Red Droste won a lot of races and was the first All Iowa Points Late Model champion back in 1967, the first year of coverage by Hawkeye Racing News, and who knows how many more he would have won if there would have been a way for me to back track the state points even further. Steve Droste's auto racing career was relatively short, but very successful as he was the 1996 All Iowa Points Modified champion and Tyler Droste has already proven that he can be a consistent winner in the Modified class as well. On Friday night though, fans in attendance at the Farley Speedway may have been witness to the first of many Late Model wins for the third generation driver as Tyler dominated the twenty-seven car field.
With rain plaguing southeast Iowa throughout the day a check of the radar showed that Farley was in the clear and after confirming with Kevin Feller that the rain had stayed south of the speedway I made the trip up to Farley for what I believe was the first time that I have ever been to a weekly show there. In the season opener here last week I noticed that the IMCA Late Models drew a solid count of twenty-four and it was great to see even more in the pits after making the two hour drive.
Jason Rauen joined Droste on the front row for the twenty-five lap main event and it was Rauen who established himself as the race leader at the drop of the green. However, when Steve Hunter spun in turn three before the first lap could be scored the field was reset and this time it was Droste who would lead the way on the opening lap. Hunter spun again on lap two and on the restart Droste took advantage of the two and three wide racing going on behind him to open up a big lead.
Travis Smock, driving the black #1 that we saw Brian Hunter in earlier this season, moved into the second spot by lap ten and began to cut into the lead as Droste worked traffic, but you would have never known that the youngster was looking for his first career Late Model win as he calmly disposed of the obstacles and again pulled away. The race stayed green the rest of the way and it was a dominating performance for Droste who foreshadowed this by finishing third to Justin Kay and Matt Ryan at the $5,000-to-win show at Davenport back in early April. Smock was impressive with his runner-up finish, Nick Marolf fought off Andy Nezworski to finish third and Jason Rauen completed the top five.
Zach Less would pace the field for the opening laps of the twenty-lap IMCA Modified main event before J.D. Auringer took over on lap three. The caution waved right after that exchange when Rod McDonald spun in turn three and on the restart Auringer pulled out to a solid advantage. The caution flew again on lap seven when the third-place car of Kenny Kostenbader spun in turn one and again it was Auringer pulling away on the restart. With laps winding down the race to watch was for second where Independence drivers Adam Johnson and Jerry Luloff where doing battle, but when the right rear tire on Auringer's car started to go flat that battle for second all of sudden had to make room to get around the slowing leader with three laps to go. Johnson would assume the lead with Luloff still challenging and when Ryan Maitland spun in turn four after the leaders had taken the white flag the race was scored official with Adam Johnson taking the win. Luloff would finish second, Mark Schulte came from tenth to third, Zach Less was fourth and unofficially Matt Gansen was fifth.
The IMCA Sport Mods ran the first feature of the night and they struggled with five cautions in the first nine laps of the fifteen lap distance. Bobby Taggart nipped Troy Bauer to lead lap one, Steve Miller would hold the lead on lap two following a restart and then following another restart Bauer would takeover the point on lap three. Fortunately the final six laps would go green and provide the fans with a good battle for the lead as Tyler Soppe mounted a strong challenge and he completed the pass of Bauer for the lead with three to go. Bauer was not about to give in though as he was able to pull even with Soppe on the following lap, but he could not regain the point as Soppe scored the win over Bauer. Tony Olson was going to finish in third until he looped his car in turn four on the final lap handing the position over to the 2014 Davenport Speedway champion Bryce Garnhart, Miller was fourth and K.C. Ansel took fifth.
The IMCA Stock Car field had just seven cars, but all seven were capable of winning and they put on a very entertaining fifteen lap feature running in a tight pack throughout. Phil Holtz would take the lead from Norman Chesmore on lap two and then hold off a persistent challenge from Jerry Miles to take the win. Tom Schmitt was close behind in third at the checkers with Chesmore and Cole Mather completing the top five.
The Hobby Stock field was even smaller with five cars, but they too put on a show as Leah Wroten had both Quinton Miller and Eric McDonough putting pressure on her until Miller got into the turn one wall with five laps remaining. That flattened the right front tire on Miller's car and he coasted to a stop on the track to draw a yellow so that he could duck into the pits and make the change. As the green flag waved for the restart Wroten's car would not respond and she coasted into the pits as McDonough took the lead and he was now faced with the task of fighting off Miller. With two laps remaining Quinton was finally able to find the lead and he would go on to take his second win in a row at Farley. McDonough was second, Randy Byerly third, Leah Wroten was credited with fourth and Randy VandeVegte completed the field.
Stock Car and Hobby Stock drivers, where are you on Friday night? Both divisions put on some good racing tonight, but it sure would be nice to see some more cars!
Always great to visit with long time friends Kevin Feller, Doug Haack and Jerry Mackey and a big thank you to Jerry for the nice words about what we do at Positively Racing. I enjoyed my trip to Farley and I look forward to seeing the SPI crew more often during 2015 with planned visits to both West Liberty and Dubuque as well.
With a break in the weather this morning it is now time to get some yard work done before a trip to the Knoxville Raceway tonight. Here's hoping that the radar stays clean as the National Sprint League will be in action for what turns out to be the 2015 season opener at Knoxville.
Get out to the track of your choice tonight!
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