It took twenty-three years for the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models to finally make an appearance at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway. After the show that they put on Sunday night I am pretty confident that the “Boys of Summer” will be back again next year, and hopefully more than once! Keith Simmons and his crew provided a perfectly manicured track and the forty-four Late Model drivers used just about every inch of the wide high-banked 3/8-mile in five entertaining heat races, two frantic B-Mains and a fifty-lap feature that saw the final forty-one laps run under green flag conditions. This was just one fantastic night of racing on beautiful mid-April evening.
Hometown hero Jeremiah Hurst brought the field to green in the main event and cars were racing five-wide in turn two on the second lap before the red flag flew for an incident involving defending IMCA National Champ Kevin Blum. Blum who rode the cushion from mid-pack to win the second B-Main just a few moments earlier had it jump up to bite him in turn one as he climbed the wall and rolled over once. “The Wild Man” escaped uninjured, but his #54 required two wreckers to head back to the pits. Once back to green it was another rim-rider, Jason Rauen, who blew by Hurst for the lead on lap four while Ray Guss Jr. used the bottom line to work his way into contention. Earlier in the evening Guss looked dominant coming from eighth to first in just four laps before walking away with the win in heat race number five and his quick move forward from the fourth row in the feature was not a surprise.
A caution on lap nine slowed the field and on the restart Guss stormed to the front and quickly opened up a lead over the rest of the pack. Mark Burgtorf was also working the low groove and he moved past Rauen a few laps later to try to pick up the chase on Guss, but Rauen was not about to give in as he kept the pressure on Burgtorf rocketing off the topside of turns two and four lap after lap. Around the mid-point of the race with Guss still far ahead and with Rauen still making runs at him from the top, Burgtorf changed his preferred groove and moved up to the cushion as well. With the change of lines the lead started to shrink, and especially when Guss encountered some lapped traffic Burgtorf closed the gap. While that chase continued the battle for third took center stage as Dan Shelliam and Mike Murphy Jr. challenged Rauen. With about fifteen laps remaining, and two lapped cars also in the mix, Murphy made a brilliant move diving to the bottom in turns three and four passing all four cars to move into the third spot and, with Murphy now leading that trio, they quickly closed in on Burgtorf as well.
With ten laps remaining the lead had been cut to about five car lengths and with Burgtorf, Murphy, Rauen and Shelliam all flying around the cushion it looked as though five drivers would have a shot at the win. But when Murphy got a little sideways exiting turn four a lap later, both Rauen and Shelliam had to check up a bit to let him save it and the momentum had been broken for those three. This race would now be decided between Guss and Burgtorf. Ray was still using the same groove that had carried him to the front about three car-widths off the rail and he would then drift up enough on the straightaways to make it real tight for anybody coming off the high side to get between him and the concrete wall. Burgtorf had a couple of opportunities to show him his nose, but instead hit the binders choosing to wait until he had the run that he needed to take the lead. That opportunity came with just six laps remaining as Mark nailed the cushion perfectly in turns one and two and pulled even with Guss as they hit the backstretch. The momentum off the topside was too much for Guss to fight off and the race had a new leader in Burgtorf. Down on power a bit from a broken header, Guss could not fight back and Burgtorf cruised through the final laps to his third Deery series victory in five events this season and the $2,000 top prize. Guss would have to settle for runner-up honors while Shelliam disposed of Rauen over the final laps to finish third. Defending track champion Andy Eckrich made a late move past Murphy to complete the top five while Saturday night’s feature winner in Maquoketa, Jeff Aikey came home seventh in this thriller that sent a nice crowd home abuzz.
Mark Burgtorf (7) makes the winning move to pass Ray Guss Jr. in the closing laps for another victory lane celebration with his crew at Dubuque - Barry Johnson photo
The B-Mods were a bit short on numbers as the only support class for the evening, but the nine-car field staged an entertaining fifteen-lap main event that would have been even better if not for a three-car pileup with five laps remaining. Kyle Eberle established the early pace before both Jed Freiburger and Timmy Current stormed past him in turn three on lap five. Those two would swap the lead a lap later with Current taking over until the caution waved with nine laps in the books for Eberle who had stalled on the backstretch. On the restart Freiburger and Current would pass the flagstand side-by-side and when Freiburger got a bit sideways on the bottom groove entering turn one it forced the third-place car of Dustin Wilwert to check up and spin. Jarrett Franzen and Matt Gansen had no place to go and they piled into Wilwert as well with only Gansen being able to make some quick repairs and continue.
