Thursday, May 19, 2016

Livezey gets first win at Osky

The Southern Iowa Speedway got night #3 of regular season racing under it's belt Wednesday night.  Veteran racer Kelly Shryock showed his prowess in winning the Modified feature, Cayden Carter continues his dominance in the Stock Car class, and Colton Livezey got that elusive first feature win in the SportMod division.  Dustin Griffiths made it two in a row in the IMCA Hobby Stocks and Bill Whalen, Jr. got back to his winning ways in the Sport Compact class.

Kelly Shryock started eighth in the IMCA Modified 20 lapper, and had to run down the competition.  Jason Hall was having one of his best runs, leading the field of cars when a caution came out at lap seven when second place running Josh Foster found himself in a spin.  When things got back under way, it was Kelly Shryock making a run on Hall.  The veteran driver got the job done, taking over the lead at lap nine.  A few laps later, Cayden Carter slipped past Hall to take over second place, and began the task of trying to catch Shryock.  Shryock was having none of that, and stretched out his lead.  Then another caution was needed at lap eighteen, when Hall lost his footing in turn one.  The bunching of the field for the green-white-checkered finish could have proved to be interesting, but Shryock once again motored off and took the checkers by a comfortable margin.  Cayden Carter finished as the runner up, Colt Mather came from tenth starting spot, to finish third, fourth was Zack VanderBeek, and Dennis LeVeine was fifth.

In the always entertaining IMCA Stock Car class, it was Cayden Carter once again sitting in Victory Lane.  Carter patiently and methodically worked himself through the field of the 18-lapper.  A caution at lap seven for debris bunched the field, giving Carter an advantage he was hoping for.  Louis Lynch, the driver out of Glenwood, Missouri and fellow Missourian, Derrick Agee, were leading the pack when the yellow flew.  Todd Inman was sitting in third, despite a mangled right side from contact with the outside wall. Carter was still sitting a good handful of positions behind the leader, but each lap, he began to pick off his opponents.  Meanwhile, Lynch and Agee were having a battle, Agee finally winning out and taking over the lead.  But now sitting in third, was the 10C of Carter in his orange Roger Kelderman owned hot rod.  Carter started reeling in the leaders, first getting past Inman, then Lynch and setting his eye on leader Agee as the laps quickly wound down.  Carter caught Agee, pestered him for a lap or two, and then made the pass coming out of turn four as lap sixteen was scored.  He would then go on to take the checkers, winning his third feature in the class at Osky this year.  Agee held on to the runner up spot, Lynch went third, and Damon Murty got by Inman as they finished fourth and fifth respectively.  Carter has a perfect record in the Stock Car class at Osky this year, a pretty nice start to the season and on his 21st birthday to boot.

It was good to see Colton Livezey finally get into the winner's circle at Osky by winning the IMCA Northern SportMod feature.  In fact, he dominated all sixteen caution free laps....leading from start to finish.  Livezey started on the pole and won comfortably.   Runner up, Brayton Carter chased Livezey the entire distance.  Curtis VanDerWal had his two-race streak broken, having to settle for third.  Fourth was Jason McDaniel and eighth place starter Carter VandenBerg rounded out the top five. Livezey finally got his first win at the Monster Half Mile, after it has eluded him with close finishes in the past.

Dustin Griffiths made it two in a row by winning the 16-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature.  Griffiths had to work his way by opening laps leader Mike Kincaid, then Steve Allen and veteran Bill Bonnett.  Griffiths led by lap six and was content to let them battle it out behind for the bridesmaid position.  Griffiths took the easy win, while Bonnett finished a distant runner up.  Third went to Allen, Danny Thrasher was fourth and Brad Stephens was fifth.

A dozen IMCA Sport Compacts came to try their hand at Osky.  We note that many eastern Iowa drivers are making the trip over on Wednesday nights this season.  There was no stranger in victory lane at the end of this feature however, as Bill Whalen got back on track and captured the win.  Whalen led all caution-free laps on the way to an easy win.  Cody VanDusen and Steven Struck, two Atalissa, Iowa racers, finished second and third.  Lukas Yoder, Kalona, Iowa, was fourth and Jake Benischek from Durant, completed the top five.

After four weathered out regular season nights, the fans and drivers alike, welcomed the great weather we had last evening.  Next week, will be a regular night of racing in all five IMCA classes. Then on June 2, please note, the Southern Iowa Speedway will be racing on THURSDAY night (there will be no races on Wednesday, June 1) when the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models come to town, headlining the IMCA classes.  

Thanks to Mike VanGenderen and crew for another great night of racing...which was completed by 9:37 p.m.


 


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