The Southern Iowa Speedway had drenching rains recently, reaching the six to seven inch mark, but somehow, the racing went on at Osky on Wednesday, on a beautiful evening at the big monster half-mile.
Cayden Carter kept his perfect streak going in the Stock Car division. Carter VanDenBerg made a last corner pass....shades of his father John VanDenBerg....in the SportMod class, and Derek Kirkland found victory lane in the Hobby Stocks, and Trent Orwig made it two in a row in the Sport Compacts.
Trent Orwig repeated his win from last week, taking the checkers in the 10-lap Sport Compact A main. Brandon Allison led the opening lap, only to have Orwig take command by lap two, and lead the caution free race the rest of the way to the checkers. It was a three car breakaway at the front of the field with Orwig holding off Allison and visiting driver Jake Houston from Burlington. Orwig never relinquished his lead while Allison and Houston swapped places behind him. Orwig flew under the checkers to score the win, with Allison taking the runner up position, and Houston going third. Fourth went to Billy Cain, and Nathan Moody was fifth.
It was a free for all going into turn one when the green flag flew in the 16-lap Stock Car feature. Third place starter Nathan Wood won that toss up for the lead with Cayden Carter and Dustin Griffiths tucked tight on his tail. Wood and Carter broke away from the field as the race wore on. Carter kept peeking his nose under Wood, trying to get that advantage at the left rear fender, but couldn't quite make it work...that is until Wood pushed just every so slightly up in corner two at the 12-lap mark, and Carter took advantage and slipped into the lead. Carter held tight to that lead the rest of the way to the finish, scoring his third victory in a row, and perfect for the season. Wood held the runner up spot, trailing a distant third was Dustin Griffiths, with Mike Brown and Jason McDaniel rounding out the top five. The race went caution free.
Visiting racer Jason Bass made the trip all the way down from Fort Dodge to see if he could tame the big old half-mile in the SportMods, and it looked pretty promising as he led through lap fourteen of the sixteen lap event. He'd had company for most of those laps however, with Carter VanDenBerg and Cayden Carter, piloting his brother Brayton's car, pestering him, and each other, constantly. Then enter a lap car as the three make their run to the checkers! Coming out of turn four, the man with the upper hand, and with a swing to the outside like shades of his father John, Carter VanDenBerg made it to the finish line first to seal the win. His cousin Cayden Carter took second over Jason Bass in third, fourth went to Blaine Webster, and Cory VanZante completed the top five.
The night's action ended with the 14-lap Hobby Stock's main event and one happy camper in victory lane. Derek Kirkland, the Centerville, Iowa racer would lead this caution free one from the drop of the green, to the flying checkers. Kirkland got out front immediately and then pulled away. Dustin Griffiths started from the fourth row, and after getting past traffic, began his quest to reel in the leader, but ran out of time to finish more than the runner spot. Third went to Brad Stephens, Clint Nelson was fourth, and Christian Huffman was fifth. Kirkland, who said in his victory lane interview with announcer Jerry Mackey, that this was his first win in about two years, and by my records, may have been his first ever at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
I mentioned earlier that Osky had been hit hard with heavy rains the previous day, and prior days as well, so it was quite a surprise to see dust kicking up in the infield, and then on the track later. The track stayed smooth despite Mother Nature. It was a beautiful night to be at a race, and I think many people were not only enjoying the racing action, but were caught watching and snapping a picture or two of the beautiful Iowa sunset. It hardly gets better than those two combinations! Get out and find a race to attend...support the sport we all love....dirt track racing!
No comments:
Post a Comment