HARLAN, IA (June 30). A beautiful Saturday brought out 85 cars and over 1000 race fans to Shelby County Speedway. The night was sponsored by Shelby County State Bank. Kids were everywhere wearing their SCSB shirts proudly and receiving a free drink ticket in return. At intermission, Shelby County State Bank put on a water balloon toss for the kids, but it looked liked the adults were having more fun trying to get each other wet. When it was time for the feature races, all the cars proudly displayed the American and Iowa flags as they made their parade lap around the track in honor of our great country.

The sport compacts started off the evening with 17 cars. With 8 laps to go in the race, a caution was thrown for the #76 of Jessica Johnson for stalling in turn 1. She needed pushed back to the pits. The restart order had the #67 of Tom Summerfield (Dunlap) in the first spot, followed by McIntosh (MoValley), Dan Mefferd (Dunlap), Dylan Petersen (Harlan), and Taylor Griffin (Portsmouth). Summerfield held onto his lead, adding some cushion, but at least five cars were battling for the 2nd place position. With four laps to go, 3-wide racing was happening on the track. Griffin (#87) pulled into the pits. With 2 laps to go, the 33RC car of Randy Cass (a new driver this week) and the #2 of Corey Madden (Avoca) were battling for 2nd place. Summerfield easily took the checker flag, and Randy XXX just barely beat out Madden for 2nd.

Hobbies, 21 of them, rolled out next. Racing in this class was as intense as ever, when on the first lap the #55 car of Jason Fusselman (Shelby) was pushed sideways into the rail on the backstretch, causing him to ride the bank too high into turns 3 and 4. The caution came out and 3 cars rushed into pit row. Fusselman went into pit row for a right rear flat tire. #15 of Dale Towne (Avoca) stopped into pit row with a left front flat tire. Kurt Hansen (#75, Walnut) also came into pit row where his crew removed his hood, tried to put it back on, and then ended up removing it for good. Everyone made it back on the track in time for the restart, which saw once again 3-wide racing in turns 1 and 2 and 4-wide racing in turn 4. A lot of bumping between cars was going on during this point, but everyone stayed moving forward. Mike Harris (#83, Avoca) just took the lead when the following lap, the caution comes out for the #3 of Mike Hansen (Exira) who plowed into the track tires in turn 4 and ended up having to pit. With 11 laps to go, Harris is out in front, followed by #29S of Chris Shannol (Council Bluffs), #68 of Blain Petersen (Essex), #78 of Shannon Anderson (Atlantic) and #12 of Doug Smith (Lake City). Harris has a good cushion for the lead with bumping going on between Shannol and Smith. With 5 laps to go, #60 of Tanner Powers (Exira) moved up into the mix of things and battled for 2nd place alongside Smith and Petersen. Down to the last lap, Towne who has been on a winning streak, pulled into the pits. Mike Harris took the checker flag, followed by Smith, Powers, and Petersen.

The sport mods were anxious to get their show underway, that they jumped the green flag start and had to regroup and try again. Chad Dills (#11, Shelby) has been strong each week, taking checker after checker. Could anyone keep up with him this week? Dills pulled out front and far early, but newcomer Rick Germar in the #93 car was moving up through the pack rapidly and appeared he could possibly be the one to bump off Dills. Joseph Mefferd (#3, Dunlap) and Anthony Attanasio (#1T, Shelby) were battling for 4th and 5th place. With 2 laps to go, Dills caught up to lap traffic, allowing Germar to gain some more ground on Dills, but Germar ran out of time and Dills took the checker.

The stock car feature started as intense as the hobbies. On the first lap, the #10X car of Keith Knop (Shelby) was hit on the front corner of his car, pushing him into the guardrail in turn #2 head-on. The red flag came out, and #35 of Donavon Smith (Lake City) headed to pit row with a right rear flat tire. Knop was able to walk away from his car, and appeared ok. The race was completely restarted, with Chris Ullrich (01U, Kiron) in 1st, followed by #29 car of Tanner Partridge (Walnut). With 12 laps to go, the second red flag of the night was thrown when two cars went over the bank in turns 3 and 4. The Z06 car of Jesy Webb (Dension) went into the pits, but was able to make the restart. The points leader, Dustin Smith (#85, Lake City) was flying high on the outside groove trying to move up from 3rd place. Everyone else stayed low. With 10 laps to go, Smith flew by to take the lead, still riding the high groove. The 2nd through 8th places were being battled. In that mix were Clay Christain (Avoca), Ullrich, Brian Blessington (Breda) and Donavon Smith. By this time, Dustin Smith was able to extend his lead so no one could catch him. On the last lap, Ullrich and Blessington had a heated battle for 3rd and 4th place. Dustin Smith took the checker. Kudos to Donavon Smith who restarted last and finished 2nd. Blessington took 3rd over Ullrich.

The late models took the track and had to restart their race from jumping the gun. #14 of Kyle Wahlert (Des Moines) took the lead with #23R of Craig Roberts (Des Moines) not too far behind. With 12 laps left to go, Jeff Segebart (#5S, Westside) took the lead, followed by Roberts. The #17M car of Phil Miller (MoValley) seemed to come out of nowhere from the back of the pack, making a great pass on the front stretch to take over the 4th position from the #25 car of Frank Jorgensen (Carroll) with 9 laps to go. The caution was thrown with 7 laps to go for the #11 car of Randy Faux (Earlham) who spun out on the front stretch and stalled. He restarted in the back of the pack. Segebart still has the lead, followed by Roberts on the restart. Miller moved up to 3rd. With 2 laps to go, caution flies for the #25 car of Frank Jorgensen who spins in turn 2. With a green-white-checker restart, it was anyone’s race to win between Segebart, Roberts and Miller. Segebart was able to hold everyone off to take the checker flag for this week, followed by Roberts, Miller, and Don Beckstrum (#33, Carroll). Dave Jorgensen (#1, Omaha) was able to beat out Barry Sorensen (#45, Avoca) to take the 5th spot for the night.

The modifies started intense as well. The #1 car of Dave Hulsebus (Tennant) was on poll and in turn 1, was pushed in the rear of his car causing him to spin backwards as the entire field was passing around him. Luckily, all the cars made it through unscathed and Hulsebus went to the back on the restart. With 17 laps to go, #3 of Mike Albertsen (Audubon) was leading the race, followed by Jeff Anderson (#78, Atlantic). The #14 car of Matt Bonine (Onawa) was making headway moving from 5th to 2nd place in 1 lap. The 2K car of Chad Preul was also moving his way up. With 15 laps to go, the #1R car of Craig Reetz (Dunlap) was moving on the high groove and at this point was 6th in the race. Within 1 lap, Reetz jumped to 3rd place on that high groove. With 10 laps to go, Reetz was still flying high on the high groove and took over the lead. With 8 laps to go, the red flag came out for the #1RX car of Matt Richards who went over the bank in turn 3 and his car was on fire. The driver was ok, and the race restarted with Reetz in first, followed by Albertsen, Bonine, Jeff Stephens (#92, Arion), and Preul. Albertsen kept Reetz in his sights, but Reetz held on for the checker and Albertsen had to settle for second. Bonine and Stephens finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.