The big old Monster Half Mile at the Southern Iowa Speedway saw its largest car count of the season, with 105 cars checked in for Night #1 of the Musco Lighting Fall Challenge on Friday night....a fall tradition at the facility for years.
Intermission also saw the final of the four 2020 Hall of Fame Inductees recognized when Dan Dickey was honored. The other inductees had aleady been honored earlier in the season....Carl Vanderwal, Tim Folkerts, and the late Engel DeKock. Point fund money was also awarded to top point finishers at the track this year.
Johnathon Hughes continued his perfect season and won once again going away in taking the checkers in the non-wing Sprint feature. Ben Woods, the early leader, finished as runner up, third went to Kelly Graham, and Doug Sylvester and Chuck Alexander completed the top five.
The Sport Compacts had a twenty plus field of cars on hand for their Fall Challenge competition. It was Clayton Webster holding down the top spot through nine of the ten lap contest, but Matt Moore was leading on that all important last lap to take the flying checkers. Webster held the second spot, Chuck Fullenkamp started twelfth and finished in third, Seth Meinders and Lewie Winkleman rounded out the top five. Moore started in row four to take the victory. As a note, it was great to see a name from the past racing in the Sport Compact division after a nineteen year absence from racing. Bob "Gabby" Hayes is a well known name from years gone by when he was best known for driving the #0 Stock Car back in the day. Look for him in a #0 Sport Compact next year.
Twenty-nine Hobby Stocks made it the largest class of cars on the night. Hot shoe from southwest Iowa, Luke Ramsey would lead all fourteen laps of their main event. Ramsey had to fend off the challenges of track champion Dustin Griffiths much of the race. Some contact on a yellow flag restart between Griffiths and Brad Stephens shuffled Griffiths back several spots and also allowed Rick VanDusseldorp to slip into the second spot. The final circuits saw Ramsey pull away and take home his first ever win at the Osky Monster. VanDusseldorp held on to second spot as he fended off Clint Nelson in third. Griffiths and Stephens completed the top five.
This was Luke Ramsey's first time to the Southern Iowa Speedway and was warned ahead of time to "tighten your belts good" for the fast half mile oval. It was also his 100th win in the same car last evening, though he has more total lifetime wins. He is a regular at the Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa, and I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska.
Everyone was seeing double during the sixteen lap SportMod feature, as the two top cars looked identical! Zach VanderBeek was piloting one of the 30M cars last evening, with Maguire DeJong usually behind the wheel. VanderBeek drew the lucky #1 pill and started on the pole. Starting back in the sixth row, was the look alike car driven by Cayden Carter. He wouldn't stay there for long during the sixteen lap event however, as the final six laps found him chasing VanderBeek, closing in, but having to settle for second on this night to Zach who flashed across the finish line first. Tim Plummer from Norway, Iowa finished a distant third place, track champion Curtis VanDerWal came from row five to finish fourth, and Cresco, Iowa's Troy Hovey was fifth. This was VanderBeek's first time ever behind the wheel of a SportMod....though it was one of his VanderBuilt race cars.
This was a hard race to get started, as the first seven laps saw five caution flags fly, which had to not only be frustrating for the fans, but the racers too.
Dustin Griffiths would lead the field to green in the sixteen lap contest for the Stock Cars. He was still holding down the top spot when a yellow flew at lap seven for Cody Agee. By this time, the Orange Crush machine driven by Cayden Carter had gotten to the number two spot after starting in tenth, and was no doubt eager for that restart situation. By lap nine, Carter had the lead. The rest of the race was all Carter's as he motored home to the win. Todd Reitzler got around Griffiths in the final lap to claim second, Griffiths taking third. Nathan Wood and Derrek Agee rounded out the top five.
It was a chilly night but the fans saw some good racing action that ended at 11:26 p.m. Look for a good field of cars for Night #2 of the Musco Lighting Fall Challenge.
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