Thursday night, it was off to one of my favorite events of the season, night one of the Darkside Promotions Fall Bash at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton, Iowa. The three night extravaganza usually turns out an interesting mix of drivers, mostly from Iowa and Wisconsin and Illinois. The opening night is our pick night, with late models topping the card. In past years, the late models have battled for a $1,500 top prize, however in 2020 the family of the late Brad Coin, a well known competitor in and supporter of IMCA late models, upped that number to $2,800 in memory of Brad's car Number 28C. This season, the Coin family elected to add $1,000 to positions two through ten. While the "to win" money dropped to $1,000, the add on made for an attractive purse down the line. The modified winner would also collect a cool $1,000 for their effort.
We arrived to a bustling pit area, and when the final tally came in, there were 203 race cars signed in. Still, hot laps fired off about 6:15, and officials did a good job of filling the track for each green, white, checkers session. Twenty five heat races and eight B mains later, it was finally feature time.
The advertised running order was then adjusted as the late models would run their twenty eight lap (in honor of Brad Coin) feature first. All but two of the nineteen drivers on hand lined up. Dave Hammond had issues in his heat race, while Kevin Miller was a no show in his heat as well. Jeff "Bone" Larson was behind the wheel of the Doug Curless #99 normally driven by Brian Harris, and he drew the pole position following his opening heat race win, also from the pole. Luke Pestka climbed in the #63 for the night and started outside of the front row. But it was second heat winner and inside row two starter Justin Kay who charged to the lap one lead ahead of Larson and fifth starting Spencer Diercks. This event is often a showcase of substitute drivers, and tonight was no exception, In addition to Larson, Diercks was filling in for Matt Ryan. With his car en route to the track, Matt found himself "under the weather." Diercks was on hand with his modified, but not his late model, so he took over duties in the #07.
Kay immediately checked out to a commanding lead over Larson, while row four starter Andy Nezworski moved up to do battle with Diercks for third. As Kay found the back of the pack about lap eight, Fred Remley charged from fifth to third while the first caution flag waved for third heat winner Gary Webb. Back under green, it was Nezworski jumping to the cushion to claim third. Another yellow two laps later saw the night end for Kelly Pestka, and Nezworski used the Delaware restart to power to the runner up spot. As Kay pulled out to a nearly half lap lead, Larson rebounded to nose ahead of Nezworski for second. With the race staying green for the final fifteen circuits, Kay cruised to the win. Larson and Remley filled out the podium, while Nezworski and tenth starting Joe Zrostlik recorded top fives. Jeff Aikey came home sixth ahead of Diercks, Joel Callahan, Gage Neal, and John Emerson.
What had been a smooth, quickly run show then came completely off the rails. All but two of the twenty five hobby stocks would line up next for fifteen laps. Jake Benischek would share the front row with Ryan Havel, but it would be third starting Manny Bennett trailing Benischek ahead of a lap one caution. As racing resumed, Cody Staley caught the berm coming out of turn four, possibly with a flat right rear tire, and flipped his #55 machine wildly on the front stretch, bringing out the red flag. After a bit of a delay getting the accident cleaned up, it was announced that Benischek had not stopped in a timely fashion and would be sent to the tail of the field for the restart. After mildly showing his displeasure, he retired to the pits. Bennett and Havel lined up side by side for the restart, but the yellow soon flew again as Bennett slowed with a flat tire and Jared Miller spun while working inside the top five. A total of five more caution periods came in the final ten laps, mostly for spins, with the double file restart used each time as well as no mention of a time limit. No more than two laps at a time were scored before we mercifully saw a checkered flag. Milan, Illinois pilot Andrew Burk dominated the late stages of the race to take the win. Kody Miles, Matt Bennett, Chad Rigby, and Justin Ginther completed the top five. Manny Bennett was in the top five mix, but was disqualified for what I am not sure.
We had set an 11:00 curfew ahead of our two and a half hour drive home, and although it was now about 10:45, we hoped to see the 4 stock feature and maybe "cheat a little" should they run a quick twelve laps. However, the water truck was brought out for several rounds and then the 4 stocks began the task of repacking the quarter mile surface, so we decided to head for the parking lot with four features still on the docket.
I can report that Joe Zrostlik followed up his fifth place run in the late models with the 4 stock win over Canton, Indiana driver Robert Deford. Dallon Murty started third and topped twelfth starting Jeff Mueller in the stock cars. Brayton Carter was the best of fifty five sport mods, beating his row one mate Shane Paris, and it was Chris Zogg besting the modifieds over eighth starting Brandon Schmitt, from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
Racing continues for the next two nights in Tipton, with Mod Lites replacing the late models tonight, then two person cruisers and the American Iron Racing Series filling out a seven division card on Saturday. Thanks to Timmy Current, Ryan Duhme, and the entire team for their hospitality as well as their hard work in putting on such a challenging event. The addition of the new grandstands has greatly enhanced the racing experience at the Cedar County Raceway!
We are hoping the weatherman cooperates with our planned second visit of the season to the Lincoln, Illinois fairgrounds Speedway on Saturday for the final night of the UMP DirtCar Fall Nationals, as six divisions battle for feature wins and championship honors. Although we have turned the calendar to October, there are still many good options for top notch racing, so check the Positively Racing calendar and maybe we will see you at the track!
Thanks for the awesome write-up, as usual!
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