We opened the Labor Day weekend with our second visit of the season to the Kile Motorsports West Liberty Raceway. The occasion was the rescheduled visit by the Hoker Trucking SLMR east division, a race that was rained out early in the program on August 20. The super late model winner would collect $3,000, while IMCA modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, and the Midwest Jalopies would fill out the card with the show restarting from the beginning.
Seventy eight drivers passed by Katie at the pit gate, led by a solid field of thirty one late models, three more than the original date. Following hot laps, late model qualifying went by in a flash, with three, four and even five cars at a time on the clock. Omaha, Nebraska hot shoe Jake Neal paced the leader board with a lap of 18.778 seconds around the big half mile. ( how well I remember fast times in the mid twenty second range what seems not so long ago!)
Ten heat races and a pair of late model B mains set the feature fields. With the invert and passing points system employed by SLMR, there was plenty of passing in their four heats. Jonathon Brauns topped heat one from the pole position, while Andy Eckrich grabbed the second eight lapper from row two. Popular veteran Jeremiah Hurst climbed in the Joel Callahan #40 for the night and captured heat three from outside row three, then Chris Spieker led the distance from the pole in the final heat. Pole sitters Nick Marolf and Derrick Stewart topped the B mains. A pair of provisionals, Curtis Glover and Ron Boyse filled out the twenty two car lineup.
There was a brief intermission ahead of the late model B's and after that we went straight to feature racing. Sport Mods were up first, with all but two of the twenty three cars making the call for fifteen laps. Curtis VanDerWal sat outside row two, and charged to the lead as lap one was scored. The first caution came for a pile up in turn two on lap two, and following the Delaware style restart, fifth starting Tim Plummer put his #66 in second. VanDerWal drove off to a sizable lead while Plummer also put distance on the rest of the pack. By lap eight, the leader was in slower traffic, and when he came upon a pack of three racing side by side for position it looked like things might get interesting. But some slick maneuvering gave him a clear track and he was again on the move ahead of a second and final caution with ten in the books. Plummer was able to challenge briefly for the top spot, but although he stayed in range this time, VanDerWal drove on to the win. Shaun Slaughter was steady in third after starting eighth, while Rusty DeShaw and Ryan Walker both advanced from row six to round out the top five. After victory lane ceremonies, VanDerWal needed the wrecker to tow him back to his pit!
The Midwest Jalopies were the novelty class for the night, but only ten cars were on hand. A well known name at the track, Matt Picray paced the opening circuit, but turned the lead over to tenth starting Matt Fulton on lap two. By lap four, Terry Doud had moved from row five to second and was closing on the front runner in what became a two car race. Following a caution flag, Doud took over the top spot, and along with Fulton they pulled away from the pack. With two laps remaining, Fulton charged too hard into turn one, spinning and bringing a final caution. Doud then drove his "For Sale" #2 with the sprint car looking front scoop to the win. Tom Honts, Tanner Girard, and Picray were next, while Fulton rebounded to fifth in the ten lap affair.
IMCA modifieds had an $800 top prize, but only fourteen signed in. Thirteen of those took the green flag for twenty laps. Dakota Simmons powered from outside row one to the lead. The yellow flag waved with two down when Kurt Kile slowed out of turn four. He then quickly ducked to the pits, returning in time to tag the tail. Brandon Banks cleared Derek Walker for second on the restart, with Denny Eckrich following in third. When Eckrich moved to second on lap four, Simmons was well out front. Denny began to close the gap, and by the halfway mark the front duo led the pack by nearly a full straightaway. On lap thirteen, Simmons drifted high in turn one, and Eckrich charged to the front on the inside. The "Flying 50" was pulling away and negotiating slower traffic when a second caution came just ahead of the "two to go" signal. Back under green, seventh starting Chris Zogg used the inside line to take the runner up spot, but the race belonged to Eckrich. Mark Schulte grabbed third ahead of Simmons and Banks.
Twenty five laps would be the distance for the late model finale. Todd Cooney was the pole sitter alongside Jason Hahne in a system I must confess I have yet to figure out. Cooney paced the opening circuit, with Chad Holladay coming from fourth to second. With three laps scored, an altercation between turns three and four saw Jeff Aikey retire for the night. On the restart, Holladay was able to slide under Cooney for the lead. As he opened a commanding advantage, he caught slower traffic just ahead of the halfway point. He was able to move with seeming ease through the traffic while maintaining his margin. However with about five laps left, whether he slowed up a bit out of caution with the heavy traffic, or he was losing a bit of "mojo," Cooney began to cut into the lead. It was too little, too late, though, as Holladay soon celebrated in victory lane. Cooney came home second, while Hurst used a late pass of Neal to claim third. Hahne faded to fifth at the checkers. Series points leader Justin Kay started third and finished sixth ahead of Andy Eckrich, who started and finished in seventh. Charlie NcKenna was eighth, followed by Dave Eckrich, while Matt Ryan lined up fourteenth and completed the top ten.
The final checkers came just after 10:00 in a very efficient and well run show, the last of the season, I believe, at West Liberty.
Thanks to Katie and all the folks at Kile Motorsports for their hospitality. Tonight we will step away from racing for a little country music courtesy of Clay Jansen, but weather permitting we will have more racing action to report on Monday. So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
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