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!