Labor Day Blowout at Shady Oaks Speedway - Night 2 recap, 9/6/2015

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Labor Day Blowout at Shady Oaks Speedway - Night 2 recap, 9/6/2015

by Jon Hutchinson

Goliad, TX - Shady Oaks Speedway opened their gates for a second night of racing this Labor Day Weekend. Small town racing on a Sunday evening is a tough draw in South Texas but around 50 racers in the area said, the track is open, I'm racing. Just three classes on Sunday, SOS Pure Stocks and Limited Modifieds joined the South Texas Street Stock Shootout​ Series to conclude the weekend's festivities.

After a round of heat races for the Pure Stocks and Limited Mods, a LCQ race for STXSSS and a round of hot laps for the top 12 from Saturday night in STXSSS, we were ready to get some feature racing going with 14 Pure Stocks finding the track. Had 15 but one car couldn't get started and missed the call. Just like Saturday night, the Pure Stocks put on a good show again. Jamie Dear and Travis Weatherford took to the point and had some hard, clean racing with Saturday's winner, Logan Schunka charging up to 3rd. Good battles throughout the field. Shannon Maurer battled up to 8th from his dead last starting position with a huge dent in the right door courtesy of last lap contact Saturday night. Dear led most of the race but drifted very high in 3-4 before hitting the end wall in turn 4 ending his chances Sunday. Weatherford would use Dear's misfortune to inherit a lead he wouldn't let up. Weatherford is a newcomer to South Texas racing but has run very strong at the races he's made. Schunka was running third until a left rear let go and he took an odd exit looping it near the pit entrance, not sure if he was turned or that tire just hindered his exit. Weatherford would go on to capture the win with Travis Copeland showing up and finishing second, Joshua Sewell with a very good run and third place showing. Some female drivers making their presence felt with Cheryl Gray fourth and Cheyloh Brodnax fifth.

Limited Modifieds came out next for their matinee main event as the two Skip Gray entries of Eddy Ross and Johnny Torres leading the field to green. A little sloppy on the start as Cody Leonard and Jacob Burnett come together in 1-2. Ross, Torres, Lawrence Mikulencak, Broc Bowen and Tom Grothues top 5 coming to the green on the restart. Ross jumped out to the lead and held off teammate Torres as Cody Leonard was a man on a mission recovering from that early tangle. Mickey Helms was battling with Bowen when Leonard blew by both exiting 2 to climb back up into the top 5. Ross had a scary moment when Jordon Glass was loose exiting 2 and was slow in front of the leaders and Ross thumped him in the rear but both able to continue. Dry Slick Eddy Ross claimed the feature win Sunday, Torres holding on to second, Leonard surpassed Mikulencak for third and Bowen held on to his top 5.

Even with a "low car count" 16 still made the call for the Street Stock Shootout main event as Kenneth Densman and Mike Moseley slotted to start on the front row. Moseley took the drop back bonus money but unfortunately for him, coasted to a stop in turn 3 before the race and unfortunately didn't make a lap. Kyle Carter moved up to join Densman on the front row as points contenders, Wade Jones, Heath Stewart, and Anthony Gordon also taking the drop back option to gain more passing points. Marcus Mikulencak was forced to the rear after reportedly leaking fuel on the track and taking some corrective measures. Carter led some early laps but Craig Oakes looking to continue his domination on the weekend quickly got to the front and checked out. A caution would come out as some cars got tangled in 3-4 but with Oakes the dominant cars and hot shoes charging through the field from the back, no one could catch him. Oakes would cruise to a full straightaway victory over Wade Jones, Stewart, Rye, Gordon and Mikulencak. Oakes completed his weekend sweep and literally won every race he was in, maybe SOS does need to be renamed Shady Oakes Speedway (Heat and Feature victory Saturday night in Limited Modified, two heat wins STXSSS Saturday and Sunday STXSSS Feature). All of the top contenders in the championship standings finishing bunched together may tighten up the overall points once added up with the passing points (points will be posted later this week) should set up for an interesting battle coming into the next two night event at Cotton Bowl Speedway​ October 9th-10th so come join us near Bastrop in Paige, TX.

We would like to take an opportunity to thank Shady Oaks staff, drivers and fans for all of their hard work and participation this season and look forward to returning next year. Shady Oaks Speedway does have two more regular night shows and their big Halloween Havoc event coming up at the end of October so show up and support them and all of our local tracks to keep racing alive and well in South Texas. We would also like to wish all of the IMCA drivers and fans going to Boone, Iowa luck and safety as they enjoy the 2015 IMCA Super Nationals. One last note, we wish everyone a very Happy and Safe Labor Day and we'll see you at a race track soon.