The Southern Iowa Speedway wrapped up their final night of racing for 2015 on Saturday. Night #2 of the 29th Annual Musco Fall Challenge is now in the books. Two repeat winners from Friday night went back to victory lane, while all other classes saw new faces stepping into the winner's circle. Some new drivers came to play, as well as some not returning, and the healthy car count of around 128 provided the crowd with plenty of good racing action.
Sport Compact feature saw Shaun Slaughter take the win after suffering woes the previous night with a DNF. Slaughter got around Adam Gates with one lap remaining, to take the victory. Gates took the runner up spot, third went to Ryan Walker, just holding off Josh Barnes in fourth, and Brandon Lambert rounded out the top five spots.
The Iowa Sportsman Series was back in action again at the Monster Half Mile....running a 30-lap feature event. Matt Deaton, who had led much of the race the previous night...only to suffer mechanical woes in the closing laps, leaped to the lead as the green flew. But never count out Gene Tish. Tish, who had started eighth out of the nine-car field, worked his way through the pack, reeled in leader Deaton, and then took command at lap fourteen. From there on, he kept that top spot the remaining way to the checkers. Deaton held on to the runner up spot, the two finishing well ahead of third place finisher Darin DeZwarte, fourth place Travis Dawson (the previous night winner) and Derrick Seddon in fifth.
The SportMod feature was 18-laps in length and there was another $1,000 awaiting the winner. The "Hurryin', Scurryin', Missourian", Louis Lynch, led the troops in the opening laps. When a yellow flew at lap four, it bunched up the field and for the restart, he had Logan Anderson close on his heels. The restart was Lynch's nemesis, as Anderson charged to corner one and took over the lead. Two laps later, it was Curtis VanDerWal, who started seventh, making his way to nip at Anderson's heels and in the hunt. By lap nine, VanDerWal had made the pass for the lead and from there, never looked back in scoring the win for the second night in a row. Anderson, who had finished second to VanDerWal the previous night, again had to settle for the runner up spot. Third was Colton Livezey, and Jason Hall and Brandon Dale were fourth and fifth. This marked the tenth time in 2015 that VanDerWal had taken the checkers at Osky.
The Stock Cars went 22-laps for their main event. The night before, Zack VanderBeek had chosen to re-qualify in hopes of better his starting spot from being locked into row four Saturday. His lucky redraw from the heat, put him starting fourth on the grid. 'Beek wasted no time in taking command from that starting spot, leading by the time lap one was scored. Meanwhile, the other Orange Crush car from Roger Kelderman's garage, the 10C of Cayden Carter had worked his way into the runner up spot, closed in on the leader and was trying everything to find a way around VanderBeek. His attempts at getting under the leader in corner one just fell short of paying off at every attempt for the last eight laps. VanderBeek would be the victor as the double checkers flew, Carter finishing as the runner up. Finishing in third a good distance behind was night #1 winner, Mike Hughes. Fourth was Elijah Zevenbergen who had started eighth, and veteran racer Johnny Spaw finished in fifth after starting twelfth. Kelderman's Orange Crush team has had much success this year at the Southern Iowa Speedway....VanderBeek has won five times, while Carter has put it in victory lane six times.
The Modified feature was also 22 laps and with the 19G of "G Money", Richie Gustin sitting on the pole, many thought he was going to take that money home as he has often done at the bigger paying shows in the past. Tonight however, it was not to be. Gustin did immediately jump to the lead bringing brother Jimmy Gustin along in second. This would be how they would restart after a yellow at lap three. However, by lap four, it was seventh place starter, "Downtown" Kyle Brown from State Center, moving up to take over second. Brown, who had finished second the previous night had chosen to start in row four, and it was looking to be a good choice. As the race drew on, Gustin once again pulled the field, Brown running in second and now it was Cayden Carter, (who had won the previous night and chosen to re-qualify...and started thirteenth) reeling in Brown. Another yellow stopped the action at lap eleven when Tyler Vandekamp (announcer Tony Paris likes to call him the "Flying Fishstick") hit one of the tractor tires and spun out. When action picked back up, Gustin was keeping hold of the top spot....until lap fourteen when Brown was able to make the pass into the lead. Brown would then put some distance between himself and the pack. Brown held that lead to the flying checkers and the $1,000 victory. In the waning laps, Carter was able to move by Gustin as they finished second and third. Fourth went to Andrew Schroeder, who had started tenth, and rounding out the top five was twelfth place starter Tyler Groenendyk. Brown and Carter swapped the top two positions from their finish the night before. This was Brown's second victory at Osky this year, having made the trip back in May pay off in a weekly race.
The night's racing ended with the running of the 16-lap Hobby Stock feature. Mike Hughes, who was one of several drivers pulling double duty last night, and who usually pilots a Stock Car only at Osky, had chosen to lock himself into the feature after the win on Friday night, started in row four. Second place finisher from Friday night, Nathan Ballard was not in the house last evening.
Steve Allen, a regular at the speedway, drew the pole position and would lead lap one, but when a yellow flew at lap three, it was Mike Hughes already in command as captain of the ship. Two more yellows were no hindrance to Hughes, as he easily retained that lead the remaining distance to the finish and the win....his second in as many nights. Dustin Griffiths moved up to finish in second place after starting deep in the field. Third was the orange hatchback #66 of Norwalk's Brandon Cox, fourth went to numerous times IMCA National Champion Shannon Anderson (he finished second in the national points in 2015) and Casey Greubel, piloting his mom Gina's car, was fifth. Hughes took home another $1,000 and after winning both the Stock Car and Hobby features the night before, completed a very successful weekend of racing.
I mentioned earlier that a few drivers pulled double duty, running in more than one class. Those that we noted were Zack VanderBeek in both the Modified and Stock Car, Kyle Brown in the Modified and Stock Car class (he blew up leading his heat race last night in the Stock Car) Mike Hughes in the Stock Car and Hobby Stock divisions, and veteran racer who has much experience on both asphalt and dirt, Johnny Spaw, ran Modified and Stock Car.
Some of the new drivers making an appearance last evening were "Gentleman" Jim Waterman in the Modifieds, Greg Gill, Andrew Husted, Kevin Fee, and Mike McClure in the Stock Car class....and Howard Gordon, Jr. jumped in his brother Dan's car and raced in the Stock Car division. New drivers in the SportMod class were Mike Hay, Kyle Hill and Jason Hall. The Hobby Stocks had several new faces on the night too. Brian Derry, Zach Swanson, Tommy Killen, Kenny Hay and Jacob Keiser ran and Bill Bonnett gave up his ride from the previous night to August Bach. In the Sport Compacts, new faces were Larry Hopkins, Steve Struck, Brad Havel, Adam Gates, Jim Garrett, and Ashton Blaine. Andy Peck was a new driver in the Iowa Sportsman class.
Thanks to promoter Mike VanGenderen and crew for the great weekend of racing provided at the Southern Iowa Speedway. There was a definite nip in the air again last night and the breeze was coming toward the grandstand. Still, what better to be doing than sitting at a dirt track race on an October night in Iowa! There are still specials to be found before things end in our neck of the woods. Check out Positively Racing's calendar for a race you may want to attend.
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