Berry Dominates Dirt Knights 2020 Finale at Vinton

I had the chance to get to know the father son duo of Rick and Corey Dripps back in 1998 when Corey would become the first ever Modified champion on the NKF Heartland Tour for a Cure and I have enjoyed our friendship ever since. They are a hard working pair, never shy about taking on a new project such as the Dirt Knights television show and more recently the promotion of their home track, the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. They can be brash and outspoken, but for me that is part of their charm and character and it has served them well as they complete their first full year of promotion at the Sunday night quarter-mile.

Usually I would have been up here four or five times already, but with the virus wiping out the early part of the season, a couple of Sunday night Sprint Invaders in Missouri and two rainouts when I had planned to make the trip, just like last year my one and only Dripps promoted event that I would see this season would be the finale of the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour schedule. Last year, in their first ever event promotion, Rick and Corey made some great decisions with foul weather closing in, but on this night the only challenge that the weather would provide would be a stiff south breeze that would suck the moisture out of the racing surface.

I had a chance to talk with Corey before the races and I asked him how the year had gone and he was quick to say that there had been a lot to learn. He said that knowing how he was as a young driver it has definitely helped him to understand why all decisions, no matter how good or bad, are going to be questioned, but you make your best call and move on. It is never easy to take over a solid operation and in this case to live up to the long time tenure of promoter Mick Trier, it was a high bar and one that Rick and Corey work hard each and every week to reach and hopefully push a little bit higher.

I was impressed with how Corey ran the Drivers' Meeting prior to the night's action and at the end he made one thing very clear. If you had an issue with anything that happened during the evening he wanted you to find him in the infield after the races to discuss it and he would do his best to work it out in a fair and reasonable manner. Definitely sounding like a long-time and still active driver who wants to put on the best show possible for his fellow drivers. Hopefully I will be able to make it up to Vinton more often in 2021 to support those efforts!

Now let's get to the racing!

The Hobby Stock division was up first in the feature lineup with fourteen cars going fifteen laps. Jake Benischek would take the lead from his third starting position and 2020 track champion Kaden Reynolds made a big early move as well coming from seventh to second. Benischek was able to ward off Reynolds for the first three laps before Kaden made his move and he would then pull away to take the win in the non-stop event. Benischek would be the runner-up ahead of pole-sitter Matt Brown. Michael Kimm would hold down the fourth spot and Jacob Floyd recovered from mechanical issues early in the night to take fifth after starting from the final row.

The Sport Compacts were up next and they too would run their twelve lap feature race from green to checkered with this year's track champion William Michel leading the entire distance after starting from the front row. Adam Gates edged out Zeke Wheeler in a photo finish for second while Chris Claypoole and Jacob Morris filled out the top five. Michel made the long pull in from Columbus Junction every Sunday night to win his title.

After two straight feature races with no cautions, odds were good that we wouldn't make it three and the Sport Mods had their share of issues. The first of five cautions flew on lap three and on that restart current All Iowa Points leader Brayton Carter drove around the outside of his cousin Dylan Van Wyk to take the lead. Helped out a bit by four more restarts over the final eleven laps, Van Wyk kept the pressure on Carter whenever the race was green, but he could not get back the lead as "Speedy Bray" picked up another win on what has been an astounding 2020 season. Joe Docekal made a big charge up from twelfth to finish third, but perhaps the story in this one was the performance of Matt DeJong.

Making his first ever dirt track start while subbing for his young son Maguire who is out for several weeks to recover from a planned surgery on his jaw, Matt pulled out his old driver's suit from when he did some road course racing during his college days and, after making sure that it would still fit, he and Jason Hall brought the car out to Vinton for his dirt track debut. One thing is for sure, his luck of drawing is good as he started up front in his heat race and stayed in the top four for the redraw where he then drew the outside of the front row. This in itself should have been enough to rattle somebody who has not raced dirt before, but Matt was smooth and steady bringing the #30m home for a fourth place finish and, as he noted in a message to me afterward, a new found appreciation for what his son has been able to accomplish already in his young career. In other words, Dad is not going to be so hard on him going forward.

Oh yes, and Brett Thomas edged out Brian Kauffman at the checkers in a close battle for fifth.

