It was a beautiful late August night for racing Friday at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway and a large crowd was treated to some great racing across five divisions highlighted by the Sprint Invaders and the final qualifier for the IMCA Late Model "Drive for Five" series.
Twenty-five winged 360 Sprint Cars signed in for the evening with twenty-one of them set to start the twenty-five lap main event. Kaley Gharst and Josh Higday would bring the field to green only to have the caution wave soon after as the seventh starting car of Paul Nienheiser spun on the front stretch. Nienheiser would have to restart the Midland Performance #50 from the rear of the field for the second try at a green and, before one lap could be scored, the two-time and defending series champion John Schulz tagged the guardrail in turn three and got upside down to bring out the red flag.
Schulz would walk dejectedly back to the pits and after the third try at a start stayed green, only two laps were scored when Cam Martin spun in turn two collecting Dugan Thye. Both drivers would retire from this one and once the race was back to green it was a good one on a smooth and wide surface where the cushion was just inches from the outside guardrail on each end. It was a perfect track for slide jobs and we would see a lot of them as the race wore on.
Gharst would lead the first ten laps riding the high side, but when he caught the back of the field Higday was ready to pounce. On lap eleven Higday threw a slider in turns three and four where he not only passed the leader, but he also slid up in front of the now lapped car of Austin Miller to quickly put some space between himself and Gharst. Current Invaders point leader Chris Martin would join the mix in third and he would soon find himself in second ready to challenge for the lead.
After Higday fought off a couple of sliders from Martin, a big one in turns three and four would stick and Martin would take the lead on lap seventeen. A lap later the new leader would face the challenge of getting around Justin Bucholz and Higday was coming fast before the caution waved when Miller clipped the end of the turn four guardrail and then smacked the outside retaining wall at the start of the front stretch.
During the caution a keen eyed official noticed that Gharst had lost his left rear wheel nut and he was forced to the infield before the green flag waved. Martin would drive away over the final five laps to take the win, his first this season despite sitting atop the points. After dominating his heat race and the Budweiser Dash, Higday would have to settle for second while young Riley Goodno was strong in third. Lynton Jeffrey had troubles in his heat race before coming from the tenth row to finish fourth in the main event and Dustin Selvage advanced four positions to complete the top five.
The Sprint Invaders will be in action again on Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington and the series will return to The Pepsi Lee County Speedway on Saturday September 12th.
Also on the card here on September 12th will be the "Drive for Five" finale for the IMCA Late Models where any driver that participated in four of the five preliminary events will be eligible to win $5,000 that night rather than the standard $2,000 winner's check. Tonight's Late Model feature would go twenty-five laps non-stop with Denny Woodworth leading the distance from his outside front row starting position to secure the win. Sam Halstead chased him all the way in second and Tommy Elston was not far behind in third. Mark Burgtorf took advantage of a lapped car to drive around Andy Nezworksi late for the fourth place money.
The IMCA Stock Cars have a reputation for putting on a good show at Donnellson and tonight only enhanced that, especially in the early going of the eighteen lap feature. Jerry Jansen would lead the opening lap and he had them racing four wide right behind him for second at the exit of turn four. Jansen would continue to set the pace on lap two and this time they were four-wide for third coming back to the flagstand. Chad Krogmeier would take the point on lap four bringing eighth starting John Oliver Jr. with him and those two would be close at the line for the next two circuits until Oliver nosed ahead on lap seven.
Jason See was on the move after starting ninth and he would take the second spot with eight laps remaining just before caution waved when Neal Kohlmorgan and Dean Kratzer both spun in turn two. On the restart See would get shuffled back as Jeremy Pundt made his move, but the caution waved again with four to go due to debris on the racing surface.
Earlier in the night Abe Huls had broken a left ball joint entering turn three while leading his heat race sending him into the outside guardrail. The repairs were made and Huls was now up to second late in this feature race after starting eleventh, but Abe could not mount a challenge as the 2018 All Iowa Points Stock Car champion John Oliver Jr. picked up the win. Huls would be the runner-up with Pundt in third, Jim Redman would come from tenth to fourth as Jason Cook filled out the top five.
It seems like every time that I see former IMCA Super Nationals Sport Compact champion Josh Barnes lately he either wins or breaks. Tonight the driver from Keokuk added another trophy to his collection going flag to flag to win the feature for the Four Cylinders. Brandon Reu started seventh and finished second, Jared Heule was in second and was reeling in Barnes before Alyssa Dietrich spun with three laps remaining and Heule was dropped to third after the restart. Long-time Sport Compact competitors Chuck Fullenkamp and Kimberly Abbott would complete the top five.
The Sport Mods would close out the full evening of racing with eighteen laps of stop and go action. Four yellow flags would interrupt a pretty good race up front as Austen Becerra raced to the early lead even though he started the race from seventh.With Becerra riding the rim and banging his right rear quarter panel against the wall until it was a crumpled mess, Adam Birck found the low line more to his liking and he would nose ahead of Becerra for the lead on lap four.
Sean Wyett took over second mid-race and he was a little more patient on the cushion, but it would not be enough to get past Birck who had charged from the ninth starting spot to take this win. Wyett finished second ahead of Bobby Six who had started dead last on the twenty-one car lineup. Becerra wound up fourth and Brandon Dale was next in line.
The Pepsi Lee County Speedway will hold a Fan's Appreciation Night during next Friday's Season Championship night with adults only pay three dollars for admission!
It's now on to 34 Raceway for me with more Sprint Invaders action at the series' home track on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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