Chris Simpson Headlines, Support Classes Shine at Lee County

The MLRA Late Models made their highly anticipated return to the Lee County Speedway Thursday night bringing Late Model fans from near and far to the small town tucked into the southeast corner of Iowa. Thirty-three Super Late Models filled the pits and while they definitely delivered another superb showing, even the most snobbish Late Model fan would have to admit that the support classes were every bit as entertaining, if not more so. That is of course if they had the opportunity to stick around to watch them.

Chris Simpson and Terry Phillips would bring the Late Model field to green for forty laps with Simpson quickly racing out to a comfortable advantage. With the bottom line being the favored groove on both ends of the speedway the field would stretch out a bit as Simpson maintained a torrid pace and Phillips would fade into the pack as he tried to make the outside line work during the early laps. Tony Jackson Jr., who had started fifth, worked his way past Chad Simpson for second on lap fifteen and would begin to cut into the lead as Chris Simpson encountered traffic and Jimmy Mars, who had started seventh, would takeover the third position on lap twenty-two.

Chris was able to make quick work of the first few lappers, but as he closed in on some drivers who were racing for position Jackson saw his opportunity and started searching out a line through the middle. With ten laps remaining, and with Payton Looney and Brent Larson now racing side-by-side in front of him, Simpson had been signaled that Jackson was within striking distance so the leader made a bold move going three-wide around the outside of Looney and Larson off of turn two. One slip and it would have cost him the lead as Jackson was right there to pounce, but when Simpson completed the pass it would sew up the victory as Jackson never could dispatch Looney over the closing laps.

Jackson would settle for the runner-up position, four spots better than the next series regular, making a good "points night" for the former MARS champ. Jimmy Mars was solid in third, Chad Simpson held down fourth and Billy Moyer came from the sixth row to finish fifth. Phillips would settle for sixth, J.C. Wyman posted a solid run in seventh, Tyler Bruening advanced from the eighth row to finish eighth, Dave Eckrich was ninth and Raymond Merrill completed the top ten.

LCS MLRA Notes......The MLRA has switched its race format from a draw/passing points program to a group qualifying/start the fast guys up front format and while they will tell you that all of the drivers are in favor of the change you can bet that at least half of them are not, but are not willing to admit it. So, just like tonight, look for more flag-to-flag victories in the one last Super Late Model series where you used to have to pass some cars for position in either a heat or the feature in order to earn a victory.....Justin Reed scratched for the evening after qualifying.....Chris Simpson went flag-to-flag in the first heat that saw series regular Justin Asplin nearly clear the turn three guardrail when he blasted it tearing the nose completely off of his car. Asplin would pull out a backup car to run the B-Main later and would earn a series provisional for the feature.....Raymond Merrill passed Bob Gardner in the closing laps for the fourth and final transfer......When pole-sitter Dave Eckrich slid up the track in turn two on the opening lap of the second heat, Ricky Thornton Jr. had to stand on the brakes dropping him from second to fifth. Eckrich would score the win while Thornton was able to get to fourth and make the show.....Terry Phillips would go the distance to win the third heat as Tyler Bruening fought off Brantlee Gotschall for the final transfer......Chad Simpson would make it four-for-four of the pole-sitters winning the heat races (re: fast guys starting up front) as the MLRA point leader coming into the night, Rodney Sanders, fought off Rob Toland for fourth.....With seventeen cars still not qualified just ONE B-Main was scheduled, as it should be, with six cars set to transfer..... As the field made their way to the track the left front wheel rolled off of Gordy Gundaker's car. He was towed to the work area where a new wheel was put on and he was forced to start at the rear. He did not qualify.....Payton Looney would look sharp racing his way to the lead and the win in the B followed by Chase Junghans, Gotschall, Gardner, Randy Timms and Jorday Yaggy.....The veteran Al Humphrey would join Asplin as a provisional.....The first try at a start to the feature saw the tenth starting Brent Larson slide sideways in turn one collecting Rodney Sanders, Junghans and Yaggy. Sanders had an MLRA official work on some body damage before restarting and he would finish twelfth and, under one of the strangest rules in racing "the free restart rule", Larson would get a mulligan and still start in tenth.....As the second of five features on the schedule, the checkered flag waved on the Late Model feature at 9:55.....Series announcer Trenton Berry confirmed amazingly that this was Billy Moyer's first ever appearance at the Lee County Speedway......It was great having Trenton join our group during the support class action where he raved about the quality of racing here at the Lee County Speedway and in the state of Iowa.....Trenton will get to enjoy two more nights of that Iowa action as the MLRA Late Models move to the Davenport Speedway tonight, racing on the quarter-mile, and then on Saturday they will thrill a big crowd at the Independence Motor Speedway......The MLRA returns to this area again on Thursday June 1st at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, and right back here at the Lee County Speedway on Friday June 2nd.

