No Slowing Drivers on Big 8 Night at Hawkeye Downs
The Big 8 Late Model Series rolled into town this past Friday night along with the Midwest Pavement Grand Nationals go karts! This is all in addition to the weekly racing series at Hawkeye Downs. While we had about an hour of rain delay, the full racing program commenced just after 8pm.
The go karts were up first, putting on a preview show for the Midwest Pavement Grand Nationals event that took place on Saturday! A field of 17 karts sped around the quarter-mile, turning laps of just over 15 seconds. As they beat and bang while flying around the track, it was Jeremiah Davis who held off a hard-charging second place to get the feature win.
“We’re flying around here..just never slow down,” Davis said. “This is just really cool to do here.”
It was another fierce battle for the win in the Sunline Hornets Series. Ian Pate took the lead with a 3-wide move on the start, and then paced the field. Corey Crispin made his way to second and began to peak to the outside before getting loose and allowing Chad Vozenilek to sneak by. Those two would continue to battle right on the bumper of Pate but not overtake him allowing Pate to get his second win of the season.
The Performance Foods Sportsmans saw a three-wide battle for the lead at one point in their feature race. Jim Hanson got to the inside of Jacob Tiegen who refused to let him get away, and while they battled Greg Hentrich peaked to the inside while the other two lightly bounced off each other. Tiegen would be able to hold off for his first feature win in the class with Hentrich in second.
It was a comeback story night for the youngster Reggie Mitchell after the car was mangled in the previous week of racing. Mitchell jumped out ahead from the start and outran the hard-charging Derek Parrott just long enough to take home the victory, his first of the season.
Kart winner Jeremiah Davis led the opening laps of the Legends.Direct Legends feature until a yellow flag flew for Austin Slabaugh spinning with 16 to go. On the restart, Kevin Korsmo grabbed the lead and Michael Weber to second. Four laps later, Korsmo put the left tires on the wet grass and spun, handing the lead over to Weber who held off for the victory.
The Cassill Motors Sports Mods saw Tallan Chandler win for the second week in a row, but this time had to outrun Patrick Flannagan, the defending series champion. Flannagan chased Chandler down and stalked him for several laps but couldn’t make up any more ground in the end.
In the Big 8 Late Model Series, it was a near perfect night for Brooklyn, Wisconsin racer Zack Riddle on Friday night at Hawkeye Downs Speedway. The evening began when Riddle won fast-time in qualifying with a 19.542. It was the first time since 2016 that anyone besides hometown driver Griffin McGrath earned the fastest time.
For Riddle, the feature was all about patiently working his way through the field from his 11th starting position. After a restart with 35 laps-to-go, Riddle made his way to second and began reeling in the leader Randy Sargent.
With 25 to go, the two drivers quickly caught lapped traffic with Sargent making contact on the exit of turn four slowing him up and allowing Riddle to snatch the lead. The lead would continue to grow as laps counted down until Grant Brown and Jerry Mueller made contact just before the white flag, triggering a green-white-checkered finish.
On the final restart, Riddle jumped to a solid lead with McGrath a couple car-lengths behind. With one final effort, McGrath sailed into turn-3 on the final lap and attempted to move Riddle up the hill to no avail, and Riddle scored his fourth Big-8 Series feature victory.
“The beginning was just about survival,” Riddle said. “Then we were able to march toward the front. I should have saved more tires but we had just enough to hold them off.”
The defending race winner, McGrath, was satisfied with his overall performance.
“Riddle beat us in everything. We just needed more laps,” McGrath said afterwards. “We would have been fine if we didn’t have a tire go down early on. It’s just too hard to make up all that track position.”
The race was marred by several cautions throughout the event, including on the first lap when contact between Mark Ironside and Brian Gibson caused McKayla Adams to spin. Both Gibson and Ironside would have their nights ended later in the evening in separate incidents with hard contact. All drivers exited their cars uninjured.
Check out the race results on MyRacePass here. This Friday night (June 9th), you can catch even more racing at Hawkeye Downs with the Midwest Dash Series on the half-mile! The Enduro Sprint Series will also be back at the track. Gates open at 6pm, racing begins at 7pm.
ADMISSION
Adults (18-59) $12
Youth (9-17) $9
Seniors (60+) $9
Veterans $9
Children 8 & Under FREE (with paid adult)
Tickets are available at the front gate. Cash or card is accepted.
