Track Championships Settled on Season Championship Night at Southern Iowa Speedway
by Jeremy Fox
Oskaloosa, Iowa (August 31st, 2016) - Mother Nature has not been friendly this season at the Southern Iowa Speedway but Wednesday Night, she was and let the regular season end with a bang as two points championships were settled at the checkered flag on KBOE Radio, Mahaska Bottling and Yaw's Auto Salvage Season Championship Night. Fans were treated to out of the car introductions on the front stretch before each feature and also Zack Vanderbeek hot lapped his USMTS Car and Cayden Carter hot lapped his IMCA Late Model.
60 cars signed in to tame the monster half mile at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds and thanks to Yaw's Auto Salvage, $500 extra was thrown to the purse. $100 extra to the feature winner in the Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods and Hobby Stocks and $50 extra to the Sport Compact feature winner. $50 extra went to the 2nd place finisher in the class with the highest car count and that would go to the SportMods.
Feature winners on the night was Andrew Schroeder (IMCA Modifieds), Nathan Wood (IMCA Stock Cars), Curtis VanDerWal (IMCA SportMods), Dustin Griffiths (IMCA Hobby Stocks) and Brad Havel (IMCA Sport Compacts). Track Champions were crowned Colt Mather in Modifieds, Louis Lynch in Stock Cars, VanDerWal in SportMods, Griffiths in Hobby Stocks and Shane Evans in Sport Compacts.
Also announced was the 2016 Class of the Southern Iowa Speedway Hall of Fame, and the inductees are Dean Hughes, Terry Schroeder and Pokie West. Those three will be officially inducted Saturday October 8th during the Musco Lighting Fall Challenge.
First feature of the night was the 15 lap KBOE Radio IMCA SportMods feature event. Dakota Simmons and Colton Livezey led the field to green, and it was Simmons grabbing the top spot but just after one lap was completed the caution came out when Shawn Cooney exited off turn three. On the restart, Livezey took the lead away from Simmons and began to pull away from the field until Curtis VanDerWal worked his way to second. VanDerWal began to reel in Livezey and on lap 14, VanDerWal would take the lead away from Livezey. Livezey could not get back by VanDerWal, as VanDerWal went on to take his seventh win in Osky and third IMCA SportMod track championship. Livezey finished second ahead of Cory Van Zante, Austin Paul and Matthew VanGelder.
Up next was the Budweiser IMCA Stock Cars 16 lap feature and going into the night, Louis Lynch had a three point advantage over Mike Hughes so you knew even though only eight stock cars checked in (seven race as one experienced troubles in hot laps) it was going to be a great battle until the checkered flag. Nathan Wood and Todd Reitzler led the field to the green but Mike Hughes was determined to win the track championship as he wrestled the lead away from Wood and Reitzler. Hughes held off every attempt from Nathan Wood until the final lap when Wood pulled the crossover move getting under Hughes coming to the checkered flag. Wood edged out Hughes at the finish line to take his second win at Osky and that meant Hughes lost the track championship by a nose. Todd Reitzler was third, Louis Lynch finished fourth and Mike Brown was fifth. Lynch beat Hughes by one point for the track championship.
Andrew Schroeder lead from start to finish in the Musco Lighting IMCA Modifieds 16 lap feature to claim his second win of the season at Osky. Cayden Carter ran second the entire distance with Dakota Hayden, Scott Dickey and Gordon Head rounding out the top five. Colt Mather had the track championship clinched and after having mechanical issues in the heat race so sidelined him for the feature.
Normally the IMCA Sport Compacts ten lap feature, is the first feature but tonight it would be next to last feature and going in to the night Shane Evans had a nine point advantage over Bill Whalen Jr so again just like the Stock Cars the track championship would be decided at the checkered flag. Brad Havel started outside row two and by the end of lap one, he found himself in position one. Havel knew that hard chargers had to be coming but he remained perfect every lap going on to take his first win. Josh Barnes started tenth and finished second. James Roose, Levi Heath and Bill Whalen Jr rounded out the top five. Shane Evans experienced issues and finished in 13th position but that was just enough as he beat Whalen by one pt for his first ever track championship.
Final feature of the night was the 14 lap Pepsi Cola Mahaska Bottling IMCA Hobby Stocks feature event. Bradley Graham led lap one but Danny Thrasher took the lead away on lap two. Graham was not going to give up as he wrestled the lead away on lap three. Graham and Thrasher now saw Dustin Griffiths race his way up from his seventh place starting spot to take the top spot away on lap four. On thing slowing Griffiths was the caution on lap six when Kelsie Spilman spun in turn four. Griffiths held off late race challenges from Nick Ulin and Thrasher to claim his seventh win of the season and his third Hobby Stock track championship. Ulin finished second, Thrasher was third, Scott Shull was fourth and Graham fell back to fifth.
Weekly Racing may be over at the Southern Iowa Speedway but racing action is not over yet as the speedway will return to action with the Musco Lighting Fall Challenge on Friday October 7th and Saturday October 8th. Dean Hughes, Terry Schroeder and Pokie West will have their official Hall of Fame induction on the Saturday show of the Musco Lighting Fall Challenge.
For more information check out http://www.oskyspeedway.com/ or Like Southern Iowa Speedway Every Wednesday Night Facebook Page.
