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!
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