By Jerry Mackey

OSKALOOSA — The 2024 Racing Season got underway on Wednesday night with a very nice night on KBOE Night at the races. The weather was nearly perfect for the April opener at the Mahaska County Monster ½ mile dirt track.

Dustin Griffiths had a night to celebrate as he won both the Mid States Machine Stock Car Feature as well as the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stock feature. Griffiths battled early in the Stock Car feature with defending Track Champion Jason McDaniel. The lead was held by the 85 of McDaniel before Griffiths was able to secure the lead by working the high line of the perfectly groomed ½ mile. Griffiths raced to the win ahead of McDaniel and Todd Reitzler took his number 22R to a third place finish.

The Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmod feature saw Defending Track Champion Colton Livezey score the opening night win. Livezey took the lead at the drop of the green and went on to lead the 14 lap feature the entire distance. Carter VanDenberg ran a smooth race in taking second at the finish line ahead of Maguire DeJong.

Dustin Griffiths started in the fifth position in the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stock Feature. The Hedrick Iowa driver raced to the front taking the top spot away from Keaton Gordon in the early going. Griffiths held the point position for the majority of the race taking the win ahead of veteran Hobby Stock racer, Eric Stanton. Tyson Overton took third after a good battle with Austin Blume.

A strong field of Sport Compacts put on a good race in the Dirt N Asphalt main event. Oskaloosa driver Nathan Moody led the race the entire distance from his outside front row starting position. Moody took the checkers ahead of Brandon Allison and Garrett Porter.

The Superior Machine non wing Sprint car main event went to homeowner A.J Johnson. The sharp looking 93 of Johnson drew the pole position and easily out distanced the field taking a dominant win ahead of Tyler Graves and Lance Schlicher.

Wednesday night racing will continue on May 1^st with the night being sponsored by DeJong Manufacturing. Free popcorn will be provided to all the fans in attendance. Hot laps will get underway at 7:15 pm with racing to follow.

KBOE College Night at the Races Wednesday, April 24 Feature Results (top 5)

Mid States Machine Stock Cars

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
2. 85 Jason McDaniel-Eldon
3. 22R Todd Reitzler- Grinnell
4. 55X Brett Maasdam-Sully
5. 71X Casen Keller-Indianola

Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods

1. 29 Colton Livezey-New Sharon
2. 7V Carter VanDenberg-New Sharon
3. 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
4. 15K Kyle Harwood-New Sharon
5. 84B Trent Brink-Bussey

Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
2. 7B Eric Stanton-Carlisle
3. 42T Tyson Overton-Carlisle
4. 01 Austin Barnes Des Moines
5. 88H Kale Hemsley-Sigourney

Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts

1. 41 Nathan Moody-Oskaloosa
2. 14 Brandon Allison-Oskaloosa
3. 746 Garrett Porter- Libertyville
4. 65 Seth Meinders-Ottumwa
5. 18A Kyle Rysdam-Palaski

Superior Machine Non-Wing Sprint Cars

1. 93 AJ Johnson-Oskaloosa
2. T4 Tyler Graves-Chariton
3. 17 Lance Schlicher-Fairfield
4. 7X Lance Silver-Ottumwa
5. 2 Terry Doud-Batavia