We ventured north to the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City last night...wondering much of the time if we would EVER run out of the persistent sprinkles--sometimes heavier than sprinkles--on the windshield. However, by the time we were nearing Webster City, the pavement was dry, and upon arrival at the track, it didn't appear that the pesky rain cloud that had been dogging us, had even dropped a raindrop there.
We were looking forward to the night's action in the Hawkeye Dirt Tour and program that had also been deemed the 1st Annual Wayne Redmond Memorial. Redmond, who lost his life a year ago in April from an ATV accident I believe, was a racing fixture around the area for years. He was a third generation racer, but had devoted much of his recent years to the Aero Wheels business. He had a great sense of humor that left a person with a smile on their face just thinking of some of the things he said...or DID.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran their feature first, right before the two HDT Modified B mains. After a complete runaway in his heat race earlier, and then drawing the pole for the feature, we were expecting nothing less of Devin Smith in the feature. The first three laps was appearing so, but then a flat tire put a sudden end to that thought. Smith changed the tire quickly and rejoined the field immediately upon the green flag restart. The leader was now hometown boy, Ty Griffth, but veteran Randy Embrey and last year's IMCA Super National's winner Cody Nielsen were readying for the challenge close behind. Embrey made the pass, with Nielsen doing the same, but things would change up before the checkers flew. Griffith would have a motor let loose late, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Another local boy, Craig Graham had slipped into second spot, and Devin Smith, who had tagged the field earlier, had moved into third. It would finish with Embrey taking the win, Graham held second, Smith kept third, Cody Nielsen was scored in fourth and second generation driver, Austin Wolfgram came home in fifth.
The IMCA SportMods ran 15-laps. Scott Davis sat on the pole along side Mitch Frakes from Eagle Grove. It wasn't long until second-row starter, Carter VanDenBerg passed into the lead. Roland, Iowa's Matt Lettow, who had just won the SportMod special a few days earlier at Britt, Iowa, moved into second after getting around Davis. Those two would battle for that second spot for several laps and then with a lap to go, the pesky yellow flew, setting up a green-white-checkered finish, or what we like to call, "a bonus laps" race. The race would then end after that "bonus lap" with VanDenBerg taking the win, Lettow made the pass into second, over Davis, who finished third. Fourth was Joel Rust and fifth went to Brandon Leeman.
A field of only nine Stock Cars came to play on Tuesday night. They would run a 15-lap feature. This turned into one of those "ho-hummer" races with Lance Deal making it look easy, leading all but the first lap. Deal won by a lengthy margin over second place Adam Silvey, Third went to Ryan Leeman, fourth to Dennis Plain, and Vince Loewen was scored in fifth.
Thirty laps awaited the Modifieds for their headliner event. Jeremy Mills left little doubt on his mission for the evening when he rocketed to the lead from his pole starting spot, and would motor home to the win, leading all laps. Mike VanGenderen had started back in eleventh spot and had made great headway early when an incident forced him out of the race after hitting a spinning Josh Most. It appeared the car sustained considerable damage including a leaking fuel cell. Several more yellow flags would halt the racing action, requiring several restarts, but Mills never faltered. Behind him, Mark Schulte and point leader in the HDT series, Richie Gustin, were dueling it out. Gustin finally established second place, and would finish there. Schulte took third over Jay Noteboom, in fourth, who had started back in 14th place, and fifth was Kevin "Porky" Pittman who came from 13th starting spot.
Karsyn's Krusaders were on hand for their cause last night, selling t-shirts and sweatshirts for their campaign of "Kickin' Cancer's Butt One Lap at a Time". Check out the story behind the campaign at www.karsynskrusaders.com. One of the drivers supporting their cause is Hazelton, Iowa's Darrin Duffy who was in competition last night. Duffy finished eighth in a good showing after qualifying through a B main.
The night's mic action was provided by regular track announcer Ryan Bergeson along with a sidekick last night, Jerry VanSickle. They provided an entertaining time on the PA along with calling the racing action.
A couple of Positively Racing cohorts were also on hand last night. Check out Ryan Clark's always excellent take of the racing action at www.positivelyracing.com. under "In Staging" and look for Kevin Trittien to hopefully be back up soon with a working computer with his thoughts at "Tapfan's Tours."
Next up for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour will be next Tuesday night, June 12, at the Cedar County Speedway in Tipton, Iowa. Also on the program will be the IMCA Deery Brothers for Late Models. For more details check www.dirttour.com and www.imca.com. Happy racing!
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