Harris Hold Off Kay For West Liberty Deery Win

In a finish that brought a solid Tuesday night crowd to their feet, former series champion Brian Harris held off a final lap challenge from defending series champion Justin Kay to win the Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Model main event at the West Liberty Raceway.

Track regulars Rob Moss and Chad Holladay, each with a win here already in this 2015 season, drew the front row for the 40-lap main event with Moss taking the early lead. Brian Harris started third and was on the charge using the high line around the track that was somehow salvaged after over three inches of rain had fallen just twenty-four hours earlier. On lap four Harris nosed ahead down the back straightaway only to have Moss fight back on the inside in three and four. But as scorekeeper Kevin Feller logged the fourth lap it was Harris by a nose at the stripe.

From there the fan favorite out of Davenport opened up a solid advantage over Moss and the rest of the field while still the hottest driver in the division, Justin Kay was working his way forward after starting seventh. The lead had grown to a full straightaway when Harris closed in on his first bit of traffic on lap twelve and when the leader made contact with Joe Zrostlik in turn four not only did it flatten the left rear tire on Zrostlik's ride, but it also tore a nice gash in the body work of Harris' car just ahead of the right rear tire. The caution waved and the advantage was now gone as Moss and current series point leader Andy Nezworski lined up directly behind Harris for the restart while Kay lurked in fourth.

Cautions for a slowing Richie Gustin on lap fourteen and a turn two spin by Jeremy Grady on lap fifteen delayed the action before we went back to green for the rest of the distance. As the race heated up for second, Harris again pulled away despite the fact that he was now trailing a bit of smoke when exiting the turns. Kay made the pass of Moss for third on lap 19 and when he took over second from Nezworski on lap 25 Harris had again built  a straightaway advantage.

Kay went to work on cutting into that lead lap by lap and had it down to six car-lengths with five laps remaining as Harris now had to contend with the lapped car of John Emerson. Putting Emerson between himself and his chaser allowed Harris to maintain his cushion for two more laps, but once the track was again clear ahead of him, and with more smoke now trailing the leader, Kay was in attack mode. He closed to within two car-lengths as the white flag waved and when they raced into turns three and four for the final time Kay went to the cushion to try to make his move. They were virtually even coming out of the final turn setting up a drag race to the checkers and it was Brian Harris taking the win and the $3,000 top prize by half a car length in thrilling fashion at the checkers.

Brian Harris (yellow) and Justin Kay (orange) exit turn four on the final lap and race for the checkers - Barry Johnson photo

Nezworski finished in the third spot setting up a tie at the top of the point standings as the Deery Series moves on to the Independence Motor Speedway tonight. Moss had a solid run in fourth while young Tyler Droste completed the top five. Scott Fitzpatrick was sixth, Holladay was seventh, Denny Eckrich finished eighth just ahead of his younger brother Andy while Jeff Aikey completed the top ten.

Thirty-two Late Models were in attendance including long distance traveler Robbie Jorgenson from the Omaha area who was unable to qualify for the feature. Two other noteworthy Summer Series non-qualifiers were Jay Johnson who won the first ever series event and Darrel DeFrance who has been at every one since.



Car owners Lynn & Karen Richard join Brian Harris in victory lane as Grant Ostvig holds the checkers - Barry Johnson photo

The finish of the $1,000-to-win IMCA Modified was nowhere near as close.

After walking away with a win in his heat race from the front row, Richie Gustin again drew the front row for the 25-lap main event and despite the fact that West Liberty draws one of the strongest field of Modifieds that you will find on a weekly basis, nobody could keep pace with the visitor Gustin throughout most of the event. A caution on lap six allowed Bruce Hanford to take a look under the leader on the restart only to have Gustin again pull away building another full straightaway lead before Matt Fulton Jr. spun in turn four with eight laps remaining.

On this restart Brandon Banks came to life not only taking over second from Hanford, but also making a strong run at the leader pulling even with Gustin in turn one on the following lap. Richie was able to ward off the challenge though and he was pulling away once again when the checkers waved. Banks held down the second spot ahead of Hanford, Colt Mather was fourth and Kurt Kile ran fifth. Brad Tyler had another solid showing in sixth after starting twelfth, Carter Vandenberg was seventh, Scott Dickey finished eighth while Larry Herring took ninth and Derek Walker came from the eighth row to finish tenth.

Racing action was complete at 9:30 while there was still some light on the horizon. The bad news on the night though came when I learned that the ASCS National Series race originally scheduled for July 29th

at West Liberty had been cancelled by the outside promoter due to a concern about car count. Bummer, that was one that I was looking forward to.

So in a strange twist, rain in Mt. Pleasant today might send me racing tonight. I can't mow the yard and my cute wife has something else going on, so you just might find me in either Independence or Oskaloosa tonight. Then it will be on to Memphis on Thursday for their fair race, and to Tipton on Friday for the Sprint Invaders and a $1,000 top prize for the Sport Mods. Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!