We chalked up another county fair race on Thursday night when we took in the Hamilton County Fair in Webster City. This was billed as their 7th Annual Thursday Night Thunder and with big money on the line, we expected a good car count. That proved to be true, as 132 cars packed the pits and the fans came out in droves. Those two things were surely helped by the weather being more comfortable...finally!
The IMCA Sport Compacts kicked off the features. The first lap was not completed when one of the cars rolled over in turn four, bringing out the red. The driver was okay and at the drop of the green again, the compacts were able to keep it that way to the checkers. Cory Flanigan led all laps in taking the win. David Moorman finished second with the 7N of Mike Nehring nipping at his heels. Adam Strunk was fourth and Jordan Prehn was fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks were vying for a $1,000 pay day to the winner tonight. Hometown driver, Corey Roe looked to be setting his mind at nabbing the money as he led through lap nine of the 15-lapper. However, never count out that 62B car of Andy Boeckman, whenever he happens to show up at a track, or where ever he happens to start on the grid. Not many cars on the night took the highroad, but Boeckman did, swinging topside and taking the lead by lap ten. Boeckman would motor home to the relatively easy win, Roe holding second. Third went to Brandon Pruitt who made the trip over from Dexter, Iowa, Craig Graham finished fourth and Austin Wolfgram was fifth.
The stock car feature turned into a yellow flag fest! Just when they were about to get their racing rhythm going, out came another yellow. This didn't seem to bother leader Jason VanSickle, "The Flyin' Electrician", as he would pull away from competitors on the restarts. Then, just after a restart at lap fourteen, with cars bunched behind the leader and a pack jockeying for position as they entered low in turn one.....all "h-e-double hockey sticks" broke loose! Eleven or twelve cars were involved, and the track was blocked with cars scattered all over. It took a good while to get the mess cleared, and to say that some drivers were blaming everyone else....including the flagman, is an understatement! The stock cars were able to finally get their 18-lap event completed without another yellow, and Jason VanSickle held off Lance Deal's last ditch efforts out of four, to take the $1,000 win. Third went to John Campbell, fourth was Reid Keller and Adam Silvey rounded out the top five spots.
The IMCA Northern SportMods also ran an 18-lap feature. Veteran driver Joe McBirnie and young Tyler Droste sat on the front row of the starting lineup. This one too was a "no go" on the start, causing us to fear the worse of another repeat from the previous stock car feature. Joel Rust took the lead by lap three, and Racer Hulin got through the pack to take over the runner up spot, Droste hanging close in third. This one was looking to end pretty uneventfully until yellow after yellow flew in the closing lap, requiring green-white-checkered finishes---three of them I believe. Rust took the $1,500 winner's check tonight, Tyler Droste sneaked by Hulin at the final try as they finished second and third. Fourth was McBirnie and Rocky Caudle took fifth. We call races that end under green-white-checkered finishes, "bonus laps" and this one sure had those!
The winner of the IMCA Modified feature almost claims the track as his own as he has been so successful there. Mark Elliott took the win, his 252nd over all. This one wasn't a done deal for him though as Chris Abelson and Jacob Murray were the guys up front through lap fourteen. Elliott chose to try it on the outside and made it into second by lap 16 and with two to go, Abelson and Elliott came across the line nearly in a dead heat. Elliott pulled it off with a lap to go, establishing first place, and then going on to the win. Abelson was scored in second, Murray took third over Chris Horn and Tyler Prohaska in fourth and fifth. As a note, the blue #01 car has been a curiosity to me since seeing it at the Harris Clash and not knowing who it was. Turned out to be Chris Horn from Cedar Rapids, and the son of the legendary Fred Horn of the glory days of IMCA's 200-300 lap races. Saw father Fred battle many a time against my all time favorite "hero", Ernie Derr.
The IMCA $2,000 to win Late Model race also ended with "bonus laps". However, this one was not really a contest from the start. The "Ironman" Darrel DeFrance took the lead on lap one, never to look back. Jeff Aikey kept digging hard to catch the leader, but never got close enough to make a challenge, even at the bonus lap restart. With DeFrance taking the win and Aikey the runner up, it was then "Hollywood" Jason Hahne putting his #76 in the third spot, Ryan Griffith recovered from an early spin to get back up to finish fourth and veteran Craig Jacobs took fifth.
The racing action concluded shortly after the bewitching hour and with a long drive home, it was the wee hours of the morning before we made it home. It was nice to catch up with racing friends in the stands and we appreciate the shout out for Positively Racing by announcer Ryan Bergeson. We will regroup and be back on the road again tonight to catch more racing action, this time a lot closer to home at the Marshalltown Speedway. Happy racing!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Watson wins again at Boone, but.......
After last weeks rain out at Boone, people and drivers must have been eager to get back at it! There was a good crowd in the stands, and the pits were packed! We counted 153 cars competing on the night. For the first time this year, there were two features in the Hobby Stock class, and with 34 and 36 cars in the SportMods and Stock Cars...two B mains were needed. There was also five new names added to the books as feature winners this year.
The Mod Lite feature was the only class that saw a driver win for the second time. Bryan Zehm shot from the second row and into the lead by lap two and from there on, never relinquished that lead. Point leader Josh May closed in on the leader, but couldn't get any closer than second. Mike Kennedy came from row four to finish in third, followed by Jeff Stensland and David Schmalzried, Jr. in fourth and fifth.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had a nice field of 34 cars. A B main was required to complete the 24 car starting field in the feature. Car 17 Jon Plowman--no hometown given--was the winner of the consolation race. Matt Pinegar led the early portion of the feature but Brian Miller soon made a challenge on the leader. He would make the pass by lap ten and then go on to take the checkers. This was Miller's first win of the season at the track. Pinegar held on to second, Joe McBirnie finished in third, and Shawn Hunter and Eric Elliott finished fourth and fifth.
Harris Auto Racing's John Logue was on hand again last night....offering up $500 to the winner of a King of the Hill challenge in the Modifieds. The top two finishers in the three heat races were up against each other.
The first rounds saw Jon Snyder eliminate Kelly Lyons, Jimmy Gustin beat Mike VanGenderen, and Todd Shute took out Denny Pittman. Second round it was Shute against Gustin with Gustin winning. Since Snyder had a bye, the finale was Snyder against Gustin...two Harris chassis duking it out, to the delight of John Logue, no doubt. Snyder took the win, and took home the $500.
The feature for the Modifieds, a 20-lap event, found Adam Larson barely holding off Scott Simatovich for the first couple of laps. Simatovich made the pass for the lead shortly and would then go on to lead all the remaining laps. Larson remained in second but was challenged by Jake Durbin for several laps until Jon Snyder was able to take over the third spot. Durbin slipped back a bit after some contact was made allowing Russ Dickerson to slip by him as well. The race would end with Simatovich the winner, his first of the season at the track, Larson held second over Snyder, Dickerson and Durbin--third through fifth.
The Stock Cars ran it through their 18-lap feature without a caution. Plenty of action was going on through the pack without any stoppages. Jerry Gifford had taken the lead on the first lap. He would pull away at the end and take the win, but behind him, is where the real racing was happening. Jay Schmidt was digging hard fighting off challenges, running in second. Jerry Gifford had gone topside trying to catch Schmidt but would be showing some smoke. Trent Murphy was able to work himself into third spot and Donavon Smith, point leader, tagged in right behind him, taking fourth. That would be the finishing order....Gifford taking the win, followed by Schmidt, Murphy, Smith, and Wayne Gifford held fifth. This was Jerry Gifford's first win this year at Boone.
The first Hobby Stock feature found Watson in victory lane.....but not the Watson that has been so dominate this year! Danny Watson, brother of John Watson started from the pole position, and led the entire 12-lapper, his first win of the 2012 season. John Watson did get into the second spot, making it a Watson and Watson one-two finish. Dustin Filloon was third, Tim Barber fourth, and Bill Atcheson came from starting fifteenth, to take fifth place.
The second Hobby Stock feature also went to a first time winner. Scott Pippert, Elberon, Iowa has been having a good season this year as we've watched him at Marshalltown and Vinton, slice through the field for wins. Pippert started tenth and got to second early on, dogging leader Ryan Grochala who had started on the point position. Pippert made the pass into the lead with four laps to go, and then distanced himself from Grochala at the finish, putting his name in the winner's list for the first time this year. Grochala held second, Curt Reed came from starting in row five, to finish third, Matt McDonald followed in fourth and Tyler Pickett completed the top five.
This ended our five night in a row run. Battling the heat earlier in the week and being on the go so much, we've opted to take a few days off before taking in our next race. Sounds as if we may be thrown back in the furnace by Mother Nature again. We will be searching out some racing this week though....one that may be on our agenda is the Hamilton County Speedway's fair race scheduled on Thursday. It is their 7th Annual Thursday Night of Thunder race and paying $2,000 to the Late Model winner, $1,500 to SportMod, $1,000 to Modifieds, Stock Car and Hobby Stocks, plus $250 for Sport Compacts. The Fair Board is promoting this race, with racer/promoter Mike VanGenderen running the show. It might be one to put on your list of races to attend. Happy racing!
The Mod Lite feature was the only class that saw a driver win for the second time. Bryan Zehm shot from the second row and into the lead by lap two and from there on, never relinquished that lead. Point leader Josh May closed in on the leader, but couldn't get any closer than second. Mike Kennedy came from row four to finish in third, followed by Jeff Stensland and David Schmalzried, Jr. in fourth and fifth.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had a nice field of 34 cars. A B main was required to complete the 24 car starting field in the feature. Car 17 Jon Plowman--no hometown given--was the winner of the consolation race. Matt Pinegar led the early portion of the feature but Brian Miller soon made a challenge on the leader. He would make the pass by lap ten and then go on to take the checkers. This was Miller's first win of the season at the track. Pinegar held on to second, Joe McBirnie finished in third, and Shawn Hunter and Eric Elliott finished fourth and fifth.
Harris Auto Racing's John Logue was on hand again last night....offering up $500 to the winner of a King of the Hill challenge in the Modifieds. The top two finishers in the three heat races were up against each other.
The first rounds saw Jon Snyder eliminate Kelly Lyons, Jimmy Gustin beat Mike VanGenderen, and Todd Shute took out Denny Pittman. Second round it was Shute against Gustin with Gustin winning. Since Snyder had a bye, the finale was Snyder against Gustin...two Harris chassis duking it out, to the delight of John Logue, no doubt. Snyder took the win, and took home the $500.
The feature for the Modifieds, a 20-lap event, found Adam Larson barely holding off Scott Simatovich for the first couple of laps. Simatovich made the pass for the lead shortly and would then go on to lead all the remaining laps. Larson remained in second but was challenged by Jake Durbin for several laps until Jon Snyder was able to take over the third spot. Durbin slipped back a bit after some contact was made allowing Russ Dickerson to slip by him as well. The race would end with Simatovich the winner, his first of the season at the track, Larson held second over Snyder, Dickerson and Durbin--third through fifth.
The Stock Cars ran it through their 18-lap feature without a caution. Plenty of action was going on through the pack without any stoppages. Jerry Gifford had taken the lead on the first lap. He would pull away at the end and take the win, but behind him, is where the real racing was happening. Jay Schmidt was digging hard fighting off challenges, running in second. Jerry Gifford had gone topside trying to catch Schmidt but would be showing some smoke. Trent Murphy was able to work himself into third spot and Donavon Smith, point leader, tagged in right behind him, taking fourth. That would be the finishing order....Gifford taking the win, followed by Schmidt, Murphy, Smith, and Wayne Gifford held fifth. This was Jerry Gifford's first win this year at Boone.
The first Hobby Stock feature found Watson in victory lane.....but not the Watson that has been so dominate this year! Danny Watson, brother of John Watson started from the pole position, and led the entire 12-lapper, his first win of the 2012 season. John Watson did get into the second spot, making it a Watson and Watson one-two finish. Dustin Filloon was third, Tim Barber fourth, and Bill Atcheson came from starting fifteenth, to take fifth place.
The second Hobby Stock feature also went to a first time winner. Scott Pippert, Elberon, Iowa has been having a good season this year as we've watched him at Marshalltown and Vinton, slice through the field for wins. Pippert started tenth and got to second early on, dogging leader Ryan Grochala who had started on the point position. Pippert made the pass into the lead with four laps to go, and then distanced himself from Grochala at the finish, putting his name in the winner's list for the first time this year. Grochala held second, Curt Reed came from starting in row five, to finish third, Matt McDonald followed in fourth and Tyler Pickett completed the top five.
This ended our five night in a row run. Battling the heat earlier in the week and being on the go so much, we've opted to take a few days off before taking in our next race. Sounds as if we may be thrown back in the furnace by Mother Nature again. We will be searching out some racing this week though....one that may be on our agenda is the Hamilton County Speedway's fair race scheduled on Thursday. It is their 7th Annual Thursday Night of Thunder race and paying $2,000 to the Late Model winner, $1,500 to SportMod, $1,000 to Modifieds, Stock Car and Hobby Stocks, plus $250 for Sport Compacts. The Fair Board is promoting this race, with racer/promoter Mike VanGenderen running the show. It might be one to put on your list of races to attend. Happy racing!
Boone - 7-21-12
Unofficial results:
Modified - 22 cars
1. 43S Scott Simatovich
2. 2L Adam Larson
3. 69X Jon Snyder
4. 28R Russ Dickerson
5. 18 Jake Durbin
6. 87 Joel Bushore
7. 57V Mike VanGenderen
8. 8s Kyle Strickler - Mooresville, NC
9. 19 Jimmy Gustin
10. 20W Shay Woods
11.58 Denny Pittman
12. 27 Kelly Lyons
13. 5 Todd Shute
14. 20 Luke Wanninger
15. 20X Chad Louk
16. 93 Cale Sponsler
17. 3Z Randy Havlik
18. 3W Chris Webb
19. 12C Kent Croskey
20. 49T Tim Stevens
21. 38H Joe Haresky - Apple Valley, CA
22. 2Z Zach Rawlins
SportMod - 34 cars
B Main - 4 advance
1. 17 Jon Plowman
2. 59 Tara Longnecker
3. 27 Tim Love
4. 66A Anthony Onstot
5. 27L Lukas Onstot
6. 4A Dan Swank
7. 3S Adam Shelman
8. 63 Daniel Tasler
9. 36H David Hoover
10. C63 Cory Tasler
11. 39 Larry Embrey
12. 56 Joe Simbro
13. 57R Ryan King
14. 33R Jesse McCollaugh
Feature
1. 24 Brian Miller
2. 30 Matt Pinegar
3. 182 Joe McBirnie
4. 91 Shawn Hunter
5. 9E Eric Elliott
6. 66 Cody Hennings
7. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
8. 81D Scott Davis
9. 23JR Nick Roberts
10. 3L Clint Luellen
11. 3F Cole Ferguson
12. 27 Tim Love
13. 57 Lynn Brockett
14. 22B Brian Eppert
15. 5B Tom Burke
16. 66A Anthony Onstot
17. 17 Jon Plowman
18. 50H Gary Holthaus - Topeka, KS
19. 80M Mike Wadel - Garden City, KS
20. 77 Jack Myer
21. 6 Darren Huntley
22. 59 Tara Longnecker
23. 34J Jerry Hinton
24. 1 Randy Roberts
Stock Car - 36 cars
B Main - 4 cars advance
1. 57 Lonnie Hodges
2. 11 Scott Seaman
3. 45 Larry Crocheck
4. 17R Derek Reimer
5. 76 Norm Belew
6. 22S Toby Smith
7. 6 Adam Hilgenberg
8. 26K Tony (Butch) Bass
9. 44 Todd Fisher
10. 77T Trent Jeanes
11. 04 Don Vis
12. 21 Ross Marshall
13. 46B Mike Bilyeu
14. 5 Keith Miner
DNS: 1Bradlee Clark
52 Ben Walding
Feature
1. 9 Jerry Gifford
2. 19J Jay Schmidt
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 35 Donavon Smith
5. 22 Wayne Gifford
6. 50 Robert Stofer
7. 25M Michael Murphy
8. 23HR Rod Richards
9. 25J Josh Daniels
10. 19A Alan VanGorp
11. 02 Mike Goldsberry
12. 55 Cory Bushnell
13. 24 Eric Brown
14. Cody Clark - Yorktown, IA
15. 27 Gary Bass
16. 11J Jeff Johnson
17. 566 Jim Lynch - Donnellson, IA
18. 17R Derek Reimer
19. 45 Larry Crocheck
20. 56 Lonnie Hodges
21. 3 Tim French
22. 11 Scott Seaman
23. 25X Bob Daniels
24. 12+ Ryan Rose
Hobby Stock - 41 cars
Feature #1
1. 99W Danny Watson
2. 4W John Watson
3. 51D Dustin Filloon
4. T53 Tim Barber
5. 32 Bill Atcheson
6. 47W Shaun Wirtz
7. 8B Robert Smith
8. 52 Josh Saunders
9. 78X Tim Hadley
10. 85 Seth Janssen
11. T15 Jacob Thompson
12. 46J Jesse Hopkins
13. 83S Scott Lograsso
14. 13D Dan Wetzel
15. 38R Aaron Rudolph
16. 1F Blaine Frist
17. 76 Richard Pahlka
18. 1BC Tony Cox
19. 27R Clint Rothfus
20. 7L Ben Lucas - Willow Park, TX
21. 99 Jeff Knight
Feature #2
1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 77G Ryan Grochala
3. 4C Curt Reed
4. 12M Matt McDonald
5. 5A Tyler Pickett
6. 911 Darin Rothfus
7. 51 Matt Webb
8. 21X Brian Stich - Topeka, KS
9. 16B Jay Arends
10. 00 Kyle Dirks
11. 9 Andrew Arends
12. Jim Hall - Jackson, NE
13. 500 Garrett Eilander
14. 5 Dustin Lynch
15. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
16. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
17. 78B Andrew Burg
18. T71 Marcus Kyle
19. 31 Kyle Sidles - Algona, IA
20. 48B Brett Knight
Mod Lite - 20 cars
1. 46Z Bryan Zehm
2. 99 Josh May
3. 95 Mike Kennedy
4. Jeff Stensland
5. 01 David Schmalzried, Jr.
