Southern Iowa Speedway Opens With An Exciting Night of Racing

By: Jerry Mackey

Oskaloosa, Iowa: 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