The IMCA Stock Cars were up next and with no Murtys in tonight's lineup, in this class at least, this one was wide open and ripe for a new face in victory lane. Only one caution waved in this fifteen lap event and that came before a lap could be scored when Bryce Carey and Tyler Titus tangled in turn two. On the next try at a start outside front row starter Michael Peterson rocketed out to the lead and you would have never known until he revealed the fact in victory lane that this would be his first career feature win in a Stock Car. Peterson was dominant winning by nearly half of a lap over Shawn Ritter and Jay Schmidt. Justin Temeyer ducked to the infield before the green flag waved in his heat race, but he and his crew figured out the problem as he charged from eleventh to fourth and Marshalltown's David Atcher came from tenth to fifth in a rare appearance for him at Vinton.

The $1,000-to-win Dirt Knights IMCA Modified feature would close out the night and in 2020, if Tom Berry Jr. is going to start from the front row, you can bet that it will then be a race for second. Berry's Razor chassis was dialed in again tonight leaving Troy Cordes trying to maintain the quick pace early in this thirty lap affair. A caution on lap eleven for Kevin Hurst's spin in turn two brought Berry back to the field and on the restart Cayden Carter would move to the second spot. But Carter too found out quickly that it was impossible to keep up with Berry and as the laps clicked away that battle for second was definitely the one to watch as Carter, Cordes and Jeff Aikey diced it up in, and through lapped traffic.

After the checkers waved over Berry, who continues to stretch out his lead in the All Iowa Points, you had to wait a bit before Aikey crossed in second ahead of Carter and Cordes. Aikey's protege' Kollin Hibdon finished in the fifth spot just ahead of two California drivers Cody Laney and Dylan Thornton.

Dallon Murty who now leads his father Damon by just one point in the August 30th update of the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars, made his Modified debut tonight in one of Kyle Brown's previous rides and the youngster appeared to have a win locked up in his heat race until the final laps when he clipped the track tire marking the entrance to turn one and spun out of contention. This took him out of the redraw and landed him in the 27th and final starting position for the main event where he made up eleven spots to finish in sixteenth.

The final checkers waved at ten minutes before 9 p.m. making this a sub three hour show from the start of hot laps, always a plus especially on a Sunday night! A big thanks to Rick and Corey Dripps for the hospitality and to announcer Jerry Mackey for his welcome, and kind words about Positively Racing.

This was the final event of the season at Vinton and the 2020 racing schedule has ended at several other area tracks as well. However, the 2020 Fall Specials season in the upper Midwest kicks into full swing this Labor Day weekend and continues all the way through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so make sure that you get out and enjoy as much action as possible!

And, as always, keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!

No Rain at CJ; Brandies, Brown, Livezy and Staley Find Victory Lane

Seven times over three racing seasons, including this one, I have marked my calendar with the intention of going to the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction. And, with all seven, either rain, the threat of rain, or just crummy weather in general caused each show to be canceled. Track promoter Larry Richardson and I are friends, but I have to wonder if he had started to dread seeing a mention of my plans to attend one of his races here on the Back Stretch. So to break the streak you will notice that I was vague about my Friday night plans in the last entry and I waited until the scheduled start time of 7:30 to buy my ticket since there was a storm threat that dissipated as it passed by the speedway.

Finally, I would get to see a night of racing in Columbus Junction!

The historic track on the Louisa County fairgrounds has had a big bounce back over the past few years. Yes, it has benefited from the fact that there is no longer any weekly racing in nearby West Liberty or Tipton, but I believe that it also has to do with the fact that they did something a few years ago that some other area tracks need to consider. Struggling with numbers in two classes, the Mod Lites and the Trucks, the decision was made to cut both of those divisions and to move some, if not all of that purse money into the remaining four in order to bolster their car counts and you would have to say that this has worked. Tonight's postseason draw/redraw show had 59 cars in the pits, and while that might not sound like much for a track that has six or seven divisions on the card, with four it was just right and there was a nice crowd on hand to watch even though it was opening night for high school football for many of the area schools.

The Sport Mod main event was the first to the track with Travis Tedrow leading the opening lap. Carter Vandenberg drove under him on lap two and he would open up a big lead as Colton Livezy and Shane Paris slugged it out for second well behind him. After starting eighth Paris would get to second on lap six, but he was not making up much ground on the leader until the caution waved on lap nine when Levi Laymon slowed with a flat right rear tire. This would put Livezy and Paris side by side behind Vandenberg for the restart and Livezy would toss a slide job on the leader entering turn one. Vandenberg would cross him over to maintain the lead and it was clear that we were going to have a great three car battle over the final five laps.