6. 8 Dusty Masolini
7. 11R Jason Whitehead
8. 64 Randy Bryan
9. 09 Joel Keenan
10. 3C Duane Coffman
11. 19 Brad Melton
12. 44J Justin Hopkins
13. 76 Terry Sorenson
14. 4L Larry Sorenson
15. 23 Michael Parcel
16. 08 Ben Larson
17. 15X Travis Brandt
18. 19JR Danny Foster
19. 93 Tim Milner
20. X50 Joel Huggins
Modified - 22 cars
1. 43S Scott Simatovich
2. 2L Adam Larson
3. 69X Jon Snyder
4. 28R Russ Dickerson
5. 18 Jake Durbin
6. 87 Joel Bushore
7. 57V Mike VanGenderen
8. 8s Kyle Strickler - Mooresville, NC
9. 19 Jimmy Gustin
10. 20W Shay Woods
11.58 Denny Pittman
12. 27 Kelly Lyons
13. 5 Todd Shute
14. 20 Luke Wanninger
15. 20X Chad Louk
16. 93 Cale Sponsler
17. 3Z Randy Havlik
18. 3W Chris Webb
19. 12C Kent Croskey
20. 49T Tim Stevens
21. 38H Joe Haresky - Apple Valley, CA
22. 2Z Zach Rawlins
SportMod - 34 cars
B Main - 4 advance
1. 17 Jon Plowman
2. 59 Tara Longnecker
3. 27 Tim Love
4. 66A Anthony Onstot
5. 27L Lukas Onstot
6. 4A Dan Swank
7. 3S Adam Shelman
8. 63 Daniel Tasler
9. 36H David Hoover
10. C63 Cory Tasler
11. 39 Larry Embrey
12. 56 Joe Simbro
13. 57R Ryan King
14. 33R Jesse McCollaugh
Feature
1. 24 Brian Miller
2. 30 Matt Pinegar
3. 182 Joe McBirnie
4. 91 Shawn Hunter
5. 9E Eric Elliott
6. 66 Cody Hennings
7. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
8. 81D Scott Davis
9. 23JR Nick Roberts
10. 3L Clint Luellen
11. 3F Cole Ferguson
12. 27 Tim Love
13. 57 Lynn Brockett
14. 22B Brian Eppert
15. 5B Tom Burke
16. 66A Anthony Onstot
17. 17 Jon Plowman
18. 50H Gary Holthaus - Topeka, KS
19. 80M Mike Wadel - Garden City, KS
20. 77 Jack Myer
21. 6 Darren Huntley
22. 59 Tara Longnecker
23. 34J Jerry Hinton
24. 1 Randy Roberts
Stock Car - 36 cars
B Main - 4 cars advance
1. 57 Lonnie Hodges
2. 11 Scott Seaman
3. 45 Larry Crocheck
4. 17R Derek Reimer
5. 76 Norm Belew
6. 22S Toby Smith
7. 6 Adam Hilgenberg
8. 26K Tony (Butch) Bass
9. 44 Todd Fisher
10. 77T Trent Jeanes
11. 04 Don Vis
12. 21 Ross Marshall
13. 46B Mike Bilyeu
14. 5 Keith Miner
DNS: 1Bradlee Clark
52 Ben Walding
Feature
1. 9 Jerry Gifford
2. 19J Jay Schmidt
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 35 Donavon Smith
5. 22 Wayne Gifford
6. 50 Robert Stofer
7. 25M Michael Murphy
8. 23HR Rod Richards
9. 25J Josh Daniels
10. 19A Alan VanGorp
11. 02 Mike Goldsberry
12. 55 Cory Bushnell
13. 24 Eric Brown
14. Cody Clark - Yorktown, IA
15. 27 Gary Bass
16. 11J Jeff Johnson
17. 566 Jim Lynch - Donnellson, IA
18. 17R Derek Reimer
19. 45 Larry Crocheck
20. 56 Lonnie Hodges
21. 3 Tim French
22. 11 Scott Seaman
23. 25X Bob Daniels
24. 12+ Ryan Rose
Hobby Stock - 41 cars
Feature #1
1. 99W Danny Watson
2. 4W John Watson
3. 51D Dustin Filloon
4. T53 Tim Barber
5. 32 Bill Atcheson
6. 47W Shaun Wirtz
7. 8B Robert Smith
8. 52 Josh Saunders
9. 78X Tim Hadley
10. 85 Seth Janssen
11. T15 Jacob Thompson
12. 46J Jesse Hopkins
13. 83S Scott Lograsso
14. 13D Dan Wetzel
15. 38R Aaron Rudolph
16. 1F Blaine Frist
17. 76 Richard Pahlka
18. 1BC Tony Cox
19. 27R Clint Rothfus
20. 7L Ben Lucas - Willow Park, TX
21. 99 Jeff Knight
Feature #2
1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 77G Ryan Grochala
3. 4C Curt Reed
4. 12M Matt McDonald
5. 5A Tyler Pickett
6. 911 Darin Rothfus
7. 51 Matt Webb
8. 21X Brian Stich - Topeka, KS
9. 16B Jay Arends
10. 00 Kyle Dirks
11. 9 Andrew Arends
12. Jim Hall - Jackson, NE
13. 500 Garrett Eilander
14. 5 Dustin Lynch
15. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
16. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
17. 78B Andrew Burg
18. T71 Marcus Kyle
19. 31 Kyle Sidles - Algona, IA
20. 48B Brett Knight
Mod Lite - 20 cars
1. 46Z Bryan Zehm
2. 99 Josh May
3. 95 Mike Kennedy
4. Jeff Stensland
5. 01 David Schmalzried, Jr.
6. 8 Dusty Masolini
7. 11R Jason Whitehead
8. 64 Randy Bryan
9. 09 Joel Keenan
10. 3C Duane Coffman
11. 19 Brad Melton
12. 44J Justin Hopkins
13. 76 Terry Sorenson
14. 4L Larry Sorenson
15. 23 Michael Parcel
16. 08 Ben Larson
17. 15X Travis Brandt
18. 19JR Danny Foster
19. 93 Tim Milner
20. X50 Joel Huggins
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Abelson takes bonus money at Marshalltown
A nice crowd was on hand last night at the Marshalltown Speedway. Mother Nature was cooperating with more tolerable temperatures which helped, but many came to see just who would stick around after the previous night's Harris Clash. The IMCA Modified feature was paying $1,000 to the winner, plus a $500 bonus if the winner had qualified for the A main the previous night at Knoxville. The SportMod winner was getting a $500 pay off, bringing in several extra cars.
Merv Chandler scored his 10th feature win in the Sport Compacts at the speedway last night. He grabbed the lead from Duayne Herb by lap 3 and motored off to the checkers. Herb finished second ahead of Travis Losenicky, John Gill and Neil Nobholz.
The Mod Lite feature went to Josh May.....his sixth of the year at Marshalltown. May took over the point by passing early leader Joel Huggins and then stretched out his lead from any challenger. Late in the race, Mike Morrill passed Huggins to snatch second place. Huggins retained third, Randy Bryan finished fourth and Jason Whitehead rounded out the top five.
The Hobby Stock feature was a repeat winner in Scott Pippert. Garrett Eilander led a good portion of the race but Pippert worked his way skillfully through the field from starting in eleventh place, picking off car after car. The feature went caution free yielding good racing action through the whole field. Following Pippert to the checkers was Eric Knutson who made the late pass on Eilander who finished third. Fourth went to Kevin Fee who came from tenth starting spot, and Gary Pfantz was fifth.
The Northern SportMods were vying for a $500 pay off to the winner. A B main was required to whittle the starting field to 24 cars. The B main went to Carter VandenBerg. This feature was an exciting one to watch for sure! A couple of yellow flags would halt the rhythm of the race early. The second one with ten laps still remaining found Clint Luellen leading the charge. As the race wound down, there were five cars digging hard for the top positions. Luellen yielded his lead to Brad Iverson and Nick Roberts threw his hat into the ring as the three went three-wide. Not far behind it was visitor Tyler Frye from Kansas and Racer Hulin getting quickly into the mix of things. Those five cars would give the fans a thrill for the last few circuits, racing closely in a pack. Iverson made it first to the checkers, close behind was Luellen, Frye, Roberts and Hulin.
Iverson scored his first victory at the track, piloting the car of Jason Hall. Iverson said he was offered the ride due to Hall suffering back problems. As a note, we heard talk in the pits afterwards of Iverson possibly being dq'd for a light weight gear, but we have since heard the disqualification was over turned.
It was certainly a night of repeat wins as the IMCA Stock Cars followed up with Trent Murphy making it two in a row. It turned out to be a Murphy and Murphy showdown as brothers Trent and Michael battled it out for much of the 18-laps. Jay Schmidt swung to the topside and made it a three-way race trying to reel in the leader. Trent Murphy opted to run the rim in turns three and four, diving to the bottom in one and two.
Brother Michael Murphy hugged the lowside the entire time and Schmidt kept it up top. The final circuit or two found both Murphy's at the bottom with Trent holding off Michael at the checkers. Schmidt finished third with Steve Meyer coming from starting ninth to take fourth place over Tracy Gienger who was fifth.
Damon Murty's bad luck continues. He was hauled off on the hook again, another dangling rear end from an incident caused by "no where to go" when a car spun in front of him. He just recently got his race car repaired and looking spiffy after a bad incident at the Benton County Speedway not long ago. It appears that Steve Meyer has now taken over the point lead from Murty.
Twenty-one IMCA Modifieds checked into the pits last night. Cars from several states and one from Canada were on hand. With the extra payoff in the event and a chance at even more with the $500 bonus in effect, we expected a great feature. The draw/redraw was implemented last night, and I believe there were no track points for the class. The lucky front row went to Chris Abelson from Sioux City and Jefferson, Iowa's Luke Wanninger. Wanninger we noted was sporting a spoiler again...a 3" I believe, and running the 604 test crate motor. Wanninger took command early on and was sailing off with a lengthy lead, leaving his competition in the dust. Abelson was running in second keeping ahead of Jimmy Gustin, Adam Larson and Kyle Brown. We kept noticing Abelson's glowing brake rotors as he entered low in turn one and wondered if this would cause any issues as the race continued caution free. It was appearing Wanninger was going to win another and take the $1,000 plus the $500 since he had made the A main at the Harris Clash the night before. Never assume anything! Wanninger suddenly dropped low in turn two and pulled into the infield a lap from the finish!! This put Abelson in the catbird seat, much to his delight no doubt. Jimmy Gustin made it an exciting finish the final few feet, but came up just shy of making it first to the checkers. Adam Larson...who was also running the test crate I believe...finished third, Kyle Brown was fourth and Ricky "The Racer" Stephan from South Sioux City, Nebraska rounded out the top five. Since Abelson had also made the feature in the Harris Clash, he went home with a $1,500 winning night. The race did go flag to flag, making for constant action the entire event.
For the official results and other information, be sure and check www.marshalltownspeedway.com.
It's off to the Boone Speedway for us tonight...making it our fifth night of racing in a row. We are finding it not as easy to handle as in years past, but still love it. Can't think of a better thing to do than be sitting at a dirt race. Happy racing!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Strickler and Lettow take thrilling wins at "The Clash"
It was sure a welcome relief to have "only" low 90's for temperatures on Thursday for the greatly anticipated running of the 21st Annual Harris Clash. There was a nice field of 72 IMCA Modifieds and 69 IMCA SportMods on hand to try their hand at taming the famed 1/2 mile of the Knoxville Speedway. Each class ran eight heats, and four B mains to determine their starting field. A passing points system was implemented this year, giving some drivers that weren't so lucky with the draw in their heats, a good chance of gaining valuable passing points to qualify. Three drivers qualified from each of 4 B mains in each class as well.
The IMCA Northern SportMods went 20-laps in their main event....and it was a good one. Joel Rust took off from his pole starting spot and led until lap eleven when 2009 Harris Clash champion Matt Lettow from Roland, Iowa grabbed the lead. Meanwhile, the successful driver out of Glenwood, Iowa, Jesse Sobbing had made his way through the field from qualifying through a B main, to run in the fifth spot. Ahead of him was Carter VanDenBerg and Scott Davis, with Rust continuing his run in the second spot. The first yellow of the race came out with just two laps remaining, setting up a shoot out. With a lap to go, Davis, Sobbing and now Tyler Droste (who had started dead last) were locked in a pack fighting for third, Rust keeping the advantage in second. Lettow must have been happy to have those behind him digging hard, as he took the checkers...securing his second Harris Clash win. Rust finished as the runner-up and Sobbing made it to the podium to claim third. Droste finished with a fine run to claim fourth and Carter VandenBerg fought by Scott Davis as they were scored in fifth and sixth.
We caught Lettow just before he and his dad....his pit crew on this night...headed back to Roland. He was a happy camper with his win, to say the least. His wife, kids and mother were back home and had watched the race on the web. Would imagine the house was jumping while they watched from afar!
The main event for the Modified's started 26 cars. I believe the last two starting cars were provisionals, those being Josh "Happy" Gilman, and Billy Davis, Jr. Excitement was growing after the four-wide salute parade lap, but who would have guessed the race would go 25-laps caution free? Shane DeMey, the Denison, Iowa driver, and Kyle Strickler, "The High Side Tickler", from North Carolina, sat on the front row. Strickler took command quickly, putting distance between himself and DeMay, running in second. By the halfway mark, Jeremy Mills had made his way past DeMay to take over second place. After that, it was all about the top two, as they battled closely, Mills preferring the top of the corners, Strickler holding his line just a bit lower. With just a few laps remaining, it appeared that lap traffic could play into contention, but luckily, that never occurred as the two fought it out. From our point of view, it looked to be Mills gaining a slight advantage over Strickler with a lap remaining, but Strickler fought back. and going down the backstretch and into corner three, edged ahead and took the win! That great finish between the two, was well worth the trip! Shane DeMey held on to finish third ahead of Jon Snyder and "The Flyin' Dutchman" Mike VanGenderen rounded out the top five.
We made our way to the pits to chat with a few drivers after the races. One in particular we wanted to catch up with was Tom Charles, the driver from Bonner Springs, Kansas who dusted off an old race car to come and play at Knoxville. He had recently taken a horrible ride at Thunderhill Speedway, destroying his car in a spectacular roll, tumbling over a cement wall. It has been all over the internet with the video taping of it....one by his wife DeeDee (she didn't know it was him as she filmed) and his comment was he was lucky to be here and thankful the Good Lord was looking over him. He didn't suffer any injuries, which is amazing. He told us that he "tucked himself" as he launched...a very wise decision! You can find it on YouTube by searching "Tom Charles".
More good racing still ahead as the season begins to wind down. Get out and find a race to attend. Happy racing!
The IMCA Northern SportMods went 20-laps in their main event....and it was a good one. Joel Rust took off from his pole starting spot and led until lap eleven when 2009 Harris Clash champion Matt Lettow from Roland, Iowa grabbed the lead. Meanwhile, the successful driver out of Glenwood, Iowa, Jesse Sobbing had made his way through the field from qualifying through a B main, to run in the fifth spot. Ahead of him was Carter VanDenBerg and Scott Davis, with Rust continuing his run in the second spot. The first yellow of the race came out with just two laps remaining, setting up a shoot out. With a lap to go, Davis, Sobbing and now Tyler Droste (who had started dead last) were locked in a pack fighting for third, Rust keeping the advantage in second. Lettow must have been happy to have those behind him digging hard, as he took the checkers...securing his second Harris Clash win. Rust finished as the runner-up and Sobbing made it to the podium to claim third. Droste finished with a fine run to claim fourth and Carter VandenBerg fought by Scott Davis as they were scored in fifth and sixth.
We caught Lettow just before he and his dad....his pit crew on this night...headed back to Roland. He was a happy camper with his win, to say the least. His wife, kids and mother were back home and had watched the race on the web. Would imagine the house was jumping while they watched from afar!
The main event for the Modified's started 26 cars. I believe the last two starting cars were provisionals, those being Josh "Happy" Gilman, and Billy Davis, Jr. Excitement was growing after the four-wide salute parade lap, but who would have guessed the race would go 25-laps caution free? Shane DeMey, the Denison, Iowa driver, and Kyle Strickler, "The High Side Tickler", from North Carolina, sat on the front row. Strickler took command quickly, putting distance between himself and DeMay, running in second. By the halfway mark, Jeremy Mills had made his way past DeMay to take over second place. After that, it was all about the top two, as they battled closely, Mills preferring the top of the corners, Strickler holding his line just a bit lower. With just a few laps remaining, it appeared that lap traffic could play into contention, but luckily, that never occurred as the two fought it out. From our point of view, it looked to be Mills gaining a slight advantage over Strickler with a lap remaining, but Strickler fought back. and going down the backstretch and into corner three, edged ahead and took the win! That great finish between the two, was well worth the trip! Shane DeMey held on to finish third ahead of Jon Snyder and "The Flyin' Dutchman" Mike VanGenderen rounded out the top five.
We made our way to the pits to chat with a few drivers after the races. One in particular we wanted to catch up with was Tom Charles, the driver from Bonner Springs, Kansas who dusted off an old race car to come and play at Knoxville. He had recently taken a horrible ride at Thunderhill Speedway, destroying his car in a spectacular roll, tumbling over a cement wall. It has been all over the internet with the video taping of it....one by his wife DeeDee (she didn't know it was him as she filmed) and his comment was he was lucky to be here and thankful the Good Lord was looking over him. He didn't suffer any injuries, which is amazing. He told us that he "tucked himself" as he launched...a very wise decision! You can find it on YouTube by searching "Tom Charles".
More good racing still ahead as the season begins to wind down. Get out and find a race to attend. Happy racing!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Strickler shows local boys how it's done
Mother Nature punished us even more on Wednesday night at Osky, than it had on Tuesday night! It was a scorcher for sure. Our vehicle showed 104 degrees as we arrived and with the heat index, it felt even worse! We hydrated constantly and a bit of breeze was a saving grace. The Southern Iowa Speedway ran their regular night's show, following up from the previous night's Hawkeye Dirt Tour special--both going on during the Southern Iowa Fair. This was a draw/redraw format again, and the Modifieds got another $1,000 payday; winner qualifying for the Fast Shaft's All-Star Invitational for 2013.
It was the Chandler/Whalen show again in the IMCA Sport Compacts. And for the third race in a row, it was Dallas Chandler taking the win....driving the 00W car of Bill Whalen. Chandler's car, driven again by Bill Whalen, finished second. I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind the two switching cars the past several races. Merv Chandler was third, John Whalen fourth and Duwayne Herb was fifth.
The Hobby Stock class saw a three-in-a-row winner in Dustin Griffiths. Griffiths was the lucky pole redraw recipient, Donovan Nunnikhoven drew #2. Griffiths, Nunnikhoven and Kevin Fee put on a battle for the top spot in the first few laps, but point leader Shannon Anderson had chosen the low line and was digging hard, running in fourth. There was contact made at lap six on the front chute between Anderson and Fee---Fee struggling to maintain control, and luckily anything worse was avoided. The yellow came out and Anderson was sent to restart at the back of the pack for rough driving. Fee also rejoined the field at the back of the pack after changing two flat tires, but appearing to have some suspension issues from the incident. Griffiths maintained his point position as the race restarted, and soon Mike Hughes took over the runner up spot. Anderson was digging hard once again and had made it back up to third with two laps remaining, when one of those "oops" moments sent him into a spin at the bottom of turn one with a flat right rear. The race continued without a yellow and Griffiths pulled away at the checkers to take his win, his third in a row. Mike Hughes held second, Nunnikhoven was third and Danny Thrasher and Bobby Greene were fourth and fifth.
