Brian Harris emerged from a fierce mid-race battle with Andy
Eckrich, and then fought off one last challenge from Nick Marolf to pull away
for a convincing win Tuesday night as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA
Late Models returned to the West Liberty Raceway. The win was the fourth
straight on the series for Harris and the Richard Realty and Auction Team 15
putting him in the same elite company as Gary Webb and Rob Toland who also won
four straight in 1994 and 2004 respectively.
“The Moscow Missile” Nick Marolf was launched into the lead
from the pole position as the green flag waved on the forty-lap headliner while
Harris began his quest for four straight from the outside of row number
five. With Marolf attempting to run away
and hide, Harris moved to seventh on the opening lap, to fifth and lap number
two and it only took him four laps to break into the top four. Andy Eckrich was
on the move as well coming from the sixth starting spot to pick up the chase of
Marolf in second and as the leader closed in on lap traffic, Eckrich quickly
erased the gap between the two. As Eckrich went to work on Marolf, Harris
motored by Jason Utter for third on lap ten and he was closing fast on the lead
duo when Eckrich made his move to the front two laps later.
It was soon a three car race at the front and after blowing
by Marolf on lap sixteen, Harris carried his momentum to the front passing
Eckrich for the lead the next lap and this where this one really became fun to
watch. This is Andy’s home track and he was not going to give in without a
fight as he found the bite off the bottom of turn two to drive past Harris down
the back stretch and regain the lead on lap eighteen only to see Harris return
the favor on the following lap to move back out front. With a lapped car or two
thrown in for good measure the lead swapping continued as Eckrich forged ahead
on lap twenty, Harris was scored the leader on lap twenty-one and on the next lap
they crossed the stripe in a virtual dead heat. The solid mid-week crowd was
enjoying every turn of this one as Harris again established himself as the
leader on lap twenty-three and on the following lap the caution waved as Matt
Ryan had spun at the exit of turn two.
The field was reset in the Delaware double-file fashion with
Harris out front on his own just ahead of the second and third-place cars of
Andy Eckrich and Nick Marolf and once back to racing it was now Marolf who was
in second and ready to challenge. Nick had a great run off the top side of
turns one and two the next two laps nearly pulling even with Harris and the
leader must have sensed he coming from upstairs as on lap twenty-seven Harris
changed his line entering turn one moving to the top to seal off his
competitor. That change of strategy worked immediately as Harris built the lead
up to ten car-lengths going down the back stretch and his lead continued to
grow over those final twelve laps.
With Harris now well on his way to victory the rest of the
top five was in doubt as Eckrich regrouped to take second back from Marolf who
was then also passed by Justin Kay and Ray Guss Jr. in the closing laps to fade
to fifth. As the checkers waved Harris was over a straightaway ahead of the
runner-up Eckrich to score the convincing win and he will have the opportunity
to tally his record fifth straight win when the Deery series moves to the
Independence Motor Speedway on July 2nd. Justin Kay stayed in the
points race with his third-place run after starting next to Harris in row five,
Guss was a steady mover racing his way to fourth after starting on the inside
of the eighth row. Kyle Hinrichs followed Marolf in for sixth, Joel Callahan
edged out the veteran Ron Boyse for seventh while Tom Goble and Kevin Kile
completed the top ten.
The Stock Car division ran in support with sixteen drivers
on hand looking for the $600 top prize and when current All Iowa Points leader
Damon Murty drew the front row for the twenty-lap main event I thought that
this one would be a race for second. Not so. Tad Payne and Nathan Wood went
three-wide with Murty fighting for the lead in the opening laps and even though
“The Chelsea Charger” would be scored as the leader he definitely had plenty of
company. David Brandies had started sixth and he was marching toward the front
quickly moving into challenge the leaders on lap five. Brandies made a nifty
high-to-low move on Wood to take second exiting turn two and he then continued
his charge driving to the inside of Murty to take the lead in turns three and
four. Murty was able to stay close to the leader for a few laps before Brandies
started to ease away, but a caution for Cody Harris with four laps remaining
brought the field back to the leader.
There would be no stopping Brandies on this night though as
the home track driver again pulled away from the two visitors to take the
victory. Brandon Jay made it a three-car battle for the runner-up spot over the
closing laps and they crossed under the checkers in a tight formation with
Murty taking second ahead of Wood and Jay while Tad Payne would hold down the
fifth spot.
The two division program that drew thirty-two Late Models
was run off in a fine fashion by Keith Simmons and his crew of true
professionals with the final checkered flag waving just past 9:30 p.m. The
track was wide, smooth and fast allowing for the fantastic racing that we saw
tonight and that you can find here at this historic venue each and every
Saturday night. And don’t forget that the Deery Brothers Summer Series returns
to the West Liberty Raceway on Tuesday night July 9th.
For another report on this fine night of racing be sure to check with Ryan Clark "In Staging" at Positively Racing.
Looks like we will be headed east tonight for the UMP Summer Nationals event at the Spoon River Speedway, then on Thursday night we hope to see you at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson as the Sprint Invaders and the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds headline a five division card.
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