We finally got back on track for our regular Wednesday night of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway. It has been our home on Wednesdays for years and years. Great weather...first time without having a sweatshirt on...saw a nice crowd in attendance for Todd Staley's USMTS show and the first ever USRA Iron Man Challenge Series for stock cars. The B modifieds and hobby stocks also ran.
The first feature to take to the big half-mile "monster" was the B mods. Mike Wanders and LeRoy Groenendyk paced the field but soon it was a different Groenendyk taking over the number one spot. Tyler Groenendyk, on the night of his 21st birthday, put it out front and never looked back. Scott Davis made his way down from his hometown of Boone and set his sites on trying to reel in the birthday boy. He had started well back in the field and got himself into the runner up position for a short time, until Osky youngster Cayden Carter made the pass around Davis. When the checkers flew it was Tyler Groenendyk giving himself a win for his birthday, Carter kept second, Davis crossed in third, fourth was Mike Wanders and fifth was Mike Shelton. After the race, two of the top finishing cars, Carter and Davis, were asked to return to the track and run three laps for what we understood was to test the rev limiters on their crate motors. Upon checking www.heartlandmotorsports.com and their results for the evening, it appears Davis was relegated to the last finishing spot, thus moving the fourth and fifth finishers up a spot and adding Curtis VanderWal as the fifth place car.
The newly formed USRA Iron Man Challenge Stock Car Series saw only thirteen cars put in an appearance. The competition however, was excellent. Two veteran drivers sat on the pole; Steve Jackson and Rick Gustin. Jackson crossed the line in first at two laps down but Greg Elliott in the #1 car was the leader at seven laps down with northern Iowa driver Mike Bergan chasing him and local favorite Nathan Wood chasing Bergan. Wood was in a new car which had a definite different look to it, appearing more like a pro-street or sportsman car. On the backstretch, with about twelve laps down, it was the 20Dub car of Shane Weller threading the needle into second place as he battled the #412 car of Mark Elliott, Rick Gustin in the #62 and Mike "The Flying Dutchman" VanGenderen in his #57V. Weller was trying his hardest to make the pass on Wood, sending rooster tails of dirt flying as he manuvered the high side of the corners, but he couldn't make it happen. Wood took the win and was crowned the first ever winner in the new Iron Man series, Weller was second, Mark Elliott held on for third, with fourth going to Rick Gustin and fifth to Mike VanGenderen. It was nice to see a name from the past, Rich Vogt in the #38 car, back on the Southern Iowa Speedway track as he garnered an eighth place finish.
The USRA hobby stocks ran their feature next. Derek Kirkland took command early from starting outside row one. Steve Allen chased him through lap eight but fell back after a restart when a yellow flew for debris on the track. At the checkers, it was Kirkland taking the win, Andy Coleman was runner up, Kris Walker took third, fourth went to Steve Allen and fifth to the #558 of Jim Hughes....another name from the past who has made many laps around the big half-mile, in a stock car and a modified if memory serves me correctly.
By my count, 42 modifieds competed on the night. The twenty-six car starting field was completed through two B main events with six advancing from each. Unable to make the call was the #111 of Bumper Jones out of New Mexico allowing the seventh place finisher in his B Main, #5 Steve Holzkamper, to join the field at the tail. It's always a stirring sight to see those modifieds get into their four-wide formation, American flags waving, as they salute the fans on their parade lap. Love it!
Ryan Ruter was the lucky recipient of drawing the #1 spot and young Ryan Gustin drew #2. Gustin flew into the lead, Ruter chasing him but Gustin pulled away. A yellow flew which no doubt Ruter was glad to see as it tucked him in closer to the elusive Gustin on the restart. When the green flew, New Sharon's Zach VanderBeek was the car making the move into second as he was able to pass Ruter and the chase was on to catch Gustin. Gustin seemed to rocket off of corner two and pulled away. Another yellow flew with only three laps to go in the 30-lap feature but Gustin kept that lead without much trouble when action resumed. He went on to victory with VanderBeek having to settle for second. Al Hejna came home in third and was no doubt the hard charger of the race as he started back around the sixteenth spot. Fourth went to another New Mexico driver, the 1st car of Johnny Scott and fifth went to Steve Wetzstein. Ryan Gustin was a happy camper in Victory Lane as he enjoyed the spoils of a well deserved win.
It was nice to get back to our Wednesday night "stomping grounds" and look forward to many more nights of racing at the half-mile in Osky. For more complete information check out www.heartlandmotorsports.com, www.rlpromotions.com/oskaloosa and check out Tapfan's Tours for his take on the racing action last night at www.positivelyracing.com. Happy racing!
More complete results are listed below.
No comments:
Post a Comment