One hundred forty race teams braved the elements as the 11th annual Harvest Hustle at Lee County Speedway drew to a conclusion. The thirty six Sport Mods on hand barely topped thirty five open rules Compacts for class honors. It took twenty one qualifying races to set the feature fields, then despite the dropping temps, the track crew decided to rework what seemed to be a pretty darn good racing surface. Thirty minutes or so, and we were feature racing. It should be noted that the three make up features from an early rain out on September 10 had been moved to the end of the program. The reason given was that the Harvest Hustle features came with a higher payout, and officials decided it would be better to give drivers their best shot at the extra money.
IMCA Stock Cars would run first, with all twenty seven cars coming to the track to contest twenty two laps. Along with Late Models, Modifieds, and Sport Mods, the stock car folks would be chasing a $1,000 top prize, while the Compacts were in search of a cool $2,000 to win! Veteran Tom Cannon and Patrick Phillips wheeling a Thompson Racing #3T made up row one. Phillips grabbed the early lead trailed by row two starter Derrick Agee. "Yellow fever" came early and often, a rarity for the Stock Cars, perhaps partially as a result of the rewatered track, four cautions in the first three laps! One of those mishaps sent Friday winner Dustin Vis to the tail, effectively ending his chance at a weekend sweep. With Agee now out front being chased by Cannon, Friday runner up Johnny Spaw began a march forward, moving to third on lap six. As the laps clicked off , the leaders hugged the inside line, but with four to go Spaw moved to the cushion, falling to fourth behind John Oliver Jr. Following another yellow flag, the field went single file, then a final caution came with two circuits remaining. This is when things got dicey. With the white flag in the air and the leaders racing the final lap, there was a mixup behind them in turn four. But instead of another yellow flag, starter Rodney Bleisner waved the double checkers as the front pack scrambled to avoid the stopped cars even as those drivers worked to get out of the way. Crossing the line, it was still Agee out front, while Oliver Jr. crept within half a car length to take second. Spaw was third ahead of Cannon, with Abe Huls in fifth. It was announced that the time limit on the race had expired, so throwing the yellow would have had basically the same effect as the checkers, although perhaps with a bit less suspense!
With the crowd still buzzing, IMCA Late Models lined up, eighteen strong for twenty five laps. After a day spent repairing his #54, Tommy Elston redrew the pole position alongside Chuck Hanna. But it was third starting Nick Marolf in second as lap one was scored. Hanna briefly took over the runner up spot as he ran in a three car pack with Marolf and Andy Nezworski, several car lengths behind the leader. Elston caught the back of the pack with ten laps down, and Marolf began to tighten the margin to first. A caution flag at about the halfway mark gave Elston a clear track, even as Nezworski shot ahead of Marolf for second. A final restart one lap later saw Elston use a strong restart to open up a sizable lead while Marolf retook second and Hanna dropped Nezworski to fourth. Although Marolf steadily closed the gap, he could never get close enough to challenge Elston, who led all twenty five laps for the win. Hanna held off Nezworski for third, and C. J. Horn gained seven spots to finish fifth. Mark Burgtorf wheeled the Richard Racing #15R to a sixth place finish ahead of late model rookie Jaden Fryer, Denny Woodworth, Darrel Defrance, and Gary Webb.
IMCA Sport Mods would go twenty laps after having their field whittled down to two dozen competitors. A whole bunch of zeros dominated early, with outside pole sitter Dakota Girard, #0, leading pole sitter Shaun Slaughter #00 on lap one, with Kyler Girard #00 also in the mix from row two. Eighth starting Friday winner Tony Olson moved to third on lap seven as Dylan Van Wyk and ninth starting Logan Anderson also operated in the top five. At the mid point, Anderson suddenly slowed and pulled to the infield, his fourth place run ended as Olson powered to second. With thirteen laps scored, the first caution came, and on the Delaware style restart, Brayton Carter lined up fifth after starting eleventh. He followed that by charging all the way to first in one lap, and was pulling away from the pack when a second and final yellow came with four to go. Olson was able to retake second as racing resumed, but Carter was long gone, cruising to the checkers. Adam Birck moved up seven spots to third, Dakota Girard held fourth, and Brandon Dale came on late, gaining eight positions to run fifth.
All but one of the twenty two entrants took the feature green for the IMCA Modifieds, racing for twenty two laps. Daniel Fellows topped Eric Barnes for lap one, both front row starters. Barnes then grabbed the lead, holding it through a lap three caution. Friday winner Jarrett Brown drew the unlucky twelve chip for the invert, but he was soon in the top five, then fourth with five in the books. Brennen Chipp lined up in row four, but he quietly moved to the lead ten laps in. With Brown advancing to third running high on the track, Chipp began to pull well ahead of the field. A caution with eight circuits remaining wiped out his commanding lead, and now Brown jumped to second on the restart, while Denny Eckrich followed in third. Now Dakota Simmons caught fire, driving past Eckrich with six to go. Meanwhile Chipp was working the low line while Brown searched for a bite on the cushion. But this race would belong to Chipp. Brown, Simmons, Eckrich, and Barnes would complete the top five.
Although there was an abundance of good racing all night, the Compacts took home the trophy for best race. Twenty four cars, thirty five laps, and $2,000 for the winner! UMP regular Derrick DeFord started on the pole and led Chandler Fullenkamp as lap one was scored. Those two drove off from the pack as a traffic jam formed behind them, eventually sorting out with everyone hugging the bottom line. Michael Grossman began his march forward, claiming second on lap eight, and one lap later Jake Benischek followed in third. With the leaders navigating slower traffic, Grossman moved in to challenge DeFord, grabbing the lead at lap fifteen, before DeFord regained the spot on the next trip around. With twenty laps scored, Grossman suddenly slowed and pulled to the infield with a throttle issue, his run over. The only caution of the race came with fourteen laps to go, and back under green Kimberly Abbott climbed to third behind DeFord and Benischek. Soon it was a two car race, as Abbott fought to hold off Ohio driver Jack Pflum and Chevy Barnes. Five laps from the finish, Benischek was able to squeeze inside DeFord for the lead, they then ran side by side for a lap before DeFord returned the favor, squeezing low to slip back around the #5B. As the wave of the green signaled two laps to go, again they ran side by side, before DeFord was able to put a lapped car between them and claim the win. Abbott continued to hold off Pflum and Barnes to round out the first five.
There were still the three make up features to go, but the clock had passed 11:00 and the temp had hit the low 40s, so we decided the time was right to pack up and head south. Congratulations to those winners, John Oliver Jr., Brandon Dale, and Kimberly Abbott, who all improved on top five runs with make up feature victories!
Again, thanks to Brian, Marcie, Brian, and the staff for another night of top notch racing. Lee County still has at least one more event on the calendar, the now legendary Shiverfest, this year on Saturday, October 29. Meanwhile, we are mulling our options for the next two weekends before that, but weather permitting, look for us squeezing as many races as we can from the schedule!
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