Smyser Smokes the Field at Moberly

 With track after track falling to the rain to the north, Darryl and I took a chance and headed south for our first visit of the 2015 season to the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly,Mo. RCR had been a scheduled destination in June for the visit of the MLRA later models, but like about one third of our scheduled this year, rain took care of that.
 Moberly has the latest arriving crowd of any track we attend, and 15 minutes before go time, the stands looked barren. However attendance picked up nicely as racing began, including the surprise arrival of buddy Bob Litton, who made the trip all the way from Iowa City to take in some action!
 Regular race nights at RCR include five classes, including ULMA steel block late models, USRA modifieds, USRA B modifieds, hobby stocks and 4 cylinder cars. The mod classes had nice car counts of 17 and 16 respectively, though the other three groups were a bit short.
 USRA modifieds were first on the card, and they ran three heat races to begin the action. Quincian Steve Grotz dominated heat one, but was apparently disqualified for an illegal frame rail, ending his evening. In heat three, veteran Hugh Eddy got out of shape in turn two, was sideways down the backstretch when he was hit by Ronnie Woods, sending him into a series of flips. Eddy emerged uninjured, but his # 5% car received heavy damage.
 The rest of the heat race action went off quickly and uneventfully, and following a short intermission, it was feature time. The A -mods again ran first, with 13 cars answering the bell. Justin Allen inherited the pole from Grotz, but he spun in turn one, bringing out the first caution. This moved Robbie Reed to the pole on the restart. Back under green, Tim Dotson had a tire go down, and he smacked the backstretch wall, creating a lengthy delay, as his car finally was removed from the track with the roll back truck. Back to racing, Reed opened a big lead, but it was caution again on lap four for Dylan Hoover, who exited the track, leaving ten cars to slug it out. By now, fifth row starter Woods, and Allen from the back side by side behind Reed for the Delaware restart, with Allen moving to second as the green waved.Woods retook second on lap seven, with a debris yellow at the half way mark on lap ten. Back under green, both Woods and Allen slipped past Reed, but one lap later, Reed got around Allen for second. Laps 14 and 15 saw Woods and Reed swap the top spot, but during a lap 16 yellow, Woods went pitside. Reed seemed to have trouble getting up to speed on the restarts, and this time Tyler Shaw took his first lead of the race. However the caution waved before a lap was scored, putting Reed back out front, as Bill Baker had his engine let go. Racing yet again, Allen spun coming to the white, and was waved to the pits as this was his second charged caution. Only four cars remained for the two lap shootout, with Reed picking up his third win in a row over Shaw and Fred Stotler.
  With the eight caution marathon over, the nine car hobby stock main was next. A lap one caution saw two of the competitors duck to the pits for tire changes. , but when racing resumed, there was a hot four car battle for the top spot. The yellow flew just past the halfway mark at lap seven, and on the restart, Tim Dawson charged form third to grab the lead from Tim Pettibone. Dawson quickly opened a commanding lead, but one lap later, we were under caution again. Again Dawson built a big advantage, as we stayed green to the checkers. Dawson grabbed the win over Pettibone, visiting Bobby Greene from Tracy, Iowa, and Chris Baker.
  Six RCR sport 4 cylinders signed in and took the ten lap feature green. After another lap one yellow for the stalled car of Brooke Hasler, we stayed green. Robert Winfrey paced the first eight circuits before Matt Barnett took away the top spot and the win.
  All but one of the 16 B-mods started their 15 lap main event, as Cody Henderson had alreaded head home with mechanical woes. Staying with the theme, there was a lap one yellow for debris, then Cody Agee opened a sizable lead before the next stoppage on lap five. Agee held the point through a lap eight debris yellow, and picked up a flag to flag win over Galen Hassler and Tyler Lewis.
  The final race of the night was the 20 lap ULMA late model battle. After several years away from racing, second generation hot shoe Chris Smyser has returned in his familiar # 25S, Crump/Smyser machine. Chris dominated the first heat race and from the pole quickly powered away from the nine car feature field. The only thing slowing him down was a lap two caution when veteran racer Larry Winn smacked the turn one wall. From there, it was all Smyser, as he lapped up through fourth place to pick up his fourth straight win at RCR. Jon Melloway finished a distant second, with Cody Holtkamp also on the lead lap. Tommy Cordray, Darren Turner, and Daryl Dooling were also on track at the checkers, with rookie Monty Umfleet, David Melloway, and Winn credited with seventh through ninth.
 We rolled out of Moberly about 10:30, making it within 25 miles or so of home before torrential rain made our last few minutes of driving home separately something of an experience. There had been enough rain around the immediate area - something between four and six inches - that Quincy Raceways had posted their cancellation notice for tonight before I had rolled out of bed. What a miserable season to be a race track promoter.....