Saturday night was season championship night at 34 Raceway west of West Burlington, Iowa. Seven classes filled out the card, with 96 race teams signed in on a beautiful, much cooler August evening. It was also Fan Appreciation Night, with 5:00 adult admission, and an on track "meet and great" with drivers and their cars during intermission. Also, seven track championships would be determined in what unfortunately became a bit of a marathon night before a nice sized crowd.
Normally I would run down the feature events in order, but this time we will begin with the final event, which was the IMCA Late Model finale. All sixteen cars took the green flag on a still very racy track for what we expected would hopefully be a quick, smooth twenty five laps. Nope. I do have about a half page of notes from the race, but perhaps it is best left to various social media sites to describe the happenings as I imagine there are plenty of differing opinions. Let's just say lap one was led by outside pole sitter Jeremy Pundt, who was overtaken on lap four by third starting Jesse Bodin. Only a lap two spin by Gary Webb had slowed the action until fifteen laps in when an altercation sent Bodin into the turn three wall resulting in Logan Veloz assuming the lead only after Bodin indicated his unhappiness before retiring to the pits. After realignment the green flag waved only to have turn three contact between Dustin Smith and Veloz sending Veloz towards the wall with several others caught up in the red flag melee creating significant body damage. Another lengthy delay came and after some discussion Veloz roared off to the work area, returning to tag the rear of the now eleven car field along with Smith. Pundt would now lead the restart, but his #52J resembled a demo derby card in the back end, and it seemed likely the handling on his ride would be minimal. However as the final ten laps thankfully clicked off caution free, Pundt continued to pace the field despite heavy pressure from Jay Johnson. Meanwhile Veloz was on a mission, quickly charging to third, although still a considerable distance behind the top two. As the laps wound down he closed the gap, challenging Johnson for second as the checkers finally came. Pundt would collect his second win of the season, with Johnson edging Veloz for second. Smith also roared from the tail to fourth ahead of Tommy Elston in the #7B. Curtis Glover would collect enough points in sixth to claim the track championship while Ray Raker, Ron Boyse, Michael Leal, Kyle Hollenbeck and Scott Strauss rounded out the field.
The opening feature of the night was for the IMCA Sport Mods. Fifteen cars competed for sixteen laps. Things got off to a rough start when a spin at the front of the field stacked up a group of five cars. On the restart Kyler Girard paced the pack in front of Dylan VanWyk. VanWyk moved to the front but a lap two caution, allowed Girard to retain the top spot. Back under green that duo continued to battle with Girard high on the track and VanWyk working down low. They then swapped the lead back and forth with VanWyk taking command for good on lap ten. Dylan slowly pulled away to claim both the feature and the championship trophy. Girard finished second chased by Sean Wyett, Logan Cumby and Dustin Griffiths.
The Sport Compacts turned out a short field of seven cars, and their feature was shortened to ten laps. Tim Schnathorst lined up on the pole position and led the distance mostly unchallenged. Points champion Barry Taft and Darin Smith waged an entertaining battle for second with Taft eventually taking the spot. Smith was followed by Blaine Lambert and Brian Wendel.
Outside pole sitter Trenton Witt paced the thirteen cars remaining for the IMCA Stock Car twenty lapper. Fourth starting double duty Griffiths moved up to challenge in the early laps. Meanwhile track champion John Oliver Jr. quickly came from row four, running the inside line to third on lap six. Racing well behind the leaders, he then climbed to the high groove and set sail towards the front. As Griffiths tried to dive underneath Witt in each turn, Oliver quickly erased his deficit. With just three circuits remaining in the non stop event, Oliver had caught the top two, driving to the runner up spot. On the final lap the top three raced in close formation with Griffiths taking one final shot in the low line. But Witt held on for the flag to flag win while Oliver Jr. crossed the line in second, edging Griffiths. Corey Strothman, who would also compete in a Modified, and Jared Miller completed the top five.
The 305 Sprints were also a bit short, with ten cars signed in and they would run fifteen laps. A spin in turn two on the opening circuit involved multiple cars and jumbled the field for the restart. Nate Parks grabbed the point on that restart with track champ Tanner Gebhardt in pursuit. Twice more the yellow flag would fly, and each time the front pair would drive away, running precariously close to the concrete wall in turns three and four. Methodically Parks was able to increase his lead over the final seven circuits as he cruised to the win over Gebhardt. Veteran Ryan Jamison filled out the podium with Cole Helmerson and Riley Scott also recording top fives.
Somewhat surprisingly, the largest car count of the night belonged to the IMCA Modifieds with a field of eighteen. Only Danny Brau, who appeared to lose an engine in his heat, failed to start the twenty lap shootout. As Logan Anderson took off from outside row one, third starting Blaise Lewis brought out the caution, sending him to the tail for the original restart. Dennis Laveine shadowed Anderson early, but on lap four he was headed for the concrete barrier bordering pit road and was forced out of the gas, losing several positions. As the laps clicked off, Anderson opened a huge lead. But with eight in the books, Laveine found himself in a similar spot, this time stopping, drawing a caution, and heading to the tail of the pack. Twice more the caution would come, and each time the #53 would drive away from the field. The final stoppage came with five laps to go, but there was no issue for Anderson, as he picked up the win. Points champ double duty Chris Zogg advanced four positions to take runner up honors while yet another two class competitor, Oliver Jr.moved up five slots to third. Bill Roberts Jr. raced the distance in the top five to grab fourth, and with a bit of help from the cautions, Laveine and Lewis fought back to fifth and sixth.
Darin Ronner entered the Mini Hauler finale the leader in a tight points battle. As the green flag waved over the sixteen truck, twelve lap feature, Ronner suddenly ducked to the infield before trying to reenter the track in turn two. As most of those gathered focused on his issues, the red light came on as action in turn four found the #89L machine of Payton Lain upside down. Although he was apparently uninjured, it took considerable time for his truck to be uprighted and hauled away while track crews spread fresh dirt over the fluid leakage from the accident. Ronner was still on the track, but when the green flag waved for the restart he drove to the pits, spoiling his championship chase. Colton Meeker led lap one, but it was Caleb Ealey putting his #4 in front on the second circuit. As Ealey drove away, four trucks battled side by side and nose to tail well behind the front runner. Caution flags bunched the field at laps seven and eight, with the final one followed by a single file restart. The delays only postponed the inevitable, as Ealey raced home with both the feature win and the track title. Sheldon Brockett won the race for runner up honors, topping Meeker and Dawson Tipps. Brett Timmerman made a late pit stop, then charged from the tail to fifth at the checkers.
It was a long night of racing that was both interesting and entertaining. Thanks to Brad, Jessi, and their team for their year long hospitality. 34 Raceway has two more events on the schedule, the next being a visit next Friday by the always exciting 410 Sprint Cars.
Tonight we will try it again at Quincy Raceways, hopefully the rain clouds will finally stay away!
On a personal note, this week I lost a good friend well known to the Tri State racing community. Larry Larson was in victory lane many times at tracks in Keokuk, Iowa, Memphis, Mo., and Quincy,Il. I was honored to be a small part of that team for a few special seasons. Race on, #67.
No comments:
Post a Comment