We use to think nothing of going racing multiple nights in a row, but after a busy past week, we can sure tell we aren't as young as we use to be! After the mid-week races at Marshalltown for the Deery and Wednesday at Independence for the inaugural Hawkeye Dirt Tour, we took a day off on Thursday and then headed into a three-race stretch to close out the week. Friday we took in the action at our "home" track, the Marshalltown Speedway. Next up was Boone, our home away from home on Saturdays, and then attended Sunday's NASCAR East/West Series at the Iowa Speedway.
Marshalltown - 5-21-10
An added "extra" at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday evening, was the mini sprints with thirteen cars strong. They did put on a nice show and with very little interruption in the action as we have so often noted with sprint racing. One thing going for these little guys is they have a starter and do not have to rely upon a push to start. Not being familiar at all with these drivers, we can only state that the #76 car of Brad Comergys was the winner. From Brad's statement in Victory Lane, they all loved the 1/4 mile at Marshalltown and the drivers were all appreciative for the opportunity to race there.
"The Bus Man"(he drives a school bus) Mike Kennedy took the win in the Dwarf/Mod Lite feature...his first of the year at the track. Josh May, Tim Hennigar, Eric Hendrickson and Mike Morrill rounded out the top five.
Eric Elliott was the winner in the IMCA Northern SportMod main event. A good battle ensued between Dylan Book, Kyle Brown, and Eric Elliott early on. Book developed mechanical issues and had to exit later. At the checkers, it was Kyle Brown taking the runner-up position, third was Eric Flander, fourth went to Cayden Carter, and fifth to Brett Moffitt. More on Moffitt later during his race at the Iowa Speedway.
The IMCA Stock Cars still remain one of our favorite classes. A newbie to IMCA racing, pretty much had it covered from start to finish as Nathan Wood was the winner. It would be Wood's first ever IMCA stock feature win. From his remarks after the race, he will be trying for the rookie of the year title. Trent Murphy took second, third was point leader Dustin Smith, fourth
went to Tracy Gienger and fifth to Jeff Wollam.
In the IMCA modified feature, it was a familiar name visiting Victory Lane as Richie Gustin took home another win. As I look back over the winners we've seen in this division just this year, the name "Gustin" is often there, be it Richie or brother Jimmy. A remarkable racing family and fun to watch! Runner up was Luke Wanninger with third going to Adam Larson, fourth to Denny Rosenberg and fifth to David Brown with his best run of the year.
The final event, the IMCA hobby stocks, saw a first time winner as Jeff Gunderson took the checkered flag. Following him across the line was Eric Larson, Michael Murphy, Todd Reitzler, and Devin Smith.
For a more complete take on the night's racing events, check out Tapfan's Tours at www.positivelyracing.com. Thanks for being my shield from the rearend plug that got airborne off the track and into the stands...and into your arm! This happened during the modified feature and left quite the knot on Tapfan's arm!
Boone - 5-22-10
On to night two of weekend racing as we headed the vehicle toward the Boone Speedway. It was a breezy night, but this time the wind was to the backside of the frontstretch grandstands, making for a much more pleasant night for all, on that side of the track anyway. The nicer weather conditions also brought a good crowd.
Taking the checkered flag in the Dwarf/Mod Lite division, was the OB of Colby Oberembt. He led the entire race as Josh May tried in vane to catch him. Following May in third place was Travis Stensland, fourth went to Dusty Masolini and fifth was Matthew Goodin.
It was a good race for the IMCA Northern SportMods again this week. After a couple of cars got together right at the flagstand on the start of the race, we also saw more yellows fly during the course of the action. Some of those yellows and ensuing restarts, saw a lot of action and position changes. The eventual winner, Geoff Olson made a great move on one restart to pass several cars for position. Olson started back in eleventh spot to make his way to Victory Lane. Runner up was Eric Elliott who had started just ahead of Olson, third went to Rick Ringgenberg, fourth to Darren Huntley and fifth to Scott Davis. Those top drivers put on quite the action packed race for the fans.
