By Jerry Mackey

OSKALOOSA — Night number 2 of the Racing Season was held on Wednesday, May 1^st at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Despite threatening skies the race program went on and was completed at 9:40 with plenty of exciting racing to delight the hearty fans that came out for DeJong manufacturing Free Popcorn night at the races.

Dustin Griffiths has established himself as the man to beat at the Southern Iowa Speedway in 2024, Wednesday night Griffiths scored two more feature wins extending his unbeaten streak at the Mahaska County Monster ½ mile. The Mid States Machine Stock Car feature saw Griffiths advance from a third row start using the high line of the smooth track to take the lead away from pole sitter Cayden Carter. Griffiths, Carter and Steve Byers broke away from the pack and proved themselves to be the class of the field. Carter tried several times in the closing laps to challenge Griffiths but the 10G of Griffiths was able to score the win by less than a car length with Byers running a strong race in taking third behind Carter. .

Brayton Carter drew the outside front row for the Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmod main event and went on to score an impressive win in the 14 lap main event. Carter shot out front and put the 01 on cruise control and scored an easy win. Logan Anderson advanced from a sixth position start and was closing on Carter late in the feature but Carter had built to large of a lead for Anderson to mount a serious challenge. Anderson crossed the finish line in second ahead of Curtis VanDerwal.

The Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks provided their usual thrilling racing action on Wednesday night. Tyson Overton led early before Nathan Ballard was able to garner the point position. Dustin Griffiths advanced from a 8^th position start to pressure Ballard for the lead. Following an extended green flag race the leaders came on lapped traffic late in the main event. The leaders chose their lines to move on the slower cars, Griffiths went high and cleared traffic while Ballard went low and ended up in a skirmish with a slower car sending a car spinning. On the restart Ballard was sent to the rear as a result of being involved in the caution. Griffiths went on to record the win ahead of Peyton Stephens and Overton.

A strong field of Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts took the green for their main event with Brandon Pickney setting the early pace. Seth Meinders took over the top spot early in the feature and went on to record the win over Pickney and 9^th starting Matt Moore.

The Superior Machine Non-Wing Sprint Cars ran a very swift 12 car feature. Last weeks winner AJ Johnson started fourth but fell back on the initial start. Johnson then began his march back to the front taking the lead form veteran driver Robert Bell with four laps to go. Bell followed Johnson across the line in second with third going to Doug Sylvester.

Wednesday, May 8^th will be a very special night at the Southern Iowa Speedway as Kraig Ford will be sponsoring the Hall of Fame voting night as fans will have an opportunity to select who they think should be inducted into the Southern Iowa Speedway Hall of Fame in 2024. In addition, thanks to the great support of the Southern Iowa Speedway track sponsors and additional $7,500 has been added to race purse for the May 8^th racing events.

Wednesday, May 1^st DeJong Manufacturing Night At the Races

Feature Results (top 5)

Mid States Machine Stock Cars

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
2. 1X Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa
3. B17 Steve Byers-Indianola
4. 55X Brett Maasdam-Sully
5. 85 Jason McDaniel-Eldon

Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods

1. 01 Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa
2. 53 Logan Anderson-Eddyville
3. 1V Curtis VanDerwal-Oskaloosa
4. 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
5. 68 Will Wolf-Grinnell

Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
2. 623 Peyton Stephens-Bussey
3. T42 Tyson Overton-Carlisle
4. 88H Kale Hemsley-Sigourney
5. 44R Robbie Wilson-Albia

Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts

1. 65 Seth Meinders-Ottumwa
2. 7 Brandon Pickney-Ottumwa
3. M2 Matt Moore-Ottumwa
4. 18A Kyle Rysdam- Palaski
5. 2h James Haring-Oskaloosa

Superior Machine Non Wing Sprint Cars

1. 93 AJ Johnson-Oskaloosa
2. 71 Robert Bell-Colfax
3. 12 Doug Sylvester-Ottumwa
4. 4 Mike Mayberry-Fremont
5. 17 Lance Schlicher-Fairfield