Eckrich Conquers Deery Lid Lifter at Liberty

Skies were bright and sunny, but with temperatures in the mid-forties and a stiff wind from the south increasing in velocity after the sun went down it was a harsh night for racing as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models opened its 2016 campaign at the West Liberty Raceway Saturday night. Of course anybody who had been at Marshalltown the night before would have told you that it was balmy in comparison and despite the wintry conditions a large crowd of well-prepared race fans were on hand to watch a strong field of 120 cars in five divisions.

Thirty-six of those were Late Models and on the opening event there were no series provisionals to be handed out so drivers had to finish in the top three during the four heat races or in the top six in one of the two B-Mains in order to make the 24-car starting field. The first two rows for the 40-lap main event was stacked with local favorite Denny Eckrich and seven time series champion Jeff Aikey on the front row while defending champion Justin Kay started alongside Ryan Dolan in row two. Aikey shot to the lead with Eckrich and Kay in tow as the three leaders quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. Kay would soon shuffle Eckrich back to third and as he was challenging Aikey for the lead the first caution of the race waved on lap six when there was a six-car tussle in turn two.

On the restart Eckrich dropped Kay back to third and found a fast line on the high side of turns three and four. On lap eight Eckrich had a run on the leader entering turn three but when Aikey slid up the track to block, contact between the two caused some cosmetic damage on both cars. Aikey would maintain the lead, but when Eckrich braked to keep from wrecking both cars that allowed Kay to again be the challenger in second.

Another caution on lap fourteen again saw Eckrich regain the second spot on the restart and this time when Denny made his run to the top he was able to sweep around Aikey for the lead on lap seventeen. Kay tried to follow, but as Aikey fought him off Eckrich drove away to a commanding lead until Nick Marolf slowed on the speedway with eight laps remaining to produce the final caution.

Denny Eckrich (50) drives to the outside of Jeff Aikey (77) for the lead at West Liberty - Barry Johnson photo

Aikey tried to mount a challenge on the restart, but with his hands full holding off Kay for second it allowed Eckrich to pull away once again to take the win in convincing fashion at his home track. Aikey and Kay went second and third while Richie Gustin had an impressive run coming from a seventh row start to finish fourth. Matt Ryan started eighth and advanced to fourth early before finishing fifth and Gustin's fellow seventh row starter Tyler Bruening finished in sixth.

Denny Eckrich flashes a winning smile - Barry Johnson photo

It was a solid field from top to bottom that signed in and that meant that there were twelve good drivers who would not make the starting field. Corey Zeitner, the winner of last year's Deery opener in Denison, made the long tow over from Bellevue, Nebraska, and came up one spot shy of transferring from his B-Main. He did however take home some extra cash by winning the Malvern Bank Non-Qualifiers race that preceded the feature event. Other notables who did not make the show were Darrel DeFrance, Gary Webb, Jeremiah Hurst, Joel Callahan and Cayden Carter.

The next events for the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be next Friday April 15th at the Farley Speedway and Saturday April 16th at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City.

Car counts were solid in each of the four support classes for the evening and with most of them being drivers who will likely be track regulars it looks as though the West Liberty Raceway is poised for another solid season.

The track's IMCA Modified division has recently been one of the strongest that you will find anywhere on a weekly basis and you can add a new contender to the list in Matt "Bones" Bodman. The former Pro Stock and Late Model competitor has been out of racing for the past six years, but his return came in grand fashion as he captured the twenty-lap Modified main event. Defending track champion Kurt Kile had a great start going from third to first as the field entered turn one for the first time, but when Ray Guss Jr. and Larry Herring spun in turn four before the lap was scored the field was reset for an original restart.

This time pole-sitter Kenny Kostenbader protected the bottom and would hold the lead as Bodman settled into the second spot. A caution for a Scott Strauss spin on lap nine produced a restart and Bodman used the high line off of turn four to take the lead away from the Freeport, Illinois, driver on lap nine. From there it was obvious that Bodman still knew his way around the big half-mile as he went fast and turned left all the way to victory. Kostenbader had a nice run in second with Mark Schulte in third. Colt Mather started tenth and finished fourth while Chris Zogg passed Guss in the final laps to complete the top five.

Adam Bell would set the early pace in the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car main event before giving up the lead to David Brandies on a lap three restart. Johnny Spaw who started sixth made it a three-car battle up front and the high line was to his liking as well as he used it to sweep past Brandies on lap nine. Once in the lead there was no stopping the veteran driver out of Cedar Rapids who ran an interesting high to low line in the corners over the closing laps. When announcer Jerry Mackey asked him about it in victory lane, Spaw brought back a lot of memories by saying that he was running his Dale Fischlein, Tom Hearst, Dave Birkhofer line that always worked so well for them. Brandies and Bell would go second and third followed by Greg Gill and John Hemsted.

Dalton Simonsen paced the opening laps of the IMCA Sport Mod feature before Tyler Soppe took the lead on lap three. You guessed it, Soppe used the outside line in turn two to make the pass and while Brett Lowry threw a challenge at him late there was no stopping Soppe from visiting victory lane. Lowry came from ninth to finish second, Simonsen took third, Carter VanDenBerg finished fourth with Cody Harris completing the top five. The long traveler of the night competed in this class as Adam Peshek towed in from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

A twenty car starting field in the IMCA Sport Compacts produced plenty of action including an opening lap rollover by Iowa City's Alex Hayes. Once under green Shane Evans went from third to first, but he could not hold back the charge of Steve Struck who passed Evans for the lead at the mid-race mark and then cruised on for victory. Evans would settle for runner-up honors followed by Jake Benischek, Levi Heath and Jason Klerk de Reus.

A big thanks to Derek, Kevin, Doug, Jerry, Keith and the entire SPI crew for the hospitality and for going forward with this show despite the far less than perfect conditions. It had to be brutal for scorer Kevin Feller, flagman Doug Haack and announcer Jerry Mackey to be up in the booth and flagstand for nearly four hours with little or no protection from the wind, but as always they handled things in a professional manner! It sounds like the weather should be much better for next week's Modified Madness event at West Liberty.