After ten days away from the track, we found ourselves back in familiar surroundings at the Lee County Speedway. The circumstances were a bit different, however, with the action moving to Saturday night. This would be the "Drive for Five" finale for the late models, with a bakers dozen drivers eligible to compete for a $5,000 top prize while the remainder of the field would collect $2,000 for a win in the fifty lap main event. Also the class lineup saw changes, with the 360 C.I. Sprint Invaders sharing top billing in a $2,000 to win showdown. Two other regular divisions, sport mods and sport compacts would be on the bill with the Mini Hauler trucks rounding out the card. The sprints and trucks replaced the regular classes of modifieds and stock cars as those divisions would be involved in the final night of the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa.
With everything moved up one hour, the pits were a bit late filling up, but eventually a nice group of ninety two cars would be signed in. Things got off to a rough start in hot laps. Veteran Mike Benjamin was attempting to pass rookie Brenna Phillips when his car spun into the backstretch guardrail, badly damaging the tail portion of his IMCA sport mod. Seconds later, the car of Phillips vaulted over the guardrail between turns three and four, landing wheels up on the road coming from the pits.
Sprints ran the first set of heats, and the first one was a tight duel between Wyatt Wilkerson and Noah Samuel. With the white flag in the air, Wilkerson clipped the tire in the first set of turns, caught air, brought the car back down, then flipped his #29W hard, ending his night.
The late models would run two sets of heat races, with total points gained determining the feature line up. In the third and final heat of round one, Darin Weisinger Jr. appeared to get crossed up exiting turn two collecting Sam Halstead and Dustin Griffin. The result sent Griffin into a series of three and a half hard rolls, landing upside down. Though the driver was uninjured, it took perhaps close to thirty minutes for crews to get his #20 flipped over, pulled from the scene, and the track cleared. Both Weisinger and Griffin were done for the night.
The sprinters contested three heat races, a B main as well as their Shake Up Dash to whittle the solid twenty five car field down to twenty for the first feature of the night. Series points leader Jonathon Cornell and Colton Fisher sat on row one, with Cornell grabbing the early lead. By lap five of the twenty five lapper, the leaders were approaching the back of the pack when the yellow flag waved for a slowing Samuel. The Invaders use a single file restart system, and back under green, the leaders all ran the high side of the oval. A second and final caution came four laps later after Ryan Jamison had run over one of the orange cones and eventually dropped it from underneath his car onto the racing surface. Kaley Gharst, the all time wins leader for the series and also tops in the fifty series events at Lee County, now joined the front pack in third. Five more circuits and slower traffic again came into play. About lap twenty, Cornell became trapped behind a slower car, and Fisher slid his way to the lead exiting turn four. Cornell fought back in turns one and two, but Fisher used his momentum to retake the lead down the back stretch. He was then able to extend his advantage as Gharst moved in to challenge Cornell for second. At the checkers it was an emotional Fisher celebrating his first ever Sprint Invaders feature win. Cornell won the battle for second, followed by Gharst, eighth starting Paul Nienhiser, and Tanner Gebhardt.
Intermission was next, with the track crew spending quite a bit of time grooming the 3/8 mile. Finally the IMCA late models lined up for their main event with all but two of the twenty four cars on hand taking the green flag. Track regular Nick Marolf was the only driver eligible for the $5,000 check not in attendance, but it was two "visitors," Justin Kay and Darin Duffy earning front row honors. Kay grabbed the early lead, trailed by Duffy, Matt Ryan, and the first two bonus eligible drivers, Tommy Elston and Denny Woodworth. The first caution came at lap nine as Preston Stoecker spun his #26 in front of Elston. Having stopped to avoid the spinning car, Elston was able to line back up his position near the front. On the Delaware style restart, Dave Eckrich slowed on the backstretch and was tagged by Jeremy Pundt, who then bounced into the backstretch guardrail, his night over. Elston moved to second as racing resumed, with a third stoppage coming two laps later as Stoecker slapped the turn one guardrail. On this restart, Sam Halstead slowed in turn one, causing Bryan Moreland and Jay Johnson to stack up behind him. It was Duffy back to second ahead of a final yellow flag two laps later as Matt Strassheim spun in turn two, his night over. Elston regained the runner up spot back under green, and the final twelve laps of segment one ran caution free. In these closing laps, with most of the field running the inside line, thirteenth starting Mark Burgtorf moved up the track, advancing to sixth at the break. The cars were then stopped on the front stretch for ten minutes and allowed to make changes, except for changing tires which would have cost them their position. The final twenty five lap segment saw fourteen cars line up, and they clicked off caution free for twenty one circuits. Kay stretched his lead again running the low groove. With four laps to go, seventh running Gary Webb was attempting to lap the #22 of Jill George when she made contact in turn one, pushing him towards the guardrail and bringing out a final caution. Webb was able to rejoin the single file realignment. Kay cruised to the win, leading all fifty laps. For the driver from Wheatland, Iowa, it made him a cool $2,000, and two for two in Drive for Five finale wins after taking the title last season as well. Elston ran second followed by Duffy, Andy Nezworski, Burgtorf, and Ryan. Halstead ran seventh chased by Eckrich, Fred Remley, Chuck Hanna, Joel Callahan, Ron Boyse, and Webb. Interestingly, a look back at the the 2020 rundown found Kay, Ryan, Elston, Nezworski, and Burgtorf the top five.
The trucks were next on the grid, eleven strong for a dozen laps. A pile up on the start saw three drivers quickly eliminated. On the restart, outside pole sitter Tucker Richardson drove away from the field. As the laps wound down, Tim Wagner came from row three to second, but could not close on the leader. At the checkers, those two were followed by Ryan White, Matt Barton, and Don Wood.
Features for the sport compacts and sport mods remained, but it was now well on the wrong side of 11:00, so we regretfully took our leave. Congratulations to Jason Ash for his compact win, and to Tanner Klingele for topping the sport mods. Also a big "atta boy" to Lee County speedway track champion Austen Becerra on his sport mod victory at the Super Nationals!
Next up for me will be one or more nights at Knoxville Raceway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals. It may be mid September, but there is still a lot of racing to be had in our region, so pack the jackets and find a race close by!
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