla" Todd Shute was making his way to the front as well as he fought with Jake "The Snake" Durbin, as they attempted to catch the leaders. Scheueremann would get inside Lyons and make a great try at getting the lead, but Lyons got a great run off of turn two each time. As they crossed the finish line, Lyons got his first win of the year, with Scheuermann settling for runner-up. Third went to Skeeter Paris as he held off Todd Shute in fourth and Jake Durbin in fifth.

Next up, was the IMCA Stock Cars. Josh Brauckman and Larry Crocheck sat on the front row and they took the one-two spots at the the flag with Brauckman leading. Sixth starter, Larry Portis, from Nora Springs, Iowa quickly got to third and then passed Crocheck for second. Point leader, Trent Murphy threw his hat into the ring, as he caught the leaders and made the pass into second. Cautions would fly, shuffling cars on the restarts. Murphy took advantage of one of those restarts, to get around Brauckmann and into the lead. Trent Murphy went on to take the checkers again, Brauckmann held on to second, Larry Crocheck was third, fourth went to Bill Reetz and rounding out the top five, was Wayne Gifford.

A first time winner in the first of two hobby stock features was Kris Law. Law kept his 7X car to the point and led the entire race. Cody Gustoff was second, third went to Alan VanGorp who had started back in 10th spot, fourth to Scott Lograsso, and fifth to Richard Yaw II who had started shotgun on the field. Congratulations to first time winner, Kris Law.

The final race of the night was the second feature for the IMCA hobby stockers. A few incidents during the contest, left sheetmetal hanging from more than one car. They have been dubbed "The Wild Things", and "happenings" on the track are quite the norm. Point leader, Michael Murphy didn't let anything hamper him though. He reeled in early leader Jesse McCollaugh and fended off last week's winner Matt McDonald, to find himself in Victory Lane. McDonald ended up in second, Rob Allison came from 12th to get third place, fourth went to Chris Hupp, and fifth to Pat Mather.

Next week at the Boone Speedway will be a regular points night of racing and fans can vote for their favorite driver. Make plans to attend another exciting race night and cheer on your favorites. Happy racing!

More complete results are listed below.

Boone - 8/8/09

Unofficial results:

Modified - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 4P Skeeter Paris
Heat 2 - 69 John Logue
Heat 3 - 14R Rod Scheuermann

Feature

1. 27 Kelly Lyons
2. 14R Rod Scheuermann
3. 4P Skeeter Paris
4. 5 Todd Shute
5. 18 Jake Durbin
6. 2L Adam Larson
7. 93 Cale Sponsler
8. 24 Robert Avery
9. 33M Mike Molle
10. 68 JJ Wise
11. 58 Denny Pittman
12. 15X Scott Baker
13. 83G Josh Gilman
14. 1K Pat Graham
15. 3Z Randy Havlik
16. 1 Billy Davis, Jr.
17. 49T Tim Stevens
18. 23 JJ Scott
19. 28R Russ Dickerson
20. 02 Brian Law
21. 48J Jacob Murray
22. 12 Stacy Warren
23. 26 Phil Levri
24. 69 John Logue
DNS: 6 Darren Huntley

SportMod - 35 cars

Heat 1 - 41 Jeremy Embrey
Heat 2 - 5M Matthew Meinecke
Heat 3 - 81D Scott DEavis
Heat 4 - 87 Joel Bushore

B-Main - top 4 qualify

1. 9N Kyle Nordquist
2. 13D Dan Wetzel
3. 3L Clint Luellen
4. 26 Jason Carney
5. 22J Jeff Blume
6. 59 Tara Longnecker
7. 2G Geoff Olson
8. 16 Brock Hess, Sioux Falls, SD
9. 9E Eric Elliott
10. 18D Scott Demmer, New Richland, MN
11. 2K Keith Sanders, North Sioux City, SD
12. 8J A. J. Johnson
13. 11C Justine Campbell
14. 84 John Wells
15. 7+ Jared Timmerman

