Carter’s Claim Big Money At Musco Lighting Fall Challenge
by Jerry Mackey
Oskaloosa, Iowa: The Musco Lighting Fall Challenge was shortened to a one day racing event following heavy rain that fell in Osklaoosa on Friday morning forcing the cancellation of the opening night of the scheduled two day race program. Thanks to all the hard work of the race committee of the Southern Iowa Fairboard the racing action went on Saturday night as scheduled on a beautiful Saturday night in October. The racers responded in huge numbers as 118 race teams took part in the Saturday night racing program on the Mahaska County Monster 1/2 mile dirt track.
The Mid States Machine Stock Cars saw a very talented field of 25 drivers take the green for the Musco Lighting Fall Challenge feature event. The best of the best were on hand to put on another great race in the very tough Stock car class. Dustin Griffiths led the first couple trips around the 1/2 mile before Cayden Carter was able to break out of the lead pack to secure the race lead. 2026 Southern Iowa Speedway Stock Car Track Champion, Nathan Wood was able to close on Carter but was not able to get by the strong running Carter. Wood settled for second ahead of Maguire DeJong, Dustin Griffiths and Brock Haines.
The Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods saw an outstanding field of 23 drivers check in for the Saturday night show. Brayton Carter took command early and appeared to be on his way to the win until his brother Cayden driving Carter VanDenberg’s Sportmod closed in charging to the front from an 8th position start. The two Carter’s swapped the lead back and forth before the younger of the two, Brayton, was able to take control very late in the race and score the win. Cayden took second ahead of Colton Livezey with Cody Agee and Curtis VanDerwal rounding out the top five.
Dustin Griffiths has been the man to beat all year in the Stout Trucking Hobby Stocks and it appeared he may not be able to get the win on Saturday night after starting 11th with a lot of really good cars in front of him in the main event. Griffiths worked to the front securing the top spot with three laps to go in the main event. Griffiths held off a hard charging Tom Killen Jr. for the win, early race leader Peyton Stephens ran third ahead of Kale Hemsley and track Champion Keaton Gordon rounded out the top five.
Seth Meinders put an exclamation point on a great season in the Sport Compact class by scoring his seventh win of the season at the Osky 1/2 mile. Meinders raced to the win ahead of Brandon Allison, who found some great speed on Saturday night and nearly pulled off an upset win. Caleb Hildebrand ran third in the 18 car feature.
The all new Crown Victoria class had a nice field of 10 cars check in on Saturday night. Tanner Bainbridge drove his Crown Vic to the win ahead of Trent Kerr.
The Vintage Late Models also raced on Saturday night and two features were held per the driver’s requests. The small tired Vintage Late Model win went to John Hunnell and the big tired win went to Dino Rodish.
The Southern Iowa Fairboard and the Race Committee would like to thank Musco Lighting, Arnold Motor Supply and Oskaloosa True Value for sponsoring the very successful Fall Challenge. In addition, the Fairboard would like to thank all of the racers, crews and especially the fans for making 2026 a very successful season at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The 2027 season will be released in the next couple of months, please watch the Southern Iowa Fair webpage for details.
Saturday, October 10
Musco Lighting Fall Challenge
Southern Iowa Speedway
Feature Results (top Five)
Mid States Machine Stock Cars
1. 1X Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa
2. 52 Nathan Wood-Sigourney
3. 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
4. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
5. 74 Brock Haines-Fairfield
Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods
1. 01 Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa
2. 01V Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa
3. 29 Colton Livezey-New Sharon
4. 25 Cody Agee-Huntsville, MO
5. 1V Curtis VanDerwal-Oskaloosa
Stout Trucking Hobby Stocks
1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
2. 1K Tom Killen Jr.-Des Moines
3. 18HP Peyton Stephens-Bussey
4. 88H Kale Hemsley-Sigourney
5. 7 Keaton Gordon-Ottumwa
Sport Compact
1. 65 Seth Meinders-Ottumwa
2. 69ER Brandon Allison-Oskaloosa
3. 11 Caleb Hildebrand-Oskaloosa
4. 65X Mike Weber-Ottumwa
5. 93 Austen Coenen-Oskaloosa
Doug’s Four Wheelers Crown Victoria’s
1. 16X Tanner Bainbridge-Libertyville
2. 5K Trent Kerr-Oskaloosa
3. 11 Cole Hughes-What Cheer
4. 88N Brendan Nantz-Oskaloosa
Vintage Late Models
Feature 1
1. 62 John Hunnell-Des Moines
2. 97K Tyler Kelly-Afton
3. 03 Phillip Abrahamson-Oskaloosa
Feature 2
1. 20 Dino Rodish-West Des Moines
2. 62Xl Brad Pinkeron-New Sharon
3. 9 Bert McDaniel-Eldon
Posted by Press Release
on Oct 13 2026. Filed under Local Sports.
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