The pit area was jam packed with race cars Friday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway for nigh one of the 24th Annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge. It was mentioned by track announcer Tony Paris that Musco Lighting has been the title sponsor of this event for all twenty-four seasons, which I thought was rather cool and unusual. Shows a lot of loyalty towards the community and its racers. Action got off on a slow start as it took a little extra time to roll in the track. But things definitely heated up once the track was ironed in.
The first feature of the night would be the USRA b-modifieds. Fifty-four race teams checked in for the night with the field be shaved down to twenty-four starters. Bill Gibson grabbed the lead from his outside front row starting spot with pole sitter Mike Grantham right behind. Grantham pushed high in turn one on the second circuit, opening the flood gates for Andrew Schroeder and Brett Moffitt to slip past. The caution flag waved on lap three for a spun car, and when racing resumed northeast Iowa driver Jason Schlangen made his move on the top side to claim the fourth spot away from Brad Iverson. Another caution waved on lap six when Drew Lawson tagged the wall exiting turn four. Lap fourteen provided another yellow flag for Paul Underwood spinning in turn four, and Scott Davis took advantage as he passed two cars on the restart to advance to third. However Andrew Schroeder would regain the third spot when he ducked low of Davis a lap later. A car slowed down the frontstretch when the checkers were set to come out, so the finish was a yellow/checkers. Bill Gibson picked up the win ahead of Brett Moffitt, Andrew Schroeder, Scott Davis, and Jason Schlangen. The hard charger of the race was Tad Reutzel as he advanced to the eighth position after starting twenty-second.
USRA modifieds were next up for their twenty-five lap feature event. Pole sitter Zack VanderBeek wasted no time in asserting himself at the top of the leaderboard. Ron VerBeek powered his machine into the second position and tried to chase down VanderBeek. The leaders encountered lapped traffic quickly on lap six before the caution waved on lap nine. VerBeek would not come up to full speed right away on the restart, pushing him back to fourth as Bruce Hanford and Brad Pinkerton made their way by. VanderBeek continued to check out on the field up front as he opened it up to a straight away lead until the caution waved again with seven laps remaining. VerBeek was able to reclaim the runner up spot as both he and Kevin Blackburn got by Hanford on the restart. But up front the night belonged to Zack VanderBeek as he dominated the field for the win. Ron VerBeek finished second, Kevin Blackburn was third, Kelly Shryock was fourth, and Ryan Peckham completed the top five of the twenty-five car field.
A big field of forty-nine USRA hobby stocks were on hand for the first night of the Fall Challenge. That number was reduced to twenty-four starters as well with outside front row starter Craig Brown getting the edge early on. This race had a few hiccups getting going in the beginning as cautions waved on lap two, three, and six. When racing resumed Brown continued his advantage up front while the battle was for second. Todd Reitzler and Shane Klaassen would swap the position a time or two before Klaassen secured the spot. Danny Thrasher was a car on the move as he powered his machine to fifth after starting eighteenth. Chris Hovden stayed with Craig Brown up front, but was never quite able to make his move for the lead. When the checkers waved it was Brown by a carlength over Hovden for the win. Shane Klaassen finished third, Todd Reitzler fourth, and Danny Thrasher was fifth.
The final event of the night would be the USRA stock cars. Once again, a big field of forty-four cars were dwindled down to a starting grid of twenty-four. Outside front row starter Corey Stout paced the field with northeast Iowa driver Shay Curtin following in second. The caution waved on lap four, and on the restart Curtin made his move to maneuver past Stout for the lead. Kyle Harwood lose the third position as both Nathan Wood and Todd Inman advanced forward. Then a series of stoppages would occur over the next handful of laps.
The caution waved on lap eight, and then again on the restart as Mike Johnston hammered the outside fence in turn one to bring out the red flag. Fortunately Johnston was okay. Racing resumed long enough for Wood to pass Stout for second before the second red flag came out. Gary Bass jumped the cushion in turn four and avoided hitting the outside wall, but came down the track as he drove down the frontstretch. He would hit the right rear of Kevin Donlan, breaking the rear axle among other things. Donlan would slide sideways for several feet before it finally dug in and rolled violently. Donlan also would walk away unharmed. The third and final red flag came when Keith Williamson's car caught an oil fire under the hood entering turn one. He too would be uninjured. When racing finally got back going, Steve Jackson swung to the inside of Stout on the restart to claim the third spot. Up front it was all Shay Curtin as he pocketed the $1,000 paycheck. Nathan Wood would finish second, Steve Jackson third, Todd Inman was fourth, and Matt Greiner rounded out the top five.
While the track appeared to be a bit one-lane on the top, the stock car drivers managed to work the bottom side in throughout the race. Unfortunately their race was the final one of the night, so passing was at a premium. I'm hoping the track will be a bit more dry and slick tonight to provide a wider racing groove.
With such a large field of cars, I expected things to run a bit late. However, when the final checkered flag waved at around 1:30am I was a bit disappointed that it took that long. Hopefully things will go much smoother and quicker tonight. Don't forget, there will be NO HOT LAPS tonight and racing action will start at 6pm. The weather looks to be perfect once again, so get there early to get a good seat.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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