Feature

1, 3R Randy Roberts
2. 87 Joel Bushore
3. 5M Matthew Meinecke
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 5 Aaron Ackerman, Mason City, IA
6. 6 Whitney Huntley
7. 24 Brian Miller
8. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
9. 27 Tim Love
10. 9 Craig Elliott
11. 57 Lynn Brockett
12. 42 Jeremie Gibbs, Sioux City, IA
13. 9N Kyle Nordquist, Beresford, SD
14. 66 Cody Hennings
15. 321 Andy Tiernan
16. 10N Keegan Nordquist, Beresford, SD
17. 41 Jeremy Embrey
18. 3L Clint Luellen
19. 91 Shawn Hunter
20. 13D Dan Wetzel
21. 18M Matt Deml, Owatonna, MN
22. 26 Jason Carney
23. 35 Bruce Egeland
DNS: 9T Tim Young

Stock Car - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 35 Donavon Smith
Heat 2 - 59 Larry Portis
Heat 3 - 50 Robert Stofer

Feature

1. 25 Trent Murphy
2. 22X Josh Brauckman
3. 45 Larry Crocheck
4. 26 Bill Reetz
5. 22 Wayne Gifford
6. 50 Robert Stofer
7. 23HR Rod Richards
8. 3W Chris Webb
9. 6D Jason Day
10. 2J Steve Jackson
11. 3H Ty Hill
12. 59 Larry Portis
13. 24K Kevin Shaw
14. 18 Jeff Harkrider
15. 73C Carl Yaw, Jr.
16. 27 Gary Bass
17. 10X John Wilson
18. 556 Terry Cornelison
19. 57V Mike VanGenderen
20. 12+ Ryan Rose
21. 35 Donavon Smith
22. 3s Bryan Snell
DNS: 04 Don Vis
12 Bryan Trogdon

Hobby Stock - 38 cars

Heat 1 - m15 Pat Mather
Heat 2 - 12M Matt McDonald
Heat 3 - 25M Michael Murphy
Heat 4 - B00K Dylan Book

Feature #1

1. 7X Kris Law
2. 23 Cody Gustoff
3. 19A Alan VanGorp
4. 83S Scott Lograsso
5. 20T Richard Yaw II
6. 5 Keith Miner
7. 14 Matt Wahlert
8. t15 Jacob Thompson
9. 78 Tim Hadley
10. 44J Justin Hopkins
11. 47W Shawn Wirtz
12. 98 Brad Egenberger
13. 2J Ralph Jones
14. 11B Solomon Bennett
15. 46J Jesse Hopkins
16. 38 Austin Luellen
17. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck
18. 38R Aaron Rudolph
DNS: 747 Pete Hutzel

Feature #2

1. 25M Michael Murphy
2. 12M Matt McDonald
3. 12A Rob Allison
4. 83 Chirs Hupp
5. m15 Pat Mather
6. B00K Dylan Book
7. 74J Dean Hartwig
8. 1A Adam Bonnett
9. 33J Jesse Hopkins
10. 00 Kyle Dirks
11. 01 Alex Berghefer
12. 9 Andrew Arends
13. 5A Tyler Pickett
14. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
15. 12 Kenneth Johnson
16. J4 John Yaw, Sr.
17. 8B Bobby Smith
18. 16B Jay Arends
19. 10 Travis Fenton

Dwarf/Mod-Lite - 22 cars

Heat 1 - 66F Eric Hendrickson
Heat 2 - 95 Mike Kennedy
Heat 3 - X50 Joel Huggins

Feature

1. X50 Joel Huggins
2. 66F Eric Hendrickson
3. 95 Mike Kennedy
4. 3C Duane Coffman
5. 30 Jason Masengarb, Calona, IL
6. 15 Andy Hennigar
7. 88 James May
8. 8 Dusty Masolini
9. 01 David Schmalzried, Jr.
10. 99 Josh May
11. 3B Brad Bayne, Ault, CO
12. 8B Chris Bayne, Ault, CO
13. 73 Jason Smithson
14. 8T Todd Thorson
15. 89 Travis Stensland
16. 37 Mike Thomas
17. 76 Terry Sorenson
18. 11R Jason Whitehead
19. 4L Larry Sorenson
20. 17 Johnny Mordock
DNS: 20 Jeff Stensland
41Z Ed Zehm

