It's always great to see a driver get their very first win, and that is just what happened to 15 year old Maguire DeJong last night at the Southern Iowa Speedway. It was also done with an exclamation point! It was also voting night for the 2020 class of Hall of Fame inductees and fans could vote for three of the deserving names on the ballot. The winners will be announced and honored later this season.
The speedway ran its second race with fans in the stands, and it was also another kids night with a huge candy toss. All regular classes ran, with the SportMods running for an extra $100 bonus that an anonymous fan had kicked in, and there was a $100 bounty on Jonathan Hughes...the non-wing Sprint driver who had a streak of seven consecutive wins going, dating back to last season. An unfortunate incident of the evening, also left a driver with what appeared to be a destroyed race car....but thankfully he was okay.
The 10-lap non-wing Sprint feature came first and after starting third, it took less than three laps for Jonathan Hughes to take command, and drive off into the sunset. He finished well ahead of early leader Doug Sylvester. Kelly Graham was third, Garrett Alexander took fourth, fifth went to Tyler Graves...the driver who took a wild ride last week after the race was over, and the sixth, and final position went to Lance Silvers. Next week, an additional $50 will be added to the bounty on the head of Jonathan Hughes, as he seeks his ninth win in a row according to announcer Jerry Mackey, dating back to 2019.
The Stock Cars always put on one of the best shows wherever they show up, and the close racing in the 16-lap feature last evening was no different. That close racing also led to an unfortunate incident for Nathan Wood. Wood was racing close with several cars, all vying for position as they tried to run down leader of the pack, Derrick Agee. On lap twelve, that battle turned into a nightmare for Wood. His car flipped after contact with a couple of cars, down low between corners three and four. Seeing the aftermath of the car being pulled into the pits, Wood was lucky to come out of that incident unscathed. Thank goodness for safety features and equipment.
When the race restarted with just four laps remaining, Agee had things well in hand and would go on to take the checkers....winning for the second week in a row. Howard Gordon, Jr. would follow in second place, Jason McDaniel took third, followed by Jason See in fourth, and Andrew Schroeder in fifth.
The Sport Compacts went caution free in their 10-lap feature event. Nathan Moody would lead all ten of those laps on his way to the win. He finished well ahead of second place Billy Cain, and following a distance behind him in third was Lewie Winkelman. Seth Meinders and Tyler Haring rounded out the top five. Moody said in his post race interview that this was just his second win ever. EDIT: I found the official results to show that Nathan Moody was disqualified, handing the win over to Billy Cain.
The 14-lap Hobby Stock feature saw Dustin Griffiths back in victory lane, also for the second time in as many weeks. Griffiths started sixth, and had the lead by lap three, never to look back in the race that went green to checkers. He finished a good distance ahead veteran racer Rick VanDusseldorp in second. Third went to early leader Christian Huffman, who sped past Craig Brown at the finish line. Brown had been running third, but let forth with a cloud of smoke, spewing parts down the frontstretch and had to drift across the finish line in fourth place. Aaron Martin completed the top five.
Fifteen year old rookie Maguire DeJong, the youngster who cut his teeth in the racing world in the go kart ranks, started on the outside front row of the 16-lap SportMod feature, and immediately dropped the hammer and flew to the lead. DeJong sailed away from the pack and looked to be easily on his way to victory. A caution would fly at lap eight, but on the restart, DeJong once again shot off from the pack. Another yellow flew with ten laps down...and by this time it was Curtis VanDerWal that was running second, and anxious for the restart in hopes of running down the rookie. VanDerWal did grab the lead, going low in corner one as the race restarted and most people were thinking, "well, this is over". But wait, it wasn't to be! DeJong took back the lead on lap thirteen, and then pulled away to take the win....his first EVER. VanDerWal finished as the runner up, after what Jerry Mackey said was a bent front left after hitting a corner tire, third went to Blaine Webster, fourth was Logan Anderson, and Scott Brau was fifth. DeJong was a bit overwhelmed in victory lane with just winning his first ever feature, but he better get use to visiting the winner's circle as he appears to be a very talented young man with a bright racing future ahead.
There WILL be racing next Wednesday night, July 1, after the original schedule showed none, the event has been added. Racing will resume in all five classes with hot laps at 7:15 and racing to follow.
Get out and support a race track to keep the sport we love alive and well!
No comments:
Post a Comment