On Wednesday, we joined the MLRA late models for what we hope will be four consecutive nights of racing across Iowa. The mini tour opened on Tuesday with thirty four race teams doing battle at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska, where Tony Jackson Jr. picked up the win. Last night the series moved east to Mike Van Genderens' Stuart International Speedway, with the high powered late models added to his regular card of Wednesday night racing. Thirty one of the open late models warriors checked in, swelling the entries to one hundred and eighteen across five divisions.
A glitch during time trial qualifications for the late models slowed things a bit, with the second group of cars forced to make their runs one at a time. Garrett Alberson emerged with the fastest lap at 13.072 seconds around the quick quarter mile. Fortunately they were the only class to use time trials, and I would be lying if I said I preferred this to their old style of pill draws and passing points, but I digress.
Seventeen heat races helped set the feature lineups, with only the late models needing a B main to bring us to feature time, and all the preliminaries clicked off in a timely fashion.
As has been the case anytime I have been to Stuart, any during the night track prep occurs in the short time it takes to conclude one race and green flag the next, so we moved directly into the main events. Still the "farming" that was done kept the track smooth and multi grooved, producing side by side racing all night long. It was noticeable how the track seemed to change throughout the night, with the fastest way around changing multiple times between the top and bottom grooves.
While the heat races ran off with very minimal cautions, things took a turn for the worse in the features. The IMCA Northern Sport Mods ran first, originally announced as eighteen laps, but shortened to sixteen. A rash of spin outs slowed the momentum considerably, often involving the same drivers who seemed to have issues at both ends of the track. But at the checkers it was fourth starting Brayton Carter picking up his second win in as many tries at the track in 2021. Brett Vanderheiden worked his way from row four to keep Carter in his sights, eventually settling for runner up honors. Cam Reimers advanced from sixth to third, followed by row six starter Dusty Masolini and Garrett Nelson to complete the top five.
Surprisingly, the IMCA stock cars struggled as well in their twenty lap headliner. Miciah Hidelbaugh and Todd VanEaton paced the field to green, but it was third starting Bob Daniels who quickly assumed control. Daniels led through yet another rash of cautions as intense battles raged behind him. Soon it was young Dallon Murty applying the pressure, but he was also having to contend with his father Damon, row eight starter Jeremy Gettler, Buck Schafroth, and others. With three laps remaining, one more yellow flag set the Delaware restart, and as Daniels hit the gas, the engine appeared to expire in his #25 machine. Dallon would then lead the field to a final green flag, and he picked up the win ahead of Gettler, Schafroth, Lamesa, Texas driver Michael Sheen, and Damon Murty.
MLRA late models then lined up, twenty four cars for forty laps. Heat one winner Frank Heckenast Jr. sat on the pole flanked by rookie of the year contender Jake Timm, who topped heat three. Heats two and four victors Chad Simpson and Jesse Stovall filled row two, and so on, no redraw here! Stovall had shown considerable speed in his heat race, and he powered to the front as lap one was scored, with Timm in second. Heckenast took over second on lap two, as Stovall began to pull away from the pack. With the race staying green, Stovall began his march through slower traffic at lap eight, and Heckenast began to reel him in a bit. The first caution came for a spin by Blair Nothdurft at lap eleven. Following the restart, a rare spin by sixth running Billy Moyer Sr. brought out the caution again, with Moyer heading to the trailer. The driver on the move at this point was row four starter Ryan Gustin, as he took over the third position. Traffic again became an issue at the halfway mark, and again Stovall saw his lead dwindle. But even as Heckenast began to reel in the leader, he was now in a dog fight with Gustin for second. While Frankie rolled around the bottom of the track, Ryan was pounding the cushion, and by lap twenty six we had a three car tussle for the top spot. The final caution came one lap later, with Stovall pacing the restart. Three circuits later, Gustin used a crossover move going into turn one to grab the lead as Stovall tried to fight back. The final ten laps became a battle between those two, with Gustin again taking the long way around and Stovall working the low line. As the checkers waved, it was Gustin out front, followed by Stovall and a sneaky fast Alberson. Heckenast crossed in fourth in front of B main winner Chris Simpson. We were miles down the road before learning that Gustin had been disqualified in post race tech for a suspension issue, turning the win and the $5,000 top prize over to Stovall. So the top ten rundown became Stovall, Alberson, Heckenast, Chris Simpson, Timm, Chad Simpson, Ashton Winger, Mason Oberkramer, Terry Phillips, and Jason Papich.
It would be no exaggeration to say that this was one of the coldest race nights I have sat through in a while, especially when the north wind restarted during the night. So with three features still on the docket and a long drive home, we headed for the car as the IMCA modifieds came to the track. Perhaps we should have hung around another few minutes, as Shane DeVolder was taking the checkered flag before we were out of the parking lot. It was now on the wrong side of 10:30, the track apparently had an 11:00 curfew, and it seems there was an issue early in the sport compact feature that resulted in that race and the hobby stock main event being moved to next Wednesday night when those classes will run double features.
Thanks go out to Mike VanGenderen and his staff for their hospitality for myself and others from our Positively Racing crew. If you have not been to this gem of a dirt track, I highly recommend a visit to one of their specials or just a regular Wednesday night show. Were it not about four hours away, it would be a regular stop for me.
Continuing our early season marathon, we will bundle up again tonight and rejoin the MLRA tour as Drt Trak Promotions offers up another $5,000 prize on the 1/4 mile at the historic Davenport Speedway. Modifieds, Sport Mods, and the A.I.R.S. group will fill out the card. Hope to see you there.
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