First time winners at Marshalltown

Friday evening, August 7th, saw us at our "home track", the Marshalltown Speedway. Several area tracks were not racing on this night, which brought some visiting drivers to the speedway.
There would be first time winners and a track that was not the norm due to the rain which had fallen earlier; over 3/4 of an inch according to promoter Toby Kruse.

The Dwarf/Mod-Lite feature saw the x50 of Joel Huggins sitting up front along side Josh May. Huggins would lead the entire race to take home another victory in his recent very successful run. Josh May was able to hold off Mike Morrill for second. Coming from back in the pack to take fourth was the 57 of Tim Hennigar, and fifth was visiting driver Jason Masengarb in the car #30.


The tractors were brought out several times during the course of the night as a ridge was building up in the corners and they tried to keep it knocked down. The SportMod feature would see a nasty roll right out of corner one by the 22H of Curt Hilmer; no doubt due to the ridge that kept forming. Thankfully he was okay. About the time the SportMods were brought to the track for their feature, we were checking radar, and seeing some spots just popping up in the area. We were crossing our fingers that the show would get in. The Northern SportMod feature began with Shawn Simotivich on the pole and Dysart, Iowa driver Bryan Rodman beside him in the 08. Rodman jumped to the lead as Kyle Brown in the 21 would make his presence known as he tried to reel him in for most of the race. Neil Follett and Scott Davis made an interesting race for third and fourth behind the leaders and point leader, Kevin Sather made his way up through the field to get in the mix of front runners. At the checkers, it would be a new winner in Victory Lane as Bryan Rodman took home the trophy for the night. Following him to take second was Kyle Brown, third was Neil Follett in a hard fought battle over fourth place finisher Scott Davis, and rounding out the top five was Kevin Sather. In Victory Lane, Rodman said it was his first career win and his previous experience in racing had been with golf carts! Congratulations to first time winner Bryan Rodman.

The IMCA stock cars were up next and it saw veteran Tommy Thompson sitting on the pole along side rookie Trevor Titus. Thompson would lead early but it wasn't long until the 60 of Clay Deppe made the pass for the lead. Deppe had misfortunes later as he retired to the pits and the Chelsea Charger, Damon Murty took over the number one spot. Making his way from back in the field to follow Murty to the number two spot, was point leader, Dustin Smith. Smith would make the pass into first spot as he fought with Murty and take home his 8th regular season win of the season at the speedway. Murty was runner-up, Michael Jaennette had a nice run into third place, Rob Schneider was fourth and fifth went to Eric Flander.

Sprinkles began to fall as the modifieds ran their A feature. Leading the race at first was Tim Stevens who would bobble on the backstretch and David Brown would take the lead. Brown, on only his second night out in his new Harris chassis, would lead a few circuits battling with Brett Ladehoff and Tim Murty. Murty squirted to the lead after a caution and Ladehoff would follow into second. No doubt, Murty was anticipating a repeat win from last week, but tonight it was the "Mighty Mopar" of Scott Simatovich taking home the win as he was able to pass Murty.
Simatovich got his first win and Murty had to settle for runner-up. Third was Ladehoff with a nice run on the night, fourth went to Vinton's Scott Hogan and fifth was visiting driver, Randy Havlik.

The hobby stock feature brought another first time winner to Victory Lane as the 20E car of Eric Elliott finished in first. He had to fight off Jennifer Hulin who came home in second. No doubt, that first elusive win for her will be coming soon. All the ladies in the stands are hoping to see her in Victory Lane as promoter Toby Kruse has promised $2 off for all ladies admission price the following week. Third went to Mike Vibbard who drove a steady race, fourth to Michael Murphy and fifth to Todd Reitzler

The final event for the night was the stock car King of the Hill contest. Sprinkles continued to fall as the cars competed. First round saw Todd Kearney best Rob Schneider. Donnie Bown won over Steve Meyer next. Damon Murty, having drawn a "bye" then went up against Kearney and Murty would win. The final challenge was Murty versus Bown with Murty winning the crown for King of the Hill.

