Friday night we were back at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the third installment of the seven "Drive for Five" series races for IMCA late models and IMCA modifieds. In addition, make up features from May 14 were on the card for the modifieds, IMCA stock cars, and IMCA sport compacts. The modified make up would be the second "Drive for Five" qualifier.
Taking into consideration the intense heat, track officials toyed with the idea of pushing back the starting time, but ultimately delayed it by only about fifteen minutes, noting the extra three features on the docket. With hot laps out of the way, racing action started just before 7:45. Those in charge did a fine job of keeping things moving, with only one feature event dragging down the program. Can you guess which class? The twenty race program wrapped up before 11:00!
The make up features started with fifteen laps for the sport compacts. Chevy Barnes and Dylan Bonk battled side by side early as Josh Barnes worked his way forward from row four. Josh moved to second with six laps remaining, then powered past Bonk down the backstretch coming to the white flag, holding on for the win. Chevy rolled home third while Chance Bailey came from deep in the pack to claim fourth ahead of Kimberly Abbott. The race ran non stop.
Sixteen laps was the distance for the stock car make up. Outside pole sitter Chad Krogmeier was shadowed by fifth starting Chris Wibbell throughout the first half of the race. Chad ran a fast middle groove while Chris challenged one line lower. Meanwhile Abe Huls was moving through the pack. As the white flag waved for the leaders, contact in turn four between fourth place Jake Powers and David Brandies sent Jake for a spin, bringing out the caution flag. On the first attempt at a green, white, checkers, finish, the yellow waved again as a skirmish in turn two resulted in Brandies and Wibbell being sent to the back of the field. The final restart saw Huls grab the lead and the win followed by Krogmeier, Jason Cook, Jeremy Pundt, and Brandies.
Twenty two cars lined up for twenty two laps in the modified make up, after Austin Howes had to be pushed to the infield when his sharp looking #17A would not stay running. Although I am not certain, it looks as though the track may have allowed cars that were not on hand for the May 14 event to "buy in" and start at the tail of the make up. Cayden Carter, who I believe already had one "Drive for Five" win under his belt, shot from row one to the early lead with Chris Zogg in tow. The "Gas Man" opened a big lead as tenth starting Michael Long began a charge through the field, entering the top five on lap six. The leader caught the back of the pack at about the halfway mark, fortunately for him, they were mostly racing single file. The only stoppage came with six laps remaining, as Bill Roberts Jr. spun out of his fifth place run. The caution wiped out Carters' big lead, and on the Delaware style restart, Long jumped from fourth to second. There would however be no catching Carter, as he took the $1,000 top prize. Long settled for runner up honors, with Dennis Laveine in third. Zogg was running fourth on the final lap when he suddenly slowed coming off turn two. Ethan Braaksma took the spot, and his row six mate Mark Burgtorf was fifth.
With no delay we moved into heat race action for the regular portion of the program, and soon it was feature time!
Unfortunately, although hardly unusual, this is when the show bogged down. Twenty sport mods lined up for what was scheduled to be eighteen laps on a smooth, lightning fast track. Logan Cumby and seventh starting Jim Gillenwater were in a high powered duel before the first caution flag came with five laps in the books. Four laps, seven yellow flags and two single file restarts later, officials mercifully invoked the time limit. Tanner Klingele had impressively worked his way to the front from a row six start, and he picked up the win. Brandon Lambert drove a solid race to claim second followed by Gillenwater, Adam Birck, and Austen Becerra. I sure don't know what the answer is, but this class can sure be frustrating to watch on too many occasions...
Getting things back on track, the late models clicked off twenty five caution free laps. Tommy Elston drew the pole position and jumped to the lead, soon finding himself hounded by sixth starting Nick Marolf. Slowly Tommy extended his advantage, as Mark Burgtorf, who would run two heat races and three features on this scorching night, moved to the rear bumper of Marolf for second. Nick survived the challenge, opening a gap between himself and Mark. Elston caught the tail of the field with three laps to go, but was having trouble putting cars a lap down, and Marolf and Burgtorf quickly closed the gap. Catching the leader and making a pass was two different propositions however, as Elston rolled to the win and the $1,000 payday. Marolf and Burgtorf followed, with Jay Johnson and Matt Strassheim, who had their own intense battle, completing the top five. Gary Webb came from a twelfth place start to sixth, and former "Drive for Five" winner Joel Callahan lined up last in fourteenth and finished seventh. Sam Halstead, Ron Boyse, and Ben Seemann rounded out the top ten.
