Start him on the front row or start him in row six, it didn't matter to Justin Kay on Tuesday night as the Wheatland, Iowa, driver prevailed in both the Arnold Motor Supply Hawkeye Dirt Tour IMCA Modified and Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Model main events at the West Liberty Raceway. Neither victory came easy though on a sultry night in eastern Iowa.
Kay drew the outside front row starting spot next to Todd Shute for the 30-lap Modified main event and he would edge out Shute to lead lap one. Richie Gustin moved to second on lap two and those two would then separate themselves from the rest of the field with Kay maintaining about a four car length advantage over Gustin. After starting eighth, Cayden Carter made the pass of Shute for third on lap eight, but the leaders were a full straightaway ahead of him.
That gap was erased though one lap later when Dan Brockert slowed in turn four trailing smoke from his #30 requiring a caution. The restart was short lived when Jacob Murray and Derrick Stewart tangled in turn two on lap ten and on the ensuing restart Kay was able to get away a bit as Gustin and Carter battled for second. After going back and forth for the position Carter would settle in as the primary challenger on lap fourteen and he steadily closed the gap on the leader, especially in turn four where Kay was drifting wide at the exit and Carter was kicking off the cushion and digging low off the corner.
On lap eighteen Cayden showed his nose to the leader and Kay now knew he had a challenger. Two laps later Carter's run off turn four was good enough that he nosed ahead at the stripe only to have Kay come right back to regain the lead on the following lap. With Kay now blocking the low line off of four Carter stayed up on the cushion and was able to let him know he was up there a couple times in the following laps before the caution waved with five to go when Jesse Sobbing, driving the #92 of Josh Most, stopped in turn four.
This brought Gustin back into the mix along with Joel Rust who had started eleventh, but just one lap into the restart the caution waved again for debris in turn two. Perhaps it was that debris that had cut down the right front tire for the former NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Brett Moffitt as he went pitside to make the tire change during this caution. Moffitt was behind the wheel of Griffin McGrath's #64 and had raced his way up to tenth after starting in twenty-second.
Kay would bring the field back to green with four laps remaining and he was under fire from several competitors although Gustin slowed suddenly one lap later and pulled to the infield. With Rust digging on the bottom Carter could not just focus on the leader, but after clearing him Cayden had a run off turn four coming to score lap twenty-eight and he drove hard into turn one sliding up in front of Kay for the lead. Justin calmly made the crossover move though and regained the lead in turn two and Rust was able to move to second as well down the back stretch. Rust made his own bid for the lead in three and four coming to the white, one that Kay fought off as well and on the final lap neither challenger could make a bid for the win as they swapped positions one last time as Kay took the checkers in a fantastic race. Carter was second, Rust was right there in third and had the race been a few laps longer Kevin Kile would have been a factor as well as he took fourth after starting twelfth. Kelly Shryock will be the new point leader for the Tour after finishing in fifth, Larry Herring had a solid showing in sixth, Kyle Brown was seventh and Jacob Murray recovered to finish eighth ahead of Colby Springsteen and David Brown.
The forty lap Late Model feature would follow and in this one Kay would start from the twelfth position with current Deery series point leader Jesse Sobbing on the front row. Sobbing would jump out to a big lead early on only to have it wiped out when Kevin Kile couldn't quite coast far enough into the infield on lap nine. Kay had moved up to the sixth spot by that point and once back to racing it took him just five more laps to get to second. Sobbing had again pulled away from the field and had nearly a full straightaway on Kay, but that margin would shrink noticeably lap after lap until Justin was ready to make his bid for the lead at the halfway mark. Using a move similar to what Carter had used on him in the Modified race, Kay drove under Sobbing to take the lead on lap 22 only to have Jesse come right back to regain the lead on the following lap. Using lapped cars as picks when he was able, Sobbing did everything he could to fight off the challenge over the next three laps until Justin moved to the front for good on lap 27.
It was all over but for the shouting from there as Kay drove away to win by more than a straightaway over Sobbing who would have been under fire for second if the race had gone on any longer with Denny Eckrich and Matt Ryan closing fast in third and fourth. Pole-sitter Kyle Hinrichs finished in the fifth position, Chad Holladay was sixth followed by Andy Eckrich and Jeremiah Hurst who had started eighteenth, while veteran drivers Darrel DeFrance and Ron Boyse completed the top ten.
While some might raise their nose at the car count with 22 Late Models and 24 Modifieds, they might want to consider the quality of those drivers as this was a fantastic Tuesday night program on a well-prepared surface that ended at 9:45. Announcer Jerry Mackey started off the night with a touching tribute to Arlo Becker who passed away on Monday in a tractor accident on his farm recalling something that Arlo had told him not that many years ago when he was still putting on a show for the fans. "I don't care if they are booing me or cheering me, as long as they are making noise."
Next up, weather permitting, I will fill in for Tony Paris on the microphone tonight at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Then on Thursday night I look forward to the first fair race of the summer, this one during the Wapello County Fair on the Super Half Mile in Eldon. Hope to see you there!
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