It's hard to believe that the Southern Iowa Speedway wrapped up its 2022 regular season last night. It was Season Championship night and the last night of racing until the Fall Challenge in October.
Five track champions were decided....some by just a few points, and five drivers also went home with season championship awards.
Things kicked off with the Sport Compacts as they ran their 10 lap feature. Terry Bickford was leading the points battle by 10 points going into the race. Earlier in his heat race however, he had a sick car and pulled off the track. He was able to "take the green" with his ill running car, and that sealed the Championship for him.
The heat race for the Compacts did not go well for Gabby Hayes, as he took a roll low in corner three. He was okay, and did start the feature.
Matt Moore led the feature race from the get go, and would sail home well out in front of the rest of the field. It was his third feature win of the season. Trailing a good distance behind in second, was James Haring, and Greg Franklin, Brandon Pickney, and Jake Meinders completed the top five. The race went green to checkers.
The Non-Wing Sprints had a scary, scary incident at the start of their heat race when Logan Alexander flipped going into turn one, launched himself over the middle of turn one and two....and landed out of the park! It was a tense few moments until it was announced he was out of the car on his own.
The Non-Wings ran a 10 lap feature. Doug Sylvester led when the race went green, with the hot driver of late, Ben Woods with seven wins in, chasing him. Woods night would then suddenly end when he was off power with what appeared to be an expired motor.
When the race restarted, Sylvester shot off from the rest of the field, and won going away. Tyler Graves finished a distant second, it was Kelly Graham in third place, Nathan James was fourth,, and Steve Pumphrey in fifth. This was Sylvester's first win this year. Kelly Graham is the 2022 Track Champion.
The Stock Cars came next, and this one was also a runaway. Todd Reitzler started fifth, had the lead by lap one, and pulled away to take the win in the race that went flag to flag. There was a heated battle for second behind him however, as Cayden Carter, Nathan Wood, and Steve Byers went at it. It was a close finish at the end but Steve Byers won the war and took second, Nathan Wood was third, and Cayden Carter, in Mike Petersen's race car, was fourth. Dustin Griffiths rounded out the top five. Nathan Wood is the 2022 Track Champion.
There was a twist of fate in the SportMod feature, in what everyone thought going into the night would be a battle for the track title between Maguire DeJong and Curtis VanDerWal, one point separating them.
The #30M of DeJong was in the house, but not the driver. Seems the DeJong family had been on vacation, out of the country, and the airline connections were the nemesis for Maguire. However, Cayden Carter hopped in the car for the night's race.
The early portion of the 16 lap feature saw Carter VanDenBerg and cousin Cayden Carter duking it out. They ran side by side at times until "The Gasman" Cayden Carter established the lead for good.
A yellow at lap thirteen bunched the field for the restart, and Curtis VanDerWal was able to power by VanDenBerg for second spot. It was all Carter in the final two laps however, as he took the win in the 30M machine. VanDerWal finished second, VanDenBerg was third. Trailing a distant fourth was Charlie Weber, and Tony Johnson was fifth. VanDerWal is the 2022 Track Champion.
Wrapping up the night's racing action as well as the season, was 20 laps of Hobby Stock racing.
Dustin Griffiths took the top spot from his outside front row starting spot as the green flag flew. That would be where he stayed the rest of the run to the checkers and the win. Keaton Gordon gave chase and hung around in second until a yellow flew at lap twelve. This bunched the field for the restart, and it was Aaron Martin taking advantage. He took over second, but that was all he had, and had to settle for the runner up spot. Austin Barnes was also able to get by Keaton Gordon in the closing circuits, as they went third and fourth respectively. Christian Huffman, in his sharp looking ride, was fifth.
This was Griffiths' third win of the season, but for the first time in the past four years, he had to relinquish his track title to Aaron Martin....by three points.
The regular season at the Southern Iowa Speedway came to an end last evening, but there is still some racing lying ahead. For you Sprint Car enthusiasts, the Sage Fruit Front Row Challenge will be held on August 8...prior to the running of the Knoxville Nationals just down the road. Then on October 14 and 15, it will be the annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge.
Find a race to attend and help keep dirt track racing alive and well.
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