Oskaloosa, IA (Friday, October 8, 2010) - What a beautiful night for racing on a Friday in October, as temperatures were around the mid 80's during the day time and mid 50's at night. With the beautiful weather and $1,000 to win in the Modifieds, Stock Cars, B-Modifieds and Hobby Stocks 173 cars signed in for Night 1 of the 24th Annual MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA.
After 3 Modified heats, 4 Stock Car heats and 2 B-Mains, 6 B-Modified heats and 2 B-Mains, and 6 Hobby Stock heat races and 2 B-Mains the 24 car fields were set in all 4 classes. The winner of each class would take home a top prize of $1,000.
The first feature on the night was the 20 lap B-Modifieds, with Michael Grantham and Bill Gibson drawing the front row for the event. Gibson would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Grantham and Andrew Schroeder. Gibson held Grantham off until the first caution slowed the action on lap 3. Galen Hassler spun to a stop in turn 1. On the restart Gibson moved back out into the lead, with Schroeder and Brett Moffitt battling it out for second. The second caution of the event would come out on lap 6, when Drew Lawson was forced into the front stretch wall, where he came to a stop. Gibson once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Schroeder and Moffitt still battling for second. Schroeder would try several times to get around the top of Gibson, but Gibson would hold him back until lap 14. Paul Underwood would spin in turn 4 to bring out the final caution of the event. On the restart Gibson jumped back out into the lead, with Moffitt getting second. Gibson would hold on over the final 6 laps to pick up the win. Moffitt finished 2nd, Schroder was 3rd, Scott Davis came from 9th to finish in 4th, with Jason Schlangen coming from 8th to round out the top 5.
Zack VanderBeek and Matt Dotson led the field to the green in the 25 lap Modified feature, with VanderBeek grabbing the top spot on lap 1. VanderBeek started to put some distance between him and the second place car of Ron VerBeek, when he entered lap traffic on lap 5. VerBeek was able to close in on VanderBeek and then went to work on him for the lead. But a caution on lap 9 would slow the battle for the top spot. Debris in turn 4 would bring out the first yellow of the event. On the restart VanderBeek jumped back out into the lead, with Bruce Hanford and Brad Pinkerton over taking VerBeek for 2nd and 3rd. VanderBeek again started to put some distance between him and the battle for second, when he entered lap traffic on lap 16. But a caution on lap 18 for Tim Sands who spun off turn 2, would bring the field back to VanderBeek's back bumper. Once again VanderBeek moved out front on the restart, with VerBeek getting second back. VanderBeek would pull away over the final 7 laps to claim the win. VerBeek settled for 2nd, Kevin Blackburn came from 5th to finish in 3rd, Kelly Shryock started 9th and finished 4th, with Ryan Peckham coming from 7th to round out the top 5.
The 18 lap Hobby Stock feature was up next, with Richard Yaw II and Craig Brown drawing the front row. Brown would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Yaw II and Chris Hovden, who started 5th. The first caution of the event would come out after the completion of lap 1, as Rocky Fosdyck spun to a stop in turn 4. On the restart Brown moved back out into the lead, with Hovden and Yaw II battling for 2nd. The action up front was slowed on lap 3, as Todd Reitzler, who started 10th, got into the side of Yaw II coming out of 4. Yaw II would make contact into the front stretch wall, with parts fall off his car onto the racing surface. Brown again jumped out into the top spot on the restart, with Hovden working to hold off Reitzler for 2nd. The final caution of the event would come out on lap 6, as Donovan Nunnikhoven got sideways coming off of turn four and collected the cars of Andy Coleman and Kris Walker. Once again Brown grabbed the lead on the restart, with Hovden and Shane Klaassen following close behind. Brown would hold off a last lap challenge from Hovden to pick up the win. Klaassen settled for 3rd, Reitzler was 4th, with Danny Thrasher coming from 18th to finish in 5th.
The final feature of the night was the 20 lap Stock Cars, with Ty Hill and Corey Stout leading the field to the green flag. Stout took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Shay Curtin and Kyle Harwood. Stout then worked to hold off Curtin until the first caution would come out on lap 4, as Lynn Panos spun to a stop in turn 4. On the restart Curtin would slip past Stout to take over the top spot. Curtin then worked to hold off Stout, until another caution came out on lap 8. Wayne Crimmins would spin in turn 2. On the restart Michael Johnston spun in turn 3 to bring the yellow light back on. Once again Curtin jumped out into the lead on the restart, with Nathan Wood coming from 5th to get second. Curtin was running the top, with Wood on the bottom, as the two battled for the top spot. But a red on lap 11 would slow the action, as Kevin Donlan took a nasty roll at the end of the front stretch going into turn 1. He would climb from the car ok, but there was heavy damage done to the machine. On the restart Curtin again moved back out into the lead, with Wood going back to work on him for the lead. The battle up front would be slowed for the final time on lap 13, as Keith Williamson's machine caught fire going into turn 1 to bring out the red. Curtin again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Wood and Steve Jackson, who started 15th, battling for 2nd. Curtin would hold off all challenges from Wood over the final 2 laps to claim the win. Jackson came home in 3rd, Todd Inman came from 9th to finish in 4th, with Matt Greiner rounding out the top 5.
Notes from Osky: 54 B-Modifieds, 50 Hobby Stocks, 44 Stock Cars and 25 Modifieds made up the 173 cars signed into to battle it out......Tyler Groenendyk came from 12th in the B-Modified feature to finish in 6th....Tad Reutzel started 22nd and passed 14 cars to finish in 8th....Greg Elliott passed 11 cars from his 20th place starting spot to finish in 9th....Cayden Carter came from 19th to finish in 10th....Michael Grantham started on the pole and was running in the top 5, until his left front broke on lap 15. He would finish the final 5 laps with a broke left front and managed to come home in 11th....Scott Van Buskirk came from 21st to finish in 12th....Carter VanDenBerg passed 11 cars from his 24th place start to finish in 13th....Chad Louk started 17th and had worked his way into 10th. But a left rear flat on lap 18 would give him a 19th place finish......Brandon Banks started the Modified feature in 17th and passed 7 cars to finish in 7th....Mark Widmar came from 18th to finish in 10th....Rick Germer passed 7 cars from his 20th place starting spot to finish in 13th....Tyler VandeKamp came from 23rd to finish in 15th....Dave Garber made the long pull over from Las Cassas, TN to battle it out in the Modified division. He would start heat race 2 from the pole and the held on for a 4th place finish, good enough to get in the redraw. He would redraw 11th for the feature, but troubles late in the race would give him an 18th place finish....Corey Dripps was leading heat 1 when he slowed and pull in on the backstretch of the white flag lap. He would pull over to the scales and found out the race wasn't over, so he was credited with 7th. He thought the heat races were 7 laps and not 8. That would put Dripps in the 21st starting spot instead of a redraw spot. He would make a few laps in the feature and then pulled in to finish in 23rd....John Fellman had motor troubles in hot laps to end his night early......Scott Pipert started the Hobby Stock feature in 12th and would come home in 6th....John Watson passed 10 cars from his 17th place starting spot to finish in 7th....Ryan Vicker came from 22nd to finish in 9th....Jim Tull passed 11 cars from his 21st starting spot to finish in 10th....Dan Hovden started 11th and was running 7th when he pitted on the lap 6 yellow. He would come from the back to take home a 12th place finish....Dean Richards came from 24th to finish in 13th......Night 2 of the MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge concludes tonight (Saturday, October 9th) with $2,000 to win in the Modifieds, Stock Cars, B-Modifieds and Hobby Stocks!!!
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