For the past several years the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson has hosted both the first, and last races in the state of Iowa. This year the track that is nestled in the extreme southeast corner of the state decided to add something to the middle of the schedule as well with the two night "Summerfest" that kicked off on Monday night and, weather permitting, will continue tonight (Tuesday) as well. Actually the weather may have adversely affected Monday's opener as the radar showed a persistent line of heavy rain to the west all day long, but with very little eastward movement it never once rained in Donnellson and in fact by the time the pit gates opened skies had cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful night for racing on the first of August.
Five divisions would be in action on night one with a $1,000 check waiting for the winner in everything but the Sport Compacts, plus the Stock Car drivers who had competed in both of the Shootout events at Oskaloosa and Donnellson earlier in July would compete in a $667 winner take all Shootout.
The Stock Car feature would be the first on the card with Friday night's winner here Jeremy Pundt starting on the pole next to Mike Hughes. With Hughes riding the cushion he would lead the opening laps before Pundt's bottom line propelled him to the lead on lap three. Current track point leader Jeff Mueller made it a three car battle and soon Damon Murty joined the group to provide the fans with an interesting race that was definitely a tale of two lines. That high line would come back to Hughes with five laps remaining as he regained the lead and while Pundt continued to dig around the bottom he could not get back to the front as Hughes raced under the checkers first by a couple of car lengths. When Mueller changed lines late in an effort to take second that allowed Murty to get by him for third at the finish while Ryan Cook came from the fifth row to complete the top five in the non-stop twenty lap affair.
The Sport Compacts were up next and with some of the best in the state assembled it looked like this 14-lap feature was going to be a good one. Michael Grossman made a runaway of it though as he took the green from the outside front row and then drove away for an easy victory, however that ease of victory might have been explained soon after during tech inspection as Grossman was disqualified for an "illegal engine", a broad description that made those around me to speculate in jest as to whether it had six or even eight cylinders. The win was then given to Josh Barnes who had fought off late challenges from Kimberly Abbott. Current All Iowa Points leader Brandon Setser was third and Jake Benischek was scored fourth.
After two non-stop feature races, believe me, nobody was prepared for the caution fest that was up next, especially since the Sport Mods usually race pretty clean here at Lee County. There were five cautions in the first six laps alone and eight overall in the event that was shortened from twenty to eighteen laps due to the sudden case of yellow fever that even struck some of the division's best drivers. Tony Dunker was the leader of the first four laps scored before Jim Gillenwater nosed ahead on lap five just before another caution waved. I thought that we were now set up for another classic duel between the two veteran drivers, similar to what we saw here at the fair race in July, but while under caution Dunker pulled to the infield and was done for the night. Racing with a right rear that was caved in from making contact with a spinning Joey Gower early in the race, Gillenwwater showed no ill effect from the damage and was not seriously challenged the rest of the way despite the numerous restarts. The winner had started from the tenth position while the runner-up, Brett Lowry began the marathon in eleventh. Eric Flander finished in the third sport with Brandon Dale and thirteenth starting Jason McDaniel completing the top five.
The Stock Car winner-take-all Shootout was up next and with some attrition only five drivers started the twelve lap race. Mike Hughes again made his way to the front with Jeff Mueller applying the pressure and when Mueller tried to squeeze under Hughes entering turn one on the final lap he spun to the infield and that was that as Hughes added to his total take for the night, a whopping $1,666.67.
The Lee County Late Model field started the night at twelve, but dropped to ten after a hard crash on the opening lap of the second heat race. Colby Springsteen came to a sudden stop when his car nosed into the guardrail exiting turn two and Nebraska's Chad Jensen also had his night come to an end with damage on his car. Thankfully both drivers escaped injury.
Sam Halstead started on the pole and was in his own zip code for most of this non-stop event with the three car battle for second being the race to watch as Tyler Cale, Tommy Elston and Jay Johnson raced in tight formation for several laps. As Halstead cruised to the $1,000 victory it was Johnson who prevailed for the runner-up position with Elston edging out Cale for third. Jeff Guengerich started tenth and finished fifth just ahead of another Nebraska driver with a familiar name, Brian Kosiski.
Apparently turns one and two were very treacherous for the Modified cars on this night as all eight of the cautions in the Sport Mod feature occurred on the east end of the track and four of the five incidents in the Modified main event were in that area as well. Scott Dickey and Bruce Hanford started from the front row in the 25-lap finale and much like the Stock Car feature earlier in the night the two drivers traded the lead through the early laps using two different lines. Hanford's high line was faster in turns one and two while Dickey's drive off the bottom of turn four would nose him ahead at the stripe for each of the first three laps. Hanford would lead lap four by a nose before Dickey returned to the top of the score sheet for the next three laps and on lap eight Hanford would again be the leader by a matter of inches just before the caution waved for a Mitch Boles spin in calamity corner.
Now with a full car length lead exiting turn four on the restart Hanford was able to stretch his advantage in turns one and two and establish himself as the true leader until a lap seventeen caution placed Richie Gustin right behind him on that inside line. Gustin who had started seventh would dig off the bottom of turn four to take the lead with five laps to go and while Hanford was still able to pull ahead and lead Gustin down the back stretch over the next three laps he could not get back to the stripe first like he had with Dickey before. As the white flag waved Richie stretched it out to the point where he would hold the lead all the way around the 3/8-mile oval to score the win in a very entertaining curtain closer. Hanford would take second ahead of Kyle Brown and Jimmy Gustin while Ken Schrader was impressive coming from fifteenth to fifth at the checkers.
As I write this it is now raining steadily here 25 miles north of the track and I would guess that the chances of night number two of Summerfest actually happening would be slim, but check the track's website or the Lee County Speedway Facebook page for updates.
My plans are to go to the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton tonight for the Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Models and the Hawkeye Dirt Tour IMCA Modifieds and I fear that they will fight the same issue that Donnellson did on Monday with the radar showing rain on the doorstep that will likely never reach the door. Don't let it scare you off and I hope to see you tonight in Tipton!
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