Oskaloosa, Iowa: Perfect weather, packed infield and exciting races greeted the Southern Iowa Fair goers on Tuesday night as the Third Annual Caleb Hammond Memorial was held with a large enthusiastic crowd in attendance.

In addition to remembering Caleb Hammond a young man who loved racing, that lost his battle with cancer three years ago at the age of nine, the racing family pulled together to raise funds for Bentley DeGeest who is currently battling a brain tumor. The 4 year old is under going chemotherapy and faces a tough challenge. Several drivers went into the grandstands and passed helmets to raise funds for the family during intermission. Our racing family came through again as we raised over $2,300 for young Bentley.

The racing action on Tuesday night was spectacular with three of the five feature events decided at the finish line. The Oskaloosa Quality Rental Sportmods produced one of those photo finishes. Dylan Van Wyk led the 16 lap main event for the majority of the race before Curtis VanDerwal was able to get by the “Lil Speedster” for the lead. VanWyk quickly shot back into the lead. Then a late race caution set up a two lap dash to the checkers. On the restart Maguire Dejong shot to the extreme high side of the track and found some moisture and was able to use that line to pull even with VanWyk as the two raced down the back chute. Van Wyk still held the lead as the two exited turn four. Dejong was able to race to the win by less than a foot by racing right next to the outside rail. Cayden Carter nipped Curtis VanDerwal for third.

A strong 26 car field lined up for the green flag in the Mid State Machine Stock Car feature. In only his third night in his new Stock Car Nathan Ballard scored the win collecting the $1,000 pay day. Ballard is a very accomplished Hobby Stock driver who is making the move into the very tough Stock Car division. Ballard took the lead from early race leader Pat Rachels and went on to score an impressive win. With multiple packs of cars battling for positions Ballard was able to get out to a comfortable lead.

Todd Reitzler was able to close on Ballard late in the race but he ran out of time and settled for second. Derrick Agee advanced from a 7^th position start to take third ahead of Brett Lowry.

The Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks provided the fans with a very wild finish. The caution flew on the white flag lap setting up a two lap overtime dash to the finish. When the white flag flew a pack a four cars passed under the flag stand with all four drivers having a shot a the win. The last lap saw Craig Brown race all the way to the top of the track and bolt from 4^th to the win. Brown found the quickest line and took the win by approximately ½ a car length over Rick VanDusseldorp. Clint Nelson crossed the line third ahead of Keaton Gordon.

The Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts feature also provided plenty of excitement as the lead changed several times in the early going. When the checkered flag waved it was Billy Cain making his way to victory lane. Cain scored the win ahead of Tyler Haring and his team mate Clayton Webster crossed the line in third.

Local Sprint Car Driver AJ Johnson scored his first ever Non-Wing Sprint car main event win on Tuesday night. Johnson got out front early and raced to the win ahead of Ben Woods and Doug Sylvester.

The Southern Iowa Speedway will host the Season Championship races on Wednesday, July 28^th will all five exciting classes in action. Hot laps will get underway at 7:15 pm. The Annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge will bring the season to a close with two big nights of racing October, 15 & 16.

Southern Iowa Fair Races 3^rd Annual Caleb Hammond Memorial Tuesday, July 20

Oskaloosa Quality Rental Sportmods

1. 30M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
2. 17V Dylan VanWyk-Oskaloosa
3. 01 Cayden Carter-Oskaloosa
4. 1V Curtis VanDerwal-Oskaloosa
5. 34Z Corey VanZante-Sully

Mid States Machine Stock Cars

1. 29 Nathan Ballard-Marengo
2. 22R Todd Reitzler-Grinnell
3. 14 Derrick Agee-Moberly, MO
4. 4M Brett Lowry-Ottumwa
5. 34 Pat Rachels-China Grove, NC

Parker Tree Service Hobby Stocks

1. 69 Craig Brown-Eldon
2. 1R Rick VanDusseldorp-Oskaloosa
3. 27 Clint Nelson-Baxter
4. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
5. 77 Keaton Gordon-Ottumwa

Dirt N Asphalt Sport Compacts

1. 52 Billy Cain-Bloomfield
2. 41 Nathan Moody-Oskaloosa
3. 5 Tyler Haring-Oskaloosa
4. 152 Clayton Webster-Ottumwa
5. 2H James Haring-Oskaloosa

Non-Wing Sprints

1. 93J AJ Johnson-Oskaloosa
2. 11B Ben Woods-Newton
3. 12 Doug Sylvester-Ottumwa
4. 25 Kelly Graham-Hedrick
5. 7J Nathan James-Russell