The IMCA modified looked to be a repeat from last week as Tim Stevens and Bill Davis, Jr. battled up front. Last week, Stevens had mechanical problems to end his chance for a win, though Davis prevailed. This week, Davis was hungry for another win as he swung around leader Stevens with two laps to go. Davis got the win under the yellow/checkered when two cars got together in turn four after the white flag had flown. Stevens came home in second, third went to the car you can always pick out in a crowd, the #69X of Jon Snyder, Kelly Lyons picked up the fourth position, and fifth went to Cale Sponsler.
The stock cars provided the fans with lots of excitement once again. Racing was tight and fast just like last week's action. It was another night of wondering just when something was going to happen. Fortunately, though there was some minor incidents, cars recovered and continued on. To put things in perspective, it was a race that saw veteran Steve Jackson become a lap car, which is very rare. Front runners, Trent Murphy, Rod Richards, Mike VanGenderen and Mike Munson battled furiously. Murphy prevailed to take the win, Munson was second, third went to VanGenderen, fourth to Donavon Smith and fifth to Larry Crocheck. Richards and Wayne Gifford got together in corner four on the final lap, to prevent them from a top five finish.
Only one A main was run for the hobby stocks. Several yellows flew during the race but didn't hinder Tyler Pickett from crossing the line in first place. Pat Mather chased Pickett to the flag to get second, third went to Scott Lograsso, fourth to Michael Murphy and fifth to Kyle Dirks.
Next up at the Boone Speedway will be a regular points race on May 29th, followed on Monday by the Memorial Day Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models. Also running for points on Monday will be the SportMods, Dwarfs, Hobby Stocks and Stock Cars. Monday, hot laps are 4 p.m. with racing at 5. Check http://www.raceboone.com/ for more information.
More complete results are listed below.
Iowa Speedway - 5-23-10
The Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa is where we headed on Sunday. We arrived just as qualifying was winding up for the 200 lap feature to come. The NASCAR K & N East/West Series sponsored by the Goodyear Dealers of Iowa saw young drivers with famous connections scattered throughout the field. More on that later.
The pole sitter was the #17 car driven by David Mayhew. We were told he has some dirt track background and has competed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the IMCA Duel In The Desert annual event. Through at least the first 50 laps, he seemed to be on a Sunday drive, maintaining a comfortable lead over second place runner, the #00 of Ryan Truex, who also cruised along comfortably. Pit stops changed things up later on of course, and the man on the move was Brett Moffitt, 17 year old from Grimes, Iowa. He is one of the Joe Gibbs developmental drivers in the series along with his teammate in the #18 car, Max Gresham. This series is just for developmental drivers and we noted many of them are still students around 17 and 18 years old. We watched Moffitt picking off cars and eventually finding himself out front about lap 145 and still leading with thirteen laps to go. That's when a red flag situation for clean up of a large fluid spill, froze the field. When racing resumed, Moffitt's teammate, the #18 of Max Gresham, slipped by him and it was looking like a 1-2 finish for the J. D. Gibbs team. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as contact was made when Corey LaJoie made the pass, and it sent Moffitt spinning in turn two. The race ended in a green-white-checkered dash to the finish line with Max Gresham getting the win. Gresham, who just turned 17 the end of April, took his second straight win in the series. Runner up went to Ty Dillon from Lewisville, N.C., third to 18 year old Darrell Wallace, Jr., the only Afro-American to win in this series, fourth was Corey LaJoie who voiced his regret in getting into Moffitt late in the race, and fifth to David Mayhew who had run strong all day long.
What could have been a hot, sunny day turned out to be a breezy, cloud-covered day, making for very pleasant viewing of the entertaining race. As mentioned earlier, there were a lot of drivers with famous name connections and we will try to mention the ones we noticed. Ty Dillon is the grandson of Richard Childress, Corey LaJoie is the son of Randy LaJoie, Kevin Swindell in the #9 is the son of Sammy Swindell who had just won in the 410 sprint class at the Knoxville Speedway the previous night, and the #00 of Ryan Truex is the younger brother of Martin Truex, Jr. For a full recap of the race, check http://www.iowaspeedway.com/.
So ended our three-night race run, and an enjoyable one it was. Upcoming this week, we plan to head to the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night. The USMTS modifieds will be in action and it will kick off the inauguaral Dart Iron Man Challenge race for the USRA stock cars. Also on the program will be the USRA B-mods and the USRA hobby stocks. More details can be found at www.rlpromotions.com/oskaloosa. Until next time, happy racing!
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