The skies were bright and the winds were calm, but with the speeds that the Late Models (both MLRA and IMCA) were running around the wide half-mile West Liberty Raceway, the possibility of a "Tornado" definitely existed on this Tuesday night. The track was bad fast and the talent on hand was more than capable of taking advantage of it and the result was some high-speed action that those in attendance will not soon forget!
The Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models were making their first appearance ever at West Liberty and while the series regulars are more than capable of holding their own, they were dominated tonight by professionals dropping in after the USA Nationals in Cedar Lake as well as by the local stars. Using the passing points system with no qualifying Billy Moyer and Tim McCreadie would start the 50-lap headliner from the font row and Moyer would quickly open up a ten car-length advantage over T-Mac and the rest of the field.
Rather than build upon that lead, Moyer seemed to settle into a pace that would allow him to stay just ahead of his challengers who were racing hard to get every ounce of speed that they could out of their rides. By lap seven the leaders were working traffic and with several of those lapped cars racing amongst themselves for position what followed was worth the price of admission as Moyer picked his spots to make his moves while McCreadie, Chris Simpson and Gregg Satterlee tried to find that one opening that might allow them to get to the lead.
The only caution of the event waved on lap 22 when Jason Utter spun in turn two and quite a bit transpired during that caution. Utter, who is third in the MLRA point standings, retired for the evening as did point leader Jesse Stovall. After winning the night before in Farley, Stovall found himself starting from 13th tonight and he had just worked his way into the top eight before the caution waved, but as he idled around the speedway it was obvious that his motor was going south. Chase Junghans who was running in sixth prior to the caution stopped in turn four to get some service from the MLRA official, but then pulled into the infield before the field was realigned for the restart.
Moyer again flexed his muscles on the restart as McCreadie faded to fourth behind Chris Simpson and Mike Marlar. Ryan Gustin was now on the move driving up to fifth, but after sliding too high in turn four and giving back a couple of spots he then slowed and pulled to the infield on lap 26. Simpson now was the chaser of Moyer and as soon as he came close enough to stick a nose under the leader, Moyer would again pull out to a ten car-length lead.
Marlar powered under Simpson in turn one for second on lap 35 and it was then his turn to try to make a run at the wily veteran. Pounding the cushion in turn three as Moyer used the low line entering before drifting high in turn four, Marlar made up ground quickly and on lap 38 he appeared to have a run at the leader on the high side. Moyer just shrugged it off though and drove it into turn one just a little deeper to squelch the challenge and again open up the lead and at that point it was obvious that our leader was not going to be passed on this night.
Marlar closed in again over the final laps, but Moyer was fully in control of the $10,000 top prize. Marlar would finish in second, Simpson held down third, McCreadie finished in fourth and Gregg Satterlee raced in fifth most of the distance. Justin Kay was the last car to finish on the lead lap, Jason Feger was stopped in turn four as the checkers waved and he was credited with seventh while Denny Eckrich, J.C. Wyman and R.C. Whitwell completed the top ten.
The 30-lap IMCA Late Model main event ended in a thrilling fashion as Justin Kay chased down race-long leader Joel Callahan and passed him on the final lap to collect the $1,000 victory. Starting fourth, it was likely that just about everybody had their money on Kay, but it was Callahan who would set a blistering pace while Jonathan Brauns held off Kay for second. Nick Marolf even managed to set Kay back to fourth mid-race, but Marolf's night would come to an abrupt end on lap seventeen when his motor let go while he was riding fifth.
Kay would pass Brauns on the restart only to have the young driver out of Muscatine return the favor and by the time Kay fought his way back into second with five laps remaining Callahan held a half a straightaway lead. But Kay had found his line and he ate through that gap quickly to make the pass on the final lap. Callahan had to wonder what had happened in second, Brauns was impressive in third, Kevin Kile took over the track point lead by finishing fourth while Kyle Hinrichs recovered from a flat tire in his heat race to finish in fifth.
Tornado Tuesday Notes.......30 MLRA Late Models and 16 IMCA Late Models made up the show on this perfect evening for racing in eastern Iowa......Moyer made it known to several people apparently that he is not a fan of the passing point system, but when he drew the outside front row of his heat race it was essentially what he was used to anyway.....Farley's winner on Monday, Jesse Stovall was not so lucky in the draw starting eighth in the first heat where he raced up to fifth to land him in row seven for the feature......The start of the second heat race saw contact between the third row starters Jason Utter and Jeremy Payne in turn one. Both were able to continue although Utter fared better than Payne as Utter raced to a fifth place finish while Payne tried to catch the back of the pack for a few laps before pulling to the infield. After the checkers waved Payne drove onto the track and made contact with Utter where an apparent scuffle ensued (my view was blocked by the judges stand) and the MLRA series regular Payne was later a "scratch" for the B-Main and did not claim a provisional for the feature......Skip Frey spun on the opening lap of the third heat allowing Terry Phillips to duck into the pits to change a flat tire. This heat only started eight cars as two of the MLRA regulars, local favorite Chad Simpson and Arizona's Jake O'Neil, each popped motors during hot laps......Phillips would have to win the B-Main to lock himself into the feature and he would then finish 11th in the feature.......Brian Harris would enter the night with a three-point lead in the IMCA Late Model track point standings, but his bid for a championship likely went down the drain when his motor blew during his heat race......Kyle Hinrichs' flat tire occurred when he clipped the front end of a spinning Ron Boyse on the opening lap of the second heat. Hinrichs would later start thirteenth and finish fifth in the main event.
For all of the hand wringing and speculation on the internet about who would be there and who would not, I would hope that all would agree that for a Tuesday night race the car count was solid and the talent level was deep. And most of all, would you people please take a moment and say "thanks" to promoter Keith Simmons for taking the risk and putting up the big money for not one, but two $10,000-to-win shows?
I once again had the opportunity to visit with Simmons and his scorer extraordinaire Kevin Feller as drivers were checking in and I really enjoy his candid conversation. A big thanks to Keith and Kevin as well as to Carey Feller, Doug Haack and Jerry Mackey for their hospitality as always and we enjoyed sitting with our friends Mike, Nick, Bob and Jeff at the top of the grandstands. All this made for a fantastic night of Late Model racing!
And now it is time to go Sprint Car Racing! The 25th Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals kicks off on Thursday night for three nights of action followed up by the Capitani Classic for the 410's on Sunday night. Then on Monday night promoter Terry McCarl celebrates the 20th running of the Front Row Challenge by posting a $20,000 top prize at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.
Put your wings on and look for us on the Back Stretch!
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