A blustery and cool Friday night found me at the Mineral City Speedway in Fort Dodge. I figured with the wind at my back, sitting in the grandstand would be a little more bearable. Boy was I wrong as the breeze seemed to pick up a little as the night continued. On the track the action was fast and furious despite the track getting choppy with every race.
I believe fourteen hornets made their way to the track first for their feature event. At the start it would be a battle for the lead between Mick and Nate Evans as they raced door to door. It wasn't long before they were joined by Mike McFarland and Lyle Oberhelmen. McFarland and Oberhelmen, in similar looking cars, both managed to get by the front runners and engage in their own battle. In the end it would be the defending track champion McFarland taking the win.
The econo stocks were next up with a field of five cars. Austin Reicks would take command early, but the caution flag waved when the 17L machine (sorry, didn't catch him name) dropped his driveshaft at the entrance to turn one. During the caution, Reicks pointed out the debris (driveshaft), and then proceeded to exit the track. Colby Davis would inherit the point and lead the rest of the laps in picking up the win ahead of Brad Hanse.
Justin Nehring took control in the early going of the hobby stock feature after starting outside the front row. Austin Wolfgram would challenge Nehring for the lead while Devin Smith was quickly running down both front runners. After Wolfgram took the lead for a lap, Nehring would regain the lead while Wolfgram conceited the second position to Smith. Smith would then make his move on the inside of Nehring to take over the race lead. Wolfgram followed Smith to second with Nehring slipping back to third. A late caution came out to bunch the field back up. On the final lap Wolfgram got out of control exiting turn two and gave up a lot of positions. Devin Smith would take the win ahead of Justin Nehring, Jeff Lyons, Myles Michehl, and Kevin Berger. There was a surprise entrant in the hobby stocks as Dan Sacquitne from Northeast Iowa made the trip over. Unfortunately he was unable to finish the feature after finishing second in his heat race.
The limited modifieds were up next with a solid field of nineteen cars. Jim Lampe wasted no time in assuming the top spot, but formerly retired driver Brett Meyer quickly sliced his way from his sixth starting spot up to second on the first lap. Following an early caution, most of the top five remained the same until Brandon Toftee passed Travis Storm for the fifth spot with just two laps remaining. Jim Lampe would cruise to the win followed by Brett Meyer, Steve Reetz, Clint Luellen, and Brandon Toftee.
Twelve USRA stock cars then hit the track for their main event. Kevin Donlan, a driver making the trip over from Northeast Iowa, found himself on the pole and grabbing the early lead. Wayne Crimmins and Jeff Deal were racing for the second spot before Deal slipped off the backstretch and fell back a few spots. Matt Mundt would sneak under Jeremy Crimmins for the third position, but as Crimmins tried to battle back in turn four the two cars made contact with Crimmins suffering a left front flat tire and bringing out the caution flag. Crimmins would use this to his advantage as he would wrestle the lead away from Donlan shortly after the restart. Donlan kept pace but was unable to get close enough to seriously challenge. Wayne Crimmins took home the win with Kevin Donlan in second, Matt Mundt in third, Dennis Plain was fourth, and Ryan Leeman rounded out the top five.
Eleven modifieds hit the track for the final race of the night. Jake Simpson used his outside front row starting position to get the jump on the start to grab the lead. A caution on lap two quickly slowed things down, but Jim Thies would stay within striking distance after the restart. Brian Schmitt passed rookie Dustin Smith on the inside to take over the fourth position. Soon after Rod Scheuermann would go up in smoke and leave the track. Up front Thies closed in as it appeared Simpson slowed down more going through the bumps in turns one and two. But Simpson would find a smoother lane a car-width higher and regain some breathing room as he went on to take the feature win. Jim Thies finished second, Brian Schmitt was third, Dustin Smith was fourth, and Jeff Segebart rounded out the top five.
The races were over right at 10:00. The track appeared to have a few ruts on the inside of turns one and two, and a hole in turn three. But otherwise I thought the track held up well considering all the weather elements in the past couple of weeks. I'm sure as the weather dries up track officials will be able to iron it out. Be sure to log on to www.fdspeed.com later for a full rundown.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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