Mother Nature tried again to oust the action at Marshalltown Speedway, but to no avail. Next week will be "cardboard racers" for added entertainment for the fans. Youngsters will construct cardboard cars of their favorite driver and the driver will footrace for the finish line. Make plans to attend. Happy racing.

Britt's Night of a 1000 Stars is Cut Short

We headed north last night for our annual trip to the Hancock County Speedway at Britt but Mother Nature cut our night short. We were hoping that the "green blob" just entering northwest Iowa that we saw on radar, would move much slower than it did. It wasn't to be, as the raindrops began and they wouldn't stop. The show was cancelled for the night with the A feature for the modifieds as well as stock cars, yet to be run. Below are some unofficial results for heats, B's, and the Dwarf/Mod Lite feature.

Modified - 53 cars ran by my count

Heats - Top 2 transferred

Heat 1 - 10 Jeremy Mills
22 Jeff Ignaszewski

Heat 2 - 45 Levi Nielsen
66S Jared Siefert

Heat 3 - 7N Jay Note
5 Todd Shute

Heat 4 - 74 Clint Hatelstad
12 Mark Elliott

Heat 5 - 69 John Logue
1CC Clayton Chirsitansen

Heat 6 - 7C Nate Caruth
11S Kevin Stoa (in Alex Hanson's car)

Heat 7 - X74 Mark Noble
41 Rob Hughes

Two B Mains and 8 from each transferred

B-Main #1

1. 18 Jake Durbin
2. 17 Justin Sackett
3. 3F Jeff Feaster
4. 1 TJ Stalker
5. 25 Keith Schmitz
6. 3L Oliver Kollofski
Sorry, all I got

B-Main #2

1. 10E Stacey Mills
2. 62 Greg Cox
3. 16c Reese Coffee
4. 42 Jeff Nielsen
5. 21cz Tim Czarneski
6. x72 Brian Mullen
7. 2 Joey Schaefer
8. 8x Scott Olson

Stock Cars - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 37 Mike Jergens
44K Kevin Opheim

Heat 2 - 110 Ken Tietz
35 Donavon Smith

Heat 3 - 8 David Smith
02 Jeff Dolphin

Dward/Mod Lites - 17 ran heats

Heat 1 - X50 Joel Huggins
95 Mike Kennedy

Heat 2 - 6 Mike Morrill
57 Tim Hennigar

Feature

1. 57 Tim Hennigar
2. 6 Mike Morrill
3. 64 Randy Bryan
4. X50 Joel Huggins
5. 95 Mike Kennedy
6. 20 Jeff Stensland
7. 88 James May
8. 5X Matthew Goodin
9. 3B Brad Bain (sp?)
10. 66F Eric Hendrickson
11. 8B Christopher Bain (sp?)
12. 99 Josh May
Sorry, all I got as the raindrops fell.



After the Dwarf/Mod-Lite feature, the modifieds were brought to the track...as rain continued to fall. It was a futile attempt to try and save the track as the cars continued to pack, and eventually, the call was made that the show was cancelled. It was announced that the show will be completed next Thursday night, August 13th and hobby stocks and B Mods will be added to the program. Ticket stubs/pit bands will be honored.

We always enjoy The Night of 1000 Stars, and with the lineup, it was set to be a good one! Looks like everyone will have to wait for one more week.

Happy racing!

The "A-Train" wins an exciting USMTS in Osky

We were anticipating a great race at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night, but the feature race was definitely more than we had expected. With thirty-two modifieds in the pits, two NASCAR drivers on hand, a packed grandstand and racing friends to share it with, what more could we ask? At the end of the night, we had gotten a lot more!

