Thursday, July 11, 2013

Deery Streaks Continue; Kay Takes Third Straight With Win at West Liberty


The 2013 Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models has been streaky. After Denny Eckrich captured the series opener at 34 Raceway near Burlington, Ray Guss Jr. won the next two races, Brian Harris reeled off the next four and, with his win at the West Liberty Raceway on Wednesday night, Justin Kay has now posted three wins in a row on the tour.
Number three did not come easy though as Kay lined up behind the two all-time winningest drivers on the series as Jeff Aikey and Ray Guss Jr. drew the front row. For Aikey it was a complete turn of fortune as he had actually crossed the line in fifth during in his heat race, but when Nick Marolf was disqualified for using illegal tires Aikey found himself on the stage taking part in the Casey’s General Stores redraw rather than running the 12-lap B-Main. Aikey was able to lead the opening lap of the 40-lap finale before Kay blew by and started to open up a nice lead. Harris had started eighth and when he worked his way past Aikey for second on lap fourteen, Kay was more than a straightaway ahead of him on the big half-mile.

With the leader working through traffic, Harris had cut into that gap by nearly half before the caution flag waved as Tom Goble stopped in turn four with mechanical issues. On the restart Harris was first able to keep pace with Kay and then went to work on trying to make his move for the lead. The current series point leader found a higher line to his liking and was able to make a run on Kay and as the two passed by the flagstand on lap twenty-four, Harris was scored the leader by a nose. Kay came roaring back on the inside though to regain the lead on the following lap and, having thwarted the challenge from his strongest rival, Justin then pulled away over the remaining laps to take the convincing win.
“This car is just so easy to driver right now,” beamed Kay in victory lane, “Tyson (Gheer) really has the setup right now, this is a lot of fun!” With his runner-up finish Harris continued his amazing streak of having been in the top three for all ten of the Deery races run so far in 2013 and he only gave up one point of his lead in the standings. Andy Eckrich moved from fifth to third on the mid-race restart, but he could not keep up with the lead duo and finished back in third. Tommy Elston had a strong run tonight taking fourth while Aikey completed the top five. Kyle Hinrichs continues to impress as he ran sixth, Denny Eckrich started thirteenth and finished seventh, Jason Utter was eighth, Nick Marolf moved from the eighth row to finish ninth and Ray Guss Jr. was tenth.

Seventeen IMCA Modifieds were on hand to run in support of the Deery show and it was Richie Gustin coming from the twelfth starting position to drive by Kurt Kile late and take the win. Ryan Dolan was able to move to second late putting Kile back to third at the checkers as Steve Stewart and Chris Horn rounded out the top five.
This event was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but after early morning rains forced the postponement track announcer Jerry Mackey called and asked if I could fill in for him on Wednesday night. Jerry had scheduled surgery on his shoulder for Wednesday morning and he knew that he would be in no mood to be announcing races that night. The surgery went well and, as I told the crowd, he won’t be able to pitch again until after Labor Day but he will be back on the microphone this coming weekend at all three SPI tracks. I have always wanted to welcome the crowd by saying “Hello Race Fans!” and it was really cool when they did their best to make sure that Mackey could hear them back at home when they responded “Hello Jerry!”

The next event for the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be this Sunday night July 14th at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway where Justin Kay will have the chance to join Gary Webb, Rob Toland and Brian Harris as the only drivers to have won four straight series events. Kevin Feller told me that Dubuque is where Kay won his first-ever Late Model feature so you know that he has to be looking forward to it.
Travel is taking me away from three big events over the next three nights as I normally would have been calling the action as the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders enjoy the county fairs in Tipton tonight (Thursday) and in Donnellson on Friday night, then on Saturday night the UMP Summer Nationals returns to 34 Raceway near Burlington. Get on out to those so that you can tell me about them later?

Next week I look forward to three straight nights of racing featuring the IMCA Modifieds at Oskaloosa Tuesday and Wednesday night, and topped off by the Harris Clash at the Knoxville Raceway on Thursday. Hope to see you there!

No comments: