Strassheim, Boles Grab First Wins at LCS

    Friday night found us back at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa for a " regular " night of points racing. Five IMCA classes would be in action, including late models, modifieds, sport mods, stock cars, and sport compacts as the points season winds down in anticipation of a healthy schedule of year end specials culminating with Shiverfest on October 31.                                                                                                                                                        The car count was a bit light, but there was plenty of close racing, particularly in the stock car division.                                                       With qualifying races          out of the way, the sport compacts lined of for fifteen laps of action. Jared Heule came from row two to lead the opening lap, pacing the field for seven circuits before encountering the back of the field. Trapped behind a slower car, he was overtaken by Jason Ash, but the caution flag came out, putting Heule back out front for the restart. After the restart was called back, Heule again held the top spot until lap twelve, when Ash again nosed ahead. He then held on for the win. Heule took the runner up spot, with point leader Brandon Reu in third. A pair of lady racers, Kimberly Abbott and Kaycee McGregor battled for the next two spots, finishing in that order.                                                            The late models were up next , with heat winner Matt Strassheim lining up on the pole position. He charged to the early lead, with third starting Mark Burgtorf in tow. Top contender Nick Marolf pulled to the infield on lap two, his night over. By the fourth lap Burgtorf was applying pressure to Stassheim, pulling along side, but unable to complete the pass. From that point, Strassheim began to stretch his advantage in the non stop event. Matt picked up his first win of the season in the Barton #7B machine. Burgtorf took second in front of point leader Tommy Elston, Denny Woodworth, and Ron Boyse. Ray Raker made a late pass of Patrick Shumaker for sixth, with Marolf credited with eighth.                                                     Seventeen sport mods lined up for eighteen laps. After a lap one caution for Bob Cowman, the next ten laps clicked off quickly. Fifth starting Austen Becerra had led the distance, while Sean Wyett slipped past Nick Profetta for second on lap three. Following the lap eleven caution for debris, things turned sour. A called back start was followed by five more yellows in the final seven laps, with the field finally going single file. When the checkers waved, it was Becerra with the flag to flag win. Wyett ran second, while point leader Adam Birck won a battle with Brandon Dale for third. Barry Taft completed the top five. Veteran Mike Benjamin advanced seven spots to sixth to take the $100 hard charger bonus.                            Stock cars put on the race of the night. Beau Taylor powered to the lead from the pole with his row one mate Abe Huls in second. John Oliver Jr., wheeling a new car with an old body attached charged from row three to second one circuit later. He then began a dogged pursuit of Taylor while attempting to hold off a determined Huls. Taylor was catfishing the low line around the 3/8 mile and Oliver followed him through the low line in turns one and two, then jumped to the cushion at the other end, coming up just short of the lead at the line lap after lap.  Lap fifteen saw the three cars racing side by side, as Oliver finally made what turned out to be the winning pass. Huls was able to clear Taylor with one lap to go, crossing the line inches behind Oliver as the checkers flew. Taylor settled for third, besting Jeremy Pundt and Jason Cook. Oliver Jr. was able to stretch his points lead with the win.                                                                  Modifieds were last on the card, racing for eighteen laps. Mitch Boles and Levi Smith held row one, and Boles took the lead as the green flag waved. Heat winner Micheal Long lined up ninth, entering the top five on lap three, as fourth starting Daniel Fellows took second and began to work on the leader. By the fifth trip past the flagstand, Long was third and gaining on the front duo. Boles began to pull away as he negotiated the low line in the first set of turns and worked the cushion in three and four. Coming to the white flag, Long was able to clear Fellows for second, but Boles was not to be denied as he picked up his first win of 2020. Fellows was strong in third followed by Dennis Laveine and Mark Burgtorf in the non stop race. The fast paced program had us on the road just after 9:30. Even with the early hour, several fans missed the exciting stock car main as well as Boles first win. Although the caution waved only nine times in the five features, as mentioned seven of those came during the sport mod feature, an all too frequent happening. As those yellows mounted, more than a few folks headed for the exits. While the sport mods can produce quality racing, especially up front, the excessive stoppages prove too much for many of the casual fans. I wonder if the program would be better served if they were last on the card?   At any rate, thanks to the LCS staff for a fun night of racing!                 As it is raining this morning here in Canton,we are now watching the forecast before deciding on where and when to next go racing.