The weather was great for enjoying some mid-week racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night. The usual Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts ticked their heat races off in record time. Then come feature time, everyone was wondering if it was a full moon night! Drivers were penalized for rough driving, numerous yellows and throw in a red when a car went rolling, and it made for a night that was plenty action packed for sure.
The Sport Compacts were all well behaved on this night, running their ten lap feature flag to flag and without any issues. Kyle Boyd led the field for the first two laps, only to have Brandon Housley snatch it away at lap three. Housley then motored away to score the victory....his third in a row this season. Boyd held on to second place, Cody Phillips was third, and a distant fourth place went to Travis Musgrove in his first appearance at the track. Bill Whalen, Jr. fell to fifth place as he crossed under the checkers, off power.
The Stock Cars, who are often the stars of the show, had more than their share of issues on this night. The opening laps of the race saw Derrick Agee, Cayden Carter, Nathan Wood and Scott Dickey running nose to tail, or side by side. Carter managed to take the top spot at lap four, as the others ran in close formation, chasing the leader. The lead was found to be the safest place of the whole 18-laps, and out of the rubbin', nudgin', and spinning going on behind. Cars were delegated to the rear for rough driving, and then attempting to come back through the field with the adrenaline flowing was not the best deal either. Three yellows had already been thrown, and then on lap twelve, out came the red when Nathan Wood (one of those that had been sent to the back) went for a rollover in turn four. He was okay, but his night ended with the #52 being hauled off on the flatbed, pretty crushed on the top and the side. While all the cautions went on, Carter was calmly holding down the top spot. As the final circuits were run, it was clearly a race for second as Carter pulled away and took the easy win. Mike Hughes, who had been involved in an incident and relegated to restart at the rear at one point, finished a distant runner up. Third went to Derrick Agee who managed to stay out of all the messes going on during the night, Danny Thrasher escaped chaos and finished fourth, and Jason See came home in fifth. This was Carter's second win of the season in his "orange crush" ride.
The SportMods started off well enough for their 15-lap feature. First time visitor to the track this year, Tim Plummer from Norway, Iowa, looked well on his way to victory as he ran out front and pulled away. Many of us in the stands were thinking this one was going to go caution free....but scratch that! At lap fourteen, it all went south! Curtis VanDerWal had made his usual charge through the pack after starting tenth, and was now on the tail of Plummer. Plummer and VanDerWal, who are friends from their asphalt days running at Hawkeye Downs, were about to be in a battle to the checkers. However, the two got together in turn four, Plummer spinning out, but VanDerWal continuing on. Did Plummer check up? It was hard to tell, but whatever, the contact was obvious. The yellow flew, and VanDerWal was determined to be the cause of Plummer's spin, and was sent to the tail for the restart. Plummer, who was the cause of the yellow, was also sent to the rear, but pulled into the infield and out of the race. All of this action, of course, really got the crowd buzzing. When the race was restarted for the green-white-checkered finish, it was Logan Anderson in the #53 car leading the field to green, with Brayton Carter in second and Brett Lowry in third. Carter wasted no time in making his move, taking over the top spot in turn two and then pulled away for the comfortable win. Anderson was second, Brett Lowry, who debuted his new car last evening, was third, fourth went to Colton Livezey, and Jason McDaniel rounded out the top five. "Speedy Bray", who's car was in victory lane for the second consecutive week after brother Cayden had put it there a week ago, got his first win at Osky this year.
The night cap was the Hobby Stock A main, and this one did go caution free. Christian Huffman, a markedly improved driver, led the troops as the race went green, with Craig Brown tucked into second place. As the race wore on, Huffman put distance between himself and the battle for second going on behind him. Brown, Jamie Songer, Derek Kirkland, Eric Stanton, and Dustin Griffiths were jockeying for position. They would swap positions nearly each time they flew across the finish line. Stanton then cleared the pack, and established himself in the second spot, and gave chase to leader Huffman. With just two laps remaining, Stanton peeked to the inside of Huffman, but it wasn't until after taking the white flag that he made the pass in turn two, to take the top spot away. Stanton then held that lead to the checkered flag and the win, Huffman chasing him across the line to score the runner up spot. Craig Brown scored a third place, fourth was Griffiths, and Songer took fifth. This was Stanton's second victory of the year at the big old half-mile.
Fifty-six cars checked into the speedway last evening as a nice crowd watched all the action. After last night's "extra activity", the crowd was buzzing. Perhaps, this will bring even more fans out for some Wednesday night racing action!
Ballots were available as you entered the grandstand for voting for the 2018 Hall of Fame inductees. For those not there, or that did not see the nominees, they were as follows: Johnny Babb, Merv Chandler, Engel DeKock (flagman) Jim and Joe Durian (promoters) Dave Farren, Kenny Fenn, Dan Feree, Tim Folkerts, Troy Folkerts, Wendell Folkerts, Jeff Haines, Curt Hansen, Bob "Gabby" Hayes, Don Hoffman, Keith Kropf, Wayne Larson, Bob Maschmann, Mel Morris, Lee Pinckney, Mike Robinson, Ed Sanger, Sonny Smyser, Pat Surfus, Paul VanZee, Carl Van Der Wal, and Bill Zwanziger. You could cast your ballot for only three of those nominees, and one ballot per person. The new Hall of Famer's will be inducted at the track on THURSDAY night, June 21.
The green flag dropped at bit before 7:30 last evening, and even with all the controversies, yellow flags, and red flag and the ensuing clean up, the racing action concluded at 9:24 p.m. Racing continues next Wednesday for Kid's Night at the races. Hot laps are 7 and racing at 7:30.
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