FOUR NEW FACES TAKE CHECKERS AT SOUTHERN IOWA SPEEDWAY
BY: Tony Paris
OSKALOOSA, IA (April 18, 2012) – The third night but second night of the IMCA weekly racing season was held at the Mahaska Monster half-mile at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds. The night was sponsored by The Pro-Line Building Company of New Sharon who treated everyone with free popcorn all night in the grandstand and pit area. This was also New Sharon night with anyone from the New Sharon area getting into the grandstand for five dollard or one Abraham Lincoln.
The first feature was the Pyramid Graphics & Sports IMCA sport mods and twenty-seven cars in the always tough class but Jason McDaniel put the last two weeks bad experiences behind him and took the win after leading all sixteen laps for the win. Last week McDaniel had a left rear spring come out of the car with three laps remaining to end his run and the week before missed making the show by one spot but this week he was all smiles in victory lane. The second spot went to last weeks feature winner Jesse Sobbing who raced his way from eleventh. The third place battle went to Brett Lowrey who passed Bill Gibson with two laps remaining for the third spot and Gibson taking fourth.
In the second feature Kyle Harwood would take his pole starting spot to lead every lap after last week breaking a rear gear in the Carter Manufacturing IMCA stock car division, but it was smooth sailing for the 15K from Oskaloosa. He held off a late race charge from Nathan Wood of Sigourney who raced his way to take the runner- up spot. The battle for third fourth and fifth got three wide with Matt Greiner of Washington taking third and Osky driver Corey Stout would take the fourth spot. A very good run for Osky racer Leroy Groenendyk who battled for the lead but had his best run with a fifth place finish.
The Tracey Elevator IMCA hobby stocks would go to Sully driver Don Nunnikhoven who took the lead on lap four and never look back. This was Nunnikhoven second win of the 2012 season after scoring a win at the Marshalltown Speedway two weeks ago in the Mark Moore Motorsports 2N machine. The runner-up spot went to Shannon Anderson who saw his winning streak end after two straight and settled for second. The three way battle for third would go to Dustin Griffiths of Ottumwa and fourth to John Watson of Des Moines in fourth.
Our fourth feature saw Larry Hopkins of Ottumwa take the win after passing Bill Whalen Jr. of Riverside for the lead with four laps remaining in the Autocrafter/Whalen Racing IMCA sport compacts. Hopkins drove his Dodge Neon into victory lane for the first time in 2012. Bill Whalen Jr. took a close second with John Whalen of Ainsworth in third and last weeks winner Merv Chandler of Vinton in fourth.
In the final feature Andrew Schroeder of Sigourney looked to have his first win but a driver side door panel and right rear tire would end his run about seven laps short with Richie Gustin of Gilman taking his fourth win of 2012 season and second at the Southern Iowa Speedway in the MUSCO Lighting IMCA modified division. The second spot went to Shane Weller of Agency who just keeps getting better with seat time after making the transition from the stock car division to the a-modified division after winning the track championship in the stock cars. The third spot went to last weeks young racer Cayden Carter of Oskaloosa and Jeff Conner of Panora in fourth.
An added class this week was the Iowa Sportsman Series running three sessions for a total of seventy-five laps with a former Southern Iowa Speedway regular Gene Tish of Deep River taking the win. Tish who had visited victory lane last year in the same series
Race fans from Centerville will be treated to a five dollar night this coming Wednesday with the third night of the IMCA weekly racing series in action with all five classes sponsored by Nutz Graphics of Oskaloosa and owner Matt Lisk with hot laps at 7PM and racing action at 7:30PM
PYRAMID GRAPHICS & SPORTS IMCA SPORT MODS
Heat#1-1.Jason McDaniel, Eldon 2.Eric Flander, Barnes City 3.Carter Vandenberg, Osky 4.Mike Shelton, Bloomfield 5.Racer Hulin, Laurel
Heat#2-1.Bill Gibson, Knoxville 2.Jesse Sobbing, Glenwood 3.Brett Lowrey, Montezuma 4.Ty Luellen, Minburn 5.Matt Pittman, Jefferson
Heat#3-1.Curtis Vanderwal ,Osky 2.Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown 3.Tony Johnson, Osky 4.Scott Davis, Madrid 5.Jason Hall, Grinnell
A-Feature 1.McDaniel 2.Sobbing 3.Lowrey 4.Gibson 5.Vandenberg 6.Shelton 7.Vanderwal 8.Flander 9.Bryan Weyer, DSM 10.Gustin
CARTER MANUFACTURING IMCA STOCK CARS
Heat#1-1.Nathan Wood, Sigourney 2.Kyle Harwood, Osky 3.Don Killen, DSM 4.Corey Stout, Osky 5.Randy Hemsley, Sigourney
Heat#2-1.Zack Vanderbeek, New Sharon 2.Matt Greiner, Washington 3.Todd Reitzler, Grinnell 4.Leroy Groenendyk, Osky 5.Alan VanGorp, DSM
A-Feature 1.Harwood 2.Wood 3.Greiner 4.Stout 5.Groenendyk 6.Vanderbeek 7.VanGorp 8.Reitzler 9.D.Killen 10. Tom Killen, DSM
TRACEY ELEVATOR IMCA HOBBY STOCKS
Heat#1-1.John Watson, DSM 2.Shannon Anderson, Urbandale 3.Bill Bonnett, Knoxville 4.Bobby Greene, Eddyville 5.Don Nunnikhoven, Sully
Heat#2-1.Eric Stanton, Hartford 2.Danny Thrasher, Agency 3.Scott Shull, Eldon 4.Dustin Griffiths, Ottumwa 5.Kevin Fee, Knoxville
A-Feature 1.Nunnikhoven 2.Anderson 3.Griffiths 4.Watson 5.Stanton 6.Fee 7.Dale Porter, Bloomfield 8.Shull 9.Andrew Hustead, Rutledge, Mo. 10.Justin Hook, Osky
AUTOCRAFTER/WHALEN RACING IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
Heat#1-1.Larry Hopkins, Ottumwa 2.Bill Whalen Jr.,Riverside 3.Merv Chandler, Vinton 4.John Whalen, Ainsworth 5.Mark McCaughy, DSM
A-Feature 1.Hopkins 2.B.Whalen 3.J.Whalen 4.Chandler 5.McCaughy
MUSCO LIGHTING IMC A-MODIFIEDS
Heat#1-1.Richie Gustin, Gilman 2.Andrew Schroeder, Keswick 3.Shane Weller, Agency 4.Scott Dickey, Packwood 5.Cayden Carter, Osky
A-Feature 1.Gustin 2,Weller 3.Carter 4.Jeff Conner, Panora 5.Schroeder 6.Dickey 7.Matt Waugh, Altoona 8.Brandon Banks, Washington
IOWA SPORTSMAND SERIES WINNER : Gene Tish, Deep River
Category: Iowa, News, Southern Iowa Speedway
