It was an interesting night in Columbus Junction for the three racing Eckrich brothers. One earned the pole position for the thirty lap Late Model feature, another had a feature win in his grasp only to make an uncommon mistake near the end and the eldest, after losing the lead late in the race, fought back to take his first career win with the SLMR series.
The first feature to the track on this sweltering Thursday evening at the CJ Speedway was the twenty lap Modified headliner that saw Jarrett Brown race out to the early advantage. Just last week Brown wrapped up his second straight track title here and with a rare front row starting spot he had to be feeling pretty good about his chances. Denny Eckrich was on the charge though and just after seeing the crossed flags from starter Doug Haack indicating the halfway mark, Eckrich made a nifty move that started by pounding the cushion in turn one. He then aimed for the bottom to exit turn two and with a big run down the back straightaway Eckrich would dive under Brown entering turn three.
It looked like this was going to be a classic slide job to pinch off the high riding Brown, but Denny made it stick in the middle and he would take over the lead on lap eleven. From there it appeared that this one was all but over as Eckrich pulled away while Brown now had to contend with Cayden Carter in the race for second. After taking the two laps to go signal though, Eckrich would surprisingly spin in turn two and as he tried to keep the car moving to stay in the race both Brown and Carter would drive by.
The caution would then come out and with the former leader going to the back, the field would line up double file for the restart with Brown on the inside and Carter on the outside. Cayden would then take the lead through turns one and two and he would complete the victory stating in victory lane that sometimes it is just good to be lucky. Brown would come home in second with Derrick Stewart in third. Quincy visitor Jeff Waterman finished fourth and Kyle Madden filled out the top five.
The Stock Cars were up next for twenty laps and with Dallon Murty drawing the pole position this one figured to be a race for second. Johnny Spaw and David Brandies kept pace with the young phenom in the early stages, but the man on the move was the leader's father, Damon Murty who had started sixth and was steadily making his way to the front. By mid-race the father was stalking the son and Damon appeared to have a run going on the top of three and four just as the caution waved for Kirk Kinsley's spin in turn two.
The field was restarted with eight laps to go and again Damon would stick close to Dallon waiting for a mistake and that would come just after the white flag waved. Racing through turns one and two Dallon made one slight bobble on the cushion and since Damon had already aimed the car for the bottom he was able to drive under for the lead and the eventual win. Score one for the older generation! Dallon was soon there to join his dad in victory to celebrate while Spaw, Brandies and eleventh starting Corey Strothman filled out the top five.
The SLMR East Series headliner would be up next for thirty laps with the brothers Andy and Dave Eckrich earning the front row starting spots. Andy would pace the first couple of laps before older brother Dave went storming by and the night's quick qualifier Chad Holladay would soon move to second to take up the chase. Dave would maintain control until lap eighteen when he caught up with Ron Boyse at the back of the field and with the track taking rubber the racing groove had become quite narrow.
Eckrich appeared to be content to hold his line for a couple of laps, but when he looked low on Boyse entering turn one that left an opening for Holladay to go driving by and take the lead on on lap twenty-one. Chad was now faced with the same temptation of trying to clear the lapped car and the top two would now be joined by Chris Simpson to make it a three car tussle for the lead. When Holladay would take a peek to the outside of Boyse in turns one and two that allowed Eckrich to pull even and the top two would race door to door down the back stretch and through turns three and four.
It would be Eckrich who would nose ahead at the line on lap twenty-four to regain the lead and he would beat Holladay to the preferred line entering turn one. With two laps remining not only did the leader finally put Boyse a lap down, but Simpson also dropped Holladay to third and Chris would make one last charge to try to steal the win. Dave would not make a mistake though as he held his line and captured his first career win with the series while also strengthening his position in the points battle. Simpson and Holladay would make the podium, Charlie McKenna finished fourth and Andy Eckrich made it bookends of brothers in the top five.
The Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series moves to the West Liberty Raceway tonight and then on to Maquoketa on Saturday.
The Sport Mods would wrap up the evening for twenty laps in a well planned order of events by promoter Larry Richardson and it would be a pair of 17's leading the pack with Shane Paris setting the pace for the first four laps before yielding to Dylan Van Wyk. Lapped traffic was coming into play mid-race just before Dan Campbell spun in front of the leaders in turn four.
The field would stack up in turn four coming to the restart and it would be the 2021 track champion here, and the current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson who would get the short end of the stick as he slid sideways into the infield and then snap rolled one time to bring out the red. Once back to green three more laps would be scored before the last three cars in the running order gathered in three different directions in turn four and thankfully that would be the last stoppage of the night.
There would be no touching Van Wyk over the final seven laps as the young driver from Oskaloosa scored the $1,000 victory with Paris holding down the second spot. Colton Livezy came from tenth to finish third, Austen Becerra driving Logan Cumby's #8c charged from twenty-second to fourth while Trey Rock took fifth.
A big thanks to Richardson and his entire staff at the CJ Speedway for their hospitality and here's hoping that we get another kind weather day for the annual Turkey Dash here on Saturday November 6th!
The next two nights will find me at what we like to call "The Sprint Invader Nationals" weekend starting tonight at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!
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| I grew up going to the MVSC races in Columbus Junction and they would always have a sign out front at the entrance of the fairgrounds letting everybody know that there are "Races Tonight". Just seeing this one brings back a ton of memories and I hope that the track never loses this tradition. |
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