For the first time since the 2023 season, Joe Kosiskis' Super Late Model Racing - SLMR - series came roaring into the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa on Saturday night. Anticipation was high for this event as the race teams were just an hours' drive away from their Friday night stop in Columbus Junction. That 2023 race drew a whopping thirty seven cars, with the win going to Mount Vernon, Iowa hot shoe Chad Simpson. While twenty seven cars on turned out this time, the racing action was intense as the three eighths mile oval was once again in excellent shape.
And a $1,000 top prize for Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods only added to the excitement!
As the largest LCS crowd in recent memory gathered and hot lap time approached, near disaster struck as power to the entire facility went down. It was soon discovered that it was a widespread outage apparently originating at the substation north of town. but everyone stayed patient, even when rumors of an estimated repair time of 8:00 P.M. circulated through the stands. Fortunately the local crews were more than up to the challenge, and the corner lights signaled a return of power just after 7:00 P.M. Meanwhile track personnel had given the racing surface an extra dose of water under the bright sunshine, but with most of the sixty plus cars then on hand helping to roll in the water, we were hot lapping in short order.
Helping to catch up a bit on time, starter Kevin Eggleston went with the "green, white, checkers" hot lap format, something I wish all tracks would do on a regular basis, and then it was time for Late Model time trials. Three cars at a time tackled the three eighths mile oval. The surface was smooth and fast, and three competitors broke the seventeen second mark with Mesa, Arizona transplant Tim Ward topping the charts at 16.735 seconds. C.J. Horn hit the guardrail during hot laps and was a no show in qualifying along with Jason Hobscheidt and Dave Hammond, who were both done for the night.
As mentioned previously, SLMR uses the format of timing in your heat race group, inverting the fastest six while accumulating both time trial and heat race finishing and passing points to transfer the top sixteen points leaders to the main event. While not starting the "fastest" cars on the front row seems like a good idea, once again all three eight lap heats were never the less won from row one. Outside row one starters Jay Johnson and Kayden Clatt captured heats one and three while Bill Leighton Jr. took the middle heat from the pole position. Heat three had the crowd buzzing as cars raced four wide around the smooth oval. Four cars transferred from the ten lap B main, won by fifth starting Andy Eckrich, then a pair of series provisional starters gave us a twenty two car feature field. This season SLMR has a special incentive bonus offered to the top points accumulator. If that driver elects to give up the feature pole to start sixth and wins the feature they collect the bonus. Each race the award increases, and it was worth $1,000 this night. Tim Ward elected to take the challenge, but fell short of victory lane.
Modifieds opened feature racing, drawing only ten cars for twenty laps. Jadin Fuller and Drew Janssen raced side by side under the flag stand to complete lap one before Drew claimed the lead the next time around, widening the gap as Austen Becerra charged from row three to third. As the leaders exited turn four to complete lap five Becerra cleared Fuller for second. He then closed on Janssen as the pair flew around the top of the track leaving the field behind. A bobble by Becerra with five laps remaining allowed the leader to pull well ahead, but Janssen then had to leave the high line to put a slower car a lap down and Becerra was able to again narrow the margin. But Janssen kept up the pace, putting his #127 in victory lane. Becerra settled for second in the non stop event followed by Fuller. Rookie driver Jace Eckrich won a nip and tuck battle with Kurt Kile to complete the top five.
It was now Late Model time with thirty laps the distance. "Chargin'" Charlie McKenna and Dylan Thornton filled out row one, with McKenna jumping out front. Dallon Murty and Thornton came next, with Thornton rebounding to second on lap four. Along with Jesse Sobbing the four front runners began to put distance on the pack. By lap ten slower traffic came into play and three laps later McKenna came upon a pair of cars battling side by side for position. Now row three starters, series points leader Chad Simpson and Ward joined the party up front. Thornton was all over the leader, and as he dove low on lap twenty Murty drove around to regain the runner up spot. Along with McKenna and Thornton, the leaders raced nearly three wide. On lap twenty three Murty took his first lead only to give it up to Thornton as slower traffic created heavy congestion. With about four circuits remaining Murty again grabbed the lead as McKenna began to fade back a bit. With the finish in doubt until the checkers, Murty held off Thornton in a thrilling end to the non stop event. Sobbing crossed the line in third, topping Simpson and Ward. McKenna ran sixth ahead of Jason Hahne, Leighton Jr., Clatt and hard charger C.J. Horn, who came from row eight. It was a popular win for the Late Model rookie, who has an impressive record in the Stock Car division.
As the Late Models raced around the oval, we could see a pair of haulers enter through the pit gate. And as the Stock Cars lined up for twenty laps, it was Dustin Griffiths tagging the tail of the thirteen car field. A quick look at My Race Pass showed Griffiths had finished second earlier in the evening at 34 Raceway, and taking advantage of the power outage delay, he then loaded up for the quick trip to LCS! Outside pole sitter Beau Taylor led his row one mate Jared Miller ahead of a lap two yellow flag. Back to racing the field battled three wide for second, and soon it was another three wide skirmish for the lead. Both Damon Murty and David Brandies were able to ease past Taylor up front and Griffiths soon powered all the way to third before a caution for debris with seven laps scored. On the restart, Griffiths used the high line on the track to charge to the front as Murty and Brandies fought side by side for second. Derrick Agee had lined up in row four, and as the laps clicked off, he worked his way into the top five. The yellow flag waved again with just three laps to go, and Brandies used a strong restart to take the top spot. One more lap was scored before a final caution and back under green Brandies worked the low line while Griffiths pounded the cushion. At the checkers it was Brandies with the win and Griffiths with his second runner up finish of the night. Murty was third while Mike Harward made a late pass of Agee to round out the top five.
One feature remained, and that was for the Sport Mods. Twenty were signed in but we quickly found out who the second late entry was, as Brayton Carter rolled track side to line up in twenty first. With only a fifteen lap distance, "Speedy Bray" would have to work quickly to match his earlier win at 34. Logan Cumby and Kyler Girard filled out the front row, with Kyler leading the way early. By the time the first caution came with two laps counted, Carter was up to ninth. The front runners all apparently set up to run a low line around the speedway while Carter found his preferred groove up next to the guardrail. As a result he was passing cars almost at will, moving ninth to fifth in one lap. With five circuits scored he was fourth, took third on lap eight, then moved to second one lap later. Cumby emerged the leader following a three wide battle for the lead ahead of a pair of yellow flags with five laps to go. Once again it was caution time at lap eleven, and now the field went single file for the restart. Cumby used a strong restart to maintain the lead, then moved up the track, using a high to low diamond move in the turns to stay in front. Carter switched to a lower line, then set up Cumby for a much anticipated slide job in the final set of turns. But Logan was able to cross him back over, taking the checkers in an on your feet finish! Carter would settle for runner up to go along with his earlier win up the road. Girard had the best seat in the house in third trailed by Colton Livezey and Brandon Dale.
Lee County Speedway is no stranger to close racing, but this night was one for the books. Even with the delay, the final checkers came about 11:00P.M., with much of the large crowd still around to see the thrilling finish.
As always, thanks to Neal and the crew for their hard work and hospitality. Quincy Raceways has a scheduled night off on Sunday, so we will set our sights on next weekend and hopefully see you at a track near you then!
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