After a few weeks of being underwater along with a great week of weather and a group of people contributing with long hours of hard work, the Hamilton County Speedway was back in action Saturday night as they celebrated 100 Years of Horsepower. According to announcer Ryan Bergeson, the first automobil race held in Webster City was back on July 4, 1910 at what is now the Webster City high school baseball diamond.
Seven classes were on hand for this special night as the Midwest 305 sprint cars joined the regular weekly lineup. The hornet division was first to run their feature as six cars were ready for action. A caution on the first lap was not welcomed by Adam Strunk as the youngster was looking to pick up his seventh win in a row at the track. However, he would duck off to the pits under this yellow with mechanical issues. Mike McFarland, making his first visit of the year, would lead the field from flag to flag as he crossed the stripe with the win. Nick Hogan would finish second, Daniel Ayers third, Nathan Miller fourth, and Devin Atchison in fifth. It should be noted that Nick Hogan took his car to victory lane and had pictures taken after the races, so McFarland may have been disqualified in post-race tech.
Next up would be the eleven-car field of IMCA hobby stocks as two cars, Roger Haupt Jr and Adam Hagen, were unable to make the call. Robert See would grab the top spot with Matt Ring just behind in second. A lap two restart saw Brad Ratcliff rocket from fifth to third in a matter of a lap. Ring and See would swap positions a couple times before See would secure the lead. Ratcliff saw an opening on the inside in turn three to get by Ring with a little contact, but he would come up one spot short as Robert See picked up the win. Ratcliff was second, Matt Ring third, Craig Graham fourth, and Curt Graham in fifth.
1. 91 Robert See
2. 1R Brad Ratcliff
3. 58 Matt Ring
4. 13G Craig Graham
5. 14G Curt Graham
6. 503 Rick Osterman
7. 45K Daniel Kreiger
8. 38 Ryan Darling
9. 06 Kyle Schmauss
10. 74L Les Langfitt
11. 51 Nate Bonin
DNS
00 Adam Hagen
24R Roger Haupt Jr
IMCA sportmods were up next as twenty cars filled up the starting grid. Outside front row starter Kyle Brown took off like a jet for the lead. Two early cautions kept the pack bunched up. Beau Kaplan was on the prowl as he charged from his eighth starting spot up to third at the halfway point as he snuck inside of Brandon Toftee. Kaplan worked his way around Chad Louk for the runner up spot with three laps to go before three cautions would then plague the ending. Kaplan was unable to get enough momentum built up to challenge Brown again as Kyle Brown would take the flag to flag victory. Beau Kaplan finished second, Matt Northrop was third, Rocky Caudle fourth, and Chad Louk fifth.
A field of twelve stock cars were next on the slate with Greg Elliott narrowly beating Jason Minnehan to the stripe to lead the first lap. Jason Wagoner quickly advanced four positions in the first two laps to find himself in fourth while Minnehan got under Elliott for the lead on lap three. Wagoner would methodically work his way on the bottom side of the track to work his way into second at the halfway point before stealing the lead away from Minnehan with three laps remaining. Mark Elliott was on the charge, however, as he moved into second late in the race and began to reel in Wagoner. The two raced side by side for the last handful of laps, and as they came out of turn four it would be Mark Elliott picking up the photo-finish win. Jason Wagoner settled for second, Jason Minnehan was third, Greg Elliott fourth, and Mark Haglund rounded out the top five.
1. 412 Mark Elliott
2. 20 Jason Wagoner
3. 7 Jason Minnehan
4. 1 Greg Elliott
5. 31M Mark Haglund
6. M5 Jim Mitchell
7. 19 Reid Keller
8. 97 Adam Silvey
9. R31 Ryan Leeman
10. 80 Scott Bloemke
11. 26 Tony Wagoner
12. 5 Dave Hubbard
After witnessing fourteen Midwest 305 sprint cars in action Friday night in Fort Dodge, only a field of eight showed up Saturday night in Webster City. Matt Stephenson rolled his machine in the heat race, so a field of seven would run the feature. Casey Fredrichsen wasted no time in jumping to the lead from the pole. Following a caution on lap six, Randy Reinhard would stay close for a lap or so to the leader before Fredrichsen again would check out on the field. He would cruise to the easy win ahead of Randy Reinhard, Keith Carlberg third, Earl Tice fourth, and Bob Hilldreth in fifth.
1. 20 Casey Fredrichsen
2. 10B Randy Reinhard
3. 21 Keith Carlberg
4. 2T Earl Tice
5. 55KC Bob Hilldreth
6. 93A Alan Ambers
7. 11s Shadrach Sporaa
8. 55 Matt Stephenson
Keeping the open wheel segment going, the IMCA modifieds were up next with seven cars ready to go. David Brown got the lead early on, but Scott Olson was lurking in the distance as he make his way around Scott Williams for the second spot. Olson would use the outside groove to make the pass on Brown for the lead on lap five before pulling away for the easy win. David Brown would finish second, Scott Williams third, and Justin Sackett rounded out the field of finishers.
1. 8x Scott Olson
2. 21 David Brown
3. 64 Scott Williams
4. 17 Justin Sackett
5. 14 Derek Oberle
6. 12 Mark Elliott
7. 45 Levi Nielsen
The finale of the evening would be the fifteen-car field of IMCA late models. Al Johnson would take command of the race from the start. A caution on lap six allowed the field to keep pace with Johnson, but that was about as close as they'd get as Johnson pulled away to a straight away win. Jason Hahne finished second, Jeff Aikey was third, Darrel DeFrance fourth, and Kelly Tapper rounded out the top five.
1. 8 Al Johnson
2. 76 Jason Hahne
3. 77 Jeff Aikey
4. 99D Darrel DeFrance
5. 85 Kelly Tapper
6. 3 Kevin Sather
7. 32 Curtis Glover
8. X Ryan Griffith
9. 30 Todd Cooney
10. 21 Ben Nading
11. 3s Jeff French
12. 45 Mike Pedersen
13. 29 Nick Pedersen
14. 37E Jason Vansickel
15. 57 Scott Badker
There was a fireworks display soon after the conclusion of the races to help celebrate the holiday weekend.
I'd like to give a big shoutout to all the people that helped in any way in getting the track back in racing condition the past several days. I know Al Urhammer and the fairboard are just a few of the many that had a hand in the efforts. The track was dry, but for the most part I thought it was relatively smooth.
I'd also like to mention that I met Wayne Redmond last night. I hope I spelled his last name right. Wayne caught me as I was walking from the pits to my car and introduced himself to me. While Wayne is no longer behind the wheel, he now helps sprint car driver Randy Reinhard in the pits to stay active with his racing enthusiasm. Thanks Wayne for introducing yourself!!
The Hamilton County Speedway will be back in action Tuesday night, July 6 as the Summer Spectacular will be on display. The headline event will be a 50-lap, $2500 to win IMCA late model event that will also include lap money. Also on the docket will be IMCA hobby stocks and IMCA sportmods. Be sure to check out www.hamiltoncountyspeedway.com for more information and complete results from Saturday night!
My next race will be the Harris Clash at the Knoxville Raceway Tuesday night as modifieds invade the famed half-mile track. I'll make the return trip Wednesday night as well for the late models and sportmods.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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