Vandenberg was now working the bottom line with Livezy running the top and while he could pull even in the turns, Vandenberg would still be able to drive ahead down the straights. And, all the while, Paris was right there looking for his own opening to get to the front. That battle would be interrupted with two laps to go though as Jared Jones had issues on the front stretch and Jeff Durst had an engine fire after letting out a big cloud of smoke at the back of the pack.

It would now be a green, white, checkers restart and after taking the white flag it looked like Livezy drove it just a little deeper into turn one and when he caught the cushion just right, his run off turn two allowed him to drive under Vandenberg down the back stretch. Livezy then tried to stand on the brakes entering turn three to try to stay on the bottom, but he left just enough room for Vandenberg to squeeze back under him and there was contact as they transitioned to turn four. With Paris riding the high side this looked like it might play into his hands and the trio came out of turn four running in tight formation. At the checkers it would be Livezy by half a car length over Vandenberg who was just a bumper ahead of Paris in third. Trey Rock looks to be a future winner as he finished fourth and Brendan Schultheis was fifth.

Cody Staley has become the top Sport Compact driver in the region currently ranked sixth in the All Iowa Points and he wrapped up the track championship here with seven straight feature wins. So when he drew the outside of the front row for the twelve lap feature you had to figure that this would be a race for second, but pole-sitter Tim Long would be the leader down the back stretch on the opening lap. Staley would go to the front in turns three and four though and he would lead the non-stop race from there to take his eighth straight victory at CJ. Darin Smith was well behind in second, Ashley Reuman finished third, Long was fourth despite a mid-race back and forth with Cody Van Dusen, and Shane Barnes finished fifth.

A pair of talented young drivers from Newton would draw the front row of the twenty lap Modified main event. Ethan Braaksma, the current point leader on the IMCA Dirt Knights Tour would be on the pole position with the 2020 CJ Speedway track champion Austin Paul to his outside and it would be Braaksma who would open up a big lead at the drop of the green. Derrick Stewart would get by Paul for second and the caution would fly after lap four when Dustan Fenton slid off the top of turn three.

On the restart Jarrett Brown would move to second as Braaksma again opened up a big lead, but that lead would shrink in half when the leader stumbled on the cushion in turn three, and on lap eight Braaksma would hand the lead over to Brown when he slipped off the top of turn three. Ethan would recover in time to maintain second, but two laps later he would again drive into turn three too hard and this time he would stop in turn four after returning to the track to bring out the caution.

Once back to racing Brown would go unchallenged over the final ten laps to take the win over Stewart. Kurt Kile came from ninth to finish third, Braaksma battled his way back to fourth while Paul rounded out the top five.

A seventeen car field of IMCA Stock Cars would finish up the regular card with David Brandies taking the lead from his outside row one starting position. Second row starters Jason See and Adam Bell would take up the chase and See would get under Brandies in turn three to take the lead on lap nine. Brandies would battle back though and he would be scored the leader again on lap eleven before the caution waved for Kenny O'Donnell who had spun to the infield in turn three. 

Once back to green Brandies did his best to protect the bottom as See and Bell literally ran door to door for the next seven laps just behind the leader. With two to go Bell was able to nose ahead of See and he would take a look at the line just to the outside of Brandies to see if he could get to the front. On the final lap Bell was able to get to the outside of Brandies in turns three and four but David would have the bite off the bottom as the fans were treated to a another three car drag race to the finish on the night with Brandies taking the win over Bell and See. John Hemsted came from his eleventh starting spot to finish fourth with Tad Payne in fifth.

One other benefit of having just four classes is that this checkered flag waved at 9:40 and while there were still Powder Puff and Mechanic's races to enjoy, I headed out in time to get a chocolate milk shake at the Dairy Sweet as I made my way out of town. I was home so early that my wife asked me if it had rained in Columbus Junction and I was happy to say for the first time in three seasons. "Not tonight!"

The forecast for Sunday evening in Vinton is looking perfect for the finale of the IMCA Modified Dirt Knights Tour as I look forward to my visit to the Benton County Speedway "Bullring". Hope to see you there!   

Kay Dusts Field at Farley; Aikey, Roth and Spaw Are Also Wide Open Wednesday Winners at 300 Raceway

I love going to races on Wednesday nights. For whatever reason that is usually the one work day where I can escape early if needed and it is seldom that there is anything on the social calendar for hump day that I might need to yield to, other than a trip to the Mt. Hamil Tap where to get a better piece of chicken you would have to be a rooster. (Their tag line, not mine!) And the great thing about being a race fan in Iowa is that I usually have two, three or more Wednesday night options within a three hour driving distance to choose from so I generally pick the show based upon a combination of what I will see and when I will be back home.

