The Hawkeye Dirt Tour for Modifieds came to Osky on Tuesday night. The Southern Iowa Fair was in full swing and among the sounds and smells of the fair, the roar of not only the Modifieds, but the IMCA Late Models, Stock Cars, SportMods and Hobby Stocks added to the atmosphere. Thirty-two Modifieds competed, representing eight states and one from Canada. Elvis was even in the house! More on that later.
The Stock Cars saddled up first for 18-laps on the Monster. The Orange Crush machine piloted by Cayden Carter, put it in victory lane again for owner Roger Kelderman. Carter leaped to the lead immediately from his outside front row starting position, (it was a draw/redraw format last night for all but the Late Models) and pretty much had it on cruise control from then on. What could have been a real ugly situation high in corner one, halted the racing action at lap six. Brad Pinkerton appeared to have a flat, causing the cars behind to take evasive action. Pinkerton was spun around and Kris Walker and Nathan Wood got caught up in the incident--Wood's car tipped sideways but did not go over thankfully. Pinkerton and Walker exited, while Wood was able to rejoin the field. When racing resumed, Carter drove off again. This wasn't to say that there wasn't a lot of action going on in this race however! There were four cars battling for second! Justin Temeyer, Scott Drake (he was racing Perry Misner's car) Damon Murty and Todd Reitzler were really going at it for much of the race, positions being swapped often. In the end, Carter sailed to the easy victory. Scott Drake held off Justin Temeyer as they were scored second and third. Damon Murty was fourth and Todd Reitzler was fifth.
The Hobby Stock 15-lap event saw Dustin Griffiths take advantage of his outside front row starting spot, leap to the lead and chased by Randy Embrey. A red flag flew at lap seven when Gina Greubel appeared to hit a track tire down in corner four and rolled her machine. She was okay. When racing restarted, Griffiths still held command, Embrey in second, and the familiar #11 of Mike Hughes had made his way into third from starting back in eighth. By the following lap, Hughes made the move into second place, and by lap ten, was leading. Hughes stretched out his lead, and took home another win at Osky. Randy Embrey, Granger, Iowa made his trip over pay off and took home second. Griffiths finished third, Derrick Hodges was fourth and rounding out the top five was Danny Thrasher. Hughes has now scored eight wins at the track this year and four in a row.
The SportMod feature winner was Brett Lowry. Lowry did battle in the early portion of the race with Brayton Carter and finally established the lead for good at lap six. Lowry motored off from the competition while things were getting changed up behind him. Curtis Van Der Wal made the move into second around Carter and then attempted to chase down the leader. He closed the gap a bit, but at the checkers, Lowry was untouched, taking the win comfortably. This was his third win of the season. Van Der Wal finished as the runner up. Minburn, Iowa racer, Clint Luellen, who has been having a very successful season so far, was third, just ahead of Brayton Carter in fourth. Ryan Fullenkamp was scored in fifth.
The top twelve qualifiers in the Hawkeye Dirt Tour heats, were called to the front of the grandstands to get their starting spot determined by a pick of the draw....keep it or pass it to someone else. Todd Shute ended with #1 and Luke Wanninger #2 and it was then time for the 25-lap HDT A main.
Todd Shute liked his pole starting position and leaped to the lead at the start of the 25-lap feature. Shute maintained that lead but by lap eight, company was comin' a knocking. Andrew Schroeder had started fifth and was tucked into second, just ahead of the Flyin' Dutchman, Mike VanGenderen. Those three were sailing out in front of the pack, unchanged until lap twenty-two. Shute jumped the cushion due to lap traffic and Schroeder sneaked under him to take the lead. Schroeder took the double checkers, Shute having to settle for second place. Mike VanGenderen held down third place, Luke Wanninger finished fourth and Jacob Murray made the most headway, coming from starting twelfth, to finish fifth. The race went flag to flag.
I mentioned earlier, the drivers that made the long haul to race last night. Most of those you could see again tonight at Osky for their regular Wednesday night program. The Modifieds are paying $1,000 again tonight, so no doubt, some, if not all, will be looking to take the money home. Those drivers in attendance last night were #60 William Gould from Oklahoma, #12D Scott Drake, and #62 Hunter Marriott from Missouri, the 4TW of Tim Ward out of Arizona, Jeff Waterman, though not that far from home, lives in Illinois, the #137 was Bill Pittaway from Corpus Christi, Texas, Jason Schoenberger is from Kansas, the J14 who unfortunately had his motor go south, was Joey Franklin from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Canada was represented as #21 of Aaron Turnbull came from Saskatchewan, Canada. I mentioned earlier that Elvis was in the house. Joey Franklin, the driver from Las Vegas, is an Elvis impersonator! Yup, the black hair and sideburns and all. He sat not far from us in the grandstand after his night ended up in smoke.
The IMCA Late Models capped off the night's racing. Todd Cooney slipped around Nick Marolf at lap fifteen, withstood a restart situation at lap sixteen when Spencer Dierks hit turn one wall, and held off Marolf in the closing laps to score the win. Marolf took the runner up spot, Keokuk's Tommy Elston was third, and Kevin Kile barely beat out Colby Springsteen at the checkers as they went fourth and fifth respectively.
It's back to the Southern Iowa Speedway for us again tonight. Remember, if you make the trip, the Fair is still on. The Modifieds are racing for $1,000 to win, and all regular classes will be on tap, plus the Late Models come to town for the second night in a row. Thanks for reading, and happy racing!
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