The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars were on deck next. Nathan Wood and Matt Greiner were the lucky front row starters. Those two would fight it out for the first few laps, until at lap four, a caution flew, yielding a restart situation. Damon Murty, the Chelsea Charger, had made his way into third spot from starting back in row five, and was looking for more. Murty would later slip off the backstretch, bringing out a yellow, and having to rejoin the field at the back. By this time, Matt Greiner was in command and it was the familiar orange car piloted by Zack VanderBeek that had flown on the topside to take over second. Those two would battle closely for several laps, VanderBeek taking the top spot and the eventual win. Greiner finished a close second over Colt Mather in third and Brad Pinkerton and Nathan Wood finished fourth and fifth.
A nice competitive field of eighteen IMCA Modifieds were on hand to put on a show for the fans on the hotter than hot Wednesday night. A few non-regular drivers from the previous night remained to run the show---Mark Elliott, Colorado driver Jeremy Frenier, Kyle Strickler from North Carolina, and David Murray, Kansas. They were joined by a few new faces on the night---Adam Larson, Todd Shute, Ryan Cook, young Devin Havlik, son of former Stock Car driver Jeff Havlik, Joe Haresky from Apple Valley, California and Josh Most...the guy who will race anything.
The 20-lap race front row starters were Brandon "Hollywood" Banks", and North Carolina's Kyle Strickler, "The High Side Tickler". Strickler took off immediately to the race lead but by lap five, it was the 48J of Jacob Murray reeling him in. Murray, who has had much success at the Monster Half-Mile this year, winning five features, was looking strong. Murray swung around Strickler by lap seven and was pulling away when Lady Luck ran out for him a few laps later. Murray's motor went up in a cloud of smoke, ending his night. They say they always run like the dickens before they blow, and that seemed to be the case last night.This put Strickler back to the point position on the restart and Josh Most tailing him. Those two fought it out the final laps, Most nearly kissing the fence in an attempt to make the pass. It wasn't to be, as Strickler took the win, Most taking the runner up spot. Todd Shute came out of row five to take third, Brandon Banks stuck around the front and finished fourth and Andrew Schroeder finished fifth.
Strickler was a happy camper in victory lane, showing a great deal of enthusiasm over his win at a dirt track in Iowa. He had popped a motor the previous night...his "big one" and only had one spare..."the little one" which he put in, and was running last night. He chose the lower line last night, not showing his nickname of "High Side Tickler" and it proved to be the winning decision.
By the time the final feature of the evening was run, the IMCA Northern SportMod class, it was finally feeling more comfortable. The bit of breeze that was blowing had been a life saver and was then giving even more relief. The starting front row was Eric Flander and the guy who hauls three and a half hours each week from southwestern Iowa, Jesse Sobbing. This one was no contest as Sobbing flew to the lead, and motored off for another win. Brett Lowry ran a good race to finish in second, though a distance behind the leader, and trailing him a good distance to capture third was previous night winner, Curtis VanDerWal. Ben Kates from Kansas came home in fourth and Eric Flander rounded out the top five.
We expect to see many of the non-regular drivers we saw running at Osky the past two night, at the Harris Clash tonight. This is always a "must see" event for us each and every year, run on the famed Knoxville track. I believe the Marion County Fair is also on, so looks like we will be seeing another one of Iowa's many county fairs going on at this time of year. For more info on the Harris Clash, check www.harrisclash.com. There should be a list of pre-registered drivers on the website that you may wish to check. Until next time---Happy racing!
It was the Chandler/Whalen show again in the IMCA Sport Compacts. And for the third race in a row, it was Dallas Chandler taking the win....driving the 00W car of Bill Whalen. Chandler's car, driven again by Bill Whalen, finished second. I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind the two switching cars the past several races. Merv Chandler was third, John Whalen fourth and Duwayne Herb was fifth.
The Hobby Stock class saw a three-in-a-row winner in Dustin Griffiths. Griffiths was the lucky pole redraw recipient, Donovan Nunnikhoven drew #2. Griffiths, Nunnikhoven and Kevin Fee put on a battle for the top spot in the first few laps, but point leader Shannon Anderson had chosen the low line and was digging hard, running in fourth. There was contact made at lap six on the front chute between Anderson and Fee---Fee struggling to maintain control, and luckily anything worse was avoided. The yellow came out and Anderson was sent to restart at the back of the pack for rough driving. Fee also rejoined the field at the back of the pack after changing two flat tires, but appearing to have some suspension issues from the incident. Griffiths maintained his point position as the race restarted, and soon Mike Hughes took over the runner up spot. Anderson was digging hard once again and had made it back up to third with two laps remaining, when one of those "oops" moments sent him into a spin at the bottom of turn one with a flat right rear. The race continued without a yellow and Griffiths pulled away at the checkers to take his win, his third in a row. Mike Hughes held second, Nunnikhoven was third and Danny Thrasher and Bobby Greene were fourth and fifth.
The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars were on deck next. Nathan Wood and Matt Greiner were the lucky front row starters. Those two would fight it out for the first few laps, until at lap four, a caution flew, yielding a restart situation. Damon Murty, the Chelsea Charger, had made his way into third spot from starting back in row five, and was looking for more. Murty would later slip off the backstretch, bringing out a yellow, and having to rejoin the field at the back. By this time, Matt Greiner was in command and it was the familiar orange car piloted by Zack VanderBeek that had flown on the topside to take over second. Those two would battle closely for several laps, VanderBeek taking the top spot and the eventual win. Greiner finished a close second over Colt Mather in third and Brad Pinkerton and Nathan Wood finished fourth and fifth.
A nice competitive field of eighteen IMCA Modifieds were on hand to put on a show for the fans on the hotter than hot Wednesday night. A few non-regular drivers from the previous night remained to run the show---Mark Elliott, Colorado driver Jeremy Frenier, Kyle Strickler from North Carolina, and David Murray, Kansas. They were joined by a few new faces on the night---Adam Larson, Todd Shute, Ryan Cook, young Devin Havlik, son of former Stock Car driver Jeff Havlik, Joe Haresky from Apple Valley, California and Josh Most...the guy who will race anything.
The 20-lap race front row starters were Brandon "Hollywood" Banks", and North Carolina's Kyle Strickler, "The High Side Tickler". Strickler took off immediately to the race lead but by lap five, it was the 48J of Jacob Murray reeling him in. Murray, who has had much success at the Monster Half-Mile this year, winning five features, was looking strong. Murray swung around Strickler by lap seven and was pulling away when Lady Luck ran out for him a few laps later. Murray's motor went up in a cloud of smoke, ending his night. They say they always run like the dickens before they blow, and that seemed to be the case last night.This put Strickler back to the point position on the restart and Josh Most tailing him. Those two fought it out the final laps, Most nearly kissing the fence in an attempt to make the pass. It wasn't to be, as Strickler took the win, Most taking the runner up spot. Todd Shute came out of row five to take third, Brandon Banks stuck around the front and finished fourth and Andrew Schroeder finished fifth.
Strickler was a happy camper in victory lane, showing a great deal of enthusiasm over his win at a dirt track in Iowa. He had popped a motor the previous night...his "big one" and only had one spare..."the little one" which he put in, and was running last night. He chose the lower line last night, not showing his nickname of "High Side Tickler" and it proved to be the winning decision.
By the time the final feature of the evening was run, the IMCA Northern SportMod class, it was finally feeling more comfortable. The bit of breeze that was blowing had been a life saver and was then giving even more relief. The starting front row was Eric Flander and the guy who hauls three and a half hours each week from southwestern Iowa, Jesse Sobbing. This one was no contest as Sobbing flew to the lead, and motored off for another win. Brett Lowry ran a good race to finish in second, though a distance behind the leader, and trailing him a good distance to capture third was previous night winner, Curtis VanDerWal. Ben Kates from Kansas came home in fourth and Eric Flander rounded out the top five.
We expect to see many of the non-regular drivers we saw running at Osky the past two night, at the Harris Clash tonight. This is always a "must see" event for us each and every year, run on the famed Knoxville track. I believe the Marion County Fair is also on, so looks like we will be seeing another one of Iowa's many county fairs going on at this time of year. For more info on the Harris Clash, check www.harrisclash.com. There should be a list of pre-registered drivers on the website that you may wish to check. Until next time---Happy racing!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Osky - 7-18-12
Unofficial results:
Modified:
1. 8s Kyle Strickler, Mooresville, NC
2. 92 Josh Most
3. 5 Todd Shute
4. 22 Brandon Banks
5. 02 Andrew Schroeder
6. 12 Mark Elliott
7. 97M David Murray, KS
8. 17J Jeremy Frenier, CO
9. 2L Adam Larson
10. 1+ Billy Davis, Jr.
11. 12H Dakota Hayden
12. 10C Cayden Carter
13. 36 Jeff Conner
14. 36H Joe Haresky, Apple Valley, CA
DNF: 48J Jacob Murray - blew up while leading by good margin
27 Ryan Cook
5D Devin Havlik
62 Greg Cox
SportMod
1. 99 Jesse Sobbing
2. 72 Brett Lowry
3. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
4. 23K Ben Kates, KS
5. 12 Eric Flander
6. 1X Austin Kaplan
7. 7 Carter VandenBerg
8. 32L Ty Luellen
9. 36 Jason Mallicoat
10. 8T Tony Johnson
11. 48R Bill Redlinger
Stock Car
1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 29 Matt Greiner
3. 8 Colt Mather
4. 62 Brad Pinkerton
5. 52 Nathan Wood
6. 30J Alex Buffington
7. 99D Damon Murty
8. 22R Todd Reitzler
9. 19A Alan VanGorp
10. 7 Todd Phillips
11. 73C Carl Yaw
12. 94 Corey Stout
DNF: 49G Leroy Groenendyk
DNS: 19J Jay Schmidt
Hobby Stock
1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 18H Mike Hughes
3. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
4. 84 Danny Thrasher
5. 32T Bobby Greene
6. 6 Jarred Gann
7. 77 Derek Hodges
8. 73 Aaron Martin
DNF: 52 Kevin Fee
78 Shannon Anderson
DNS: 33 Justin Hook
Sport Compact
1. 00W Dallas Chandler (in Bill Whalen's car)
2. 26 Bill Whalen (in Dallas Chandler's car)
3. 2 Merv Chandler
4. 77 John Chandler
5. 57X Duwayne Herb
6. 04 Trent Orwig
Blog to follow
Modified:
1. 8s Kyle Strickler, Mooresville, NC
2. 92 Josh Most
3. 5 Todd Shute
4. 22 Brandon Banks
5. 02 Andrew Schroeder
6. 12 Mark Elliott
7. 97M David Murray, KS
8. 17J Jeremy Frenier, CO
9. 2L Adam Larson
10. 1+ Billy Davis, Jr.
11. 12H Dakota Hayden
12. 10C Cayden Carter
13. 36 Jeff Conner
14. 36H Joe Haresky, Apple Valley, CA
DNF: 48J Jacob Murray - blew up while leading by good margin
27 Ryan Cook
5D Devin Havlik
62 Greg Cox
SportMod
1. 99 Jesse Sobbing
2. 72 Brett Lowry
3. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
4. 23K Ben Kates, KS
5. 12 Eric Flander
6. 1X Austin Kaplan
7. 7 Carter VandenBerg
8. 32L Ty Luellen
9. 36 Jason Mallicoat
10. 8T Tony Johnson
11. 48R Bill Redlinger
Stock Car
1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 29 Matt Greiner
3. 8 Colt Mather
4. 62 Brad Pinkerton
5. 52 Nathan Wood
6. 30J Alex Buffington
7. 99D Damon Murty
8. 22R Todd Reitzler
9. 19A Alan VanGorp
10. 7 Todd Phillips
11. 73C Carl Yaw
12. 94 Corey Stout
DNF: 49G Leroy Groenendyk
DNS: 19J Jay Schmidt
Hobby Stock
1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 18H Mike Hughes
3. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
4. 84 Danny Thrasher
5. 32T Bobby Greene
6. 6 Jarred Gann
7. 77 Derek Hodges
8. 73 Aaron Martin
DNF: 52 Kevin Fee
78 Shannon Anderson
DNS: 33 Justin Hook
Sport Compact
1. 00W Dallas Chandler (in Bill Whalen's car)
2. 26 Bill Whalen (in Dallas Chandler's car)
3. 2 Merv Chandler
4. 77 John Chandler
5. 57X Duwayne Herb
6. 04 Trent Orwig
Blog to follow
Long adds name to list of HDT winners
The sights and sounds...and smells...of county fair time in Iowa greeted us at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa on Tuesday night. But it was the grandstand show that we were most interested in as the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour for Modifieds was in town. This was the HDT's first time at the big old Monster Half-Mile and we were looking forward to it. Stock cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts were also on the docket. Only one yellow flag would fly in all of those features, but the HDT Modified feature was a different story.
The Northern SportMods started off feature event racing. Fourteen year old Sam Wieben led the opening lap but Curtis VanDerWal took command by lap two. VanDerWal was soon minus his air cleaner filter, which landed up near the fence and out of harms way. A yellow flew at lap six for Corey VanZante stopped up in turn four...one of his wheels rolling across the track. With but that single yellow flag, the race resumed and went caution free the remainder of the way, VanDerWal keeping the lead and taking the win. Jesse Sobbing, the point leader had started back in the fifth row, but had quickly advanced through the pack. Sobbing was unable to run down VanDerWal on this night however, and had to settle for second. Third went to Brett Lowry in a good run to capture third, and young Sam Wieben finished fourth and Carter VandenBerg finished fifth from starting at the back of the field. This was VanDerWal's first win at the track since nabbing the 2011 season finale.
The Hobby Stocks ran off their 15-lapper caution free. Dustin Griffiths went to the lead on the first lap, and would pull away. While Griffiths was on cruise control, it was Craig Brown and Mike Hughes in hot pursuit. Hughes would establish second place, but then there was a heated battle for third place with five cars going at it. Craig Brown was having a hard time holding off Bobby Greene, Nick Ulin, Kevin Fee and Danny Thrasher, all running wheel to wheel at times. Griffiths took the win--his second of the year--Hughes keeping second. Third went to Craig Brown, and Bobby Greene held off Nick Ulin as they finished fourth and fifth.
The IMCA Stock Cars followed up with another caution free race. With the draw/redraw format in place again last night, we saw the orange #33Z in the lucky #1 starting spot. We thought it just might be another runaway. We were right, as Zack VanderBeek immediately took charge and drove off into the sunset--far ahead of any competition.--"out in front and showing the way" as announcer Tony Paris puts it. A lot of good racing was going on behind him though as a pack of six cars clawed for position. Damon Murty won out for the runner up spot. Corey "from just across the street" Stout finished third. Tama's Jay Schmidt brought his new car to play again last night, and fought his way to a fourth place finish. Alex Buffington rounded out the top five. Close behind were Matt Greiner and veteran Don Killen in sixth and seventh.
A field of eight IMCA Sport Compacts were present last night. There was still some car and driver swapping going on last night. Dallas Chandler and Bill Whalen swapped rides again as they had last week. Chandler led all eight laps of the caution free feature event. Bill Whalen chased him the entire way to finish second. Tyler Whalen finished a close third over Merv Chandler in fourth and John Whalen in fifth. It was a Chandler/Whalen show last night for sure!
Now came time for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour 25-lap main attraction. Earlier, the top 12 drivers had established their starting positions through a little contest of "I'll keep my unknown draw number, or pass it to someone else". It worked to race manager Mike VanGenderen's advantage to get his original unknown number back from Richie Gustin, who opted to send it back to him. Yup...the #1 pill!
This one was a hard one to get started! A caution at lap two took three tries to get another lap in as incidents on the track would halt racing. The drivers were told after three attempts of double file restarts, if they could not get a lap in, it would revert to single file starting order. The warning must have worked as this time we got to lap eight before any stoppage when the 48J of Jacob Murray brought out the yellow. On lap nine, it was debris bringing out the caution another time. Thankfully, that was the final time the yellow would fly on the evening. Michael Long, Quincy, Illinois, had meanwhile been keeping well ahead of his competition after taking the lead at lap one. Long would never be seriously challenged and took the win. Luke Wanninger, who was driving the IMCA crate test motor and sporting a spoiler, (I think I've got that right THIS week, as we heard it announced several times over the PA last night) finished second having made it from his twelfth starting position. Third was point leader in the HDT series, Richie Gustin, fourth went to Jay Noteboom driving the car usually piloted by Joel Bushore, and the man in charge at the weekly shows, Mike "The Flyin' Dutchman" VanGenderen finished fifth.
Twenty-seven Modifieds were in attendance last night. Among those in the field not normally in the area were David Murray, Oberlin, Kansas, Kyle "The High-side Tickler" Strickler from Mooresville, NC, and Jeremy Frenier from Ft. Morgan, Colorado. We would assume that those drivers came a bit early for the Thursday night Harris Clash at Knoxville, and hopefully may be in attendance at the regular Osky show tonight. Once again, we were happy to be enjoying the races with great racing friends. Be sure and catch fellow blogger Jeff Broeg's take of the night's action on "The Backstretch" at Positively Racing. We will be heading back down for that regular show again tonight, which will no doubt be another scorcher. Hope to see you there. Happy racing!
The Northern SportMods started off feature event racing. Fourteen year old Sam Wieben led the opening lap but Curtis VanDerWal took command by lap two. VanDerWal was soon minus his air cleaner filter, which landed up near the fence and out of harms way. A yellow flew at lap six for Corey VanZante stopped up in turn four...one of his wheels rolling across the track. With but that single yellow flag, the race resumed and went caution free the remainder of the way, VanDerWal keeping the lead and taking the win. Jesse Sobbing, the point leader had started back in the fifth row, but had quickly advanced through the pack. Sobbing was unable to run down VanDerWal on this night however, and had to settle for second. Third went to Brett Lowry in a good run to capture third, and young Sam Wieben finished fourth and Carter VandenBerg finished fifth from starting at the back of the field. This was VanDerWal's first win at the track since nabbing the 2011 season finale.
The Hobby Stocks ran off their 15-lapper caution free. Dustin Griffiths went to the lead on the first lap, and would pull away. While Griffiths was on cruise control, it was Craig Brown and Mike Hughes in hot pursuit. Hughes would establish second place, but then there was a heated battle for third place with five cars going at it. Craig Brown was having a hard time holding off Bobby Greene, Nick Ulin, Kevin Fee and Danny Thrasher, all running wheel to wheel at times. Griffiths took the win--his second of the year--Hughes keeping second. Third went to Craig Brown, and Bobby Greene held off Nick Ulin as they finished fourth and fifth.
