Scotland County Speedway Roars to Life on Friday

A solid Friday night crowd filed in to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis,Mo. on Friday night for the first of four fall racing programs. Six classes of competition drew what race manager Mike VanGenderen stated was an opening night record 136 race teams. The program got rolling a bit after the advertised 7:00 start time, but the cars conyinued to roll in well past 7:00. A whopping 18 heat races plus three B mains set the feature fields and after intermission we went main event racing on what was fast becoming a chilly fall evening. Only eleven hobby stocks checked in on the night, with Mike Hughes, who dropped down from the stock car class late in the season quickly establishing himself as the man to beat. He took the lead on lap two of the 14 lap event, surviving a handful of caution periods, including a nasty flip by Heather Baum, to pick up the win. Aaron Martin outran Nick Ulin for third, followed by former Moberly,Mo. track champion Tim Dawson, and Jamie Songer. A dozen laps of sport compact four cylinder action saw all 23 cars come to the track. Jake Benischek started on row one and jumped to the early lead. On the third circuit, Cody Cleghorn made hard contact with the fence between turns one and two, rolling his car and damaging the fence where track officials had made pit watchers vacate before the races began. As with the Baum rollover, we had extended down time while the area was shored up. Another caution on lap five slowed the action, but Benischek remained in charge to the checkers. Row two starter Brandon Reu kept the leader in sight, but came home second. Barry Taft brought a big cheering section and early on looked like he might go to the front, eventually settling for third. Chuck Fullenkamp and Brandon Housley completed the top five. Sport mods have become the growing class in the Tri State area, and 39 signed in on Friday, with 25 qualifying for the 18 lap feature. Austen Becerra has been on fire since debuting his new ride, and he found himself with a front row strat. He was locked in a early battlw with Austin Howes driving the Kevin Tomlinson #49, and sport mod rookie Daniel Fellows. Howes actully found his way around Becerra early, but the first of several cautions negated the pass. When racing resumed, row five starter Brandon Lennox charged to third. With a Delaware restart on the next caution, Lennox took second, but Howes retook the spot ahead of a lap ten yellow. Now Logan Anderson was the man on the move, and he was soon locked in a battle for second with Lennox, as Howes fell back. Brayton Carter had ducked to the work area during a early caution to change a flat tire, restarting on the tail, but he entered the top five on lap 13. The big lead Becerra had opened was wiped out by another caution with three laps remaining. But there was no stopping Becerra, who picked up his fourth win in his last four starts at four different tracks over the last two weekends. Anderson took second, with Lennox third. Carter advanced to fourth, and Howes held on for fifth. A mix of engine packages made up the eleven car late model field. Tommy Elston in his UMP Pro Crate late model ran second in his heat race, but pulled the number one chip in the redraw to set on the pole, with heat one runner up Gunner Frank alongside. While Elston seemed like the clear favorite, Cayden Carter in his IMCA spec engine # 10C had other ideas. Tommy paced the first lap, while fourth starting Carter pulled even as lap two was scored. Carter led the next trip past the flagstand, as the front two put distance on the other six starters. As the 20 laps clicked off caution free, the Oskaloosa, Iowa youngster opened a sizable lead, while Elston held a comfortable margin over third place Sam Halstead. Missouri modified hot shoe Kevin Blackburn was on hand with a former Mike Hoover late model with a number "1" duct taped on the side of the plain blue machine, and he came home fourth. Derek Liles completed the top five ahead of Gunner Frank, Brandon Savage, and Chase Frank. Father Todd Frank, Jim Knapp in the # 57, and Iowa driver Greg Cox did not make the feature call. It was now stock car time, with 24 of the 29 cars on hand ready for 20 laps of action on the 3/8 mile. It was struggle to get things going, with a couple of early cautions scrambling the order. Jeff Mueller, wheeling the Corey Strothman #C4 found himself at the back of the pack, along with polesitter Brandon Jay, who had to change a tire. When things finally got rolling, Abe Huls was on the pole, and he paced the first lap. Nathan Wood took over on lap two, taking dustin Griffiths along. Row five starter Johnny Spaw powered to second on lap four. Wood and Spaw ran the inside line, while Griffiths rode the cushion, and Hild fought back on the low side to third on lap nine. Abe gained the runner up spot on the next lap, and he then moved to the high line. Spaw retook second as Mueller entered the top five. On lap 15, Mueller was fourth, and passed Huls for third on lap 18. But Wood had the field covered, outdistancing Spaw, Mueller, Huls, and Griffiths. The final race of the night was 23 modifieds for 22 laps. Kyle Brown and Jeff Waterman rolled off in row one, crossing the line for the first circuit in that order, with Cayden Carter in third. Following a lap five stoppage, Carter moved to second, setting up a battle with Brown before another yellow. Now Waterman had his hands full, with Bruce Hanford and Jardin Fuller wanting the third spot. As those three put on a show, Carter stayed glued to Brown until a caution with seven laps left. When racing resumed, Carter blasted to the lead, opeing a nice lead. One final caution came on lap 19, but there was no catching Carter, as he added the $1,000.00 payoff to his late model win. Brown took runner up honors over Fuller, Hanford, and Waterman. The full night of racing ended just after midnite, not a bad finish for a Friday night with so many cars. As I type this, night number two is under way, as other plans kept me away from the track today. If you could not make it to Memphis this weekend, I recommend you make plans for the third weekend of October, when the track roars back to life. There is Sunday night racing the next four Sundays at Quincy Raceways, and VanGenderen and crew will be staging Friday and Saturday night action next weekend at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson,Iowa. Don't miss out!