Kay Doubles Up at West Liberty

Tuesday night I made my first trip of 2017 to the West Liberty Raceway with buddy Fred doing the driving. It was a perfect set up for a week night show, two classes only, the IMCA Deery Brothers late models and the IMCA Arnold Supply Hawkeye Dirt Tour modifieds. Following the trend we are seeing of late, the car counts were down a bit, but the 22 late models and 25 modifieds consisted mostly of top notch cars, and there was plenty of action! Three heat races in each division set the feature lineups, although the front stretch stage was the setting for the redraw, the mod drivers picking, then trading oil filters and the late model top twelve doing the same with pizza boxes. Modified heat number one saw track regular Chris Zogg out front when he suddenly rolled to a stop, bringing out the caution. Zogg went pitside and was the only car in either division to not take the feature green flag. In modified heat three, Colby Springsteen and Justin Kay came from row four to finish third and fourth to qualify for the redraw, and it was Kay winding up with the number two starting spot, outside Todd Shute on row one. Kay took off, leading the first of the 30 laps on the multi grooved 1/2 mile oval. Richie Gustin powered to second on lap two, and this front pair opened up a lead on the field as Shute and Cayden Carter battled for third. As the leaders approached slower traffic, the yellow waved for Stumpy Brockert, trailing smoke behind his #30 machine. Carter was challenging Gustin for second when the yellow came out again one lap later. Back under green, Kay took advantage of the intense battle for second, stretching his lead before Carter took command of the runner up spot just before the half way mark. The Oskaloosa youngster then closed the margin quickly, pulling alongside Kay on lap 18. Carter actually crossed the line with a slight advantage about lap 20, but Kay regained the spot, and again slower traffic came in to play on the 23rd circuit. Kay was dominant on the restarts, and he shot out to a lead following a caution on lap 26 and another one lap later. Meanwhile, Joel Rust used the restarts to move to third, then second after a side by side duel with Carter. With three laps to go, Gustin saw his night end, and it was now Rust taking up the charge. But Kay and his #15K were more than up for the challenge, as he powered to the win. Carter regained the second spot, with Rust in third. Kurt Kile quietly charged to fourth, with Kelly Shryock completing the top five. Nick Marolf, Chad Holladay and Kay captured the late model heats, but the redraw was unkind to all three, with Holladay starting eighth and Marolf and Kay sharing row six. Track regular Kyle Hinrichs and series point leader Jesse Sobbing rolled off from the front row, with Sobbing, the driver from southwest Iowa taking the early lead. By the fourth of the forty laps. Sobbing had a sizable lead over Hinrichs. But Kay was the man on the move, as he entered the top ten on lap four, took over eighth on lap six, the gained two more spots before the caution came out on lap nine for Kevin Kile whos #88 gave up as he tried to clear the speedway. Another yellow waved on the restart for a three car scrum in turns one and two, and following the next Delaware restart, third starting Denny Eckrich took over second, with Kay jumping to fifth. Kay used a power move to claim third on lap eleven, then three trips around later, he was in second. By now Sobbing had opened a big lead, but by the halfway mark, Kay was nipping at his heels. The leaders caught traffic on lap 22in what was now a two car battle. Justin was patient, found his opening and took the lead for good on the 26th circuit. With no more stoppages,it was then "bye,bye" time, as he pulled away to a dominant win. Sobbing held off a persistent Denny Eckrich to claim runner up honors. Matt Ryan was also closing as the laps ran out, and finished fourth ahead of Hinrichs. Holladay paced the second five over row seven starter Andy Eckrich, row nine starter Jeremiah Hurst, Darrell Defrance, and Ron Boyse completed the top ten. The final checkers waved well before 10:00! This will likely be the end of my racing week,as I have other commitments on Friday and Saturday. And it was announced on Tuesday that Quincy Raceways has cancelled racing for this Sunday, June 18. Promoter Ken Dobson has made the decision to tear up the racing surface before the UMP Summernationals event on Monday, July 3, and said there was not time to complete the project this week. As of now, plans include staging the $2,000 to win UMP Big Ten late model show on Sunday, June 25. There will be no racing on Sunday, July 2, then the Summernational tour will run on July 3. Check the Quincy Raceways website or Quincy Raceways on Facebook for updates. Until next time, thanks for reading!