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VanderBeek doubles up on opening night of Memphis Fall Nationals

VanderBeek doubles up on opening night of Memphis Fall Nationals

Sometimes people expect the track and racing to be the same as the races held there on previous events, but what they don't understand is that is impossible mostly due to mother nature. That was the case on Friday night at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri. Yeah, the track was dusty and no they weren't racing 6 wide. But what people forgot was that on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mother nature dumped over 2 inches of rain onto the grounds, which wouldn't allow the crew to get onto the surface until late Thursday night. Even then they couldn't get enough water into the surface to keep the dust down, plus the gusty winds didn't help things out either. With all that being said the racing went on and the surface held up nicely, and the drivers produced some great two wide racing.

Kelly Shryock and Ken Schrader, yes the former NASCAR competitor, drew the front row for the 22 lap Modified feature, with Shryock grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Schrader and Jake Griffin. Shryock then started to pull away from the battle going on behind him, that was until lap 7 when Griffin, who was using the very top of the track, pulled even with Shryock. But the action up front was slowed for the first time on lap 8 when Michael Long, who was battling hard with Schrader for 6th, spun in turn 2 to bring out the caution. On the restart Zack VanderBeek, who started 9th, used the low side of turns 1 and 2 and then shot to the top in turns 3 and 4 to grab the lead away from Shryock. VanderBeek then started to pull away from the battle for second between Shyrock, Griffin and Cayden Carter, who started 8th, when the second caution of the race appeared on lap 17. Shyrock, who was running third, slowed to a stop in turn 4 with a right front flat to bring out the caution. On the restart Brandon Banks, who started 20th and had climbed his way into the top 10, slowed off turn 4 with troubles and collected Kyle Brown, Joel Rust, and Danny Crane to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw VanderBeek move back out front, with Carter using the bottom to go from 5th to 2nd and Schrader following behind him. Meanwhile Griffin, who was battling for second, suffered a left rear flat on the restart and faded to the back, before pull off one lap later. VanderBeek would go on to lead the final 5 laps to pick up the win and the $1,000 top prize. Carter settled for 2nd, Schrader was 3rd, Bruce Hanford came from 7th to finish in 4th, with Carter VanDenBerg passing 9 cars from his 14th place starting spot to round out the top 5.

The final feature to take to the track was the 20 lap Stock Cars, with Zack VanderBeek and Doug Sylvester on the front row. VanderBeek took advantage of his starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Nathan Wood and Derrick Agee. The action up front was slowed for the first and only time on lap 2, when Tyler Pickett, who was starting in his first Stock Car race after competing all year in a Hobby Stock, spun in turn 4 and collected Jimmy Comins and Greg Harsch to bring out the yellow. On the restart VanderBeek moved back out front, with Wood, Agee and John Oliver Jr., who started 8th, battling for the runner up spot. There was no catching VanderBeek on this night as he pulled away to pick up his second win of the night and another $1,000 top prize thanks to 79s See Racing. Wood won the battle for 2nd, Oliver Jr was 3rd, Agee was 4th, with Michael Peterson coming from 12th to finish in 5th.

118 cars, including 33 Modifieds, 28 Stock Cars, 27 SportMods, 15 Hobby Stocks and 15 Sport Compacts, from 6 states signed in to compete on Night 1 of the 8th Annual Memphis Fall Nationals.

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