Close Finishes at Lee County Speedway

Friday night I took in night two of Summerfest at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson,Iowa. An unofficial total of 99 cars signed in to race in six divisios, led by 27 IMCA sport mods. The heat races clicked off in good fashion, with a bit of a delay when contact in late model heat race number one sent Derek Liles hard into the turn two guardrail. The #33 recieved heavy damage, although Derek was able to complete a lap in the feature with his car resembling a modified more than a late model. Following a candy dash and some more intermission hijinks, it was feature time, with extra laps added in several of the classes. The IMCA sport compacts ran first. Nine cars had started the heat race, with Josh Barnes starting scratch on the field for the main event after I assume arriving late to the track. Polesitter Brandon Reu and row two starter Barry Taft crossed the stripe side by side as lap one was scored and those towo battled until Reu finally took command. Meanwhile, Barnes advanced to fourth on lap five, and he powered to third five laps later, then set his sights on Taft. With no caution periods slowing the action, Reu held on for the win, with Taft barely edging Barnes at the line for second. Kimberly Abbott and Travis Demint filled out the top five. The INEX legend cars were on hand, 18 strong, and they came to the track next for a 30 lap main event. With the field tightly bunched entering turn one on lap four, contact sent a pair of cars flipping multiple times. One of those airborne was former open late model pilot Jason YUtter, and the other was Nelson Stewart, the 79 year old father of NASCAR legend Tony Stewart. Although slow to exit their cars, both drivers professed to be ok. Back to racing, therer were several lead changes up front, with Bismarck,North Dakota driver Drew Papke taking the win over Tim Brockhouse. A B main for the sport mods ran next to eliminate three cars to set up the final four rows of the 20 lap feature. Bobby Six captured the win over Tony Dunker, who had run fifth in the fourth heat. All but one of the 17 IMCA stock cars, the #30c of Abe Huls, came out for 22 laps of feature racing. Front row starter Jeremy Pundt was the first lap leader, with outside polesitter John Oliver Jr. inches behind. Oliver nosed ahead on lap two and took command on the third trip around the 3/8 mile oval. Meanwhile, visiting David Brandies started mid pack, powering to fourth on lap four. With Oliver holding a nice lead, the first caution came with six laps down. On the Delaware restart, third running Jeff Mueller moved to second, taking Brandies along in third. Oliver was working the top side of the track, with Mueller and Brandies working the low line. Brandies then began moving around on the track, searching for the fastest groove. He challenged Mueller on lap 13, taking the position two laps later. But Mueller was not in a mood to surrender the spot, and he regained the runner up slot on the 16th circuit. Lap 19 saw Jason See ease past Pundt for fourth, and that is how the top five took the checkers. Dakota Simmons parlayed a pole start into a first lap lead, with Ryan Cook taking over on lap two. The yellow waved for debris on lap four, and back under green, Jeff Waterman grabbed the lead, with Cayden Carter on his heels. Row four starter Michael Long was looking for racing room behind cars running side by side, and following a lap seven caution he was able to nab fourth. On the tenth of the 25 lapper, Long took over third, and it was now a three car breakaway. Carter alternately fought off the challenges of Long, who was running the top in turns three and four. the diving to the inside in one and two, and stalked Waterman, as the front duo ran the top groove. Lap 21 saw the front two side by side, and on lap 23, Carter powered around Waterman in turn four, with Jeff using a crossover move to cancel the pass. The checkers waved with a excited Waterman picking up the win over Cater, Long, Chris Zogg, and Dennis Laveine. The IMCA sport mod 20 lapper was next, with outside polesitter Brandon Lennox taking the early lead, with Brandon Dale challenging. The caution came out on lap two for a multi car scrum, and back to racing, a three wide battle for second saw Jim Gillenwater take the spot. Following a lap four yellow, Lennox moved to the low line that was working for Gillenwater. Lennox built a nice lead, but with seven laps to go, he caught slower traffic, allowing Gillenwater to close in. With clear track, Lennox would pull away, with Gillenwater again closing in traffic. The caution waved with two laps remaining, and now Dunker, who had started outside row nine, was up to sixth. Gillenwater took over the lead on the backstretch as racing resumed, but the caution flag negated the pass. The final restart saw Dunker charge to thrd, and he was not done yet, as he cleared Gillenwater for second. At the checkers, he was within striking distance, but it was Lennox with the flag to flag win. Dunker turned in the run of the night in second, followed by Gillenwater, Carter Vandenberg, and Brayton Carter. It was now time for the 25 lap $1,000 to win UMP Pro Crate late model headliner. Heat two winner Mark Burgtorf was wheeling the Clint Kirkham #28 for the two day Summerfest, and he sat outside row one, taking the lap one lead ahead of row two starter Todd Frank. Fifth starting Tommy Elston moved to third on lap three,the cleared Frank five laps later. By the tenth circuit, he was up to challenge Burgtorf. As Elston worked the low line on the multi grooved surface, Burgtorf ran low in turns one and two, and the high line in three and four. Sam Halstead started in row four, and he was on the move, taking third at the half way mark. He steadily made up ground on the leaders, challenging Elston on lap 16. The top three pulled away from the pack, hitting slower traffic on lap 18, as Frank tried to stay in the mix. With a pair of laps to go in the non stop event, Halstead stuck the nose of his #84 under Elston to take the spot away. As I was stating to write the results down, Burgtorf pounded the turn four cushion for the final time, and Halstead stuck his ride on the bottom groove, winning the drag race to the checkers for an incredeible finish. It was win number two of 2017 at LCS for "Superman." Burgtorf pulled up in victory lane to congratulate a happy Halstead. Elston took third, with Denny Woodworth getting around Frank late for fourth. Visiting Kyle McMahan, from Mt Vernon,Il was sixth ahead of Jeff Guengerich,Gunner Frank, Chris Richard, and Tyler Cale. Chase Frank was next, ahead of Russ Schoonover, while Trent Grotx pulled out on the final lap. Liles was scored in 14th. It was a late night, with the final checkers close to 11:30, but a truly outstanding night of racing! Wather premitting, we will be back at Quincy Raceways Sunday night for UMP Super late models and modifieds, along with IMCA stock cars, sport mods, and sport compacts.