The Southern Iowa Speedway seems to be the bright spot in racing in the state of Iowa this spring. For the fourth week in a row, racing happened at the Speedway. It was great to be watching the racing action without being bundled in layers of clothing, trying to keep warm, as the temps were in the low 80's at the beginning of the evening. There were some neat things thrown into the mix last night for both racers and fans, and the car count appears to be getting stronger each week.
The IMCA Sport Compacts had five drivers on hand. Larry Hopkins, last week's winner, repeated his win. He motored his ride ahead of Merv Chandler in second, third went to Bill Whalen, Jr., fourth to John Whalen, and new driver at the track, the #33 of Justin Millhouse was fifth. Hopkins, who drives a Dodge--a Neon I believe--is rather in the minority now a day. As fellow racing fan "FTF" said last night, "You can kick Dodge out of NASCAR, but you can't take them out of the IMCA Sport Compact class"!
The "Gasman", Cayden Carter, scored his second win at the track in the IMCA modified division. Veteran driver, Jim Lynch, led the pack for the first handful of laps, with Carter coming fast on the low side. After making the pass on Lynch about lap eight, Carter pulled away with the lead, never to be challenged again. Shane Weller came through the field to score a third place finish behind Lynch, the runner up, fourth went to Brandon Banks and Jeff Conner made the trip over from Panora, to round out the top five spots.
The IMCA Hobby Stock feature was another runaway for Shannon Anderson. Anderson, who calls Urbandale home now, has loved the big old half-mile track at the Southern Iowa Speedway as of late. He won the Frostbuster, as well as the season opener, and was second in last week's feature. Anderson, who started back in row six, charged through the pack, overtook Danny Thrasher at lap four, and from there on, never looked back. Eric Stanton made his way past Thrasher as well, as they were scored second and third in that order. Fourth went to John Watson and fifth to Dustin Griffiths. There were packs of cars vying for positions during the event, cars going four and five-wide. Looks like the reshaping of the track (a lot of dirt has been shaved off of the highside of the track....with more fence visible than we can recall for many a year) has certainly not hindered the racing, and the drivers are taking a liking to it.
Next up was the IMCA stock car class for their 18-lap feature. The start of the race could have been disaster, as cars got bumped just after the flagstand. Alan VanGorp was bumped, causing his car to get crossed up. He did a fantastic job of gathering it back under him, thus avoiding what could have been a real nasty situation as the field was bearing down. Todd Reitzler led the first couple of laps after the complete restart, but it didn't take long for Zack VanderBeek to come calling. VanderBeek, who started in row four, took the lead by lap five, and then sailed away to the win. Nathan Wood came from row five, to finish in second place, third went to last week's winner Kyle Harwood, fourth to Todd Reitzler, and Alan VanGorp finished in fifth.
The IMCA SportMod feature completed the night's scheduled racing. Lap two of the race found cars piling up in corner one, and cars having to be realigned for the restart. On lap three, none other than Jesse Sobbing, the successful driver from southwest Iowa who hauls 3 1/2 hours to race at Osky, flew into the lead and then pulled away to win his second race at the track this year. The real race on the track was for second. It was an exciting and entertaining battle between Josh Modde and Curtis VanDerWal, with those drivers swapping position back and forth. VanDerWal won the quest there and finished in second with Modde having to settle for third. Tony Johnson finished in fourth, with Race Hulin rounding out the top five.
A couple of things of note on the evening: The drivers made their way over into the grandstand to meet and greet the fans. That was a great idea from track manager Mike VanGenderen, and well received by the fans. So often, a driver is "just a number" to the fans, and getting to really see and meet the driver, is great. A fun little contest was also held, when some of the hobby stock drivers...down front in the grandstand...attempted to down five soda crackers in one minute's time. Three drivers were successful, those being new driver for the night, Rich Polka,(if I heard correctly) Bobby Greene, and Jarred Gann. Their reward was a free pit pass for next week. Maybe if veteran driver Bill Bonnett had attempted to complete the feat, instead of slyly slipping the crackers under his hat, he would have really given it a go had he known the reward! We also noted the track and it's new grading. You can now see so much more of the fence in the corners than in recent years. The track did get dusty during hot laps, but kudos to VanGenderen for watering the track--done quickly I might add--and bringing the track back. We also enjoyed a chance meeting in the parking lot prior to the races, with SportMod driver, Curtis VanDerWal. VanDerWal, a former asphalt driver at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids, made the switch to the dirt the last couple of years. He told us he gave it a whirl in ASA racing and just when he was about to attempt it full time, they folded up. If we recall correctly, he won his first feature at the monster half-mile on season championship night last year. Thanks Curtis, for stopping to take the time to meet us. We always appreciate any driver doing so.
Unofficial results are listed below, but be sure and check the website for the correct results. Happy racing!
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