A stout field of twenty-four IMCA Stock Cars served up a solid appetizer for the Late Models with a twenty-lap main event that only had one caution and that was decided by inches. John Oliver Jr. started third, but was able to slip under Jake Wenig and Abe Huls to lead the opening lap. That lead would grow as the action was intense behind him with drivers going four-wide on several occasions before the caution waved when Kevin Koontz spun in turn two on lap nine. Stock Car stars Jeff Mueller and Damon Murty had both drawn the sixth row, but by now had worked their way into second and third with Oliver now back within their sights for the restart. As Mueller and Murty swapped the second spot back and forth, Oliver was again able to sneak away a bit before Mueller established himself in second with just a few laps remaining.

Oliver's car had been sticking to the bottom throughout this race, but as the laps slipped away so did his traction and that allowed Mueller to close fast just as the white flag waved. The challenger would draw to the leader's bumper in turns one and two and when Oliver left the slightest of openings entering turn three, Mueller nudged his way underneath and it was a side-by-side drag race to the checkers off of turn four that not even announcer Tony Paris was willing to call until he confirmed with the scorers that Oliver had won by a mere inches at the line. Murty was close behind in third, Mike Hughes came from tenth to finish fourth and hometown driver Jeremy Pundt finished in fifth.

Several fans made their way out of the stands following the Late Model feature, I don't blame them, I would have done the same if I had a long drive home on a Thursday night, but those of us who stayed were treated to some spectacular action to close out the evening.

The IMCA Sport Mods were up next surprisingly producing the smallest field of the night despite the fact that they were racing for $1,000-to-win. Two of the best started on the front row for this twenty-lapper with the all-time All Iowa Points leader in the division, Tony Dunker starting on the pole while former All Iowa Points champion Carter VanDenberg started to his outside and it would be VanDenberg grabbing the early lead. Caution for an Austen Becerra spin on lap six required a restart and Dunker would use the high line to take the lead for lap seven. Logan Anderson was on the move after starting seventh and he would take away the second spot just before VanDenberg slowed with mechanical issues on lap sixteen. Dunker had plenty of challengers lined up behind him for the restart, but as Anderson, Jim Gillenwater and Lennox battled for second, Dunker was able to ease away over the final four laps to earn the victory. Anderson prevailed for second, Lennox took third, Gillenwater was fourth and Brian Efkamp made the trip down from Ankeny to finish fifth.

The non-stop twenty-five lap IMCA Modified feature was nothing short of spectacular and there is no way that I can come close to describing it, especially since I didn't take notes since Trenton and I were ducking and leaning trying to guide Kelly Shryock and Hunter Marriott through a myriad of lapped traffic thinking somehow that our body language might help. Shryock had started from the front row and, as I mentioned in last night's story from Osky, when you put Kelly Shryock on the pole you generally know the outcome. Believe me, he had to earn it tonight! Marriott had started fifth, but first had to fight his way past Richie Gustin and Jacob Murray before he could set his sights on the leader and, once Hunter made it to second on lap eighteen, he did just that. Racing in and through heavy traffic Marriott would pull even with Shryock and then take the lead on lap twenty-two only to have Kelly fight back to regain the lead as the white flag waved. Marriott took one last shot on the final lap, but hey, this is Kelly Shryock and while the kid from Missouri appears to be headed for the "star" category as well, Shryock has been there for years and he would hold on to win for the second night in a row. Murray would hold on to third ahead of Gustin with Chris Zogg edging out Johnny Scott for fifth. This field of twenty-nine was as talented as you will find anywhere this season!

And, if you stuck around for the fifteen-lap Sport Compact main event, you were rewarded with another barn burner that went right down to the wire. Rookie driver Daniel Fellows has dominated this division recently, but when he drew the sixth row in this field of twenty he had his work cut out for him as Josh Barnes raced to the lead from his third starting spot. Kimberly Abbott is not shy by any means and she muscled past Barnes on lap three to take the point with Jake Dietrich and Barry Taft in hot pursuit. With Abbott leading, Dietrich and Taft raced hard for second with Taft emerging as the prime contender and he would slip under Kimberly to take the lead entering turn one on lap thirteen, Abbott would drive right back under him off of turn two to regain the lead on the back stretch only to have Taft return the favor and this time officially lead the white flag lap. The defending All Iowa Points champion was not to be denied though as she charged back under Taft entering turn three on the final lap and the two slid up the race track with Taft's car being pinned between Abbott's and the now fully involved lapped car of William Michel.

The three cars came out of turn four literally door-to-door-to-door with Abbott winning by a nose at the line. Taft not only had to settle for second, but then had to deal with the ire of Michel who apparently did not see that Abbott was down there as well. Dietrich would have won if they all would have crashed, as they came so close to doing, Barnes was fourth and Travis DeMint finished fifth.

On the strength of a solid car count in all five divisions, a full field of Super Late Models that provided as much action that can be expected given the format and three feature races that were not decided until the final turn this now sets the bar for my "race night of the year" for 2017. And it was all completed by 10:45!

First opportunity to clear that bar will come on Sunday night when I head for the Scottie 43 UMP Late Model event at the Quincy Raceways. Look for me on the Back Stretch!