It was a FULL night of entertainment at the Southern Iowa Speedway last night. It was Halloween in June with Trick or Treating, an Australian Pursuit race in the Stock Car class, and a King of the Hill in the SportMod division, all that in addition to the regular racing in all five classes.
Before the racing action began, the youngsters got to Trick or Treat participating drivers who pulled their vehicles to the front stretch for the little beggars. We counted 28 drivers handing out treats. A little later, after the heat races were completed, the costumed youngsters AND adults were called onto the track in front of the grandstand, and by applause, a winner chosen in each age division.
The first feature was the IMCA Sport Compacts. Five drivers were on hand tonight. A chain of four straight wins was broken when Bill Whalen, Jr. beat out Merv Chandler. Chuck Fullencamp was third, fourth was John Whalen, and Ron McCish finished fifth.
In the IMCA Hobby Stock feature, the winner ended his night with a flip....but not with the car! There was great racing going on throughout the pack, with cars going 3-wide at times. Most of this was happening behind leader Bobby Greene, who had taken the lead by lap five. With just a couple of laps remaining, Shannon Anderson had made his way up into the runner up spot and was looking for more. It wasn't to be though, as Greene kept command and took the win. Anderson finished second, third went to a familiar name from the past, Mike Hughes who was racing for the first time in a while. He was piloting a car that looked suspiciously like an old Kris Walker car. Kevin Fee finished fourth and Jamie Songer was fifth. It was a happy Bobby Greene in victory lane and with a little encouragement from the crowd, celebrated his win with one of his signature back flips off of the car.
The IMCA Modifieds ran their 15-lap feature next. Jacob Murray, who has taken a real liking to the track this year, was leading by lap three, after starting 10th. He grab the lead after a restart situation occurred when Dakota Hayden smacked the fence between turns one and two. He had smooth sailing from there on, stretching out his lead by a good margin. Josh Foster made the trip back over from his home base in Ft. Madison, and took home the runner up spot. Cayden Carter finished in third and Mark Widmar won the battle over Brandon Banks, as they finished fourth and fifth. As a note, Beau Kaplan showed up in a modified tonight--not sure if this was his first time in the class or not--but it was the first we had seen him in it, as he has been running in the SportMod division previously.
And speaking of SportMods, they were up next for their 15-lapper. Grinnell's Jason Hall motored along in the lead through lap twelve, but behind him, Jesse Sobbing had been reeling him in lap after lap. Sobbing made the pass on lap thirteen, and pulled away, taking the checkers for another win. Jason McDaniel just got by Hall on the final lap, and took second over Hall who was scored in third. Fourth went to Ben Kates, Tonganoxie, Kansas, who made a good return after his incident last week at the track. Kates, who was hit in the helmet by a piece of debris, received a broken nose to go along with his cracked helmet, so he had a much better night this week! Brett Lowry had a good run to finish fifth.
Sixteen laps were run in the IMCA Stock Car feature, polishing off the great night of racing. This one was nearly over from the start when Brad Pinkerton rocketed to the lead and never looked back. Pinkerton, seemed to be in his comfort zone again, running the topside of the track, smooth and steady and we've often seen him do in the past. During the race, there was much going on behind him though, with the Osky's usual 3-4 wide battles. Colt Mather made put his #8 in the runner up spot, third went to Nathan Wood who won the battle over Matt Greiner, who finished fourth. Rounding out the top five was Alan VanGorp. Jeff Anderson, veteran stock car driver from Atlantic, who made his first appearance at the track in 2012, finished in sixth.
It was a choked full night of entertainment at the ole Monster Half-Mile again. The Modifieds, SportMods, Stock Cars, and Hobby Stocks all got $100 extra for winning their features last night thanks to generous sponsors. The Modifieds got $100 just for starting the feature! The winners of the Austrailian Pursuit and the King of the Hill features also pocketed an extra $100 each. Next week, it will be the Deery Brothers Late Models coming to town for their turn at the track. Please note that the IMCA Modifieds will be taking a night off, but the IMCA Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts will be on the docket. Hope to see you there! Happy racing!
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