8/11
Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA
Front Row Challenge
56 cars
Danny Lasoski (11th car out to time) set the standard in qualifications with a circuit of 15.708 seconds. Chad Kemenah (16th car out) was second quick, followed by Erin Crocker (29th), Shane Stewart (26th), Kasey Kahne (5th), Ryan Coniam (2nd), Lance Dewease (8th), Jason Johnson (23rd), Roger Crockett (24th) and Sammy Swindell (22nd). The track developed a healthy rut and dip in turn one, but the track stayed fast and heavy all night. Track record holder Kerry Madsen failed to get a time in when his car shut down in turn three before he could complete a lap.
Last chance heat (started): 1. Ryan Anderson 71R (3) 2. Marty Wilcox 3w (1) 3. Bobby Mincer 15 (7) 4. Bruce Robenalt 98 (2) / 5. Doug Strong 43 (8) 6. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (10) 7. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4) 8. Troy Little 20AU (5) 9. Dan Owings 19K (9) 10. Johnny Herrera 45x (6) DNS - Toni Lutar 4x, Madsen 82
Those not in the top 44 time trialers raced the last chance heat. The top four filled in the back of the four heats, with the rest going to the C. Herrera lost his top wing sideboard in time trials, and had another wing fold over on lap one. He was done for the night in his father's 45x. While running third on lap six, Giannetto lost power down the frontstretch, ducked low and collected Little, who was running fourth. Little ended up in a concrete barrier, ending his night. He was uninjured. Ry. Anderson led the distance over his housemate this month, Wilcox.
Heat one (started): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (1) 2. Fred Rahmer 88H (2) 3. Kahne 83JR (5) 4. Lasoski 20 (6) 5. Jan Howard 51 (3) / 6. Jonathan Allard 35w (8) 7. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (7) 8. Jim Moughan 1mm (11) 9. Bill Rose 6R (9) 10. Max Dumesny 1x (10) 11. Robenalt (12) 12. Crockett 11c (4)
Heats inverted six and took five to the A. The top six qualifiers making it through their heat to the A, were inverted to create a dash for the front row. Crockett dumped his mount in turn three before a lap could be completed. Logan led Rahmer wire to wire in a mostly single file affair. The best race was for eighth between Moughan and Rose. Moughan gained the spot on the last lap.
Heat two (started): 1. Daryn Pittman 21 (2) 2. Swindell 1 (4) 3. Kim Mock 1m (1) 4. Kemenah 15K (6) 5. Dean Jacobs 29 (3) / 6. Clint Garner 55 (8) 7. Coniam 6c (5) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (10) 9. Tim Kaeding 7T (7) 10. Wilcox (12) 11. Dennis Moore Jr. 0 (9) 12. Jerrod Hull 50 (11)
Garner jumped into the fourth position (from eighth) on the first lap, while Pittman led Swindell away from the pack. A stoppage by Kaeding bunched the field for a restart. Three laps later, D. Moore pulled in the infield. A lap after that, Hull stopped on the frontstretch. D. Moore rejoined the field a lap behind. Pittman led Swindell, Mock, Kemenah and Garner back to the cone. D. Jacobs was able to work under Garner and hold him off for the final transfer spot. Coniam missing the dash put Dewease on the front row.
Heat three (started): 1. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (3) 2. Dewease 77 (5) 3. Jeremy Campbell 10c (4) 4. Skip Jackson 21x (9) 5. Crocker 16 (6) / 6. Zach Chappell 50z (2) 7. Colin Northway 60 (10) 8. Justin Henderson R19 (7) 9. Adam Clarke 14A (1) 10. Ry. Anderson (11) 11. Mike Kertscher 80K (8) DNS - Jeff Shepard 92
Shepard did not qualify well, and was scheduled inside row six. He called it a night. Clarke started on the tail, as he visited the work area during the pace laps, vacating his pole position. Vanderploeg took advantage and beat everyone by half a straightaway. All eyes were on Crocker, who fell back as far as seventh. She skillfully worked under both Henderson and then Chappell with two laps remaining to save her dash position. Jackson worked to get into a transfer early on.
