By Jerry Mackey and Anthony Ainslee
COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa (Sept. 22-23, 2023) – CJ Speedway hosted two special nights of racing on the Louisa County Fairgrounds with racers coming from great distances to delight the race fans.
Friday night the 22nd of September was the Battle on the Levee. Originally scheduled to be held during the Louisa County Fair, the race was postponed due to the excessive heat during the summer and was run as the opener of the weekend which also hosted the “Governors Cup,“ special on Saturday.
The Battle on the Levee featured a talented field of 86 drivers.
Twenty-six Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds took the green and a stellar field battled it out for 20 laps for their main event. When the checkers flew it was Spencer Diercks scoring a hard-fought win ahead of Jarrett Brown. Drew Janssen took third ahead of Todd Shute.
The IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature win went to Damon Murty, who led flag to flag and earned the win ahead of Jason See and John Oliver Jr.
The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event saw 2023 CJ Speedway track champion Dylan Van Wyk continue his dominance by taking the win ahead of Logan Anderson and Shane Paris.
The IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature win went to Calvin Dhondt, his second in as many appearances at CJ Speedway in 2023. Second went to Corey VanDerwilt ahead of Luke Phillips.
Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact win on Friday night went to former track champion Christian Grady. Despite being a past champion, the win was Grady’s first at CJ. Alex Hayes took second ahead of Darin Smith.
Running in support of the SLMR Late Models on Saturday night were the sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars, Northern SportMods and Hobby Stocks.
Following the Late Model feature and a 45-minute rain delay, the Modifieds ran their main event with Chris Zogg besting a strong field of drivers. Zogg scored his first-ever CJ Speedway win in ten trips to the Louisa County Fairgrounds. Local hotshoe Kurt Kile ran second on Saturday night ahead of Dakota Simmons.
The Stock Car feature win went to Oliver, who led flag to flag in scoring the win ahead of Johnny Spaw and Miciah Hidlebaugh.
The Northern SportMod main event win went to Van Wyk, who scored a clean sweep of the two days of racing action. The Saturday checkers were scored ahead of Shane Paris and Shaun Slaughter.
And the Hobby Stock win went to Joren Fisher. Second went to Shane Richardson crossing the finish line ahead of Tom Killen Jr.
An announcement will be made soon regarding the 2023 CJ Speedway date for the annual awards banquet.
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