By Anthony Ainslie & Jerry Mackey

Chad Holladay found his way back to victory lane after a grueling Wednesday night with the Malvern Bank Super Late Models East Series as the tour tackled the Southern Iowa Speedway.

The famed half-mile in Oskaloosa, Iowa was the sight for round eight for the East Series as the tour began a 4-day swing through the state of Iowa. Wednesday’s Gary Wilson Memorial was only the second time the East Series visited the Southern Iowa Speedway.

Leading Rookie of the Year Contender Dylan Thornton was the fastest in Time trials when he timed in at 19.024 seconds. Later in the evening, Luke Pestka, JC Wyman and Chad Holladay were victorious in heat racing action. After the redraw and points were tallied, the 25-lap main event saw Holladay on the pole with Jeff Tharp on the outside.

Things took a wild turn on the opening lap when Luke Petska went off the track on the back stretch and flipped over. The Robins, Iowa driver did climb out of his car but was done for the rest of the evening.

Another early caution came on lap three when Derrick Stewart spun out on the back stretch. The Ainsworth, Iowa driver went to the hot pit to check on any damage, and he would come back through the field to finish ninth.

When racing resumed, Holladay led the way while the rest of the top five were up for grabs. Jeff Tharp and Jason Hahne went at it for second while West Series Regulars Tad Pospisil and Kyle Berck battle for fifth.

Holladay was able to fend off the early advances by Tharp, and would not be until inside the final ten laps when Pospisil found something on the bottom lane he liked. The Norfolk, Nebrsaka driver charged to second and took his shot at Holladay with five laps to go. Pospisil looked inside Holladay for the lead as the two came to the flagstand with five laps remaining, but Holladay had just enough speed and momentum on the outside to keep the West Series Points Leader behind him.

A stalled Fred Remley in turn four brought out the race’s final caution and set up a green-white-checkered dash to the finish. Pospisil did not have a good start from second place allowing Tharp, Berck, and Hahne to get by.

Meanwhile, no one could challenge Holladay. The Reigning East Series Champion from Muscatine, Iowa would go on to lead every lap and secure his sixth career series win and his second of the 2024 season. Tharp recorded his best finish of the year with second while Kyle Berck took third, his best finish of the season as well. Jason Hahne and Tad Pospisil would finish out the top five.

In support division racing on Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway it was four classes of cars racing for the Gary Wilson Memorial presented by Outer Limits Truck Repair. The first class of cars to take to the Speedway for the feature event portion of the program was the Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts. The race was paced early by Trent Fowler who was soon replaced by Matt Moore. Seth Meinders was the third driver to take over the point only to lose the lead to Nathan Moody . The 41 of Moody advanced all the way from the 5^th row to score the win ahead of Meinders and Moore.

The Mid States Machine Stock Cars were up next with a stout field of 18 drivers taking the initial green flag. Dustin Vis led early from his front row start but he was unable to hold off the 1X of Cayden Carter. The Michael Petersen owned 1x driven by Carter went on to record the win despite a strong charge by Maguire DeJong. In only his fifth night of racing Stock Cars DeJong has found his new Vanderbuilt Stock Car to be a great ride . DeJong was able to pull along side Carter on a couple of occasions but Carter held his line in taking the hard fought win . Nathan Wood advanced from the fifth row to take third.

The Oskaloosa Quality Rentals took the green for their main event with Andrew Schroeder pacing the field before Brayton Carter took over the top spot driving his cousins, Carter VanDenberg’s Sportmod. Carter led til past the midway point of the main event when Maguire DeJong drove his Sportmod into the lead. DeJong went on to score the feature win, Logan Anderson was able to slip by Carter and take second at the finish line ahead of Carter.

Dustin Griffiths continued his unbeaten streak in the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks by scoring his 7^th feature win of the season. Griffths advanced from an 8^th position start and took over the top spot by overtaking Eric Stanton with six laps remaining in the main event. Stanton finished second to Griffiths with Peyton Stephens taking third. The Bounty on Griffiths will grow to $800 for the next secheduled race.

There will be no racing on July 3^rd at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Wednesday, July 10^th will be Nutrien Ag, Dickey Transport, Middlekoop Seed Hall of Fame Induction night at the races. Hot laps will take to the track at 7:15 with racing to follow.

Gary Wilson Memorial/Outer Limits Truck Repair Night at the Races

Wednesday, June 26

Feature Results (top 5)

SLMR Late Models

1. 32c Chad Holladay-Muscatine

2. 10T Jeff Tharp- Sherrill

3. 14 Kyle Berck-Marquette, NE

4. 76 Jason Hahne-Webster City

5. 04 Tad Pospisil-Norfolk, NE

   Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts

   1. 41 Nathan Moody-Oskaloosa

   2. 65 Seth Meinders-Ottumwa

   3. 2M Matt Moore-Ottumwa

   4. 12t Trent Fowler-Ottumwa

   5. 1Z Colton Zaputil-Agency

Mid States Machine Stock Cars

1. 1X Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa

2. 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma

3. 52 Nathan Wood-Sigourney

4. 57 Andrew Schroeder-Ottumwa

5. 20V Dustin Vis-Martelle

Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods

1. 30 M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma

2. 53 Logan Anderson-Eddyville

3. 7V Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa

4. 15K Kyle Harwood-New Sharon

5. 34Z Cory VanZante-Sully

   Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks

   1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick

2. 7B Eric Stanton-Carlisle

3. 9X Peyton Stephens-Bussy

4. 64L Tommy Luft-Corning

5. 1R Rick VanDusseldorp-Oskaloosa