It was finally a beautiful night to be setting at a race track on Wednesday at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. A good crowd of fans was on hand, without coats and sweatshirts for a change, no strong winds, and no threat of rain, made for a perfect night to be setting at a race track with our racing friends.
Robert Bell, the Non-Wing Sprint racer who has raced for 30 years, was going for his third win in a row, as was Dustin Griffiths in the Hobby Stock division. There was bonus bounty money setting on Derrick Agee's head, a nice $1,100 for anyone that could beat the as of yet unbeaten Missouri hot shoe in the Stock Car class.
The Non-Wing Sprints ran their 10 lap event to kick off the feature racing. After not performing well in his heat, finishing fifth out of five cars, many people were thinking Robert Bell's two-in-a-row streak would end there. The race began with pole-sitter Kelly Graham jumping to the immediate lead. As lap one was scored, Graham led with Doug Sylvester close at hand...and Robert Bell still in fourth place where he started. Then, to the delight of the crowd, at lap three Bell had moved to run in second...and on lap four, Bell was leading! From there on, Bell pulled away and took the checkers comfortably...getting his third win in a row...and just his third ever feature. He was a delight to hear in victory lane, a veteran racer who has just kept at it year after year...and expressed how grateful he is to be living his dream. Congratulations again to the Colfax Comet! Graham finished in second place, Ben Woods was third, Doug Sylvester was fourth, and Lance Silvers rounded out the five car field.
The Sport Compacts were up next for 10 laps of feature racing. This one went to Clayton Webster, who led all caution free laps on his way to win number two at the Monster Half-Mile. Following a distant runner up was Tyler Haring. It was a good battle for third place between Lewie Winkleman, Dalton Sowers, and Nathan Moody. At the finish is was Sowers taking third, Moody was fourth, and Billy Cain slipped around Winkleman in the closing moments as they went fifth and sixth respectively.
The first yellow flag of the night came on lap five of the 14 lap Hobby Stock A main when a couple of cars got mixed up down in turn one. At that point, Travis Bunnell was still in command of the race, having led from the drop of the green. Rick VanDusseldorp was hot on his tail, and eager for the restart of the race with Jesse Williams and Dustin Griffiths waiting in the wings. On lap eight, Bunnell, VanDusseldorp, and Dustin Griffiths made it three-wide down the backstretch, with VanDusseldorp coming out on top for the lead on lap nine. A couple of laps later, Griffiths was challenging hard with the 1R of VanDusseldorp, racing side by side until Griffiths pulled it off, snapping up the top spot. Griffiths would hold on for the win....his third-in-a-row, with VanDusseldorp following in the runner up spot. It was close at the line for third and fourth...with Bunnell scoring third, just beating out Aaron Martin in fourth. As a note, Martin was in a backup car tonight, having bad damage to his own ride from a mishap last week at the track. Jesse Williams would round out the top five. Next week, it was announced there will be a $300 bounty on Griffith, and as of this morning, I see it's $350.
Cayden Carter was in the house last night, piloting brother Brayton's #01 for the SportMod class. He won his heat, and with drawing a pole starting spot for the 16 lap feature, it was almost a given. That's what it turned out to be, as Carter pulled away quickly, and sailed to the flag-to-flag win. Logan Anderson got his badly smoking hot rod in the heat fixed, as he took second place. Third went to Blaine Webster, Maguire DeJong was fourth, and Scott Brau was fifth.
There was a $1,100 bounty on Derrick Agee in the Stock Car class. He had won all four of the features for a perfect season going into last night. We really expected to see more Stock Car drivers coming for a chance at that bonus money, but only fourteen drivers were on hand. Two of those new faces were Damon and Dallon Murty...the father/son duo from Chelsea, Iowa. Dallon, who is just sixteen, but with several years seat time behind him in a Stock Car, with go kart and micro mod racing prior to that. He was fresh off the $5,000 win at the Stuart Speedway's Whole Hog 50 on Monday night. Earlier in the year, he and his dad made the trip to race on the dirt at Bristol....with son Dallon beating his second place dad in the prestigious race. Also back from his North Carolina home to race at his old stomping grounds, was the 34 of Pat Rachels.
Damon Murty drew the pole position for the start of the 16 lap A main, setting along side another #99 of Kyle Boyd. Dallon Murty drew the sixth starting spot, and having not made the redraw for the starting line up of the A main, Derrick Agee had to start ninth....making it a tall task ahead of him to get another win.
Damon Murty immediately took the top spot, and track regular Donnie Pearson tucked into second place. By lap four, Dallon Murty had drawn to his dad's bumper, and by lap seven, he was leading. The two Chelsea drivers then began to pull away from the rest of the field even though Agee had now made it into third spot. This race also went caution free, and with the Murty's out in front with a sizeable lead, it was to no avail for Agee to catch them. The race would end with Dallon Murty taking the checkers, with a final effort by dad Damon Murty to make it a close second place. Derrick Agee finished in third place, with Dustin Griffiths and Donnie Pearson trailing a distant fourth and fifth. Ironically, Dallon, Damon and Derrick Agee finished 1-2-3 just as they had at the Bristol Dirt Nationals.
Last night's races, sponsored by Van Utrecht Farms & Trucking & Stout Trucking was also voting for this year's Hall of Fame. On the ballot were Merv Chandler, Bill Bone, Marvin Korns, Kenny Fenn, Dan Feree, Steve Jackson, Troy Folkerts, Wendell Folkerts, Bob "Gabby" Hayes, "Dandy" Don Hoffman, Keith Kropf, Wayne Larson, Bob Maschmann, Big John Moss, Lee Pinckney, Joel Rasseman (perhaps, Joel Rasmussen, former Ames, Iowa racer, as not familiar with Rasseman...not to say that name should not be on the list) Mike Robinson, Sonny Smyser, Pat Surfus, Paul VanZee, Mike Spilman, and Ken Walton. You could vote for only three....with a write in available. We have seen most of those listed drivers racing at the Monster Half Mile in days gone by.... and all listed on the ballot, worthy of a place in the Hall of Fame.
Get out and find a race to attend. Check the calendar at Positively Racing and help support the tracks and sports we all love....dirt track racing.
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