Southern Iowa Speedway
KBOE Radio / Mahaska Bottling / Yaw's Auto Salvage Season Championships
August 31st, 2016
Musco Lighting IMCA Modifieds
Feature - 1. 02 Andrew Schroeder, Keswick; 2. 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa; 3. 12H Dakota Hayden, Wilton; 4. 40 Scott Dickey, Packwood; 5. 66 Gordon Head, Des Moines; 6. 163 David Snyder, Greentop, Missouri; DNS/7. 8 Colt Mather, Keswick.
Heat - 1. Schroeder; 2. Carter; 3. Hayden; 4. Head; 5. Mather; DQ Dickey; DQ Snyder.
2016 Track Champion - 8 Colt Mather, Keswick
Budweiser IMCA Stock Cars
Feature - 1. 52 Nathan Wood, Sigourney; 2. 11 Mike Hughes, Oskaloosa; 3. 22R Todd Reitzler, Grinnell; 4. 71 Louis Lynch, Glenwood, Missouri; 5. 54 Mike Brown, New Sharon; 6. 17 Brock Welch, Oskaloosa; 7. 79S Jason See, Albia; DNS/8. 57C Cody Thompson, Ainsworth.
Heat - 1. Wood; 2. Lynch; 3. Hughes; 4. Reitzler; 5. See; 6. Brown; 7. Welch; DNS Thompson.
2016 Track Champion - 71 Louis Lynch, Glenwood, Missouri.
KBOE Radio IMCA Northern SportMods
Feature - 1. 1V Curtis VanDerWal, Oskaloosa; 2. 29 Colton Livezey, New Sharon; 3. 34Z Cory Van Zante, Sully; 4. A5 Austin Paul, Monroe; 5. 16 Matthew VanGelder, Pella; 6. 01 Brayton Carter, Oskaloosa; 7. 40 Dakota Simmons, Douds; 8. 8T Tony Johnson, Oskaloosa; 9. 80 Jim Walker, Mystic; 10. 26 Scott Brau, Brooklyn; 11. 30 Shawn Cooney, Des Moines; 12. 55R Steven Berry, Ottumwa; 13. 41 Stevie Smith, Des Moines; 14. 9A Logan Anderson, Eddyville; 15. 12 Eric Flander, Pella; 16. 85 Jason McDaniel, Eldon; 17. 84B Trent Brink, Bussey.
Heat 1 - 1. Livezey; 2. Anderson; 3. VanDerWal; 4. Van Zante; 5. Paul; 6. McDaniel; 7. Brau; 8. Berry; 9. Smith.
Heat 2 - 1. Flander; 2. VanGelder; 3. Simmons; 4. Walker; 5. Cooney; 6. Brink; 7. Johnson; 8. Carter.
2016 Track Champion - 1V Curtis VanDerWal, Oskaloosa.
Pespi Cola IMCA Hobby Stocks
Feature - 1. 10G Dustin Griffiths, Hedrick; 2. 21 Nick Ulin, Agency; 3. 84 Danny Thrasher, Agency; 4. 57 Scott Shull, Agency; 5. 4 Bradley Graham, Brooklyn; 6. 12 Mike Kincaid, Cincinnati; 7. 32T Bobby Greene, Tracy; 8. 9 Jared Stephens, Bussey; 9. 14 Christian Huffman, New Sharon; 10. 32TX PJ Veenstra, Oskaloosa; 11. 71S Dave Seddon, Knoxville; 12. 7 Kirk Puttmann, Keota; 13. 55 Brad Stephens, Bussey; 14. 7K Kelsie Spilman, Hedrick; DNS/15. 69 Craig Brown, Eldon.
Heat 1 - 1. Griffiths; 2. Greene; 3. Graham; 4. Ulin; 5. Kincaid; 6. Veenstra; 7. Spilman; DNS Brown.
Heat 2 - 1. Thrasher; 2. Shull; 3. Huffman; 4. Jared Stephens; 5. Brad Stephens; 6. Puttmann; 7. Seddon.
2016 Track Champion - 10G Dustin Griffiths, Hedrick.
IMCA Sport Compacts
Feature - 1. 11H Brad Havel, Iowa City; 2. 13B Josh Barnes, Keokuk; 3. 86R James Roose, Grandview; 4. 9H Levi Heath, Wilton; 5. 00W Bill Whalen Jr., Riverside; 6. 99B Kyle Boyd, Ottumwa; 7. 04 Trent Orwig, Eldon; 8. 23B Jason Breuklander, Oskaloosa; 9. 52 Billy Cain, Floris; 10. 25K Brandon Allison, Oskaloosa; 11. 8 Austin Reuman, Hills; 12. 41 Nathan Moody, Oskaloosa; 13. 92E Shane Evans, Iowa City; DNS/14. 02 John Gill, Marshalltown.
Heat 1 - 1. Heath; 2. Barnes; 3. Breuklander; 4. Cain; 5. Moody; 6. Gill; 7. Allison.
Heat 2 - 1. Evans; 2. Havel; 3. Boyd; 4. Roose; 5. Whalen; 6. Reuman; 7. Orwig.
2016 Track Champion - 92E Shane Evans, Iowa City.
