Temps were in the high 50's Sunday afternoon in Donnellson, Iowa, but you never would have known it as a stiff wind out of the west made for very chilly conditions at the Lee County Speedway's Spring Extravaganza. The event that was originally scheduled to be a Friday Saturday combo was shortened to one day only and was pushed back to Sunday likely causing for the short field in a couple of divisions. The racing was good though as the first green flag waved in the state of Iowa for the 2015 season.
IMCA Modifieds had a $1,000 top prize on the line yet only twelve drivers signed in to compete. Cayden Carter and Johnny Walker would bring the field to green for the twenty-lap feature and when Walker kicked off the cushion entering turn one and then aimed for the low line toward turn two he collided with Dylan Hoover sending Walker for a spin. This would then put Tyler Droste on the outside of row one for the restart and he and Carter crossed the stripe for lap one in a virtual dead heat. Using that high-to-low line in turns one and two, Droste established himself as the leader on the following lap before the caution waved again as Hoover spun exiting turn four.
Carter was able to nose ahead briefly on the restart only to have Droste regain the lead down the back stretch and as the battle went on for second the third generation driver out of Waterloo began to pull away. Carter was now under fire from Missouri's Hunter Marriott and North Dakota traveler Jason Wolla and by the time that Marriott completed the pass for second there was just too much ground to make up before the checkers waved. Droste would score the win ahead of Marriott, Wolla and Carter while Scott Hogan completed the top five.
As usual the Stock Cars provided a memorable non-stop twenty-lap main event at Lee County with the winner decided in the final few laps. Front row starters Les Blakely and Michael Belyeu pushed up the track coming to the green allowing third-starting Abe Huls to have the lead entering turn one. Blakely and Belyeu then got hooked together in turn two sending the field scrambling, but the green stayed on as Blakely continued on while Belyeu pulled to the infield with a flat tire.
Dane Fenton was keeping pace with Huls as drivers raced two and three-wide behind them with Damon Murty and John Oliver Jr. making their way forward after starting eighth and ninth respectively. Oliver is a master at finding a fast groove here at Donnellson and on this night he first used the low line and then the high side to get to second and with three laps remaining he drove around the outside of Huls bringing Murty along with him into second. Murty then dove low into turn three to try to get by Oliver, but he got loose and was completely sideways before contact with Huls straightened Murty back out. That was all that Oliver would need to pull away on the final lap to take the impressive win. Huls would come home second with Murty in third, fourth went to Jay Schmidt and Fenton held on for fifth.
Twenty-four IMCA Sport Mods would take the green for a twenty-lap feature that was slowed three times in the first three laps. Brandon Lennox would lead the opening circuit before a caution for debris and following the restart Tony Olson threw a perfect slider on Lennox in turn three to take over the point. Tyler Cale driving Brandon Ruffcorn's #11 slowed exiting turn two for the second caution and on the restart Rich Vogt tagged the turn two guardrail hard and the race was red-flagged to allow officials to burn off the spilled fuel. Once back to racing Olson motored away as the battle for second entertained the bundled up crowd. Division rookie Austen Becerra was using the high line on both ends and even though Joey Gower was able to get by him down low on several occasions, Becerra would fight right back and when the checkers waved over Olson who was trapped behind two lapped cars, Becerra would close to within three cars lengths to finish in second. Gower would hold off Bobby Anders for the third spot while Austin Kaplan finished in fifth.
Only six IMCA Hobby Stocks were on hand, but at least all six were capable of winning although nobody could keep up with Austin Luellen tonight. Starting third Luellen powered by both Justin Lichty and Derek Hodges on the opening lap and then drove away to win by a full straightaway. Dustin Griffiths would finish in the second spot with Hodges, Mike Kincaid, Lichty and Daniel Wauters in that order behind him.
The Sport Compacts pushed the thirty mark to be the largest class of the night including several drivers who pulled in from two or three hours away. Local driver Chuck Fullenkamp would start from the pole and he would lead the event throughout to take the win. It was not an easy one though as Danny Sassman from Fort Dodge pulled even with Fullenkamp on two different occasions, but he could not complete the pass and would have to settle for second. Ryan Walker advanced from seventh to finish third just ahead of Kimberly Abbott who came from tenth to fourth and Adam Gates finished in the fifth position.
Five of the 2014 All Iowa Points champions were in action tonight and perhaps for the first time ever three champions from the previous year competed in the same race, tonight's Sport Mod main event. Clint Luellen (Limited Modified Champion), Austen Becerra (Four Cylinder Champion) and Daniel Keltner (Mod Lite Champion) are all in the same division in 2015. The other two AIP champs from last year in action tonight were Damon Murty (Stock Cars) and Dustin Griffiths (Hobby Stocks).
Greg Gill of Muscatine who had several solid seasons running in the SPI or "outlaw" Street Stock division has returned to racing with an IMCA Stock Car and looked good tonight winning his heat and then running ninth in the main main event after starting tenth. Look for Gill to be a challenger to David Brandies reign over West Liberty this year.
Racing started at 5:20 p.m. and the final checkers flew as the sun was setting around 7:40 p.m. allowing everybody to get out of the blustery conditions and head for home on a Sunday evening. After doing everything we could to stay warm tonight it sounds like we can break out the shorts when we get back to action this Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. The forecast as of now calls for sunny and a high of 78 for the opening night of the Frostbusters. Hope to see you there!
