The Southern Iowa Speedway FINALLY had Mother Nature smile on the Monster Half Mile last night, after the two previous Wednesday's were wash outs. What a night it was, with 113 race machines checked into the track as the Shottenkirk Sprint Invaders and the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks joined the regular classes, for a seven-class night of racing....on a wide and smooth race surface.
The IMCA Sport Compacts have seemed to pick up steam this year, as there was another good field of cars...15 little powerhouses on hand. Daniel Fellows, Keokuk, made it look pretty easy in winning his third in a row this season...keeping his perfect streak alive. Fellows started eighth and had the lead by lap four, and never looked back. He finished well ahead of second place Levi Heath, third was Jake Benischek (in his first appearance this year), fourth was James Roose, and Bryan Claussen completed the top five.
The IMCA Stock Cars....yes, the "Class too Tough to Tame", were up next, and they once again showed just why they have that moniker tagged on the division. Nearly from the start, they were running in a five-pack of cars for the lead. Positions in those five cars would swap back and forth several times as Todd Reitzler, Derrick Agee, Mike Hughes, Nathan Wood, and Cayden Carter raced hard. Nathan Wood got his #52 to the lead at lap eleven and was appearing to have established his dominance. However, Cayden Carter wasn't done yet! Carter was in hot pursuit, Mike Hughes close behind. Carter kept hounding Wood the final laps, and as so often happens at Osky, that final lap was the determining factor. Carter swung to the outside of Wood on the final corner, and made it to the checkers first. Wood finished, no doubt, a disappointed runner up. Mike Hughes was third, fourth went to rookie to the class this season, Dustin Griffiths, and Todd Reitzler was fifth. The race went flag to flag.
The Sprint Invaders had 29 machines in attendance for their third try at getting a race in at the track. They had to run a B main to weed their starting field to 20 cars. Hometown boy, Tyler Groenendyk, won the consy race. They also ran what they call a "Shake Up" dash with the top two qualifiers from each of the four heats running for six laps. The winner of the dash was Jon Agan....who drew the #5, which put him starting fifth in the feature and moved the father/son duo of Carson and Terry McCarl to start the 25-lap feature on the front row.
The two McCarl's kept their coveted positions for the first ten laps of the race, but the #18 of Aussie, Ian Madsen was reeling in the duo. By lap twelve, Madsen had taken command. He then stretched out a comfortable lead and took the win comfortably over young Carson McCarl. Veteran Terry McCarl (T-Mac) was third, Jamie Ball came from eleventh starting spot, to finish fourth and Chris Martin was fifth after starting fourteenth. The race was run quickly and went caution free.
The IMCA Northern SportMod feature also went flag to flag in their 16-lap main event. The familiar blue #1V of Curtis VanDerWal started eighth, but took over the lead from Carter VanDenBerg by lap five. It was all over then, as he stretched out a good sized lead, winning easily over VanDenBerg, who was second. Third place was Logan Anderson, fourth went to Jason McDaniel and Cory VanZante, was fifth.
The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks ran for the second time this year, fourteen strong...and for the second time, it was veteran racer, Steve Jackson taking the win. Jackson's luck continued from drawing the pole of his heat, to drawing the #1 spot in the feature. He took the lead immediately, but it wasn't all easy peasy for him as Bret Moyer overtook him for the lead. However, it was short lived as Jackson grabbed the top spot back at lap six, and from there on, sailed off into the sunset for the win. Bret Moyer kept the runner up spot, Dan Gordon started tenth, and finished third, fourth went to Corey "from just across the street" Stout, and Eric Lundstrom rounded out the top five.
It was Shannon Anderson returning to Victory Lane in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Anderson started tenth, and had to run down the front runners...taking only six laps to do so. He never gave up that top spot, the rest of the way to the checkers and the win. Veteran racer, Bill Bonnet, Knoxville, Iowa, came from ninth, to take second place, Aaron Martin finished third, fourth went to Michael Kincaid, and Thomas Stevens was fifth. Anderson continues his perfect record at the track this year.
Twenty laps of IMCA Modified racing closed out the night's program. Early leader Todd Inman had his night end just a handful of laps into the race, when he ended up smacking the number two wall. Jason Murray took over the lead when things got back under way, but it was quickly a three-wide duel going into corner two on the start between Murray, Cayden Carter and Colt Mather. Carter came out the victor on that deal. He too set sail, leaving his competitors....UNTIL the driver out of Ainsworth, Iowa, in the #43 car, Derrick Stewart set his sights on the 10cc in the lead. Stewart put his ride to the top of the cushion, and began reeling in Carter. His valiant effort fell short however, and though it was an impressive run, Stewart had to be content with finishing second behind the winner Carter. Colt Mather was third, and Todd Shute and Brandon Banks rounded out the top five. Carter debuted his new car, a "VanderBuilt" race car that I understand is a new undertaking by Zack VanderBeek.
Be sure and check out the other Positively Racing bloggers take on the night's races. Head honcho Jeff Broeg had his night plenty full with announcing all night along, with but a respite now and then from Bill Wright during the Sprint Invaders portion. However, I'm sure he will have plenty of interesting items to blog about from all the racing. Also on hand was super fan Ed Reichert, who is often seen in our neck of the woods, coming down from Wisconsin to enjoy a race. Brian Neal, and I believe Eric Arnold were in attendance as well, all representing PR. Looks like we were all hungry for some racing! Oops....and Barry Johnson as well...taking some swell pictures!
Hats off to promoter Mike VanGenderen and crew for the great job on the race track last evening. It was wide and smooth, and cars were running all sorts of lanes. It was good to get back to some mid-week racing after the previous two weeks of rain outs and cold weather. Hopefully, the last of those rain outs is now behind us.
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