Saturday it was back to the Pepsi Lee County Speedway for night number two of the Fall Extravaganza. Action was scheduled to begin one hour earlier, with the $3,000 to win sport compact feature front and center.
I can't help but think how far the class has come at LCS since then owner/promoter Terry Hoenig introduced the 4 cylinders as " Wild Things, " with the rules stating that a driver could not lead consecutive laps until the white flag had been displayed. Another class of cars that started out with simple rules and turned into a spending contest! Eight states were represented in the forty four car field of compacts on Saturday.
Before handing out the big check, twenty heat races and seven B mains were needed to whittle the one hundred and sixty seven car field into five feature line ups.
Stock cars kicked off the main event action, with all twenty seven cars eligible for the twenty laps of racing. With John Oliver Jr. drawing the pole position, the smart bet would have been on a flag to flag win, but this would not be the track champs night. The usually well behaved stock cars had a rash of early cautions, including five in the first four laps. By this time, third starting Jeff Mueller, who lasted only four laps on Friday, was out front, strong challenger Abe Huls was in the pits, and Oliver Jr. was at the tail of the field after a mishap with Huls. Meanwhile, Friday winner Michael Jaenette had lined up outside row six and was now restarting in third. One more caution at lap four and the field went single file. Two more laps were scored and Jaenette was now in second, and we had a two car battle, with Mueller hugging the low groove and Jaenette working up top. With Jaenette closing in, Jeff temporarily changed lines to move in front of the #93 in turns three and four. The Avis scoreboard read seven to go when Mueller caught the back of the pack, and he was able to pull away in traffic to take the win. Jaenette capped off a strong weekend in second, followed by Dustin Griffiths, who scored his second consecutive third place finish. Oliver Jr. fought his way back to fourth with a late pass of Beau Taylor.
Modifieds were up next, the thirty seven car field reduced to twenty four starters for twenty two laps. Spencer Diercks, with a Davey Allison throwback wrap on his #29, took off from the pole position with fourth starting Kurt Stewart matching his early pace. The yellow came quickly for Troy Cordes, and back under green it was seventh starting Jeff Aikey taking up the chase. As the race reached the halfway mark the leaders caught slower traffic, and row five starter Cayden Carter entered the top four. With fifteen laps in the books Carter climbed to third, and with heavy traffic for the leaders, Aikey and Cater were knocking on the door of the leader Diercks. When the white flag signaled one to go, Aikey was side by side with Diercks, and he used high side momentum to cross the finish line in first. Diercks had led the distance until the final corner, but settled for runner up honors. Aikey collected the win to go along with a second to Michael Long on Friday. Carter matched his third place finish from the night before, and Mark Burgtorf did the same in fourth. Long came from outside row eight to squeeze into fifth.
A dozen sport mods stayed at the trailer as twenty four lined up for twenty laps. Clint Morehouse brought out a first lap yellow, with polesitter Kyle Olson leading fourth starting Tyler Soppe by inches as lap one was scored. The next stop came for a Matt Tucker spin at lap five, with Olson continuing to lead as we went back to green. Eight circuits in and tenth starting Austin Paul and twelfth starting Brayton Carter were able to get by Soppe for second and third. One lap later Carter jumped to second and began to run down Olson. With seven laps to go, the caution again came out for a spinning Tucker, and that was the break Carter needed. He rode the cushion to the lead, then pulled away to make it a clean sweep for the weekend. Olson came home the runner up to Carter for the second consecutive night, with Logan Anderson steady in third. Paul took fourth, while the drive of the night may have been Sean Wyett, who started in row eleven after qualifying through a B main, then charged all the way to fifth.
All twenty three late models lined up for twenty five laps with Mark Burgtorf and first heat winner Don Pataska in row one. Burgtorf shot to the early lead followed by Pataska and row two starters Darin Duffy and Friday winner Jay Johnson. One lap in, sixth starting Gary Webb cleared Johnson for fourth. With the race staying green, the leader was in slower traffic by lap eight. For the savvy veteran Burgtorf, this worked out well, and he was able to increase his lead as the laps clicked off. A battle developed for the runner up spot between Pataska and Duffy, with Darin finally taking the position on the final lap of the non stop event, beating his third place run the night prior. Burgtorf followed up his Friday runner up finish with the win. Webb ran a low line to fourth while Dustin Griffin completed the top five. Aikey advanced seven spots to sixth followed by Tommy Elston, Sam Halstead, Johnson, and Ray Raker.
With much of the nice sized crowd hanging around, Twenty four qualifiers plus two provisional starters lined up for forty laps of sport compact racing and a $3,000 payday at the end.A first lap yellow saw two of the top contenders, third heat winner Brad Chandler, and the hot shoe from Cincinnati, Ohio, Jack Pflum retire to the pits. Kentucky driver Blaine Ellis and Chuck Fullenkamp from just up the road in West Point, paced the field for lap one. Track champion and Friday winner Brandon Reu and seventh starting Durant, Iowa standout Jake Benischek battled for third. Lap four saw Benischek claim the spot, and following a caution, he jumped to the lead. The yellow flew again at lap seven for debris, and Fullenkamp used the Delaware restart to move to second. Hard running Jason Ash had to qualify with a win in the third B main, started eighteenth, and was up to sixth by lap ten. Two laps later he was fifth , then fourth on the eighteenth circuit. Lapped traffic came into play just past the halfway point, as Ash took third with sixteen laps to go. The next caution came with thirty in the books, as provisional starter Josh Barnes, in a back up car, slowed while running about sixth. Benischek powered away on the restart, while Fullenkamp and Ash dueled side by side, wheel to wheel, lap after lap for second. A caution came with only four laps remaining as Adam Gates and Alex Hayes got together. Ash took the inside line on the restart, and was mounting a challenge for the lead when Kaycee McGregor and Chance Bailey got together, creating a final stoppage with three to go. With an excited supporter urging him on from the stands, Benischek held on for the win and the big check. Ash took runner up honors, followed by Fullenkamp and Ellis. Another Cincinnati driver, Joe Pflum camd from row eight to take fifth, matching his Friday finish. The rest of the top ten in order was Reu, Barry Taft, Indiana driver Shannon Welp, Trent Orwig, and Michael Grossman.
Stats and stuff: By my very unofficial count, there were 309 entries over the two nights, with 58 races being run for a total of 619 laps, plus hot laps both nights. The racing surface started out wet both nights, but came around beautifully, smooth, fast, and free of holes. The Friday program eclipsed the midnight hour while Saturday came in just a few minutes before the date changed. There were drivers entered from nine states on hand, with six represented in the compact headliner. The unofficial longest tow went to Trever Cornick, from Vulcan, Michigan, at over nine hours! There is one more race night on the schedule at LCS, Shiverfest, which will run on Halloween, October 31. Watch the track website or Facebook for more details.
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