Andy Eckrich used the short way around the quarter-mile oval at the Davenport Speedway Friday night to score his first career Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series victory, perhaps saved by a couple of well timed cautions. Four other drivers also captured feature wins in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.
A stout field of 36 Late Models signed in and usually the format for the SLMR series is to qualify and then run heats with an invert to accumulate passing points that then determines the top sixteen that advance directly to the feature. I am pretty sure that the series announcer mentioned time trials during the hot lap sessions, but after watching a series official walk back and forth on the front stretch with a transponder in hand my assumption is that they could not get the scoring loop to work and that is why there was no qualifying. That apparent problem with the scoring loop would become evident later in the evening as well.
Drivers lined up as they drew for the four qualifying heats and the passing points system would land Andy Eckrich and Jason Hahne on the front row for the forty lap main event. One lap would be scored before the caution waved when provisional starter J.C. Wyman spun on the cushion in turn one and on the restart Eckrich would continue to lead while creeping around the bottom of the wide racing surface. Hahne and Matt Ryan would take up the chase as drivers searched to find the racing line that suited them best with many of them settling on the bottom by the time the caution flew again when Jeff Aikey slowed on the back stretch with ten laps scored.
Once back to green it was obvious that Spencer Diercks was now the fastest car on the track, riding the rim and making his way to the front. Diercks had moved to second and was steadily closing the gap on Eckrich when on lap sixteen it looked like his car just took a right hand turn as he tried to ride that thin line at the top of the track in turn three. Instead of trying to recover and return to the racing surface while losing some positions, Diercks instead took the right hand turn and drove back to the pits as the race stayed green.
With Diercks now out of it, Hahne and Ryan were again the top contenders with Justin Kay soon joining the mix running that high line as well. Eckrich was still a solid leader, but as he approached lapped traffic his challengers were coming and with two cars just ahead racing for position in his low groove, Andy was going to have to make a decision soon whether to leave his line or just ride it out. Before that decision became critical though, the caution waved on lap twenty-five when one of the infield tires was kicked out onto the racing surface and now the leader had clear track ahead of him for the restart.
Eckrich again opened up a lead over his challengers, but when Kay moved to second with seven laps remaining it looked like we were setting up for a thriller as Justin's high line was now carving into that lead getting to within two car lengths at the stripe when the caution flew again for Billy Leighton's spin in turn three with just four laps to go. It took several trips around the track under caution to get the field realigned and as they came back to green there were a couple of rows mid-pack that were three-wide as drivers were still disputing their positions.
Just one more lap was scored before a three car jumble occurred in turn two as Aikey ran out of room on the bottom while challenging Brian Harris for position. Andrew Kosiski and Leighton were also involved and since the field had yet to sort itself out, the scorers were left with another challenge of trying to get the drivers in the proper order as they circled the track two and three wide for several laps under caution.
Finally the red flag was put out to stop the field on the front stretch and drivers were sent one by one around the track to line up in order for what would be the final restart. This would create a new challenge for Eckrich though as fluid from the stopped cars would be put down in his favored line exiting turn four and down the front stretch so he waved frantically at officials wanting it to be rolled in prior to the restart. Regular track announcer Shane Davis came down to the front stretch to make this happen and after he left the track Richie Gustin slid sideways and parked his car directly in front of the scorers apparently unhappy with his restart position and after a moment or two he back ed up and then pulled to the infield.
As Gustin climbed out of his car and proceeded to the stage to voice his opinion the green flag waved and Eckrich now had to pinch his car even lower exiting turn four and entering turn one to stay out of the moisture. Who knows, maybe this new line helped him as he again inched away from Kay who was still riding the top and three laps later the checkers waved for an excited winner who did a donut or two in celebration. Kay would be the runner-up and Hahne rode the bottom the entire distance for third. Fourth went to Andy Nezworski who was driving a team car with Jeff Tharp taking the #10M to the front after starting fourteenth. Tad Pospisil filled out the top five.