Last night, there was just one option on what will likely be my last Wednesday night race of 2020 and by starting a few minutes before the scheduled start time of 7 p.m. and having the final checkered flag waving at 9:10 over a four division program where the drivers were able to race all over the wide racing surface until the final eight laps of the night, more on that later, let's just say that the 300 Raceway in Farley bolstered its level of consideration for mid-week visits in 2021.

The IMCA Stock Cars would be first up for feature racing action as the smoky sunset added a nice back drop. Fifteen laps would be the distance for the fifteen car field and it would be Jason Brimeyer leading the way early after starting from the outside of row one. In typical Stock Car fashion we saw some four-wide action as drivers tried to work their way to the front as Leah Wroten would take the lead on lap three only to yield to Johnny Spaw on lap five.

Spaw had started eighth and he wasn't the only driver on the move, but bad luck wiped out the hopes of Phil Holtz, who retired to the infield with a flat tire, and to the ninth starting Tom Schmitt who let out a big plume of smoke to bring out the first caution of the race on lap twelve while he was running third. One more hard charger was eliminated on the restart when Timmy Current spun in turn two and then pulled to the pit area under caution. Current had started thirteenth and had restarted in third before the incident.

Once back to green there was no stopping Spaw who would go on to take the win ahead of Wroten who prevailed in a battle for second with Jarod Weepie. Brimeyer would finish in the fourth spot and when Duayne Herb lost a motor in the final set of turns, Tony Schimmels was there to pick up the fifth-place paycheck.

A stout field of twenty-two IMCA Modifieds including a couple of California visitors and two Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, area travelers were up next for twenty laps with one of those west coast drivers Dylan Thornton taking the lead from his pole position. Thornton made the trek from Santa Maria to the Midwest back in late May and has steadily improved given the opportunity to race with and around some of the best Modified drivers in the nation right here in Iowa and on this night it looked like a victory was a good possibility if not for the presence of former Super Nationals champion Jeff Aikey.

Aikey had started eighth and by mid-race was up to second and challenging for the lead. Thornton was steady on the high line and did not flinch when Aikey showed his nose a couple of times, but on lap fourteen the veteran out of Cedar Falls put the slider on Thornton entering turn one and then slammed the door on the cushion in turn two to take the lead. Thornton tried to battle back on the inside in turns three and four, but he could not find enough bite as Aikey pulled away to take the win. Looking for his second win here in the Midwest, Thornton instead had to be happy with his third runner-up finish as Wisconsin's Brandon Schmitt filled out the podium after starting from tenth. Troy Cordes came from the fourth row to finish in fourth and Jeff Larson wheeling the #33K on this night completed the top five. Mark Schulte was sixth and Jed Freiburger was seventh after they started sixteenth and fourteenth respectively.

The fifteen lap Sport Mod main event had a bit of a deja vu feel to it from when I was last here two weeks ago. The leaders, Troy Bauer, Justin Becker and Jerry Miles, were three wide coming to score lap one with Becker emerging from the middle to take the lead by a nose. Bauer would stay in hot pursuit though and he would sail around the outside of Becker in turn two to take the lead on lap eight, but Jason Roth was hot on Bauer's heels as well and he would drive under the new leader in turn three just one lap later.

There would be no catching Roth from there as he and Bauer would go one-two, the same order that they were here two weeks ago and a promoter has to love to see the number of Roth Racing shirts who were in victory lane ready to join Jason in celebration. Cam Reimers made the long trip over from Ogden to finish in the third spot, Becker dropped to fourth ahead of Tyler Soppe and Nic Coates recovered from a mid-race spin to take sixth.

Sixteen IMCA Late Models for twenty-five laps would close out the evening with pole-sitter Mitch Manternach leading the way on lap one. Joel Callahan would power by him on the second lap and the caution would wave on lap four when Manternach, Greg Kastli and Logan Duffy were all involved in a turn four tangle. For Duffy it was the second time on the night that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he stopped on the front stretch to perhaps vent his frustration before heading to the back of the field for the restart.

Jeff Aikey had actually squeezed past Callahan for the lead just before the caution, and he would do so again after the restart driving around the outside of Callahan exiting turn four as lap five went in the books. Aikey started to pull away and some of the fans would head for the exits as it looked like he would get his second win of the night going away, but on lap sixteen Justin Kay drove under Callahan to take the second spot. Kay had started eighth and was using a low line around the speedway that kept getting lower as the nose of his Late Model continually nudged the tires marking the infield a little further in each lap.

Once into second it took just one lap to cut Aikey's near straightaway lead in half and when the caution waved on lap seventeen for Ben Seeman's spin with help exiting turn four, Kay was lined up right on the back bumper of Aikey. During the caution track workers bumped the infield tires back into their original positions, but as the field came to green Kay expertly nudged the tire at the exit of turn four in a bit and then did the same to the tire marking the infield at the exit of turn one.

I say "expertly" because if somebody challenged him to move the tires at speed without doing any damage whatsoever to his nose piece, he couldn't have done it any better and when Tanner Allen and Jill George spun in turn two the tires were not moved back into place for the restart.

Justin hit them both again as the field came back to green and I am guessing that he was moving the other ones as well as he was now running a line that was at least a half car width down into the dry dirt of the infield. Kay would pass Aikey to take the lead on lap nineteen and with the dry dirt now being thrown up on the racing surface, what once was a three wide race track quickly went away and the final five laps were run in a swirling cloud of dust as the rest of the field went the infield route as well in single file formation.

Kay would take the win with Aikey in second. Scott Fitzpatrick drove Joel Callahan's second car to a third place finish just ahead of the car owner while Eric Pollard finished fifth. Matt Ryan had cracked the top four early, but faded to sixth and kudos to Duffy for battling back to finish seventh.

This is no knock on Justin as a great racer will always take advantage of anything that they can and once again his ability to nudge those tires in a bit lap after lap was impressive. With the track's marquee event coming up next weekend, the Yankee Dirt Classic, they will need to figure out how to keep drivers from shortening up the racing surface by moving those infield tire markers. 

One night several years ago while announcing a race at Donnellson and having suffered through several cautions where the infield tires had been punted out onto the racing surface I quipped that the promoter should have said during the drivers' meeting that one of the infield tires had been filled with cement. This was immediately met with criticism from the other announcer who said, "well obviously Jeff you have never worked on one of these cars before", to which I replied. "No, I haven't. And none of the infield tires would actually be filled with cement, but if the drivers thought that one of them was, you can bet that they wouldn't hit any of them!"

Oh well, guess I just eliminated that possibility for next week!

I was back at home by 11:30 and ready for bed with dreams of where I might go racing in the days ahead. Friday night is a possibility if the weather cooperates and on Sunday I look forward to returning to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the IMCA Modified Dirt Knights Tour event. Look for me on the Back Stretch!

Woodworth Wires Drive for Five Qualifier, Martin Takes Sprint Invaders Win at Lee County

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! 

Pospisil Closes Out Quad Cities Tripleheader With SLMR Checkers at "The Bullring"

With the green light given late on Sunday afternoon I made the trip to East Moline Sunday night for the finale of the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series weekend tripleheader. After two nights on the quarter-mile in Davenport Joe Kosiski's Late Model series crossed the river for its first-ever appearance on the tight high banked quarter-mile that is now known as "The Bullring at Rock Island County Fairgrounds". Seems like a word is missing there, but hey it's still catchy.

Arriving just after hot laps had been completed I saw that the high sun and the steady west wind had left turns three and four dry and dusty. Turns one and two seemed to be in their normal conditions where drivers could run low, high and in between, but if you slid off the bottom on the other end you were kicking up a dust cloud and losing ground. Frankly, I was starting to regret making the trip!

However, after the heat races had concluded the track crew took a half hour to carefully apply the right amount of water to only turns three and four before packing it in with the Sport Mod feature field and let's just say that it was time well spent. A half hour earlier I had considered getting up and leaving, but instead I stayed for every lap of the five feature races and I was thoroughly entertained throughout.

If you look at the score sheets you will see that Jarrett Franzen was the leader for all fifteen laps on his way to victory, but that would short you on the story for the Sport Mod main event. Only one caution interrupted the action and that came after two laps were scored when Logan Cumby, who had pulled all the way up from Quincy, spun in turn two. While the race was under green Franzen was hounded throughout by Jared Waterman and with three laps remaining Waterman had briefly taken the lead from Franzen down the back stretch. Jarrett pulled off the perfect crossover move in turns three and four to regain the lead and on the final set of turns Waterman had a great run off the top of turn four.

