It was good to get back to Osky on Wednesday night where it was season championship night. There were new drivers, new winners, and track champions were crowned. It was a heavy track and it was fast! A bit of track prep was needed between most of the races to keep the track in good racing condition and with that extra effort, there was some fantastic racing.
All division were brought to the front stretch for introductions prior to their feature race, allowing fans a chance to see the drivers and show their appreciation.
The Sport Compact 10-lap feature went flag-to-flag. It was led the entire way by Matt Girdley, who won for the first time at Osky. He won easily over Bill "Happy Feet" Whalen, Jr. who was second. Third went to John Whalen, fourth was Matt Moore and Nicholas VanHemert was fifth. Bill Whalen, Jr. is the track champion of 2014.
The Modified feature had a couple of new drivers. Some of those were trying to get in an extra race and nab some IMCA points before the season is done. One of those, Troy Cordes is sitting in sixth place in the National point chase.
Veteran driver Jerry Pilcher, was driving the 7W car of Mark Widmar last night. He sat on the pole of the 16-lap feature and took the lead as the green flew. Meanwhile, there was a good battle brewing behind him as AJ Johnson, Tyler Groendyk and Andrew Schroeder were going at it. Schroeder won that duel, taking over second place at lap eleven and then began pressuring leader Pilcher. Schroeder made it payoff, taking the lead just before lap twelve was scored. From there on he stretched it out, avoiding lap traffic, and swept to the feature win. Pilcher held on to score the runner up spot, ahead of Johnson, Groendyk and Brandon Banks, third through fifth. This was Schroeder's seventh win at the track in 2014 and it earned him the track championship.
The 15-lap Hobby Stock A main was up next. Mike Kincaid led the charge early on in this one, but was soon harassed by Craig Brown. Brown finally established the lead at lap nine and was content to let a pack of cars fight it out behind him. Among those cars was Mike Hughes. Hughes had been involved in an incident in the opening laps of the race, had to go to the work area, and tagged the field. As the laps wound down, he had worked his way into that pack of battling cars, and as Brown went under the flying checkers and the win, Hughes stuck it into the runner up spot, just ahead of veteran racer Brad Stephens. Mike Kincaid was third, fourth went to Dustin Griffiths, and Danny Thrasher was fifth. This made the third win for Brown in 2014. The track champion was Dustin Griffiths.
The always entertaining Stock Cars were next. They had a great field of 21 cars show for the final night of regular racing. Packwood, Iowa racer Todd Phillips had his #7 on the point position for the start of the 18-lapper and Louis Lynch, "the Hurryin', Scurryin' Missourian", was along side. The two duked it out through lap nine, when the yellow flew. Lynch then had to start from square one after suffering a flat, and tagging the restart field. Phillips still maintained his lead but now it was Corey Stout and newcomer of the night, Gary Harward, setting their sites on the leader. The last eight laps turned into quite the race. Harward got to second and was trying everything to get around Phillips. He would peek under him as they raced down the backstretch, appearing to make the pass, only to have Phillips pull back to the lead as they came out of turn four. This happened again, and again, but Phillips never lost that momentum out of turn four, and scored the victory. Harward took the runner up spot, third was Nathan Wood, who had started in ninth spot, fourth was the #20dub of Shane Weller who had started tenth, and Corey "from just across the street" Stout, was fifth. The Stock Car track championship for 2014 went to Cayden Carter.
The IMCA Northern SportMods closed out the racing and the season at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Colton Livezey took the lead when the race went green but by lap five, he was being pestered by Curtis Van Der Wal, who had started back in row four. Van Der Wal pressured down the backstretch and then made the pass in corner three, nabbing the lead when lap six was in the books. The only yellow of the race came at lap eight for Logan Anderson sitting dead in the water in turn four after spinning. Van Der Wal had no trouble in pulling away when the race went back to green and scored the win by a comfortable margin. Second place went to Cory VanZante. VanZante has had his most successful season to date in the SportMod division after jumping into a new ride this year. Third went to Tony Johnson, fourth was Charlie Weber, Colton Livezey was fifth, sixth went to Brayton Carter and Brett Lowry was seventh. Lowry, who was really sticking it on the bottom of the track on Wednesday night, was crowned the 2014 track champion.
Another season of racing has come and gone at the Southern Iowa Speedway. But there is still some racing coming up on the Monster Half Mile. The 28th Annual Fall Challenge is scheduled for October 3-4. Friday's show has hot laps at 6:45 with racing to follow. Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks, Sport Compacts and the Iowa Sportsman Series will be competing on that night. Saturday's show, which has hot laps at 6:00 with racing to follow, will not include the Sportsman Series but all other classes will be on the docket. For more information, check www.oskyspeedway.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment