Pittman, Beuseling and Zrostlik Are Winners At Tipton

For the second time in less than three weeks, Al & Kathy Dlouhy and the Cedar County Raceway served up a fantastic special event featuring Late Models, Modifieds and Four Cylinders on a very well prepared quarter-mile surface. On Saturday night it was in memory of their brothers, Bob Dlouhy and Mike Devore, and a large crowd was on hand to enjoy their tribute.

It was another perfect night for racing weather-wise, and thank goodness that the Hawks had snuffed out the Clones early (and often) as I was able to escape the rush out of Kinnick and make it to the track just in time for the opening ceremonies. Twenty-nine Late Models, fifty Modifieds and thirty-one Four Cylinders filled the pit area with the feature fields to be determined using passing points and B-Mains, while the lineup for the first three rows in each feature would be decided by a dash featuring the top six in points. This method, along with using a "one and done" rule on cautions during the qualifiers kept the show moving right along despite the large field of cars.

The Four Cylinder main event was up first and with a $400 top prize up for grabs it apparently had the natives a bit restless as the first few laps were littered with cautions. Joe Zrostlik, the 2006 All Iowa Points Four Cylinder champion who has been running IMCA Late Models the last couple of years, has a four banger once again in time for the special events season and he maintained the lead until lap thirteen in the fifteen-lap event when Jeremy Campbell drove by him into turn three. Campbell, who came from the back of the twenty-car field after being involved in one of the early cautions, held the lead as the white flag waved but when he slowed behind the lapped car of John Whalen on the back stretch, Zrostlik came charging back on the outside. The two contenders were side-by-side coming out of turn four with the slower car still directly in front of Campbell and in the drag race to the finish line it was Zrostlik by a matter of inches at the flag. Jacob Ellithorpe came from row five to finish in third. Steve Dwyer made the trip down from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and challenged Zrostlik mid-race before settling for fourth while 2010 track champion Jarrod McMichael also ran up from the back of the pack after being involved in a caution to finish in fifth. (Note: While linking up the track's website I noticed that Campbell was listed as 13th in the feature. No mention of this was made over the P.A. prior to the checkers in the Modified feature. This moves Ellithorpe to second, Dwyer to third, McMichael to fourth and Kile Vohringer is credited with fifth)

With the top two drivers in the 2010 IMCA Late Model National points chase Ray Guss Jr. and Terry Neal starting side-by-side on the front row I figured that the thirty-lap main event would be a two-car battle up front. Boy, was I wrong! Nate Beuseling surprised everybody but himself as he drove under Neal and Guss off turn two on the first lap and then opened up a sizeable advantage over the entire field. Not even a restart on lap eight, or dealing with lapped traffic during the final ten circuits would phase Beuseling as he went flag-to-flag in dominating fashion to cash the $1,500 winner’s check. Andy Eckrich who started next to Beuseling in row two finished in the runner-up position while Guss who was reportedly in a new car tonight came home third. Brian Harris raced his way forward from a row five start to take fourth while Doug Nigh put on a nice show coming from thirteenth to take fifth.

The Modifieds were the headliners tonight and they emphasized that by having a stellar field of fifty cars and drivers in attendance. Jeff "Bone" Larson took the early lead in the 35-lap finale and following a lap nine restart he was under fire from Mark Schulte and Kevin Pittman. It was a thrilling three-car battle for the lead over the next four laps and just when it looked like Schulte would takeover the point, it was instead Pittman who motored to the front on lap fourteen. Schulte tried to keep pace with the new leader, but Pittman was pulling away before the caution waved with eight laps remaining for a spin in turn four. On the restart both Ryan Dolan and Bruce Hanford put the heat on Schulte for second and that was all that Pittman needed to pull away for the $2,000 victory. Schulte fought off the challenges to finish second, Dolan raced his way to third after starting eleventh, Hanford finished in fourth and Noah Coppes completed the top five.

Dlouhy/Devore Memorial Notes…..The show started right on the scheduled time at 6:45 and the final checkers flew just before 10:30…..Kevin Blackburn made the trip up from Fulton, Missouri, with his Modified and was leading the second heat before he spun in turn two. He returned to start twelfth in one of the B-Mains and was up to fourth at the finish, two spots out of a transfer…..Scot Fridley appeared to have won the third Modified heat, but then later started at the back of one of the three B-Mains. He didn’t appear to transfer as he was outside of the top four, but then he lined up at the back of the A-Main. So I have no idea what the story was on that……Late Model veteran Rob Toland was doing double duty tonight also driving a #42 Modified with "Dickey" across the bottom of it, but Dan Albright made a nice late-race move on him in the first B-Main for the second and final transfer position…..The primary reason that I take the time to do the All Iowa Points is so I can know a little bit about most of the drivers at a big special event like this. I never heard Steve Dwyer’s hometown announced, but having compiled the points I knew that he was from La Crosse and that he wins just about every night out on the quarter-mile up in Decorah. In fact Dwyer has ten wins and three second-place finishes this season, most recently running second to Zrostlik up in Cresco on September 5th. It was fun to finally see him in action and he put on quite a show after starting nearly dead last in his heat race….. This race was originally going to be the season ender for the Cedar County Raceway, but they are now talking about running more events in September and possibly even into October. Given the success of their two recent specials, why not?! Check their website for more info.

