After dodging raindrops on Friday night in Marshalltown, Saturday turned out to be a sunny and windy day for racing. That meant a lot of drying for tracks, so much that Algona Raceway promoter took a couple times to water the track throughout the evening Saturday night.
It proved to be a great thing early in the night as the racing was fantastic in the early classes of features. Joe Devries led every lap of the junior hornet feature to take the win while Jay Devries took the "pro" hornet feature in the same fashion. The tandem of Troy Krug and Kyle Sidles took the cruisers checkers.
The IMCA hobby stocks were set for their finale with eighteen cars making the call. Alan Ricke would grab the top spot in the early going, but the caution waved on lap three to set up a restart. Cory Weishaar would jump to the outside and hammer down on the throttle to snare the lead away from Ricke. A bit further back, Nick Meyer was dissecting the field as he advanced to third after starting eighth. Another driver on the move was Devin Smith. Smith, by way of the IMCA invert system and being the point leader, started twelfth and climbed into the top five. A few laps later Smith used the inside groove to third at the halfway point of the twelve lap race. Smith continued his march towards the front, picking off Ricke on the low side and quickly closing the gap on Weishaar. Smith drew even with Weishaar down the backstretch on the final lap, but Weishaar had enough momentun on the cushion to narrowly take the win. Smith settled for second, Alan Ricke third, Nick Meyer fourth, and Drew Barglof was fifth.
After that exciting finish, the IMCA sportmods took to the track. Sixteen cars took the green flag, but the caution quickly came out as Tyler Heetland lost his driveshaft in turn one. On the restart it would be outside front row starter Justin Schuder taking the point. Brett Meyer sliced and diced through the field at a rapid pace, securing the second position by lap two after starting twelfth. He was able to use the outside lane as Scott Cook lost the handle on the inside and a couple cars had to check up to avoid contact. Matt Hoeft was another one on the move as a result, finding the third spot just behind Meyer. Meyer would shoot to the inside of Schuder entering turn three and exited the corner with the advantage five laps into the race. A caution bunched the field back up, giving Hoeft the opportunity to slip under Schuder for the runner up spot two laps after the restart. Mike Carlson, who started alongside Meyer in row six, made his way to the third spot by Schuder. As the laps were winding down, Hoeft began to reel in Meyer for the lead. The two front runners would catch a lapped car exiting turn four, and when the lapped car turned to the inside, Meyer had to check up just enough to allow Hoeft to snare the lead at the white flag. Meyer gased it up and pulled to the inside down the backstretch, but Hoeft was able to hold him off for the exciting win. Meyer settled for second, Mike Carlson third, Jake Simpson fourth, and Denny Penning fifth.
A solid field of seventeen IMCA stock cars were on hand for the night, but unfortunately three were unable to make repairs from heat race action to take the green. Cory Oftedahl rocketed to the lead from his front row starting spot. Josh Hohensee dove to the inside of Kevin Opheim to take the third spot away, at which point Opheim's car began to slow. Opheim would exit the track and not return. Oftedahl enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout the race while Andrew Inman settled into the runner up position. A majority of the field was single file as the race went green to checkered, with Cory Oftedahl picking up the win. He was followed across the line by Inman, Hohensee in third, Bruce Wickman fourth, and Travis Shipman fifth. Shipman and Hohensee are now tied for the point lead, with six competitors within ten points of each other at the top of the standings.
Mark Noble sped to the early lead in the IMCA modified feature that boasted seventeen cars in the field. Several cautions plagued the event in the early going. The top five cars remained unchanged until the lap six restart in which Jeremy Mills used the double file restart to get by two competitors to advance to fourth. The low side proved to be the preferred groove as the entire field was hugging the tires. Mills would sneak inside of JJ Wise's machine entering turn three, taking the third spot away from him. With every lap Noble extended his lead and when the checkers waved, he had built up a straightaway advantage. Stacey Mills, Jeremy Mills, JJ Wise, and Eric Dailey completed the top five. Noble is driving a Harris car owned by Stacey Mills.
While the modified feature provided a lot of cautions, the entire evening was run through at a quick pace. The finishes in the hobby stocks and sportmod features were incredible! For complete results, check out the track website at www.algonaraceway.com. I'd also like to thank Joe Ringsdorf for his hospitality and his staff for greeting me at the gate. Definitely a great group of people at his facilities!!
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!
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