The curtain has drawn on yet another season of racing at the Double-X Speedway as the final performances played out on the dirt stage Sunday, Aug. 11. Traditionally, the Double-X finale is held on Saturday, however, the races were moved to Sunday night due to the excess rain in the area Friday.
The night started off with the Winged Sprint division's feature event, where Wright City's Adam Jones took the lead at the drop of the green over fellow front row-starter Bryan Grimes, Slater, and third-starting Tyler Blank, California.
While Jones kept his sprinter on the top shelf in the opening laps and opened a small lead over the field, a battle was shaping up behind him. Fifth-starting Cody Baker, Lone Jack, was biding his time and a Lap 6 restart saw Baker pull into second place and set his sights on the fleet car of Jones, who was starting to encounter lapped traffic.
Smithton's Josh Fisher moved into second place on Lap 7, but Baker grabbed the number two spot back just three laps later. With Jones still leading and working the high groove, Baker used the low line to begin to challenge for the lead and moved into the number one spot on Lap 21, however, Jones regained the lead and held Baker off by a slim margin at the checkered flag. Following Jones and Baker to the finish line were Blank, Grimes and Eugene's Corey Nelson, respectively.
After taking the checkered, Jones performed some celebratory victory donuts in turns three and four, which was reminiscent of his friend Jesse Hockett.
Heat races were won by Grimes and Jones.
In the Street Stock division's feature event, after Russellville's Derek Henson survived five failed attempts to start the race, he took the lead in the opening lap. Early challenges from Jefferson City's Jerry Unger and California's John Clancy Jr. would ultimately result in Clancy taking the lead on Lap 11. On the final lap, however, Dylan Bias ended up crossways in turn one, which resulted in the displaying of the yellow flag, and as the field was shaping up for the restart, Clancy's engine expired on the front straight, which placed Henson back in the lead.
Henson went on to claim victory. Curt Turpin, Jefferson City, had a very strong run to take second place, followed by Columbia's Jim Kimbell in third. Mark Davis, Grovespring, recovered from an early spin-out to take fourth place, while Unger finished fifth. Heat races were won by Tebbetts' Ted Welschmeyer, and Henson.
A total of 14 drivers answered the call for the feature event in the Hobby Stock division, where Gage Wineland, Syracuse, claimed another feature victory. Rounding out the top five were Sedalia's Will Register, Kevin Prall, Windsor's Chuck Coffey, and Sedalia's Mike Schrader, respectively. Register and Wineland claimed the heat races.
In the 600cc Micro Sprint division it was once again the Dean Hathman show as he claimed yet another victory. The action was quite intense behind Hathman, as Sweet Springs' Dwayne Benson, Columbia's Scott Hathman and Cole Campbell waged a battle for second, third and fourth places. At the checkered flag, it was Benson who would finish in second place, while Campbell placed third, Scott Hathman fourth, and Jefferson City's Kyle Schlotz in fifth place.
Dean Hathman won the heat race.
After the evening's racing card was complete, the season awards were presented. (Awards will be featured in the Aug. 21 issue of the California Democrat.)
Double-X Speedway track owners Kyle and Carol Wirts, California, extend their appreciation to all of the fans and drivers who helped to make the 2013 season so successful and memorable.
"Enjoy the off season and we hope to see you all return for 'Sunday Night Thunder' in 2014," Kyle and Carol said.