SIZZLING
HEAT HOVERED AT SHELBY COUNTY SPEEDWAY
By Sharon Miller
HARLAN,
Ia (July 7). The feeling was hot, hot, HOT for racing
this evening as temperatures reached close to 100
degrees and the humidity felt off the charts. This
wasn’t enough to deter the racecar drivers; 91 cars
participated in the feature class this evening while
devoted fans looked for shade, ice and water. Relief
came when the sun went down near intermission and free
watermelon was handed out after the watermelon eating
contest was done. The heat of the night though took its
toll on several cars, causing them to pull into the pits
early throughout most of the classes.
The sport
compacts started the events of the evening. In the
feature race with 11 laps to go, a loose car in turn 3
turned sideways cuasing the #03B of Brandi Acker to go
into the guardrail and newcomer, #15 of Nick Adams to
flip and overturn into the frontstretch wall. Drivers
were ok. The #26 of Andrew Hicks pulled into the pits.
With 9 laps to go, the #2 car of Corey Madden got loose
causing him to go over the backstretch, but was able to
return to racing no worse for wear. The #37 car of Vince
Trometer stalled on the high bank in turn 4 and had to
be pushed into the pits. Lining up for the restart were
#22x of Colby McIntosh, 33TC of Tim Cass, 33RC of Randy
Cass, 3C of Cody Klein, and 87 of Taylor Griffin. Bryan
Smith, #55, wasn’t able to restart and was pushed to the
pits. With 5 laps to go, the #67 of Tom Summerfield got
severely loose on the backstretch and was able to
recover before an incident occurred. Relinquishing a top
position, McIntosh pulled in with 5 laps to go. Tim Cass
slowed way down from his top position with a tire that
was going flat, but stayed on the track to the finish.
With 2 laps to go, the leaders lapped him. Madden
recovered from his earlier off the track move was
battling with the 5R of Terry Romick for 1st on the
white flap lap. Madden was able to take the checker,
followed by Romick, Griffin, Dylan Petersen (#44) and
Randy Cass.
The sport mod
heat race took it's toll on this class, only leaving 5
cars to start the feature. The action started in the
heats when the #1T of Anthony Attanasio hit the track
tires coming in turn 1, whipped back onto the track, hit
a rut and slowly rolled over. He made it out of the car
ok. Chad Dills (#11) once again dominated the feature
race from start to finish, working his way from the back
to a large lead over the rest of the pack. Dills
finished 1st, followed by 03K of Ken Layton, 3 of Joseph
Mefferd, and 0H of Scott Plantz.
The “Wild
Thing” hobby class moved onto the track next. As in past
weeks, 4-wide racing occurred through turn 1 with the
crowd waiting for when, not if, the caution would come
out. In turn 4, #37 of Gaylen Freese spun around
involving #3 of Mike Hansen and the caution was thrown.
Robert Tippery (#121) led the restart field. Caution
came out with 9 laps to go for Chris Shanno (#29S), who
spun in turn 4. Derrick Rohe (#98) pulled into the pits.
And a surprise move, the leader Tippery also pulled into
the pits ending his night. The #2 of Troy Mabbitt led
the restart field this time around, with Tanner Powers
(#60), Kurt Hansen (#75), Jason Fusselman (#55), and Ken
Hansen (#17) behind him. With 5 laps to go, Mabbitt fell
out of the top 5, while the #15 car of Dale Towne moved
up into 2nd place. Powers had the lead with about 3 car
lengths ahead of Towne. Joe Cartier (#14C) pulled into
the pits with a few laps left to go. Kurt Hansen and
Devin Smith (#81) were battling side-by-side for 3rd and
4th place, but Smith pulled it out in the end to take
3rd. Towne finished 2nd and Powers finished 1st for the
first time this season. As a side note after the race,
Kurt Hansen, who finished 4th, was claimed and he
accepted.
Would the
stock car feature be a repeat of the hobby feature? They
usually start out 3 or 4 wide just like the hobbies, but
tonight, they had 2-wide racing through the first lap
and managed to make it through without a caution the
entire race. The 10X car of Keith Knop, who took a hard
hit into the guardrail last week, was leading the pack
by about 3 car lengths with 10 laps to go. Chris Ullrich
(01U) was in 2nd place. With 8 laps to go, one of the
Lake City boys, Donovan Smith (#35) takes over the 3rd
place position by flying high on an outside groove. Most
of the cars were in the low groove. Brian Blessington
(#92B) lost a hood pin, so his hood was trying to lift
off with 3 laps to go. Dustin Smith (#85) and 1ZR of
Ryan Webb were battling for 4th position, with Smith
taking the spot on the white flag lap. Keith Knop
finished first, Donovan Smith second, followed by
Ullrich, Dustin Smith, and Webb.
Kyle Wahlert
(#14) took off on the green flag for the late model race
and had the early lead, only to drive straight over the
bank on turn 3. He came back onto the track and a
complete restart of the race was done. With 18 laps to
go, Don Beckstrom (#33), Vic Lovejoy (2V), and Jeff
Segebart (#5S) were battling for the lead. Beckstrom and
Segebart had the stronger cars and pulled away from the
rest of the pack. Phil Miller (#17M), Randy Faux (#11F),
and Fred Miller (#9F) were battling for 4th place with
14 laps to go. With 6 laps to go, Beckstrom was still
holding the lead but Segebart was charging hard and
right on his tail. Phil Miller, Fred Miller were still
battling for 4th place, and was now joined by #43 of
Jeremy Grady. Lovejoy was still in 3rd with cars a few
lengths in front of him and a few lengths behind him.
Phil Miller bobbled in turn 2 with 5 laps to go,
allowing Fred Miller and Grady to get around him. Grady
was flying on the high groove that Donovan Smith found
in the stock feature and propelled himself into 3rd
place with 2 laps to go. Beckstrom held onto his lead to
take the checker over Segebart, by 0.25 seconds. Grady
and Lovejoy came in next, while Fred Miller just beat
out Phil Miller for the 5th spot.
I apologize
for misreporting last week that Jeff Segebart won the
late model feature. It was actually Craig Roberts, #23R
from Des Moines, who made the win at the end.
The modifieds
were up and Dan McKeighan (#Z62) pulled out early to
lead the first lap. Caution was thrown when the #3 car
of Mike Albertson was pushed up into the wall on the
frontstretch and stalled. He went into the pits for a
flat right front tire. With 14 laps to go, the #19J of
Jeff Jones took over the lead from McKeighan. The race
was on for 2nd through 6th place as those cars were
battling side-by-side behind the leader. With 10 laps to
go, #1RX of Matt Richards, was in second, followed by
Jeff Stephens (#92), Craig Reetz (#1R), and McKeighan.
Reetz was moving up slowly and had the 3rd position,
when with 4 laps to go, he pulled into the pits
finishing the night in 11th place. Jones held off the
charge from Stephens to take the checker. Stephens took
2nd place, followed by McKeighan, Richards, and Dave
Hulsebus (#1).
The fair will
be happening at the fairgrounds where racing takes place
each Saturday night. Come early to ride the rides and
stay to enjoy the first class racing Shelby County
Speedway has to offer! Racing takes place every
Saturday, with gates opening at 5 pm, hot laps at 6:30
pm, racing at 7:00 pm.
Past Results
June 30th
June 23rd
June 16th
June 9th
May 19th
May 12th
