By Jerry Mackey

OSKALOOSA — The Southern Iowa Fair hosted the 6^th Annual Caleb Hammond Memorial Race on Wednesday, July 17^th with a packed infield and a full grandstand on a beautiful night for racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The largest field of drivers in 2024 were in attendance gunning for their share of over $18,000 in prize money, thanks to the Southern Iowa Fair board and Race Committee along with event sponsors, Copeland Auto Body, Lathrop and Sons Supply of Albia and contributor Mike Stroehle.

The action on the smooth wide perfectly prepared track was hot and heavy all night long. In the Midstates Machine Stock Cars it was Dustin Griffiths setting the pace early as he shot into the lead from his pole position start due to the redraw. Griffiths held the lead until 7^th starting Cayden Carter was able to reel in the 10G of Griffiths. The two local hot shoes battled side by side for two laps before Carter was able to secure the race lead. Carter went on to lead the final two laps in getting to the checkers ahead of Griffiths. Maguire DeJong made a last lap charge to nip Nathan Wood at the line for third.

The Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods saw a season high 18 drivers take the initial green flag for their 14 lap main event. Logan Anderson drove his Little Herbie number 53 to a flag to flag win in the prestigious Caleb Hammond Memorial feature. Anderson had the fortune of pulling the number 1 in the redraw which allowed him to start from the pole position. Maguire DeJong ran a very strong race in second but was unable to mount a serious challenge on the very quick running 53 of Anderson. Brayton Carter crossed under the checkers in third.

The stage was set for a real battle in the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks as point leader and the man that carries the Bounty on his head, Dustin Griffiths was set to start the feature on the pole. But misfortune struck the 10G Hobby Stock of Griffiths as he was forced to scratch from the feature due to a broken rear end. Josh Most driving Jim Tull’s #22 took the lead early but he was not able to hold off Nathan Ballard in his very strong number 29. Ballard advanced from the 8^th position start and took the lead as the field took the halfway sign with 7 laps completed. Most ran second ahead of Eric Stanton. The Bounty will now carry over to the Season Championship race next Wednesday.

The Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts saw a break away pack of three drivers battle it out for the lead early. Seth Meinders was in the mix before mechanical woes took him out of the race. At the halfway of the main even Nathan Moody took over the top spot and went on to record his fifth win of the season at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Moody raced to the win ahead of Colton Zaputil and Cody Phillips.

The 2024 season remains perfect for AJ Johnson in the NAPA Store of Albia non wing sprint car division. Johnson drew a good number for the 12 lap feature on Wednesday night, the number 2 put Johnson on the outside front row. Johnson took command early and set sail on the smooth ½ mile, Ben Woods took the runner up spot early but was unable to catch the 93 of Johnson. Mike Mayberry drove his number 4 to a third place finish.

Mahaska will be sponsoring the Season Championship races on Wednesday, July 24^th with hot laps taking to the track at 7:15 pm with racing to follow. All five classes of regular competitors will be in action. Following Season Championships the next race at the Southern Iowa Speedway will be Terry McCarl’s Front Row Challenge which will be held on Monday, August 5^th. The Sage Fruit Sponsored Race will feature 410 Sprinters and will pay a whopping $21,000 to Win.

Caleb Hammond Memorial Wednesday, July 17 Feature Results (top Five)

Mid States Machine Stock Cars

1. 1X Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa
2. 10g Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
3. 30 M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
4. 52 Nathan Wood-Sigourney
5. 48J Jacob Murray-Hartford

Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods

1. 53 Logan Anderson-Eddyville
2. 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
3. 01 Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa
4. 1V Curtis VanDerWal-Oskaloosa
5. 15K Kyle Harwood-New Sharon

Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks

1. 29 Nathan Ballard-Marengo
2. 22 Josh Most-Red Oak
3. 7B Eric Stanton-Carlisle
4. 01 Austin Barnes-Des Moines
5. 7 Keaton Gordon-Ottumwa

Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts

1. 41 Nathan Moody-Oskaloosa
2. 1Z Colton Zaputil-Agency
3. 03 Cody Phillips-Ottumwa
4. 18A Kyle Rysdam-Palaski
5. 33k David Kimmel-New Virginia

NAPA of Albia Non Wing Sprint Cars

1. 93 AJ Johnson-Oskaloosa
2. 11B Ben Woods-Newton
3. 4 Mike Mayberry-Fremont
4. 17 Lance Schlicher-Fairfield
5. 71 Robert Bell-Colfax