The final regular season night of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway ended on a great note--weather wise and racing wise. An added attraction for the night was the MADCRA Mod Lite division which ran for the first time ever on the Monster Half-Mile. A couple of new faces visited victory lane as well.
All of the IMCA classes, ran heats and started via the invert system as they do each week. Some tracks choose to start the features "straight up" by points on Season Championship night, but that was not the case at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Each class was brought to the front stretch for driver introductions prior to their feature event. That is always a feature that we really appreciate....not only for us as fans, but that the drivers get a little extra recognition.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran their 15-lap feature first. Young Brayton Carter led the charge, looking strong as he piloted his #01 ride around the big old half-mile. Curtis VanDerWal made his way up to second, with Tony Johnson chasing him. With the race continuing under green, VanDerWal seized his opportunity to make the pass on Carter with a lap remaining. VanDerWal took the checkers, his second of the year, Carter having to settle for the runner up spot. Jesse Sobbing, the track champion, made his way through the field to score a third place finish, fourth went to Carter VandenBerg and Eric Flander was fifth.
Next was the IMCA Sport Compacts. Tonight, the track had a new winner. John Whalen won the 8-lap feature after taking over from brother Bill Whalen, Jr. with a couple of laps remaining. Merv Chandler nabbed second on the final lap after getting by Bill Whalen, who finished third. Fourth was Anthony Cassat, fifth was Cory Howk and Kimberly Abbott made the trip over from Camp Point, Illinois to complete the six-car field. Merv Chandler is the track champion for 2012.
Eight IMCA Modifieds were on hand for the final night of points racing, but two cars "gave up the ghost" before they could even compete---Jeff Waterman and Jason Riegel. At the drop of the green flag, the field was called back for a "bad dog, no biscuit" as announcer Tony Paris calls a start by some overly anxious drivers. That yellow restart also found the 10C of Cayden Carter in trouble with some toe out problems which would send him to the pits. When the race did get underway, it was Dakota Hayden out in front and looking strong. He had earlier won his heat race in convincing manner, and the feature was no different. He sailed easily to the win, as the race went caution free after the initial recall. He finished well ahead of second place "Hollywood" Brandon Banks. Third went to Jacob Murray, fourth was Andrew Schroeder and Mark Widmar was fifth. This was Hayden's first win at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Cayden Carter, though having mechanical issues, still had a good night as he took the track championship.
The MADCRA Mod Lites ran their 13-lap feature next. This would be the inaugural running at the track for the class. Mike Morrill and Josh May, two drivers we have seen duke it out at the Marshalltown Speedway all season long. Tonight, Morrill scooted off to the lead from his outside front row starting spot, only to have May, who had started right behind him in row two, tag in on his bumper. Morrill looked to the outside, Morrill looked to the inside, and finally was able to make one of those peeks work, taking the lead by lap eleven. May went on to take the win, Morrill finishing second. Far behind in third was Andy Hennigar, fourth went to Randy Bryan and Dusty Masolini finished in fifth. Thirteen of the motorcycle engine powered machines were on hand for their first time ever running at the track. For more information on this class, check out www.madcra.org.
The IMCA Stock Car feature went 16-laps. With less than a handful of laps in the books, disaster was avoided after last week's winner Todd Reitzler and Kyle Harwood appeared to get hooked as they came out of turn two. The two freed themselves as they struggled down the back stretch, Reitzler continuing on, but Harwood retiring to the pits. Meanwhile, Todd Phillips had been motoring along at the helm of the race, and the Chelsea Charger, Damon Murty had made his way into second. A yellow flag flew at lap eleven, bunching up the field. On the restart, Murty was on the hunt and looking for the lead. He would make it work going down the back stretch with a lap to go, stealing away the win, Phillips having to settle for second. Corey "from just across the street" Stout, came home in third place, fourth was Nathan Wood and fifth went to Todd Reitzler. The track championship went to Matt Greiner.
The final feature event was the IMCA Hobby Stocks. They ran a 15-lap feature. The only yellow in this one flew at lap four when point leader Shannon Anderson found himself in the spin mode in turn one, and though he kept going, he was the one bringing out the yellow, and was then relegated to the tail of the field on the restart. This one was led by Justin Hook who battled three-wide with Mike Hughes and Dustin Griffiths for the top spot. At lap eight, it was Hughes taking over the helm, Griffiths in hot pursuit. Griffiths then took over the number one spot, Hughes then chasing him. The final checkers flew with Griffiths taking the win, his fifth of the year, Hughes took the runner up spot, Hook finished in third and Bobby Greene and Kevin Fee rounded out the top five. Shannon Anderson is the track champion.
Though there was a bit of entertainment still left for the evening---a powder puff and mechanics race---we opted to head out. We were happy to share the night's racing with visiting friends from California who are back here for the upcoming IMCA Super Nationals, as well as Positively Racing colleague Jeff Broeg. Make sure to stop by www.positivelyracing.com for Jeff's take of the night's racing under "Backstretch". As a note, it was announced last night that Mike VanGenderen will be back at the helm of the racing action next year after what we would deem a pretty successful first year of promoting/managing the track.
The track will fall silent until October 5-6 when the 26th Annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge will once again bring the track back to action. Make plans to attend this always excellent racing show. Until next time, happy racing!
No comments:
Post a Comment