Despite a week filled with rain leading to many cancellations, through perseverance and hard work, 34 Raceway personnel managed to prepare the three eighths mile high banked clay oval for a Saturday night of racing action. Six classes filled out the card with eighty seven race teams signed in on another cool evening in West Burlington.
Starting right on time, thirteen heat races set the feature fields, and incredibly there were no yellow flags to slow the preliminary action. With barely five minutes of down time, the Sport Compacts came to the track for their twelve lap feature. Unfortunately there were only six of the 4 Cylinder hot rods signed in. Tim Schnathorst and Barry Taft filled out row one, and they ran in tight formation throughout the race. The first caution flag of the night came with two laps scored, and then it was clean and green to the checkers. The front pair stayed close, with Schnathorst picking up the win. T.J. Weyls slipped past Brandon Crawley for third on the final lap with Chadrick Edward Poland the final car still on the track.
Next came the 305 Sprints, with all but one of the dozen signed in lining up for fifteen circuits. Cole Helmerson jumped to the early lead while Matt Krieger and Cody Wehrle battled for second. By the time Wehrle secured the runner up position, Helmerson had checked out to a near straightaway advantage. But as slower traffic came into play, Wehrle quickly closed the gap. Exiting turn four coming to the white flag, the front two made contact bringing out the lone caution as Wehrle spun to the infield, his run over. This set up a green, white, checkers run, and while Helmerson drove on to a flag to flag win, Tanner Gebhardt finished off his run from row four, grabbing second place honors. Krieger was steady in third followed by Riley Scott and Nick Guernsey.
Nineteen IMCA Late Models came to the track for twenty five laps in search of the $1,000 top prize. Outside pole sitter Andy Nezworski led his row one partner Ray Raker as lap one was scored. But it was fifth starting Austen Becerra on the move, as he grabbed third on lap two. Jeremy Pundt charged from row four to fourth one lap later ahead of a yellow flag for rookie Reid Sammons. Back to racing Becerra jumped to second. Lap five saw Pundt use the low line to move to third ahead of another caution for Adam Parker. Even though Becerra would elect the inside line on the restart, Pundt was able to power to the runner up spot. Together the front three pulled away from the pack and on lap eight Becerra cleared Pundt to retake second. One lap later Austen powered around the top side to overtake Nezworski for the lead. Riding the treacherous rim around turns one and two, Becerra slowly strteched his lead. He caught the back of the pack with four to go, but he was able to split a pair of cars running side by side, then cruise home to the win. Nezworski followed in second ahead of Pundt, while Jesse Bodin and Mitch Morris turned in top five runs. Jake Morris led the second five in front of Tommy Elston, last weeks' winner Curtis Glover, Jay Johnson and Dustin Smith.
Sport Mods topped the car count and all but one of the twenty signed in lined up for twenty laps. Chase Johnson led lap one before fourth starting Jarett Franzen charged to the front out of turn four on lap two. Johnson got shuffled back one lap later while Matt Tucker and Sean Wyatt battled side by side behind the leader. Just as ninth starting Dylan VanWyk joined the race for second the yellow flag waved with eight in the books. Tucker jumped the turn one and two cushion, dropping to seventh as Wyatt took command of the runner up spot. But he then was overtaken by a battle between Van Wyk and Logan Cumby as they continued to chase Franzen. Six laps from the checkers, VanWyk used a top side run to charge to the lead just ahead of a final yellow flag. Cumby snagged second on the restart, but VanWyk cruised to the win. Franzen finished third in front of a rebounding Tucker and Jarrett VanDenBerg.
The fast paced program then hit a couple of bumps. Sixteen IMCA Modifieds came to the track for twenty laps and a $1,000 payday. Spencer Diercks shot ahead from outside row one taking along fourth starting Matt Werner. The yellow flag wave with two laps scored, and on the restart a gaggle of cars exited turn four on lap three, and there was not enough real estate for everyone. Logan Anderson began to get out of shape coming down the front stretch, and he smacked the guardrail under the flag stand, then flipped his #53. Logan appeared uninjured, but perhaps the same was not true for his car. A tight battle resumed behind Diercks and Werner as racing resumed, with a third stoppage at lap twelve. Back under green, double duty Becerra began to move around the slickening track, climbing from eighth into the top five. Diercks would hold serve for the win with Werner the runner up. John Oliver Jr. chased the leaders in third and Denny Eckrich held off Becerra to round out the first five.
IMCA Stock Cars waited patiently for a $750 payday, and all fourteen lined up for twenty laps in the evenings' finale. A mix up as lap one was complete saw Kirk Kinsley spin off turn one triggering a yellow flag. Trenton Witt paced Oliver Jr, again driving the Krogmeier #12 before John took the lead on lap two. Another pair of laps ticked off and seventh starting Dustin Griffiths worked his way to third. Five circuits in, Thor Anderson appeared to hook that tricky turn two cushion, and he flipped his #41 to trigger another red flag. Following the clean up, Griffiths used the Delaware Style restart to power to second. A final slow down came with seven scored, but it was only a momentary delay for the high flying Oliver Jr. He cruised to the win while Griffiths settled for the runner up spot. Witt was solid in third while David Brandies took fourth on lap eighteen after an entertaining battle with Corey Strothman and Andrew Burk.
The non stop racing concluded about 10:15, a welcome development as I had set a self imposed curfew of 10:30 with an extra early Sunday morning ahead. So thanks to Brad, Jessi and the crew for not only their hospitality, but for a very efficient and entertaining race night!
As of now, I am uncertain as to where or when my next race will be, but there is plenty of racing ahead and perhaps FINALLY we are going to get some warmer weather, so head to a track near you!
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