The Simpson brothers, Chris and Chad finished one-two as the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models returned to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson Friday night. For Chris it completed the clean sweep in the two series events to be held at the southeast Iowa oval in 2017.
After setting quick time in group one and then winning the first heat from the pole, Chris Simpson drew the pole for the forty-lap main event and this one was essentially over after that as he would open a half of a lap lead over brother Chad before lapped traffic came into play. Chad had started third, but quickly dropped Jordan Yaggy back a spot as he would go the whole race in second. Yaggy nearly lost the third spot while trying to get around the lapped car of Matt Furman, but with ten laps remaining and the track now locked down Yaggy settled in behind the lapper and would stay there to join the Simpsons on the podium ahead of Brent Larson and Jesse Stovall. Bobby Pierce finished where he started in sixth, current MLRA point leader Tony Jackson Jr. was seventh, Rodney Sanders was eighth, Dave Eckrich was ninth and Randy Timms completed the top ten in a race that went non-stop,
It was the second time this season that Chris Simpson was able to collect the win at Donnellson without having to pass a single car for position as the MLRA has gone to the group qualifying/start the fast guys in front format for 2017.
The track's five weekly divisions were also in action in front of a large crowd on the first "hot" night of the 2017 season signaling that June has definitely arrived.
The Sport Compacts batted lead off with David Prim leading the way in the opening laps. He had plenty of company though and on lap three the four cars battling for the lead tangled in turn two sending Travis DeMint sideways in front of Ron Kibbe. Damage on Kibbe's car caused him to slow down the back stretch and that, along with a wandering track tire, necessitated a caution. On the restart Prim again did his best to ward off his challengers, but on lap five DeMint went low while Barry Taft went high and they crossed the stripe three-wide for the lead. DeMint would take over from there and he would hold off Taft for his second win of the season here, the first coming on opening night. Brandon Reu would finish third ahead of Daniel Fellows and while Josh Barnes would cross the stripe in fifth he would be penalized for mid-race contact that turned Kimberly Abbott sideways. This would then move Mike Reu into the top five.
The Stock Cars would serve as the last appetizer before the MLRA feature and as the green flag waved current All Iowa Points leader John Oliver Jr. did not come up to speed and his night ended as he coasted to the pits. Corey Strothman would lead the way until David Brandies tested out the freshly watered top side and Brandies would take the point on lap six of the 18-lap affair. The bottom was still the preferred line for Michael Jaenette though and after clearing Strothman for second he quickly reeled in the leader. Jaenette pulled even with Brandies in turns three and four on lap twelve and when Brandies was able to use the momentum off the top side to retain the lead he then wisely moved to the bottom to take away Jaenette's line. Brandies would then hold the challenger at bay the rest of the way to take the win with Jaenette an impressive runner-up in his first appearance here this season. Strothman would emerge from an entertaining four car battle to take third with Jason Cook nipping Jason See by inches at the finish for fourth.
The track was black and slick after the MLRA feature was run and the Sport Mods showed that it was still to their liking as Brandon Lennox, Austen Becerra and John Oliver Jr. raced three-wide for the lead on lap one and then on lap two it was too close to call at the stripe between Lennox and Becerra. Lennox would establish himself as the leader on lap three just before Jeffrey DeLonjay, making his first start in a Sport Mod after having been in the Sport Compacts the past few years, looped his car exiting turn four. Lennox would maintain his lead after the restart, but when DeLonjay spun again with four laps to go the leader would now have Tony Dunker and Austin Howes lined up behind him.
Howes would take up the challenge and pass Lennox for the lead with three laps remaining, but his apparent victory was wiped away in tech when it was discovered that he did not have the proper seals on his crate engine. This would turn the win over to Lennox ahead of Dunker, Becerra and Daniel Keltner.
Denny Woodworth drew the pole position for the twenty-lap UMP Pro Late Model main event, a division that uses a draw/redraw format each week rather than the average point inverts, and he would dominate for the flag-to-flag win. Sam Halstead would survive contact with the lapped car of Derek Sammons to finish second, Todd Frank came from ninth to third, Jeff Guengerich finished fourth and Derek Liles took fifth. Woodworth's primary challenger at both here and Quincy, Tommy Elston dropped out of the race on lap twelve while running in the fourth position.
The IMCA Modified feature would close out the night with pole-sitter Dugan Thye leading the way early. Top contender Michael Long clipped a track tire in turn four as he was trying to squeeze by another car for position on lap two and that ended his evening. Cayden Carter had started eighth and he moved to the second spot on lap eight. Then, when Thye left the door open entering turn one on lap ten, Carter charged to his inside to take the lead before Thye spun to the infield exiting turn four to bring out the caution. There would be no challenging Carter after the restart as he cruised to another win in his new VanderBuilt Modified. Chris Zogg made the most of his rare appearance here by running second, another visitor Bruce Hanford was third while weekly regulars Bill Roberts Jr. and Blake Woodruff completed the top five.
The MLRA Late Models will close out this three-race swing on Saturday night at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly.
That's all for me this weekend as other commitments will keep me away from the track before I take in four nights of open wheel racing next week topped off by the Craftsman World of Outlaws at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday night and the Arctic Cat All Stars at 34 Raceway on Sunday night. Hope to see you there!
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