2016 Season Wrap at Shiverfest

My 2016 racing season likely came to an end Saturday with night number 49 at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. It was the annual Shiverfest extravaganza, as 169 cars in seven divisions competed in what is billed as the final race in Iowa for the season. The format has been expanded to include some festivities on Friday night, but for us things kicked off on a breezy and unusually warm Saturday evening. Following hay rack rides, on track trick or treating with over 100 cars and drivers coming to the track apron and box car races for the youngsters, hot laps kicked off somewhere around 5:30. 21 heat races, a C main for the sport mods and three B mains set the field for the seven feature events, with the hobby stock headliner sandwiched between the B mains. Four of the 17 hobby stockers were out of commission come feature time, but the 15 lapper was nonetheless hotly contested. Nathan Ballard journeyed from Marengo, Iowa to pick up the win over Brandon Hare, fall series champion Dustin Griffiths, and Quinton Miller. The field included Brian Bries from Norway, Iowa, who spends his Friday nights racing on the asphalt at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids. The late model feature was up next, with a dozen cars signed in to do battle for 25 laps. Heat winners Todd Frank and Sam Halstead in the Lynn Richard # 26 sat on row one. Frank jumped to the early lead, with IMCA competitor Chuck Hanna in tow. Track champion Tommy Elston started in row three and advanced to third on the fifth circuit. Elston ran his familiar low line, taking over second one lap later as Frank pounded the cushion. By lap eight Tommy had closed the gap, and he took the lead out of turn two on lap twelve only to see the caution wave for young Gunner Frank. Back under green Elston moved again to the lead, but Todd Frank stayed close as the two separated themselves from the pack. Frank was gaining ground when Tegan Evans brought out the final caution on lap 16. Over the final ten laps Elston stretched his lead, picking up his eleventh win of 2016. Frank ran a strong second ahead of Jeff Guengerich, Halstead and Hanna. Derek Liles led the second five ahead of Peoria,Il steel block racer Brian Crebo in his first visit to LCS, late model rookies Pat Gordin and Blake Woodruff,Gunner Frank, and first time rookie Chad Coyne from Orion,Il. The 13 years young female racer Evans was the only car to not complete the 25 laps. The huge 41 car sport mod field needed five heat races and a C and B main to set their 24 car feature field. Track regular Tony Dunker found himself in the unenviable position of having to come all the way from the C to make the main event, but he managed to do so despite a couple of eventful races. Early on the feature became a three car battle between Brandon Lennox, John Oliver Jr. and Brayton Carter. But with eight laps remaining, Carter had his fan puncture the radiator, dropping fluid on the track and ending his run. At this point, B main winner Austin Powell was up to fourth, while Logan Anderson held down third. A solid three car battle developed with Lennox and Oliver r4unning the high line while Anderson searched the low groove. On the final lap Oliver slowed a bit out of turn two and as watched his progress Anderson powered around Lennox to lead only one lap of the race, the one that counted. Lennox, Oliver and Powell crossed the stripe in the next three positions. The mini mod/mod lite division turned out only nine cars, with Chad Dugan of Waukon,Iowa and Don Erger swapping paint a couple of times before Dugan claimed the win. Next came the stock cars for 22 laps, with all but one of the 27 entrants taking the green. Track champion Jeff Mueller and John Oliver Jr sat in row one, and Mueller opened an early lead. With one lap scored, the yellow came out, and row three starter Mike Hughes was already up to second, followed by Todd Reitzler and Oliver. Reitzler shot to second under green, but again the caution waved. Racing once again, Johnny Spaw entered the fray in fourth, Cayden Carter took fifth and Oliver fell to sixth. Mueller and Hughes continued to battle and as the race approached the ten lap mark, Carter and a resurgent Oliver now battled side by side for third. Just past half way, Hughes grabbed the lead and Oliver followed on the high line to second as Mueller ran his usual low line. Meanwhile Carter searched around the oval, running high in turns three and four, low in one and two in the four car battle. Mueller reclaimed the lead with six to go, one lap later it was Hughes again on top. The lead was a toss up on the final circuit, but it was Hughes edging Carter for the win. Oliver Jr., Mueller, Spaw and Reitzler followed, all with solid runs. A record ( for me) 33 sport compacts checked in, I can't remember ever witnessing a 4 cylinder B-main! 24 cars took the feature green for 15 laps. The caution waved on the opening lap, with Levi Heath grabbing the lead as we went back to racing. As second running Josh Barnes fell back, Barry Taft and Brandon Reu took up the chase for the lead.On the fifth trip around, Reu grabbed the lead, and Nathan Chandler followed him, nabbing the runner up spot. Following two more quick cautions, Reu and Chandler battled until the yellow waved with three laps remaining. On the restart, a three wide battle developed for the second spot between Chandler, Heath, and Matt Macey from Delavan,Il. But on the white flag lap, Reu left an opening on the inside line and Chandler sneaked by for the lead and the win. Macey crossed in second but was DQ for an illegal part, turning the runner up slot over to Heath, followed by Reu and Taft. The final race of the night and the season was the 24 car A main for the modifieds. The field had been whittled down for 30 race teams for the 25 lapper. Eric Barnes set the early pace with Milo Veloz in second. The first caution came on lap four, three laps later Dakota Hayden moved to second . One more lap and caution waved again and when racing resumed, Cayden Carter blasted to the lead, with Hayden fading to fifth. Meanwhile Kyle Brown charged from sixth to second before another stoppage on lap ten. Now it was veteran Bruce Hanford on the move, taking over second on lap tweleve. Cater hugged the inside groove while Hanford ran the cushion, with caution again at lap 16. A final caution at lap 20 saw Brown jump to second, but Hanford rebounded quickly to grab the spot again. But there was no catching Carter, as he claimed the final checkers of the year over Hanford, Brown, Hayden, and Donavan Lodge, who hung around the top five all night. The final checkers waved just past 11:00 and considering the high number of caution periods, some rather lengthy, it was a superb job by the track officials, staging a 32 race program in just over five hours before a very large crowd, many of whom stayed around on a gorgeous fall evening. As I stated, this is likely my final race of 2016, but I will try to report the news and some of the gossip as the off season begins, and I know Jeff and my fellow bloggers will as well, so thanks for reading, check back often, and heres hoping we can spend time together on line and at the track in 2017!