It was finally back to the Southern Iowa Speedway for some midweek racing last evening. A beautiful night it was for the Bill & Ray's Truck Repair Night and bike give away for the kids. By my count, there were 56 cars that ran on the Monster Half-mile for another entertaining night of racing.
Things kicked off with the Sport Compacts and their 10 lap feature event. There were nine competitors checked in. It was Seth Meinders holding down the top spot for the first handful of laps after holding off James Haring. It was a good race between the two until Haring finally made his way around at lap six to claim the number one spot.
A yellow at lap nine threw Haring's expected win out the window, when the caution set up a green-white-checkered finish. Meinders was still running in second spot, but the hot shoe this season at the track, Terry Bickford had now moved into third spot, and both were anxious for the restart.
Bickford was able to make the pass into second in the closing moments, and though he gave it his all with a low look to the inside as they approached the checkered flag coming out of turn four, it was to no avail, and Haring went home with the win on this night. Bickford, who has four wins this year at Osky, had to be content with second place. Third went to Meinders, Matt Moore finished fourth, and Russell Klisaris from Earlham, rounded out the top five. Haring said in his post race interview with Jerry Mackey, this was his first ever circle track win. Congratulations to him. It's always great to see those first time winners.
The Non-Wing Sprint Cars ran their 10 lap feature next with seven cars checked in. Tyler Graves started on the pole and held the lead until Ben Woods took command on lap four. From there on it was all the 11B's race and he pulled away to capture the dominate win.
Doug Sylvester was the runner up, Graves took third place, and Kelly Graham and Robert Bell completed the top five.
The Stock Cars had thirteen checked in, and they took to the track next for their 14 lap feature. Drawing the pole for race was the 1X car driven on this night by Cayden Carter....no stranger to getting around the big old half-mile.
A caution flew on lap one when Dustin Griffiths came flying into turn one a little too hot and heavy, and ended up in the turn one fence, putting himself out of the contest.
On the restart, with Carter still leading, it was just a brief moment until sixth place starter Nathan Wood came calling and took over the top spot. Wood held the top spot, putting distance between himself and the rest of the field, and then when Carter, who was still running second suddenly pulled into the infield at lap eleven of the fourteen lapper, it was an easy road to victory for Wood. Following a good distance behind was Jason McDaniel who took the runner up position, Donnie Pearson held off Clinton Goff at the finish line as they went third and fourth respectively, and Indianola's Steve Byers took fifth. Woods matched his win from last week, going back-to-back.
Maguire DeJong left no doubt in his dominating performance in taking the 14 lap SportMod feature win, with twelve cars.....Tony Johnson just making it in time to run the feature. DeJong drew the pole and was off like a rocket immediately. It was a Sunday drive for the young man from Montezuma, Iowa as he won by half a lap at the checkers in the flag-to-flag race.
Visitor to the track last night, Jason Roth, from Hazel Green, Wisconsin, who is here on a racing vacation and catching different tracks in the area, was pretty dominate as well. He finished second, and well ahead of Oskaloosa's Curtis VanDerWal who was third. Finishing a close fourth was Kyle Harwood, and Tyler Heckart was fifth. This was DeJong's third win of the year at Oskaloosa. VanDerWal has two wins, and the only other winner was Dyan VanWyk who won opening night.
It was the Hobby Stocks 14 lap feature to close out the night's racing. Fifteen cars were in competition. Dustin Griffiths redeemed himself in this one, after his mishap in the Stock Cars. He started fifth, and had the lead on lap two, never to look back. He did have to hold off the challenges of veteran racer, Brad Stephens who gave it a look for a way around several times, but to no avail. Griffiths held the top spot to take the flying checkers, and Stephens was the runner up. Third went to Knoxville's Trevor Tanner, Aaron Martin came home in fourth place, and Keaton Gorden was fifth.
Next week will be Kid's Night at the Races, with a nickel and candy toss. The following week, July 6, will be Hall of Fame Induction night. Those voted in by the fans are Sonny Smyser, Troy Folkerts, and Mike Spilman. A fourth inductee is Kenny Fenn, voted in by, I believe, those already in the Hall of Fame.
It was a beautiful night to be setting at a race track. The humidity was down and it was just comfortable to be setting in the grandstand. The evening also provided a beautiful sunset as a backdrop. Something I always look for. Mother Nature seems to do that quite often at our Iowa race tracks.
Get out and find a race to enjoy, and keep the sport we all love, alive and well.....dirt track racing.
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