He is the "national" star who lives twenty miles away. He started his career driving a Street Stock here and on the dirt at Hawkeye Downs. And now, when the big money is on the line at the West Liberty Raceway, he is the man to beat no matter who is in the field. On Saturday night there was a $10,000 check waiting in victory lane for the winner of the Daufeldt Transport 50 and it was no surprise that it was Brian Birkhofer who was there to collect it.
A stout field of forty Super Late Models pulled into the Muscatine County Fairgrounds that was still a little wet around the edges from the strong thunderstorms that moved through the area the day before. And the car count was even bolstered a bit by the cancellation of the Lucas Oil series event earlier in the day down in Kentucky. Group qualifying, four heats and two B-Mains narrowed the feature field to twenty-four with outside pole-sitter Denny Eckrich snaring the lead at the drop of the green. Birkhofer, who started fourth, quickly slipped past Chad Simpson for second and took up the chase at the front. Eckrich fought off a couple of challenges over the next few laps and had actually opened up a bit of an advantage before the caution waved on lap eight for Jeremiah Hurst who had stopped at the entrance of turn one.
Action picked up on the restart as both Birkhofer and Simpson applied the pressure on Eckrich for the next two laps only to then have Simpson fall back a bit. Birky kept the heat on the "Flyin’ 50" though and pulled even with him coming down the frontstretch on lap seventeen. Eckrich fought back and regained the advantage down the back straightaway only to have Birkhofer dive to the inside of him again in turn three. Coming off of four you had a new leader for lap eighteen and it didn’t take long for Birkhofer to put some distance on the rest of the field. Shannon Babb was on the move after starting ninth and he drove past Eckrich two laps later to take the second spot.
As Birkhofer and Babb worked traffic the race to watch was now for third as Eckrich, Simpson and Terry Phillips ran three-wide for half a lap before Phillips cleared the two front row starters on lap twenty-six. Phillips was on the fly and quickly reeled in Babb blowing by him on lap thirty to pick up the second spot. Birkhofer’s lead was shrinking rapidly after a near disaster on lap thirty-three when he was almost pinched into the backstretch wall while trying to lap Brian Harris. When the caution waved for debris on lap thirty-five it looked as though he would now have his hands full with Phillips on the restart, but with the Delaware double-file alignment it was Babb who picked up that second spot when the green waved again.
Babb was able to keep Birkhofer in his sights for a few laps, but when he had to start dealing with the challenges of Billy Moyer, Birkhofer was able to pull away as he cruised the final laps for the big money win. Babb fought off Moyer to snare runner-up honors, Phillips had to wonder what might have been if not for that final caution as he settled for fourth and Simpson rounded out the top five. Don O’Neal in the Moring Disposal #M1 finished sixth after starting twelfth, Andy Eckrich was seventh, Brian Shirley finished eighth and Will Vaught passed Denny Eckrich late for ninth.
As announcer Jerry Mackey welcomed Birkhofer home to victory lane the second-generation driver got a bit emotional as he talked about his friends and family. He then said "this one is for Mel Morris" the former track champion here who, like me, Brian watched race many times as a youngster in the stands of this historic old fairgrounds speedway. "Give ‘em hell Mel" passed away late this winter. You can bet that this young man in the #15B is now a hero to many who watched him sharpen his skills here at West Liberty and they love to see him race here again.
Twenty-six Modifieds provided solid support action on the night and it was Jeff "Bone" Larson from Freeport, Illinois, who picked up the feature win. Larson was doing double duty on the night and actually came up just two car-lengths shy of transferring to the Late Model feature in the second B-Main when he couldn’t get past Ricky Frankel. "Bone" shook off that frustration as he climbed aboard his Modified, started on the pole and held back bids from Bruce Hanford and Brad Diercks to lead the twenty-lapper flag to flag. Diercks who picked up the season opener here two weeks ago in dramatic fashion started ninth and finished second tonight, Ryan Dolan came in third, Hanford settled in to fourth and Todd Hansen completed the top five. Larry Herring, Mike Zogg, Scott Dickey, Terry Walker and Trent Vrchockity unofficially completed the top ten.
Liberty Notes……Dave Eckrich set quick time on the night with a time of 19.223 and he was joined in the top six dash by younger brothers Denny and Andy……Jay Johnson did not take a qualifying run after suffering engine troubles in hot laps and Nick Marolf shut his car down after one lap of qualifying. Both drivers were done for the night……Three drivers were inverted in the four Late Model heats with the top three advancing to the A-Main. All twelve of the top qualifiers "held serve" so to speak and transferred from the heats……A tip of the hat to young Justin Kay who drove his IMCA spec engine configuration, topless and with the big spoiler, to the sixth and final transfer position out of the first B-Main. Kay held off Kevin Kile who two weeks ago finished second in the Spring Championship event here…..Notables not making the feature field tonight included MLRA regulars Denny Woodworth and Bryant Goldsmith as well as Minnesota driver Andrew McKay. Veteran driver Steve Boley, who has been helping out Late Model rookie Kevin Sather recently, climbed aboard the #74 normally driven by Peoria’s Russ Adams tonight. Boley finished ninth in the first B-Main and did not make the show…...Jason Schueller was running in the top five before dropping out on lap nine of the Modified main event……The only caution in the Modified feature came on lap thirteen when it looked like the leader Larson tagged the slower car of Zach Less. Less had moved up the track in turn three to get around another slower car and then found himself in the leader’s line of flight……Retired Late Model legends here Roger Dolan, Rollie Frink and Dave Birkhofer were spotted in the stands tonight and I enjoyed catching up with former Burlington area drivers Randy Samberg on Donnie Blint during the evening……With the rainout at 34 Raceway, current IMCA Late Model drivers Boone McLaughlin, Tom Darbyshire and Matt Strassheim were also spectators……A big "thank you" to track announcer Jerry Mackey who gave PositivelyRacing.com a fantastic plug! It sure was fun to hear "Helloooooo Race Fans" again tonight as Mackey continues to be one of the best in the business. And even better, he had a full grandstand tonight to talk to.
The May day twinbill continues on Sunday evening at the Farley Speedway where many of these same Late Model stars, and perhaps more, will take another run at a $10,000 top prize. Hot laps get underway at 5 p.m. For pit pictures of many of tonight’s competitors check out the PositivelyRacing.com page on Facebook, and for some great action photography from tonight make sure you check out Mike Ruefer’s work at www.LateModelAmerica.com
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