The IMCA Stock Cars followed up with another caution free race. With the draw/redraw format in place again last night, we saw the orange #33Z in the lucky #1 starting spot. We thought it just might be another runaway. We were right, as Zack VanderBeek immediately took charge and drove off into the sunset--far ahead of any competition.--"out in front and showing the way" as announcer Tony Paris puts it. A lot of good racing was going on behind him though as a pack of six cars clawed for position. Damon Murty won out for the runner up spot. Corey "from just across the street" Stout finished third. Tama's Jay Schmidt brought his new car to play again last night, and fought his way to a fourth place finish. Alex Buffington rounded out the top five. Close behind were Matt Greiner and veteran Don Killen in sixth and seventh.
A field of eight IMCA Sport Compacts were present last night. There was still some car and driver swapping going on last night. Dallas Chandler and Bill Whalen swapped rides again as they had last week. Chandler led all eight laps of the caution free feature event. Bill Whalen chased him the entire way to finish second. Tyler Whalen finished a close third over Merv Chandler in fourth and John Whalen in fifth. It was a Chandler/Whalen show last night for sure!
Now came time for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour 25-lap main attraction. Earlier, the top 12 drivers had established their starting positions through a little contest of "I'll keep my unknown draw number, or pass it to someone else". It worked to race manager Mike VanGenderen's advantage to get his original unknown number back from Richie Gustin, who opted to send it back to him. Yup...the #1 pill!
This one was a hard one to get started! A caution at lap two took three tries to get another lap in as incidents on the track would halt racing. The drivers were told after three attempts of double file restarts, if they could not get a lap in, it would revert to single file starting order. The warning must have worked as this time we got to lap eight before any stoppage when the 48J of Jacob Murray brought out the yellow. On lap nine, it was debris bringing out the caution another time. Thankfully, that was the final time the yellow would fly on the evening. Michael Long, Quincy, Illinois, had meanwhile been keeping well ahead of his competition after taking the lead at lap one. Long would never be seriously challenged and took the win. Luke Wanninger, who was driving the IMCA crate test motor and sporting a spoiler, (I think I've got that right THIS week, as we heard it announced several times over the PA last night) finished second having made it from his twelfth starting position. Third was point leader in the HDT series, Richie Gustin, fourth went to Jay Noteboom driving the car usually piloted by Joel Bushore, and the man in charge at the weekly shows, Mike "The Flyin' Dutchman" VanGenderen finished fifth.
Twenty-seven Modifieds were in attendance last night. Among those in the field not normally in the area were David Murray, Oberlin, Kansas, Kyle "The High-side Tickler" Strickler from Mooresville, NC, and Jeremy Frenier from Ft. Morgan, Colorado. We would assume that those drivers came a bit early for the Thursday night Harris Clash at Knoxville, and hopefully may be in attendance at the regular Osky show tonight. Once again, we were happy to be enjoying the races with great racing friends. Be sure and catch fellow blogger Jeff Broeg's take of the night's action on "The Backstretch" at Positively Racing. We will be heading back down for that regular show again tonight, which will no doubt be another scorcher. Hope to see you there. Happy racing!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Osky Hawkeye Dirt Tour - 7-17-12
Unofficial results:
HDT Modifieds
1. 18L Michael Long - FORD powered per announcer and crew chief's comment in pre-race interview
2. 20X Luke Wanninger - running crate with spoiler
3. 19G Richie Gustin
4. 87 Jay Noteboom - in Joel Bushore's car
5. 57V Mike VanGenderen
6. 10M Jeremy Mills
7. 97M David Murray KS
8. 27M Mark Schulte
9. 12 Mark Elliott
10. 8S Kyle Strickler - NC
11. 11D Ryan Dolan
12. 8 Rich Smith
13. 02 Andrew Schroeder
14. 71W Jeff Waterman
15. 36 Jeff Conner
16. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
17. 6 Jason Shoenberger KS
DNF: 11 Ray Cox, Jr.
12H Dakota Hayden
10C Cayden Carter
48J Jacob Murray
62 Greg Cox
14 Tyler Cale
7S Wade Francis
40 Scott Dickey
17J Jeremy Freiner - CO
19D Darin Duffy
SportMod
1. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
2. 99 Jesse Sobbing
3. 72 Brett Lowry
4. 198 Sam Wieben - 14 years old
5. 7 Carter VandenBerg
6. 67 Chris Larson
7. 10R Ryan Fullencamp
8. 32L Ty Luellen
9. 12 Eric Flander
10. 8T Tony Johnson
11. 182 Joe McBirnie
DNF: 182 Joe McBirnie
19J Jenae Gustin
34Z Corey VanZante
DNS: 85 Jason McDaniel
38 Bill Gibson
Stock Car
1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 99D Damon Murty
3. 94 Corey Stout
4. 19J Jay Schmidt
5. 30J Alex Buffington
6. 29 Matt Greiner
7. 81 Don Killen
8. 62 Brad Pinkerton
9. 22R Todd Reitzler
10. 73C Carl Yaw
11. 7 Todd Phillips
12. 49G Nathan Wood - in Leroy Groendyk's car
DNF: 19A Alan VanGorp
02 Mike Goldsberry
Hobby Stock
1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 18H Mike Hughes
3. 69 Craig Brown
4. 32T Bobby Greene
5. 21 Nick Ulin
6. 52 Kevin Fee
7. 84 Danny Thrasher
8. 78 Shannon Anderson
9. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
10. 33 Justin Hook
11. 6 Jarred Gann
DNF: 77 Derek Hodges
19A August Bach
27C Cory Adams
Sport Compact
1. 00W Dallas Chandler
2. 26 Bill Whalen
3. 07 Tyler Whalen
4. 2 Merv Chandler
5. 77 John Whalen
6. 57X Duwayne Herb
DNF: 59R Ron McCish
04 Trent Orwig
Blog to follow
HDT Modifieds
1. 18L Michael Long - FORD powered per announcer and crew chief's comment in pre-race interview
2. 20X Luke Wanninger - running crate with spoiler
3. 19G Richie Gustin
4. 87 Jay Noteboom - in Joel Bushore's car
5. 57V Mike VanGenderen
6. 10M Jeremy Mills
7. 97M David Murray KS
8. 27M Mark Schulte
9. 12 Mark Elliott
10. 8S Kyle Strickler - NC
11. 11D Ryan Dolan
12. 8 Rich Smith
13. 02 Andrew Schroeder
14. 71W Jeff Waterman
15. 36 Jeff Conner
16. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
17. 6 Jason Shoenberger KS
DNF: 11 Ray Cox, Jr.
12H Dakota Hayden
10C Cayden Carter
48J Jacob Murray
62 Greg Cox
14 Tyler Cale
7S Wade Francis
40 Scott Dickey
17J Jeremy Freiner - CO
19D Darin Duffy
SportMod
1. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
2. 99 Jesse Sobbing
3. 72 Brett Lowry
4. 198 Sam Wieben - 14 years old
5. 7 Carter VandenBerg
6. 67 Chris Larson
7. 10R Ryan Fullencamp
8. 32L Ty Luellen
9. 12 Eric Flander
10. 8T Tony Johnson
11. 182 Joe McBirnie
DNF: 182 Joe McBirnie
19J Jenae Gustin
34Z Corey VanZante
DNS: 85 Jason McDaniel
38 Bill Gibson
Stock Car
1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 99D Damon Murty
3. 94 Corey Stout
4. 19J Jay Schmidt
5. 30J Alex Buffington
6. 29 Matt Greiner
7. 81 Don Killen
8. 62 Brad Pinkerton
9. 22R Todd Reitzler
10. 73C Carl Yaw
11. 7 Todd Phillips
12. 49G Nathan Wood - in Leroy Groendyk's car
DNF: 19A Alan VanGorp
02 Mike Goldsberry
Hobby Stock
1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 18H Mike Hughes
3. 69 Craig Brown
4. 32T Bobby Greene
5. 21 Nick Ulin
6. 52 Kevin Fee
7. 84 Danny Thrasher
8. 78 Shannon Anderson
9. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
10. 33 Justin Hook
11. 6 Jarred Gann
DNF: 77 Derek Hodges
19A August Bach
27C Cory Adams
Sport Compact
1. 00W Dallas Chandler
2. 26 Bill Whalen
3. 07 Tyler Whalen
4. 2 Merv Chandler
5. 77 John Whalen
6. 57X Duwayne Herb
DNF: 59R Ron McCish
04 Trent Orwig
Blog to follow
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Change of plans still yields us racing on Saturday night
We had just headed out for our usual trip to the Boone Speedway on Saturday. We had seen a big red blob on radar looking to be in the area however, and did have a concern that it could "do in" the races. Sure enough, not long into our voyage, I got the text saying "canceled". About an inch of rain had dumped there in a short period of time. Another check of radar showed everything threatening was south of Highway 20, so off we went to Webster City! Back in the late 80's and early 90's, the Hamilton County Speedway was our Saturday night home, so it was kind of nostalgic to be going back for a weekly show after so many years. We have been there for specials as of recent times though. We were surprised to hear veteran announcer and former racer, Bill Haglund on the PA system, another "blast from the past", as he was taking over for a couple of weeks for regular announcer Ryan Bergeson.
They had a good field of 10 IMCA Sport Compacts; larger than most tracks we attend. A new driver for the night was Taylor Elliott. Adam Strunk led the first lap but was soon passed by Jarid Kuchenreuther, the point leader, who never looked back from there on. Strunk finished in second just ahead of Alex Davis. Roben Stanbrough finished fourth and Ryan Boland was fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stock feature was won and dominated by Ty Griffith. Griffith led all laps on his way to the feature win. Point leader Randy Embrey finished in the runner up spot ahead of Austin Wolfgram, Corey Roe and John Watson, who were scored 3-5 in that order. John Watson made the trip to the Hamilton County Speedway from his regular Boone Speedway Saturday night.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran a 14-lap main event. A good field of 26 cars were on hand with all eligible to run the feature. It didn't got off to a very good start, when just after taking the opening green flag, a mess occurred down at the bottom of turns one and two, resulting in a full restart situation. Joel Rust led the opening lap or two, but Racer Hulin put his #505 to the outside, and made the pass for the lead. Hulin and Rust put on quite the show as they distanced themselves from the frenzy behind them, as they ran wheel to wheel for several laps. Hulin chose the top side in turns one and two, preferring lower in three and four. It seemed to be working to perfection and he appeared to be on his way to a win. Enter a yellow flag with two laps remaining. By this time, local favorite Matt Lettow had made his way into the runner up position and you knew it was going to be a shoot out to the finish. Hulin led the restart, led at the white flag---when, "oops", a wheel just a bit too high in turn two gave Lettow the opportunity he was waiting for! Lettow flew under Hulin and would then take the checkers first. With Lettow first and Hulin second, it was Blake Conant taking third over Nick Roberts in fourth, and Joel Rust finished fifth.
The unsanctioned stock cars went 15-laps in their feature. This one would end under a "green-white-checkered" situation. It didn't take Ryan Leeman long to take the lead from Vince Loewen (a name we know from "back in the day") and he would then take comfortable command of the point spot. He was pulling away from second place runner Jason VanSickle, when the yellow flag reared it's ugly head again. This set up the "green-white"checkered" finish. Leeman took the white flag leading and when the cars were then coming out of turn four with the checkers in sight, it was close, close, close! From our angle...sitting in not our usual spot at the track, but further into turn one, it appeared VanSickle nipped Leeman at the finish. It was so close, that even announcer Bill Haglund didn't know who won, and as far as we know, no announcement was made as to who had actually won the thing. Today I heard via someone, via someone, that the official verdict was that Leeman held the lead and took the win over VanSickle. Third place went to Adam Silvey, Dennis Plain was fifth and Vince Loewen came back through the field after an early race spin, to nab fifth place over Jim Mitchell in sixth. Going into the evening, and according to the point sheet we picked up, Jim Mitchell was leading points by 2 over Leeman, so it appears Leeman may have taken over the point lead with his win. However, not knowing how the unsanctioned point system is handled, I could be wrong.
The IMCA Modifieds had thirteen cars on hand. All would start the feature. This one yielded about a handful of yellows, which would also eliminate several race cars. Early leader was the #47 of Greg Elliott, previously known to us as "the Wild One", though not sure if that still holds true. Elliott held the lead at the halfway mark, Travis Prochaska dogging him the entire race. The two fought for the lead as the laps wound down, Prochaska taking the lead then Elliott inching back by....but only briefly. Prochaska took command then, and JD Auringer had made his way past Elliott to take over second. With two laps remaining, Auringer found himself spinning at the bottom of turn four, and yielding one of those yellow flags. On the restart, Prochaska led the charge, Elliott back in second, young Devin Havlik had been having a great run and was in third, and Kyle Brown and Mark Elliott were restarted in fourth and fifth. The checkers was taken first by Prochaska, claiming the win, Kyle Brown sneaked by both Elliott and Havlik to finish as the runner up, Elliott taking third over Havlik in fourth, and Mark Elliott was fifth.
Nine IMCA Late Models were on hand for racing last night. A couple of drivers, Greg Kastli and Travis Smock made the trip over after getting rained out at their regular Saturday night track, the Independence Speedway. The Late Models made this one a refreshing caution-free race. Riley Larson led the first lap, but veteran Darrel "Ironman" DeFrance took the lead shortly and sailed off from the field. DeFrance took the comfortable win over Ryan Griffith. Third was Al Johnson, fourth, Riley Larson, and Jason Hahne was fifth.
We were happy we made the decision to head a bit farther (about 30 miles) to take in some racing last night. It was also great to see some local friends as well as racers, and even met up with a "racer from the past" that we hadn't seen in a long time, Craig Torgeson, #T39 IMCA Modified in days past. That made it even a more nostalgic night for us.
Busy time coming up for racing. Seek out a race to attend. Check the Positively Racing's calendar for a race you can put on your list. Happy racing!
They had a good field of 10 IMCA Sport Compacts; larger than most tracks we attend. A new driver for the night was Taylor Elliott. Adam Strunk led the first lap but was soon passed by Jarid Kuchenreuther, the point leader, who never looked back from there on. Strunk finished in second just ahead of Alex Davis. Roben Stanbrough finished fourth and Ryan Boland was fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stock feature was won and dominated by Ty Griffith. Griffith led all laps on his way to the feature win. Point leader Randy Embrey finished in the runner up spot ahead of Austin Wolfgram, Corey Roe and John Watson, who were scored 3-5 in that order. John Watson made the trip to the Hamilton County Speedway from his regular Boone Speedway Saturday night.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran a 14-lap main event. A good field of 26 cars were on hand with all eligible to run the feature. It didn't got off to a very good start, when just after taking the opening green flag, a mess occurred down at the bottom of turns one and two, resulting in a full restart situation. Joel Rust led the opening lap or two, but Racer Hulin put his #505 to the outside, and made the pass for the lead. Hulin and Rust put on quite the show as they distanced themselves from the frenzy behind them, as they ran wheel to wheel for several laps. Hulin chose the top side in turns one and two, preferring lower in three and four. It seemed to be working to perfection and he appeared to be on his way to a win. Enter a yellow flag with two laps remaining. By this time, local favorite Matt Lettow had made his way into the runner up position and you knew it was going to be a shoot out to the finish. Hulin led the restart, led at the white flag---when, "oops", a wheel just a bit too high in turn two gave Lettow the opportunity he was waiting for! Lettow flew under Hulin and would then take the checkers first. With Lettow first and Hulin second, it was Blake Conant taking third over Nick Roberts in fourth, and Joel Rust finished fifth.
The unsanctioned stock cars went 15-laps in their feature. This one would end under a "green-white-checkered" situation. It didn't take Ryan Leeman long to take the lead from Vince Loewen (a name we know from "back in the day") and he would then take comfortable command of the point spot. He was pulling away from second place runner Jason VanSickle, when the yellow flag reared it's ugly head again. This set up the "green-white"checkered" finish. Leeman took the white flag leading and when the cars were then coming out of turn four with the checkers in sight, it was close, close, close! From our angle...sitting in not our usual spot at the track, but further into turn one, it appeared VanSickle nipped Leeman at the finish. It was so close, that even announcer Bill Haglund didn't know who won, and as far as we know, no announcement was made as to who had actually won the thing. Today I heard via someone, via someone, that the official verdict was that Leeman held the lead and took the win over VanSickle. Third place went to Adam Silvey, Dennis Plain was fifth and Vince Loewen came back through the field after an early race spin, to nab fifth place over Jim Mitchell in sixth. Going into the evening, and according to the point sheet we picked up, Jim Mitchell was leading points by 2 over Leeman, so it appears Leeman may have taken over the point lead with his win. However, not knowing how the unsanctioned point system is handled, I could be wrong.
The IMCA Modifieds had thirteen cars on hand. All would start the feature. This one yielded about a handful of yellows, which would also eliminate several race cars. Early leader was the #47 of Greg Elliott, previously known to us as "the Wild One", though not sure if that still holds true. Elliott held the lead at the halfway mark, Travis Prochaska dogging him the entire race. The two fought for the lead as the laps wound down, Prochaska taking the lead then Elliott inching back by....but only briefly. Prochaska took command then, and JD Auringer had made his way past Elliott to take over second. With two laps remaining, Auringer found himself spinning at the bottom of turn four, and yielding one of those yellow flags. On the restart, Prochaska led the charge, Elliott back in second, young Devin Havlik had been having a great run and was in third, and Kyle Brown and Mark Elliott were restarted in fourth and fifth. The checkers was taken first by Prochaska, claiming the win, Kyle Brown sneaked by both Elliott and Havlik to finish as the runner up, Elliott taking third over Havlik in fourth, and Mark Elliott was fifth.
Nine IMCA Late Models were on hand for racing last night. A couple of drivers, Greg Kastli and Travis Smock made the trip over after getting rained out at their regular Saturday night track, the Independence Speedway. The Late Models made this one a refreshing caution-free race. Riley Larson led the first lap, but veteran Darrel "Ironman" DeFrance took the lead shortly and sailed off from the field. DeFrance took the comfortable win over Ryan Griffith. Third was Al Johnson, fourth, Riley Larson, and Jason Hahne was fifth.
We were happy we made the decision to head a bit farther (about 30 miles) to take in some racing last night. It was also great to see some local friends as well as racers, and even met up with a "racer from the past" that we hadn't seen in a long time, Craig Torgeson, #T39 IMCA Modified in days past. That made it even a more nostalgic night for us.
Busy time coming up for racing. Seek out a race to attend. Check the Positively Racing's calendar for a race you can put on your list. Happy racing!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Racer races to SportMod victory
We are right into the County Fair time now, and Marshalltown Speedway on Friday was among one of numerous tracks surrounded by livestock and cotton candy. Good racing was also on the agenda Friday night on the High Banks. After a half inch of rain that morning (according to promoter, Toby Kruse) we were rather surprised when the dust started rolling during hot laps. By feature time, after another trip or two with the water wagon, the moisture came back up and held for some great racing.
