We headed to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa this past Sunday afternoon for what would be our first ever race in November in Iowa. We saw some great racing action and the weather was beautiful...in fact we were more comfortable than some mid-summer races we attended. A great field of cars filled the pits, the program was run in efficient time...until an unfortunate melee occurred in the stock car feature, and what an exciting finish that feature provided the fans.
Because both the B modifieds and the hobby stocks had to run B mains to cut their features down to a 24 car starting field, the A modifieds were first up for their main event. The 25-lap feature saw the familiar #17P of Brad Pinkerton take off like a rocket from his outside front row starting position. He rode the topside...his often preferred line...to near perfection except for a slight "kiss" of the wall at one point. That would not stop his relentless pursuit of the checkered flag as he took the win by quite a margin over second place finisher Zack VanderBeek. Third went to Scott Dickey, from starting in eighth position, fourth to young Ryan Gustin from Marshalltown, and fifth to Donovan Lodge, from Andover, Illinois who came from far back in the starting field.
The B modifieds had their starting field of 24 cars completed with four cars qualifying to tag the feature through a B main. Andrew Schroeder won the B main followed by Jimmy Broszeit, Josh Modde, and the 19H of Brandon Hare. The A main found the 8J of AJ Johnson on the pole position. After a yellow at the beginning of the race to clear a mishap, the rest of the 15-lap feature ran green to checkered. Johnson kept his front running spot the entire race to take the win. Cayden Carter made an impressive run to take the runner-up position, third went to Boone, Iowa's Scott Davis who came from twelfth spot, fourth to the #5 of Colter Deutsch from Ellsworth, Minnesota and rounding out the top five was Roland, Iowa's Matt Lettow.
The hobby stocks also had to complete their field by adding the top four cars from a B main.
That B main was won by Clayton Crump from Centrailia, Missouri and following him to round out those top four, were Kevin Spilde, Pete Hutzel and Steve Larson. The track proved challenging to the drivers as it was slick with a small cushion on the top. Chris Hovden from Cresco took the top prize...his third of the weekend as he'd also won the two previous nights at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri. He was challenged late by the 2N of Donavan Nunnikhoven from Kellogg, Iowa, who tried to take the high line coming out of turn four coming to the checkers, with a lap car between him and Hovden. However, that gallant effort didn't pan out and Hovden took his trifecta of the weekend. Nunnikhoven had to be content with second, third place went to Todd Reitzler, fourth to Danny Thrasher, and fifth to Kris Walker.
With the show moving along nicely, the final feature of the early evening, was the USRA stock cars. The 20-lap feature had only two laps down, when disaster struck. At the front of the field, it appeared Nathan Wood had a problem as he came down the front stretch. The Flying Dutchman, Mike VanGenderen was to his outside as he went high into turn one, and unfortunately ended up getting crunched into the wall as Wood pushed high. This then resulted in a multi-car melee that needed to be cleared and would delay the race for nearly 30 minutes. VanGenderen's car looked to be without anything remaining under the rear end, ending his night, as well as several other disabled cars. One of those was the former car belonging to Zack VanderBeek, and on this evening, being driven by promoter Todd Staley. He was caught up in the mess and had to retire for the night. We understand that the car will be driven next year by Staley's younger son, Logan. Looks like it was father who put the first dents on his son's ride!
One of the cars also involved in the carnage, was the 20dub of Shane Weller, who had to have his car towed to the work area. He was able to join the end of the field when the green finally flew again. Matt Greiner and Brian Mitrisin challenged for the top two spots but Mitrisin would then have to retire with problems after having taken the lead. With Greiner leading and the 15 of Mitch Hovden, in tow behind him, who should be coming through the field at a maddening pace, but the 20dub of Shane Weller. It was quite amazing to see him work his way through the competition, overtake second place of Hovden, and then be hot on the heels of the leader. It took the final lap for him to accomplish the task, but going through turn three, he got the job done, to take the checkers to the whole crowd on it's feet! Greiner was second, third went to Hovden, fourth to Mike Bergan and fifth to long-time racer who has made many laps around the 1/2 mile track in years gone by, Steve Jackson.
It was a great way to end our local racing season this year. Who would have thought we would be enjoying great racing weather in November, after having endured cold and wet weather throughout the scheduled season? Thanks to Todd Staley for seeing the foresight in trying for the third time, (it's the "charm" isn't it?) and successfully complete the second night of the Fall Challenge.
Until next time, happy racing!
