It was night #2 of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, and another hot and muggy one. The Hawkeye Dirt Tour for the IMCA Modifieds was the headliner, with all four of the other weekly IMCA classes running as well, in another draw/redraw show.
Levi Heath and Ryan Havel battled for the lead in the early laps of the IMCA Sport Compact feature. Havel won the dogfight for the lead at lap five, and then Heath suddenly absent, having exited into the pits. This put Bill Whalen, Jr. into the runner up spot. Havel then easily distanced himself from the rest of the field to take the easy win. Bill Whalen, Jr. just held off John Gill as they went second and third. A close fourth place was the previous night's winner, Nathan Moody, and Dalton Winkleman was fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks came next and the $300 bounty was still hovering over Shannon Anderson's head. He drew the ninth starting position for the start. It took him just five laps to get the lead, and then he once again pulled away to take the win. Chanse Hollatz finished in second place, Mike Kincaid, Steve Allen, and Christian Huffman were third, fourth and fifth in that order. In Anderson's interview in victory lane he said he had wrenched a lot on the car from damage with broken bolts, etc. from the previous night. His efforts paid off as he still remains a perfect 11 for 11 at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
The SportMods were scheduled to run after the Hobby Stocks, but a check of radar showed a possible cell moving toward the track and the headliner HDT feature was moved up in the program. Twenty-one Modifieds were on hand and the top twelve finishers from the three heats, drew for their starting position. Drawing the lucky #1 was Hunter Marriott. Marriott, who recently dominated in the Dakota Classic Series, took the lead as the 25-lap race went green.
Marriott, and Kyle Brown ran one-two in the opening laps, but Marriott soon put some distance between them, and now Brown was having to deal with Cayden Carter. Carter took over the runner up spot on lap seven, and began to slowly reel in Marriott. Carter began closing the gap, when at lap sixteen, the lap car of Dan Brockert lost the handle right in front of the leaders, backed it into the tractor tire in turn two, and rolled his car. When the race restarted, leader Marriott was MIA, having retired to the pits with what we understand was a broken left rear brake line that had happened a few laps prior to the caution. This would then put Carter in the captain's seat, leading for the restart. Running in second now, was Ricky Thornton, Jr., who was piloting a Todd Cooney car. Carter would pull away in the final handful of laps, and took the comfortable win in his VanderBuilt chassis. Thornton finished in second, fending off Joel Rust in third, and Kyle Brown got back around Kelly Shryock in the closing lap, as they finished fourth and fifth in that order.
The weather was now less threatening as the IMCA Northern SportMods came to the track. The opening laps were quite the thriller as Carter VanDenBerg, cousin Brayton Carter, and Curtis VanDerWal were running at the front of the field, ready for battle. VanDenBerg was holding down the top spot with Carter running second....until VanDerWal was able to thread the needle between the two, and on his second attempt, made it work. He took command at lap eight, and then pulled away to another victory. Brayton Carter was second, VanDenBerg was third, Dan Drury, Jr. was fourth, and Tony Johnson completed the top five. VanDerWal now has nine wins at the track this season.
The night cap was the IMCA Stock Car 14 lap feature. Tonight's race ended the same as the previous night. Dustin Griffiths took the win, as Nathan Wood tried every which way for a way around him, but again, had to be content with second place. Mike Hughes was third, Derrick Agee, fourth, and Danny Thrasher was fifth.
It was another hot, muggy, July night of racing. Thank goodness for the nice breeze from the south that kept us gathering of race fans from melting! We enjoyed our evening sitting with racing friends again, a few more even joining us last night. It always makes the time more enjoyable to share it with racing enthusiasts, from far and wide. Tonight, most of those racing friends will join us as we move down the road to the Knoxville Raceway. They will be hosting another Hawkeye Dirt Tour with the Northern SportMods joining them in support. Going into tonight's HDT race, we see that Kelly Shryock and Joel Rust are tied in a point's battle. Drivers are always eager to run the famed half-mile track, so we look for a good car count in both classes. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:45 with racing to follow. UPDATE: The HDT at Knoxville has moved the hot lap time to 7:30 due to the extreme heat. Races to follow.
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