Bruening Prevails, Gansen Dominates and Doescher Continues A Fine Season On A Thursday Night In Dubuque

The Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway was prepared to perfection on Thursday night and proved to me once again why I count it as one of my favorite dirt tracks. How does a track land on my list of "favorites"? Well give me some five-wide action like I saw at least three times last night and that will vault you up the rankings immediately!

Bob Wagener, Carrie Rouse and the Drt Trak Racing, Inc. crew were presenting the night's program featuring the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series along with Modifieds, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and two nostalgia classes. Sounds like a late night for somebody making a two hour and fifteen minute trip on a weeknight, but with a nicely planned order of events and by sticking to the advertised start times both myself and Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans were on the road for home following the Late Model feature and it was still several minutes before nine o'clock!

The Hobby Stock feature would be up first and the thirteen cars in attendance clicked off twelve non-stop laps of racing. The drivers starting from the inside of rows two and three both made early moves as fifth starting Jimmy Doescher would lead third starting Kodey Miles by inches as lap one was scored. Miles would nose ahead to lead lap two before Doescher regained the advantage. The driver from Hallondale, Wisconsin, would then drive away for his seventh win of the season as he is currently ranked tenth in the All Iowa Points. Miles would hold down the second spot ahead of tenth starting Scott Wetter. Matt Bennett would take the fourth place money and Mark Neis, driving the #53D car that we used to see on occasion at both Eldon and Oskaloosa finished in fifth.

The twenty lap Modified feature would line up next with Tyler Madigan jumping out to a big early lead. A caution on lap three would bring the field back to him though and on the restart Matt Gansen went to the top to get a big run off the banking and he would fly by Madigan on the straightaway. With the green light staying on for the rest of the way, Gansen left the field in his wake winning by more than half a lap in a dominating performance. Madigan would ward off a late challenge from Mike Burbridge to be the distant runner-up. Bill Roberts Jr. made the long pull up from Burlington to finish in the fourth spot holding off two-time All Iowa Points champion Mark Schulte (2006-07) who finished in fifth.

The field of thirty SLMR Late Models had been whittled down to twenty-two for the thirty lap headliner with pole-sitter Andy Eckrich taking the early lead. With the World of Outlaws off for the weekend Decorah's Tyler Bruening returned home and was thrilled to have the opportunity to race at one of his favorite tracks. We Iowans should take great pride in Bruening who currently sits in third on the WoO points list and he showed his power by tracking down Eckrich and passing him on the outside to take the lead on lap five.

What followed is exactly the reason why I love this track as Andy went elbows up and did not allow the new leader to drive away as this was now a battle between Eckrich's low line and Bruening's long way around the 3/8th-mile high banks. Even with lapped traffic looming ahead, and all of it down low, Eckrich was able to retake the lead on lap twelve only to have Bruening come storming back to the front four laps later.

The caution would wave on lap seventeen when Jason Hahne spun in turn one and on the restart Bruening went down low to pinch off Eckrich and there was a new player in the game as Jason Rauen was now ripping the high side in third. The final caution of the event flew two laps later when Chad Simpson spun in heavy traffic at the bottom of turn two. Simpson was behind the wheel of David Webster's #44W and after a disappointing qualifying run he was able to win his heat race from the six car invert. His passing point total landed him twelfth on the starting grid and he had moved to sixth before the spin.

Rauen would move to second for a few laps after the restart, but with Bruening now building a lead Eackrich would soon come back to second as Spencer Diercks showed some late race speed on the high side after starting eighth. At the checkers there would be no doubt as Bruening would take the win over Eckrich, Diercks and Rauen with Luke Goedert fulling out the top five.

Tyler Bruening in victory lane - Photo from the Facebook page of announcer Shane Davis

With the early hour we could have stayed for the final three races, but with a busy weekend ahead the extra sleep was just too attractive. Checking the results today I see that Tony Olson won the Sport Mod feature from the pole while Tyler Soppe charged from eleventh to second. Austin Honts was the winner in the Jalopies and Ray Guss Jr. took the Nostalgia Late Models win in the Keith Simmons owned #38. Guss also took the wheel of Rick Dralle's #77 Late Model, normally driven by Jeff Aikey, but he was unable to earn a transfer into the SLMR main event.