Heat four (started): 1. S. Stewart 4m (6) 2. Kenny Jacobs 70 (1) 3. Don Droud Jr. 7x (3) 4. Travis Rilat 29T (2) 5. Ja. Johnson 22 (5) / 6. Danny Smith 4 (4) 7. Brian Brown 6 (8) 8. Derek Beckman 50D (10) 9. Jeff Johnson 11J (9) 10. Jaymie Moyle 10 (11) 11. Mincer (12) 12. Bob Bennett 3 (7)
Bennett exited with a smoking motor. S. Stewart cruised into the lead by turn two on the first lap and left everyone in his wake. Ja. Johnson and Smith provided some good racing for the final transfer, which the "Racin' Cajun" held on to.
C main (started): 1. Northway (2) 2. VanDenBerg (1) 3. Moughan 1mm (4) 4. Ry. Anderson (8) / 5. Moyle (5) 6. Mincer (10) 7. Wilcox (6) 8. Strong (9) 9. Robenalt (7) 10. Heimbaugh (11) 11. Owings (12) 12. Hull (3) DNS - Beckman, Shepard, Lutar, Giannetto, Herrera, Little, Madsen
Northway rode the rim and dominated the ten lapper. Hull exited after the first start was called back. Ry. Anderson raced well to gain the final B transfer, moving up four positions.
Dash (started): 1. Dewease (1) 2. Kahne (2) 3. Lasoski (6) 4. Kemenah (5) 5. Stewart (3) 6. Crocker (4)
Crocker pulled out on lap four. Dewease led a race without much passing action. The track was still heavy and Dewease declined the opportunity for the Front Row Challenge. Though reluctant, Kahne took the challenge to the roar of the crowd.
B main (started): 1. Coniam (1) 2. Chappell (3) 3. Brown (12) 4. Garner (10) 5. Clarke (4) / 6. D. Moore (14) 7. Kaeding (6) 8. Dumesny (16) 9. Northway (18) 10. VanDenBerg (17) 11. Rose (13) 12. Kertscher (11) 13. Moughan (19) 14. Ry. Anderson (20) 15. Je. Johnson (15) 16. Allard (9) 17. Smith (2) 18. Mitrisin (5) 19. Henderson (7) 20. Bennett (8) DNS - Crockett
The initial start was a rough one with Henderson pinballing down the frontstretch. He was uninjured. Bennett took his smoking machine pitside as well. The restart saw Coniam open up a huge lead ahead of Chappell. Third running Smith exited on lap three, surrendering the spot to Clarke. Meanwhile, Brown and Garner were making a move forward. D. Moore was also on the move and knocking on the door of Brown for fifth with two to go. Allard who had moved up comfortably into a transfer, stopped while coming for the white flag. Under the caution, officials penalized D. Moore two spots (from fifth to seventh) for jumping the initial start. This was contested by D. Moore who would delay things and then park his car on the frontstretch for a heated exchange with Doug Clark after the checkers. He would finish one spot out of a transfer in sixth. The white flag restart saw Coniam leading Chappell, Clarke, Brown and Garner. Brown and Garner would move up a spot after the green fell again. Chappell settled for second after running down Coniam in traffic.
A main (started): 1. Dewease (1) 2. Lasoski (2) 3. Stewart (4) 4. Kemenah (3) 5. Ja. Johnson (7) 6. Crocker (5) 7. Coniam (6) 8. Campbell (9) 9. Swindell (8) 10. Kahne (24) 11. Howard (10) 12. Vanderploeg (12) 13. Chappell (15) 14. D. Jacobs (11) 15. Rilat (16) 16. Jackson (22) 17. Logan (17) 18. K. Jacobs (19) 19. Mock (18) 20. Clarke (23) 21. Garner (20) 22. Brown (21) 23. Rahmer (14) 24. Droud (13) DNS - Pittman
Pittman pleaded with McCarl to let him go to the back for 50K (he would have started 15th). The race is named the "Front Row" Challenge so he was denied. He decided not to race. Lasoski streaked into the lead with Stewart and Dewease battling behind him for second. Droud tipped the Batmobile on lap three and was done. The restart saw Lasoski leading Dewease, Stewart, Kemenah, and Coniam. The race went non-stop from there. Lasoski led Dewease into lapped traffic. After setting up Lasoski for a couple laps, Dewease used the lapped car of Brown to pin Lasoski. After outfoxing Lasoski, Dewease carved through traffic like a knife through butter and won by half a straight to earn $5000. Rahmer exited on lap eleven. Kahne was the well earned hard-charger, passing 14 cars on a track that was wicked fast to the end.