Merv Chandler made it nine-in-a-row in the IMCA Sport Compact division. The wily veteran of racing led the entire feature. Second place went to first timer at the track, Travis Losenicky. Duayne Herb placed third, Neil Nabholz fourth and Josh Keller fifth.
The Mod Lite feature went to Mike Morrill, who nabbed his fifth win at the track. The youngsters are always happy to see that #6 get to victory lane as they hopefully are the recipient of his trophy. He gives his trophy to one of the lucky kids that line the front stretch fence, a great gesture which no doubt is a prized possession to what hopefully will be a fan for life of racing. Josh May raced from the back of the field but could get no closer than a second place finish. Dusty Masolini, Joel Huggins and Randy Bryan finished third-fifth in a close finish. The race went caution free.
The Northern SportMods ran their usual 18-laps, Jake Strayer led early on until Racer Hulin swung around the outside of him to take the lead. Hulin never looked back the rest of the way, and secured his second regular season victory; third counting the Frostbuster. Strayer held on to second and Sam Wieben, who led the first lap, finished in third. Nick Roberts came from the fourth row to finish fourth, and Joel Rust from row five, to finish in fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks started the first few laps with rookie Garrett Eilander leading the pack of cars from his pole starting spot. Scott Pippert soon had other ideas and took the lead after starting back in ninth spot. Donovan Nunnikhoven was having a strong run in third, until a flat tire ended his night. Eric Larson had fought past cars to run in second as the laps wound down, and Kevin Fee was now on his tail running in third. Fee's night then ended when he dropped out, putting Eilander back in third. The night ended with Pippert winning for the second time this year at Marshalltown, Larson was the runner up, and Eilander held it together well to finish third. Fourth was Brice Udelhoven and fifth went to Eric Knutson.
Eighteen laps were next up for the IMCA Stock Cars. The night had turned more pleasant after the sun set, and the moisture was coming up a bit on the track. It was a no go on the opening lap; re-racking and re-stacking the field for another attempt. Trent Murphy had inherited the lead when the pole sitter had spun on that opening lap, and from there on would lead the entire race--the rest caution free. Behind him, it was much more exciting, when on lap two, Steve Meyer, Tracy Gienger and Jay Schmidt crossed the finish line three-wide fighting for fourth position! By halfway, Murphy held his lead easily, Meyer had made it into second, and the leader's brother, and last week's winner, Michael Murphy was third. Right behind him was Damon Murty, who was sporting his re-done race car, new color scheme and all. Right about the time Murty challenged Michael Murphy for third, Murphy dropped out of the competition, his night done. Trent Murphy pulled away at the end, sealing his victory...his first of the season at the High Banks. Meyer finished in the runner up spot, Murty was third. Fourth went to Michael Jaennette making another return visit and fifth went to Derek Reimer.
The IMCA Modified's ended the night's action with their 20-lap feature event. Kyle Brown led the early portion of the race, but Luke Wanninger, running the IMCA "test" crate set up with spoiler, came calling quickly to plant himself firmly on Brown's bumper. Jammin' Jimmy Gustin then wanted to play and challenged Wanninger until Wanninger then made the move on Brown and took the lead. Then here comes Jon Snyder in his new hot rod (a 2013 Harris we've heard) and passed them both, taking over the runner up spot. Wanninger, who was now pulling away untouched was firmly in command of the top spot and would take the checkers first. Snyder finished in the second place, Brown was third, Gustin fourth and Ronn Lauritzen made a good run to finish in fifth. Wanninger was interviewed in victory lane as the winner, but later saw Jon Snyder in victory lane after the races, having a winner's circle photo taken. In some instances when the crate test motor is taking first place, the second place is awarded winning points and given a winner's sticker as well, so that appeared to be the case last night.
It was a nice surprise to hear a familiar voice on the PA last night for a bit. Denny Grabenbauer was back in attendance and in the scoring tower. Grabenbauer was recently honored as an inductee in the Central Iowa Fair Hall of Fame--getting recognition for all of his hard work with Fair activities, and was on hand during the Fair again. Of course, he was a regular staple on the mic for years and years for the racing program. He was still in fine form on that mic, tossing quips back and forth with regular announcer Jerry VanSickle. Good to have him back again...though briefly.
Busy week coming up next. Tuesday will be the HDT race at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa, and then back again on Wednesday night for their regular weekly show. We are anxious to follow that up on Thursday in Knoxville, for the Harris Clash. The Clash is one show that is always on our "must see" list every year. Love seeing all of those drivers that come to compete that include many we seldom get to see.
If you haven't seen this event, you really should make it a priority. Happy racing!
Merv Chandler made it nine-in-a-row in the IMCA Sport Compact division. The wily veteran of racing led the entire feature. Second place went to first timer at the track, Travis Losenicky. Duayne Herb placed third, Neil Nabholz fourth and Josh Keller fifth.
The Mod Lite feature went to Mike Morrill, who nabbed his fifth win at the track. The youngsters are always happy to see that #6 get to victory lane as they hopefully are the recipient of his trophy. He gives his trophy to one of the lucky kids that line the front stretch fence, a great gesture which no doubt is a prized possession to what hopefully will be a fan for life of racing. Josh May raced from the back of the field but could get no closer than a second place finish. Dusty Masolini, Joel Huggins and Randy Bryan finished third-fifth in a close finish. The race went caution free.
The Northern SportMods ran their usual 18-laps, Jake Strayer led early on until Racer Hulin swung around the outside of him to take the lead. Hulin never looked back the rest of the way, and secured his second regular season victory; third counting the Frostbuster. Strayer held on to second and Sam Wieben, who led the first lap, finished in third. Nick Roberts came from the fourth row to finish fourth, and Joel Rust from row five, to finish in fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks started the first few laps with rookie Garrett Eilander leading the pack of cars from his pole starting spot. Scott Pippert soon had other ideas and took the lead after starting back in ninth spot. Donovan Nunnikhoven was having a strong run in third, until a flat tire ended his night. Eric Larson had fought past cars to run in second as the laps wound down, and Kevin Fee was now on his tail running in third. Fee's night then ended when he dropped out, putting Eilander back in third. The night ended with Pippert winning for the second time this year at Marshalltown, Larson was the runner up, and Eilander held it together well to finish third. Fourth was Brice Udelhoven and fifth went to Eric Knutson.
Eighteen laps were next up for the IMCA Stock Cars. The night had turned more pleasant after the sun set, and the moisture was coming up a bit on the track. It was a no go on the opening lap; re-racking and re-stacking the field for another attempt. Trent Murphy had inherited the lead when the pole sitter had spun on that opening lap, and from there on would lead the entire race--the rest caution free. Behind him, it was much more exciting, when on lap two, Steve Meyer, Tracy Gienger and Jay Schmidt crossed the finish line three-wide fighting for fourth position! By halfway, Murphy held his lead easily, Meyer had made it into second, and the leader's brother, and last week's winner, Michael Murphy was third. Right behind him was Damon Murty, who was sporting his re-done race car, new color scheme and all. Right about the time Murty challenged Michael Murphy for third, Murphy dropped out of the competition, his night done. Trent Murphy pulled away at the end, sealing his victory...his first of the season at the High Banks. Meyer finished in the runner up spot, Murty was third. Fourth went to Michael Jaennette making another return visit and fifth went to Derek Reimer.
The IMCA Modified's ended the night's action with their 20-lap feature event. Kyle Brown led the early portion of the race, but Luke Wanninger, running the IMCA "test" crate set up with spoiler, came calling quickly to plant himself firmly on Brown's bumper. Jammin' Jimmy Gustin then wanted to play and challenged Wanninger until Wanninger then made the move on Brown and took the lead. Then here comes Jon Snyder in his new hot rod (a 2013 Harris we've heard) and passed them both, taking over the runner up spot. Wanninger, who was now pulling away untouched was firmly in command of the top spot and would take the checkers first. Snyder finished in the second place, Brown was third, Gustin fourth and Ronn Lauritzen made a good run to finish in fifth. Wanninger was interviewed in victory lane as the winner, but later saw Jon Snyder in victory lane after the races, having a winner's circle photo taken. In some instances when the crate test motor is taking first place, the second place is awarded winning points and given a winner's sticker as well, so that appeared to be the case last night.
It was a nice surprise to hear a familiar voice on the PA last night for a bit. Denny Grabenbauer was back in attendance and in the scoring tower. Grabenbauer was recently honored as an inductee in the Central Iowa Fair Hall of Fame--getting recognition for all of his hard work with Fair activities, and was on hand during the Fair again. Of course, he was a regular staple on the mic for years and years for the racing program. He was still in fine form on that mic, tossing quips back and forth with regular announcer Jerry VanSickle. Good to have him back again...though briefly.
Busy week coming up next. Tuesday will be the HDT race at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa, and then back again on Wednesday night for their regular weekly show. We are anxious to follow that up on Thursday in Knoxville, for the Harris Clash. The Clash is one show that is always on our "must see" list every year. Love seeing all of those drivers that come to compete that include many we seldom get to see.
If you haven't seen this event, you really should make it a priority. Happy racing!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Sobbing wins again, overcomes earlier woes
It was packs of cars going two and three wide again at the Southern
Iowa Speedway last night, something not all that uncommon at the Monster Half-Mile. The near ideal weather added even more to a near perfect night of racing. A little wildlife in the infield could have brought even more
excitement, but that was luckily avoided. More on that later.
After the heats were run, a special race was held pitting drivers from ALL classes against each other. This was in honor of Dave Lowry, a longtime supporter of racing in the area, who tragically lost his life in a vehicle accident a while back. The five classes of cars were distributed around the track at different positions for their standing starting points, allowing compensation for range of power from class to class. At the end of the 6-lap race it was Bobby Greene in his IMCA Hobby Stock taking the $100 and the glory. He finished ahead of Kyle Harwood in a Stock Car, Ryan Dolan in a Modified, Damon Murty in a Stock Car, Corey Stout in a Stock Car, Jason Hall in a SportMod, Eric Flander in a SportMod and Merv Chandler in a Sport Compact.
Dallas Chandler took the victory in the Sport Compact division. He led all eight laps of the race. John Whalen finished second over Bill Whalen, Jr., Merv Chandler was fourth, Trent Orwig took fifth and Ron McCish rounded out the field in sixth. As a note, Dallas Chandler, son of veteran Merv Chandler, switched cars for the night with Bill Whalen, Jr., making for a bit of confusion as to who was who at times.
Shannon Anderson chalked up another win in the Hobby Stock class. He chased Dustin Griffiths until making the pass on the back stretch on lap ten and would pull away to win comfortably. Before things got sorted out, there were "hold your breath" moments with cars running so closely. Griffiths took the runner up spot over Mike Hughes in third, Donovan Nunnikhoven was fourth and Danny Thrasher was fifth. Anderson said in victory lane that this was win #23 for the year. It was his eighth for the 2012 season at the track.
The Stock Cars were up next for their 16-lap feature. This class always provides close racing, with groups of cars racing bumper to bumper and wheel to wheel. By lap six, Damon Murty had fought his way to the front in his unfamiliar looking ride. Murty had not had a good previous week, having seen him towed off from two different tracks, rear end hanging, front end dangling; one after a barrel roll. Not sure if this was a new car, back up car, or just in the midst of repair/paint/re-lettering, but it was fast. Murty was looking strong, but the orange ride of Zack VanderBeek was soon clear of the pack as well and reeling the leader in. VanderBeek took the lead on lap twelve and took the win going away. Murty held second, Matt Greiner, third, Stout was fourth and Alex Buffington fifth. The whole field finished spread out pretty evenly around the track. VanderBeek told announcer Tony Paris that after last week's issues with the car being disqualified, the problem with the frame had been corrected. It certainly didn't appear to slow him down!
The Northern SportMod feature ended with point leader Jesse Sobbing back in the winner's circle, despite early transmission issues in his heat. Sobbing started dead last in the feature and blew through the field, taking the lead from Curtis VanDerWal on lap 10. VanDerWal would hold second place at the finish, Carter VandenBerg finished a close third, fourth was Jason McDaniel and Jason Hall.was fifth. This was Sobbing's 22nd IMCA win on the year--his 31st total, and sixth at Osky.
The night ending 15-lap IMCA Modified feature was led early by "The Kool Aid Kid" Andrew Schroeder. By lap three, it was Cayden "Gasman" Carter taking over the point and Scott Dickey followed him to nab second. Carter pulled away with an impressive lead and took the win easily over Dickey in second. Third was Adam Larson, who was making his first appearance at the track this year. As a note and clarification to an earlier "foot-in-the-mouth" quote I made that Carter was running a crate test motor that IMCA has had out and about at several tracks lately, it was Adam Larson running the crate and NOT Cayden Carter. This is what I get for just catching part of what is being said and not all of it! Apologies to all about this misinformation. Fourth to the finish line was Ryan Dolan who no doubt came to test the waters before next Tuesday's Hawkeye Dirt Tour. Andrew Schroeder finished fifth. Carter snagged his fourth feature win at the track this year.
The added attraction in the infield last night mentioned earlier was due to a family of skunks - six we heard - who have taken up residency at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Thankfully it seemed to be just the spotting of one of the critters last night somewhere near the tech area......and no harmful effects occurred! The Southern Iowa Fair is on next week and the track will be holding races on both Tuesday night as well as the usual racing on Wednesday. Tuesday, it will be the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds. It's an event well worth attending. For additional information check www.oskyspeedway.com and www.dirttour.com for details and information. Happy racing!
After the heats were run, a special race was held pitting drivers from ALL classes against each other. This was in honor of Dave Lowry, a longtime supporter of racing in the area, who tragically lost his life in a vehicle accident a while back. The five classes of cars were distributed around the track at different positions for their standing starting points, allowing compensation for range of power from class to class. At the end of the 6-lap race it was Bobby Greene in his IMCA Hobby Stock taking the $100 and the glory. He finished ahead of Kyle Harwood in a Stock Car, Ryan Dolan in a Modified, Damon Murty in a Stock Car, Corey Stout in a Stock Car, Jason Hall in a SportMod, Eric Flander in a SportMod and Merv Chandler in a Sport Compact.
Dallas Chandler took the victory in the Sport Compact division. He led all eight laps of the race. John Whalen finished second over Bill Whalen, Jr., Merv Chandler was fourth, Trent Orwig took fifth and Ron McCish rounded out the field in sixth. As a note, Dallas Chandler, son of veteran Merv Chandler, switched cars for the night with Bill Whalen, Jr., making for a bit of confusion as to who was who at times.
Shannon Anderson chalked up another win in the Hobby Stock class. He chased Dustin Griffiths until making the pass on the back stretch on lap ten and would pull away to win comfortably. Before things got sorted out, there were "hold your breath" moments with cars running so closely. Griffiths took the runner up spot over Mike Hughes in third, Donovan Nunnikhoven was fourth and Danny Thrasher was fifth. Anderson said in victory lane that this was win #23 for the year. It was his eighth for the 2012 season at the track.
The Stock Cars were up next for their 16-lap feature. This class always provides close racing, with groups of cars racing bumper to bumper and wheel to wheel. By lap six, Damon Murty had fought his way to the front in his unfamiliar looking ride. Murty had not had a good previous week, having seen him towed off from two different tracks, rear end hanging, front end dangling; one after a barrel roll. Not sure if this was a new car, back up car, or just in the midst of repair/paint/re-lettering, but it was fast. Murty was looking strong, but the orange ride of Zack VanderBeek was soon clear of the pack as well and reeling the leader in. VanderBeek took the lead on lap twelve and took the win going away. Murty held second, Matt Greiner, third, Stout was fourth and Alex Buffington fifth. The whole field finished spread out pretty evenly around the track. VanderBeek told announcer Tony Paris that after last week's issues with the car being disqualified, the problem with the frame had been corrected. It certainly didn't appear to slow him down!
The Northern SportMod feature ended with point leader Jesse Sobbing back in the winner's circle, despite early transmission issues in his heat. Sobbing started dead last in the feature and blew through the field, taking the lead from Curtis VanDerWal on lap 10. VanDerWal would hold second place at the finish, Carter VandenBerg finished a close third, fourth was Jason McDaniel and Jason Hall.was fifth. This was Sobbing's 22nd IMCA win on the year--his 31st total, and sixth at Osky.
The night ending 15-lap IMCA Modified feature was led early by "The Kool Aid Kid" Andrew Schroeder. By lap three, it was Cayden "Gasman" Carter taking over the point and Scott Dickey followed him to nab second. Carter pulled away with an impressive lead and took the win easily over Dickey in second. Third was Adam Larson, who was making his first appearance at the track this year. As a note and clarification to an earlier "foot-in-the-mouth" quote I made that Carter was running a crate test motor that IMCA has had out and about at several tracks lately, it was Adam Larson running the crate and NOT Cayden Carter. This is what I get for just catching part of what is being said and not all of it! Apologies to all about this misinformation. Fourth to the finish line was Ryan Dolan who no doubt came to test the waters before next Tuesday's Hawkeye Dirt Tour. Andrew Schroeder finished fifth. Carter snagged his fourth feature win at the track this year.
