Friday night the folks at Kohlmorgan Hauling in Keokuk stepped up to offer free grandstand admission to the weekly program at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Racing fans turned out in large numbers despite a somewhat sketchy weather forecast, and there was a solid turnout of race teams rolling through the pit gate. Vintage cars joined the regular five division card consisting of the four IMCA classes, Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, and Sport Mods along with non sanctioned Sport Compacts.
Track officials indicated before the show started that they planned to roll quickly through the program, and true to their word, all but the vintage finals wrapped up before 9:45, beating whatever rain may have come around later.
Davenport Speedway was hit by rain, with their program cancelling as cars were checking in, and LCS promoter Brian Gaylords' phone lit up with a trio of Late Model competitors letting him know they were heading south hoping to make it to Donnellson before feature time. With Late Models moved to last in the regular class running order, all three made it in time to take their heat race starting spots. One Compact racer was also on the lineup board, but apparently never completed the trip.
Vintage heats were not yet complete before the first feature, Sport Mods, was called to staging. The turnout in this class was a bit light, perhaps the ominous forecast held all counts down some, but a dozen cars lined up for eighteen laps. Jim Gillenwater and Brandon Lambert sat on row one, with Logan Cumby slipping to second behind Gillenwater as lap one was scored. John Oliver Jr. charged from row four to ease past Cumby for second on lap two, and the front duo soon put distance on the pack. Gillenwater maintained a nice lead as the laps clicked off, but Oliver was able to move to his rear bumper before bobbling slightly in turn two twelve laps in. At the same time, Reed Wolfmeyer, Nicholas Profeta, and Brandon Dale were locked in an intense battle behind the top three. Oliver recovered and nosed his #55 to the inside of the leader on the white flag lap, but Gillenwater held on to pick up the win in the non stop event. Oliver Jr., Cumby, Profeta, Dale, and Wolfmeyer came next. Kudos to Josh Holtman, who committed a rare spin early on but kept his #5 rolling to avoid a caution!
Thankfully and wisely, victory lane celebrations were kept to a minimum, and right away all but Rex Widmer of thirteen cars took the Modified feature green for eighteen circuits. Matt Diaz and Mitch Boles brought the field to green, with fourth starting Blaine Webster leading Boles early. Heat winners Austen Becerra and Denny Eckrich lined up in row five of the points invert, but Becerra was in the top five by the end of lap two. The first of an unfortunate five caution flags came on lap three, and back to racing Becerra jumped to third and Eckrich climbed to fifth. Following another yellow, Becerra drove to the front on lap eight using the inside line. Eckrich continued his charge, gaining third by the halfway mark. With seven to go, it was near disaster on the backstretch, as Brian Reed looked to be heading to the pits and may have heard a warning on his raceceiver, as he suddenly stopped in front of the leaders. Fortunately, there was no contact ahead of the caution. Eckrich moved to second on the restart but was soon locked in an intense side by side battle with Webster for second. A final stoppage as the white flag waved set up a green, white, checkers finish. Beccera stayed in control for the win, chased by Eckrich, Webster, Mark Burgtorf, and Bill Roberts Jr.
Now it would be Stock Cars, eleven strong for another eighteen lapper. Part of the nights' sponsor, Neal Kohlmorgan paced lap one before a yellow flag restart saw fifth starting Chad Krogmeier grab the lead. With two laps down, Beau Taylor and Derrick Agee suddenly spun together in turn four to bring a caution. Oddly, only Taylor went to the tail, with Agee realigning in second. Back to racing tenth starting Oliver Jr. advanced to third. Soon we had a three car scrum between Krogmeier, Agee, and Oliver. As Oliver nosed inside Agee for second, Krogmeier opened a bit of a cushion. With just two to go, Oliver moved to the rear bumper of the #12, then once again catfished inside the leader in turn three coming to the white flag. Oliver Jr. then completed a successful evening with another Stock Car victory. Krogmeier led sixteen laps, but settled for second ahead of Agee, Jason Cook, and Jeremy Pundt.
Twelve Sport Compacts would battle for fifteen trips around the three eighths mile D shaped oval. Josh Barnes sat on the pole, took off at the green flag, and led all the way. Only one yellow flag slowed the action. Dyllan Bonk cleared an early three wide battle for the runner up position. Barry Taft took up the chase, with Kimberly Abbott and Chevy Barnes dueling behind Bonk as the race went past halfway. With Bonk slipping back a bit, Barnes was on cruise control all the way to the checkers. Taft, Abbott, Chevy Barnes, and Luke Fraise completed the top five.
Sixteen IMCA Late Models would wrap up regular racing, going for twenty five laps on the ultra smooth, slick, multi groove surface. Ray Raker set the pace early in front of third starting C. J. Horn and Sean Johnson. Horn moved to first and Johnson took up the chase in second on lap five as Tommy Elston in fourth and Andy Nezworski in sixth began to pick off cars. The lone caution came for debris with nine laps scored. Raker rebounded to battle with Johnson for second as racing resumed, even as Horn began to pull well ahead. With just ten laps remaining, Johnson finally cleared Raker for second, then tried to close on the leader as Elston powered to third. But this race belonged to Horn, who won for the third time in 2023 at LCS. Johnson was solid in second while Elston settled in third. Nezworski crossed the line in fourth while Denny Woodworth completed the top five. Raker fell to sixth, chased by double duty Jeremy Pundt, visiting Evan Miller, Sam Halstead, and Christian Miles.
Thanks to the ultra competent staff at LCS for a solid night of racing under tough conditions. An important note for Donnellson fans, there will be no racing next Friday as the track will be in action on Saturday, July 22, instead. Also racing will kick off one hour earlier, check LCS social media for details!
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