We made the long drive up to Britt, Iowa on Tuesday night to attend the Hancock County Speedway's Salute to Veteran's special that included the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for the IMCA Modifieds. It was paying $3,300 for Modifieds, $1,700 for Stock Cars and $1,200 for SportMods and Hobby Stocks. The 2 1/2 hour trip was worth it to see the show on the black-as-coal .4 mile dirt oval that sits on the fairgrounds on the south edge of Britt. The only downer was getting home in the wee hours of the morning and then off to a next morning appointment in Des Moines and then to see more racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway for night #1 of the Stock Car Shoot Out.
We were not familiar with a lot of drivers in some of the classes as we seldom see them. One of those was the winner of the 12-lap Hobby Stock feature---#21 Andrew Borchardt. He had to out duel Cody Nielsen....a former IMCA Super National's champion, on his way to the $1,200 pay off. Third was Cory Gansen, fourth went to Kyle Ricke and Chanse Hollatz was fifth.
The IMCA Northern SportMods went 15-lap in their main event. Jared Boumesster from Waseca, Minnesota nabbed the lead when the race started but hot shoe Nick Meyer from Whittemore, Iowa quickly took over the helm. Meyer kept hold of the top spot to the checkers and the win. Boumesster was the runner up, and third went to George Nordman. Making an amazing run from starting 16th to take fourth place, was Jenae Gustin. Gustin made a late race charge by going topside and it would have been interesting to see the race go just a couple of laps longer, and no doubt the finish would have been close! She was named hard charger of the class and banked some extra $ for the night. Greg Sidles rounded out the top five. Winner Meyer took his second win within the week at Britt as he also won the special Northern SportMod Nationals the previous Tuesday night for a $2,500 payday that went along with his $1,200 on this night.
There was some great racing in the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Veteran racer Kevin Opheim drew the pole for the start of the feature. Opheim held the early lead with Dave Smith knocking at his door. Throw Randy Brands and Damon Murty and Minnesota's Dustin Larson into the mix, and we had a "barn burner"! About lap fourteen, Opheim found himself in spin mode down in turn two, bringing out a yellow and retiring him to the rear for the restart. Randy Brands had already made the move into first place and this is where he would stay the rest of the distance....withstanding 4-wide challenges in taking the win. Dave Smith was second, third was Damon Murty, Dustin Larson was fourth and Derek Green rounded out the top five.
The 30-lap IMCA Modified Dirt Tour Race was the finale of the night....sent off with fireworks as the cars did their parade lap, each carrying the Stars and Stripes of our great country. What a sight on the Salute to Veteran's night at the track.
Sitting on the front row, courtesy of the draw/redraw system, was "Todzilla", Todd Shute and Kyle Brown. Right behind in row two were Kyle Strickler and Ronn Laurtizen. Brown grab the lead immediately and Strickler tucked in behind him. Brown held the lead until Kyle Strickler went to the topside, which he is known for.....they don't call him "the high side tickler" for nothing...and he was soon in the top spot. The only yellow of the race came at lap thirteen, which was no hindrance to Strickler, as he shot off on the restart, stretching his lead, taking the comfortable win. Kyle Brown held second place, finishing well ahead of third place finisher Ricky Thornton, Jr. from Chandler, Arizona. Thornton had started twelfth. Fourth was former Hawkeye Dirt Tour champion, Ronn Lauritzen, and Jimmy Gustin finished fifth.
After a short night's sleep, and a forenoon appointment in Des Moines, we regrouped and headed to Osky on Tuesday night for the 20th Annual Budweiser IMCA Great American Stock Car Shoot Out.
It was an unusually cool night of racing for July, welcomed by many.
There was a full show for the IMCA Modifieds and the IMCA Sport Compacts. The Stock Cars, SportMods and Hobby Stocks ran only two sets of qualifying heats....the second go around of heats being a complete reversal of the ORIGINAL draw....thus not competing against the same cars. Eight drivers qualified in each class, accumulating points from their finishes in their two heats, for the Shoot Out features tonight. They will run a dash to establish their starting spots. The fields will be filled in tonight with last chance races in the Stock Car, SportMod and Hobby Stock divisions. Each of their 30-lap features will be stopped at the halfway mark for a pit stop on the track. The Iowa Sportsman Series will also be running.
The Sport Compact had a field of ten cars last night. It was led from start to finish by first time visitor to the track, Josh Barnes. Barnes, from Keokuk, Iowa won easily over another first time visitor, Shane Evans from Iowa City. Third was John Whalen, Bill Whalen was fourth and Jon Girdley completed the top five.
Brandon Banks stepped back into Victory Lane at the Southern Iowa Speedway, winning the IMCA 16-lap Modified feature for the second time. After a long absence in seeing the checkers, Banks has now made it two-in-a-row at Osky. He led all laps in taking the comfortable victory. Cayden Carter came from row three to take second place. Third was Andrew Schoeder, fourth was Tyler Groenendyk and Colt Mather was fifth.
The drivers locked into the "Big Dance" for tonight and running a dash for their starting spot, are:
Stock Cars: 10CC Cayden Carter, 99D Damon Murty, 11 Mike Hughes, 77N Daniel Hilsabeck, 25 Cody Agee, 52 Nathan Wood, 14 Derrick Agee, and 17C Shane Paris.
SportMod: lV Curtis VanDerWal, 9A Logan Anderson, 85 Jason McDaniel, 72, Brett Lowry, 29 Colton Livezey, 14B Kyle Hill, 34Z Cory VanZante, and 352 Charlie Weber.
Hobby Stock: 10G Dustin Griffiths, 84 Danny Thrasher, 21 Nick Ulin, 69 Craig Brown, 31 Adam Bonnett, 2 Brandon Potts, and 96R Jamie Songer.
We are looking forward to returning for the finale of the 20th Annual IMCA Budweiser Great American Stock Car Shoot Out tonight. Hot laps are 7 and racing at 7:30.
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