The added attraction in the infield last night mentioned earlier was due to a family of skunks - six we heard - who have taken up residency at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Thankfully it seemed to be just the spotting of one of the critters last night somewhere near the tech area......and no harmful effects occurred! The Southern Iowa Fair is on next week and the track will be holding races on both Tuesday night as well as the usual racing on Wednesday. Tuesday, it will be the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds. It's an event well worth attending. For additional information check www.oskyspeedway.com and www.dirttour.com for details and information. Happy racing!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Osky - 7-11-12
Unofficial results:
Modified
1. 10 Cayden Carter - won by wide margin
2. 40 Scott Dickey
3. 2L Adam Larson - running crate motor CT525
4. 11D Ryan Dolan
5. 02 Andrew Schroeder
6. 19 Jimmy Gustin
7. 7W Mark Widmar
8. 13 Matt Waugh
9. 22 Brandon Banks
10. 1+ Billy Davis
11. 11 Beau Kaplan
12. 7S Wade Francis
DNF: 48J Jacob Murray
SportMod
1. 99 Jesse Sobbing - started 14th due to tranny issues in heat
2. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
3. 7 Carter VandenBeerg
4. 85 Jason McDaniel
5. 95J Jason Hall
6.42 Tyler Heckert
7. 72 Brett Lowry
8. 10R Ryan Fullencamp
9. 8T Tony Johnson
10. 34Z Corey VanZante
11. 8 Tom Lathrop
12. 99X Mike Brown - Glenwood (second Sobbing car)
13. 38 Bill Gibson
Stock Car
1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 99D Damon Murty
3. 29 Matt Greiner
4. 94 Corey Stout
5. 30J Alex Buffington
6. 52 Nathan Wood
7. 19A Alan VanGorp
8. 73C Carl Yaw
9. 15K Kyle Harwood
10. 22R Todd Reitzler
DNS: 7 Todd Phillips
Hobby Stock
1. 78 Shannon Anderson
2. 10G Dustin Griffiths
3. 18H Mike Hughes
4. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
5. 84 Danny Thrasher
6. 52 Mark Fee
7. 32T Bobby Greene
8. 96R Jamie Songer
9. 57 Scott Schull
10. 33 Justin Hook
11. 27C Cory Adams
Sport Compact
1. 26 Dallas Chandler (in the 00W car)
2. 77 John Whalen
3. 00W Bill Whalen (in the 26 car)
4. 2 Merv Chandler
5. 04 Trent Orwig
6. 59R Ron McCish
Blog to follow later
Modified
1. 10 Cayden Carter - won by wide margin
2. 40 Scott Dickey
3. 2L Adam Larson - running crate motor CT525
4. 11D Ryan Dolan
5. 02 Andrew Schroeder
6. 19 Jimmy Gustin
7. 7W Mark Widmar
8. 13 Matt Waugh
9. 22 Brandon Banks
10. 1+ Billy Davis
11. 11 Beau Kaplan
12. 7S Wade Francis
DNF: 48J Jacob Murray
SportMod
1. 99 Jesse Sobbing - started 14th due to tranny issues in heat
2. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
3. 7 Carter VandenBeerg
4. 85 Jason McDaniel
5. 95J Jason Hall
6.42 Tyler Heckert
7. 72 Brett Lowry
8. 10R Ryan Fullencamp
9. 8T Tony Johnson
10. 34Z Corey VanZante
11. 8 Tom Lathrop
12. 99X Mike Brown - Glenwood (second Sobbing car)
13. 38 Bill Gibson
Stock Car
1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 99D Damon Murty
3. 29 Matt Greiner
4. 94 Corey Stout
5. 30J Alex Buffington
6. 52 Nathan Wood
7. 19A Alan VanGorp
8. 73C Carl Yaw
9. 15K Kyle Harwood
10. 22R Todd Reitzler
DNS: 7 Todd Phillips
Hobby Stock
1. 78 Shannon Anderson
2. 10G Dustin Griffiths
3. 18H Mike Hughes
4. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
5. 84 Danny Thrasher
6. 52 Mark Fee
7. 32T Bobby Greene
8. 96R Jamie Songer
9. 57 Scott Schull
10. 33 Justin Hook
11. 27C Cory Adams
Sport Compact
1. 26 Dallas Chandler (in the 00W car)
2. 77 John Whalen
3. 00W Bill Whalen (in the 26 car)
4. 2 Merv Chandler
5. 04 Trent Orwig
6. 59R Ron McCish
Blog to follow later
Monday, July 9, 2012
Gustin has big pay day at Hogan Memorial Race
It was a packed and over flowing pit as well as the fullest grandstand we've seen this year, for the Sunday night Hogan Memorial race at the Benton County Speedway. This show has grown over the years, and just goes to show how respected the honorees of the show, Dick and Janet Hogan were in the community and Iowa's racing circle. Their son, Scott, carries on the Hogan racing tradition and pilots the 33D IMCA Modified.
Five classes competed on the night--all with a draw/redraw format. The first to run was the IMCA Sport Compacts, the winner being Steve Miedke with a dominating victory. Things were a little wild before the race really got into a racing rhythm. Drivers seemed to be impatient and for a while, we were wondering if we had misunderstood just what the race was paying! Following the winner to the finish line was Brad Chandler, Merv Chandler, Brett Vanous and Neil Nabholz.
The Hobby Stocks took to the track next. Doug Laughridge and Vince Buchholz drew the front row. Buchholz's night ended after the first lap when he exited into the infield, with apparent mechanical issues.
It was no surprise to see local favorite Scott Pippert rise to the top and soon be challenging leader Laughridge for the lead. He quickly got that lead, and pulled away by a comfortable margin, taking the win.
Laughridge finished in second, Brian Happel was third, fourth went to Justin Stander and Rodney Grother in his traditionally "patriotic" car, finished fifth.
The Northern SportMod's was a yellow flag fest. Tyler Droste got to the front quickly from starting back in the sixth row, due in part to cars starting in front of him being eliminated due to mishaps. Nothing to be taken away from the young man though, as he drove his machine skillfully to the front early on and motored home to the feature win. Racer Hulin put his #505 to the topside of the track and made it work to capture the runner up spot. Third went to Kurt Moeding, who also started well back in the pack, fourth was Jim Buhlman and Danny Dvorak rounded out the top five.
The Stock Cars ran 15-laps for their feature. The race was red flagged early when Damon Murty got caught up in a situation at the bottom of turn two, barrel rolled, and another car, I believe Scooter Dulin, launched up over him. Both drivers were okay, but Murty's car was done, and towed off with a dangling front end among other damages. It had been the rear end dangling just a few days prior! Not a good Holiday week for the Chelsea driver. Andy Bryant took flight early to lead the pack, choosing the top of the oval. A driver who has been having a successful season as of late, John Emerson would have none of that, and passed Bryant to take over the top spot. Emerson took the win, followed by Bryant in second and Norm Chesmore was a close third. Jason DeShaw finished fourth and Phil Holtz, the track point leader was fifth.
Now it was time for the 40-lap main attraction of the evening. A great field of 41 cars checked into the pits. After two B mains, whittling the field down to 24 cars, three provisionals were added...two drivers tops in points at the track that had not qualified--Scott Hogan and Ronn Lauritzen, and a former winner of the Hogan Memorial, Timm Jensen. The top twelve finishers from the heats got to chose a card for their starting position. The #1 position went to car #1, Dan Chapman--the Flyin Embalmer out of Clarence, Iowa. Kyle Krampe drew the outside pole.
After a moving 4-wide parade lap, the field prepared for the green flag, which was scheduled for a mandatory pit stop at lap 20. Chapman held the lead early but Gilman driver, Richie Gustin came calling quickly. It seemed just when the racing got started, another yellow flag reared it's ugly head, and the cars were slowed for another, and a resulting restart situation. Chapman was still in charge after several of those early "yellow rags", but Gustin made the successful pass for the lead along about lap six or seven. Behind him, Kyle Krampe, Chapman, JD Auringer and Mike VanGenderen were coming strong. Oops...another yellow! Those restarts situations can really mix things up at times, and at the 20 lap halfway mark when the cars were stopped on the front stretch for their pit stop, the running order was Gustin, Chapman, Jerry Luloff, Cayden Carter and Krampe. During the five minute pit stop, the most attention was to the right rear and fuel.
The man on the move in the second half of the race was the 10K of Ronn Lauritzen! Lauritzen, who was one of the "Tail End Charlie" provisionals had made it up to 8th spot and applying more pressure. His great run would end when he exited into the infield with but a handful of laps remaining. Those final few laps would not go caution free--two more yellows flying before all was finally said and done. Gustin was still in charge, Chapman and Luloff behind him. The race would end with Gustin getting the victory. Chapman and Lulloff retained second and third, Joe Docekal powered by a couple of cars the final lap to finish in fourth and young Cayden Carter from Oskaloosa, took his ride to the fifth place.
It was right at 11:30 before that final checkered flag fell. There was a lot of racing to be seen on the night however, and with 127 race cars packing the pits, the huge crowd saw what they came to see. For more views on the night's racing be sure and check out fellow PR blogger's Jeff Broeg and Ryan "Numbersman" Clark's thoughts on the Positively Racing site. We were happy to be enjoying our night among a number of fellow racing friends--it always makes a race more enjoyable for us--plus, enjoyed meeting a couple of new fans who happened to know who we were that take in our view here at this site. We are always glad to meet any of you, so be sure and introduce yourselves anytime. Until next time, get out and find a race to attend!
Happy racing!
Five classes competed on the night--all with a draw/redraw format. The first to run was the IMCA Sport Compacts, the winner being Steve Miedke with a dominating victory. Things were a little wild before the race really got into a racing rhythm. Drivers seemed to be impatient and for a while, we were wondering if we had misunderstood just what the race was paying! Following the winner to the finish line was Brad Chandler, Merv Chandler, Brett Vanous and Neil Nabholz.
The Hobby Stocks took to the track next. Doug Laughridge and Vince Buchholz drew the front row. Buchholz's night ended after the first lap when he exited into the infield, with apparent mechanical issues.
It was no surprise to see local favorite Scott Pippert rise to the top and soon be challenging leader Laughridge for the lead. He quickly got that lead, and pulled away by a comfortable margin, taking the win.
Laughridge finished in second, Brian Happel was third, fourth went to Justin Stander and Rodney Grother in his traditionally "patriotic" car, finished fifth.
The Northern SportMod's was a yellow flag fest. Tyler Droste got to the front quickly from starting back in the sixth row, due in part to cars starting in front of him being eliminated due to mishaps. Nothing to be taken away from the young man though, as he drove his machine skillfully to the front early on and motored home to the feature win. Racer Hulin put his #505 to the topside of the track and made it work to capture the runner up spot. Third went to Kurt Moeding, who also started well back in the pack, fourth was Jim Buhlman and Danny Dvorak rounded out the top five.
The Stock Cars ran 15-laps for their feature. The race was red flagged early when Damon Murty got caught up in a situation at the bottom of turn two, barrel rolled, and another car, I believe Scooter Dulin, launched up over him. Both drivers were okay, but Murty's car was done, and towed off with a dangling front end among other damages. It had been the rear end dangling just a few days prior! Not a good Holiday week for the Chelsea driver. Andy Bryant took flight early to lead the pack, choosing the top of the oval. A driver who has been having a successful season as of late, John Emerson would have none of that, and passed Bryant to take over the top spot. Emerson took the win, followed by Bryant in second and Norm Chesmore was a close third. Jason DeShaw finished fourth and Phil Holtz, the track point leader was fifth.
Now it was time for the 40-lap main attraction of the evening. A great field of 41 cars checked into the pits. After two B mains, whittling the field down to 24 cars, three provisionals were added...two drivers tops in points at the track that had not qualified--Scott Hogan and Ronn Lauritzen, and a former winner of the Hogan Memorial, Timm Jensen. The top twelve finishers from the heats got to chose a card for their starting position. The #1 position went to car #1, Dan Chapman--the Flyin Embalmer out of Clarence, Iowa. Kyle Krampe drew the outside pole.
After a moving 4-wide parade lap, the field prepared for the green flag, which was scheduled for a mandatory pit stop at lap 20. Chapman held the lead early but Gilman driver, Richie Gustin came calling quickly. It seemed just when the racing got started, another yellow flag reared it's ugly head, and the cars were slowed for another, and a resulting restart situation. Chapman was still in charge after several of those early "yellow rags", but Gustin made the successful pass for the lead along about lap six or seven. Behind him, Kyle Krampe, Chapman, JD Auringer and Mike VanGenderen were coming strong. Oops...another yellow! Those restarts situations can really mix things up at times, and at the 20 lap halfway mark when the cars were stopped on the front stretch for their pit stop, the running order was Gustin, Chapman, Jerry Luloff, Cayden Carter and Krampe. During the five minute pit stop, the most attention was to the right rear and fuel.
The man on the move in the second half of the race was the 10K of Ronn Lauritzen! Lauritzen, who was one of the "Tail End Charlie" provisionals had made it up to 8th spot and applying more pressure. His great run would end when he exited into the infield with but a handful of laps remaining. Those final few laps would not go caution free--two more yellows flying before all was finally said and done. Gustin was still in charge, Chapman and Luloff behind him. The race would end with Gustin getting the victory. Chapman and Lulloff retained second and third, Joe Docekal powered by a couple of cars the final lap to finish in fourth and young Cayden Carter from Oskaloosa, took his ride to the fifth place.
It was right at 11:30 before that final checkered flag fell. There was a lot of racing to be seen on the night however, and with 127 race cars packing the pits, the huge crowd saw what they came to see. For more views on the night's racing be sure and check out fellow PR blogger's Jeff Broeg and Ryan "Numbersman" Clark's thoughts on the Positively Racing site. We were happy to be enjoying our night among a number of fellow racing friends--it always makes a race more enjoyable for us--plus, enjoyed meeting a couple of new fans who happened to know who we were that take in our view here at this site. We are always glad to meet any of you, so be sure and introduce yourselves anytime. Until next time, get out and find a race to attend!
Happy racing!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Schmidt shines at Boone, Durbin wins third in a row
This long, hot spell has been brutal, day after day of temperatures hovering right at 100 or above. When we left home on Saturday to head to Boone, it was 99 but the farther we traveled, the vehicle's thermometer kept dropping. Was it malfunctioning? When we opened the door in the parking lot, our question was answered. It really was "just" 85 degrees! There was also a good breeze coming from the north. What a welcome relief!!
The Mod Lite feature started off with Jason Whitehead in charge. Bryan Zehm quickly tagged his tail but after an early restart situation, he exited the track into the infield with apparent mechanical issues. Point leader Josh May was now running second behind Whitehead, Mike Kennedy chasing him. May soon made the pass for the lead, Whitehead slipped back a couple of positions allowing Kennedy and Dusty Masolini to advance as well. The race ended with May taking the win, his third of the year, Kennedy held second over Masolini in third and Jeff Stensland scooted into fourth place around Whitehead, who held on for fifth.
The 18th and final lap of the SportMod feature found veteran driver Joe McBirnie take another checkered flag. Brian Eppert had led much of the race, frantically holding off the hard charging McBirnie until lap fourteen, when McBirnie made the pass for the lead. McBirnie took his second win of the year, Eppert having to settle for a hard fought second. Lynn Brockett brought his ride home for a third place finish, followed by point leader Scott Davis in fourth, and Shawn Hunter finished in fifth.
The Modified feature started off with Cale Sponsler, who was a recent proud new father of a baby girl, leading the field in his always pristine looking race car. Jake Durbin quickly came calling and the two were soon dueling it out. Contact was made in turn three, Sponsler's car getting the worst end of the deal, and he rolled his damaged car into the infield--not looking so pristine then. The contact didn't slow Durbin as he continued his flying form around the Boone Speedway, leading challengers by a lengthy distance. Todd Shute got through the pack and set sail on the topside, getting into second place around Texas driver, Greg Dinsmore. Dinsmore has been "racing around Iowa" as of late, and was running what we felt was his best showing so far. Durbin never missed his mark, retaining his big lead, and taking his third-in-a-row feature at the track. Shute finished second ahead of Dinsmore in third, fourth went to Joel Bushore and fifth to Jimmy Gustin, both having come from starting back in row five.
Jay Schmidt went home with his first win at Boone this year in the IMCA Stock Car class. Schmidt took the outside route to grab the lead from veteran Robert Stofer before the mid point of the 18-lap race and continued in fine form topside to hold off any challengers. Donavon Smith, the track point leader, tried to gain ground by going to the bottom, but could wrangle no more than a runner up position. Trent Murphy took third over Alan VanGorp in fourth, and Stofer fell back but hung on to finish fifth.
Earlier in the evening, the Hobby Stocks ran a King of the Hill contest, sponsored by Harris Auto Racing and John Logue. The top two finishers of each heat were the participants for a $500 pay off to the winner.
In the first round, Tim Barber bested Shaun Wirtz, Curt Reed won by default over Jeff Knight who could not get his car to fire, and John Watson beat out Dustin Lynch. The final go around matched up Curt Reed against John Watson. As they took the green, Watson's tire let go, and Reed took home the money, unchallenged.
The Hobby Stocks ended the evening's festivities by giving the kids a thrill by hopping in a race car and taking a spin around the track. After the happy youngsters departed the cars and returned safely to the grandstand area, the twelve lap feature was on tap. This one would end with the first new driver in a long time, taking the win. John Watson, who had been on a tear this year, ended his nearly perfect season by finishing back about 14th position. Watson was involved in a first lap skirmish in turn four, sending him to the rear, and later would be involved again in another incident which left his car a bit battered. So who was it that ended Watson's rein? It would be Dustin Filloon, Toledo, Iowa driver, taking the win. Filloon started seventh and took the lead by lap five, chased by Curt Reed. Filloon kept his distance ahead of Curt Reed the rest of the way, Filloon winning, Reed in second. Third was Brandon Brinton who edged by Matt Hudspeth in fourth, and Aaron Rudolph took fifth.
I think everyone was thankful for the cooler temperatures and the refreshing northerly breeze last night.
It made for a lot more comfortable viewing of the races, and certainly had to help the drivers feel better about donning gear to race. Next week at Boone, it was announced to be "Christmas in July". I believe I heard announcer Jerry VanSickle say that Santa was going to be making an appearance. The kids better get their wish lists started!
Scout out a race to attend in your area. It shouldn't be hard to find as there is an abundance of racing going on in our state. We are so lucky to live in Iowa which has always been called the "racing-est state" due to having so many race tracks. Happy racing!
The Mod Lite feature started off with Jason Whitehead in charge. Bryan Zehm quickly tagged his tail but after an early restart situation, he exited the track into the infield with apparent mechanical issues. Point leader Josh May was now running second behind Whitehead, Mike Kennedy chasing him. May soon made the pass for the lead, Whitehead slipped back a couple of positions allowing Kennedy and Dusty Masolini to advance as well. The race ended with May taking the win, his third of the year, Kennedy held second over Masolini in third and Jeff Stensland scooted into fourth place around Whitehead, who held on for fifth.
The 18th and final lap of the SportMod feature found veteran driver Joe McBirnie take another checkered flag. Brian Eppert had led much of the race, frantically holding off the hard charging McBirnie until lap fourteen, when McBirnie made the pass for the lead. McBirnie took his second win of the year, Eppert having to settle for a hard fought second. Lynn Brockett brought his ride home for a third place finish, followed by point leader Scott Davis in fourth, and Shawn Hunter finished in fifth.
The Modified feature started off with Cale Sponsler, who was a recent proud new father of a baby girl, leading the field in his always pristine looking race car. Jake Durbin quickly came calling and the two were soon dueling it out. Contact was made in turn three, Sponsler's car getting the worst end of the deal, and he rolled his damaged car into the infield--not looking so pristine then. The contact didn't slow Durbin as he continued his flying form around the Boone Speedway, leading challengers by a lengthy distance. Todd Shute got through the pack and set sail on the topside, getting into second place around Texas driver, Greg Dinsmore. Dinsmore has been "racing around Iowa" as of late, and was running what we felt was his best showing so far. Durbin never missed his mark, retaining his big lead, and taking his third-in-a-row feature at the track. Shute finished second ahead of Dinsmore in third, fourth went to Joel Bushore and fifth to Jimmy Gustin, both having come from starting back in row five.
Jay Schmidt went home with his first win at Boone this year in the IMCA Stock Car class. Schmidt took the outside route to grab the lead from veteran Robert Stofer before the mid point of the 18-lap race and continued in fine form topside to hold off any challengers. Donavon Smith, the track point leader, tried to gain ground by going to the bottom, but could wrangle no more than a runner up position. Trent Murphy took third over Alan VanGorp in fourth, and Stofer fell back but hung on to finish fifth.
