Well the racing action started on friday night in which i was unable to attend but still it sounded like it was a great night of racing action at the speedway. 172 total cars signed in on friday night with 25 modifieds, 44 stock cars, 54 b-mods and 49 hobby stocks.
Friday Nights action of the 24th Annual Musco Lightining Fall Challenge presented by Budweiser saw the USRA Hobby Stock main event belonged to Craig Brown of Eldon. Fifth-starting and defending ‘Fall Challenge’ winner Chris Hovden finished second, followed by Shane Klaassen. Todd Reitzler rallied from tenth to finish fourth, with Danny Thrasher picking up 13 spots to grab fifth. Cresco’s Shay Curtain fought off aggressive challenges from reigning track champion Nathan Wood and veteran Steve Jackson to pick up the victory in the caution-plagued USRA Karl Chevrolet Stock Car feature event. Polesitter Zack VanderBeek of New Sharon dominated all 25 laps of the Musco USRA Modified feature event. In the USRA B-Mods, on the white flag lap, a stalled car on the front stretch resulted in a yellow flag to bring about a checkered finish as Bill Gibson withstood the challenges to take the win. All the winners on friday took home $1,000 to win. I have to thank the RL Promotions PR Department of Jeff Nun and Ashlee Sieveke for this information since i was unable to attend.
On Saturday Night however i was able to make the trip down to enjoy some racing action and was i glad i decided to make the 65 mile trek to "The Mahaska County Monster" Southern Iowa Speedway for Night 2 of the 24th Annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge presented by Budweiser were all of the feature winners would pocket $2,000 to win. This night saw a total of 156 cars signed in to compete, 43 b-mods, 25 modifieds, 46 hobby stocks and 40 stock cars.
After a quick hot lap session at 5:30 for the race cars, Racing action started just a little after the scheduled 6pm start time but this would turn out to be an excited night.
The Carter's Manufacturing USRA B-Mods were up for their 20 lap feature $2,000 to win first. Of course it took 6 heats, 2 b-features to determine the field down to just 24 cars. Oskaloosa's Young Gun Cayden Carter would redraw the pole with Chad Louk from Jefferson redrawing number 2. Carter would take control early and look to be pulling away just as the first caution came out on lap 5 for Mike Wanders, Jason McDaniel, Mark Mundell and Louis Lynch all getting together in turns 1 & 2. On the restart Carter would have Tyler Groenendyk and Scott Davis on his back bumper, Carter would get a good restart but then another caution would come out after another lap completed this for Tyler Droste and Curtis Engen getting together in turn 2. Carter, Groenendyk and Davis were the top 3 again on the restart and this time it was Carter and Davis that had the good starts and Davis look to take the lead from Carter but Carter wouldn't be denied as the yellow came out 2 laps later on lap 8 for debris in turn 3. The final race caution came out on lap 16 for Geoff Olson, Chad Louk, John Vandenberg getting together in turn 3. Carter wouldn't let them slow him as he would go on and take the win. Groenendyk, Scott Van Buskirk, Davis and Jason Schlagen rounded out the top 5.
Musco Lighting USRA Modifieds were up next for their 25 lap feature. It was Colt Mather and Kelly Shyrock in Team Skyrocket getting the pleasure to start on the front row. It was the Veteran Kelly Shyrock that jumped out to the lead in the feature that look like it was going to go without a caution but then the first caution came out on lap 10 when Brandon Banks came to a stop on the front stretch. Shryock would have Matt Dotson and Colt Mather on his back bumper on the restart and again Shyrock take advantage and hold on the top spot. The next 2 cautions came out on lap 15. First caution on lap 15 was when Brad Pinkerton broke and came to a stop in turn 2. The second caution on lap 15 was for a pile up on the front stretch the included Mark Elliott, Terry Walker, Mark Widmar and Guy Hughes meanwhile Kevin Blackburn spun in turn 2. Shyrock would again have Dotson and Mather on his back bumper but again 2 laps later the final race caution would come out for Elliott in turn 3 but then the Shyrock would experience issues as he would come to a stop in turn 3 and give the lead over to Mather would had slipped by Dotson on the restart. Mather would go on and take the win, Dotson would fall back to 15th. Jake Neal, Corey Dripps, Bruce Hanford and Brandon Banks would finish behind Mather and round out the top 5.
In USRA Hobby Stocks 20 lap feature for $2,000 to win it was Andy Boeckman and Chris Hovden leading the field to the green but of course after 5 heats and 2 b-features determined the field down to 24 cars. Before 1 lap was completed it was Friday Night's Hobby Stock Winner Craig Brown spinning out in turn 4 so the field would have to start straight up again with Brown going to the tail. On the restart it was Hovden getting a great start and begin to pull away from Boeckman and the field but another caution came out on lap 5 for Bobby Greene in turn 3. Hovden would have Nathan Wood and Jason Kohl on his back bumper on the restart and hold them off and pull away again but then the final race caution came out on lap 16 with just 4 laps left to go this time for Adam Hagan stopping in turn 2 and John Watson and Brad Prado getting hooked together in turn 2. Hovden wouldn't let it faze him as he would make the 173 miles one way trip from cresco worth it and pocket $2,000. Ryan Vicker would take 2nd, Wood was 3rd, Shane Klaassen was 4th and Jason Kohl was 5th.
The final feature of the night and the year at the Southern Iowa Speedway would be the Karl Chevrolet USRA Stock Cars 25 lap feature. After 4 heats and 2 b-features helped get the field down to 24 cars it was Mike Mauer and Barry Sandeman leading the field to the green however it was 2nd row outside starter Elijah Zevenbergen getting a great start a passing both of them to take the lead, Mark Elliott, Lynn Panos and Todd Inman would follow suit. Elliott looked to get by Zevenbergen on lap 4 but after 3 laps were complete it was Nathan Wood having his rear-end break in turn 4 forcing him to rest to a stop in the top of turn 4. Zevenbergen would have Elliott and Panos on his back bumper. Zevenbergen would bubble a bit and lose the lead to Elliott on lap 6. The 2nd race caution came out on lap 11 when Mark Haglund spun in turn 3. 2 laps later another caution came out when Shane Weller would roll over in turns 3 & 4 bring out the red flag. After the raced resumed the next caution came out again on lap 15 for Kyle Harwood, Bryan Snell and Zevenbergen in turn 4. Panos would get a good restart and battle with Elliott for the lead and Panos would take the lead on lap 18 and just shortly after that happen the caution came out for Zevenbergen stopping on the frontstretch. 2 laps later Elliott would incounter troubles in turn 2 by spinning around. Panos look to be going on to the win but now he had Promotor Todd Staley and "The Tootinator" Darin Toot on his back bumper. Panos would bobble and lose the race lead to Toot but after the race Toot, Panos, Bryan Webb, Matt Greiner, Mike Pruitt and Steve Jackson getting together in 1 & 2 after the race was over. Toot was the winner, Greiner 2nd, Webb 3rd, Panos 4th, Jackson was 5th and Pruitt was 6th.
Racing action came to an end at 11:56pm. A great night of racing action at the speedway, the only major incident was in the stock car heats when Jeremy Swanson rolled at the entrance of turn 1 according to reports to track announcer Tony Paris, Swanson's x-rays came back positive so thats good signs.
Check out http://www.rlpromotions.com/ or http://www.usraracing.com/ for completed results from the nights at Oskaloosa!
I want to give a special thanks to RL Promotions that includes Todd, Janet and Staley for their hospitality on such a great night of racing at the Mahaska County Monster.