Fourteen of the sixteen sport compacts that checked in lined up for their regular fifteen lap feature. Tim Schnathorst started outside row one and took the early advantage. The only caution period came with two laps in the books. Kimberly Abbott grabbed the lead on the restart, and was cruising as her row four mate Brandon Reu had a more difficult time working through the field. Five laps in, Reu made his way to second and the two leaders pulled away from what was an entertaining back and forth for positions three through six. Brandon waited until the final lap to pull alongside Kimberly, hugging the inside line as she drifted too high coming off turn four. Reu won the drag race to the checkers by inches, the only time he led the race. Schnathorst survived the scrum to finish third, besting Luke Fraise, and Josh Barnes. Barnes had smacked the turn two guardrail in his heat, made quick repairs and came from the tail to the top five in this main event.
Beau Taylor was forced to scratch out of a row one starting spot in the thirteen car stock car sixteen lap regular feature. Brandon Setzer passed up hometown racing in Davenport and earned the pole position. He put his #77X out front as the stock cars ran nose to tail around the tire boundary on the bottom of the 3/8 mile oval. Huls soon realized that moving ahead from row five was not working, so he moved up the track and began a march forward. With three laps to go, he had powered to second and was zeroing in on the leader. But Setzer was not to be denied, claiming a flag to flag win in the non stop feature. Huls fell just short of a double victory, settling for the runner up spot. Jerry Jansen was strong in third, leading Krogmeier and Cook with top five runs.
Modifieds wrapped up the night with a second $1,000 to win twenty two lapper. All but one of the twenty four cars on hand took the green flag in what turned out to be the best race of the night! Drew Jansen shot to the front ahead of row one mate Steve Picou, who came all the way from High Ridge, Missouri to race at LCS. Sport mod graduate Brandon Dale charged to second, then took the top spot as lap two went in the books. The next circuit saw sixth starting Carter grab second. Long, who started on Carters' bumper, entered the top five. With five laps down, it was Dale, Carter, Burgtorf and Long up front, and one lap later Long was in third. The yellow waved at lap six as Chad Giberson pounded the front stretch guard rail, and back under green, the front three put distance on the field. As we neared the halfway point, Dale got too high in turns three and four, briefly climbing the guard rail, nearly collecting Carter who was running in his tire tracks. All cars kept moving, but it was now Long, who had been running down low, in second behind Carter. For the next several laps, Carter and Long put on a clinic, trading slide jobs in each set of turns, swapping the lead back and forth. Carter was working the high line, forcing Long to search for moisture and a bite down low. With five laps to go, Carter for some reason, went to the bottom groove, perhaps worried about blocking Long. Michael wasted no time moving to his preferred top side, charging to the lead. As he was scored the leader with three laps to go, the caution flag waved, setting up a Delaware restart. Carter took the outside line for the restart, but saw Dale outrun him to turn one. Fortunately for him, the yellow waved one more time before the lap was completed, and this time he chose to line up on the inside of the row. With a clear track ahead, Long quickly pulled away, and holding on to second was the best Carter could muster. Dale wrestled his damaged car home in third, ahead of Burgtorf and Braaksma.
The track was definitely a "motor track" with passing at a premium, but as I hope I was able to describe, there was still plenty of movement. With the one blemish, it was an excellent night of racing at a premier venue. Thanks to Marcie and both Brians for keeping things moving under sultry conditions, and thanks to Dan and Mel for a fun ride through the pits. (Happy birthday, Mel!)
We will be taking the rest of the weekend off, and plan to make a long awaited visit to the Eldon Raceway on Thursday as the SLMR late models take on the big 1/2 mile. Maybe we will see you there!
No comments:
Post a Comment