The car count topped thirty in both the Modifieds and Sport Mods as well with the pits swelling as the total count reached 139 across the five divisions.
Brunson Behning started from the pole of the twenty lap Modified feature, but had plenty of competition including current IMCA National points leader Tom Berry Jr., legendary NASCAR star Ken Schrader, Late Model veteran Chris Simpson and the 2020 track champion here Ryan Duhme. Duhme had quickly moved from seventh to fourth in the opening laps and following a lap thirteen restart he made a nifty move to get by Simpson and Berry to take second only to spin in turn one the following lap. Ryan would choose to head to the pits rather than restart for the final six laps.
On this restart Berry would have the advantage exiting turn two on the bottom, but Behning would come charging back and when Berry could not quite clear the leader in turn four he had to pinch of his attempt at a slide job for the lead. That lost momentum allowed Behning to pull away a bit and he would go the rest of the way to take a satisfying victory over a talented field of drivers. Berry would go second in what I believe to be his first visit to Davenport, Simpson finished third, Spencer Diercks was fourth and Schrader completed the top five. Chris Zogg finished sixth and Mitch Morris was seventh after they started seventeenth and sixteenth respectively.
Ben Chapman would ride the cushion to the early lead in the fifteen lap Sport Mod main event, but veteran driver Doug Burkhead would show the dominance of the bottom line as he would take the point on lap four. Chapman tried to battle back for several laps before getting in line behind Burkhead and young Maguire DeJong and as the laps clicked away DeJong waited for Burkhead to make a mistake that never came. It was a satisfying trip to victory lane that has not come often for the driver from Muscatine and DeJong was impressive and patient in finishing second. Chapman took third ahead of Logan Veloz and Dustin Schram in the non-stop event.
Much of the crowd had filed out as the Street Stocks and Four Cylinders hustled to get their features in before the 10:30 curfew with the Street Stocks up first. Thankfully only one caution was needed in that fifteen lap race as Donnie Louck came from the fourth starting spot to take the lead on the opening lap and he would go the distance to score the win. Jesse Owen started seventh and finished second, Jeff Struck Jr. rode the high line to finish third ahead of Zach Zuberbrier and Jeff Peterson.
With three cautions needed for the first two laps scored I had gathered my things and was prepared to leave, but when the green flag waved again before I made it to the exit I stood down front to see if the Four Cylinders could make it to the checkers. Shawn McDermott had been the early leader, but when he left an opening on lap seven both Brandon Dahl and Jimmy Dutlinger took advantage and dropped McDermott to third. These guys were sticking to the bottom as well and, in true front wheel drive fashion, Dahl's left rear wheel would rise up as he stabbed the brakes to enter the corner and then hit gas to exit making it very tempting for Dutlinger to stick a nose under the leader.
On the final lap the lead duo was closing quickly on the slower car of Zach Wells and as they entered turn three McDermott looked to the bottom while Dutlinger decided to swing wide around the lapper. In doing so Dutlinger clipped the right rear of Wells which then put him sideways in front of Dahl that then sent both of them into the infield tire in turn four. This allowed Dutlinger to get to the checkers first and let's just say that this all couldn't have gone better had he planned it. The remaining crowd seemed a bit befuddled with the outcome and, as I write this on Saturday morning, I see that Dutlinger was dropped to the bottom of the finishing order as he was apparently disqualified in tech.
That gives the win to Dahl with McDermott in second. Tim Sibley, Todd Sibley and Jack Fitzgibbon would complete the top five.
A big thank you to promoters Ricky and Brenda Kay for the hospitality and while I would love to be there tonight for round two of the doubleheader weekend, I instead have social plans. You can bet that Ricky and the Dirt Doctor will have that quarter-mile evened up tonight and ready to race!
A trip to Stuart on Wednesday will depend upon how busy I am at work, then on Friday and Saturday night next weekend I will be with the Sprint Invaders at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. See you on the Back Stretch!
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