The quantity may not have been what was expected, but the quality of drivers that made their way form near and far to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday was top notch as the 2019 racing got underway with the track's annual Spring Extravaganza. And perhaps after hearing that the racing surface held up quite well despite the rough winter, that driver list might grow for Saturday's finale of the two night show.
The Late Models would be the first feature to the track with Minnesota's Dustin Bluhm bringing the field to green from the pole position. Bluhm would race out to a big early lead before a series of cautions put a damper on the action. On lap four it was for debris and on lap five Bryan Berger nosed into the turn four guardrail. Todd Frank would spin in turn two to slow the field again on lap seven and once back to racing Bluhm now faced a challenge from both Jay Johnson and Tommy Elston.
Entering turn one on lap nine though Bluhm slid sideways and could not recover before stalling the car for yet another caution and on the restart Johnson would assume the lead. Elston would stay within four car lengths of the new leader, but was not able to mount a challenge until Johnson slipped wide exiting turn four with three laps to go. That was the opening that Elston needed as he pulled even with Johnson down the front stretch and the lead duo raced side-by-side for an entire lap before Elston nosed ahead and then pulled away to take the win. Johnson who was driving the car that will be wheeled by rookie driver Blair Barton this season gave it a good "shake down" run in second, Sam Halstead finished third with Bluhm and Berger recovering to complete the top five.
The Sport Mods were up next and after a false start on the first attempt they would go twenty laps of non-stop action. Brandon Dale would use his outside front row starting spot to open up a big lead while Nathan Bringer did his best to hold off Tyler Soppe's bid for second. Soppe was finally able to clear Bringer at the mid-race point and the chase was now on as he tried to cut into Dale's lead. The gap closed quickly as lapped traffic came into play and on lap fifteen with Dale trying to choose his line around two cars that were racing side-by-side in front of him, Soppe dove to the bottom and made the pass for the lead. There would be no stopping the 2017 All Iowa Points and IMCA National Champion from there as he cruised to the win. Austen Becerra charged from seventh to finish as the runner-up with Dale settling for third. Daniel Fellows came from row five to finish fourth and Bringer completed the top five.
As usual the Stock Cars gave the fans a show with the top six running in a tight formation as Jay Schmidt had the lead by a nose over Abe Huls on lap one before establishing himself as the pace setter on lap two. John Oliver Jr. would shuffle Huls back to third and he would then go to work on Schmidt only to have Huls find the higher line to his liking bringing him back to the front. When Schmidt bobbled in turn four, Huls would dive under him to take the lead at the line on lap ten of the twenty-two lap event. That lead pack of six would continue to swap positions until lap sixteen when the fourth place car of Derek Green slowed with a flat tire and when he could not get to the infield the caution waved.
On the restart Damon Murty would move to second and he would keep the heat on Huls over the closing laps, but Abe would not yield as he claimed the opening night victory ahead of Murty, Schmidt, Oliver Jr. and Jeremy Pundt. Minnesota drivers Dan Mackenthun and Green would be next in line.
Twelve of the thirteen Modifieds that had signed in would then line up for twenty-two laps with Brainerd, Minnesota, driver Aaron Johnson setting the pace. Fellow front row starter Mike Van Genderen would take the lead though and he would start to pull away before slowing suddenly exiting turn four on lap two. This would hand the lead over to Chad Holladay who would set a blistering pace, but not too quick for Michael Long who was steadily coming to the front after starting from tenth.
After clearing David Wietholder and Jeremy Mills to get to second, Long would then reel in the leader and make a big move to the front with just three laps to go. Holladay would try to fight back, but there would be no catching the hotshoe out of Fowler, Illinois, as Long scored the victory. Holladay and Mills would earn podium spots with Wietholder fourth and the long distance traveler Johnson in fifth.
The Sport Compacts drew a solid field of twenty and they would put on a thrilling fourteen lap finale for those fans who stuck around on a night where the temperature dipped to forty degrees at the final checkers. Brandon Reu would lead the field early with Barry Taft and Jacob Houston racing each other hard for second. On lap four Houston caught a rut as he charged to the inside of Taft in turn four and the left side of his car rose up high into the air. Somehow Houston's car did not turn over and when he came back down to all fours, contact would flatten the left front tire on Taft's car ending the evening for the two time defending All Iowa Points champion.
Following the restart Jason Ash would charge into the mix and he would take the lead from Reu with just five laps to go. Houston would erase the memory of nearly rolling his car and would get by Reu into second, but he did not appear to have anything for Ash as the white flag waved. You want to talk about a gutsy final lap move? Houston was still two car lengths back from Ash entering turn three, but he held it to the floor and ran the same line that nearly sent him rolling earlier in the race. This time it stuck though as he was able to clear Ash and then shut the door on him coming out of four to take the checkers and an exciting victory. Ash would settle for the runner-up spot with Reu in third, Chuck Fullenkamp would finish fourth ahead of Beatrice, Nebraska's Zach Bohlmeyer and north central Iowa's Oliver Monson would come from eighteenth to sixth after having troubles in his heat race.
All in all it was a great way to kick off the 2019 season. If you are a "car count" fan, you would have been disappointed, but if you are a "race fan" it is a good bet that you enjoyed the show. And like I said in the lead paragraph, now that other drivers saw that the track held up pretty good for opening night, maybe those "car count" fans will be a little happier with Saturday night's show.
Hope to see you there!
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