After braving the cold temperatures at Marshalltown Friday night, I thawed out at home before traveling to the Hamilton County Speedway Saturday night. Upon arrival I noticed that the wind wasn't blowing nearly as bad as it did the night before, thus keeping my body warmer throughout the night. The Motor Inn of Webster City would be the sponsor for the night, and last night they put up some extra money for the late model division for a cash dash.
After running through the heat races and a brief intermission, the late model cash dash made their way to the track. Charlie McKenna quickly darted to the lead and never looked back as he pocketed the winner's share of the purse. Jason Hahne was second to claim the other portion.
The hornets were up next as nine cars made the call. Adam Strunk made a late race pass on Lyle Oberhelman to snare the win. Logan Christensen finished third.
Fourteen IMCA hobby stocks were led to the green flag by Pete Hutzel, who grabbed the lead in the early going. After an early caution, Robert See challenged Hutzel on the inside in turn four. Contact among the two drivers resulted in both drivers getting flat tires. Hutzel would retire from the race while See would be involved in two yellows and forced pitside. With the top two cars out of the race, Craig Graham would be the new leader. The battle for second heated up just before a caution flag waved again. On the restart, Brad Ratcliff charged to the inside and picked off two positions to advance to second place. Ratcliff reeled in Graham and darted to the inside on the final lap only to come up a bumper short at the line. Craig Graham would take the win, followed by Ratcliff, Curt Graham, Cody Nielsen, and Roger Haupt Jr.
1. 13G Craig Graham
2. 1R Brad Ratcliff
3. 14G Curt Graham
4. 29N Cody Nielsen
5. 24R Roger Haupt Jr
6. 38 Ryan Darling
7. 58 Matt Ring
8. 06 Kyle Schmauss
9. 51 Nate Bonin
10. 10s Adam Suhrbier
11. 53 Andy Spellmeyer
12. 91 Robert See
13. 74 Pete Hutzel
14. 71 Cory Gansen
Pole-sitter George Gilliland led the twenty-car field of IMCA sportmods for the first handful of laps. Travis Woodbeck would make the bottom groove work as he advanced from third to first on lap five to take command. Beau Kaplan was also on the move, taking the runner up spot away from Shawn Hunter when Hunter got caught behind a lapped car. A late caution with three laps remaining bunched the field up, and Brandon Leeman would take advantage of it. Leeman restarted in sixth, but quickly moved to fourth within the first green flag lap. Kaplan changed his line on the final lap as he used the slingshot move to scoot under Woodbeck for the lead. Kaplan was able to hold of Woodbeck's final challenge for the win. Leeman got another position to finish third, Chad Louk was fourth, and Shawn Hunter completed the top five.
1. 11E Beau Kaplan
2. 53 Travis Woodbeck
3. 64 Brandon Leeman
4. 20 Chad Louk
5. 91 Shawn Hunter
6. 8H Bill Hoover
7. 40 George Gilliland
8. 90 Chris Grothe
9. 46 Matt Northrop
10. 11 Paul Price
11. 85 Dustin West
12. 99 Rocky Caudle
13. 22 ??
14. 11c Justine Campbell
15. 47 Rodney Slagle
16. 22x Jim Lampe
17. 19J Jenae Gustin
18. 5 Mitch Frakes
19. 10T Trevor Fecht
20. 80 Jared VanDeest
21. 27B Aaron Benz - DNS
22. 8 Steve Brannick - DNS
Greg Elliott paced the field of sixteen stock cars to the green flag. A couple laps into the race Dennis Plain set sail on the outside to overtake Elliott for the top spot. Following a restart, contact was made between two of the front-running cars, sending Scott Bloemke into the wall backwards. That set up a big chain of reaction that saw eleven cars involved in the pileup, including Adam Silvey winding up on his top. Only seven cars remained on the track following the incident. Reid Keller took advantage of the restart as he powered by Elliott on the outside for second. Elliott would later be black flagged for his window net falling down. But the night belonged to Dennis Plain as he found himself in victory lane. Keller crossed the line in second, but was later disqualified for an illegal carburetor. That advanced Mike Johnston to second, Dave Hubbard third, Todd Staley fourth, and Ryan Leeman rounding out the cars that finished.
1. 57 Dennis Plain
2. 14J Mike Johnston
3. 5 Dave Hubbard
4. 14 Todd Staley
5. R31 Ryan Leeman
6. 1 Greg Elliott
7. M5 Jim Mitchell
8. 31M Mark Haglund
9. 35 Wayne Crimmins
10. 80 Scott Bloemke
11. 4 Mike Wiemann
12. 97 Adam Silvey
13. 22 Jeff Deal
14. 20 Jason Wagoner
15. 15 Jeremy Crimmins
Only six IMCA modifieds found their way to the big half-mile. David Brown took command early on and appeared to be on his way to victory, but Scott Olson was slowly making his way forward. Olson picked off Scott Williams for third just prior to the the halfway point before powering outside of Justin Sackett for second three laps later. A couple laps later Olson ducked low on Brown to take over the lead. Sackett would also find the low side fast as he too got by Brown for second. Olson would not be challenged as he took the win, followed by Sackett, Brown, Williams, and Kurt Krauskopf. Tyler Vandekamp rounded out the field.
A strong field of eighteen IMCA late models were on hand last night. Jason Vansickel darted to the lead, but Al Johnson was glued to his rear bumper. Johnson dove to the inside of Vansickel to take over the lead on the second circuit. Johnson would open up nearly a straight away lead on the pack while Darrel DeFrance got by Kevin Sather for fourth before the caution came out on lap ten. DeFrance would use the double file restart to pass Charlie McKenna for the third position. Up front Johnson stretched out his lead again as he took home the win. He was followed across the line by Ryan Griffith, Darrel DeFrance, Todd Cooney, and Charlie McKenna.
1. 8 Al Johnson
2. X Ryan Griffith
3. 99D Darrel DeFrance
4. 30 Todd Cooney
5. 22 Charlie McKenna
6. 3 Kevin Sather
7. 98 Travis Smock
8. 78 Rick Wendling
9. 76 Jason Hahne
10. 85 Kelly Tapper
11. 9 Ryan Giles
12. 29 Nick Pedersen
13. 11 Randy Faux
14. 32 Curtis Glover
15. 37 Jason Vansickel
16. 60 Dean Wagner III
17. 45 Mike Pedersen
18. 57 Scott Badker - DNS
Unseasonably low temperatures kept many fans away from the track last night. Something that wasn't affected by the cool temps was the track conditions. The track remained smooth all night long while there were two grooves of racing. Hats off to Al Urhammer and his staff as both nights I've attended the Hamilton County Speedway the track has been in great shape. Hopefully the car counts will rise in the near future.
For more information, including the official rundown of last night's races, check out www.hamiltoncountyspeedway.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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