Justin Kay has been the dominant driver in IMCA Late Model racing in Eastern Iowa the last two years and after his performance at the Davenport Speedway Friday it would appear that he is still head and shoulders above the competition. Kay started fourteenth on the grid and marched through the field to score the $5,000 victory in the Rebel 5K on the quarter-mile oval.
The driver from Wheatland dominated his qualifying heat race from the pole position, but with the top sixteen qualifiers redrawing for the main event lineup he would start the forty-lap headliner from the outside of row seven. When the green flag waved Kay went hammer down to the high side of turns one and two to pick off five cars and he flew by two more in turns three and four to move to seventh on the opening lap. With Joe Zrostlik leading the pack Kay moved to fifth by lap five and then fourth on the following circuit. Three laps later he disposed of Jason Rauen for third and a lap after Matt Ryan took the lead from Zrostlik on lap twelve Kay went around the early leader like he was standing still to take second. Compared to the other twenty-two cars on the track Ryan looked strong working the low line on both ends of the speedway, but on lap eighteen Kay buzzed by him on the outside to take the point and a few laps later the lead was nearly a full straightaway.
With a couple of lapped cars working the same line as the leader, Ryan began to close the gap and with five laps remaining the difference was only a couple of car-lengths and it looked as though Superman might be vulnerable. The lapped car of Richie Gustin running around the bottom presented an obstacle for Ryan just before the only caution of the race waved with three laps remaining when Denny Eckrich spun in turn one and judging by his reaction afterwards he must have felt that Scott Fitzpatrick had something to do with it. On the restart Kay went to the bottom in turn one to take away Ryan's line and with clear track ahead of him Justin again pulled away over the final laps to take the big payday. Ryan was strong in second, young Tyler Droste picked his way up from seventh to third, Fitzpatrick finished fourth and Jason Rauen completed the top five.
The IMCA Modified division saw a surprise winner as Davenport native Jake Ruefer, who now races out of Roanoke, Indiana, went flag-to-flag from his pole position in the twenty-lap event. The 2004 UMP Modified track champion at Montpelier Motor Speedway drove the Keith Haislip owned car #7 to the win holding back a nice charge by Tony Von Dresky who came from the fifth row to finish in second. Jeremiah Hurst had a nice run from seventh to third while Kurt Kile and Mitch Morris completed the top five..
Defending track champion Bryce Garnhart drew the front row and was never seriously challenged in winning the fifteen-lap IMCA Sport Mod main event. After issues in his heat race Tyler Soppe recovered nicely to come from the sixth row to finish second. Jayson Wiggins spun out on the opening lap, restarted at the rear and then came back to take the third spot with Bryan Brinker and Jake Morris next in line.
Phil Anderson gave up the lead to Keith Blum with two laps remaining, but then fought back to retake the lead in turns three and four on the final lap to win the street Stock feature. Donnie Louck chased those two in for third followed by Cary Brown and Kevin Dickey.
A three car battle for the lead increased to four when Brandon Setser joined the fun late in the race as the Dahl brothers prevailed on the Four Stock feature. Zach Dahl led the opening lap before Jake Benischek tookover the point. His lead was short-lived though as Brandon Dahl slipped by on lap five and those three then ran the remaining seven laps in a tight formation all the way to the checkers. Brandon was the winner, Zach finished second, Benischek held off Setser for third and Jeff Powell was fifth.
Rebel 5K Notes.......Forty IMCA Late Models signed in for the event and several top drivers including former Deery Series champion Brian Harris failed to qualify for the twenty-four car feature field......Brunson Behning was leading the first B-Main on lap three when he slowed suddenly with mechanical issues......Curt Martin started from the pole of the feature and finished sixth......Ray Guss Jr. was the unlucky driver who drew the number sixteen and he fought his way up to seventh at the finish......Andy Eckrich, Joe Zrostlik and Colby Springsteen completed the top ten. Springsteen was a B-Main winner and started the feature 17th.......I always love seeing drivers make a move up from one division to another and while I was disappointed to note that there were no newcomers in the Late Model division tonight it was good to see former Street Stock competitor Jeremy Marquette in action in the IMCA Modifieds. Marquette finished fifteenth in the 27-car Modified field......It is fun to see the reaction of fans from central Iowa when they see the Quad City area Street Stocks for the first time. While the Darkside calls them the Outlaw Super Bombers I have heard a couple of others tag them as "Voodoo Stocks". They are sharp and competitive, but they are definitely different than the IMCA Stock Cars......With sunny and windy conditions I expected the track to go dry, slick and dusty and that never happened! Great job on track prep with racing from top to bottom throughout the evening.......Racing started just past the seven o'clock hour and the final checkers waved just past 10:30 for a full night of action at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.
A big thanks to Bob Wagener, Carrie Rouse, Ken Reimers and everybody at the Davenport Speedway for the hospitality and I look forward to returning next Friday night April 17th as the MARS and Corn Belt Clash Late Models attack the big half-mile here at Davenport.
It will be obvious who are the Late Model fans and who are the Sprint Car fans in southeast Iowa tonight. The full fendered fans will be at the West Liberty Raceway for the Deery Brothers Summer Series event while the Sprint Car fans will be at 34 Raceway for the inaugural event for the FVP National Sprint League. If you are of the Sprint Car brethren you might hear me on the microphone at 34 if my allergies cooperate. Wherever you are going racing tonight, enjoy your evening!
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