What a beautiful night for racing it was Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The pits were full with over 100 cars checked in on a night when the Late Models came back to run the Monster Half-Mile and the Vintage/Nostalgia cars also came to play. Three drivers just keep racking up the feature wins at the track and new faces visited victory lane in the Late Model, Modified and Stock Car classes.
The Sport Compact class saw a record TEN cars vying for a win. However, the outcome was as it often is with Merv Chandler taking the win....his fourth of the year and eleventh over all. John Whalen finished as the runner up followed by Bill Whalen, Jr., Kassidy Kirkpatrick and Matt Moore; third through fifth.
Things were shook up a little last night for running order, as the Stock Cars took to the track next. Grinnell's Todd Reitzler had the lead at lap one from his second row starting spot, and would dominate the rest of the seventeen laps on his way to his first win at the speedway this year. Damon Murty, "The Chelsea Charger" would be the "chaser" this time, but was unable to garner more than the runner spot. Behind the two front runners, who had now broken away from the pack, it was Rich Vogt, Brad Pinkerton, Zack VanderBeek, Jason Cook and Corey Stout all wanting that third spot...... and a show they made of it! When it was all said and done, VanderBeek would claim that third place, followed by Vogt, Pinkerton, Jason Cook and Corey Stout as they went fourth through seventh. Only a caution at lap one would slow the entertaining feature.
It was the IMCA Late Models next with their third appearance of the year at Osky. The 10-car field ran for 20-laps and it was led that entire distance by winner Nick Marolf. Marolf, who started on the pole, had little trouble maintaining his lead even through lap traffic, pulling away from his competition. Then, at lap 18, the only yellow would wave, bunching up the field for the green-white-checkered finish. This would put Todd Cooney close on Marolf's tail on the restart. Marolf didn't let that deter him, as he sailed home to the feature win, Cooney having to settle for second. Third place was Keokuk's Tommy Elston and 16 year old Spencer Diercks, this year's only other winner in the Late Models at Osky, came from eight starting spot, to finish fourth, and Double D, Darrel DeFrance was fifth.
It was their usual 18-lap feature for the IMCA Modifieds. Gilman's Richie Gustin led the charge from his pole starting position. Scott Dickey took the second spot early in the race, but Gustin would stretch his lead over him and the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Cayden Carter had mounted a run from his fourth row starting spot, and by lap eight, had made his way into the runner up spot past Dickey. A yellow at lap fourteen would then wipe out Gustin's big lead on the field, tucking Carter in behind him on the restart. Carter would attempt a run on the leader, but Gustin had it covered, winning by a comfortable distance as the checkers waved. Carter had to settle for the runner up spot, Dickey held third, and Brandon Banks and Tyler VandeKamp (who announcer Tony Paris was calling "The Flying Fishstick" last night) finished fourth and fifth. This was Gustin's first win at the track this season.
The Hobby Stocks found Mike Hughes back in victory lane for the fourth time this year. Hughes, who started in tenth spot, fought through door-to-door, multi-wide racing to take the lead at lap seven. Bobby Greene, the early race leader finished in second after holding off Justin Hook and Bill Bonnett who finished third and fourth. and Danny Thrasher rounded out the top five.
The SportMods finished off the regular classes of racing with their 16-lap event. Curtis VanDerWal took over the lead at lap two and that was all she wrote. VanDerWal pulled away to a HUGE lead over the field as the race went caution free the rest of the way. VanDerWal sealed his fourth win of the season, finishing well over a half-lap ahead of second place, Carter VandenBerg. Ben Kates was passed by VandenBerg on the final lap to score third place, fourth was Eric Flander and Jason Hall completed the top five.
An added bonus on the evening was the appearance of the vintage/nostalgia cars. It was fun to see the cars of yesteryear circling the track. One in particular that caught our eye was the white #4 machine that looked to be from about the era of the Marmon Wasp....winner of the first ever Indy 500 in 1911.
It was a great night of racing. The track provided great multi-wide racing and stayed smooth, top to bottom all night long. It was great to see the pits packed again at the track, and fun to see more and different drivers coming to try and tame the Monster Half-Mile each week. Next week, it will be Trick or Treat night for the youngsters as they are invited to visit the participating drivers on the frontstretch before racing begins at 7:30.
We are off to Donnellson, Iowa tonight for the running of the Hawkeye Dirt Tour and NASCAR star, Kenny Schrader will be racing. Also on tap at the Lee County Speedway, are the Sprint Invaders and the IMCA SportMods and Sport Compacts. Hot laps are 7 and racing at 7:30. We note that this week, the HDT series has revised their rules a bit, to include just EIGHT of the driver's best finishes of eleven races, instead of the original ten of thirteen. This is due to the fact that a couple of races were rained out and are not going to be made up. Head to Lee County Speedway tonight, for what will no doubt, be another night of racing action not to be missed. Happy racing!
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