8/12
Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA
Ultimate Challenge
67 cars
I can't put into words the sorrow and remorse I feel about the passing of Keith Hutton during the C main this evening. Please join me in keeping his wife Jenny and other family members and friends in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks to Terry Pletch and the minister from Ohio who tried to console those in attendance. And thanks to the 50/50 takers, and the fans who donated all money to the family. As always the sprint car family will stick together and help each other through this difficult time. I don't know what else to say. Rest In Peace Keith. The night's results:
Tracy Hines (16th car to time) set quick time on a quickly drying track at 20.202 seconds. Zach Chappell (1st car out) was second quick, followed by Boston Reid (22nd), J. J. Yeley (49th), Tony Elliott (48th), Troy Rutherford (5th), Jay Drake (56th), Damion Gardner (27th), Levi Jones (11th) and Cory Kruseman (43rd). An exceptional field of non-wingers was assembled to do battle. Kevin Doty and Chris Mourer took one lap at the end of qualifications. Tony Jones failed to get a qualifying lap in. Jerry Coons Jr. had something break, sending him into the turn four wall and into a couple of flips. He was uninjured, but done for the night.
D main (started): 1. Kevin Briscoe 21R (1) 2. Toby Brown 61a (3) 3. Ken Carmichael Sr. 92 (2) 4. Ryan Anderson 71x (4) / 5. Ken Carmichael Jr. 92c (5) 6. Ryan Jamision 51J (9) 7. Seth Wilson 17 (10) 8. Maurer 8s (8) 9. Mel Murphy 62 (7) 10. Stacey Alexander 126 (12) 11. Dan Owings 19K (11) 12. Doty 50K (13) 13. Tony Everhart 55 (15) 14. Brian Stansberry 70s (14) 15. Marc Jessup 14J (6) DNS - T. Jones 2, Coons 10
Briscoe led wire to wire. Ry. Anderson, in his first non-wing appearance, looked strong in battling with the elder Carmichael for much of the way. Jessup exited while smoking on lap two.
The C main was cancelled after the Hutton tragedy. The top eight starters were given spots in the back of the heat races. They were Sean Walden 97T, Jimmy Crawford 18, Richard Griffin 50, Marty Wilcox 3az, Mike Miller 57B, Dickie Gaines 70, Mike Spencer 44, Bob Thompson 2T. Wilcox did not start a heat so Larry Ball Jr. 5J replaced him. Those who did not transfer were Chris Urish 77u, Billy Pauch 75, Adam Mitchell 14, Mitch Wissmiller 7m, Charles Davis Jr. 94, Josh Ford 54, Mike English 6, Robert Bell 71, Briscoe, Brown, Carmichael Sr. and Ry. Anderson.
Heat one (started): 1. Jac Haudenschild 4 (4) 2. Elliott 11x (7) 3. Bud Kaeding 29 (5) 4. Hines 69 (8) / 5. L. Jones 38 (6) 6. Troy Cline 11 (3) 7. Terry Pletch 29P (2) 8. Walden (9) 9. Bob Ream Jr. 8 (1) 10. Crawford (10)
Ten lap heats had an invert of eight, and took four to the A main. Haud took the lead from Pletch on lap two and never looked back. Elliott stormed through the pack to gain second in a three-way, three-wide tussle between himself, Kaeding and Hines. Crawford and Ream exited early.
Heat two (started): 1. Kevin Huntley 5 (3) 2. Mat Neely 17N (2) 3. Chappell 50z (8) 4. Kruseman 21 (6) / 5. Rutherford 7 (7) 6. Brian Stanfill 21x (1) 7. Griffin (9) 8. Kyle Wissmiller 2K (5) 9. Justin Marvel 47 (4) 10. Ball (10)
Huntley made his winning pass of Neely on lap six. Chappell made an impressive run and took third from the veteran Kruseman on the final circuit.
