Monday, November 9, 2009

Pinkerton, Weller, Johnson and Hovden Take Home Wins During the Rescheduled MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge

Oskaloosa, IA (Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009) - What a way to put an ending to the weekend, as mother nature provided great weather again for the rescheduled MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA. Last October, during the second night of this event, mother nature spoiled the second night with over an inch of snow!

The first feature of the night was the 25 lap Modified, with John Fellman and Brad Pinkerton drawing the front row. Pinkerton took advantage of his front row start to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Ryan Gustin. Pinkerton would set a fast pace, as he entered lapped traffic by lap 7. The one and only caution of the race would come out on lap 10, as Jesse Dennis slowed to a stop on the backstretch. On the restart, Pinkerton moved back out front, with Gustin, Scott Dickey, who started 8th, and Zack VanderBeek battling for second. Pinkerton would enter lapped traffic again on lap 18, but wasn't slowed down as he cruised to an easy win. VanderBeek made a last lap pass to come home in second, Dickey was third, Gustin held on for fourth, with Donovan Lodge coming from 13th to round out the top five.

Up next was the 15 lap B-Modified feature, with A.J. Johnson and Colter Deutsch leading the field to the drop of the green flag. The caution would come out before the completion of lap 1, as Geoff Olson, Brad Iverson, Jimmy Broszeit, Drew Lawson and Jason McDaniel collided down the backstretch. On the restart, Deutsch would grab the lead on lap 1 by inches over Johnson. Deutsch then held off Johnson until lap 3 when he jumped to his outside to edge him out for the top spot. Johnson then held on for the final 12 laps to claim his first career B-Modified feature win. Cayden Carter came from 6th to finish in second, Scott Davis started 12th and finished in third, Deutsch held on for fourth, with Matt Lettow coming home in fifth.

Todd Reitzler and Matt Messamaker drew the front row for the 15 lap Hobby Stock feature, but it was third place starter Chris Hovden grabbing the lead on lap 1. Reitzler would slip under Hovden on lap 2 to edge him for the top spot. But Hovden would come back on the top side of the speedway to grab the lead back on lap 3. Hovden then held off Don Nunnikhoven over the final 12 laps to pick up his third win of the weekend, as he won both Friday and Saturday in Memphis, MO. Reitzler held on for third, Danny Thrasher was fourth, with Kris Walker rounding out the top five.

The final feature and the best one of the night was the 20 lap Stock Car feature, with Mike VanGenderen and Matt Greiner drawing the front row for the event. Nathan Wood would take the lead on lap 1 from his third place starting spot, but a caution before the lap could be completed set up an original restart. Chad Walter, Donnie Pearson, Ed Kasperbauer and Corey Stout collided in turn three to bring out the first yellow. On the restart, Greiner jumped out front on lap 1 over Wood and VanGenderen. But Greiner would only lead one lap, as Wood slipped under him on lap 2 to take over the top spot. But the red flag would appear on the speedway after the completion of lap 2, as 10 cars piled up in turn one. The cars involved included Wood, VanGenderen, Shane Weller, Dan Christopher, Todd Staley, Walter, Carl Yaw Jr., Stout, Kyle Falck and Pete Solum, only the cars of Wood, Weller, Falck and Solum were able to continue. Greiner would inherit the lead on the restart, with Mitch Hovden, who started 8th, close behind in second and Brian Mitrisin, who started 10th, running third. Mitrisin would jump to the bottom of the speedway to take over the top spot on lap 3, when the final caution came out after the completion of the lap. Falck, Kasperbauer and Jeff Joldersma collided in turn three to bring the caution out. On the restart, Mitrisin moved back out front with Greiner and Hovden battling for second. Mitrisin looked to be heading for the win when he pulled into the pits on lap 9 with mechanical troubles, giving the lead back to Greiner. Greiner continued to hold off Hovden for the lead, as Weller was working his way back towards the front after the lap 2 red. Weller was quickly closing the gap between the top three drivers, as he passed Steve Jackson for fourth with five laps to go. Then with three laps to go, Weller would get past Mike Bergan and then set his sites on Greiner and Hovden. Weller would pull up to the back of Hovden with two laps to go and then set up his move to the front with the white flag in the air. Weller would make it three wide coming off of turn two, as Greiner took the top, Hovden the middle and Weller the bottom. All three drivers would enter turn three side-by-side-by-side, with Weller coming off of four to take the lead and the win. Greiner held on for second, Hovden was third, Bergan came from 9th to finish in fourth, with Jackson coming home in fifth.

Notes from Osky: 32 B-Modifieds, 32 Hobby Stocks, 27 Stock Cars and 17 Modifieds made up the 108 cars signed in to battle it out for the feature wins......Corey Dripps scratched from the nights events in the Modified class, as he blew a motor up in hot laps....David Wietholder started 11th in the feature and passed 5 cars to take home a 6th place finish....Jesse Dennis had a top five run going when he slowed to a stop on lap 10 with mechanical troubles......Andrew Schroeder won the B-Modified B-Main and started the feature in 21st, but would pass 15 cars to take home a 6th place finish....Chris Eggers came from 14th to finish in 9th....Jeremy Embrey passed 8 cars after starting 19th to finish in 11th....Josh Modde started 23rd and finished 14th....Brandon Hare came from 24th to finish in 15th......The Hobby Stock feature went 15 laps CAUTION FREE!!....Bobby Greene came from 16th to take home an 8th place finish....Scott Spilde came from 22nd and passed 10 cars to finish in 12th....Mike Crump won the B-Main and started 21st, but would pass 8 cars to take home a 13th place finish......Shane Weller was involved in the lap 2 red in the Stock Car feature and had to make repairs to be able to tag the tail of the field for the restart. With the long clean up, Weller's crew was able to change the left front lower A frame, put the spring back in and hook the shock back up to allow him to continue. Weller then drove the wheels off his car to take home the win....Nathan Wood was leading the feature when he broke a ball joint going into turn one, causing the 9 other cars to pile into him. Wood's crew also had time to change the ball joint to get him back into the action. Wood then drove back up to 4th by the halfway point, but broke another ball joint to end his night....Howard Gordon Jr. started 15th and passsed 9 cars to finish in 6th....Loren Kuennen came from 19th to take home a 7th place finish....Falck started 26th, but was involved in the red on lap 2 and the yellow on lap 3. But he would recover to pass 18 cars to finish in 8th....Michael Jaennette started 17th and passed 7 cars to finish in 10th....Donnie Pearson came from 23rd and passed 12 cars to take home an 11th place finish....Ed Kasperbauer, who started 21st, recovered from the wreck on lap 3 to take home a 12th place finish....Jeff Joldersma was involved in the lap 3 wreck, but would recover to finish in 13th.

I would like to thank Todd and Janet Staley for three great nights of racing. The racing action on Friday and Saturday at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, MO was a great way to put an ending to the 2009 season. But then Sunday at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA, also provided a great night of racing to put a capper on the 2009 racing season here in the midwest.

No comments:

Post a Comment