The Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa held it's season opener on Wednesday night. Though it was a chilly night, thankfully the calm winds saved us in the stands from being too uncomfortable. Five IMCA classes ran, one for the first time ever as the sport compacts joined the modifieds, stock cars sportmods, and hobby stocks. Another first was also witnessed when Cayden Carter got his first ever A modified victory.
For the very first time at the Southern Iowa Speedway, a new class of cars was introduced---the IMCA Sport Compacts. The six-lap feature event for the little front wheel drives went to a wiley veteran of racing, Merv Chandler. Chandler led the entire race in taking the win, followed by John Whalen in the runner up spot, Bill Whalen, Jr. was third, fourth to Steve Meidke, fifth to Larry Hopkins (a name from the past in racing) and Corey Hawk was sixth.
The hobby stock feature was over from the drop of the green as Shannon Anderson pulled away from any competition. Anderson led the entire race on his way to another of his numerous wins. Kevin Fee finished in second with a good battle going on for positions behind him. John Watson came out of that battle in third place over Dustin Griffiths in fourth and Donovan Nunnikhoven was fifth.
It was an exciting sportmod feature next. Jason McDaniel was in command with just a few laps remaining, when a caution flag flew. McDaniel appeared to have mechanical issues at that point, and had to retire to the pits. This handed the lead over to Carter VanDenBerg, who had been dogging the leader. Meanwhile, twelfth place starter, Jesse Sobbing from Glenwood, Iowa had made his way methodically through the pack to now be breathing down the tailpipes of VanDenBerg. You just knew the finale was going to be a good one! Sobbing saw his chance on the restart, and made the pass around VanDenBerg and grabbed the win. Cars behind the leaders were shuffled a bit as well, with Jenae Gustin getting the advantage over Bill Gibson and Racer Hulin as they were scored third through fifth, in that order. Sobbing is no stranger to taking the checkered flag, as last season, he had 55 wins. Yes...55!!
The IMCA modifieds were up next. Front row starters were Scott Dickey and Cayden Carter. Carter, in his first year in an A modified, lived up to his nickname, "Gas Man", as he gassed it at the drop of the green, and he was gone! Scott Dickey was a distant runner up, and Corey Dripps, (driving Duane Petersen's car) was scored a distant third. Fourth went Shane Weller, jumping up from the stock car class this year, and Cody Haden rounded out the top five.
The final for the evening was ther 16-lap IMCA stock car feature. We have always loved to watch the stock cars run on the big half-mile as they always prove to make it an exciting one for the fans. Tonight was no different. "Heavy Duty" Don Killen, Des Moines, and Rich Vogt sat on the front row but there were heavy hitters behind them in row two---Damon Murty and Nathan Wood. Wood overtook Killen before a handful of laps were completed but the race was certainly not over by any means! Damon Murty, Todd Reitzler and "guest" driver for the night, Zach VanderBeek (in an orange ride with "Kelderman" beneath the door)came to join in the fun. They put on a show for the crowd that's for sure. Murty was able to make the pass into the lead and VanderBeek slipped into second, only to have Reitzler nose ahead of him. As they came to the checkers, Murty was able to hold on, and take the win. VanderBeek took the runner up spot as Reitzler took a little spin and fell back, Don Killen was scored in third, Matt Greiner made his way to fourth and Nathan Wood was fifth.
Racing was completed shortly after 10 p.m. Always good to have a mid-week show done at a good hour. It was announced last night, that a new incentive will be in place to encourage drivers to make the show ever week. In the modified, stock car, sportmod and hobby stock class, any driver finishing in positions 5-10 in their respective features, will be awarded a free pit pass the following week.
Next Wednesday night, there is free popcorn for the fans and added to the program will be the Iowa Sportsman Series. I understand this to be Enduro type racing. Hot laps are scheduled for 7 p.m. with racing at 7:30.
Below are more complete results. Happy racing!
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