Once back to green the battle upfront continued until Freiburger muscled his way past Current with three laps to go and held that lead until the end for the victory. Gansen was able to make his way back up to third behind Current at the checkers while Randy Leehan and Jason Seegmiller completed the top five.
Jed Freiburger was the feature winner in the B-Modified portion of Sunday's show - Barry Johnson photo
DBQ Deery Notes…..Rob Toland had to feel snake-bitten tonight. He was running a strong third in the first Late Model heat race when his air cleaner popped off. He then started near the back of the first B-Main only to have that end for him before it even started when Todd Malmstrom’s left rear wheel come off as the field was coming to the green. Jay Johnson and Toland collided with Malmstrom as he spun sideways exiting turn four and, while Johnson was able to restart, the front end damage on Toland’s car forced him to the pits. On the pace lap just before the start I noticed Johnson pull up alongside Malmstrom so I wonder if Jay saw signs of the pending issue just before it happened. As it worked out Toland later had an opportunity to use a points provisional to start the main event but since he would not be able to make full repairs to his car before the start, and the fact that it would have been his third and final series provisional, he instead turned it down to allow somebody to use it who could actually “race” with it rather than just making a lap or two. How ironic that the next driver in line for that provisional was Todd Malmstrom…..SPI drivers swept the three transfer spots in heat race number two, but only after a thrilling last lap move that saw Jason Rauen and Andy Eckrich power by Shawn Mulvaney for second and third at the finish. Dan Shelliam was the winner…..I’d just like to toss this in here. Watching Jason Rauen run the cushion anywhere is more than worth the price of admission. They don’t call him “Hammer Down” for nothing!…..The third heat race saw T.J. Criss make a great move off turn four to steal away the final transfer spot from Rick Wendling. For Criss it was a great way to make his first feature race in the first five events of the series and for Wendling it was a disappointing ending after making a great run forward after starting ninth…..Defending series champion Jeff Aikey came from ninth to finish third in heat race number four and I already mentioned above that Ray Guss Jr. stormed through the field in the fifth heat taking the lead on lap four after starting eighth. The action was intense in all five Late Model heats…..While Mike Murphy Jr. drove off with the win in the first B-Main the third and final transfer position was determined coming off of turn four to the checkers when Nate Beuseling threw a nasty slider, including a bit of contact, on Justin Kay…..The second B-Main saw veteran driver Greg Kastli make his first Deery show of 2010 by holding off Mark Preston for the final transfer…..Tyler Bruening earned the Hard Charger provisional while Jason Frankel and Malmstrom started based upon series points…..Tom Darbyshire was scheduled to start the A-Main in row five, but when the oil light came on as he fired up the engine to head to staging it revealed problems that would force him to jump into Mark Preston’s #57 at the last moment. During the early red-flag for Blum’s accident Preston told one of Darbyshire’s crewmen to go tell him to strap in and race it, but Tom chose to pull in after another lap or two rather than risking damage to the equipment of the generous driver who loaned him the ride…..Guss started seventh and Burgtorf started sixth following the redraw fro the main event. With Darbyshire dropping to the back for the start, Murphy started his impressive run to the front from the outside of row seven. Eckrich started tenth and Aikey started twelfth…..Burgtorf recalled at least two previous trips to Dubuque. One for a Busch All Star Tour race back in the last '80s and another he thought in 2001, "but that was before they had this wall all the way around it.".....Justin Reed was listed in eighth on the series point list coming into the evening, but chose to race both his Late Model and the Dunker racing Modified at his hometown track in Quincy Sunday night. He ran second to Denny Woodworth in the Late Model and finished fourth in the Modified…..Thirty-one drivers have the J&J Steel Ironman perfect attendance record so far through five events…..The only negative on the night for me at least was the fact that the speaker system was not functioning well which meant that I could not hear the work of Eric Huenefeld, one of the top announcers in the area…..Simmons Promotions has a couple of big Open Late Model shows paying $10,000-to-win coming up on April 30th at Farley and on May 1st at West Liberty.
