Doin' Some Week Night Racin'

 My particular job does not allow for a lot of week night racing without vacation time, but some opportunities are just too enticing to pass up. Last July when the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series scheduled a return to the West Liberty Raceway after many years, I decided it might be a show to see. Indeed it was, so when the 2012 schedule came out, the two visits to the historic half mile by the series went on my " can't miss " list. And once again on Tuesday, I was not disappointed. Old friend Gary Lupardus joined me for night number 27 on my 2012 schedule, as I took off work early for the two hour plus drive. Arriving plenty early, we were able to watch the cars roll in, and when the last hauler was signed in, 36 late models and 19 open modifieds were ready to contest the two class program. Call me old, but two classes of racing, those were the days!
 Racing began a little after 7:00, with four late model heat races on tap. Each had a special storyline, beginning with Colby Springsteen and Justin Kay getting together at the beginning of heat one. On the restart,outside  front row starter Tom Goble tried to outdrive polesitter Jonathon Brauns through turns one and two. Youngster Brauns held his ground, and the veteran Goble wound up spinning his # 69, earning a trip to the back. It was basically the end of the night for Goble, who started deep in his B-main and could not advance to the top four qualifying spot. Brauns led six laps before eventually falling out of the top three transfer positions, with Nick Marolf, out for the first time in a new Victory Circle chassis by Billy Moyer coming from row three for the win. Kurt Kile shot to the lead in heat two from a front row start, but bobbled slightly on lap seven, tightening the field. Jay Johnson had a chance to take the lead, but had to hit the brakes, giving Kile time to recover and take the win. Heat three saw Gary Webb start at the tail with engine issues, and also saw the 2012 debut of Brian Harris in a # 5J machine, different from the # 5J wheeled by Jeff Mitrisan. Trying to catch the pack on a restart, Harris smacked the # 32c of Chad Holliday, a former West Liberty regular making a comeback to late model racing. Rumor in the grandstands is that Chad purchased some equipment from Jim Brokus. Harris was carted off the speedway by two wreckers, but made a return for his B-main, qualified third, then retired to the pits after advancing from 18th to tenth in the feature. Tommy Elston led heat three until lap four, when Darrell Defrance took over in what seemed to be a bit treacherous turn two. As A side note, Defrance kept his streak alive, entering his 394th series race, never having missed one! Darrell took the win ahead of series points leader Mike Murphy, and Tyler Breuning edged Elston for the final spot at the checkers.
Heat foue began with Kevin Kile making a nifty low side move in turn two to advance from eighth to fourth, eventually moving up to second behind race leader Mike Garland. Joel Callahan started seventh and followed Kile through the pack. Coming out of turn four for the final time, Jay Chenoweth and Kyle Hinrichs were side by side dueling for the front row of the B-main start when contact sent them both towards the berm and tractor tire in turn one. Kyle ended up on his roof, with Jay shoved up against him. After several minutes, the # 15 had to be rolled over before Hinrichs could get out of his ride. He was done for the night, while Chenoweth made a couple laps in the B-main.
  The mods were split into three heats, a mistake in my mind with 19 cars on a big half mile, and sure enough, two scratches in heat one gave us a four car, ten lap heat where all four made the redraw. Still the mod field was stacked with outstanding drivers, and particularly heat two was a dandy. Visiting Zack Vanderbeek ran off with the win, but behind him Bruce Hanford, Ryan Dolan, Justin Speers and Todd Hansen staged a great battle. Scott Dickey took advantage of a bobble by Johnny Spaw in heat three, and the feature field was set.
  Two late model B-mains were contested, with outside row one starter Denny Eckrich taking a flag to flag win in the first twelve lapper. Elston took off from row one in the second consy, only to give up the lead to veteran Ron Boyse. Elston again took the top spot, but Boyse made a move to the front on the final lap for a popular win.
 A lengthy intermission included a Little Racers Car Club event followed by the card draw and exchange among the top twelve late model qualifiers used this season by the series to set the first six rows. The open mod drivers also made a pass through the stands to collect funds for the family of mod driver Tim Sands who lost his life in a racing accident early last month at nearby Columbus Junction. The 48 year old Sands had also raced for many years at West Liberty. When all was said and done, over $2100 was collected.
  The mod feature finally kicked off about 9;10, with 17 cars taking the green. Double duty Kurt Kile shot out to a big lead, before slowing to bring out the first caution with six laps in the books. Going pitside, he made it back out to tag the tail of the field, as Dickey outraced Vanderbeek to turn one on the side by side restart.
another outstanding battled dveloped behind the top two between Hanford, Noah Coppes, Dolan, and Brad Dubil. Vanderbeek made it a side by side duel on lap 19, and had a nose out front at the 20th pass. Dickey led lap 21, but on lap 22 he was back in second, tried an inside move and looped his # 40. Anther side by side restart had Vanderbeek and Todd Hansen up front, but Hansen dropped back quickly, with Hanford powering to second. Meanwhile, Kile had moved up to restart sixth, and moved to fourth on the restart. Vanderbeek held of Hanford for the win, while Kile came all the way back to third ahead of Coppes and Dubil.
  Ray Guss Jr. had captured the spring series event at Liberty, and his pole position start made him the favorite in the 35 lapper. After the exciting preliminaries, the feature had little dramatics. Guss was the class of the field, and had lapped eight cars by the time the only caution waved 26 laps in for a smoking Webb, who made the race on a points provisional. Marolf  provided the most excitement, moving from a row three start to third by lap seven, then passing Andy Eckrich for second on lap eleven. At that point nick looked like the fastest car on the track, but he could not get close to the masrerful Guss. He had his chance with the lap 27 restart, but Guss quickly distanced himself from the pack. Jeff Aikey made a dandy move to come from eighth to fourth after taking the green in ninth, while Denny Eckrich advanced to sixth from his seventh row starting spot. Guss took the win ahead of Marolf, A. Eckrich, and  Jay Johnson, who found his way around Aikey. D. Eckrich led the second five followed by Defrance,Kurt Kile, Murphy, and Jason Utter. The final checkers fell moments after 10:00.
  I am very rarely disappointed in a trip to West Liberty, and indeed, Tuesday was another good night of racing!