Seven of the nine All Iowa Points divisions saw repeat champions in 2011 while the other two had drivers winning their first ever title. This was the highest percentage of “repeat champions” since the points have been compiled back to the 1967 racing season with the previous high being six of eight in 2002.
Newly inducted Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Ray Guss Jr. is once again the All Iowa Points Late Model champion in 2011 for the third year in a row. “The River City Hustler” now has six AIP titles on his resume’ with the other three also coming in succession twenty years ago in 1989, 1990 and 1991. As the compiler of these points, I was very proud to have seen the All Iowa Points titles listed on Ray’s profile that was released to voting members of the Hall of Fame last spring and I congratulate him on his honor. Guss was once again dominant posting 18 wins and 52 top five finishes on AIP tracks essentially clinching the title in early August as he finished seventy-two points ahead of runner-up Todd Cooney. It was the second runner-up finish for Cooney in the state points as he was second to champion Brian Harris in 2008. The 2005 Late Model champion, and last year’s runner-up Terry Neal finished in the third spot this season while Andy Eckrich and Billy Leighton posted their best ever finishes in fourth and fifth respectively.
Last season Ryan Dolan had to rally late to earn his first All Iowa Points Modified championship by a slim ten point margin. In 2011, Dolan established himself as the man to catch early on and nobody could as he cruised to his second straight championship on the strength of 50 “top fives” and 20 feature wins. This propelled the second-generation driver, whose father Roger Dolan was a two-time AIP Late Model champ in 1985 and 1987, to a fifty-point edge over his nearest competitor. Two-time champion Mark Schulte (2006 & 2007) was that nearest competitor in second while central Iowa driver Randy Havlik finished in third. Steven DeLonjay and J.J. Wise both enjoyed their best seasons so far finishing fourth and fifth. It should also be pointed out that after winning three straight All Iowa Points Stock Car titles, Dustin Smith made a successful move to the Modified division where he finished in a tie for 11th out of the 495 drivers who earned points this year.
The highest point total of any driver this year came in the Limited Modified division where Jesse Sobbing roared to his second straight AIP championship. The Glenwood based driver posted an amazing 45 feature wins on points-paying tracks and more than fifty overall, numbers that few drivers will ever achieve in a career let alone one season. Behind him was another driver who had an amazing season, but still finished 80 points behind the champion. Young Cayden Carter had 31 feature wins on his scoresheet and 209 points that, in most years, would have been more than enough to earn him his first championship. Another of the fantastic racing Smith family out of Lake City, Doug Smith finished in the third position with Brandon Hare fourth and Tyler Droste, grandson of the 1967 Late Model champion Red Droste and son of the 1996 Modified champion Steve Droste, in fifth.
The Stock Car division saw a new name at the top of the list as Timmy Current outdistanced Damon Murty and Derek Green even though those two drivers had nine and ten more top five finishes respectively than did the champion. Twenty-seven of Current’s thirty-four “top fives” were feature wins and that was enough to keep Murty, one of the top Stock Car drivers throughout the past several years, from grabbing his first AIP championship. The Minnesota driver, Green posted his best finish yet in third while fellow Minnesotan Dustin Larson was fourth. Two-time Hobby Stock titlist Donavon Smith (2004 and 2006) finished in fifth.
Devin Smith kept the tradition of All Iowa Points championships in the family alive and well by taking his second straight Hobby Stock title in dominating fashion posting forty feature wins on the season. This marks the ninth All Iowa Points championship for the brothers out of Lake City. Michael Murphy edged out two-time champion Shannon Anderson (2008 & 2009) by three markers for second while Shane Klaassen and John Watson completed the top five.
It was a family feud for the 2011 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder honors as two-time AIP Modified Champion Merv Chandler (19845 & 1985) and two of his sons, Nathan and Brad, swept the top three positions with Nathan Chandler emerging as the champion. With twenty-one feature wins Nathan scored ten more points than did Brad Chandler who scored fifteen wins himself. With Merv taking eight wins and a division leading 56 top-five finishes there is no doubt who the “First Family” of Four Cylinder racing is in the state of Iowa for 2011. Jacob Ellithorpe enjoyed a solid season as well with fourteen wins to rank fourth in the final standings while Tyler Whalen nosed past Megan Lappegard by a single point to finish fifth.
Moving to the winged sprint car divisions, a strong second half of the season that included his best-ver performance at the Knoxville Nationals propelled Mark Dobmeier past early leader Danny Lasoski for his second straight and fifth overall All Iowa Points championship in the 410 division. Dobmeier, whose previous titles cam in consecutive fashion in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and then of course last year, recorded nine feature wins on during AIP events this year. Ten-time champion Terry McCarl (1994, 1996, 1998 – 2004 and 2009) rallied to finish in the second position while the five-time champ Lasoski (1986, 1987, 1990, 1992 and 1993) ranked third. Native Australian Lynton Jeffrey was fourth while Gregg Bakker was fifth. Dobmeier and McCarl have now won thirteen of the last fourteen AIP 410 Sprint championships with Wayne Johnson taking the other one in 2005.
After sharing the 360 honors last year with Eric Lutz, Jack Dover repeated as the champion in 2011 on the strength of five feature wins and eighteen top-five finishes. The 2009 champion Mike Boston was this year’s runner-up followed by the 2002 champ Clint Garner in third. Stuart Snyder posted a fourth-place ranking while Gregg Bakker also found himself in fifth in this division.
A new champion was crowned in the 305 division as Bill Boles rode nine feature wins and five second-place runs to his first AIP title. 2006 champion Bruce Anderson was not far behind in second followed by Ryan Jamison, Jayson Dittsworth and Jordan Nordstrom.
A full listing of each division of the All Iowa Points can be found on the Points page at http://www.positivelyracing.com/
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