Hometown hero Jeremiah Hurst brought the field to green in the main event and cars were racing five-wide in turn two on the second lap before the red flag flew for an incident involving defending IMCA National Champ Kevin Blum. Blum who rode the cushion from mid-pack to win the second B-Main just a few moments earlier had it jump up to bite him in turn one as he climbed the wall and rolled over once. “The Wild Man” escaped uninjured, but his #54 required two wreckers to head back to the pits. Once back to green it was another rim-rider, Jason Rauen, who blew by Hurst for the lead on lap four while Ray Guss Jr. used the bottom line to work his way into contention. Earlier in the evening Guss looked dominant coming from eighth to first in just four laps before walking away with the win in heat race number five and his quick move forward from the fourth row in the feature was not a surprise.
A caution on lap nine slowed the field and on the restart Guss stormed to the front and quickly opened up a lead over the rest of the pack. Mark Burgtorf was also working the low groove and he moved past Rauen a few laps later to try to pick up the chase on Guss, but Rauen was not about to give in as he kept the pressure on Burgtorf rocketing off the topside of turns two and four lap after lap. Around the mid-point of the race with Guss still far ahead and with Rauen still making runs at him from the top, Burgtorf changed his preferred groove and moved up to the cushion as well. With the change of lines the lead started to shrink, and especially when Guss encountered some lapped traffic Burgtorf closed the gap. While that chase continued the battle for third took center stage as Dan Shelliam and Mike Murphy Jr. challenged Rauen. With about fifteen laps remaining, and two lapped cars also in the mix, Murphy made a brilliant move diving to the bottom in turns three and four passing all four cars to move into the third spot and, with Murphy now leading that trio, they quickly closed in on Burgtorf as well.
With ten laps remaining the lead had been cut to about five car lengths and with Burgtorf, Murphy, Rauen and Shelliam all flying around the cushion it looked as though five drivers would have a shot at the win. But when Murphy got a little sideways exiting turn four a lap later, both Rauen and Shelliam had to check up a bit to let him save it and the momentum had been broken for those three. This race would now be decided between Guss and Burgtorf. Ray was still using the same groove that had carried him to the front about three car-widths off the rail and he would then drift up enough on the straightaways to make it real tight for anybody coming off the high side to get between him and the concrete wall. Burgtorf had a couple of opportunities to show him his nose, but instead hit the binders choosing to wait until he had the run that he needed to take the lead. That opportunity came with just six laps remaining as Mark nailed the cushion perfectly in turns one and two and pulled even with Guss as they hit the backstretch. The momentum off the topside was too much for Guss to fight off and the race had a new leader in Burgtorf. Down on power a bit from a broken header, Guss could not fight back and Burgtorf cruised through the final laps to his third Deery series victory in five events this season and the $2,000 top prize. Guss would have to settle for runner-up honors while Shelliam disposed of Rauen over the final laps to finish third. Defending track champion Andy Eckrich made a late move past Murphy to complete the top five while Saturday night’s feature winner in Maquoketa, Jeff Aikey came home seventh in this thriller that sent a nice crowd home abuzz.
Mark Burgtorf (7) makes the winning move to pass Ray Guss Jr. in the closing laps for another victory lane celebration with his crew at Dubuque - Barry Johnson photoThe B-Mods were a bit short on numbers as the only support class for the evening, but the nine-car field staged an entertaining fifteen-lap main event that would have been even better if not for a three-car pileup with five laps remaining. Kyle Eberle established the early pace before both Jed Freiburger and Timmy Current stormed past him in turn three on lap five. Those two would swap the lead a lap later with Current taking over until the caution waved with nine laps in the books for Eberle who had stalled on the backstretch. On the restart Freiburger and Current would pass the flagstand side-by-side and when Freiburger got a bit sideways on the bottom groove entering turn one it forced the third-place car of Dustin Wilwert to check up and spin. Jarrett Franzen and Matt Gansen had no place to go and they piled into Wilwert as well with only Gansen being able to make some quick repairs and continue.
