The Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa held their
season opening points race on Wednesday night.
All of the regular IMCA classes except the Sport Compacts were
competing, along with the Sprint Invaders.
The Sprint Invaders are a regional 360 winged sprint series, and for the
first time ever, they tried their hand on the Monster Half-Mile.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran their 16-lap feature first and
this one was nearly a done deal from the drop of the green. Brett Lowry, the Montezuma driver who has
been having a great start to his 2014 season, got the drop on Logan Anderson
when the green fell. From then on, Lowry
motored off, stretching his lead on the field, never to be challenged. Lowry took the checkers by a comfortable
margin over runner up Anderson. Third
place went to Cory VanZante. VanZante
started eighth on the field, and impressively fought his way forward. Fourth went to Carter VanDenBerg and Jason
McDaniel completed he top five. The
feature went flag-to-flag.
Mike Hughes won the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature but had
to duel through some tough competition in doing so. Veteran Bill Bonnett was looking to see the
checkers in the opening laps as he led the field. Dustin Griffiths got up to challenge the
leader, taking over the top spot at lap six.
Meanwhile, Mike Hughes was also making a bid for a top finish, as he
threw his hat into the ring. Those three
drivers made it interesting as they jousted in the closing laps. Hughes would be the winner in this contest,
taking over the lead at lap ten, leaving Bonnett and Griffiths to battle behind
him. Bonnett held on to finish second
over Griffiths in third. Fourth was
Agency, Iowa’s Danny Thrasher over Jamie Songer in the fifth position.
Promoter Mike VanGenderen had seen the bank of clouds forming
to the west and though there was a difference in the radar images from site to
site as to how close it was to the track, the call was made to bring the
visiting Sprint Invaders to the track next for their feature.
Youngster Carson McCarl, son of well-known racer Terry
McCarl, had earned the pole position, alongside his partner on the front row,
Jarrod Schneiderman. McCarl held the
upper hand through lap five, but Jonathan Cornell was soon up to contend that
top spot. The two drivers went back and
forth for the lead, weaving in and out of traffic in the waning laps, Cornell finally
establishing it for good, and took the checkers. Following in second across the line was
McCarl, third was Jon Agan, fourth went to Matt Moro, and Jarrod Schneiderman
crossed the finish line in fifth. A
post-race inspection however, would change the outcome of this one, as Cornell
would be dq’d with what we heard to be an issue with his wing. This would move McCarl to the winner’s
circle, and the other’s moved up a spot.
Mike Houseman would take the fifth finishing position.
The always entertaining IMCA Stock Cars came to the track
next, preparing for their 18-lap feature race.
It was looking to be a good one with” Chelsea Charger”, Damon Murty and
Cayden “Gasman” Carter sitting up front for the start. A surprising slip up in turn three by Murty
before lap two was scored, sent him backwards after his recovery , leaving
Carter in control, with Nathan Wood in tow. Carter, who is piloting a Roger Kelderman car was soon to be joined by yet another
orange Kelderman car driven by “Zman” Zack VanderBeek. VanderBeek had started back in eighth spot,
but was reeling in the leader as he dug on the bottom side of the track. It was fun to see the talented “orange gang”
dueling it out, up front. Digging on the bottom paid off for VanderBeek
when he took the lead at lap sixteen, never to relinquish it again. Carter had to settle for the runner up spot
this week after his Frostbuster win last week.
As the two orange cars battled for the lead, who should be making his presence
known again, but the 99D of Damon Murty!
Murty was flying through the pack trying to make up ground after his
early miscue, and was back up to third by lap nine. It was looking to be a 1-2-3 finish for the
front runners as the laps wound down, but yet another slip by the Chelsea Charger
would change that outcome, and soon after, his retirement to the pits. VanderBeek got the win on this night, Carter
scored a second, and the familiar local favorite of Brad Pinkerton was credited
with a third place finish. Nathan Wood
took fourth over Donovan Nunnikhoven in the fifth spot.
The night’s finale was the 20-lap IMCA Modified
feature. Cayden Carter, got the pole position alongside Packwood’s
Scott Dickey. Carter took the lead, but “Toddzilla”
Todd Shute wasted no time in getting to that runner up spot, nabbing it by lap
three from starting seventh on the field.
Shute wasn't done yet, as he snatched the lead from Carter at lap seven…..and
never looked back. Shute stretched his
lead to more than a straightaway, taking the impressive win in easy
fashion. Carter had to settle for
another runner up finish as he had finished in the position in the Stock Car
class too. There was some good racing
for the third spot, as Jesse Sobbing, the Glenwood, Iowa driver who made the
long haul over from western Iowa, just beat out Luke Wanninger who was scored fourth. Scott Dickey hung toward the front to finish
fifth.
Though we did not know it, we heard a few raindrops did
fall, but thankfully Mother Nature was out foxed on this night. She did continue with a relentless blustery south
wind for most of the evening though. Thanks to friends Warren and Carol Busse and
Bob Litton for their more than welcome tarp wind barriers! We also enjoyed our evening of racing with
fellow Positively Racing cohorts Ryan Clark and Morgan Broeg. We had a fun time as we waged a “pick the
winner” contest for all of the features.
Surprisingly, we had the top four runners at one time or another in ALL
of the main events. Head PRer, Jeff
Broeg was on duty to co-announce the Sprint Invaders, sharing duties with Bill
Wright. Look for more thoughts of the
evening's racing from their blogs.
Next week's show will feature a SportMod special with a draw/redraw format. The IMCA Sport Compacts will be back at the track for the first time in 2014, along with the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Hot laps at 7 with racing at 7:30.
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