The Southern Iowa Speedway was back in action last night and this time, it was hosting a special SportMod night with a draw/redraw format and a $400 payoff to the winner. New faces visited Victor Lane and the Hobby Stock feature was a down-to-the-wire finish between two drivers who had gone at it lap after lap.
Five IMCA Sport Compacts ran their 12-lap feature. Bill Whalen, Jr. got the drop on Jon Girdley when the race began, and would go on to lead all laps on his way to the checkers. Brother John Whalen would finish in second, third was Girdley, Curt Myers was fourth and Trent Orwig....sporting his new car with his familiar #04 instead of the #33 he had been piloting, took fifth place. Bill Whalen won for the first time at the track this year.
It took a bit before the IMCA Stock Cars got into their rhythm. Two initial starts were called back and then two more yellows after lap one was in the books. Missouri racer Derrick Agee led the pack in the early going, only to drop out with mechanical issues at lap three. Daniel Hilsabeck then took over, and from there on would lead the remaining caution free race, and take his first win at Osky. Second place went to Cayden Carter. Carter had started in the twelfth spot and was coming fast, passing cars on the outside. It would have been interesting to see the race go a lap or two longer, as we imagine it would have been an exciting finish. Third place went to Todd Reitzler, who had started ninth, and Nathan Wood, who had arrived at the track late, missing his heat race, thus tagging the tail of the 17-car feature, was fourth. Mike Hughes, finished fifth after starting tenth. I believe this is Hilsabeck's first ever win at the Monster Half-Mile.
What an exciting 15-lap Hobby Stock feature! Jamie Songer and Bill Bonnett were the dominating cars in this one. Songer got to the immediate lead and Bonnett quickly got to his rear bumper. From there on out, it was lap after lap of close racing between the two. Bonnett gave it his all, dipping under Songer in the corners, but was just never ever able to pull the pass off. Songer got the win, Bonnett, the ever-so-close runner up. Third was Travis Bunnell who had his hands full with Dustin Griffiths in fourth. Nick Ulin rounded out the top five. Songer was a happy "roof dancing" winner in Victory Circle and commented that he, "probably got more respect than I deserved" from runner up, Bill Bonnett.....but there was never any contact. Bonnett later had his carburetor claimed by Brad Stephens, and he agreed to sell. I believe that this was Songer's first win at the track since back in June of 2012.
The IMCA Modified feature saw a driver get a win at Osky for the first time ever. Kyle Brown, who now hails from State Center, Iowa, powered his #21K ride to Victory Lane in easy fashion, leading all laps from his pole starting spot. Brown, who is now at the helm of Harris Auto Racing in Boone, Iowa, finished well ahead of second place finisher Tyler Groenendyk in the 18-lap caution free race. Third was Cayden Carter, Andrew Schroeder was fourth, and father of the winner, David Brown, brought his car out for the first time this season, and took fifth place.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran 20-laps for their special billing feature. Brett Lowry took the initial lead when the green dropped, but Curtis VanDerWal snatched it away before lap one was scored. A couple of yellow flags were no hindrance to VanDerWal, as he powered away on the restarts. He would then stretch the lead and take another comfortable win at the speedway. Second place went to Brayton Carter who had started seventh, Brett Lowry was third and Cory Van Zante in the #34Z had a good race with the plain #34 of Jerry Hinton as they went fourth and fifth respectively. VanDerWal won for the third time at the track this year.
As mentioned earlier, Nathan Wood arrived at the track late, missing his heat. Well HEAT is exactly what he had dealt with earlier as his family farm had a fire in a hog shed. Thankfully, they were able to get all of the hogs out safely, and the fire was contained to just the shed, though a total loss.
The youngsters (and two "oldsters") had fun at intermission, foot racing down the front stretch for prizes. Promoter Mike VanGenderen was wrangled into racing too, and smoked his competition.
It was another chilly, windy night....hoping Mother Nature is about done playing games this Spring...and we were very thankful for the racing fans we sit in front of each week that faithfully bring their windbreaks that we benefit from as well! Thanks Bob, Warren and Carol!
Why not come out next Wednesday night for some mid-week racing? Hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30. Keep supporting the sport we all love.....good ole dirt track racing!
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