Once back to green the battle upfront continued until Freiburger muscled his way past Current with three laps to go and held that lead until the end for the victory. Gansen was able to make his way back up to third behind Current at the checkers while Randy Leehan and Jason Seegmiller completed the top five.
Jed Freiburger was the feature winner in the B-Modified portion of Sunday's show - Barry Johnson photoDBQ Deery Notes…..Rob Toland had to feel snake-bitten tonight. He was running a strong third in the first Late Model heat race when his air cleaner popped off. He then started near the back of the first B-Main only to have that end for him before it even started when Todd Malmstrom’s left rear wheel come off as the field was coming to the green. Jay Johnson and Toland collided with Malmstrom as he spun sideways exiting turn four and, while Johnson was able to restart, the front end damage on Toland’s car forced him to the pits. On the pace lap just before the start I noticed Johnson pull up alongside Malmstrom so I wonder if Jay saw signs of the pending issue just before it happened. As it worked out Toland later had an opportunity to use a points provisional to start the main event but since he would not be able to make full repairs to his car before the start, and the fact that it would have been his third and final series provisional, he instead turned it down to allow somebody to use it who could actually “race” with it rather than just making a lap or two. How ironic that the next driver in line for that provisional was Todd Malmstrom…..SPI drivers swept the three transfer spots in heat race number two, but only after a thrilling last lap move that saw Jason Rauen and Andy Eckrich power by Shawn Mulvaney for second and third at the finish. Dan Shelliam was the winner…..I’d just like to toss this in here. Watching Jason Rauen run the cushion anywhere is more than worth the price of admission. They don’t call him “Hammer Down” for nothing!…..The third heat race saw T.J. Criss make a great move off turn four to steal away the final transfer spot from Rick Wendling. For Criss it was a great way to make his first feature race in the first five events of the series and for Wendling it was a disappointing ending after making a great run forward after starting ninth…..Defending series champion Jeff Aikey came from ninth to finish third in heat race number four and I already mentioned above that Ray Guss Jr. stormed through the field in the fifth heat taking the lead on lap four after starting eighth. The action was intense in all five Late Model heats…..While Mike Murphy Jr. drove off with the win in the first B-Main the third and final transfer position was determined coming off of turn four to the checkers when Nate Beuseling threw a nasty slider, including a bit of contact, on Justin Kay…..The second B-Main saw veteran driver Greg Kastli make his first Deery show of 2010 by holding off Mark Preston for the final transfer…..Tyler Bruening earned the Hard Charger provisional while Jason Frankel and Malmstrom started based upon series points…..Tom Darbyshire was scheduled to start the A-Main in row five, but when the oil light came on as he fired up the engine to head to staging it revealed problems that would force him to jump into Mark Preston’s #57 at the last moment. During the early red-flag for Blum’s accident Preston told one of Darbyshire’s crewmen to go tell him to strap in and race it, but Tom chose to pull in after another lap or two rather than risking damage to the equipment of the generous driver who loaned him the ride…..Guss started seventh and Burgtorf started sixth following the redraw fro the main event. With Darbyshire dropping to the back for the start, Murphy started his impressive run to the front from the outside of row seven. Eckrich started tenth and Aikey started twelfth…..Burgtorf recalled at least two previous trips to Dubuque. One for a Busch All Star Tour race back in the last '80s and another he thought in 2001, "but that was before they had this wall all the way around it.".....Justin Reed was listed in eighth on the series point list coming into the evening, but chose to race both his Late Model and the Dunker racing Modified at his hometown track in Quincy Sunday night. He ran second to Denny Woodworth in the Late Model and finished fourth in the Modified…..Thirty-one drivers have the J&J Steel Ironman perfect attendance record so far through five events…..The only negative on the night for me at least was the fact that the speaker system was not functioning well which meant that I could not hear the work of Eric Huenefeld, one of the top announcers in the area…..Simmons Promotions has a couple of big Open Late Model shows paying $10,000-to-win coming up on April 30th at Farley and on May 1st at West Liberty.
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