By Anthony Ainslie
OSKALOOSA — Jason Hahne made a late race charge to win Wednesday’s Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking Super Late Models East Series’ maiden visit to the Southern Iowa Speedway.
The massive half-mile at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa, Iowa was a brand-new battleground for the East Series. It also served as round 10 of the 2023 season for the tour. Oskaloosa would be the first race of a triple header weekend for the East Series. Drivers from Iowa and Missouri made the trip for the first ever visit to the track simply known as “Osky.”
Luke Petska topped everyone in qualifying as he set a lap time of 19.309 seconds around the sweeping corners of the speedway. Later in the night, Matt Ryan and Nick Marolf dominated to win their heat races.
When it was time for the 25-lap main event, it was Marolf on pole position with Luke Goedert on the outside. Marolf was first to the lower lane, and it paid off big in the early laps for the Moscow, Iowa racer. Marolf would set a blistering pace early on Goedert was left to battle Jason Hahne for second.
Another tight battle a little further back was the battle between Chad Holladay and Andy Eckrich who were the top two in the championship points standings. After the dust settled, Eckrich was able to gain two points on Holladay in the standings as Eckrich took fifth, and Holladay finished right behind him in sixth.
Meanwhile, up front, things were getting close for the lead in the closing laps. Hahne was quickly gaining on Marolf as the two navigated lapped traffic. Hahne would find the opening he needed, and as he and Marolf came off turn four with only eight laps remaining, Hahne made the go-ahead move. He nosed ahead for the lead, and from there, the Webster City, Iowa driver would show the rest of the way to capture his second win of the season and his third career win with the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series.
Nick Marolf would get his best finish of the year with second while Luke Goedert came in third. Derrick Stewart finished fourth in the final order, and Andy Eckrick rounded out the top five.
75 Drivers entered into the pit area on Wednesday night for the Kraig Ford, Gary Wilson Memorial event that ran in conjunction with the SLMRA Late Models. Not only was the pit area packed but the grandstands saw a crowd that represented the good old days with a full grandstand.
The Mid States Machine Stock Cars saw a great field of drivers take the green with SIS track regulars Dustin Griffiths and Jason McDaniel comprising the front row. McDaniel led in the early going before Griffiths was able to take over the point until 3rd starting Cayden Carter was able to take over the top spot. Carter drove Michael Petersen’s Stock Car to the win on Wednesday night. It certainly was anything but easy as 10th starting Nathan Wood took over second as the feature passed the midway point. Wood battled Carter for several laps and was actually scored as the leader late in the race before settling for second.
The Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods saw Sam Wieben from Dysart take over the top spot from his front row start but his lead was short lived as Curtis VanDerWal shot into the lead on lap three and VanDerWal would cruise on to the win. Brayton Carter drove his team Jimmy’s to second as 9th starting Maguire DeJong would nip Wieben at the line for third.
28 drivers took the initial green flag for the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stock feature which thanks to the many sponsors of this event paid a whopping $1,044.00 to the winner. A pack of cars battled for the lead early in the race as 12th starting Dustin Griffiths made his way to the front riding the extreme high line around the smooth ½ mile. Griffiths secured the lead on lap seven and went on to score the big pay day. Eric Stanton advanced from a 9th starting spot and took runner up honors ahead of Brad Stephens.
The Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts featured another great race with the battle for the lead seeing Shane Barnes and Lukas Rick trade paint on several occasions as they raced door to door lap after lap. When the checkers flew it was Barnes scoring the win with Rick in a very close second ahead of Bob Hayes.
Wednesday, June 28th will be Mahaska Hall Of Fame Induction Night at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Racing action will feature 5 classes with Hot laps scheduled to take the green at 7:15 pm.
Southern Iowa Speedway Oskaloosa, Iowa Wednesday, June 21
Feature Results (top Five)
Haulin With Hoker East Series SLMR Late Models
- 76 Jason Hahne-Webster City
- 33 Nick Marolf-Moscow
- 44 Luke Goedert-Guttenberg
- 43 Derrick Stewart-Ainsworth
- 56 Andy Eckrich-Oxford
Mid Sates Machine Stock Cars
- 1X Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa
- 52 Nathan Wood-Sigourney
- 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
- 85 Jason McDaniel-Eldon
- 71K Casen Keller-Indianola
Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods
- 1V Curtis VanDerWal-Oskaloosa
- 01 Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa
- 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
- 198 Sam Wieben-Dysart
- 7V Cartrer VanDenBerg-Oskaloosa
Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks
- 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
- 7B Eric Stanton-Carlisle
- 55 Brad Stephens-Bussey
- 7 Keaton Gordon-Oskaloosa
- 2G Bradley Graham-Brooklyn
Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts
- 26X Shane Barnes-Washington
- 85 Lukas Rick-Cental City
- 0 Bob Hayes-New Sharon
- 746 Garrett Porter-Libertyville
- 00 Seth Meinders-Ottumwa
