Hinrichs Scores First West Liberty Win

Saturday night, Fred and I made our first trip of 2013 to the West Liberty, Iowa Raceway to take in the five class program. The big fairgrounds half mile has been one of my favorite venues since I was introduced to it in the early 70's.In those years, getting there was something of a chore - now it is a bit over two hours up the road, and if gas prices were reasonable we would surely be there more often. The forecast was a bit questionable, and we arrived under a cloud cover, but rain never materialized and it was a light jacket sort of evening. By my count, 73 cars checked in, with the IMCA type late models and stock cars leading the way with 17 each, followed by 16 IMCA late models. Rookie late model driver Tanner Allen popped a drive shaft in hot laps, but was able to make repairs in time for his heat race. I was surprised to see Rich Voght, from the Fairfield, Iowa area entered in the stock car class. Rich was a regular at Lee County Speedway in the early 90's, and as far as I knew, had hung up his helmet for good. He started in row four of his heat and charged to the lead before his # 38 quit on the final lap. Zach Less was scheduled to go in both modified classes, but did not make the heat or feature call with his IMCA car. Veteran Brad Dubil saw his night end early in the open mods when his # 89 went up in smoke in his heat. Late model heat two saw young Brunson Behning jump out to a big lead before a plume of heavy smoke ended his night on lap six of the ten lap race.
 Following a huge but efficiently run candy dash staged by Mitch Swinton and his Lil Racer Car Club, it was time to go feature racing.
 The stock cars were first on the card, and they had some trouble getting going, with three caution periods in the first five laps. Once the laps began to click off, it was clear no one had anything for Brandon Jay. He had a nice lead until the yellow waved a final time on lap twelve for late model driver Colby Springsteen, who was subbing in the John Richardson # B25II. When racing resumed, Tad Payne tried to mount a charge, but settled for second behind Jay, who also picked up the win the week before. Vogt was the hard charger, starting in the back of the pack and finishing sixth.
  Next was the IMCA type mods, with Chris Horn jumping to the early lead. For a while it looked as though the second generation racer would give dad Fred a 70th birthday present, but he began to fade at about the halfway point of the 20 lapper. Meanwhile Dan " Stumpy " Brockert was the man on the move, moving to second on lap five. A caution on lap seven bunched the field, and two laps later, Brockert and Mark Verbeck were locked in a battle for second. By lap twelve, Brockert had secured the spot and was pressuring Horn, and he took the point on lap15. Derek Walker then turned up the wick on his # 25, snaring the runnerup spot on lap 18. The checkers flew with Brockert, Walker, Horn and Verbeck crossing the line in that order.
 The IMCA Sport Compacts were next up, and before one lap was scored, the ten car field was cut to seven. Following the lengthy lap one yellow for oil on the track, the race stayed green for the total ten laps, with Bill Whelen picking up a fairly easy win.
  A first lap four car scrum  of the open modified feature saw veteran Bruce Hanford emerge with the lead. The caution waved on lap two, as Rick Hixson slowed in turn two. Following the restart, Brad Diercks was applying pressure to Hanford, then another yellow slowed the action on lap five. One lap after the green waved again, Diercks motored to the lead, and he built a comfortable lead as the race stayed green for the remainder of the 20 laps. Hanford was unchallenged for second, with Scott Dickey third and Johnny Spaw in fourth.
 The finale of the evening was the 25 lap IMCA late model battle. Polesitter Kurt Kile led lap one, while heat one winner and outside polesitter Ron Boyse dropped to third. On lap two, however, Boyse used the top side of turn four to charge to the top spot. As Boyse built a lead, row five starters Nick Marolf, who captured heat two, and Andy Eckrich, as well as twelfth starting Ray Guss Jr. began to pick their way forward. By lap six, Marolf was fifth, Eckrich sixth, and Guss eighth. From that point, however, only Eckrich was able to move forward. He cleared Marolf for fifth on lap ten, then moved to fourth on lap 13, passing Kevin Kile. Second year dirt racer and former pavement pilot Kyle Hinrichs was running third and gaining ground, passing Kurt Kile for second on lap 17. Two laps later, Eckrich claimed the third spot. On the 21st circuit, Hinrichs was able to reel in Boyse, taking his first lead of the race. With two laps to go, Eckrich also cleared Boyse and began to run down Hinrichs. The checkers waved after 25 caution free laps with Hinrichs scant car lengths in front, as he scored his first ever late model win in his # 15 at the famed 1/2 mile. Boyse followed Eckrich , taking third, followed by the Kile brothers, Kurt and Kevin. Marolf led the second five, ahead of Guss, Rob Moss, visiting Nate Beuseling, and young Spencer Diercks.
  As we walked down the bleachers, my timepiece showed exactly 10:00, my kind of show!  The IMCA Deery Brother Summer Series will invade the fairgrounds on Tuesday June 18 with only the stock cars as a support class. Although I have yet to miss a Summer Series event at West Liberty since they resumed hosting the series in I think 2010, I will be skipping this one, as this reschedule date falls on my wedding anniversary. The car count and racing has been solid when the series comes to town, so take it in if you get the chance.
 As  I type this report, word has come that rain coupled with a forecast of more has forced Quincy Raceways officials to cancel action for tonight, June 9. So we will see you somewhere soon, Racin' Down the Road.