Delbert Smith (Faron Rauth)

MDLMS: The Iceman is "King of the Hill" at Minneapolis

by Dusty Wiegert

MINNEAPOLIS, Kan. -- Aug. 7. A clean sweep was in store for fans at the Minneapolis Raceway as Delbert "The Iceman" Smith prevailed in not only the first ever "King of the Hill" event for the Midwest DIRTcar Late Model Series, but also the 30-lap main event.

Smith finished fourth in his heat race, giving him the second opportunity to pick a redraw position. He drew #2 to start outside of Cale Gottschalk and rocketed off the front row to take a quick lead on the opening lap. Gottschalk and Dave Conkwright made contact on lap one, with Conkwright going to the back as the result of a caution.

Another caution flew on the restart for a spun out Brad Fortney. Smith had no problem with the lead on the restart, with Matt Johnson, Jerry Warner, Gottschalk, and Jimmy Segraves in tow. Another yellow flew on lap five, with another on lap seven for a crash involving Gottschalk and Justin Kinderknecht. On the next lap, the yellow flew again with Earl Kinderknecht and Gary Gorby involved.

Things finally got settled down allowing the drivers to make it to lap 13 before the next caution, involving Conkwright and Kelly Dunn. Conkwright was done for the night, but Dunn continued after the final caution of the night.

From there it was smooth sailing for Smith as Warner and Segraves worked past Johnson. At the finish the top five was Smith, Warner, Segraves, Fortney to fourth after coming from the back, and Johnson.

Smith worked his way to victory lane earlier in the evening as well after taking the win over Justin Kinderknecht in the finals of the King of the Hill event. Smith had quick time and the #1 seed in the bracket style head-to-head event after setting the fastest time in the heat races.