Monday, October 5, 2009

A Little Catching Up to Do

For those who follow my blog, I apologize for not posting anything for a week. If you'll recall, my last blog was written after Day #2 of the USMTS Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley, Minnesota. I chose not to take notes the rest of that weekend, which included stops at Deer Creek for Night #3 of the Fall Jamboree and the special at the I-35 Speedway in Mason City, Iowa.

Jason Hughes would take home the exciting win on the final lap as he edged out Terry Phillips at the line. The win was scheduled to pay $6,000 to the winner, but sponsors chipped in extra money to raise the winner's share to $9,500. Also that night, Kelly Shryock was crowned the USMTS National Champion. This would be Shryock's first "Hunt" championship after scoring eight championships prior to the current format. Ryan Gustin, the youngster out of Marshalltown (IA), would wind up second in points, 33 markers behind. Jason Hughes, Zack VanderBeek, and Rodney Sanders rounded out the top five in points for the Hunt.

I changed gears and added more clothing for my trip to Mason City for Sunday, September 27th's show. Blake Cole and Gary Stahl would take home the wins in the two hornet classes. Stac Schroeder would take home the narrow win in the hobby stock feature. Schroeder started on the pole, but had to hold off a charging Mick Meyers for the win. Meyers would run over debris in turn four on the final lap and wind up breaking a trailing arm at the finish line, sending his car into a rollover. Meyers would walk away.

Pole-sitter Dan Tenold would take home the win in the bmod feature. Traveler Scott Davis would take home the runner up honors. Nate Chodur, Jaime Anderson, and Doug Cook rounded out the top five.

Bert McDaniel would lead the early stages of the IMCA stock car feature, but Mike Jergens made the pass for the lead on the inside. Jergens appeared to be on his way to the win until Chad Palmer closed in and did a "bump and run" late in the race to steal the win away. Jergens, Brad Broers, Joe Willier, and Chris Adams would fill out the top five.

J.J. Wise opened up a lead of nearly half a track in the IMCA modified feature until a late caution bunched the field back up. Wise was still able to motor away from the field as he took the win ahead of James Slawson, Todd Stinehart, Jeff Feaster, and Jeremy Mills.

Skip ahead to this past weekend... I was planning to head to the Knoxville Raceway for the 6th Annual Late Model Nationals for three nights of exciting action. Unfortunately Mother Nature failed to cooperate as forced track officials to cancel Thursday and Friday night's events. I noticed that Knoxville cancelled early Friday, so I hurried and got things together to head south to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas for Friday night action. On the card would be the MLRA late models along with modifieds.

John Allen would lead flag to flag in the modified portion of the show. Steve Arpin, running Davin Eller's #21 modified, was a one-man show throughout the race. He used both the high and low sides of the speedway to advance his way up to the second spot before tagging the wall in turn two and exiting the track to the pits. Tim Karrick, Mark Dotson, Jake Richards, and Nic Bidinger rounded out the top five.

Jeremy Payne and teammate Terry Phillips sat on the front row of the MLRA late model feature. Payne held the top spot from the start until late in the race. On a restart, Phillips got a run off turn two to close the gap on Payne. Payne drifted up exiting the corner and made contact with Phillips, sending Payne into the outside wall on the backstretch. He would retire to the pits while Terry Phillips went on to win the $3,000 top prize ahead of Matt Miller, Kyle Berck, Dale McDowell, and Matt Lux. Clint Bowyer was also on hand with his late model, but failed to qualify for the show. McDowell's car is owned by Bowyer, so he at least had a little good fortune for the night.

Saturday I decided to try my luck back at the Knoxville Raceway for the Late Model Nationals. Three cars would suffer rollovers in hot laps as track conditions provided a tacky surface. Unfortunately hot laps was the only action for the night as the rains came around 8:00. Robert Lawton, promoter of the Boone Speedway, provided his jet dryer to the track and they would try to utilize that after the rain came Saturday night, but they couldn't keep it working and forced officials to postpone the show til Sunday at 4pm.

Upon arrival Sunday, the track was in much better shape. Despite the rain, the track was very smooth all night. The track dried out during the heats, which prompted the track crew to blade the track from top to bottom to make it a better surface. The decision worked out to be a fantastic idea as the racing improved dramatically in the C-main and B-main. That set the stage for the 100-lap, $40,000 to win finale.

Shannon Babb would pace the field for most of the first half of the race before receiving pressure from Brady Smith. Smith would fade a bit while Jimmy Mars, Scott Bloomquist, and Billy Moyer all showed their playing cards. Mars at one point moved into second before losing a motor and ending his great run. Bloomquist would take the lead away from Babb exiting turn four with about forty laps to go. Moyer and last year's winner Tim McCreadie tried to apply pressure on a restart, but Bloomquist left them in his dust as he became the first repeat champion of this prestigous event. Billy Moyer was second, Tim McCreadie third, Brady Smith fourth, and Josh Richards completed the top five. Sixth-place finisher Brian Birkhofer and seventh finisher Tony Stewart exchanged paint a few times and continued their antics as they left the track. Stewart won the NASCAR race at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas earlier in the afternoon before flying to Knoxville. Ryan Newman and Ken Schrader were also on hand for the late model race, with Newman receiving a provisional also (Stewart used one) and finishing 22nd. Schrader failed to qualify.

That completes another weekend of racing for me, and gets you up to date as to where I've been lately. The plan for now is to head to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Friday night before venturing to the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City on Saturday. Sunday may include a trip to East Moline, Illinois. Of course, this is all dependant on the weather.

- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!

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