Sunday, April 29, 2012

Lapped traffic key for three winners at 34 Raceway

After Lee County Speedway's opener on Friday night, I stayed in southeast Iowa with the intention of driving home Saturday morning for the season opener at Independence Motor Speedway that night. Those plans, of course, were dependent on Mother Nature's willingness to break from her typical April weather and allow racing to begin on time at Independence. Since she didn't want to cooperate (as she rarely does this time of year, despite the constant disbelief race fans in the Midwest have of April weather... that's another blog), I stuck around and took in the weekly opener at 34 Raceway in Burlington.

Six divisions were scheduled for the opening points night, which included a make-up feature for the Stock Cars that was rained out prior to the completion of last week's show. Since the make-up feature was not a points race for the Stock Cars, that feature was run at the end of Saturday's show so that it would not affect drivers racing for points should they suffer misfortune in the "opener" part of the night.

While three drivers led the entirety of their respective features, another three took the lead late to score victories, all of them assisted by lapped traffic. Among them was Josh Foster, who chased down Mitch Morris to top the field of 17 IMCA Modifieds. Morris, who started on the pole, took the lead at the drop of the green and immediately separated himself from the field. He paced the field while Kevin Goben worked to hold off Foster for the runner-up spot.

After working one groove lower than Goben throughout the early stages, Foster had a good run and snuck beneath Goben's #4 eight laps into the 20-lapper. By that time, Morris was nearly a straightaway ahead of his nearest pursuers.

While Foster was working to cut into the huge deficit, Scott Hogan was also making noise. Hogan reeled in Foster just as Foster made his bid to pass Goben for second. Hogan followed him into third a couple laps later and the race was on.

The lead held by Morris shrunk lap by lap during the second half of the event and that advantage diminished even quicker when the leader encountered lapped traffic with five laps to go. Morris dove to the low side of the backmarker while Foster went high. Foster cleared for the top spot as they made their way around the lapped car and set sail to lead the remainder of the event and take the win. Morris held on for second ahead of Hogan and Milo Veloz. Goben ran fifth.

Donnie Steward chased down Daniel Bergquist in similar fashion in the 305 Sprint feature. Bergquist, who started on the front row, shot to a huge early lead while Steward did battle with Nick Guernsey for second. By the time Steward cleared the Guernsey machine on lap seven, Bergquist was enjoying a straightaway lead.

Lapped traffic posed a problem in the Sprints, as well, when Bergquist encountered backmarkers at the midway point of the 20-lapper. His lead closed quickly, which allowed Steward to pull to his inside as the leaders entered turn one. Steward came out of turn two with the lead as he pulled away from the field in dominating fashion to take the win. Jayson Ditsworth, who made an impressive run on the high side of the speedway, came home second ahead of Bergquist. Guernsey and Dustin Whiting completed the top five.

Michael Grossman was the early leader in the 4-Cylinder division. From his outside front row starting spot, Grossman set sail with Nick Wilkerson in pursuit. Wilkerson stayed within striking distance of the leader and  moved in for the kill just past the midway point of the 12-lapper when Grossman encountered lapped cars.

Wilkerson swept past the leader to take command with Bill Whalen Jr. not far behind. Although Whalen cleared Grossman for second, he could not reel in the leader as Wilkerson drove to the opening night win. Whalen ran second ahead of Grossman, Bradley Stevenson and Jerrod Nichols.

Eric Rowley held the early lead in the 15-lap Hobby Stock main event while Jake Wenig pressured from his second row starting spot. Wenig took advantage of a lap two caution to make his way around Rowley and win the event going away. Dan Wenig came home second ahead of Dane Fenton, Matt Gavin and Victor Hastings.

Mark Burgtorf survived heavy pressure from Colby Springsteen to score the win in the 25-lap IMCA Late Model feature. From his front row starting spot, Burgtorf took the lead at the drop of the green and was quickly pressured by Springsteen, who started one row behind him.

A quartet of cautions throughout the event kept the field close and allowed Springsteen to challenge from the low side while Burgtorf worked the high groove. Burgtorf's line proved to be the fastest as he held on for the victory by a couple of car-lengths ahead of Springsteen. Tom Darbyshire came from the fourth row to finish third after a great battle with Matt Strassheim and Lonnie Bailey. That pair ran fourth and fifth, respectively.

Jason Cook survived a trio of cautions during the first half of the IMCA Stock Car main event to lead that race in its entirety on his way to the win in the points opener. Cook, who received pressure on the low side from John Oliver Jr., denied all challenges and came away victorious in the 20-lapper. Oliver ran second ahead of Brett Timmerman, Matt Greiner and Abe Huls.

In the make-up feature, the Stock Cars provided for quite an entertaining finale for the evening. Although Jim Lynch led that 20-lapper in its entirety to score his first win in the division after moving from the Hobby Stocks, he fought every step of the way. Shane Watts, who started the event in the second row, quickly made his way into the second position and kept within a couple car-lengths throughout the first half of the event. By lap 11, Watts made the move to the low groove to challenge Lynch for the lead

With Lynch running the top side, Watts repeatedly tried to get a run on the bottom groove and was eventually able to pull even with the leader with a handful of laps to go. As the leaders battled, Jason Cook and Matt Greiner joined the fray at the front of the pack.

Exiting turn four on the final lap, Watts slid up to the middle while Lynch defended his turf on the top side. Contact between the two sent Lynch into the wall, but he held his position and was first across the line as he scored the exciting win. Cook dove to the bottom and slid across in second ahead of Watts, who finished third with substantial damage on the right side of his #56. Greiner and John Oliver Jr. completed the top five.

Although seven features were on the agenda for the night, the races were done in a timely manner with the final checkered flag waving shortly after 10:30. A smaller than normal crowd turned out on the chilly Saturday night, however the track was in great shape and provided for some great action all night long. Before the races, I had the chance to speak with IMCA Modified driver Scott Hogan and his crew, who made the trip from my hometown of Vinton. While the temps were chilly in Burlington, they guessed it was 10+ degrees warmer than in Vinton. That was one more reason I'm glad we decided to hold off on the opener for Independence until next weekend!

Tomorrow, the plan is to head back home to Vinton and take in the second night of weekly points races at Benton County Speedway. I was asked to assist Janice Smith of the Lil' Racer Car Club during tomorrow's kids' gunny sack races. I gladly agreed until I was informed I may actually take part in the event. I'm interested to know what Sunday will bring! Gunny sacks or not, I hope to see everyone in Vinton on Sunday!

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