Next Stop Is Watkins Glen International for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. With just five races remaining in the regular season, it appears that twelve of the sixteen spots on The Chase Grid will be filled by race-winning drivers: Matt Kenseth, Kyle and Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Junior, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher. That would leave four post-season spots available based on the point standings. Jamie McMurray currently holds a nine-point lead over Kyle Larson, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, in the fight for what would be the final “playoff” spot … Six drivers are presently in the mix for those final four spots: Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, rookie Chase Elliott, McMurray, Larson and Kasey Kahne … Jeff Gordon will make the eight hundredth start of his career at the Glen and his third in the Number-88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, still subbing for Dale Earnhardt Junior who remains sidelined while recovering from a concussion.
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NASCAR X-FINITY Series Competes At The Zippo 200
THE NASCAR X-FINITY SERIES … also competes at Watkins Glen with Saturday’s Zippo 200. Teams got two practice sessions on the newly paved road course on Thursday with Kyle Busch posting the fastest overall speed, 123.006 miles per hour. Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and defending race winner Joey Logano followed on the speed chart as Sprint Cup drivers took the top four spots. Justin Allgaier completed the top five … Larson had the fastest average speed over ten consecutive laps, 122.552 miles per hour. Allgaier, Trevor Bayne, rookie Erik Jones and Darrell Wallace Junior took positions two through five.
August 5th: On This Day
On this day in 1988, George Strait enjoyed his 14th Billboard #1 song with”Baby Blue”. The song was the second single from his eighth album If You Ain’t Lovin’, You Ain’t Livin’.
Not Perfect, Just Real – Kelsea Ballerini
Kelsea Ballerini isn’t going to let her success or pressure from within the industry change the kind of music she makes. Kelsea tells the Chicago Tribune, “As a young girl there are pressures that come with any career, but I decided when I got into this I didn’t want to be perfect. I just want to be real and who I am.” And there are plenty of good reasons why Ballerini would never compromise her integrity as an artist. She says, “That’s something I’d feel comfortable with any little girl looking up to so that’s who I try to be.”
- Kelsea also talked about how she’s looking forward to her first-ever headlining trek; the aptly titled “The First Time Tour.” She shares, “When you headline, you get to just be available and really be one on one with your fans. I really want to make myself as available as I can be for them.”
- “The First Time Tour” will kick off on October 21 in Houston, Texas, and will wrap up in December with a two-night stand in Las Vegas with special guest Cam.
Newton Looks To Make Statement On Gridiron In 2016
Class 4A Football is always a gauntlet, no matter what district your team is in.
District 4 will be no exception, as Newton makes the jump up to 4A this season.
Class 4A and 8-Player will differ from the other four classes in rules for districts and playoffs. Those two will have eight districts, with the top two teams in the district standings making the playoffs. The other four classes will have seven districts, with the top two teams in each district guaranteed a playoff spot, and two wild cards will be selected to fill out the 16-team bracket.
The teams in District 4 are mainly unproven with the exception of perennial powerhouse West Des Moines Valley.
Valley has to be the heavy favorite to win the district, as they return their three leading skill position players on offense from their 10-3 state semifinal team in 2015.
Newton is the only other school in this district to return their starting quarterback from last year, as junior Garrett Sturtz will again be under center for the Cardinals.
Newton struggled last season after having a great 2014. The Cardinals went 1-8 in a mediocre Class 3A district, but got progressively better as the season wore on, winning their final game of the season, a 42-19 home triumph over Nevada.
The second playoff spot in this district will be wide open, as the other four teams in District 4 didn’t make it past the second round of the playoffs in 2015 and lost their starting quarterback.
Fort Dodge started the 2015 season 7-0, but faltered down the stretch, losing their last three games including their first round playoff contest against Southeast Polk, 42-0.
Southeast Polk was then eliminated by eventual state champion Dowling Catholic on the road, 51-20. SEP will look to improve from their 6-5 season in 2015, and should be among the leading contenders to compete at the top of District 4 with Valley.
Indianola sneaked into the playoffs last year but was eliminated in the first round on the road against Ankeny, 49-7. That loss put the Indians at 5-5 for the year.
