Simpson Brothers Tops at Donnellson

The MLRA late models made their second and final visit to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson,Iowa to join to five regular classes on a warm Friday night. It was the second night of a three night swing through northern Missouri and southern Iowa for the southern Missouri based series. Oxford,Iowa driver Chris Simpson was coming off the feature win Thursday night in Memphis,Mo., and was the defending winner at Donnellson.He started the evening by setting overall fast time in group qualifying, topping the 25 car field with a lap of 16.019 seconds to earn the pole position for heat one, which he lead from start to finish over popular visitor Bobby Pierce,Rodney Sanders, and Spencer Diercks. Heat two saw polesitter Raymond Merrill spin his car in front of the pack in turn two on lap two. While most of the trailing cars avoided contact, Dick Weber was not so lucky, as he drilled the #12M car hard, ending his night. Row two starter Chad Simpson picked up the win ahead of Tony Jackson Jr., Randy Timms, and Dave Eckrich. Jordan Yaggy captured heat three from the pole, besting Brent Larson, Jesse Stovall, and Matt Furman. The IMCA sport compacts ran the first of six features, 14 cars strong. David Primm paced the opening lap, and a wild mixup on lap two shuffled the field. The only caution of the race came on lap three, although the cars were having some trouble negotiating the reworked and somewhat slick track. Back under green, Travis Demint and Barry Taft applied pressure to the leader.. On lap six, Demint and Taft moved around Primm and began to pull away from the pack, although Brandon Reu tried to keep the leaders in site. As the race stayed green, Demint picked up his second win of 2017 ahead of Taft, Brandon Reu, and Daniel Fellows. Although Josh Barnes crossed the line in fifth, he was penalized for contact earlier in the race, turning fifth over to Mike Reu. The IMCA stock cars were up next. As the green flag flew, John Oliver Jrs #05 did not take off, as he broke a gear, ending his night. Corey Strothman jumped to the early lead, with Jeremy Pundt taking second from Dean Kratzer on lap two. On the fifth trip around, David Brandies took the high line to the lead, and Pundt fell off the pace as his power steering went away. Lap nine saw visiting Michael Jaennette, who started near the back, suddenly snag the runner up spot. Soon it became a two car race as the leaders ran side by side and nose to tail. Behind the leaders, a solid battle developed for the third position. At the checkers, it was Brandies, Jaennette, Strothman,and Jason Cook over Jason See in a photo finish. The MLRA 40 lapper was up next. The top three drivers from each heat had redrawn for their starting spots in a rather bizarre format with the heat winners drawing for spots one through three, second place four through six and third place seven through nine. Chris Simpson and Yaggy started in row one, and Simpson immediately shot to the lead, while Chad Simpson challenged Yaggy for second. The leader caught the back of the field on lap ten, and found cars running side by side for position. After plotting his course, he was able to split a pair of cars, and from then on, he was never challenged. Although the second through fourth place cars ran nose to tail, the low groove was the preferred line, and the race unfortunately became pretty much a follow the leader affair. With no cautions in the 40 laps, Chris Simpson picked up the $3,000 check, followed by brother Chris,Yaggy, Larson, and Stovall in the top five. Pierce started and finished sixth ahead of Jackson Jr, Sanders, Eckrich and Timms. Although The drivers prefer time trial qualifying, there is no doubt that the passing points format used in 2016 produced far more action for the high powered late models. The IMCA sport mod field was unusually short at ten cars. Under green, a three car battle for the lead was featured on the opening circuit, but John Oliver Jr soon dropped back, leaving Austen Becerra and Brandon Lennox fighting for the top spot. The caution waved on lap three for the first of two spins by class rookie Jeffrey Delonjay, out for his first time after moving up from the sport compacts. Lennox paced the restart, with Becerra and Tony Dunker moving to a higher groove. Dunker grabbed the third spot, then moved back to the low side to challenge Becerra. He took the spot on lap nine. Lap eleven saw Austin Howes move to third, but by now Lennox had a big lead. A caution with four laps to go bunched the field, with Dunker choosing the inside line for the Delaware restart. Howes powered to the lead as Lennox fought back on the high side. Howes, crossed the stripe in first, but was later disqualified for illegal seals on his crate engine, turning the win over to Lennox. Dunker moved up to second, Becerra was then third, and Dan Keltner was scored in fourth. A dozen UMP Pro late models checked in and they were up next for the 20 lap feature. Denny Woodworth redrew for the pole position after a heat race win, and quickly jumped to the lead. The caution waved on lap three and again on the following lap, as fifth starting Tommy Elston moved up one spot on the slick track. With Woodworth in command on the low groove, Elston pulled to the infield on lap twelve. Sam Halstead was trying to track down the leader, but with five laps to go, he made hard contact with the lapped car of Derek Sammons, bringing out the caution. Sammons went on the hook, and after having his front end checked out, Halstead stayed on the track in second. One more caution period came for a barrier tire on the track, and on the restart, Derek Liles was shuffled from third to fifth. Woodworth picked up the win, followed by Halstead, Todd Frank, who ran in both late model divisions, Jeff Guengerich, and Liles. Brandon Ruffcorn Matt Strassheim, and Gunner Frank completed the on track car competitors. The final race of the night was the IMCA modified main event. Dugan Thye set the pace early from the front row ahead of Dennis Laveine. Last weeks winner Michael Long started outside row three, and was up to fourth on lap two when he tried to squeeze under another car in turn four. He clipped the utility tire, damaging his front end, ending his night. Thye held the lead on the restart, and the yellow waved again on lap four. Blake Woodruff slipped past Bill Roberts for second back under green, and on lap seven, Roberts retook the spot. At this time, From row starter Cayden Carter powered to third. One lap later, Carter took second, and Chris Zogg moved to third. On the tenth trip around, Carter took the lead, and Thye spun on the front stretch. The yellow waved again on the restart, but back to racing, Bruce Hanford took third with eight laps to go. With Carter in charge, there was a good battle for the cars running fourth through seventh. At the final checkers, it was Carter, Zogg, Hanford, Roberts, and Woodruff. Tonight, we will join the MLRA cars and stars at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly,Mo., then we will make it four in a row at Quincy Raceways on Sunday. Maybe we will see you there!