Mother Nature adds to an excellent show with another beautiful sunset over the back stretch of the Cedar County Raceway.

The weather looks great again and there a few Sunday shows on tap around the area for you to catch, so set your NFL game up to record and get on out to the track of your choice tonight!

A Bit Of Late Model News and Barry's Photos

My Wednesday morning started off with a call from Lynn Richard, owner of the Richard Realty and Auction GRT Late Model #15 based here in my hometown of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Lynn is excited to announce that he will have a nationally known crew chief and driver in action for next week's Pepsi USA Late Model Nationals at 34 Raceway near Burlington as GRT owner Joe Garrison and driver Jack Sullivan will partner with Richard in the quest for the $10,000 top prize. With Darren Miller also stating his intentions to be in Burlington next week that will be two "nationally known" contenders and Richard noted that there just might be a couple of more show up.

Of course the field will already be stacked with talent and names that all of us around the Midwest know pretty darn well including Guss, Aikey, Eckrich, Burgtorf, Toland, DeFrance, McLaughlin, etc., etc. Once again it should be a huge field of IMCA Late Models that pull into 34 Raceway next weekend and with names such as Sullivan and "The Thriller" Miller joining in, it can only add to the reputation of the event throughout Late Model Nation.

Our own Barry Johnson was at the opening night of the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone on Monday night and he snapped the following during the Deery Brothers Summer Series action.

Kevin Sather (3) races with Craig Roberts. Sather has picked up a couple of feature wins during his first season in a Late Model.

Jason Rauen goes for a tumble making some contact with Boone McLaughlin as well, wile Tyler Bruening (16) slips by on the inside.

Ray Guss Jr. (58) continued his dominating 2010 season adding the Super Nationals trophy to his three track championships, the Deery Brothers Summer Series title and the IMCA National Championship.

Andy Eckrich (56) has sewn up the Rookie-of-the-Year title on the Deery series for 2010. Here he races with another RoY contender Todd Malmstrom.

Hurst Takes Shootout; Five Champions Crowned At Dubuque

Simmons Promotions staged three Open Late Model Shootouts this weekend to serve as an appetizer for the $15,000-to-win Yankee Dirt Track Classic coming up in less than two weeks at the Farley Speedway. Jeremiah Hurst picked up the $2,000 top prize at Farley on Friday night and Darren Miller returned to "open" Late Model racing style by winning at the West Liberty Raceway on Saturday night. On Sunday night, at the Dubuque Speedway, it was a race of attrition as Hurst picked up his second win of the weekend.

Dubuque is one of my favorite tracks in the Midwest and I always wish that it was about an hour closer to home so that I could catch more of its Sunday night action. So with the alarm clock turned off for Labor Day I made the two hour plus drive north for the Late Models that were on the card along with the season championship events in the support divisions. As I started my drive I noted a huge thunderhead to the north and east that sure enough dropped a bit of rain at the speedway causing the show to start about an hour later than originally planned. And with the extra moisture the high-banked surface was tacky and ultra-fast throughout the night.

The B-Mods were first up in the feature order and their ten-lap run was plagued by cautions along with "the fourth place curse." On lap six 2010 point champion Jed Freiburger shucked his driveshaft on the back stretch while running fourth. A lap later John Campbell spun his car in turn two while running fourth and on lap eight Jeff Willis went for a spin in two turn. Where was he running at the time? You guessed it, in fourth. Finally, like an elevator in a high-rise hotel handles the thirteenth floor, scorer Kevin Feller stopped writing down the fourth-place car and the checkers finally flew over Matt Gansen who lead the race the entire distance. Jarrett Franzen started thirteenth and finished second while Jason Buss, who was the track champion this year at both Freeport and Darlington, came from the back of the seventeen-car field to finish third. Dustin Wilwert was scored as fifth, but was paid for the cursed position while John Campbell returned to finish behind Wilwert and was paid for fifth.

The Stock Car feature was up next and it did not take long for Jerry Miles to charge from his sixth starting position to the front as he drove by Austin Heacock on lap two. There was a fair share of cautions in this one as well, but there was no denying Miles who celebrated a track championship in victory lane during his 25th season of action. Timmy Current drove a new car from row eight up to second. Andy Hedrick ran a solid race in third, Terry Rittmer finished in fourth and David Brandies came from row seven to take fifth.

The Limited Stocks saw Jeff Baker go flag-to-flag for his second straight feature win at Dubuque. Troy Baurer started ninth and ran second ahead of Jeremy Campbell, Steve Miller and Nick Widmeier. Tim Schneider collected the track point championship for the division. Lenny Ollendick left the rest of the Flyer feature field in his wake as he cruised to his first win at the facility. Pat Quinn, "a big man in a little car" as announcer Eric Huenefeld calls him, rounded out a championship season in style by running second followed by Kile Vohringer, Derek McBee and Tyler Kelly.

There was plenty of drama building up to the Modified headliner as Ron Barker and Tony VonDresky came into the race tied atop the point standings and whoever finished ahead of the other would be crowned as champion for 2010. Barker earned the pole position in the feature by winning the fast heat from row three earlier in the evening and he left no doubt tonight as he drove away to convincing victory in the twenty-lap feature. Jason Schueller did his best to keep pace, but ended up as a distant second. Mike Burbridge passed Pete Bonin late to take third while VonDresky settled for fifth.

The fifty-lap Late Model feature would complete the program and 2010 season at Dubuque in front of a solid crowd that could now see lightning well of in the distance to the west. Darren Miller charged to the lead from the pole with Jeremiah Hurst and Jeff Larson in hot pursuit. The first caution waved on lap two when Russ Adams stalled on the back stretch and on the restart the lead trio went three-wide in true Dubuque Speedway fashion with Miller retaining the lead by rocketing off the cushion of turn two. My attention was on Jason Rauen who was once again putting on an amazing display of driving in "Hammer Down" style. Rauen was late to the track in his heat race, so started ninth and was up to second before breaking on lap seven. So here in the feature he again started dead last, seventeenth, and was already up to sixth in five laps, but he was trailing smoke from his #98 and it would soon be the end of his evening as he pulled to the pits during a caution. Top contenders Ron Klein and Brian Harris also left the track during that caution.

Miller jumped the cushion in turn four on lap eleven and that allowed Hurst to go storming past with Mike Murphy Jr. right behind him. As Miller recovered to make it a three-car battle up front the caution waved again on lap nineteen as Nick Marolf slowed to a stop. The Hurst, Miller, Murphy battle was interrupted again on lap twenty-four as Jon Rogers spun in turn four and it was shortly after that when Miller pulled to the infield with mechanical issues. Jeff Larson stepped up again to join Hurst and Murphy in the race for the lead and it looked like Murphy’s high-line around the speedway was about to earn him the lead on several occasions only to have Hurst fight back. On lap thirty-six though Murphy went too high into turn one and slapped the wall knocking the spoiler off of his #14 and causing a caution for the debris. Murphy restarted the race in second, but without the spoiler he quickly faded to the back and pulled to the infield a few laps later.

Jake Meier was now in second and trying to keep pace with Hurst, while the race to watch was for third where Ace Ihm and Jeff Larson were doing battle. Nobody had anything for Hurst through the final laps though as he claimed his second big win of the weekend. Meier would come home in the runner-up spot while Ihm took third. Larson dropped out of the event just four laps from the finish so it was Becky Roth who took fourth-place money following a consistent drive and Rogers recovered from his spin to finish fifth.

While a bit disappointing in count, the seventeen-car field of Late Models was intriguing to me as I saw one driver that I don’t get to see often, Jason O’Brien from Atlantic, and two drivers that I had never even heard of before. Jim Rychtik of Port Washington, Wisconsin, was challenging Rogers for fifth at the finish and Todd Alexander of Fair Haven, Illinois, was the seventh and final car on the track at the checkers.

Simmons Promotions now gears up for a big week of action at the annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic in Farley. It should be great week of racing on the track and fun in the Palace Ballroom.

Most Takes A Thriller At Lee County

Josh Most swept around race long leader Jason Perry coming off turn four to the checkers to win the Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Model main event at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Saturday night. It was the second career Deery Series victory for Most in his first-ever appearance at the track that is in the opposite southern corner of the state from his Red Oak home.

Perry surprised front row starters Tyler Bruening and T.J. Criss by rocketing to the lead on lap one from his third starting spot. A driver who was looking for his first career Deery win, Perry looked like he would be tough to beat on this night as he opened up a nice advantage before the first caution waved on lap number four. Series point leader Ray Guss Jr. had slowed in turn three with a flat left rear tire and on the restart Perry again drove away from the field before the caution waved again two laps later. This time it was Most who had slowed in turn two thinking that he had a flat tire on his #92 after negotiating the heavy cushion on both ends of the speedway. Josh circled through the pits and was apparently given a "thumbs up" from somebody as he drove right back onto the track to restart twenty-third. Once back to green it was Rob Toland and Jeff Aikey who were on the move as they raced their way toward the front after starting in tenth and twelfth respectively. Track champion Mark Burgtorf was also lurking in fourth until he slowed in turn four on lap thirteen to produce the third caution of the event.

When back to green Toland began to apply the pressure on Perry, but Jason was not intimidated by the veteran driver and maintained the advantage before the curse of the fourth place car struck again as Lonnie Bailey went up in smoke. At this point Josh Most had worked his way back up to seventh as he was literally flying around the high side of the speedway and on the restart he picked up two more spots before the caution waved on lap twenty-three. Perry pulled away a bit as Aikey and Toland swapped the second spot between themselves and it looked like Most’s run to the front would be impeded by Toland who was now also using the top line around the 3/8th-mile oval. Most used a nifty high-to-low move to get by Toland and into second with four laps remaining and when the white flag flew he cut the distance down to a car-length behind Perry. As Perry stuck with his low line on both ends, Most kicked it off the cushion in turn one and then drove off turn two low and his momentum allowed him to put his nose around the outside of Perry’s right rear quarter-panel as they raced into turn three. Most didn’t really hit the cushion just right, but Perry also missed his mark just a bit and that was all that Josh needed as he blew past Perry in the final ten yards of the event to take the checkers and the $2,000 top prize. Perry had to be both frustrated and pleased with his solid performance that came up just short of a victory. Toland held off a late charge from Justin Reed to finish third while Jeff Aikey completed the top five.

The fans were buzzing about this one as they made their way out of the grandstands with the final checkers waving at 10:30 on the five division program.

In support class action, Mike Shelton picked up the first win of the night as he cruised in the Sport Mod headliner. Cayden Carter prevailed in the battle for second with Joe Bliven, Carter VanDenBerg was fourth and Derek Coleman came home fifth. The Hobby Stock feature had a bit of drama to it as Jake Wenig drove to the early lead with Matt Gavin mounting a pretty stiff challenge. When Gavin’s right rear tire went flat on lap number four, he slowed coming down the back stretch and made the right hand turn to the pit area. As I watched to see if Gavin would be able to clear the track, something happened in turn four that saw the new second place car of Rob Wilsey go for a spin bringing out the caution. As the field lined up for a restart Wilsey made a run at Dean Kratzer, apparently for what happened to him in turn four, and both drivers were shown the black flag. It took a bit for track officials to convince both drivers to leave the racetrack and, once they did, there was nobody who could keep up with Wenig who cruised to victory. Jim Lynch, who started sixteenth, passed Dane Fenton in the final laps to take second, Fenton was third, Jim Oliver Jr. took fourth and in fifth it was Matt Gavin who had plenty of time to change his tire during the long caution period.

Abe Huls paced the field for the first twelve laps of the Stock Car feature only to have 2010 track champion Matt Greiner drive by him on lap thirteen. Huls then slowed and pulled off the track leaving the door open for Jason Cook to make a late race challenge on Greiner. Cook was able to put a nose under the leader in turn one of the final lap and he then tried the high line in turns three and four, but Greiner fought him off to claim the victory. Cale Samberg who has been running very strong as of late finished in third, Phil Holtz made the trip down from Manchester worth while by running fourth and Andrew Griffin rounded out the top five. In the four cylinder "Wild Things" twelve-lap main event Nick Wilkerson went side-by-side with Wayne Noble in the early laps and then fought off Noble again late in the race to take the victory. Chuck Fullenkamp finished just behind Noble in third, Darin Smith finished in the fourth position while Bill Michel recovered from a flat tire on the first lap to then come from eighteenth to finish fifth.

It was great night of racing on a near perfect weather night with cool temperatures and little to no wind under a crystal clear sky, diversely different then the weather that the Lee County Speedway has had to deal with on most Friday nights this season. The track has three more events on the schedule for 2010 culminating with "Shiverfest" on Saturday October 23rd.

Look for more coverage of tonight’s action on Positively Racing as Ryan Clark, Danny Rosencrans, Brian Neal and Barry Johnson were all in attendance as was our webmaster Sue McDaniel.

Tesch Takes Soggy USMTS Marshalltown Checkers

For all but a couple of people the rains came too early Tuesday night as the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) packed them in to the Marshalltown Speedway. Both Darin Duffy and Mike Spaulding would have liked to have seen Mother Nature’s interference arrive just five minutes earlier and both of them would have been money ahead, but for Jon Tesch the timing was just right as the South Dakota driver won his second straight touring event on the Marshalltown high-banks.

Lightning flashed to the west as the twenty-four-car starting field was hurried onto the speedway for the scheduled forty-lap USMTS Modified main event with Darin Duffy and last year’s Marshalltown winner Jon Tesch starting from the front row. Duffy looked strong as he drove through the middle groove to take the early lead while Tesch picked up the chase running the high line in second. Duffy runs IMCA Modifieds weekly and it is not often that you see a non-USMTS regular out front at one of their shows, but Tesch was doing all he could just to keep up with the leader before the first caution waved on lap nine for a spin by Jeff Larson in turn four. On the restart Duffy again pulled away a bit while Tesch had to deal with Rodney Sanders and Jason Hughes who raced him three-wide off of turn two. At this point Duffy, in his Karsyn’s Krusaders “Kickin’ Cancers Butt One Lap At a Time” #19D looked as though he was going to kick the butts of his competitors as well until he slowed suddenly on lap seventeen with mechanical issues.

Tesch would inherit the lead as the field restarted with the wind picking up and the lightning getting closer. Again Sanders and Hughes made a run at Tesch with no success before disaster struck for veteran Minnesota driver Mike Spaulding. As he raced with Derek Ramirez into turn one Spaulding’s car set sideways and then barrel-rolled a couple of times down on the bottom groove. As Spaulding climbed out of his car uninjured the rain started to fall and having watched the storms approach on the radar I knew that it was time for a quick exit. Unofficially I had Tesch with the win, the current point leader Hughes in second, Sanders third, Tommy Myer fourth and Mark Elliott fifth.

USMTS M-town Notes…..The five division show that also included Sport Mods, Stock Cars, Dirt Trucks and Mod Lites started right on time at 7 p.m. and the Modified feature was on the track at 8:37. Unfortunately the rains came at 8:51 about an hour and ten minutes earlier than the weather service had predicted…..It was a nice recovery for the Texan Rodney Sanders as he had rolled his car on Saturday night in Moberly, Missouri…..Myer had moved up from the twelfth starting spot to fourth……Spaulding had one of the Dirt Knights cameras mounted on the roof of his car. Hopefully it will give us some good footage to see next January when the show runs on the Versus network as it is probably toast now……Spaulding had trouble earlier in the night as well as he spun in turn two on the final lap of his heat race while running second…..Corey Dripps is another one of the Dirt Knights stars and they should have some great footage of his heat race battle with Duffy as the two recovered from some pretty good contact on the front stretch to finish one-two with Dripps taking the win……With no provisionals on the USMTS tour the pressure to qualify out of the B-Mains is intense. Dan Chapman looked to have a transfer spot sewn up before he slipped off of turn two late in the second B-Main and points contender Tim Donlinger lost a transfer when he did the same thing on the final lap of that race…..Ryan Gustin passed Nate Caruth on the final lap to win the first B-Main and his hometown fans were on their feet and cheering as if it were the big money race. It is good to see such great fan interaction!….Cayden Carter started from the front row and dominated the twelve-lap Sport Mod feature. Danny Dvorak and Matt Lettow provided a great race for second though with Dvorak making the pass in the final two laps to secure the position. The winner’s cousin Carter VanDenBerg finished in the fourth spot while young Tyler Droste rounded out the top five. I believe that Droste is the son of 1996 All Iowa Points Modified Champion Steve Droste and the grandson of 1967 All Iowa Points Late Model Champion Red Droste. Could he someday be our first “third generation” All Iowa Points champ??…..Tim Hennigar won a quick Mod Lite main event while the Stock Car and Dirt Truck features were washed away…..Local Late Model star Darrell DeFrance was behind the wheel of one of the trucks tonight…..Great to hear Todd Narveson on the microphone tonight. Todd is a regular announcer at Deer Creek Speedway and also works several events for the USMTS around the area. Just another case of a younger and better announcer taking work from me!!!…..As I was driving home WHO radio reported trees and power lines down in Tama from sixty mile per hour winds at 9:40. As I was leaving the Dairy Queen in Tama the clock on my car showed 9:20 so thank goodness for the quick exit!

If weather permits, the cars and stars of the USMTS will be at the Southern Iowa Speedway tonight (Wednesday) and at the Highway 3 Raceway in Allison on Thursday before moving up to the state of Minnesota with a show at Chateau Speedway on Friday.