If the finish line had been ten feet further down the track the win would have been Waterman's, but it would be Franzen who would be back in victory lane for the fourth time this season here proudly proclaiming "The Bullring" as being his favorite track. Ogden, Iowa's Cam Reimers started seventh and was right there waiting for an opening that was never provided by the lead duo as he finished in a close third. Dustin Schram came from the back of the sixteen car field after having to change a flat tire just before the race went green. Fifth row starter Chance Huston completed the top five.

The Street Stock feature was up next and the story on this one was very similar to the Sport Mods as Zach Zuberbier and Rob Henry battled it out in a non-stop twenty lap affair. Zuberbier was hugging the bottom on both ends while Henry used a higher line and this one would test the scorers as they crossed the stripe literally door-to-door lap after lap during the first half of the race. From my angle on the top row of the big grandstand and down toward turn one I had Zuberbier in the lead for the first four laps. Henry had him by a nose on laps five and six before Zach returned to the front for two more laps and Henry was a nose ahead again on lap nine.

Zuberbier would return to the point on lap ten and, once a lapped car forced Henry to abandon his line for half a lap, that was all that the driver who made the 112 mile pull in from Kingston, Illinois, needed to secure the win. Henry was close behind in second, Joe Bonney finished third, Robert Cottam finished fourth and Jesse Owen was fifth.

Forty laps for the SLMR Late Models would follow and it would be the night's quickest in qualifying, Jeff Tharp taking the early leading after starting from the outside of row one. Fourth starting Tad Pospisil was on the move though and after disposing of pole-sitter Darrel DeFrance to take second, the visitor from Norfolk, Nebraska, now had his sights set on the leader. On lap eleven Pospisil drove it into turn three just a little deeper, made the pivot on the remaining moisture midway up the track in turn four, and then sailed around Tharp to take lead down the front straightaway.

This race also went non-stop and as Pospisil pulled away for the $5,000 winner's paycheck, the battle for second proved to interesting over the final laps with Tharp fending off DeFrance for the runner-up honors. Andrew Kosiski was solid in fourth and Matt Ryan settled for fifth after looking like an early challenger. In victory lane Pospisil noted how much the night had changed as hehad  spun out in turn four during qualifying in this his first visit to East Moline.

Much of the crowd left after the Late Models, but they really should have stuck around for the Sport Compacts. With twenty-one of them set to do battle for fifteen laps I just knew that it would be a show and the four cylinder buzz bombs did not disappoint. This one would actually turn into a battle between three Peoria area drivers, but before we get to that there were three cautions along the way. The first came on lap two for Shane Kelley who was still having issues after losing his right front wheel while leading his heat race earlier in the evening. 

A three car pileup in turn four on lap five sent Josh Lane back to the pits on the hook and the final caution waved on lap eight when Travis Hawkins stopped at the bottom of turn four. After starting third Jay Mariuzza had powered to the lead on the opening lap and I had a sense that he wanted to avenge a final turn door slam that had taken a heat race win from him earlier in the night. Nick Johnson was able to slip by Mariuzza on lap nine though and soon Jimmy Dutlinger followed Johnson into second. Dutlinger would squeeze past Johnson to take the lead with two laps remaining and after taking the white flag Johnson smacked the new leader square on the rear bumper as he entered turn one for the final time.

The contact put Dutlinger sideways and as he scrambled to maintain control Johnson went low and Mariuzza went to the top. Johnson would take the lead heading down the back stretch and he would hear a few boos from the remaining crowd as he celebrated the win in victory lane. Dutlinger held off Mariuzza to salvage second with local drivers Brandon Dahl and Drew Wise filling out the top five. I didn't catch the date, but I did hear that the Compacts will be racing for $1,000-to-win here sometime in the coming weeks. That should be very interesting!

I'm sure that there was some disappointment that only eleven IMCA Modifieds signed in with $1,000 up for grabs on this night, but they too ran nearly a perfect twenty laps with the only caution coming on lap six for a Steve Gustaf spin. Ageless veteran Jim Sandusky would take the lead from Casey Franks on lap three and would go the rest of the way to take the wealthy win holding off a late charge from Brandon Durbin. Franks was solid in third, Eric Barnes finished fourth and Craig Crawford completed the top five.

Not only were all five features fun to watch, they were all completed by 9 p.m. making for a twilight trip home to southeast Iowa. It was a nice save by The Bullring track crew after a dry and dirty start to the evening.

My current workload will likely keep me from making another Wednesday night trip to Stuart this week, but I will be locked and loaded for two nights of Sprint Invaders action this weekend with Friday at The Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Get out and enjoy an event near you as the regular season is winding down fast!