Earlier in the evening, the Hobby Stocks ran a King of the Hill contest, sponsored by Harris Auto Racing and John Logue. The top two finishers of each heat were the participants for a $500 pay off to the winner.
In the first round, Tim Barber bested Shaun Wirtz, Curt Reed won by default over Jeff Knight who could not get his car to fire, and John Watson beat out Dustin Lynch. The final go around matched up Curt Reed against John Watson. As they took the green, Watson's tire let go, and Reed took home the money, unchallenged.
The Hobby Stocks ended the evening's festivities by giving the kids a thrill by hopping in a race car and taking a spin around the track. After the happy youngsters departed the cars and returned safely to the grandstand area, the twelve lap feature was on tap. This one would end with the first new driver in a long time, taking the win. John Watson, who had been on a tear this year, ended his nearly perfect season by finishing back about 14th position. Watson was involved in a first lap skirmish in turn four, sending him to the rear, and later would be involved again in another incident which left his car a bit battered. So who was it that ended Watson's rein? It would be Dustin Filloon, Toledo, Iowa driver, taking the win. Filloon started seventh and took the lead by lap five, chased by Curt Reed. Filloon kept his distance ahead of Curt Reed the rest of the way, Filloon winning, Reed in second. Third was Brandon Brinton who edged by Matt Hudspeth in fourth, and Aaron Rudolph took fifth.
I think everyone was thankful for the cooler temperatures and the refreshing northerly breeze last night.
It made for a lot more comfortable viewing of the races, and certainly had to help the drivers feel better about donning gear to race. Next week at Boone, it was announced to be "Christmas in July". I believe I heard announcer Jerry VanSickle say that Santa was going to be making an appearance. The kids better get their wish lists started!
Scout out a race to attend in your area. It shouldn't be hard to find as there is an abundance of racing going on in our state. We are so lucky to live in Iowa which has always been called the "racing-est state" due to having so many race tracks. Happy racing!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Boone - 7-7-12
Unofficial results:
Modified
Heat 1 - 93 Cale Sponsler
Heat 2 - 5 Todd Shute
Feature
1. 18 Jake Durbin
2. 5 Todd Shute
3. 8G Greg Dinsmore
4. 87 Joel Bushore
5. 19 Jimmy Gustin
6. 57V Mike VanGendren
7. 3Z Randy Havlik
8. 4R Michael Reichart
9. 28R Russ Dickerson
10. 69X Jon Snyder
11. 12C Kent Croskey
12. 58 Denny Pittman
13. 27 Kelly Lyons
14. 20X Chad Louk
15.43S Scott Simatovich
16. 83G Josh Gilman
17. 24 Robert Avery
18. 32 Lloyd Henderson
19. 93 Cale Sponsler
SportMod
Heat 1 - 57 Lynn Brockett
Heat 2 - 182 Joe McBirnie
Heat 3 - 22B Brian Eppert
Feature
1. 182 Joe McBirnie
2. 22B Brian Eppert
3. 57 Lynn Brockett
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 91 Shawn Hunter
6. 9E Eric Elliott
7. 23JR Nick Roberts
8. 30 Matt Pinegar
9. 6 Darren Huntley
10. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
11, 24 Brian Miller
12. 66 Cody Hennings
13. 59 Tara Longnecker
14. 22J Jeff Blume
15. 27 Tim Love
16. 63 Daniel Tasler
17. 34J Jerry Hinton
18. 3L Clint Luellen
19. 77 Jack Myer
20. 27L Lukas Onstot
21. 36H David Hoover
22. 4A Dan Swank
23. 56 Joe Simbro
DNS: 28 James Reichart
Stock Car
Heat 1 - 35 Donavon Smith
Heat 2 - 25 Trent Murphy
Heat 3 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Feature
1. 19J Jay Schmidt
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 19A Alan VanGorp
5. 50 Robert Stofer
6. 45 Larry Crocheck
7. 56 Lonnie Hodges
8. 3H Ty Hill
9. 25J Josh Daniels
10. 25M Michael Murphy
11. 77A Andy Bryant
12. 24 Eric Brown
13. 25X Bob Daniels
14. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
15. 76 Norm Belew
16. 52 Ben Walding
17. 04 Don Vis
18. 9 Jerry Gifford
19. 22 Wayne Gifford
20. 46B Mike Bilyeu
21. 21 Ross Marshall
Hobby Stock
Heat 1 - 47W Shaun Wirtz
Heat 2 - 99 Jeff Knight
Heat 3 - T56 Tim Barber
B Main - 3 advance
1. 5A Tyler Pickett
2. 500 Garrett Eilander
3. 9 Andrew Arends
4. 13D Dan Wetzel
5. 36S Mike Smith
6. 1BC Tony Cox
7. F1 Blaine Frist
DNS: 48B Brett Knight
Feature
1. 51D Dustin Filloon
2. 4C Curt Reed
3. 24B Brandon Brinton
4. 3W Matt Hudspeth
5. 38R Aaron Rudolph
6. 47W Shaun Wirtz
7. T15 Jacob Thompson
8. 99 Jeff Knight
9. 78X Tim Hadley
10. 46J Jesse Hopkins
11. 911 Darin Rothfus
12. 500 Garrett Eilander
13. 12M Matt McDonald
14. 4W John Watson
15. 8B Robert Smith
16. 7L Ben Lucas, Willow Park, TX
17. T56 Tim Barber
18. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
19. T71 Marcus Kyle
20. 5 Dustin Lynch
21. 5A Tyler Pickett
22. 00 Kyle Dirks
23. 9 Andrew Arends
24. 77 Derek Hodges
Mod Lite
Heat 1 - 99 Josh May
Heat 2 - 46Z Brian Zehm
Feature
1. 99 Josh May
2. 95 Mike Kennedy
3. 8 Dusty Masolini
4. 20 Jeff Stensland
5. 11R Jason Whitehead
6. 64 Randy Bryan
7. 01 David Schmalzreid
8. 66F Eric Hendrickson
9. 93 Tim Milner
10. 76 Terry Sorenson
11. 44J Justin Hopkins
12. 08 Ben Larson
13. 4L Larry Sorenson
14. 19JR Danny Foster
15. 46Z Bryan Zehm
16. 19 Brad Melton
DNS: 23 Michael Parcel
3C Duane Coffman - rolled in heat.
Modified
Heat 1 - 93 Cale Sponsler
Heat 2 - 5 Todd Shute
Feature
1. 18 Jake Durbin
2. 5 Todd Shute
3. 8G Greg Dinsmore
4. 87 Joel Bushore
5. 19 Jimmy Gustin
6. 57V Mike VanGendren
7. 3Z Randy Havlik
8. 4R Michael Reichart
9. 28R Russ Dickerson
10. 69X Jon Snyder
11. 12C Kent Croskey
12. 58 Denny Pittman
13. 27 Kelly Lyons
14. 20X Chad Louk
15.43S Scott Simatovich
16. 83G Josh Gilman
17. 24 Robert Avery
18. 32 Lloyd Henderson
19. 93 Cale Sponsler
SportMod
Heat 1 - 57 Lynn Brockett
Heat 2 - 182 Joe McBirnie
Heat 3 - 22B Brian Eppert
Feature
1. 182 Joe McBirnie
2. 22B Brian Eppert
3. 57 Lynn Brockett
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 91 Shawn Hunter
6. 9E Eric Elliott
7. 23JR Nick Roberts
8. 30 Matt Pinegar
9. 6 Darren Huntley
10. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
11, 24 Brian Miller
12. 66 Cody Hennings
13. 59 Tara Longnecker
14. 22J Jeff Blume
15. 27 Tim Love
16. 63 Daniel Tasler
17. 34J Jerry Hinton
18. 3L Clint Luellen
19. 77 Jack Myer
20. 27L Lukas Onstot
21. 36H David Hoover
22. 4A Dan Swank
23. 56 Joe Simbro
DNS: 28 James Reichart
Stock Car
Heat 1 - 35 Donavon Smith
Heat 2 - 25 Trent Murphy
Heat 3 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Feature
1. 19J Jay Schmidt
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 19A Alan VanGorp
5. 50 Robert Stofer
6. 45 Larry Crocheck
7. 56 Lonnie Hodges
8. 3H Ty Hill
9. 25J Josh Daniels
10. 25M Michael Murphy
11. 77A Andy Bryant
12. 24 Eric Brown
13. 25X Bob Daniels
14. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
15. 76 Norm Belew
16. 52 Ben Walding
17. 04 Don Vis
18. 9 Jerry Gifford
19. 22 Wayne Gifford
20. 46B Mike Bilyeu
21. 21 Ross Marshall
Hobby Stock
Heat 1 - 47W Shaun Wirtz
Heat 2 - 99 Jeff Knight
Heat 3 - T56 Tim Barber
B Main - 3 advance
1. 5A Tyler Pickett
2. 500 Garrett Eilander
3. 9 Andrew Arends
4. 13D Dan Wetzel
5. 36S Mike Smith
6. 1BC Tony Cox
7. F1 Blaine Frist
DNS: 48B Brett Knight
Feature
1. 51D Dustin Filloon
2. 4C Curt Reed
3. 24B Brandon Brinton
4. 3W Matt Hudspeth
5. 38R Aaron Rudolph
6. 47W Shaun Wirtz
7. T15 Jacob Thompson
8. 99 Jeff Knight
9. 78X Tim Hadley
10. 46J Jesse Hopkins
11. 911 Darin Rothfus
12. 500 Garrett Eilander
13. 12M Matt McDonald
14. 4W John Watson
15. 8B Robert Smith
16. 7L Ben Lucas, Willow Park, TX
17. T56 Tim Barber
18. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
19. T71 Marcus Kyle
20. 5 Dustin Lynch
21. 5A Tyler Pickett
22. 00 Kyle Dirks
23. 9 Andrew Arends
24. 77 Derek Hodges
Mod Lite
Heat 1 - 99 Josh May
Heat 2 - 46Z Brian Zehm
Feature
1. 99 Josh May
2. 95 Mike Kennedy
3. 8 Dusty Masolini
4. 20 Jeff Stensland
5. 11R Jason Whitehead
6. 64 Randy Bryan
7. 01 David Schmalzreid
8. 66F Eric Hendrickson
9. 93 Tim Milner
10. 76 Terry Sorenson
11. 44J Justin Hopkins
12. 08 Ben Larson
13. 4L Larry Sorenson
14. 19JR Danny Foster
15. 46Z Bryan Zehm
16. 19 Brad Melton
DNS: 23 Michael Parcel
3C Duane Coffman - rolled in heat.
Murphy brothers duel it out in stock car class
It was even hotter on Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway than it was on the 4th of July for racing in Osky! Didn't think it was possible, but it was! With temps right at 100 degrees---and the "real feel" about 107-110 degrees, it was a HOT one! Everyone in the stands was chugging water and we know how hard the heat must have been on everyone....especially the drivers! At least three tracks had canceled their racing due to the extreme heat--Donnellson, Davenport and Tipton, and Columbus Junction pushed their start time back an hour hoping for a bit of relief for everyone. Car count was a bit shorter than normal, but we certainly appreciate all of those drivers who did opt to race on the hot July night. The Stock Car, SportMod and Hobby Stocks provided exciting, close finishes, bringing the crowd to it's feet once again.
The IMCA Sport Compacts was won by Merv Chandler. Merv keeps his perfect record for weekly Friday night racing at the speedway this year, 8 wins in all. Only son Nathan Chandler has beaten him on the track, and that was during the Shootout race on Tuesday of this week. Craig Stepanek was second and Neil Nabhelz was third...both first timers at the track. John Gill was a DNF.
The Mod Lites ran a 12-lap event tonight. Mike Morrill took another win in easy fashion as Josh May ran out of laps to make it into more than a second place finish at the checkers. Mike Kennedy was third over Dusty Masolini and Eric Hendrickson in fourth and fifth.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had an exciting finish to their A main event. Nick Roberts and Scott Davis brought it down to the wire; Roberts leading on the white flag lap, but Davis made it stick for the pass on the final circuit, and snatched the win away. Joel Rust finished in third behind Roberts, fourth went to Eric Flander, and Jayme Duinink took fifth. Davis may have been one of the more comfortable drivers racing last night as he said in the post race interview by announcer Jerry VanSickle, he was wearing a "cool suit".
About the time the IMCA Hobby Stocks appeared for their 12-lap feature, it was noticeable that it was a bit dark on the front stretch. The infield lights on the front were not on, though all others appeared to be working. Since the grandstand lights allowed for enough lighting, there was no stoppage in the program.
This race too, came right down to the wire. Eric Larson was leading, fighting off the challenges of Kevin Fee and Scott Pippert in the closing laps. Fee slid up a bit allowing Pippert to slip by him on the last lap. Then Pippert gave it a last ditch effort as they were looking for the checkers, made it work and nabbed the win.
Larson had to settle for what must have been a disappointing runner up spot, third went to Fee, Brice Udelhoven took fourth and Donovan Nunnikhoven finished in fifth.
It was 18-laps next for the IMCA Stock Cars. This was a fun one to watch as two brothers went at it hard---Trent Murphy and younger brother, Michael Murphy. The two rose to the top early on, Trent taking the point chased by Michael. Trent chose the inside route, Michael going outside. Michael, who is in his first year in the Stock Car class, after jumping up from his successful rein in the Hobby Stocks, got the lead away from his brother before the halfway mark, but the contest wasn't over yet. The two ran closely for the remaining laps, Michael retaining the lead with just a slight advantage over Trent. Michael took the win, his first this year at Marshalltown, brother Trent finishing a close second. Third went to Brian Irvine who came from 10th starting spot, fourth was Damon Murty and Tracy Gienger rounded out the top five.
The night ended with the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. Cayden Carter led the field for the first few laps until Luke Wanninger flew into the lead. Jimmy Gustin came from well back in the starting field to make it into second and challenged Wanninger for a few laps. Wanninger then stretched it out big time and would take the checkers first. Jimmy Gustin crossed in second, third went to Ronn Lauritzen in a fine run from starting back in ninth spot, fourth was Cayden Carter and Josh Truman was fifth. As we were leaving the stands, we heard it announced that Wanninger was driving an experimental set up--motor, quick change rear end, etc. that IMCA has been testing lately. They would be awarding both Wanninger and second place finisher Jimmy Gustin 40 winner's points for the night, and all drivers finishing behind them, an extra point.
It was a pretty miserable night with the heat and humidity and very little breeze, which at times was non existent. Still, we enjoyed the racing. What better thing to do on a summer night in Iowa, than to be attending a dirt track race?! Thanks drivers, for entertaining us once again. Happy racing!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Osky Stock Car Shoot Out Winner is.....
The thermometer said 98 degrees on the vehicle as we pulled into the Southern Iowa Speedway yesterday.
We always expect it to be warm on the 4th of July in Iowa, but this was down right oppressive! What little breeze we were able to catch in the grandstand, was more a hot blast, but it was still welcomed over none!
Three classes paid $1,000 to the winners, one $700 and even $200 to the Sport Compact class. For this much money on the line, we were hoping for a stellar field of cars all around. The longer we sat in the stands last night, the more we were convinced that the heat had a tremendous impact on the lower than expected car count. We knew we wouldn't have wanted to be inside a hot car, helmet and race suit bound, in the heat. It made us appreciate all the more, the drivers that opted to entertain us.
The IMCA Sport Compacts started the features off with their 8-lap event. This one was pretty much over from the drop of the green. Merv Chandler drew the pole position and motored off to another of his numerous wins. Bill Whalen, Jr. trailed him for second place, and Larry Hopkins, newcomer Mike Nehring and Duawyne Herb rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks were running for a $700 payday for the winner. Craig Brown took advantage of his pole redraw position, establishing the lead at the drop of the green. Dustin Griffiths put the heat on the leader soon and was giving a shot at making the pass. But then, fifth row starter, Shannon Anderson wanted to "play" too as he caught Griffiths, and took over second. Anderson worked the low side, gaining ground at each passing lap as he tried to catch leader, Brown. He finally made it work and by lap thirteen of the sixteen-lap race, had the lead. Anderson would maintain that lead to the checkers, taking home another of his numerous victories at the Southern Iowa Speedway this season. Brown held on to second, Griffiths was third, and Mike Hughes and Kevin Fee finished fourth and fifth.
The Northern SportMods ran an 18-lap feature with $1,000 for the winner. The race didn't start off too well, when on lap two, the red flew when Jack Housley flipped his ride over down in turn four. He was not hurt, thankfully. When action resumed, Carter VandenBerg and Curtis VanDerWal went at it for the top positions; VanDerWal eventually getting the point. Point leader at the track, Jesse Sobbing had meanwhile made it up from his ninth starting spot, to take third--hot on the tail of VanDenBerg. At the halfway mark, Sobbing was now dogging leader VanDerWal. It wasn't long until Sobbing made it work and took over the lead. Sobbing would then motor home with a comfortable lead, and take the victory. VanDerWal finished in second, VandenBerg was third, and Jim Gillenwater and Bill Gibson rounded out the top five.
The main event for the evening, the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out feature, came to the track next. The 24-car starting field readied for 25 grueling laps in the still stifling heat. Zack VanderBeek, the lucky recipient of the redraw pill #1, shot to the lead, and another guy who is no stranger to the track, Brad Pinkerton, was soon tagging him for a familiar battle scene. It was soon to be a stretched out lead for VanderBeek, Pinkerton a good distance behind him running a very comfortable second, and then--the rest of the pack. The only real racing on the track at that point was "way back there". Jay Schmidt and Matt Greiner grappled a bit, before Schmidt established the third spot. The top two finishers at the checkers had been determined long ago--VanderBeek taking the checkers, and Pinkerton far behind him for second. Third went to Jay Schmidt, a distant third. Matt Greiner took fourth place and Jeff Anderson was fifth. The over all point leader for the three-race series went to Jeff Anderson.
As we were leaving the track after sticking around for the firework, I noticed a phone message as well as a text message, from different people. That informed us that in a post-race inspection, the 33Z of Zack VanderBeek had been disqualified, handing the win and the $1,000 check over to Brad Pinkerton. The information we received was that the DQ was for an illegal frame. Sometimes, things don't turn out to be as they seem I guess.
The night's racing wasn't over quite yet though, as the IMCA Modifieds still had an 18-lapper on the agenda. Cayden Carter shot to the lead from his outside front row starting spot and Jacob Murray was soon up challenging him for the lead from starting in row four. Murray never looked back after that, and drove off from the field, and claiming the win---his fifth of the year. Murray has a handle on the Osky track and has seemed to been able to tame the Monster Half-Mile. Cayden Carter kept second, Richie Gustin, the hot shoe out of Gilman ran third. In the fourth place was visiting driver out of Oberlin, Kansas, David Murray.
