Thursday night we joined the MLRA Late Models as they began a three night competition in the Hawkeye state. This opening night venue, dubbed the Hawkeye Land 40, would be the quarter mile Cedar County Fairgrounds Raceway in Tipton, Iowa, nine miles north of Interstate 80 in the east central part of the state. Three IMCA classes, Modifieds, Sport Mods and Stock Cars would fill out the card. $5,000 would go to the Late Model winner, $1,000 to the Modified victor, a $750 top prize for Stock Cars and $500 for first place in the Sport Mods. The event was Co promoted by Kay Promotions and Darkside Promotions.
A manageable total of eighty nine cars signed in for racing led by twenty nine Super Late Models and twenty seven Modifieds, with hot laps kicking off right on time at 6:30. However, the first glitch appeared when officials encountered problems with the automatic timing loop. As a result, the Late Models had to qualify one car at a time under the stop watch as opposed to the usual three or so. Overall fast time and the accompanying $500 bonus went to Texas racer Tyler Erb. The other classes would use a draw - redraw format for heat race action.
Drama ensued during Late Model time trials when series points leader Chad Simpson was unable to complete a lap due to rear end issues with his #25. But when heat race time came, it was brother Chris Simpson who found his #32 unable to make the call. Fortunately, his back up machine was already qualified with Jason Rauen set for competition. With Chris vying for the series championship, Rauen would turn the wheel over, giving up a front row start in the first eight lapper. It would seem that this would present no problem, with Rauen out and the others moving up. But for whatever reason, after a considerable delay, cars were added and deleted, apparently based on times. Eventually we went racing, with the four heats captured by Erb, Jeff Herzog, Garrett Alberson and Dillon McCowan, all from the front row of the "straight up" starts. Both Simpsons found themselves starting near the back of heat three, and that produced some of the best racing of the night as they battled side by side for the fourth and final qualifying position. Chad would find himself failing to make the transfer, however his outside row one start in the twelve lap B main would result in a victory, putting him inside row nine for the forty lap finale.
Heat race action was followed by a few minutes of down time as the track crew manicured the top of turn two, then it was feature time.
IMCA Northern Sport Mods would go first, sixteen cars for twenty laps. Pole sitter Ryan Reed would pace the opening circuit with his row one mate Tyler Bannister, Bakersfield, California, taking over the next trip under the flag stand. Fourth starting Justin Becker would take up the chase on lap three ahead of a pair of yellow flags on laps three and four. As the field reset, ninth starting Jarrett Franzen had already entered the top five for the Delaware Style restart. Franzen moved to fourth as Becker used a slide job to grab the lead. But Bannister quickly retook the top spot. Still on the move, Franzen powered to third on lap seven, then to the runner up position one lap later. The race stayed green until lap sixteen, when a final caution reset the field one more time. With the leaders mostly glued to the inside groove, Tony Olson worked the high line to try and improve his fourth position. As the checkers waved, it was Bannister with the win ahead of Franzen, Becker, Olson and Reed.
Erb and Alberson would bring the twenty four car MLRA field to green. However the pace setter appeared not to fire in turn four, stacking up the field with cars back in the pack facing all directions. In fact the #67 of Jimmy Vanzandt wound up partially underneath the #15C of Curt Schroeder. The delay to clean things up was a lengthy one, but when racing resumed only Vanzandt could not continue. With Erb out front of Alberson and Herzog, the yellow flag would fly three more times in the first six laps. But from then on, it was green flag racing. Early on it was Alberson and McCowan battling side by side foe second before McCowan fell back a bit and Frank Heckenast Jr. took over the third spot. The leaders caught the back of the pack about lap fourteen, and as the race neared the halfway point Alberson pulled alongside Erb on a couple of occasions. However he was unable to make the pass, and as the laps clicked off Erb gradually increased his advantage. The big mover in the second half of the race was fifteenth starting Tony Jackson Jr. He was able to overtake row seven starter Chris Simpson in the closing laps, crossing the line in fourth behind Erb, Alberson and Heckenast Jr. McCowan faded to sixth, finishing ahead of Dylan Thornton, Chad Simpson, Daniel Hilsabeck and Aaron Marrant.
With post race activities finally complete, sixteen IMCA Stock Cars lined up for twenty laps. Second generation driver Casey Shelliam raced side by side with third starting Riley Hanson in the opening lap, then led the field through an early caution. It was fifth starting Gage Neal soon claiming the runner up spot, but the driver on the move was ninth starting Braden Richards who put his #11R out front about lap five. Following another yellow flag, an intense four car battle developed behind Richards ahead of a final caution for a spinning Shelliam with six laps scored. Now it was Dustin Vis moving up to challenge the leader while tenth starting Joe Zrostlik charged to third. As the laps clicked off, Richards drove off from the field, cruising to the win over Vis, Zrostlik and Neal. Matt Picray eased ahead of Hanson to round out the first five.
IMCA Modified action closed out the night racing for twenty five circuits. Drew Janssen redrew the pole position, and that proved to be the move of the race. Following a first lap mix up, Janssen would lead throughout to pick up the win. Another Bakersfield, California racer Jerry Flippo, who along with Janssen and Ryan Maitland picked up a heat race win, would finish in the runner up slot after a row two start. Matt Werner filled out the podium ahead of a pair of hard chargers. Jeff "Bone" Larson gained eight spots to finish fourth, while Jeremiah Hurst came from inside row thirteen all the way to fifth.
The track was fast all night, treating the large crowd to plenty of action. An added bonus for us was the discovery that long time Late Model racer Bob Helm and his family were sitting behind us in the grandstands, and Bob regaled us with great stories throughout the night. His family was on hand to watch grandson Dalon Helm, who now calls the state of Oklahoma home race his Late Model #4X.
Thanks to Brenda and the Kay Promotions team as well as Ryan Duhme and Timmy Current with Darkside Promotions for their hospitality. The Darkside group now moves to Maquoketa Speedway for the Kelly Meyer Challenge and All Star Classic over the next two nights. We will follow the MLRA Late Models to Davenport Speedway for the two night Corn State Nationals paying $5,000 to win on Friday with a $10,000 top prize on Saturday. The weather looks great, so turn off the television, get off the couch and head to a race track near you!
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