One last time without the fans, and boy did they miss out on a good one Friday night at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Even though this was the fourth night of racing at the track tucked into the southeast corner of Iowa, this would serve as the regular season opener for track points and a solid field of 93 cars were on hand in five divisions.
The twenty lap IMCA Modified main event was a thriller with front row starters Chris Zogg and Austin Howes crossing the line in a dead heat for lap number one. Zogg would take the point on lap two before one of the infield tires in turn two was knocked onto the track to bring out the first caution. On the restart Travis Denning who made the 165 mile pull from Sterling, Illinois, picked up the challenge and on lap six he would take the lead away from Zogg. Denning's lead would be short-lived though as Mark Burgtorf drove by him on the next lap and one lap after that the caution would wave again when Jardin Fuller spun in two two.
Once back to action Burgtorf, driving the Bill Baker owned #03B, would continue to set the pace until the final caution of the race would appear with six laps remaining when Scott Bryant would loop it in turn two. Michael Long had started the race from tenth and when the green flag waved he would go to work on Burgtorf with the leader working the top and the challenger down low. As the two stars crossed the line on lap eighteen it was too close to call, but Burgtorf would use his high side momentum to retain his lead as the white flag waved.
Long would again work the bottom in turns one and two to take the lead going down the back stretch and this time he would take away Burgtorf's groove on the high side in three and four to capture the victory. Denning would chase those two in for third, Ethan Braaksma would make a late run to fourth after starting from twelfth and Zogg would complete the top five. Long distance traveler Cody Schroeder from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, finished sixth.
Only eleven Stock Cars would lineup for the eighteen lap feature, but you only need three or four to have a good race as proven once again here tonight at Donnellson. The race got off to a tough start when Beau Taylor spun in turn three and was hit hard by Kevin Koontz. Once the track was cleared the race was on with Jeremy Pundt taking the point with Jason Cook and John Oliver Jr. in hot pursuit. Abe Huls was trying to join the fray, but when his right front tire was cut down on lap five the caution flag would wave.
On the restart Oliver would move to second using the high line to go to work on the low groove running Pundt. On a couple of occasions Oliver would nose ahead, only to have Pundt come back off the bottom, but when Pundt left the door open just a bit entering turn one on lap eleven Jason Cook would walk inside. It was Cook, Pundt and Oliver racing three-wide for the lead off of turn two with Cook leading the next two laps before Oliver sailed around him with four laps to go.
Cook would come digging back on the bottom and on lap sixteen he and Oliver would cross the stripe in a dead heat. The bottom line would prevail over the final two circuits as Cook would ward off Oliver to score the entertaining win. Oliver was knocking on the door in second, Jason Hall was impressive in his LCS Stock Car debut finishing in third, Pundt held on for fourth while Jake Powers edged out pole-sitter Mitchell Evens for fifth.
Jim Gillenwater started from the pole of the eighteen lap Sport Mod headliner and he would lead the first two laps before John Renier spun into the guardrail in turn one. That would collect four more cars who were in tight formation running the cushion and after the track was cleared, Gillenwater would again pace the field.
After spinning in his heat race, Austen Becerra had to win the B-Main in order to start nineteenth and as lap three was scored he was all the way up to fifth. Two more cautions for solo spins would slow the field on laps five and seven and when the race went back to green Gillenwater had a new challenger in Tyler Soppe. The former IMCA Northern Sport Mod National Champion had started from the sixth row and on lap ten he would drive around the outside of Gillenwater to take the lead. One lap later Soppe caught a huge break though as while he had jumped the cushion in turns three and four and was having trouble getting his car off the guardrail, the caution was waving for Jim Powell's spin in turn two. Without the caution Soppe would have dropped from first to third.
On this restart Becerra charged from sixth to second and appeared to have a run on Soppe before the race was slowed again for Jaden Fuller's second spin of the race. When the green flag came back, Soppe would take control over the final four laps to secure the win with Becerra improving seventeen positions as the runner-up. Adam Birck, who challenged for the lead early in the race, picked up third place money, Gillenwater would hold down fourth and Blaine Webster nipped Tanner Klingele for fifth.
In the Late Model main event Ron Boyse and Tommy Elston would share the lead on lap one before Elston established himself as the pace-setter on the second circuit. And what a pace he would set! Denny Woodworth moved quickly from fifth to second, but not even Woodworth could keep pace with Elston who gradually pulled away over the twenty lap distance to take the win. Woodworth was a distant second, Nick Marolf was further back in third, Jay Johnson took the fourth spot and Dalton Simonson held off central Illinois visitor Blaze Burwell to complete the top five.
The Sport Compacts were the first feature of the night with Brandon Reu coming all the way from the sixth starting position to lead the opening lap. Actually Reu would lead all fifteen laps on his way to victory at his hometown speedway. Chuck Fullenkamp passed Adam Christy on the final lap finishing second by inches while Jared Heule held off Kimberly Abbott to finish fourth.
Beginning on Monday June 1st race tracks in Iowa are allowed to have fans back in the grandstands with up to 50% of the capacity and that means that the fans can come back out to the Pepsi Lee County Speedway next Friday night June 5th as the Iowa Sprint League joins the action. A big thank you to Brian and Marcie Gaylord for the hospitality and after presenting four night of racing in front of empty grandstands in May, you can bet that they are looking forward to next week!
On Saturday night I look forward to joining the Done Right TV crew for the PPV broadcast of the regular season opener at 34 Raceway near Burlington. Roberts Tire Center night at the speedway will feature the Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sprint Cars and since it is the only track in Iowa east of Interstate 35 in action there should be an interesting mix of cars on hand.
Tune us in on the Back Stretch!
No comments:
Post a Comment