Murray, a four-time IMCA National Champion, a former IMCA Super Nationals winner, and who just recently got his 500th...yes 500th...career IMCA Modified win, plus numerous other awards, had been at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour race in Algona the previous night, and stuck around to try his hand at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Regular at the track, Scott Dickey came home in fifth.
We chalked up another race on a hot, hot summer night in Iowa...not the most comfortable of racing scenes, but still enjoyable. Next Wednesday, we will be back again when it's Oskaloosa night. Show your ID and you can see the racing action for just $5. Let's hope for cooler weather. Happy racing!
We always expect it to be warm on the 4th of July in Iowa, but this was down right oppressive! What little breeze we were able to catch in the grandstand, was more a hot blast, but it was still welcomed over none!
Three classes paid $1,000 to the winners, one $700 and even $200 to the Sport Compact class. For this much money on the line, we were hoping for a stellar field of cars all around. The longer we sat in the stands last night, the more we were convinced that the heat had a tremendous impact on the lower than expected car count. We knew we wouldn't have wanted to be inside a hot car, helmet and race suit bound, in the heat. It made us appreciate all the more, the drivers that opted to entertain us.
The IMCA Sport Compacts started the features off with their 8-lap event. This one was pretty much over from the drop of the green. Merv Chandler drew the pole position and motored off to another of his numerous wins. Bill Whalen, Jr. trailed him for second place, and Larry Hopkins, newcomer Mike Nehring and Duawyne Herb rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks were running for a $700 payday for the winner. Craig Brown took advantage of his pole redraw position, establishing the lead at the drop of the green. Dustin Griffiths put the heat on the leader soon and was giving a shot at making the pass. But then, fifth row starter, Shannon Anderson wanted to "play" too as he caught Griffiths, and took over second. Anderson worked the low side, gaining ground at each passing lap as he tried to catch leader, Brown. He finally made it work and by lap thirteen of the sixteen-lap race, had the lead. Anderson would maintain that lead to the checkers, taking home another of his numerous victories at the Southern Iowa Speedway this season. Brown held on to second, Griffiths was third, and Mike Hughes and Kevin Fee finished fourth and fifth.
The Northern SportMods ran an 18-lap feature with $1,000 for the winner. The race didn't start off too well, when on lap two, the red flew when Jack Housley flipped his ride over down in turn four. He was not hurt, thankfully. When action resumed, Carter VandenBerg and Curtis VanDerWal went at it for the top positions; VanDerWal eventually getting the point. Point leader at the track, Jesse Sobbing had meanwhile made it up from his ninth starting spot, to take third--hot on the tail of VanDenBerg. At the halfway mark, Sobbing was now dogging leader VanDerWal. It wasn't long until Sobbing made it work and took over the lead. Sobbing would then motor home with a comfortable lead, and take the victory. VanDerWal finished in second, VandenBerg was third, and Jim Gillenwater and Bill Gibson rounded out the top five.
The main event for the evening, the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out feature, came to the track next. The 24-car starting field readied for 25 grueling laps in the still stifling heat. Zack VanderBeek, the lucky recipient of the redraw pill #1, shot to the lead, and another guy who is no stranger to the track, Brad Pinkerton, was soon tagging him for a familiar battle scene. It was soon to be a stretched out lead for VanderBeek, Pinkerton a good distance behind him running a very comfortable second, and then--the rest of the pack. The only real racing on the track at that point was "way back there". Jay Schmidt and Matt Greiner grappled a bit, before Schmidt established the third spot. The top two finishers at the checkers had been determined long ago--VanderBeek taking the checkers, and Pinkerton far behind him for second. Third went to Jay Schmidt, a distant third. Matt Greiner took fourth place and Jeff Anderson was fifth. The over all point leader for the three-race series went to Jeff Anderson.
As we were leaving the track after sticking around for the firework, I noticed a phone message as well as a text message, from different people. That informed us that in a post-race inspection, the 33Z of Zack VanderBeek had been disqualified, handing the win and the $1,000 check over to Brad Pinkerton. The information we received was that the DQ was for an illegal frame. Sometimes, things don't turn out to be as they seem I guess.
The night's racing wasn't over quite yet though, as the IMCA Modifieds still had an 18-lapper on the agenda. Cayden Carter shot to the lead from his outside front row starting spot and Jacob Murray was soon up challenging him for the lead from starting in row four. Murray never looked back after that, and drove off from the field, and claiming the win---his fifth of the year. Murray has a handle on the Osky track and has seemed to been able to tame the Monster Half-Mile. Cayden Carter kept second, Richie Gustin, the hot shoe out of Gilman ran third. In the fourth place was visiting driver out of Oberlin, Kansas, David Murray.
Murray, a four-time IMCA National Champion, a former IMCA Super Nationals winner, and who just recently got his 500th...yes 500th...career IMCA Modified win, plus numerous other awards, had been at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour race in Algona the previous night, and stuck around to try his hand at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Regular at the track, Scott Dickey came home in fifth.
We chalked up another race on a hot, hot summer night in Iowa...not the most comfortable of racing scenes, but still enjoyable. Next Wednesday, we will be back again when it's Oskaloosa night. Show your ID and you can see the racing action for just $5. Let's hope for cooler weather. Happy racing!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Osky Stock Car Shoot Out - 7-4-12
Unofficial results:
Stock Car:
Note: 33Z Zack VanderBeek crossed the finish line first, FAR ahead of second place, but was later dq'd.
1. 62 Brad Pinkerton
2. 19J Jay Schmidt
3. 29 Matt Greiner
4. 78 Jeff Anderson
5. 36 Larry Karcz, Jr., WI
6. 08S Rod Staats
7. 52 Nathan Wood
8. 3W Jeff Wollam
9. 94 Cory Stout
10 94X Steve Meyer
11. 566 Jim Lynch
12. 8 Colt Mather
13. 19A Alan VanGorp
14. 7 Todd Phillips
15. 93 Michael Jaennnette
16. 3G Lonnie Greiner
17. 0 Tim Hardesty, Corning, IA
18. 84 Eric Malfroid, WI
19. 49G Leroy Groenendyk
DNF: 25C Shane Paris
22R Todd Reitzler
99D Damon Murty
DNS: 30J Alex Buffington
Modified
1. 48J Jacob Murray
2. 10 Carter VandenBerg
3. 19G Richie Gustin
4. 97M David Murray, Kansas
5. 40 Scott Dickey
6. 69X Jon Snyder
7. 20dub Shane Weller
8. 02 Andrew Schroeder
9. 12H Dakota Hayden
10 51 Tyler Vandekamp
11. K1 Kyle Krampe
DNF: 22 Brandon Banks
SportMod
1. 99 Jesse Sobbing
2. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
3. 27 Bryon Weyer
4. 7 Carter VandenBerg
5. 10G Jim Gillenwater
6. 38 Bill Gibson
7. 8T Tony Johnson
8. 85 Jason McDaniel
9. 12 Eric Flander
10. 95J Jason Hall
11. 72 Brett Lowry
12. 26J Joel Rust
13. 8 Tom Lathrop
DNF: K1 Randy Krampe
15 Cody Hillgartner, Harlan?
3J Jim Blazina, NE
10H Jack Housley - rolled but was ok
198 Sam Wieben
Hobby Stock
1. 78 Shannon Anderson
2. 69 Craig Brown
3. 10G Dustin Griffiths
4. 18H Mike Hughes
5. 52 Kevin Fee
6. 33 Justin Hook
7. 84 Danny Thrasher
8. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
9. 77 Derek Hodges
10. 20 Andrew Husted
11. 96R Jamie Songer
12. 6 Jarred Gann
13. 4C Curt Reed
DNF: 19 Rex Bonnett
32T Bobby Greene
57 Scott Shull
Sport Compact
1. 2 Merv Chandler
2. 00W Bill Whalen, Jr.
3. 4 Larry Hopkins
4. 7N ?
5. 8 Duayne Herb
6. 04 Trent Orwig
DNS: 77 John Whalen
More complete results and blog to follow
Stock Car:
Note: 33Z Zack VanderBeek crossed the finish line first, FAR ahead of second place, but was later dq'd.
1. 62 Brad Pinkerton
2. 19J Jay Schmidt
3. 29 Matt Greiner
4. 78 Jeff Anderson
5. 36 Larry Karcz, Jr., WI
6. 08S Rod Staats
7. 52 Nathan Wood
8. 3W Jeff Wollam
9. 94 Cory Stout
10 94X Steve Meyer
11. 566 Jim Lynch
12. 8 Colt Mather
13. 19A Alan VanGorp
14. 7 Todd Phillips
15. 93 Michael Jaennnette
16. 3G Lonnie Greiner
17. 0 Tim Hardesty, Corning, IA
18. 84 Eric Malfroid, WI
19. 49G Leroy Groenendyk
DNF: 25C Shane Paris
22R Todd Reitzler
99D Damon Murty
DNS: 30J Alex Buffington
Modified
1. 48J Jacob Murray
2. 10 Carter VandenBerg
3. 19G Richie Gustin
4. 97M David Murray, Kansas
5. 40 Scott Dickey
6. 69X Jon Snyder
7. 20dub Shane Weller
8. 02 Andrew Schroeder
9. 12H Dakota Hayden
10 51 Tyler Vandekamp
11. K1 Kyle Krampe
DNF: 22 Brandon Banks
SportMod
1. 99 Jesse Sobbing
2. 1 Curtis VanDerWal
3. 27 Bryon Weyer
4. 7 Carter VandenBerg
5. 10G Jim Gillenwater
6. 38 Bill Gibson
7. 8T Tony Johnson
8. 85 Jason McDaniel
9. 12 Eric Flander
10. 95J Jason Hall
11. 72 Brett Lowry
12. 26J Joel Rust
13. 8 Tom Lathrop
DNF: K1 Randy Krampe
15 Cody Hillgartner, Harlan?
3J Jim Blazina, NE
10H Jack Housley - rolled but was ok
198 Sam Wieben
Hobby Stock
1. 78 Shannon Anderson
2. 69 Craig Brown
3. 10G Dustin Griffiths
4. 18H Mike Hughes
5. 52 Kevin Fee
6. 33 Justin Hook
7. 84 Danny Thrasher
8. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
9. 77 Derek Hodges
10. 20 Andrew Husted
11. 96R Jamie Songer
12. 6 Jarred Gann
13. 4C Curt Reed
DNF: 19 Rex Bonnett
32T Bobby Greene
57 Scott Shull
Sport Compact
1. 2 Merv Chandler
2. 00W Bill Whalen, Jr.
3. 4 Larry Hopkins
4. 7N ?
5. 8 Duayne Herb
6. 04 Trent Orwig
DNS: 77 John Whalen
More complete results and blog to follow
Close finish times three at Marshalltown Shoot Out
Night number two of three for the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out came to Marshalltown on Tuesday night. It was a hot one for fans and drivers alike. There was certainly no lack of great racing though, as three classes provided exciting finishes and had the crowd on it's feet.
IMCA Sport Compacts ran for 8-laps in their feature event, kicking off the night's main event action. Dallas Chandler, who was making his first appearance at the track, was leading past the halfway mark. That would be when brother Nate Chandler, also a first timer at the track, would make the pass for the lead, keeping it the rest of the way for the win. Third was Bill Whalen, Jr. from Riverside--yet another first timer--fourth went to Merv Chandler, father to Dallas and Nate, and David Moormann rounded out the top five.
The Mod Lite class only had eight cars, one unable to even start the heat race due to fuel pump problems. That driver, Josh May would tag the field for the feature. By lap three, May was on the tail of leader Randy Bryan, and looking for more. May made the pass into the lead and would then pull away and take the win.
Mike Kennedy made the pass around Bryan in the last few laps, as they finished second and third in that order. Fourth went to Jason Whitehead and fifth was Dusty Masolini.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had $1,000 to the winner on the line. The 20-lap feature put Cory Rose and Sam Wieben on the front row after the redraw. The first few laps were hectic and produced three-wide racing for the lead--Wieben, Rose, and second row starter Tony Dunker. Dunker, out of Quincy, Illinois had shown his muscle in the heat race, and wasn't about to change that now. Dunker took the lead but soon had another challenger coming fast and furiously in Scott Davis. The two raced close for several laps until Davis finally established the point position; Dunker still waiting in the wings. Davis and Dunker were putting on a show with close, clean racing; Davis maintaining the lead. The last corner was the fatal bite for Davis when Dunker made the pass out of turn four coming to the checkers, and snatching the win. Davis had to settle for the runner up, third was Sam Wieben. Racer Hulin stuck his #505 up topside and advanced from about mid-pack to take fourth over Carter VandenBerg in fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran a 15-lapper tonight. Scott Pippert got to the front early and would stretch it out for a comfortable lead. Brandon Pruitt had taken over second place and was on a quest to make up ground. A yellow flew at lap twelve, putting Pruitt to restart right behind the leader. The final laps were tight, Pippert continuing to maintain his lead, However, again that fateful last corner pass came to be, as Pruitt powered by Pippert coming to the checkers, nabbing the win in the last few feet. Tyler Pickett finished in third, fourth was Bryce Udelhoven and Garrett Eilander was fifth.
Now it was time for the "Star of the Show", the 30-lap IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out! Thirty-seven cars had checked in to the pits, and were whittled down to 24 cars through two B mains. The 24-car starting field put on one of the best four-wide salutes we've seen...nearly perfect formation. Sean Johnson and Abe Huls were the lucky redraw recipients of the front row. The action halted as soon as it began when several cars spun as they were about to take the green flag. This called for a complete restart, with the cars involved, heading to the tail. One of those involved was Brian Irvine, the hot shoe out of Oelwein. When the race finally got underway, Sean Johnson took command and was running strong; pulling away from the field. As he cruised along, Abe Huls established the second spot after shaking off the challenges of Steve Meyer. As the race wore down, we noticed a couple of cars making great advances through the field and coming strong. One of those was Donavon Smith who had battled his way up to third place...and, who was that in fourth? It was Brian Irvine! Irvine, had sliced his way up through the rest of the field, hiking that left front in his usual style, and was looking for more. The final few laps were awesome racing! Leader Johnson was frantically trying to hold off Smith's challenge for the lead, Irvine had made it into third and now Trent Murphy threw his hat into the ring! Smith shot past Johnson for the lead and then Irvine took the number two spot. The white flag flew with Smith in first and hoping for that $1,000 win. Then---here once again comes that final lap jinx! Irvine made the pass on Smith, and took the money! Following Smith in third was Sean Johnson, Trent Murphy came from qualifying through a B to capture fourth, and Abe Huls, Carthage, Illinois, took fifth. It was such a fitting race that is called the "Stock Car Shoot Out"!!
We head to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa tonight for the third and final night of the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out. We look forward to more exciting action as the Stock Cars never seem to fail at putting on one of the best shows around on the big ole Monster Half-Mile. It's an early start at Osky with hot laps scheduled for 5:30 and races to follow. Stick around for the fireworks display too to top off your 4th of July! Happy racing!
IMCA Sport Compacts ran for 8-laps in their feature event, kicking off the night's main event action. Dallas Chandler, who was making his first appearance at the track, was leading past the halfway mark. That would be when brother Nate Chandler, also a first timer at the track, would make the pass for the lead, keeping it the rest of the way for the win. Third was Bill Whalen, Jr. from Riverside--yet another first timer--fourth went to Merv Chandler, father to Dallas and Nate, and David Moormann rounded out the top five.
The Mod Lite class only had eight cars, one unable to even start the heat race due to fuel pump problems. That driver, Josh May would tag the field for the feature. By lap three, May was on the tail of leader Randy Bryan, and looking for more. May made the pass into the lead and would then pull away and take the win.
Mike Kennedy made the pass around Bryan in the last few laps, as they finished second and third in that order. Fourth went to Jason Whitehead and fifth was Dusty Masolini.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had $1,000 to the winner on the line. The 20-lap feature put Cory Rose and Sam Wieben on the front row after the redraw. The first few laps were hectic and produced three-wide racing for the lead--Wieben, Rose, and second row starter Tony Dunker. Dunker, out of Quincy, Illinois had shown his muscle in the heat race, and wasn't about to change that now. Dunker took the lead but soon had another challenger coming fast and furiously in Scott Davis. The two raced close for several laps until Davis finally established the point position; Dunker still waiting in the wings. Davis and Dunker were putting on a show with close, clean racing; Davis maintaining the lead. The last corner was the fatal bite for Davis when Dunker made the pass out of turn four coming to the checkers, and snatching the win. Davis had to settle for the runner up, third was Sam Wieben. Racer Hulin stuck his #505 up topside and advanced from about mid-pack to take fourth over Carter VandenBerg in fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran a 15-lapper tonight. Scott Pippert got to the front early and would stretch it out for a comfortable lead. Brandon Pruitt had taken over second place and was on a quest to make up ground. A yellow flew at lap twelve, putting Pruitt to restart right behind the leader. The final laps were tight, Pippert continuing to maintain his lead, However, again that fateful last corner pass came to be, as Pruitt powered by Pippert coming to the checkers, nabbing the win in the last few feet. Tyler Pickett finished in third, fourth was Bryce Udelhoven and Garrett Eilander was fifth.
Now it was time for the "Star of the Show", the 30-lap IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out! Thirty-seven cars had checked in to the pits, and were whittled down to 24 cars through two B mains. The 24-car starting field put on one of the best four-wide salutes we've seen...nearly perfect formation. Sean Johnson and Abe Huls were the lucky redraw recipients of the front row. The action halted as soon as it began when several cars spun as they were about to take the green flag. This called for a complete restart, with the cars involved, heading to the tail. One of those involved was Brian Irvine, the hot shoe out of Oelwein. When the race finally got underway, Sean Johnson took command and was running strong; pulling away from the field. As he cruised along, Abe Huls established the second spot after shaking off the challenges of Steve Meyer. As the race wore down, we noticed a couple of cars making great advances through the field and coming strong. One of those was Donavon Smith who had battled his way up to third place...and, who was that in fourth? It was Brian Irvine! Irvine, had sliced his way up through the rest of the field, hiking that left front in his usual style, and was looking for more. The final few laps were awesome racing! Leader Johnson was frantically trying to hold off Smith's challenge for the lead, Irvine had made it into third and now Trent Murphy threw his hat into the ring! Smith shot past Johnson for the lead and then Irvine took the number two spot. The white flag flew with Smith in first and hoping for that $1,000 win. Then---here once again comes that final lap jinx! Irvine made the pass on Smith, and took the money! Following Smith in third was Sean Johnson, Trent Murphy came from qualifying through a B to capture fourth, and Abe Huls, Carthage, Illinois, took fifth. It was such a fitting race that is called the "Stock Car Shoot Out"!!
We head to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa tonight for the third and final night of the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out. We look forward to more exciting action as the Stock Cars never seem to fail at putting on one of the best shows around on the big ole Monster Half-Mile. It's an early start at Osky with hot laps scheduled for 5:30 and races to follow. Stick around for the fireworks display too to top off your 4th of July! Happy racing!
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