The evening started with standing in a long line for autographs of Kenny Wallace and Michael Waltrip who very graciously accommodated photos, signing many different items, and fan's chatting. Waltrip, a two-time winner of the Daytona 500, also spent much of his evening after the autograph session, being a spectator just like everyone else. He sat in the grandstand during all of the heat races, and we noted that he was able to enjoy the action without being surrounded by fans. Hopefully, he went away with a good feeling of our great dirt track racing and Iowa in general.

The B Modifieds had a nice field of nineteen cars on hand. Starting on the pole was the #7 of young Carter VandenBerg. He would take advantage of the starting spot, and lead the field with Bryon Weyer trying to catch him. With action going three-wide at around lap seven, Andrew Schroeder would take over the lead with point leader Tyler Groenendyk trying to reel him in. Unfortunately, Groenendyk's night would end shortly when he suffered a flat tire. Schroeder led the race with Weyer trying to make up ground by running the high groove of the track, which seemed to be working, but after some restarts, he wasn't able to maintain that second spot, as Mike Shelton took over the runner-up position. Fighting hard with Shelton for position, was VandenBerg, and he would eventually be successful in making the pass to take over second.
At the finish line, it was Andrew Schroeder taking the win, Carter VandenBerg taking second,
Mike Shelton in third, Bryon Weyer in fourth, and Cayden Carter rounding out the top five.

The USRA stock car feature was up next on the program and Mike VanGenderen sat on the pole with Shane Weller along side. It didn't take long for Weller to take off with the lead as he would have it in cruise control for much of the race. With just a few laps left in the race, Brian Mitrisin found himself in second, but a flat tire would stop his hopes of a good finish. The familiar cars of Greiner, VanGenderen and Wood would then be fighting it out behind the leader and as the checkers flew, it was Weller taking the win easily, Greiner in second, VanGenderen in third, Wood in fourth, and coming home for fifth, was Chase Mitrisin.

USRA hobby stock feature was won by the 84 car of Danny Thrasher. The top four or five cars up front were spread out most of the contest with closer racing going on back in the pack. As the checkers flew, it was Thrasher taking the feature win, Dustin Griffiths in second, Nathan Wood advancing from back in the field to take third, Kris Walker in fourth, and the 20 car of Andrew Hustead in fifth. Jumping into the Victory Lane photo, as he did in all the classes, was Michael
Waltrip, making for great mementos for the winners.

The final event of the night, was the 30-lap USMTS race and what a race it was! It was one of those exciting races with many lead changes; one that left a person nearly exhausted from the action. The top eight drivers qualifying through passing points, drew for their starting spots on the frontstetch. This gave an added bit of entertainment to the fans, as the announcers chatted with the drivers on the PA. Drawing the number one "lucky Frisbee" was young Chase Junghans out of Manhattan, Kansas. Local favorite Zack VanderBeek drew the second starting spot. As the race began, the yellow would be flying often. With only four laps down, the yellow had been shown three times. As the racers were able to get into their racing rhythm without a caution being shown so often, it began what would continue to be close, lead-changing racing the remainder of the 30 laps. Up front, VanderBeek and Kelly Shryock, multi-times champion of the USMTS, would be going at it for the lead, with Marshalltown's Ryan Gustin dogging them the entire time. Those three would swap the lead back and forth, making for a great race for the fans. A caution would again fly with less than a handful of laps to go, and on the restart, one of the hottest drivers on the circuit, Al "A-Train" Hejna from Clear Lake, would make a great move, to take over the point position as he passed Ryan Gustin for the lead. Making his way quietly toward the front of the pack, was Minnesota driver, Tommy Myer as he was getting into the mix of front runners. At the double checkers, it was Al Hejna taking home the trophy, Tommy Myer making a great run from starting in fifteenth spot to take second, third went to always hard-charging Kelly Shryock, fourth to New Sharon's Zack VanderBeek and fifth to Colt Mather who had kept his car toward the front all evening.

