A busy time in Oskaloosa as the Southern Iowa Speedway sees its opener on Thursday, tire testing on Monday night

It has been a busy week at the Southern Iowa Speedway leading to the May 19 appearance of the USMTS at the track. The season opener ran a day later than planned due to rain (see Dick, Joyce and Jeff’s reports for the details) and the track held out well after a lot of water hit on Wednesday. The racing on Thursday was fast, and everybody behaved, bringing out a minimum of cautions. It was a good way to get the season kicked off.
Monday evening found the track open for practice and some tire testing. Good Year tire technicians were on hand as modified and B-modified drivers strapped on some Good Year rubber and put it through its paces. Some of the mods put the tires on all four corners, while others put it only on the rear.
There were also hobby stocks and stock cars on hand to run some practice laps as well. There were about 100 people who took advantage of the free grandstand seating to watch the activities, and catch Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader turn some laps getting ready for tomorrow night’s USMTS race. It was a beautiful evening to be outside watching drivers gain some extra track time. I’ll be back with a USMTS report after tomorrow’s event. Below are a few shots from Thursday night’s opener.

Getting ready - Pat Graham (1K) and Colt Mather (8) turn some hot laps as the evening got underway. - BWJ photo

Hot seat - Ron VerBeek ended his heat race in this way. The fire went out, the car was repaired, and VerBeek returned for the feature. - BWJ photo

B-mod winner - Kevin Fee was the B-modified feature winner last Thursday. - BWJ photo

Double trouble - Zack VanderBeek doubled-up on victory lane appearances, winning both the stock car and modified main events - BWJ photo

Hobby winner - Bobby Greene showed the way in winning the hobby stock feature. - BWJ photo

Headed for fourth - Scott Dickey blasts through the corner on his way to a top-five finish in the modified feature. - BWJ photo