Saturday night the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Mo. saw their 2022 season come to an end. The limited schedule, ramrodded by promoter Mike Van Genderen came to a successful conclusion in no small part due to outstanding weather for the two nights of racing. Friday the fairgrounds played host to the final night of the Jim Oliver Sr. Memorial, which had one of two events rained out in September, while Saturday would be the Calvin Meyer Memorial. Calvin was a longtime racing fan and supporter who lost his battle with cancer in 2020. After one hundred seven cars raced on Friday, that number rose slightly to one hundred fourteen on Saturday. Hot lap action kicked off about fifteen minutes late but as always, preliminary action fired off in quick fashion ahead of intermission. Never wasting a second, MVG continued to do quick watering and grooming as cars exited and entered the track. B mains were needed for only the B mods, with a pair of them slicing the feature field from forty one down to twenty four. Curiously, a six car B main was run for the stock cars, with all six transferring, so it became a three lap position dash!
Once again the hobby stock class was light on cars, with all nine on hand lining up for fifteen laps of feature racing. Aaron Martin shot to the early lead from outside row one and never gave it up. A pair of yellow flags slowed the action, but Martin was strong on each restart while several cars sliced and diced for position behind him. Randy LaMar offered the stiffest challenge, crossing the line in second followed by Friday winner Mike Kincaid, ninth starting Dustin Griffiths, and Andrew Burk.
All but one of the twenty five stock cars took the green flag for twenty two laps. Unfortunately, the stockers were not at their best on this night, as the race turned into a marathon and then some. By my unofficial count, seven yellow flags and one lengthy red flag situation wiped out what might have been an excellent, highly contested event. The most serious of the altercations came with three laps scored and eliminated several badly damaged cars, including top contender Todd Reitzler among others. Cayden Carter, again wheeling the Michael Petersen #1X machine powered from inside row two to the early lead, with Jeremy Gettler in close pursuit. Following the red flag, Carter broke away a bit as four cars battled side by side and nose to tail for second through fifth. At the halfway mark, Johnny Spaw charged to the front, soon followed by another caution flag. Now the field was realigned single file and Carter found himself challenged for second by double duty Griffiths. A final caution came with three laps to go, and Carter used the restart to regain the lead as the top five jockeyed for position. At the checkers, it was Carter, Griffiths, Spaw, row eight starter Abe Huls, and Friday winner John Oliver Jr.
Relief came from the compacts, as all fourteen raced for fourteen laps caution free! Justin Stevenson controlled the early portion of the feature, while Friday victor Brandon Reu, Barry Taft, and Kimberly Abbott battled for second. As the race wound down, Abbott found extra speed, taking over second on lap nine, then driving past Stevenson one lap later. She then cruised to the win, topping Reu, Stevenson, Garrett Porter, and Taft.
As with the stock cars, ah, what might have been for the B mods. Again, unofficially, eight yellow flags marred the twenty laps, with little chance for momentum to be a factor. Tim Plummer held the pole position, and he was out front for all twenty laps. Fifth starting Maguire DeJong and Ethan Isaacs swapped the runner up spot while Brayton Carter came from row four into the top five at the mid point. Time after time, Plummer would open a commanding lead only to have the yellow flag fly. The most serious stoppage came with twelve in the books as Dakota Girard saw his engine expire with a plume of smoke and fluid soaking the speedway. In the closing laps, Isaacs saw his runner up effort end as he ducked to the infield, with Brayton Carter moving up to challenge Plummer. His chase would come up just short, while DeJong crossed the line in third. Penalized earlier for jumping a restart, Brandon Dale charged back to fourth. Cayden Carter, driving the Carter Vandenberg #7V transferred to the feature from a B main, lined up twentieth, and earned a fifth place finish.
A mods would round out the night, with twenty five laps the distance. All two dozen cars took the green flag, with former NASCAR star Ken Schrader leading from the pole chased by Bill Roberts Jr. Robbie Reed came from row three to second on lap two, racing side by side with Schrader through a lap four caution. On lap eight, Reed took over the top spot on the by now black, slick and smooth surface. Chris Spalding slipped into second at lap twelve just ahead of a second caution for a slowing Mark Burgtorf. Back under green, Reed opened a sizable lead, while Spalding also drove away from Schrader in third. One final caution came as the laps wound down, and although Spalding cut the margin to first in lapped traffic, Reed motored away to the win. Spalding and Schrader followed, while the #22 team cars of Austen Becerra and Tim Ward completed the top five.
Racing action concluded about 11:00 in front of a nice sized crowd on a beautiful, warm Saturday night! Thanks as always to MVG and his team for an enjoyable night of racing at this hidden gem of a speedway tucked in at the junction of Highways 136 and 15.
It may be late October, but we are stubbornly clinging to a great racing season, so tonight we are headed to US 36 Raceway in Osborn, Missouri for one last dose of World of Outlaw late models. This will be a new track for my group, so if you are so inclined, check back tomorrow afternoon for a report on our adventure!
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