With the Lee County Fair in the rear view mirror, on Friday we journeyed back to the D shaped Donnellson three eighths mile oval for the biggest late model race of the season. The Joe Kosiski owned SLMR east division cars and stars would be rolling into town for a $3,000 to win event. The series absorbed the longtime IMCA Derry Brothers sponsored Summer Series, with both a western and eastern division points race, including a few duel sanctioned races. The rules package developed by the former national champion Kosiski allows for a variety of engine combinations. This would be the first visit of the SLMR to the Lee County track. On this night they would replace the IMCA late models, while the other four regular IMCA classes, modifieds, stock cars, sport mods, and sport compacts would fill out the card. With the annual Scotland County, Mo. fair race about an hour down the road, a few drivers likely would be absent, but extra purse money was added in the companion classes. Additionally, a rain out to the north in Davenport and a lingering slight chance of rain in Donnellson would make for a wild card set of circumstances.
No one at LCS needed to fret over car count, however, as a solid field of ninety three, led by thirty two late models rolled through the back gate. The track was still a bit wet from the rains, and developed a bit of a bump in turn one as the late models did their two lap time trial qualifying. Andy Eckrich led the way with a lap of 15.707 seconds. The track crew then took a bit of time to rework the surface a bit ahead of heat race action. Following sixteen qualifying heats, there would be a pair of B mains for the late models, but now the track crew decided to do a deeper dive into reworking the dirt, spending around forty five minutes with the heavy equipment.
For those unfamiliar with SLMR qualifying procedures, the B main lineups probably looked a bit odd. As I understand it, not only does the series use a time trial top six heat race invert to transfer the top sixteen in passing points to the feature, but time trial points are also added in to the total. For example, National Dirt Hall of Famer drivers Gary Webb and Jeff Aikey crossed the line third and fourth in heat one but were relegated to a "B", while the fifth and sixth place cars of series points leader Justin Kay and Spencer Diercks moved straight to the main event. The fifth place finisher in heat four, Todd Cooney was effectively scored third and these events would have a significant outcome on the feature finish.
But first the IMCA stock cars would line up for eighteen laps of feature racing. That group was a bit light, with eleven entries, but what a strong field it was! After an intense battle in their heat race, Josh Foster and David Brandies lined up side by side in row one. Foster edged out to the slimmest of leads. Meanwhile, third starting Dustin Vis had slipped back a bit, but by lap five, he had charged to the runner up spot. Two more trips past the flag stand, and he grabbed the lead and began to pull away from the field. Behind Vis, Foster, Brandies, and John Oliver Jr. fought an intense battle for second. As the while flag waved, Brandies made contact with Foster in turns one and two, sending the #77 spinning and bringing out the only yellow flag of the race. After some discussion, Foster was placed back in second for the restart while Brandies was sent to the tail of the lead lap. Although his nearly straightaway lead was erased, Vis had no issues with the green, white, checkers finish, taking the win. Oliver Jr. nosed ahead of Foster at the line for second, while Chad Krogmeier and Jason Cook completed the top five.
All seventeen IMCA modifieds came to the track for eighteen laps. Spencer Diercks was scored the lap one leader ahead of a lap three caution. On the restart, sparks shot from beneath his #29 as he appeared to break a rear end. Following the caution, Daniel Fellows inherited the lead the lead, and as he continued to pace the field, there was great two and three wide racing for fifth on back. As the race reached the halfway point Fellows continued to pound the cushion while second place Chris Zogg worked the bottom and third running Matt Werner operated in the middle groove of the widening oval. As the scoreboard counted down to seven to go, Fellows bobbled slightly in turn two, and Zogg pounced, grabbing the lead. From that point, Zogg pulled away to a nice advantage. With three circuits remaining, Davenport Speedway regular Werner slipped around Fellows for second. Positions four through six crossed the line in tight formation, with Jerad Fuller, Dennis Laveine, and Austen Becerra scored in that order.
All but two of the twenty one IMCA sport mods would check in for eighteen laps. It was pole sitter Dakota Girard in front of third starting Brayton Carter and Jim Gillenwater as lap one went in the books. Those three then raced three wide with Carter taking command on lap three. By the midway mark, Carter had opened a sizable lead. Dylan VanWyk had lined up in row four, and as the green flag laps clicked off, he moved steadily forward, powering to second with seven to go. With no yellow flags, the leaders were working in heavy traffic, and Carter did a masterful job as he managed to keep a couple of lapped cars between himself and VanWyk. Shockingly, the race went caution free, with Carter cruising to the win! VanWyk took runner up honors while Gillenwater hung around in third. Girard saw his top five run end in the closing laps, turning fourth over to Adam Birck. Sean Wyett finished off the first five.
Sixteen late models from the four heat races, three from each B main, and a pair of provisionals gave us a twenty four car late model field, racing for twenty five laps and a $3,000 top prize. It was a pair of veteran aces, Andy Eckrich and Curt Martin sitting in row one. In that order they drove away from the pack in close formation, with Andy edging out to a several car length advantage. By the eleventh circuit, slower traffic became a factor and Martin began to close the gap. With his accumulated points, Todd Cooney had started in row four, and with nine laps to go, he had worked his way into the conversation in third. With about five circuits remaining, Martin got too high in turns three and four, clipping the guard rail. Amazingly, he fell back only two spots, with Cooney and Luke Goedert slipping around the #45. With no lapped cars between himself and the leader, Cooney quickly bit into Eckrichs' lead. The distance was down to just a couple car lengths as the checkers waved giving Andy the flag to flag, non stop win. Cooney settled for second, followed by Goedert, Martin, and Justin Kay, who made a late charge after starting in the sixteenth position and running outside the top five most of the race. Jason Hahne led the second five, topping Joel Callahan, Jeff Larson, track regular Nick Marolf, and Jeff Tharp.
As most of those gathered made a mad dash for the exits, all twelve IMCA sport compacts came track side for the finale. Barry Taft was wheeling a #48 car from the Fullenkamp stable, and he shot out to a big lead. As the laps rolled by, sixth starting Jason Ash worked into the second spot, closing on Taft in what was now a two car duel. For the third straight feature, there were no cautions, and Taft was making strategic use of lapped cars to hold Ash at bay. However as the white flag was about to fly, Ash was able to drive around Taft for the lead and the win. Barry would come home second, besting Adam Christy, Chandler Fullenkamp, and Luke Fraise. Kimberly Abbott lost a top five on the final lap with what appeared to be a flat tire.
It was an uncharacteristic late night at LCS, with the final checkers waving near 11:30, but the extra time spent on track work made for a smooth fast surface resulting in only three caution flags in ninety four laps of feature racing! Thanks as always to the Gaylord team for their hospitality. Today marks the middle of July with a great slate of racing ahead, so stay cool and take in a race near you!
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