VerBeek, Wood, Gibson and Allen Grab Wins at the Monster Half-Mile

Southern Iowa got pounded again last week with rain and with what we understood was 8-8 1/2 inches of rain since last Saturday, according to announcer Tony Paris. That alone made it pretty amazing that the Southern Iowa Speedway was able to run. But run they did, and they were watering the track when we arrived, and continued to. When racing started, there was dust kicking up around the track, with a swamp low in the corners.

The USRA stock cars ran their feature first with seven competitors on hand. Visiting driver Damon Murty from Chelsea, led the first couple of laps until Nathan Wood took to the outside and made the pass for the lead. The remainder of the 15-lap feature was all Wood's as he drove home to another win. Behind him, Murty and Shane Weller had been dueling it out for second and third. Weller made the pass on Murty about lap 11 to secure second, Murty had to settle for third, fourth went to Mike VanGenderen, and fifth to Rich Vogt. Completing the field was Kyle Harwood in sixth and seventh went to a name from the past, the 98S of Brian Sterling. In the after win interview, Wood exclaimed that even with the extra 50 pounds of weight he had added after the heat race, the car was still loose.

The USRA modified feature had seven of the eight cars start the feature. Bad luck plagued the 47 of Josh Truman who dumped fluid on the track during hot laps, was not able to repair the car, and left the track early. Ron VerBeek took his first feature win at Osky this year after finally putting some distance between himself and a challenging Scott Dickey. Dickey had taken the number one spot temporarily for a lap or two but VerBeek motored past him then for good.
Dickey was the runner-up, third went to Steven Blattler, fourth to Brandon Banks, fifth to Greg Cox, sixth to John Fellman, and David Ott was scored in seventh, but was not able to finish the race.

The USRA hobby stockers had a nice field of 24 cars check into the pits, with only one car unable to make the feature. The pink #20 ride of Andrew Husted out of Rutledge, MO paced the field for the first couple of laps until Dale Porter took over the lead. It was looking like Porter was headed for victory lane until having to exit with mechanical problems with just a couple of laps to go. The 3S of Steve Allen then inherited the lead as he had been chasing Porter for most of the race. At the same time that Porter had to leave the race when the yellow flew, the third place runner of Donovan Nunnikhoven also exited into the pits, shaking up the field. Allen kept his cool, running the last couple of remaining laps and saw the checkers flying for the very first time in his six year racing career. With Steve Allen taking the win, it was Danny Thrasher making his way into the runner-up spot, third went to Matt Messamaker, fourth to Todd Reitzler, and fifth to Derek Kirkland.

To finish the night's events off, the B-Mods had 19 of the 20 drivers start their A Main. Bill Gibson took the lead quickly after a complete restart was needed at the drop of the first green. Gibson kept that front place throughout the entire race to take his first win at the Osky "Monster Half-Mile" this season. Tyler Groenendyk was able to pass visiting driver Ken Kositzky, from Cedar Rapids, (and I believe he races at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton) for second and third places respectively. Fourth place was awarded to Cayden Carter and fifth to Mike Shelton.

Racing was completed by 9:50 allowing fans to get home at a decent hour. Next Wednesday night is another regular night of racing with hot laps scheduled for 7:15 and races at 7:30. More complete results are listed below. For more information on the Southern Iowa Speedway and official results, you can check www.rlpromotions.com. Happy racing.