While I managed to successfully avoid all 67 foods on sticks that were reportedly available, I did take in the annual State Fair race at Iowa State Fairgrounds Speedway in Des Moines as 150 race teams signed in to compete in the annual event.
Thirty-five IMCA Late Models signed in for the headlining Deery Brothers Summer Series, including 12 of the top 13 in the series standings. When the final checkered flag waved in the 35-lapper, series part-timer Darren Miller showed the rest of the field the short way around the half-mile oval as he scored his first series win of the year.
Points leader Ray Guss Jr. rolled out of the staging area in the pole position and he held the point for the first lap before an early caution slowed the event. On the restart, Miller, who started right behind Guss, worked the low-side of the leader and came away with the top spot on the next lap.
With Miller out front, the lead pair started to pull away from the pack, leaving Jay Johnson, Tom Darbyshire and Josh Most to round out the top five. The leaders remained unchanged until the second and final caution waved on lap seven.
When racing resumed, Todd Cooney, who started inside row seven after qualifying out of a B feature, worked himself into a battle with Most for fifth. Running the high groove, Cooney was one of the faster cars on the speedway as he worked through traffic with apparent ease. Miller, meanwhile, continued to expand his lead as the top five started to spread out.
Cooney continued his march toward the front by making his way around Johnson for fourth on the ninth circuit. The leaders remained unchanged as Miller came upon lapped traffic on lap 15. This allowed Guss to close the gap ever so slightly while Cooney continued to run the high groove.
Although they remained separated from each other for the most part, Miller, Guss, Darbyshire and Cooney pulled to nearly half a track ahead of the field by lap 20 as Cooney worked to reel in Darbyshire. He motored around the top side of Darbyshire's #42 one lap later, but was unable to run down Guss.
Miller maintained a sizable advantage out front to take the checkers first. Guss, Cooney and Darbyshire followed. Jeremiah Hurst, who started 12th, rounded out the top five. Most ran sixth ahead of Johnson and B feature qualifier Jeff Aikey. Terry Neal and T.J. Criss completed the top 10. Darrel DeFrance, Colby Springsteen, Andy Eckrich, Kevin Sather and Craig Jacobs ran 11th through 15th, respectively, and unofficially.
Nearly 40 IMCA Hobby Stocks were on-hand so the field was split into two features. Shannon Anderson, Nick Murty and Eric Stanton broke away from the pack early in the first feature. Murty worked the low side of Anderson midway through the event and briefly held the point, however Anderson fought back and started to pull away until the leaders hit lapped traffic with just two laps to go.
Anderson was left all alone on the high side exiting turn two on the final lap as the leaders navigated the backmarkers, allowing both Murty and Stanton to sneak by underneath. Murty held on at the line for the win as Stanton came home second and Anderson third. Although he received heavy pressure from numerous drivers in the second feature, track points leader John Watson held on to lead that event in its entirety to take home the win.
Twenty-four IMCA SportMods signed in to do battle, not only with each other, but Mother Nature, as well. After a series of caution flags slowed the event throughout its early stages, a brief rain shower cut loose a few laps into the event causing a rain delay. During the 20 or so minute rain delay of the already caution-filled SportMod event, a single question kept running through my mind. "I wonder if fellow blogger Kyle Ealy made the trip to Des Moines tonight?" If you haven't already read his work on speedblitz.net, Mr. (I use that term loosely) Ealy frequently expresses his thoughts on the entry-level open-wheel division in his writings. I imagine the first half hour of tonight's SportMod feature would have made him want to gorge himself on funnel cakes, bloomin' onions and stick foods. But, I digress... once the track was ironed in, some of the best racing of the night took place in the final half of that event...
Kyle Brown held the point when racing resumed, followed closely by Scott Davis and Austin and Beau Kaplan. Davis was the first to challenge Brown for the lead. Running the low groove, Davis leaned on the leader while Beau Kaplan went to work upstairs. Kaplan took advantage of Davis sliding up into turn four with only four laps to go to pull even with him. Those two furiously raced each other, hoping for enough time to run down Brown in the final laps. Kaplan eventually made his way past Davis on the back straightaway of the final lap, however he ran out of time and was unable to reel in the 21 car, allowing Brown to escape with the win. Beau Kaplan finished second ahead of Davis and Austin Kaplan.
Todd Inman drove the low side to the lead, then almost let the high side cost him in the late stages of the 16-lap Truck feature. Inman assumed command from Steve Churchill three laps into the event as he worked the bottom groove of the speedway.