We have to count this as one of the best modified races we have seen all season long. It was more than worth the admission price for all the exciting action it provided. Thanks to Todd Staley and staff, for another great show. As a reminder, there will not be racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway next Wednesday night due to the Knoxville National's running right down the road all week long. However, the annual Front Row Challenge for 410 sprints will be at Oskaloosa on Monday, August 10 for $10,000 to win, and on Tuesday, August 11th, the USAC non-winged sprinters race for $12,000 to win. I believe all seats for these two races are reserved and you can do so by calling 515-957-0020.

More complete results are listed below. Happy racing!

Osky - 8/5/09

Unofficial results:

USMTS - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 19R Ryan Gustin
Heat 2 - 3 Kelly Shryock
Heat 3 - 8 Colt Mather
Heat 4 - 29B Brad Dierks

B Main #1 - 4 transfer

1. 94 Steve Blattler
2. 65 Tommy Myer
3. 14 Jon Tesch
4. 23B Adam Bell
DNQ: 2 Grant Junghans
73 Brad Moriarty
J40 Clayton Jensen
22 Brandon Banks
13 Matt Waugh
40 Scott Dickey

B Main #2 - 4 transfer

1. 18 Michael Long
2. 47 Josh Truman
3. 19G Richie Gustin
4. 4R Ron VerBeek
DNQ: 4Rx Dereck Ramirez
1K Pat Graham
20T John Fellman
00 David Ott
31 Corey Dripps
21M Dean Mahlstedt

Evidently, four provisionals were added: 4Rx Dereck Ramirez, 31 Corey Dripps, 20T John Fellman, and 22 Brandon Banks

Feature

1. 7 Al Hejna
2. 65 Tommy Myer
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
5. 8 Colt Mather
6. 14 Jon Tesch
7. 19R Ryan Gustin
8. 7 Ryan Dolan
9. 31 Corey Dripps
10. 26 (in 71 car) Kevin Blackburn
11. 18 Chase Junghans
12. 18 Michael Long
13. 4Rx Dereck Ramirez
14. 4R Ron VerBeek
15. 47 Josh Truman
16. 36 Kenny Wallace
17. 20F John Fellman
18. 14J Jake Neal
19. 17P Brad Pinkerton
20. 23B Adam Bell
21. 22 Brandon Banks
22. 19G Richie Gustin
23. 29D Brad Dierks
24. 94 Steve Blattler

B Mods - 19 cars

Heat 1 - 7 Carter VandenBerg
Heat 2 - 85 Jason McDaniel

Feature

1. 02 Andrew Schroeder
2. 7 Carter VandenBerg
3. 16 Mike Shelton
4. 27 Bryon Weyer
5. 10 Cayden Carter
6. D1 Drew Lawson
7. 21B BJ Boender
8. 8T Tony Johnson
9. 0 Mike Wanders
10. 54 Bobby Greene
11. 49 Leroy Groenendyk
12. 20G Michael Granthem
13. 34J Jerry Hinton
14. 51L Tom Lathrop
15. 7A Aaron Osweiler
DNF: 17T Tyler Groenendyk
85 Jason McDaniel
21Y William Young

Stock Car - 11 cars

Heat 1 - 94 Corey Stout
Heat 2 - 12M Brian Mitrisin

Feature

1. 20Dub Shane Weller
2. 29 Matt Greiner
3. 57V Mike VanGenderen
4. 52 Nathan Wood
5. 4M Chase Mitrisin
6. 60 Kurt Krauskopf
7. 11. Kyle Anderson
DNF: 94 Corey Stout
12M Brian Mitrisin
81 Bert McDaniel
27R Ryan Cook

Hobby Stock - 15 cars

Heat 1 - 18 Kris Walker
Heat 2 - 85 Jason McDaniel

Feature

1. 84 Danny Thrasher
2. 10G Dustin Griffiths
3. 52 Nathan Wood
4. 18 Kris Walker
5. 20 Andrew Hustead
6. 9 Jimmy Hayes
7. 78 Andy Coleman
8. 24 Austin Wolfgram
9. 3s Steve Allen
10. 62 TJ Henderson
11. 33 Justin Hook
12. 911 Shawn Coleman
13. 64 Casey Greubel
DNF: 32T Bobby Greene
85 Jason McDaniel
DNS: 35B James Krier

