Night #3 of the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duels at Stuart Speedway was THE place to be for racing last night. That fast little quarter-mile provided great racing action all night long, with 125 race cars packing the pits. Brandon Cox came out the victor in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, while it was Cayden Carter taking home the honor of winning the Bill Davis, Sr. Memorial race for the IMCA Modifieds. Dirt Duel championships went to Johnathon Logue in the IMCA Northern SportMod class, and Elijah Zevenbergen took the trophy in the IMCA Stock Cars.
The sixteen lap feature for the Hobby Stockers found Dylan Nelson and Brandon Cox dueling it out for the lead most of those laps. Cox and Nelson would swap that top spot several times before Cox laid a firm hold on the lead in the final laps to secure the win. Solomon Bennett made the pass on Nelson on the final run to the checkers to score the runner up spot, Nelson going third. Miciah Hidlebaugh moved up nine spots to finish in fourth, and Travis Fenton came from eleventh to snag a top five.
On tap next was the 50-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature for the title of Dirt Duel champion.....and a duel it was! Eight cars had already secured their starting spots from the two previous nights qualifying, the final sixteen cars qualifying through last chance heats and a B main.
Shane Paris and Brayton Carter led the field to green. Carter shot to the initial lead but Cody Thompson powered around him to take over the top spot by lap seven. Thompson, running low, and Carter poised on the top of track. By lap eleven, Carter took back the lead and began to pull away, hitting his mark in his smooth driving style lap after lap....he looked to be well on his way to taking back-to-back Dirt Duel wins at the track. However, bad luck for Carter struck with just ten laps left when he was dealt a broken left front suspension, ending his night. This handed the lead over to Cody Thompson with Johnathon Logue waiting in the wings running in second place as the race returned to green. Thompson would hold that top spot through two more cautions, the final coming at lap forty-nine,...but Logue was not about to go away! He was able to claim the lead as the white flag flew, keeping it to the flying checkers and a $3,000 pay off. Thompson held second, Josh Most, the driver from Red Oak who will hop into any kind of racing machine, came from ninth to finish third, fourth went to Algona's Colby Fett, and Colby Langenberg out of Norfolk, Nebraska advanced fourteen positions to finish fifth.
Elijah Zevenbergen and Todd VanEaston had earned their front row starting spot the two previous nights for the 50-lap IMCA Stock Car Dirt Duel feature with a plethora of top notch drivers behind them in the field. This one would get off to a bad start before the first lap was scored, drivers piling up in corner four. When the race did get started, it was Zevenbergen and VanEaton shooting off to lead the field with young gun Dallon Murty running third and back in the pack, cars going three wide for position. A yellow flew at lap twenty-one for a car spinning in corner four and by this time, it was Dallon Murty and dad Damon Murty running second and third.....Zevenbergen leading. Those three would run nose-to-tail lap after lap. The final yellow of the race flew with six laps left in the books, and on the restart those three cars would remain the same. The "Game Changer", Dallon Murty gave it his all in the closing moments, make it very interesting with a last corner slide that just wasn't quite enough, Zevenbergen keeping his cool and flashing across the finish line in first, Murty finishing an every so close second. Dad, Damon Murty took third place, it was Jesse Sobbing moving up nine spots to take fourth place, and Carthage, Missouri's Abe Huls came home in fifth. Zevenbergen was crowned Dirt Duel's champion and got the $3,000 check.
Capping off the night was twenty-six laps of IMCA Modified racing. Why might you ask, twenty-six laps. Because it was twenty-five +1 in honor of the #+1 always piloted by the honoree of the night, the late Bill Davis, Sr. Davis, an absolute legend in area racing. was no doubt looking down on the race last evening and smiling.
Todd Shute, and Rock Springs, Wyoming racer Casey Delp would lead the field to green. Shute jumped to the immediate lead but Osky's Cayden Carter was quickly up to challenge. Carter made a slide around Shute pay off, taking over the number one position at lap eighteen and then the race was red flagged when Jesse Dennis took a hard ride into the back wall out of turn two. He was okay and the race was quickly restarted for the final eight lap dash to the checkers. Carter restarted in the first place position, with "T Dub" Tim Ward realigned in second, and Shute shuffled back to third. Carter would go on to hold the lead and saw the checkers first for his $1,000 pay day and win the 2nd Annual Bill Davis, Sr. Memorial feature. Ward finished in second place, North Dakota's Tom Berry, Jr. got the upper hand in a tight battle over Shute as they went third and fourth respectively. Grundy Center's Joel Rust rounded out the top five.
Promoter Mike VanGenderen saw his constant attention to keeping the track in racy shape last night pay off ....once again bringing forth some fabulous racing. It was a steamy, hot night, and unlike the previous two night's near hurricane force winds from the south, there was hardly a breath of air. If you've not been to a show at the track, put it on your agenda if you want to see some great racing.....it's well worth the drive.
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