Inman then used the high side to pull away from the pack as Brett Moyer made his way into second. At the midway point of the event, Inman drifted a little too high in turn four, allowing Moyer to sneak below him for the lead. Inman remained committed to the top side as he returned to the lead two laps later.
Inman again drifted high in turn four on the following circuit, losing the lead in the process. He was saved, however, when the caution flag waved prior to the completion of the lap. On the restart, Inman drove away from the pack to lead the final five times around the speedway to take the win. Moyer and Churchill ran second and third.
A field of 38 IMCA Stock Cars was pared down to 24 for the evening's finale. When the field rolled onto the speedway, it appeared as though Damon Murty may have had the easiest path to his 101st career win in the division as he took the green flag from the pole position.
Murty did take the early lead, but was heavily pressured by Donovan Smith. As the leaders broke away from the field, Mike Nichols, who came from a mid-pack start, ran the high groove into the top four midway through the event. His work cutting into the huge deficit was assisted when the yellow flag waved on lap 13.
On the restart, Murty ran low as Nichols ran up top. Working into second just a couple of laps after racing resumed, Nichols immediately applied heavy pressure on Murty for the lead. Nichols took a peek to the outside of Murty's machine on the back straightaway of the 15th lap and held the point the next time past the flagstand. As Nichols led, Smith went to work on the low side of Murty.
Although Smith couldn't get a run on Murty, Nichols drifted high in the corners of the waning laps and allowed Murty back into a challenge for the lead. The two came off the fourth turn in side-by-side formation on the final lap, but the high side proved too strong as Nichols inched ahead at the line for the thrilling win.
Extras: While many of the top Deery Series drivers in the points were on-hand, there were a few that were notably absent. Among those were five in the top-20 of the series standings. While each of them had missed a race or two along the way this season, I was a bit surprised not to see Mark Burgtorf, Tom Goble, Jason Rauen, Joel Callahan or Rob Toland in attendance for the annual Fair event. On the flip side, there were five drivers making their first series appearances of the season. Among them were Todd Johnson, Craig Jacobs and Dwight Bagby. Paul Glendenning, who has done some NASCAR and MLRA racing in the past, indicated this was his first time behind the wheel at an IMCA event. Also making his first series appearance was Jerry King, who was behind the wheel of the #60 normally piloted by Dean Wagner.
Although the night did go a few minutes past the 11 o'clock hour, there was great racing in all five divisions. While the weather delay wasn't expected by anyone I spoke with (everyone was saying the rain wasn't supposed to hit until the 1 o'clock hour this morning), it really didn't drag out the program too much.
Thank you to promoter Mick Trier and his wife, Angel, for their hospitality tonight. For those of you who haven't been to an event promoted by Mick, something struck me tonight that I've casually noticed in the past, but never really "realized." While he makes the time before the races to talk to the drivers, crews, officials and other race track staff, he is everywhere on race night. Some promoters aren't quite as visible when the gates open, but Mick is not only around, he's working his tail off to put on the best show possible. He was present for the draw and driver check-in, on the PA barking instructions, at the drivers meeting, switching up the order of events to allow the traveling Late Model drivers and their crews the ability to get on the road early if they chose (and running the pit PA to keep everyone informed of the scheduling changes) and constantly making his way around the facility to see to it that everything was in order. Also, when the rain hit, he was on the track overseeing the track packing and keeping an eye on the track conditions, not to mention he also helped his track crew clean up a mess from a blown engine that left even more moisture on the front straightaway. I've been to few race tracks where the promoter himself is getting down and dirty alongside his crew and that goes a long way toward a successful program. He does it week-in and week-out at Vinton, Cam Granger does it in Independence and Toby Kruse does the same at Marshalltown. I'm sure there are others, but the hard work these promoters put into their shows should be recognized. The hard work all promoters put into their programs should be recognized. Instead of chewing their tails the next time you think the promoter is the racer's worst enemy, why not thank them for all the hard work they do to give you a place to race?
That's all for now. After a short nap tonight and a long day at work tomorrow, I'll be back at the track tomorrow night. This time it'll be at Highway 3 Raceway in Allison for their "B Mod Special." While I imagine I'll be a little punchy on the mic, flagman Grant Oskvig let me know via facebook tonight that he'll help keep me in check. How he'll do that from the flagstand is anyone's guess, but it's worth the trip to Allison on Tuesday night to find out. Hope to see you there!
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