Droste Wins Again

  After a short vacation at Lake of the Ozarks to start the holiday weekend, I was ready for some racing action. And despite the fact that the rainfall totals in my area were far from robust, it was still enough to put a stop to any dirt track activities. So I joined up with son Brent, wife Lyne and grandson Payton, and we headed north to the Dubuque, Iowa Speedway for an IMCA late model Tri Track Challenge event. While I made my first ever visit to Dubuque earlier this season, Brent had never been to the 3/8 mile fairgrounds facility, so it was a track he could add to his list of venues.
 The car count on this Sunday evening was considerably less than for the same program over Memorial Day weekend, but my reading tells me that dwindling car counts seems to be a problem in many places. Still 17 IMCA late models signed in, along with 19 IMCA modifieds, 16 IMCA sport mods and five IMCA stock cars.
  Eight heat races to set the feature lineups clicked off in about 45 minutes and following a short intermission, it was main event time.
   The IMCA sport mods ran first, with all 16 making the call for 15 laps of racing. A first lap yellow slowed the action, and on the restart, Nick Coats paced the first circuit but looped his ride in turn one on the second lap. Back under green, it was Jake Murphy going around in the same spot. One more restart saw Mark Maas take the lead, but on the third trip around, point leader Tyler Soppe, who started in row five on the original start, took over the top spot. Maas stayed in the runner up spot until Troy Bauer powered his way to second on lap nine. With no more cautions, the top three ran the final six laps in that order, with Austin Schrage and KC Ansel completing the top five at the checkers. Soppe in victory lane said it was his 14th win of the season, and that he planned to run a whopping 70 races in 2016!
 The IMCA stock car 15 lap finale was next. Tim Schneider grabbed the lead on the opening lap. with point leader Jerry Miles soon on his tail. Schneider hugged the inside line while Miles tried every grove he could to try and overtake the leader. But with no yellows, Schneider made no mistakes in taking the flag to flag win.
 The 20 lap 19 car IMCA modified feature was up next. Steve Johnson, driving a # 22 machine instead of his familiar # 77, grabbed the early lead, holding on until a lap six caution. On the Delaware restart, Jed Frieburger an Austin Moyer lined up behind Johnson, and Moyer shot to the lead from the low line. One lap later, Johnson was back on top, again leading until a yellow on lap 14. Again Moyer was fastest on the start, grabbing a lead he would not this time give up. Frieburger followed Moyer around Johnson, and the final six circuits clicked off in this order. Tyler Madigan took fourth while Mark Schulte made a mid race charge, but settled for fifth.
  It was now late model time, with 50 laps of racing set to pay $2,000 to the winner. Ray Guss Jr. had qualified for the ten car redraw, but he was the only car in the four classes not on track for his feature.
 Dan Shelliam drew the pole position, with Curt Martin in the # 31 normally driver by Steve Hunter to his outside. Heat winners Andy Nezworski and Tyler Droste made up row two. Shelliam jumped to the lead with Nezworski on his heels. Soon, however, Shelliam was riding the extreme high line and had opened a sizable advantage. The man on the move early was Jason Rauen, who entered the top five on lap five. Behind Rauen, Joel Callahan and Luke Goedert ran side by side until the first caution waved for a three car mixup on the backstretch with eight laps scored. Two laps later, Droste had slipped past Martin for third, and the caution came out again. Back under green, Droste moved around Nezworski for second. On lap 13, Callahan was in the top five, and one lap later Callahan, the track point leader advanced to fourth while Nezworski found his way back around Droste. Those two battled for the second spot, and by lap 18, Droste had secured second and hooked up on the low line to challenge the rim riding Shelliam. On lap 21, Shelliam bobbled slightly in turn four, and that was all the opening Droste needed to grab the lead, while Callahan moved to a third place battle with Nezworski. In the meantime, row six starter Jeremiah Hurst has slipped into the top five. A lap one collision in his heat race with Eric Pollard had ruined both drivers chances at a redraw finish.  As Droste stretched his lead, Callahan made contact with the wall and began to fade, eventually pitting to change a flat tire after bringing out a caution on lap 43. Hurst was now in third and looking like he may have something for the leaders. Restarting for the final seven laps, Nezworski faded, and it was now a surging Martin picking off cars. But no one could seriously challenge Droste, as he cruised to the win as he had when I was in the stands in May. Shelliam had a strong run in second, while Hurst held off Martin for third. Callahan made it back to fifth after the tire change. Goedert scored sixth ahead of Darrell Defrance, Nezworski, and Rauen. Jerry King was tenth, and Becky Roth was the only other car running at the checkers.
 The final flag waved about 8:50, and we were able to knock down part of the 200 plus mile journey home before dark.
 Plans for this week include the Thursday night special at the Lee County Fair in Donnellson, Iowa, and UMP Summernational late models at Quincy Raceways on Sunday as we begin the second half of race season 2016!