Sunday, October 6, 2013

27th Annual MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge Ends Osky's 2013 Season

Oskaloosa, IA (Saturday, October 5, 2013) - What was suppose to be a two day show for the 27th Annual MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA turned out to be only a one day event, as mother nature rained out Friday nights events. But there was still some good money on the line for the Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks, and Sport Compacts to compete for.

After 17 heat races, and 4 B Mains, the 5 feature events were set to take to the track.

The first feature up on the night was the 10 lap Sport Compact feature, with Jim Garrett and Adam Gates drawing the front row for the event. Gates would take advantage of his front row start to jump out into the lead on lap 1. Gates looked like he would pull away from the field, until lap 4 when Merv Chandler, who started 6th, closed in on his back bumper. Chandler would try low and even high to get around Gates over the final 6 laps. But Gates would hold him off to pick up the $150 top prize. Chandler settled for 2nd, Kassidy Kirkpatrick came home in 3rd, Kevin Kirkpatrick was 4th, with John Whalen rounding out the top 5.


Up next was the 20 lap SportMod feature, with Brett Lowry and Eric Flander leading the field to the drop of the green flag. Lowry grabbed the lead on lap 1 over Flander and Rodger Dresden and then held it until the first caution came out on the completion of the lap. Ryan Fullenkamp would spin down the front stretch and came to rest on the guardrail on the inside of the track to bring out the yellow. On the restart Lowry moved back out front, with Flander working to hold back Logan Anderson in the battle for 2nd. But Flander's run up front came to a halt on lap 3, when he clipped a tire in turn 4 and ended up rolling to bring out the red. He climbed from his car ok. Lowry once again jumped out front on the restart, with Jim Gillenwater grabbing the second spot and Carter VanDenBerg, who started 12th, taking over third. Curtis VanDerWal, who started 9th, jumped to the top of the track on the restart and quickly moved in to battle for the top 3. VanderWal wasn't happy with running 4th, as he grabbed the top spot on lap 11 and then started to pull away from the field until another caution waved on lap 19. Andrew Schroeder, who started 22nd and was running 10th, slowed to a stop down the backstretch to bring out the yellow. This would set up a green-white-checkered overtime finish. On the restart VanDerWal moved back out front and then held on for the final 2 laps to claim the $1,000 top prize. VanDenBerg settled for 2nd, Lowry held on for 3rd, Glenn Gladson Jr. came from 11th to finish in 4th, with Mitch Van Engen coming from 10th to take home a 5th place finish.


Todd Shute and Luke Wanninger drew the front row for the 20 lap Modified feature, with Wanninger grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Shute and Jeremy Mills. The battle up front was slowed for the first time on lap 2, when Josh Truman spun in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Wanninger jumped back out front, with Shute holding off Mills in the battle for 2nd. But just as the top 3 was pulling away, the final caution of the event came out on lap 3. This time debris in turn 3 brought the yellow light on. Wanninger once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Shute and Mills close behind. Shute would stay glued to Wanninger's back bumper over the next 12 laps, when he tried to work under Wanninger for the top spot on lap 15. But Wanninger was able to hold off Shute over the final 5 laps to pick up the $1,500 top prize. Shute settled for 2nd, Mills was 3rd, Cayden Carter was 4th, with Scott Dickey coming from 11th to round out the top 5.


Up next was the 20 lap Hobby Stock feature, with Jason See and Jacob Keiser making up the front row for the event. Keiser took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over See and Shannon Anderson. But Keiser would only lead that lap, as Dustin Griffiths, who started 10th, quickly used the bottom of the speedway to edge out Keiser at the line by inches on lap 2 to grab the top spot. Anderson would follow Griffiths into the second spot one lap later and then went to work on Griffiths for the top spot on lap 4. Griffiths was glued to the bottom of the speedway, which forced Anderson to use the middle of the track to get by. Those two would run laps 4-6 side-by-side, with Anderson grabbing the lead away on lap 7. Anderson then pulled away over the final 13 laps to take home the $1,000 top prize. Griffiths settled for 2nd, Eric Stanton came from 12th to finish in 3rd, Keiser held on for 5th, with Mike Hughes coming from 8th to round out the top 5.