NASCAR Nationwide racing at the Iowa Speedway

History was made on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 when the NASCAR Nationwide Series came to the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa for the very first time. Thousands and thousands...56,087 to be exact...were in attendance and from all reports, the track couldn't be happier with the great turnout. Things appeared to run smoothly as we arrived at the track about 8:45 a.m. We had no trouble getting into the speedway or parking. We were far from the first arriving though, as cars were everywhere, many already tailgating and ready for the days activities. People watching was about as popular as tailgating, bean-bag tossing games, and imbibing in general. Flags were flying everywhere as groups displayed their favorites. Our group proudly flew a huge Iowa Hawkeye flag and a huge American flag. Many favorite driver flags were flying as well. We also noticed someone not far away, flying a John Deere flag. Only in Iowa! All those flags make a great "landmark" for finding your vehicle in a sea of cars.

The souvenir hauler and sponsor display area was absolutely packed when we were there. We noted it appeared much busier than when we were in Daytona this past February. The line for the Fan Walk was extremely long and from all reports, it was well worth the wait for getting to see the infield and garage area. The shuttles into the infield seemed to run the entire race allowing fans to get the taste from the other side of the track.

The U. S. Cellular "250" NASCAR Nationwide Series race took the green flag right at 3:45 p.m. after a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by country singer James Otto. The finale of the song was capped by a fly-over by a huge refueling plane as it passed close over the track. Forty-three cars took the green flag to the cheering and enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd. You can often find a vacant seat here and there no matter what event attended, but not on this day. Every seat was filled as far as we could see and standing room was at a premium as well. Our view was great from our regular seating area in the upper section toward turn one. Lots of extra seating was added for this race and talk is that perhaps more permanent seating is in the offing. There is also talk that extra lanes may be added to I-80 in the area to more easily accommodate some of the traffic during big race dates.

Capturing the fast times during earlier qualifying were the #16 of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., (a Jack Roush driver) and the #12 Verizon sponsored car of Justin Allgaier. Allgaier's nickname is "Gator" or "Little Gator" which has dogged him from childhood. We learned this upon having met him this past February in Daytona at a Verizon sponsored function. The Riverton, Illinois driver is quite a personable young man and was one of our group's favorite on the day. He had a very good run for most of the race until a late race incident involving two other cars would cause a caution and send him back in the field.

Twelve cautions would slow the racing action over the day. It did provide interesting action in the pit areas though. We noted one incident happening right in front of us that caused a huge fuel spill that had to be cleaned up by the fire crew. At 125 laps down, the #88 bright green car of Brad Keselowski was leading the race over Allgaier with Kyle Busch, successful NASCAR Sprint Cup star, running in third. More cautions flew and each time at the restart, it was Busch and Keselowski battling one-two. The cheering was intense as the two swapped positions but in the end it really did seem as though the loudest and most enthusiastic was when Keselowski made the final pass on Busch to take the lead and continue on to take the double checkers for the first ever Nationwide Series win at the Iowa Speedway. The 38 of Jason Leffler finished third. Making his way quietly over the day to finish fourth, was another NASCAR star, Carl Edwards in the 60 car and finishing fifth in the #10 car, was Kelly Bires.

Racing was completed right at 6:10 p.m., taking just a bit over 2 hours and 22 minutes. Due to the many cautions, the average speed overall was just under 92 mph. No one was in a hurry to leave after the race was completed, as much activity continued in the concession and souvenir area as well as more tailgating in the parking lot. We count ourselves fortunate to have this wonderful facility only twenty miles from our doorstep and look forward to attending more races "right down the road" in the future. We hope many of you were also able to attend the history making event at the Iowa Speedway. Happy racing!