It has been way too long since I have attended the Yankee Dirt Classic at the Farley Speedway so when the schedule fell into place on Friday I made the two hour drive north for night number three of the four night affair. There was a bit of chill in the air and I had that feel of a "big show" atmosphere as I made my way into the stands where the ticket takers were doing a fantastic job moving the growing crowd through. And, with the pits jammed full of haulers for tonight's two division show of Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Models and Karl Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds, we were all ready for a full night of action on the fast half-mile.
A whopping field of fifty-four IMCA Late Models ran six heats and three B-Mains to set the twenty-four car feature field and it was Tommy Elston and Denny Eckrich who drew the front row for the forty-lap main event. Elston had to be thrilled with his situation as earlier in the evening he had finished third, one spot out of a transfer position in the sixth heat race. But when race winner Terry Neal was disqualified for an illegal rev limiter chip, Elston found himself in the redraw where he was the one whose box only contained one slice of Casey's pizza. The veteran out of Keokuk took full advantage and raced out to the lead at the drop of the green and with Eckrich in hot pursuit the lead duo started to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.
Meanwhile, further back in the pack, Chad Simpson continued to get the feel for his ride for the weekend, the #30 normally wheeled by Justin Diercks. Simpson had started near the back of his heat race and made some progress to earn a starting spot toward the front of the second B-Main where he looked as though he would run second until young Brunson Behning slipped high off of turn four coming to the checkers. That B-Main win lined him up on the outside of row seven and it was now obvious that Chad was comfortable and ready to charge. He was up to sixth by lap seven and on lap fifteen Simpson moved past Matt Ryan for fifth.
At that point the leaders were approaching lapped traffic for the first time and when Elston tested the high line in turn four Eckrich took advantage and moved to the lead on lap eighteen. That traffic allowed both Ron Klein and Jason Rauen to close in on the leaders as well and when flagman Doug Haack signaled the mid-race point Simpson blew past Rauen for fourth. On the next lap we all pretty much figured out who was going to win this one as Simpson drove around the outside of Klein in turn two and then drove under Elston as he rocketed down the back stretch to take over the second spot. It was just one lap later when Simpson disposed of Eckrich just before the first caution of the race waved when Tom Goble slowed on the track.
Just one more lap was completed before series point contender Justin Kay spun out in turn two and once the race was back to green Simpson drove away. The top five of Simpson, Elston, Eckrich, Rauen and Klein seemed well establish as the laps clicked away and several fans started to head for the gates, but the caution waved again with just three laps remaining when Ryan Dolan stopped in turn four. Elston chose the low line for the double-file restart and as Simpson closed out his convincing victory both Eckrich and Klein used their outside line to advance a position with the top five at the checkers now being Simpson, Eckrich, Elston, Klein and Rauen.
Yankee Deery Notes......The opening heat race got off to rough start when Kyle Neels got sideways in turn one and was drilled by Luke Merfeld nearly turning Neels' car over. The driver from Freeport, Neels was able to return to run the B while Merfeld was done for the night......Aggressive driving was the norm in that first heat and when Tom Goble charged under Rob Toland late to take the final transfer Toland showed his displeasure with the move both on the track and in the tech area. Earlier in the race Toland had made a similar move on Rob Moss.....Veteran driver Greg Kastli took the win in that first heat race and then failed to show up for the redraw. The joke was that he was somewhere taking a nap so announcer Jerry Mackey stood in for him and ended up with the eleven.....Ron Klein took the win in the second heat while Jeff Aikey came from ninth to finish second......Justin Kay started eighth in the fourth heat and charged up to third to come up one position short of a transfer.....Toland was running in the third and final transfer of the first B-Main when he had a tire go down with two laps to go allowing Joe Zrostlik to make the A-Main. Chris Simpson, driving Rick Wendling's #78 finished one position out in fourth......Ryan Dolan driving a plain black car with a big white X taped on it passed Chad Holladay on the final lap to win the third B-Main. Holladay wanted to discuss that pass on the cool down lap. Dolan's ride was his first in a Late Model in five years and he was excited to be given the opportunity by Rick Dralle and to have the setup help from Curt Beckler.....Terry Neal advanced from 14th to fifth, but would watch the feature from the pits.
They announced that there were forty-one IMCA Modifieds in attendance, but when the lineups had to be re-worked for this draw show following hot laps it caused about a fifteen minute delay in the start of racing as drivers could not hear the announcement throughout the pits both inside and outside of the track. Once everybody was rounded up there were four heat races, one that had twelve cars in it, and two B-Mains to establish the starting field for the thirty-lap main event. Mark Schulte would lead early, but he was no match for the Skyrocket house car #44 driven tonight by Jason Schueller who eased into the lead on lap four. A pair of cautions for Jason Roth on lap seven and lap fifteen slowed the field and each time erased a straightaway lead for Schueller. Nobody could stay with the Dubuque driver as he survived three more restarts on his way to a convincing victory. Schueller's dominance overshadowed impressive drives by the second and third place finishers as Mark Elliot moved quickly toward the front from his ninth row start and he was in second by lap fifteen. After making that charge I thought that Elliott might have something for Schueller, but he could not mount a challenge. Mike VanGenderen's run to the front was a bit more gradual than Elliott's and after starting twelfth MVG made one last bid on Elliott for second in the closing laps. Shulte would hold on to take fourth at the checkers while Jerry Luloff held off Richie Gustin for fifth.
Yankee HDT Notes......In the first heat race two drivers learned that you don't want to put a slidejob on Tyler Madigan. First it was VanGenderen who had Madigan drive up over his left rear causing VanGenderen to drop three spots and two laps later it was Elliot who tried the same move with the same results. That contact allowed VanGenderen to come back and score the third and final redraw spot in the closing laps.....Madigan's front bumper was busy again in the first B-Main when he spun Mike Burbridge on a restart.....Ron Barker got by Steve Stewart on the final lap for the last redraw spot in the second heat.....The third heat took forever to run with several first lap cautions including a back stretch spin by Kelly Shryock resulting in a flat tire. Shryock came back to finish second to Elliott in the first B-Main.....Jason Wolla of Williston, North Dakota, made a late move to score the third and final transfer out of the second B-Main.....Tour point leader Ronn Lauritzen spun in turn one on the first start of the main event and on lap twenty-one he was involved in a caution with Troy Cordes that then saw him head to the pits. Lauritzen's DNF along with VanGenderen's third-place finish puts Mike on top of the points going into tonight's finale.
A big thanks to the entire Simmons Promotions staff for their hospitality and for continuing the tradition of this BIG end-of-the-season event. The Yankee Dirt Classic draws to a spectacular close tonight (Saturday) with full programs again for both the Late Models and Modifieds on the half-mile, plus feature races in four other divisions on the 3/8th-mile oval. I wish that I could be there as it sure looks like fun out on the Back Stretch!
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