With Saturday night's finale now in the books, I thought it would be kinda fun to go back and summarize the 2012 season for the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour. I was fortunate enough to attend the first eleven races of the season, only missing the final two events held at the Marshalltown Speedway this past weekend.
The season started off back on May 8 with a visit to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. There Jeff Waterman became the first non-Iowa driver to grace victory lane as he led all thirty laps. He had to fend off J.D. Auringer on the final lap to secure the win. Thirty-eight cars checked in for action that night.
The tour then headed north to the I-35 Speedway in Mason City for the annual Memorial Day event. Forty-three drivers were on hand to try their luck with the big half-mile speedplant. Mike Hansen pocketed the win ahead of the defending track champion J.J. Wise.
Next up would be a visit to the Hamilton County Speedway in Mason City on June 5. Twenty-nine drivers would do battle, but pole-sitter Jeremy Mills laid claim to his first win of the season. Richie Gustin finished second and continued to lead the points into the next race.
That next race would be held at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton on June 12. Along with the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for late models, the HDT put on a heck of a show for the fans. Local hotshoe Ryan Dolan appeared to have things well in hand from the start, but a late restart bunched the field back up and Dolan missed his marks in turn two in the closing stages to lose the lead. Milo Veloz took full advantage and took the lead and win. For the third time in four races, Gustin finished in the top three to keep ahold of the points lead.
The tour then headed back north to the Cresco Speedway on June 21 as part of the Mighty Howard County Fair. Only twenty-three cars checked in for action, but considering Cresco is in a part of the state that doesn't have an IMCA-sanctioned track I thought the turnout was good. Mark Elliott laid claim to his first victory of the season with Gustin lurking behind him in second.
June 26 found the series head to the northwest part of the state to the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta. Jay Noteboom notched his first win of the season in his neck of the woods. Darin Duffy and Jeremy Mills finished second and third, respectively, with a field of twenty-five cars.
The Algona Raceway hosted the Hawkeye Dirt Tour stop on July 3 that boasted a great crowd and twenty-nine cars. Richie Gustin rocketed his way to the front after starting ninth to take the convincing win and extend his points lead. The hard luck award for the evening had to go to Darin Duffy. If memory serves me correctly, Duffy suffered troubles on the hauler on the way up and showed up late, was able to make the redraw and pulled out the #2 position. Unfortunately bad luck continued as his machine suffered fuel pressure issues (if I remember correctly), and thus was unable to make the call.
The Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa hosted the next stop on July 17. There it was Michael Long winning in convincing fashion. Luke Wanninger wound up second with Richie Gustin in third.
Perhaps the wild card of the series was the next stop on the tour. The Hancock County Speedway in Britt hosted the Night of 1,000 Stars on August 9, and this year the event was once again a HDT race. The format for this race is different from other tour events as the starting field is expanded to 33 starters with a 3-wide start. Fifty-seven cars checked in to do battle for the night in hopes to attain the richest purse in the state this year. Jon Snyder picked up the win ahead of hard charging J.J. Wise. Points leader Richie Gustin was sidelined early on while Jay Noteboom and Jeremy Mills finished fifth and 14th, respectively, to close the points gap.
The final four events of the season would be held at two race tracks. The first track to host a two-day show would be the Farley Speedway as part of the annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic September 14-15. Forty-nine cars were on hand for the Friday night portion of the show in which Mark Elliott took the win ahead of Jeff Waterman. Richie Gustin would suffer motor issues in his heat race and was unable to continue on in the night while Jay Noteboom suffered mechanical issues in the feature to end his night prematurely. Jeremy Mills took advantage by finishing sixth.
Night two of the Yankee proved to be a different story for Noteboom. After starting fourteenth, he patiently worked his way through the field on a tricky race surface to take the lead. He would go on to pick up his second win of the season ahead of Mills.
The final two nights of competition would be held at the Marshalltown Speedway this past weekend. With a tight points battle among Noteboom, Mills, and Mark Elliott, all eyes would be glued to their performaces throughout the evenings. Noteboom proved he was gonna be tough to beat as he picked up the exciting win on Friday night with an exciting win over Darin Duffy. Although I wasn't in attendance, I was fortunate to see the video highlights of the closing laps. It definitely had the fans on their feet when the checkered flag waved. Coupled with Mills' seventh place finish, Noteboom and Mills would be tied for the points lead heading into the final night with Elliott just eight points back.
Duffy and Noteboom sat on the front row for the start of the finale event. This time it would be Duffy taking the win, but Noteboom's runner-up finish secured the point title. Mills would finish eleventh and Elliott eighth.
According to the Hawkeye Dirt Tour website, the tour saw 180 different drivers compete throughout the season. That is outstanding for a 13-race schedule. The average car count per event was 36.69 and saw ten different winners (Jeff Waterman, Mike Hansen, Jeremy Mills, Milo Veloz, Mark Elliott, Jay Noteboom, Richie Gustin, Michael Long, Jon Snyder, Darin Duffy). Noteboom notched three wins while Elliott had two victories.
Noteboom boasted the best average finish of 6.92. Despite missing the Britt event, Duffy had the second-best at 7.50.
Noteboom: 6.92
Duffy: 7.50
Mills: 7.62
Elliott: 8.15
And so the season has come to an end for the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour. I'd like to thank series director Bucky Doren along with Brett Root from IMCA for putting on this great tour for the IMCA modifieds. I wish them continued success and look forward to seeing what 2013 has in store!!
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