Pospisil Tops West Liberty SLMR Action

 Saturday night we made our third trip of 2020 to the West Liberty Raceway. Drt Trak Promotions was the host as Joe Kosiski brought his SLMR super late model racing eastern division series to town for a $3,000 to win event. The under card featured modifieds battling for a $1,000 check along with sport mods and 4 stocks. The A.I.R.S. and Midwest Jalopies completed the slate. Five states were represented in the ninety nine car field, with thirty two late models leading the way. With a hot sun baring down, the track crew gave the racing surface a heavy dose of water, however it was quickly blended into the dirt, and action kicked off shortly after the 6:30 advertised time.                The SLMR series uses a combined total of points awarded for time trial finishes along with passing points in the heat races to qualify the top sixteen for the main event. In addition, the top six in each heat race are inverted, based on their qualifying time. This can create some odd scenarios as evidenced on Saturday. Chad Holladay was overall fast timer with a lap of 19.107 seconds around the big half mile. He then started sixth and finished fifth in heat one, but still earned enough points to line up eighth in the thirty lap feature. Jeff Aikey started outside row one and captured that first heat, with Brian Harris, Richmond, Missouri driver Aaron Marrant and Dave Wada joining Holladay as transfers. Dave Eckrich led the distance from the pole in heat two. Nick Marolf, series points leader Tad Pospisil and fifth place Jason Hahne also transfered, while fourth finishing J C Wyman went to one of the two B mains. Chris Simpson came from fourth to grab heat three. Second place Jon Brauns was forced to a B main along with fourth and fifth place finishers Chad Simpson and Gabe Umbarger, while Jeff Tharp in third and Matt Ryan in sixth made the cut. The top four in heat four all survived, as sixth starting Andy Eckrich earned a front row start in the main event with the win. Jay Johnson finished in second, Charlie McKenna started fifth, came home third and earned the feature pole, and Darrell Defrance qualified after a fourth place run. The top two from each of two B mains would line up in rows nine and ten, with Brauns and Wyman topping the first B , and Chad Simpson and Justin Kay moving up from the second. Andrew Kosiski and Kyle Krampe took provisional starting spots.                                                                                      With only the late models needing B mains, the feature races kicked off with the American Iron Racing Series battle, fifteen cars for ten laps. Ray Guss Jr. lined up about row six, then worked his way to the front mid race to record the win.                                                        Thirteen sport mods were up next for sixteen laps. Logan Anderson used his pole start to build a half straightaway lead ahead of a lap seven caution for debris. Tim Plummer had started in row five, was fourth when the yellow flag waved, then powered to second following the Delaware restart. Shawn Slaughter brought out the caution at lap eleven, and back to racing the front duo separated from the pack. Plummer was working the inside line while Anderson was happy in the middle groove. A final caution came with three laps to go, and back under green Plummer made a last push, drawing within a half car length as the white flag was displayed. A mishap on the final lap brought a yellow-checkers finish, with Anderson completing the flag to flag win. Plummer was second, followed by Matt Fulton, Dustin Schram and Scott Brau.                                                                                                     Twenty one strong, the modifieds were up next. Jeff Aikey was doing double duty on the night, and he outgunned his row one mate Cayden Carter to pace lap one. The yellow quickly waved as Mark Burgtorf rolled to a stop under the flagstand, his night over. Carter took over as lap two was scored,, and the yellow came again at lap four when Chris Zogg slowed. One more lap was in the books before a caution for Kyle Montgomery brought things to a halt. Carter then began to pull away as Aikey, Denny Eckrich, and Spencer Diercks battled for second. Catching slower traffic at the halfway mark of ten laps, Carter was cruising, but again the caution slowed his pace. Now it was Diercks diving low to grab the lead in turn one, while Carter returned the favor with a successful slide job at the other end of the track. Diercks once again took the point in turn one, and while Carter stayed close, he could not mount a serious challenge. Slower traffic came into play in the final pair of laps, but Diercks was flawless, holding on for the win. It was a bittersweet victory, however, as he had crashed his late model on the opening lap of heat one as he tried to miss a spinning car. Carter took runner up honors, besting Aikey, Darin Duffy, and Eckrich.                                                                   A small group of eight sport compacts signed in to race for ten laps. The first of two cautions came on the start, with Adam Gates then pacing the field. Lap five saw Cody Staley grab the lead, and he held on through a lap six yellow to grab the win. Gates stayed close in second, with Cody VanDusen in third, followed by Tim Long and Jared McMichael.                                                                              Scott VanBuskirk chargd through the ten car field of Midwest Jalopies to capture their ten lap main event.                                        It was now showtime for the SLMR late models. Andy Eckrich shot to the lead with McKenna and Pospisil chasing. Andy had built a commanding lead by lap five when a car slowed on the front stretch preparing to head for the infield. Eckrich appeared to get out of the gas, possibly anticipating a caution flag that did not come, and McKenna and Pospisil flew around him before he could get back up to speed. Slower traffic came into play at lap eleven, and three circuits later Pospisil found his way to the top spot. Stretching his lead, he had little trouble with lapped cars. The laps clicked off with the only position battles from fifth on back until the final pair of laps. McKenna fell out of competition, to be honest I did not see him exit the track, and as I looked for him on the white flag lap, fifth running Marolf appeared to contact the turn two wall, creating a mad scramble behind the leaders. Pospisil held serve for the win, with Eckrich now in the runner up spot. Tharp drove a steady race to take third, with Harris on his heels in fourth. Aikey moved up a few spots at the end to grab fifth, while Holladay, Dave Eckrich, Chris then Chad Simpson also benefitted in the chaos. Marrant remained where he had been running in tenth. It was proudly annouced that the thirty caution free laps gave the series three consecutive flag to flag features!                                                                                             The action wrapped up as the clock struck 11:00. Thanks once again to Bob Wagener, Carrie Rouse and their team for their hospitality and most of all for bringing high speed racing back to the legendary West Liberty Raceway.