Heat three (started): 1. Reid 2B (8) 2. Drake 67 (7) 3. Don Droud Jr. 7x (1) 4. Travis Rilat 29T (6) / 5. Tom Hessert 67x (2) 6. Matt Westfall 23s (5) 7. Gaines (10) 8. Miller (9) 9. Brian Tyler 6T (4) 10. Kerry Madsen 0 (3)
Reid and Drake hit the cushion, which was approaching the wall to run around the first three rows of starters. Rilat tangled with Madsen who was running fourth on lap four. The result was Madsen spinning and restarting at the tail. The restart on lap four saw Droud as the leader in front of Reid, Drake, Hessert and Rilat. Rilat would again get by Hessert with two to go, as Reid and Drake would get past Droud on the restart. Westfall was part of the transfer mix until late.
Heat four (started): 1. Bill Rose 6x (3) 2. Gardner 45 (7) 3. Yeley 20 (8) 4. Rip Williams 3 (1) / 5. Wayne Johnson 12x (4) 6. John Scott 83 (5) 7. Critter Malone 97x (6) 8. Thompson (10) 9. Spencer (9) 10. Alan Ballard 97 (2)
Rose took the lap two lead from Williams and never looked back. W. Johnson slipped back early, but came on at the end to finish just short of the final transfer. Gardner and Yeley did their jobs by gaining transfers, meaning dash starting spots.
Dash (started): 1. Drake (1) 2. Elliott (2) 3. Reid (4) 4. Yeley (3) 5. Gardner (7) 6. Chappell (5) 7. Hines (6) 8. Kruseman (8)
Drake led a mostly single file event to the checkers. The dash decided starting spots in the A.
B main (started): 1. W. Johnson (9) 2. Rutherford (1) 3. L. Jones (2) 4. Westfall (5) 5. Tyler (8) 6. Cline (10) / 7. Malone (3) 8. Scott (6) 9. K. Wissmiller (4) 10. Madsen (11) 11. Gaines (21) 12. Stanfill (16) 13. Griffin (19) 14. Thompson (23) 15. Marvel (7) 16. Miller (20) 17. Spencer (22) 18. Ball (24) 19. Walden (17) 20. Ream (15) 21. Pletch (12) 22. Hessert (13) 23. Ballard (14) DNS - Crawford
W. Johnson picked them off, one by one using all of the track, high and low. Lap two saw Hessert and Ballard flip hard into the turn four wall bringing red. In a separate incident, Pletch dumped it on the backstretch. The lap two restart saw Rutherford leading L. Jones, K. Wissmiller, Westfall and Malone. That would change drastically. W. Johnson made his winning move on lap 9 of 12. Great racing for fifth and sixth, as on more than one occasion, Tyler, Cline, Malone and Scott were four-wide at times trying to nail down the final two transfer spots.
A main (started): 1. Reid (3) 2. Westfall (13) 3. Yeley (4) 4. Gardner (5) 5. Haudenschild (14) 6. W. Johnson (16) 7. Chappell (6) 8. Kruseman (8) 9. Cline (17) 10. Drake (1) 11. Huntley (18) 12. Hines (7) 13. L. Jones (10) 14. Elliott (2) 15. Droud (21) 16. Rutherford (9) 17. Rose (19) 18. Neely (20) 19. Tyler (15) 20. Williams (22) 21. Rilat (11) 22. Kaeding (12)
Kaeding left early. Reid took the bull by the horns immediately and had traffic in sight when Rilat came to rest on lap 12. The restart saw Reid leading Yeley, Westfall, Drake and Kruseman. Meanwhile, W. Johnson was on the move and running well. Many positions were traded along the way. Westfall used the extreme low side to gain eleven spots and earn hard-charger honors. W. Johnson moved up ten spots in impressive fashion, getting by fellow Oklahoman Chappell on the last lap. Haud threw off nine competitors. Reid would not be denied as he dominated and cashed on $30,000. All in all, a great night of racing on a difficult night.