Thursday night we journeyed north to 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa for their annual Lucas Oil Late Model Series event sponsored in part by Denny Woodworth, Attorney at Law. The stars of the traveling series came in pursuit of championship points and a $15,000 winners' check. Keeping in mind that this was a week night show, track owners/promoters Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt wisely scheduled just a pair of additional classes to fill out the program. One of their regular weekly divisions, IMCA Modifieds chased a $1,000 payday, while another "part time" class, Mini Hauler Trucks competed for $200 to win.
It was a beautiful July day that greeted the drivers and the large group of fans to the high banked three eighths mile speed plant. At the same time, storms were rolling across central Iowa, victimizing another special event in Tipton. And as several IMCA Modified drivers hustled the one and a half hours from there to West Burlington, a pesky sprinkle brought a temporary halt to the action at 34. Hot laps had been completed and six of the twenty seven Super Late Models had made their time trial run before the drizzle became to much to continue. It took about thirty minutes for action to resume, and officials decided to start from scratch. A quick round of hot laps and then Late Model qualifying began from the beginning on what was a lightning fast racing surface. In fact the 14.683 fast lap by Tyler Bruening was almost a half second faster than the quick time turned in during the Slocum 50 weekend in April.
If you are a regular reader of my ramblings (Thank you!), you know that I am not a fan of the time 'em and start the fast cars up front in the heat races. But as my science teachers stated many years ago, there will be exceptions that prove the rule. And Thursday night was the exception! In heat race one it was third starting Garrett Alberson pulling out to a dominant win while his row two mate Brandon Sheppard won a hard fought battle with Chris Simpson for second. Fast timer Bruening suffered a flat tire on lap three, rejoined the tail of the field, but could not crack the qualifying top six in the remaining five laps. Multiple lead changes were featured in heat two before series points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. claimed victory after lining up in fourth. Amazingly this eight lapper included the top four in Lucas Oil series points in the top four finishing spots, with the winner followed by Devin Moran, Jonathon Davenport and Hudson Oneal. The final qualifier was captured by pole sitter Carson Ferguson only after a tight battle with his row one partner Brandon Overton.
With Missouri youngster Kayden Clatt dropping out of heat three and scratching for the remainder of the program, track promoters elected the increase the feature starting field to twenty six, so the B Main was dropped.
Following a brief intermission all but two of the fifteen Mini Haulers lined up for twelve trips around the high banked three eighths mile oval. The only caution period came on the opening start when Brett Timmerman looped his machine in turns three and four. On the original restart, pole sitter Brian Tipps shot to the front chased by Caleb Ealey. Just before the half way mark Ealey went above the cushion exiting turn two, falling back to sixth before he could recover. Tipps was sailing around the speedway, catching a group of trucks racing for position on lap ten. But the veteran had no trouble weaving through the traffic, cruising to the win to go along with his heat race win. Payton Lain took runner up honors ahead of Timmerman, Darin Ronner and Lyle Timmerman. Sixth finishing Ealy was the other heat race winner.
It would now be fifty laps for the headline class. Alberson and Thornton Jr. would fill out row one, with Garrett putting his #58 out front. Five times the yellow flag would fly in the first ten circuits, the worst coming with four laps scored, ending the night for Chris Simpson with Sheppard and Clay Stuckey also involved. Moran had now moved from row three to the second spot, and as racing resumed he was locked in a great battle with Thornton Jr. for the position. Fifteen laps in Thornton apparently blew a tire, contacting the turn three concrete. He was able to make quick repairs, but reentered the track about a half lap behind the field as Overton used the high line to take second on this restart. As the race stayed green and failing to gain much ground, Thornton spun in turn two, now rejoining the pack at the tail. As Alberson continued to lead, Moran powered to second. Around the mid point of the event, the fast line seemed to switch to the treacherous top groove, and there was much back and forth race going on throughout the field. Alberson would finally catch the tail of the pack , but the yellow flag would again fly thirty laps in as Moran suffered a flat tire while running second. After pacing the field for thirty five circuits, Alberson suddenly saw Overton charge around using that fast high line. A final caution came with eleven laps to go when Thornton again slowed between turns three and four and was hit hard by Daulton Wilson. This would end the night for the #20RT. Oneal charged to second on the restart while Overton appeared to be on cruise control, opening a nice lead. But as they raced each other hard, Oneal and Alberson all of a sudden were closing on the leader, and with three laps to go Oneal took a look down low, Overton moved to block and Alberson, who had spent much of the race running a lower line, came roaring past on the high side! With the excited grandstand on their collective feet, Alberson took the checkers for his first series win of 2025. Oneal also slipped around Overton for second, with Davenport and the steady Ferguson also recording top fives. Chad Simpson used his somewhat under powered crate engine to work from row eight to a sixth place finish ahead of Daniel Hilsabeck, twenty second starting Bruening, and rebounding Sheppard and Moran. With Thornton scored in twentieth, Davenport now becomes the points leader as the series heads to Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri for two nights of action Friday and Saturday. I would have to agree with announcers James Essex and Dustin Jarrett that this fifty lapper is a candidate for "Race of the Year!"
With such an outstanding Late Model race and with the track still looking plenty racy, we eagerly anticipated more of the same from the stacked eighteen car Modified field. But for whatever reason, it simply did not happen. The twenty lap finale went caution free with minimal passing. In fact, the top four would finish exactly as they lined up, running in formation. In the early laps Austen Becerra and Trevor Fitz staged a tight battle for second before Becerra finally broke free. Pole sitter Tripp Gaylord cruised to the win. First heat winner Cayden Carter raced home in fourth while heat two victor Dylan Thornton charged from row five early before settling in fifth. Dakota Simmons and Eric Barnes, topped John Oliver Jr., who raced in the top five early before dropping back. Chris Zogg and Logan Anderson rounded out the top ten.
Even with the rain delay, racing was completed by 10:30. Thanks to Brad, Jessi and the Lucas Oil crew for a great night of mid week action. And a special thanks from my group to Denny and Jason.
Tonight we look forward to a special Friday night program at Quincy Raceways, then a regular night of action plus make up features Saturday back at 34 Raceway.
No comments:
Post a Comment