![KossuthCountySpeedway](https://www.imca.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/KossuthCountySpeedway.jpeg)
By Greg Grabianowski
Sports Editor
ALGONA, Iowa (Aug. 22, 2024) – The final evening of exciting dirt track racing at the Kossuth County Speedway for 2024 took place on Aug. 22 wrapping up a crazy season that saw Mother Nature the only feature winner on seven different Thursday nights.
The evening was also for the final night for track manager Ron Reefer as he announced after doing a great job at the oval for the past nine years that it was time for him to spend more time with his family and have more time to enjoy some of his outdoor hobbies.
IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks were led to the flag stand by Brayton Kajewski and Joe Doran.
Doran jumped out front after the first lap around the track and led the whole race until a late race surge by hard-charger Mike Smith gave the Lake City driver his fifth local feature win.
Although Doran maintain the top spot early in the race, the battle for second place saw Jade Lange, Josh Sidles and Brandon Nielsen exchanging punches as Smith slowly working his way through the field toward the front.
Doran was still the leader at the halfway point of the race followed by Nielsen, Lange, Dan Hanselman and Sidles rounded out the top cars.
Nielsen pulled up even with Doran with five laps to go and Smith used the high side of the track to move into contention. With two laps to go, the yellow flag came out as Nielsen spun out courtesy of a flat tire.
Doran continued to hold the lead off the restart before Smith pulled up even with him as the two drivers took the white flag for the last lap. They went door-to-door down the back straightway and make some minor contact coming out of turn number four as Smith eased past Doran.
Doran finished second as Hanselman was third. Smith moved up nine spots as the feature’s hard charger and claimed another track championship in the process.
Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods were led to the flag stand by Jacob Tacheny and George Gilliland as Tacheny led the first eight laps of the race before a yellow flag came out.
Off the restart, Tacheny still maintained the top spot before another caution flag appeared two laps later. Following that restart, Alec Fett became the new leader.
Fett then led the final five laps to earn his third feature of the summer at the track as Charlie Stevens had another good run to take second with Tacheny finishing third. Looft wrapped up yet another track championship.
The front pair of Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts went door-to-door down the back straight-away on the final lap as Charles Prime captured his first feature win of the season by a half a car-length over Lucas Parsons. Brooke Osler earned the track championship as she won five features at the track this year.
Each night out at dirt tracks across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars usually puts on a great show and they came through again in Thursday evening.
Colby Jennings was the leader after the first trip around the track. He continued to through the race as great battle for the runner-up spot behind developed between Travis Shipman, Wayne Landheer, Chad Palmer, Kelly Shryock and Colby Fett.
Jennings continued to lead at the halfway point of the 15-lap feature followed by Fett, Shryock, Shipman and Landheer.
The final five laps saw Fett and Shryock continue to put a lot of heat on Jennings but the Whittemore driver held him off for his second feature win of the season that secured the track championship for him.
Fett finished second as Shryock took third.
Nick Meyer jumped out front early and never looked back to earn his second Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature win of the year.
Jason Bass was second and Jason Briese placed third. In the closest point race of the 2024 season at the track, Cody Knecht took the Modified title by just one point.
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