Friday afternoon we journeyed north to Davenport Speedway for night one of the 45th Yankee Dirt Track classic. This late season special has been a staple of the Farley Speedway for many years after originating at the dirt version of Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids in 1978. For unknown (to me) reasons, the Farley track cancelled the 2022 event, which was set to take place over the Labor Day holiday, so Ricky Kay and his team picked up the torch and put together two nights of racing under the Yankee banner. The event would revolve around their previously scheduled Saturday visit by the SLMR late models. The Friday card would be headlined by IMCA late models, a regularly featured class at the track racing for $1,045 to win. Also in action would be a visiting class, IMCA stock cars, also competing for $1,045. The action would wrap up with an Enduro for the 4 cylinder cars.
As we made our way north, trying to ignore the steady drizzle which occasionally turned to a rain shower, one by one tracks in the region began to post cancellation notices. But Facebook missives kept assuring us all was well in Davenport, so we soldiered on. Even as I made my first pass through the steadily filling pit area, I was silently questioning the wisdom of our excursion. But luck was on our side, as the mist stopped, at least long enough to allow racing to go on as planned!
The final tally had an outstanding field of twenty eight IMCA late models signed in along with twenty top notch IMCA stock cars, an excellent total considering the class did not race here in 2022. However, the rumors were later confirmed that IMCA stock cars will be a part of the lineup at the track in 2023. With hot laps under way, the 4 cylinder Enduro cars continued to trickle in, with a final count of twenty two. In addition. five SLMR cars wandered in early and were allowed a hot lap "practice" session ahead of tomorrows' program.
Stock cars were split into three heat races, with the top four redrawing for the first six rows of the twenty five lap feature. Chase Zaruba, Kaden Reynolds, and triple duty Justin Kay picked up heat race wins.
Four seven car ten lap heats set the feature field for the late models. The top three from each redrew for the first six rows, but all twenty eight cars advanced to the thirty five lap money race. When rookie Anthony Guss elected to tag the tail of heat one, that moved Chuck Hanna to the outside pole, and he picked up the win. Fourth starting Andy Nezworski overtook Kay to capture heat two. Tommy Elston, wheeling the Lynn Richard #15R worked around early leader Darrel Defrance for the heat three win, and Matt Ryan charged from row two for the heat four victory.
Hot laps for the SLMR early arrivals served as intermission, then it was feature time for the stock cars. With the opening night of the Jim Oliver Memorial at Scotland County Speedway rained out, John Oliver Jr. made the trip to Davenport, and lined up on the pole alongside Dallon Murty. Dallon quickly shot to the lead, with Damon Murty driving to second from row two. The son and father team immediately began to put distance on the field, while a pack of seven cars battled side by side and nose to tail behind them. With twelve in the books, the leaders moved up on a pair of slower cars, but that presented no problem as the leaders raced nose to tail around them. Meanwhile, twelfth starting Reynolds was moving forward, advancing to fourth with nine laps to go. But his charge was stalled when he drove over the top of the track out of turn two. By the time the scoreboard showed five laps remaining, the front duo had nearly a half track lead, Two laps from the finish, Damon nosed ahead briefly down the backstretch, but Dallon rode the cushion back to the front out of turn four. At the checkers, it was Dallon on top, followed by Damon. Dustin Vis started and finished third, Jesse Sobbing advanced four positions to fourth, while Kay started and finished fifth.
All twenty eight cars took the green flag for the thirty lap late model main event. Nezworski and Kay lined up on the front row, and once again it was Kay grabbing the early lead. Although challenged throughout, he did not give up control this time, scoring a flag to flag win. He opened up a big lead early before encountering heavy slower traffic by lap six. As he and Nezworski wormed their way through, Ryan, who had been lurking in third, cleared Nezworski for the runner up spot. As he began to bear down on Kay, the first yellow flag flew. On the first attempt at a restart, a brake check in the middle of the pack resulted in a five car pileup between turns three and four. Following a lengthy clean up, Kay, with an open track ahead, again took off. By lap twelve, the top three had put distance on the pack, but were once again catching the back of the pack. Unlike his inside line "catfishing" in the stock car, Kay was working high around the quarter mile while Ryan switched lines looking for a way to the front. Nezworski took advantage of that to close in on Ryan, and now Matt was occupied with hanging on to second. As a result, Kay drove away to the win. Ryan held off Nezworski for runner up honors, while Joel Callahan climbed five spots to fourth. Jacob Waterman was racing the #77 car for the evening, starting eleventh and finishing fifth. Hanna led the second five, topping Anthony Franklin, Fred Remley, Defrance, and Jaden Fryer.
As Kay was being interviewed by Shane Davis in victory lane and the Enduro cars waited in staging, the sprinkles fired up once again. Although it was just after 8:30, Fred and I, as well as several others in the rather sparse crowd headed for the exits. Hopefully they were able to complete the 150 laps, as I see Rick Zifko from Aurora, Illinois picked up the win over Brody Rivest from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Nate Coopman from Mankato, Minnesota. This novelty race paid a whopping $2,645 to win!
After some quality family time today, we will head for Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri tonight for Jim Oliver Sr. Memorial action. Check back tomorrow for a report on the five class program. We hope to cap off the weekend with the season finale at Adams County, Illinois Speedway for season championship night for the Sprint Invaders racing along with Crate Late Models, Street Stocks, and HART Limited B Mods.
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