Opening night of the 2013 Liberty 100 saw more than 140 cars pack the pits of the West Liberty Raceway. And, with near perfect mid-October weather conditions, a very nice-sized crowd came out despite it being a football Friday night as drivers in seven divisions raced to get themselves lined up near the front for Saturday night's finale.
The Sport Mods were making their first appearance at West Liberty for the season and the twelve car field waged a very interesting battle in their twelve lap qualifying main. Austin Moyer would lead the opening lap before Andrew Schroeder, driving one of the #72 cars that Brett Lowry drove earlier in the season, moved by after starting third. Moyer stayed close though and regained the lead as the field came by for the ninth time, but a spin by Andre LaPorte brought out a caution before the full lap could be scored. On the restart Eric Pollard showed his strength as he motored by on the outside of both Schroeder and Moyer to take the lead and once again Moyer sought to regain what was once his. When the white flag waved we were set up for quite the finish as Moyer sized up Pollard for the lead, but as he entered turn three the challenger lost control of his #25M and spun causing the caution flag to wave with the checkers as Pollard secured the victory. It was a nice win for the driver from the Dubuque area who was home for a break after working in London for the past couple of months and Eric noted that he had only attended three races here before as a spectator. It was nice to win on his first night to race here. Schroeder slowed in the final laps allowing Jenae Gustin and Bryce Garnhart to take second and third and with scoring going back to the white flag lap I do not know who the rest of the official top five would have been.
The Stock Cars were up next and again twelve cars went for twelve laps with David Brandies coming from the fifth starting spot to take the lead on the opening lap. Pole starter Blaine Dopler looked strong in winning his heat, but he spun in turn one on the second lap and was forced to restart at the rear. Tad Payne would stay within striking distance the rest of the way, but he could never mount a strong challenge as Brandies cruised on to his eleventh win of the season here at West Liberty. Jarrett Franzen would take the third spot holding off a late run by Dopler who came back to take fourth while Lane Kauffman made a final lap pass of John Hemsted for fifth.
The IMCA Modified fifteen-lap qualifier was a thrilling two car battle between the hometown favorite Kurt Kile and sometime visitor Richie Gustin as twenty-four of the thirty-two car field took the green. Gustin started third and raced to the early advantage only to have Kile come back to take the lead on lap three. Gustin nosed back in front on lap five only to see Kile regain the lead two laps later just before the caution waved for a spinning Scott Strauss on lap eight. On the restart Derek Walker had his top five run wiped away when he spun in turn four and once back to racing Kile and Gustin again pulled away from the rest of the field and waged battle. Richie would lead by a bumper on lap thirteen only to have Kurt come back to take the white flag first and while it looked like Gustin had him set up for one last pass exiting turn four, a spinner in turn one necessitated a caution that would bring this thriller to a close just before its climax. Kile was very complimentary of Gustin during his victory lane interview, Dan Chapman finished a ways back in third, Bobby Moyer was fourth and Andrew Schroeder in his familiar #02 was fifth.
Eighteen Sport Compacts were up next for ten laps as Corey Sheetz paced the swarm for the first two trips around the half-mile oval. Bill Whalen Jr. moved to the front on lap three just before Nathan Chandler and Cody VanDusen joined the party to make it four wide for the lead down the back straightaway. Chandler emerged from that battle to lead lap five before caution waved for Eric Hood who had slowed to a halt in turn two. Once the caution waved Hood started moving again and joined the back of the field for the restart that then saw Chandler drive away from the pack for the easy win in his first appearance here in 2013. Whalen would come and join the celebration in victory lane after taking second while the ageless veteran Wayne Noble, in his 54th year of racing, finished third. Sheetz and Bobby Lake would complete the top five.
With the clock now closing in on the eleven o'clock hour and with Saturday morning business travel looming ahead we made the tough decision to head for home as the drivers for the IMCA Late Model race of champions were being introduced on the front stretch knowing that we would not only miss that event, but also the SPI Open Modified feature and the Open Late Model race of champions. With nice fields in each of these three divisions, including thirty-two IMCA Late Models, the stage is set for a grand night of action as the Liberty 100 will conclude tonight (Saturday) at the West Liberty Raceway.
Liberty Notes......Track announcer Jerry Mackey makes it easy to sound like a well informed reporter as he consistently provides interesting bits of information throughout a race night.....Bob Dominacki made a strong third to first move on the opening lap of the first IMCA Modified heat, but then appeared to pop a motor a couple of laps later.....Ray Cox Jr.'s weekend may have ended after making hard contact with the wall entering turn one during the second IMCA Mod heat.....Kile and Gustin gave us a preview with a great battle for the lead in the fourth heat.....There were several drivers who were pulling double duty tonight with most of them being in the two Late Model divisions. Chad Simpson won his heat race in both classes once again driving the #30 in the IMCA class, the car normally wheeled by Justin Diercks. Ryan Dolan also won both of his heat races, one of them in Rick Dralle's #1 IMCA Late Model and the other in the #93 Open Modified that we have seen Matt Werner in most of the time this season.....Johnny Spaw was in his normal Open Modified #1 and also competed in the #78 IMCA Late Model that I believe Dale Stolte had driven previously.....Darrel DeFrance ran his #99D in the Open Late Model field and did not have an entry for the IMCA class.....Open Late Model holdout Justin Mitchell will join the IMCA ranks in 2014 running both the Deery series as well as weekly here at West Liberty.....A big thanks to Carey Fuller and the entire SPI crew for their hospitality and here is hoping that the place is packed for tonight's main event of the Liberty 100. Hot laps get underway at 5:30 p.m. with racing to follow!
Up next for me will hopefully be one of the two nights of the Memphis Fall Nationals as the nifty fairgrounds track in northeast Missouri roars back to life for its one and only race weekend of the year next Friday and Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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