By Jerry Mackey
OSKALOOSA — Wednesday night was a very special night of racing and ceremonies as the Southern Iowa Speedway hosted Kids night presented by Middlekoop Seeds and Dickey Transport with all kids receiving prizes from Griffiths 10G Racing and Scharkey Frame. In addition during intermission the 2024 Southern Iowa Speedway Hall of Fame Class was inducted, Gary Morse, Roger Dolan, Jake Hughes and Howard Gordon Jr. were all inducted into the prestigious fraternity.
The race of the night was the Mid States Machine Stock Car feature. Nathan Wood took the lead at the dropping of the green flag and established himself quickly as the man to beat. Maguire DeJong in his new Vanderbuilt Stock Car reeled in Wood setting up a classic finish that would see DeJong pull along side Wood as the two drivers exited turn two on the final lap. The two raced side by side down the back chute and into turn three. The entire crowd rose to their feet as the two drivers exited turn four in a dead heat. Wood led the 14 lap feature 13 and ¾ laps but DeJong was able to take the checkers first by a nose. Dustin Griffiths crossed under the checkers in third.
The Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods saw Eddyville’s Logan Anderson dominate the 14 lap main event. Anderson drew the pole for the main event and quickly shot out to a comfortable lead. Andrew Schroeder showed signs of challenging Anderson early but ended up settling for a distant second. Kyle Harwood turned in another finer run in taking third.
The Dustin Griffiths train continues to roll on in the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks. Griffiths kept his season perfect and the Bounty on the 10G of Griffiths has now risen to $900. With the elevated purse next week a Hobby Stock driver will have the opportunity to make $1, 907 if he or she can beat Dustin. VanDusseldorp led the Hobby Stock feature for 7 laps before Griffiths, who had started 6th was able to move into the lead. VanDusseldorp held on for second ahead of Eric Stanton.
The Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compact feature saw Matt Moore score the win by a very narrow margin over a fast closing Nathan Moody. Moore was able to get out front early and hit his narks lap after lap in route to the win over Moody and Brandon Pickney.
The perfect season also continued for AJ Johnson in the NAPA Stores of Albia non wing sprint car class. Johnson shot to the outside on the initial start and got to the front ahead of Ben Woods, who made his first start of the season at SIS. Johnson went on to record the win ahead of Woods and Doug Sylvester.
The Southern Iowa Fair will be in full swing next week and the racing action will feature the sixth annual Caleb Hammond Memorial with an $18,000 purse up for grabs for the Southern Iowa Speedway racers. Hot laps will get underway on Wednesday, July 17th at 7:15 with racing to follow. Copeland Auto Body and Lathrop and Sons Supply Store of Albia are sponsoring the special night of racing.
Wednesday, July 10 Southern Iowa Speedway Feature Results (top 5)
Mid States Machine Stock Cars
- 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
- 52 Nathan Wood-Sigourney
- 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
- 57 Andrew Schroeder-Ottumwa
- 7 Jason Minnehan-Churdan
Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods
- 53 Logan Anderson-Eddyville
- 02 Andrew Schroeder-Ottumwa
- 15K Kyle Harwood-New Sharon
- 34Z Corey VanZante-Sully
- 29 Colton Livezey-New Sharon
Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks
- 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
- 1R Rick VanDusseldorp-Oskaloosa
- 7B Eric Stanton-Carlisle
- 623 Peyton Stephens-Bussy
- 44R Robbie Wilson-Albia
Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts
- 2M Matt Moore-Ottumwa
- 41 Nathan Moody-Oskaloosa
- 7 Brandon Pickney-Ottumwa
- 23H Alex Hayes-Iowa City
- 1Z Colton Zaputil-Agency
NAPA Stores of Albia Non Wing Sprints
- 93 AJ Johnson-Oskaloosa
- 11B Ben Woods-Newton
- 12 Doug Sylvester-Ottumwa
- 17 Lance Schlicher-Fiarfield
- T4 Tyler Graves-Chariton