The final feature up on the night was the 25 lap Stock Cars, with Brad Pinkerton and Derrick Agee leading the field to the drop of the green flag. Pinkerton jumped out front on lap 1 over Agee and Corey Stout and the held it until the first caution on lap 5. Cody Agee, who was running 5th, spun in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Pinkerton moved back out front, with Derrick Agee and Stout close behind. But the action was slowed for the final time one lap later, lap 6, when Mike Johnston spun in turn 4 to bring the yellow light back on. Pinkerton once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Agee close behind in second. Agee stayed glued to Pinkerton's back bumper over the next 7 laps. Then coming off turn 2 on lap 14 Agee would get up beside Pinkerton, only to have Pinkerton pull ahead coming out of turn 4 to keep the top spot. Pinkerton then held off Agee over the final 11 laps to claim the $1,000 top prize. Agee settled for 2nd, Cayden Carter was 3rd, Damon Murty came from 10th to finish in 4th, with Doug Adamy, who made the pull over from Columbus, NE, started 16th and passed 11 cars to take home a 5th place finish.

Notes from Osky: 36 SportMods, 33 Stock Cars, 33 Hobby Stocks, 20 Modifieds, and 12 Sport Compacts, plus 11 Iowa Sportsman Series cars made up the 145 cars signed in on the night......Cody Cleghorn started the Sport Compact feature in 11th and passed 4 cars to finish in 7th....Trent Orwig came from 12th to finish in 9th....The Sport Compact feature went CAUTION FREE!......Bill Wears started the SportMod feature in 17th and passed 8 cars to finish in 9th....Brayton Carter passed 10 cars from his 20th place starting spot to finish in 10th....Tyler Heckart came from 24th and passed 13 cars to take home 11th....AJ Johnson spun down the front stretch on lap 2 while running 8th, but did a 360 and kept going. He fell all the way back to 19th, but recovered over the final 18 laps to finish in 12th....Gatlin Leytham came from 19th to finish in 14th....Taylor Musselman came from 21st to take home 16th....Rodger Dresden was running 10th when he spun and did a 360 and kept going on the white flag lap to fall all the way to 17th....Jayson Wiggins started 23rd and finished 19th......Richie Gustin passed 6 cars from his 13th place starting spot in the Modified feature to come home in 7th....Casey Greubel came from 19th to finish in 12th....Ronn Lauritzen started 16th and finished 13th....Scott Hogan came from 18th to finish in 14th....Levi Layman finished 16th after starting in 20th....Dugan Thye lost a motor in hot laps and was forced to scratch from the nights activities......John Watson passed 12 cars from his 22nd place starting spot in the Hobby Stock feature to take home a 10th place finish....Andrew Hustead came from 20th to pass 9 cars en-route to an 11th place finish....Doug Sylvester came from 18th to finish in 13th....Adam Bonnett started 19th and finished in 14th....Brandon Cox finished 15th after starting in 21st....Tina Greubel came from 24th to finish in 20th....Derek Hodges had troubles after his heat race to force him to scratch from the rest of the night....Randy Byerly got upside down in turn 3 in his heat to force him to scratch for the remainder of the night......David Brandies passed 14 cars from his 21st starting spot to take home a 7th place finish....Kris Walker started 22nd and passed 10 cars to finish in 12th....Mike McClure came from 17th to finish in 13th....Scott Walker came out of retirement to drive Ryan Walker's #9w. He started the feature in 20th and finished in 14th.....Jeremiah Jones came from 24th to finish in 16th....Matt Deaton started 23rd and finished in 18th.

Coming up next for me will be the 2nd Annual Fall Extravaganza at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA on Friday, October 11th and Saturday, October 12th. The Modifieds will be going for $1,500 to win and $200 to start, while the Stock Cars and SportMods will be gunning for a top prize of $1,500 to win and $150 to start. The Hobby Stocks will be going for a top prize of $1,000 to win and $150 to start, with the Sport Compacts running for $500 to win and $75 to start. Hope to see you all there!!!!