Marshalltown rounds out the teams in the district. The Bobcats went 3-6 last season and missed the playoffs.
With the new rules cutting the playoff field in half, Newton will have to pull several upsets to position themselves at the top to get into the postseason.
But with the new personnel taking over at key spots of the other high-profile teams in the district, the team competing with Valley at the top is a mystery until the question marks are answered at the beginning of the season.
As with the different format of the districts, Class 4A gets four weeks of non-district action to prepare. One of those games is their Week 1 clash with Ottumwa in a battle of the listening area’s two biggest schools. That game will be our featured game on the Mahaska Zone Network Game of the Week on 104.9 FM KBOE, the KBOE mobile app, and kboeradio.com on August 26th.
If Newton is able to grow enough in those four non-district weeks to adjust to the Class 4A competition, things should be very interesting for the Cardinals down the stretch.
We will have full district previews of all 12 districts involving area teams as the season approaches. Monday, we will take a look at how Ottumwa will fare in Class 4A District 8. You can see more local sports content on our website, radiokmzn.com.
Oskaloosa School Board Holding Next Meeting August 9th
The Oskaloosa School Board will hold their next regular meeting on Tuesday, August 9th at 7 pm in the George Daily Auditorium Board Room. The board will consider Renewal of a Revised 28E Agreement with Preschool Program Partners, consider renewal of a lease of business property for Preschool Partners and Headstart, and consider renewal of agreements for the Mahaska County YMCA.
Forty For The Glen
There are forty drivers on the preliminary entry list for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen Sprint Cup Series race led by defending winner Joey Logano and regular-season points leader Kevin Harvick. With just five races remaining in the regular season, five drivers have clinched spots on The Chase Grid – Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski. Those five account for fourteen wins through the first twenty-one races of the year … Logano, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Junior, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher have one win apiece – leaving four post-season spots that will be available based on the point standings. Jamie McMurray currently holds a nine-point lead over Kyle Larson, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, in the fight for what would be the final “playoff” spot.
Four First Time Winners And Mechanic Races Headlined Yaw’s Auto Salvage Night At SIS
Musco Lighting IMCA Modifieds
Feature – 1. 52 Nathan Wood (Sigourney); 2. 11 Mike Hughes (Oskaloosa); 3. 14 Derrick Agee (Moberly, Missouri); 4. 19 Donnie Pearson (Oskaloosa); 5. 71 Louis Lynch (Glenwood, Missouri); 6. 54 Mike Brown (New Sharon); 7. 17 Brock Welch (Oskaloosa); 8. 73C Carl Yaw (Pleasant Hill); 9. 55 Brandon Hill (Des Moines); 10. 10C Cayden Carter (Oskaloosa); DNS/11. 7 Kris Walker (Oskaloosa).
Feature – 1. 1V Curtis VanDerWal (Oskaloosa); 2. 34Z Cory Van Zante (Sully); 3. 01 Brayton Carter (Oskaloosa); 4. 72 Brett Lowry (Montezuma); 5. 84B Trent Brink (Bussey); 6. A5 Austin Paul (Monroe); 7. 8T Tony Johnson (Oskaloosa); 8. 20 Danny Brau (Brooklyn); 9. 40 Dakota Simmons (Douds); 10. 26 Scott Brau (Brooklyn); 11. 16 Matthew Van Gelder (Pella); 12. 85 Jason McDaniel (Eldon); 13. 29 Colton Livezey (New Sharon); 14. 9A Logan Anderson (Eddyville); 15. 7 Carter VanDenBerg (Oskaloosa); 16. 41 AJ Johnson (New Sharon).
Story provided by Jeremy Fox
August 4th: On This Day
On this day in 1989, Dolly Parton had the most popular song in the country with “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?” The song was Parton’s eighteenth number one on the country chart, and spent over twenty weeks on the charts.
Rocking Rockefeller Plaza – Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton will be in New York City on Friday morning (8/5) to perform on the Today Show Summer Concert Series. Shelton will take over the city’s Rockefeller Plaza to perform several songs from the latest album, If I’m Honest, as well as treat fans to a few classic songs.
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