When the new promoters of Lee County speedway in Donnellson, Iowa made the decision to switch to Saturday night racing for 2024 they encountered a few obstacles. Among those was the fairgrounds already having been committed for other activities on a handful of Saturdays throughout the race season. It was then decided racing would revert back to Fridays on those occasions. And so it would be on the final two weekends in July, with the 19th featuring free admission for residents of nearby Montrose and Keokuk, courtesy of the Montrose Health Center. UMP Pro Crate Late Models would also contest another Drive for Five event paying $1,000 to the winner.
Sixty eight race teams would sign in on a beautiful Friday evening in Southeast Iowa. The D shaped three eighths mile oval was smooth, fast and racy and heat race action clicked off in good time.
Modifieds would kick off feature racing, going for twenty laps. With Matt Diaz already loaded up and on the road back to Quincy and Levi Smiths' #19J done for the night, only seven cars would take the green flag. However Austen Becerra would turn his #22 over to Smith for the event. Kurt Kile would rocket to the lead from the outside pole position with pole sitter Jadin Fuller and third starting Denny Eckrich on his bumper. Those three broke away from the pack ahead of the only caution period with thirteen laps down. Following the Delaware Style restart Eckrich would gain the advantage over Fuller, then pressure Kile in the closing laps, but Kurt was not to be denied, leading flag to flag for the win. Eckrich, Fuller, Blaine Webster and Smith would chase the Nichols driver to the checkers.
Ten Stock Cars would be up next, racing for twenty laps. It would be pole sitter Derrick Agee topping his row one mate Jason Cook early as the top six cars battled side by side and nose to tail in typical Stock Car style. As the race stayed green, Cook was able to stick the nose of his #3D inside Agee to lead lap twelve. As Jason then opened a bit of a lead, positions two through six ran in close fashion. All twenty laps would go with no stops with Cook picking up his first win of the season. Agee came home second while Dustin Griffiths nosed around Beau Taylor late for third. Todd Reitzler would edge Nicholas Profeta to round out the top five.
The Late Model headliner would be third in the running order. All sixteen competitors would come to the track, however first time visitor Matt Kay could not take the green flag, retiring with a miss in his engine. Denny Woodworth jumped ahead of his row one mate Sam Halstead to lead lap one, then third starting C.J. Horn grabbed the runner up spot one lap later. Woodworth drove off to a commanding lead while Horn also gained separation in second. Meanwhile Nick Marolf, Tommy Elston and Austen Becerra battled for third, with Ron Boyse soon running down those three. Just before the halfway mark Becerra powered his way to third, now racing closely with Elston to hold that position. Around lap thirteen Horn would slide up in the crumbs in turn four, and Elston and Becerra would drive past to second and third. As one more lap was scored Becerra charged to second and set his sights on Woodworth, whose lead looked insurmountable. But even as the race stayed clean and green Becerra used incredible corner speed to quickly close the gap to the racing Attorney. As lap twenty one was scored Austen powered to the lead, then drove off to I believe his first ever Late Model win in only a handful of career starts. In doing so he broke Elstons' perfect six for six win season at LCS. Woodworth took runner up honors ahead of Elston, Horn and Marolf. Boyse ran sixth besting Spencer Havermale, Jeremy Pundt, Jackson Frankel and Darin Weisinger Jr.
While the first three features ran with a total of just one caution, Sport Mods could not keep up the smooth performances. Five yellow flags would mar the fifteen laps, although four came within the first three laps. Jim Gillenwater and recently "unretired" Adam Birck lined up in row one, racing in that order until the lap three restart saw Brandon Dale move to second. By lap five Birck had regained the spot. As the top two pulled well ahead, Birck drove to the lead seven laps in. As Adam opened an advantage the next five cars battled closely and Dale moved to second at lap ten. The yellow flag waved with three laps to go, and as the cars circled the track to get realigned, Birck suddenly pulled his Austen Becerra #122 to the infield with a broken ball joint. This would turn the lead over to Dale for the single file restart. Lurking in the third position, Reed Wolfmeyer decided to try the high line on the speedway and he rocketed all the way to the front, leading just the final two laps. As Dale seemed to slow considerably perhaps with unknown issues Gillenwater rebounded to second and Tyler Heckart also cleared Brandon for third. Kyler Girard would complete the first five.
Eight Hobby Stocks would race for fifteen non stop circuits. Jared Miller would pace the first two laps before yielding the top spot to double duty Dustin Griffiths. From there Griffiths would gradually open a more than full straightaway lead as he cruised to the win. Miller crossed the line in second while Daniel Wauters methodically worked his way to third. Des Moines driver Tom Killen Jr. came home fourth in front of Jeremy Dooley.
Even though only eight strong, Sport Compacts challenged for best race of the night! Brandon Reu and Barry Taft filled out row one and they would go fifteen laps side by side with only a single caution nine laps in slowing the action. Leading up to that one stoppage Reu had opened a couple car lengths advantage, but as racing resumed Taft again pulled alongside, perhaps just a nose ahead over each of the final four circuits. Side by side they would battle the final lap, with Taft grabbing the checkers first. Luke Fraise would out last Chuck Fullenkamp for third as Ethan Prim out dueled Kimberly Abbott for fifth.
With the later Friday night start, racing still wrapped up around 10:45. A reminder that it will again be Friday night racing next week before the action returns to Saturdays in August.
Thanks as always to Neal, Patrick and the folks at LCS for another night of quality racing!
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