Saturday we followed the Hoker Trucking SLMR eastern division series as they invaded the West Liberty Raceway for the second time in 2023. It was also our second visit of the season to the historic half mile. Five other divisions, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks, and Compacts would fill out the card, all non sanctioned but utilizing IMCA rules. In our previous visit here in June Charlie McKenna topped a twenty three car field of the Joe Kosiski led SLMR Super Late Models.
The car counts have been on the upswing for Kile Motorsports, and officially eighty teams checked in on Saturday. And to the delight of the very large crowd, twenty nine SLMR Late Models topped the card. For stats geeks like myself, apparently actually thirty cars came through the gate, but upon unloading one team discovered problems with their ride and headed down the road before checking in.
As mentioned in my previous column, SLMR uses a somewhat complicated system of time trial qualifying, heat race six car inverts, and passing points to determine feature lineups, with the top sixteen in points earning starting positions for the main event. The Late Models timed in two groups, but it was series points leader Chad Holladay with the fastest overall lap of 18.802 seconds around the big half mile. (As an aside, this old timer can remember back forty years or so when quick times at West Liberty ran in the twenty six second bracket!)
Heat race winners automatically earn feature starting spots, and tonight those victories went to Nick Marolf, Chad Simpson, Brian Harris, and Matt Ryan. Unlike the night before, only Marolf would win from the front row. With a pair of scratches from Jerry Johnson, and C.J. Horn, whose engine appeared to expire during time trials, the scheduled thirteen car B main was cancelled, with the remaining eleven going directly to the twenty five lap feature. As it turned out, twenty six took the green flag, as Justin Kay, who was involved in a heat race mix up but still earned the sixteenth starting slot discovered issues that would keep him off the starting grid.
First after intermission though would be the Stock Car fifteen lapper. All ten entrants took the green flag. Dustin Vis shot to the lead from the pole position, but by about lap three fifth starting Nathan Ballard moved in to challenge for the lead. Ballard took over on lap five, and two laps later the first caution came as Vis spun in turn one stacking up several cars. The yellow flew again on the restart following which Ballard checked out on second running Johnny Spaw. The leader was exiting turn four headed for the white flag when the yellow waved instead setting up a green, white, checkers finish. Ballard was up to the challenge, taking a somewhat easy win. Spaw ran second followed by Greg Gill, and a tight battle between Tanner Allen, and Keegan Wells for fourth and fifth.
Next would be twelve of the thirteen Sport Mods for again fifteen trips around the oval. Shaun Slaughter set the pace from the green, opening a sizable advantage as Colton Livesay and Tyler Heckart waged an entertaining battle for second. The caution waved with eight in the books, then again on the restart as Livesay slowed, his night over. A third and final stoppage came one lap later, and back to racing sixth starting Ryan Walker charged to the runner up spot. But there would be no catching Slaughter, who cruised to victory. Walker came next, trailed by Heckart, Justin Schroeder, and Brad Salisberry.
As is often the case in eastern Iowa, the Hobby Stock count was sparse, with five cars racing for ten laps. Andrew Burk started on the pole, and the race would never be in doubt. His margin of victory in the non stop event was nearly a full straightaway. Jared Miller prevailed in second after a battle with Jason Schutterle. After taking the green flag well behind the field in the feature as well as the heat, Cody Staley also found his way around Schutterle for third. Kaden Staley was credited with fifth.
Now the event everyone was waiting for, the twenty six car, twenty five lap Late Model headliner, with $3,000 on the line. After all the ciphering was done, Charlie McKenna and Matt Ryan lined up in row one. "Chargin" Charlie powered to the lead at the drop of the green, looking for a repeat of his win here in June. He put considerable daylight between himself and the pack, catching the back of the field on lap seven. Meanwhile six cars raced side by side and nose to tail behind. Ryan, Brian Harris, Chad Simpson, Chad Holladay, Jeff Tharp and finally Andy Eckrich were locked in the battle. As the race passed the mid point Simpson cleared that group to take second and began to close on the leader. McKenna appeared to be slowing a bit ahead of the first caution seventeen laps in when Dave Eckrich rolled to a stop exiting turn four. Following the Delaware restart no laps were completed before Luke Goedert spun in turn two. It took two more laps under green before Simpson executed a low side pass for the lead coming out of turn four. Lap twenty was scored before another caution as Brandon Queen stopped against the wall between turns three and four. During the lap nineteen caution, now second running McKenna had stopped on the front stretch as a track worker took a peek inside the fender well on his #22 before waving him on. As the wrecker crew worked to hook the Queen #12, Charlie again stopped on the front stretch, and upon further inspection, he drove to the backstretch pit entrance, his solid run over. With the field reset and back under green, Harris pulled a major league slide job on Holladay to grab the runner up spot as the pair rolled through turns three and four. With Simpson checking out and only three laps to go, the red flag was displayed as Kyle Krampe literally knocked the wall down between turns three and four. His #K1 plowed through the barriers atop the guardrail. Although the driver was uninjured, it was a considerable amount of time before his car could be extricated from the wall. During the shutdown, series announcer Anthony Ainsley came to the track and began to interview the front running drivers, a couple of whom tried good-naturedly to convince Simpson that he had a tire going down! When racing resumed, the field now went single file, but there would be one more stoppage. Two laps from the finish, Harris suddenly slowed on the backstretch, his run over along with his shot at a podium finish for the second consecutive night. It was of little consequence to Simpson who powered from row three to his second series win of the weekend. Holladay would be the bridesmaid, with Andy Eckrich in third. Marolf came from tenth to fourth, and Tharp claimed fifth. Chris Spieker made the long haul from Massena, Iowa and gained nine positions to finish sixth, followed by Ryan, Jeff Aikey, and Gabe Umbarger. Fred Remley was the hard charger, starting twenty fifth and rounding out the top ten.
Although there was still a pair of features remaining, the long weekend was taking its' toll, and we regretfully decided to begin our journey back to Missouri and Illinois a bit early. Congratulations to Compact winner Cristian Grady, and Modified victor Denny Eckrich, who also repeated his Friday night trip to victory lane.
Thanks to Katie and the entire Kile Motorsports team for their hospitality. It is always good to visit with the West Liberty gang, and we also had a nice visit with Davenport Speedways' Brenda Kay and her Mother!
Time now for a nap, then a warm night at Adams County, Il. Speedway as Sprint Invaders top the card. Hope to see you there!
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