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!
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