OSKALOOSA — The 2023 Season is off and running at the Southern Iowa Speedway located on the Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa. The weather was nice and warm for mid-April but there was a threat of rain moving into the area before 10 pm. The drivers put on a fast night of action with the final checkered flag of the night falling at 9:30 pm.
The Mid-State Machine Stock Car feature saw a couple of veterans put on a side by side battle for much of the 16 lap main. Nathan Wood, defending track champion, led several laps before Todd Reitzler was able to take over the race lead and go on to score the opening night win. Wood finished second ahead of Steve Byers and Josh Foster.
The Oskaloosa Quality Rental Sportmods also had a hotly contested battle for the feature win. Brayton Carter took the lead at the dropping of the green but Maguire DeJong had his eyes set on a opening night win and DeJong was able to make a strong move in turn two as lap 13 of the 16 lap feature was being recorded. DeJong went on to take the win by a narrow margin over Carter, Carter VanDenberg ran a strong race in taking third ahead of Colton Livezey.
21 Drivers took the green for the feature in the Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks and the drivers put on very exciting racing with three and sometimes four wide racing throughout the main event. Austin Barnes led early before Dustin Griffiths took over the top spot, while leading Griffiths suffered a flat tire which relegated him to the rear on the restart. One of Iowa’s very best Hobby Stock drivers, Eric Stanton, showed his expertise in advancing from a third row start to take the lead on lap 10 and go on to record the win ahead of a strong running Christian Huffman. Aaron Martin ran third ahead of Rick VanDusseldorp and Griffiths battled all the way back to fifth after being forced to start shotgun on the field with 20 cars on the track.
The Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts saw Shane Barnes score the win a very rare appearance at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Barnes made the tow to Oskaloosa from Washington and proved he is a very tough customer in the Sport Compact ranks. Barnes took the lead early in the main from James Haring and went on to pick up the win with Haring, Garett Porter and Matt Moore rounding out the top four.
Defending track champion Ben Woods took the feature win in the Clow Valve Company Non-Wing Sprint Car feature. Woods took the checkers ahead of Dean Sylvester and Nathan James.
KBOE College Night will be held on Wednesday, April 26th with all college students being admitted FREE with a College ID in hand. Hot laps will get underway at 7:15 with racing action to follow at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
Southern Iowa Speedway Opening Night 4/19 Feature Results (top 5)
Mid-States Machine Stock Cars
- 22R Todd Reitzler-Grinnell
- 52 Nathan Wood-Sigourney
- B17 Steve Byers-Indianola
- 77 Josh Foster-Fairfax
- 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods
- Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
- 01 Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa
- 7V Carter VanDenberg-New Sharon
- 29 Colton Livezey-New Sharon
- 8T Tony Johnson-Oskaloosa
Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks
- 7B Eric Stanton-Carlisle
- 14 Christian Huffman-New Sharon
- 73 Aaron Martin-Delta
- 1R Rick VanDusseldorp-Oskaloosa
- 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts
- 26X Shane Barnes-Washington
- 2H James Haring-Oskaloosa
- 746 Garrett Porter-Libertyville
- 2m Matt Moore-Ottumwa
- 7 Brandon Pickney-Ottumwa
Clow Valve Company Non-Wing Sprints
- 11B Ben Woods-Newton
- 12 Doug Sylvester-Ottumwa
- 7 Nathan James-Russell
- 3T Tim Folkerts-Albia
- T4 Tyler Graves-Chariton
