It had been almost a month since the Monster Half Mile at the Southern Iowa Speedway had seen racing action. Two weeks were weathered out with a scheduled night off between the two wash outs, so it was good to get back to our midweek racing action. Three new drivers got their first trips to victory lane in 2018, while two others made return visits....one with a five win streak going. Sixty-seven race cars were in the house last evening.
Brandon Housley, the driver who had four in a row going in the Sport Compact division, didn't have the best of luck in his heat race and everyone was thinking this just might be the night his streak would be broken. Didn't happen. Housley, the driver out of Ottumwa, started tenth...dead last...in the 10-lap feature, picked off car after car, and chased down then leader Barry Taft with just a couple of laps remaining. The two dueled it out and then on lap nine, a little "rubbin' is racin" move in corner four put the #42 of Housley to the lead. He kept the top spot to the waving checkers and his fifth win in a row at Osky. Taft took the runner up position, with Kyle Boyd, Bill Whalen and Billy Cain rounding out the top five. It appears from the official results, that Austin Kaplan and Cody Phillips, who I had in the top five, were disqualified for some sort of infringement.
The bright green #14 of Derrick Agee went to Victory Lane in the Stock Car feature event. Agee led from the start, relinquished his lead briefly to Scott Dickey, but fought back around to regain his lead a few laps later. From there on, Agee pulled away away from the pack and took the comfortable win. Nathan Wood started seventh, dueled it out with Mike Hughes and Dickey to come away with second place. Hughes, Dickey, and Donnie Pearson completed the top five. Dickey finished ahead of Hughes, but due to contact, was docked one spot. This was Agee's first time in the winner's circle in 2018.
Logan Anderson set foot in Victory Lane for the first time this season, in the SportMod division. Anderson, has been racing the Greg Strothman owned machine at the Monster half-mile this year. Anderson who competes with his own car in the Modified class at other tracks, led the entire caution free race. Hot shoe Curtis VanDerWal got past Blaine Webster in the closing laps to finish in second, Webster going third. Fourth went to Thomas Egenberger and Greg Cox, Kellogg, who has switched from Modified to SportMod this year, was fifth.
The Hobby Stock feature started off with the 55X of Rick Goldsberry in a precarious situation on the backstretch....looking as if he was about to take a flip. He gathered it back, but his night was finished. When the main event then got underway, Craig Brown jumped to the lead, but Dustin Griffiths was about to give him fits. With a handful of laps down, Griffiths got the job done, taking the lead. He held off any challenges by Brown, and took the checkered flag for the win. Brown held on to second place, Aaron Martin finished third, fourth went to tenth place starter, Clint Nelson, and Christian Williams was fifth.
The Iowa Sportsman Series was rained out back on June 6, so got their event rescheduled last evening. Ten cars were in their field. It was a real runaway by the #14 of Tyler Sutter. Sutter took command at lap two and won the 20-lap feature by more than 3/4 of a lap over second place Doug Weiss.
It was Kids Night at the Southern Iowa Speedway, and the youngsters had a great time with pre-race car rides on the track....fifteen race cars participated and the cars were packed. During intermission, the kids scrambled for nickles and candy...an abundance of both! It was a very pleasant night for racing, and a really nice crowd was on hand for the night's entertainment. The races concluded at 9:49, allowing fans and drivers to get back on the road for home at a good time.
The next race at the Southern Iowa Speedway will be on Wednesday, July 11...an added race due to the many rain outs this year. This will also be the 2018 Hall of Fame night for new inductees Ed Sanger (we've heard that he has over 900 feature wins under his belt...could that be?) Johnny Babb, Dave Farren, and promoters Jim and Joe Durian. Then, Tuesday July 17, will be season championship night during the Southern Iowa Fair and $5 Fan Appreciation night at the races. The following night, July 18, the USMTS Modifieds make an appearance along with the USRA Stock Cars and B-Mods. Put these nights on your calendar for midweek racing!
No comments:
Post a Comment