Holladay, Kile, Murty Take CJ Dollars

 No one is enjoying the county fair circuit in 2018 more than yours truly. I have been taking full advantage in this my first full summer of retirement to take in several of the week night special races. Wednesday night, IMCA stock car driver Beau Taylor, also a Canton, Mo. resident, joined my posse of old timers as we journeyed to the Louisa County Fairgrounds in Columbus Junction, Iowa for a visit by the Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA late models backed up by IMCA modifieds and IMCA stock cars. It was my first visit of 2018 to CJ Speedway, and the 4/10 mile facility appeared to have had some upgrades since my last visit. There may not have been a capacity crowd, however there were many groups of folks searching our part of the covered grandstands for seats.
  Besides being impressed with our surroundings, we were also pleased when hot laps started promptly at 7:00 as advertised, and in fact the first heat race rolled off a couple minutes before 7:30. A solid group of 21 IMCA stock cars signed in, and they started things off with three entertaining heat races. There was a whopping 30 IMCA modifieds, and they clicked off four eight lappers in good time.
  The late model turnout of 28 was just about what I expected, and they lined up for four ten lap qualifiers. In the first heat, Rob Toland appeared to get into the back of Rob Moss, sending the #1M flying into the caution light pole. Rob seemed to be unhurt, but his car left the track with the assistance of two wreckers. By late model time, the track was already starting to slicken up, and there was plenty of passing going on. Veteran Denny Eckrich captured heat one from the outside pole, followed by fourth starting Chuck Hanna. Curt Martin started seventh and charged to third, earning enough passing points to qualify for a third row slot in the 40 lap headliner.
  As a reminder, the series switched gears for 2018. The heat winners do a pizza box draw/giveaway procedure to set the first two rows for the feature with the next spots up to twelfth aligned by passing points.
  Chad Holladay came all the way from row four to win heat two and Andy Nezworski ran second. Joe Zrostlik crossed the finish line in third, but while he did not make the top twelve, fourth place Andy Eckrich did after starting sixth. Holladay was aided a bit by an altercation with Justin Kay making contact with Todd Cooney in which Cooney went for a spin and both drivers had to restart from the tail.
  Ryan Dolan duplicated Holladays feat, coming from the tail to grab heat three. Terry Neal and Jeremiah Hurst also punched their feature ticket.
  Darrell Defrance kept his series perfect attendance streak in tact, and celebrated with a late race pass of Kyle Hinrichs to win heat four. Hinrichs and Nick Marolf also transferred.
A pair of modified B-mains set the 24 car lineup for their feature, as I checked on the lineups for two late model B's.
  The stock cars then lined up for a 25 lap feature, with all drivers taking the green flag. Chad Krogmeier led the pack into turn three, but looped his ride in front of the pack. Everyone did a nice job of missing the #12, and the field lined back up with Chad at the tail. Brandon Jay now took the top spot for the opening circuits. Damon Murty had drawn a six after winning his heat, but following the Krogmeier spin, he restarted outside row two. He was second by a nose as lap three was scored ahead of another caution flag. After one more quick yellow, Murty grabbed the lead and began to pull away. Meanwhile, twelfth starting Jason See was on the move, taking third on lap six, and moving to the runner up spot two laps later. By now, Murty had a commanding lead over See, who also had separation from the battle for third. A yellow flag on lap 17 bunched the pack, but Murty again pulled well ahead on the restart. Murty appeared to be playing it safe in turns three and four on the slickening oval, and See was making up a bit of ground even as third running Kirk Kinsley slowed and exited the track.  Murty cruised to the win, with See in second. Adam Bell lined up 17th and finished third, Jason Cook ran fourth, and John Hemstead edged Jay for fifth.
  The modified feature was also set for 25 laps. Kurt Kile charged to the early lead from row one, while one of the three double duty mod and late model drivers, ( Toland, Marolf) Justin Kay took second from row two. The front duo drove away from the field ahead of a lap eight yellow. Derrick Stewart mounted a challenge to Kay on the restart, but Kay held the spot. Meanwhile, hot shoe Jason Wolla had moved from row six to enter the top five on lap 15. As flagman Doug Haack gave the " five to go " sign, Kay was closing on the leader and Wolla took over fourth. Lap 22 saw Kay within three car lengths and Kay used the low line to nose ahead in turn one before Kile used a crossover high to low move to retake the top spot. As the white flag waved, a car spun to the inside of turns three and four, but we stayed green, and Kile dealt with that as well as slower traffic, taking a hard fought win. Kay settled for second, followed by Stewart, Wolla, and Steve Stewart.
  We may have missed the announcement, but it was now obvious that the late model B -mains had been scrapped. Moss, Joel Callahan, and Ron Boyse had scratched, leaving only one more than the 24 car starting field in competition, so the decision was made to start the remaining 25 cars in the 40 lap finale.
   While the track had been racey all night, it now appeared to be mostly " used up, " and the prediction made by a long time car owner at the start of the night that the winner would come from the front two rows looked like a solid possibility. Defrance and Holladay had wound up on the front row, with Denny Eckrich and Dolan in row two. Holladay jumped to the lead, but a spin by Tim Simpson on the first lap slowed the action. Eckrich overtook Defrance for second on the restart, with Holladay pulling out to a big lead. With everyone now hugging the low line, the leader caught slower traffic on lap ten. As Chad worked skillfully through the slower cars, the yellow came out on lap twelve, and Neal headed to the pits. Another stoppage came three laps later as Sam Halstead slowed on the backstretch, ending his run. Andy Eckrich also checked out ahead of another caution on lap 16. A crash involving Gary Webb and Simpson left the Rookie of the Year contender Simpson with heavy damage. As the laps wound down, one more caution period came with four laps remaining, as Curt Schroeder got crossways and slid up the backstretch levee.Nothing, however could stop Holladay on this night, as he picked up the $2,000 check. Denny Eckrich ran second ahead of Defrance, Dolan, and Marolf. Hurst came home sixth, followed by Martin, Hanna, 25th starting Cooney, and 22nd starting Kay.
 It was my fourth Summer Series race of the season, and fourth different winner! Racing ended a few minutes before 11:00.
 Thanks to promoter Larry Richardson and the CJ staff for their hospitality. I would like to apologize to them for being late with this blog entry. I spent the day helping my mother in law move to a new residence , and while I was putting this together Thursday evening, the storm that came through Canton knocked out power for several hours! Had I finished before the outage, I would have listed Lee County Speedway in Donnellson as my next race night on Friday, but I have since shared the post that they have cancelled due to storm damage in Donnellson. We had also considered the UMP Big Ten late model special at the Jacksonville,Il. Speedway, but promoter Ken Dobson postponed earlier in the week stating they were unable to adequately prepare after the county fair ended last Sunday. So we will see what the weekend brings, with an eye towards Quincy Raceways on Sunday and a return trip to the Davenport Speedway for World of Outlaw racing on the big 1/2 mile next Tuesday. I hope all our friends in the Pella and Marshalltown, Iowa areas are safe after the tornadoes that ripped through their areas today. Apparently the bad weather skirted around Bloomfield and Knoxville, as I have been seeing results from racing tonight on my phone. Welcome to the midwest!
  Thanks for reading.