The Drt Trak team continues the SLMR tripleheader tonight at the West Liberty Raceway before heading over to Davenport on Saturday night. And don't forget that you will get another chance to visit the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway when the Darkside boys bring the Iowa Dirt Nationals there October 14th, 15th and 16th.

My schedule takes me a different direction as tonight I will be the C Team on the microphone at the Jim Oliver Sr. Memorial at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri. The real pros have other commitments tonight, so the old guy will step in. On Saturday night I am looking for a stout field of 360 Winged Sprints at 34 Raceway's Fall Haul with the Sprint Invaders, then on Sunday night hopefully many of those will follow Big Muddy up north to the East Moline Speedway for another night of open wheel action.

The 2021 racing season is fading fast. Get out and support the sport at the events of your choice!

Catching Up A Bit and Looking Ahead

So it has been awhile since I logged on to the Back Stretch as the first two weekends in September were a busy time both at work and with family. I did mange to get to a couple of shows during that time period though and since my Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans had both of them covered nicely, I stayed on the porch.

The first was our trip to the 300 Raceway in Farley for their Season Championship event held on Wednesday, September 1st. I originally circled this one on my calendar knowing that I would not be attending any races over the Labor Day weekend and I figured that the car count would be solid with drivers perhaps coming in early to get dialed in for the Yankee Dirt Classic that would get rolling the following night with practice followed by two full shows on Friday and Saturday.

As the date neared I saw that the track was only going to allow drivers that had competed in at least one of the three weekly races that had been completed, or that were signed in for a fourth event that got rained out prior to racing. It was an interesting decision considering that one of the benefits of a track hosting a big end of the year event is that you will have drivers drop in from time to time to get "dialed in" for the special, spicing up your weekly racing. Boone and Knoxville are two primary examples of this, but I bet that you could find instances at nearly every facility that hosts a late season event that features one or more of its weekly divisions.

To give up the additional revenue at both the pit gate and the ticket office in respect to your weekly drivers can be looked upon as admirable or odd given that there had only been three races held, but since it was a beautiful evening for racing I made the two plus hour drive north knowing that just a few more than forty cars in four divisions would be scattered about the pits. The racing was well presented and enjoyable with a final checkered flag waving early enough that I was in bed by midnight ahead of another busy day at work. Here is Danny's story from the night that culminated in another last lap pass of Matt Ryan by Justin Kay. Ryan's consolation prize on this night though was the track point championship!

Photo montage by Dennis Krieger - DK Imagery

This past Saturday night I returned to one of my favorite tracks, the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson where it would be a busy night of racing with the Drive for Five Finale for the IMCA Late Models, a full program for the Sprint Invaders, plus support class action from the Sport Mods, Sport Compacts and Trucks. As you may have noticed, when I work one of the Sprint Invader races I leave the notebook in the car as I join my colleague Bill Wright on the microphone for the evening and here is his story and results from the Sprint Car action. 

It was my pleasure to be there in victory lane to do the post-race interview with first time winner Colton Fisher. The young driver from Mediapolis is a low budget racer who is not afraid to hit the road and get his "ass kicked" (his words) in order to improve and it has been fun watching his steady progress over the past few years. This was no easy "start from the font and lead every lap" victory. The kid had to track down and beat one of the best in the Midwest in Jonathan Cornell and his joy in triumph was fully evident as he climbed to the top of the wing to celebrate. Fisher has now broken the ice, I won't be surprised to see him in victory lane again soon.

The Drive for Five finale for the Late Models saw Justin Kay earn the pole position through the two sets of heat races and then lead all fifty laps on his way to a $2,000 payday. Had Kay been at enough of the "qualifying nights" held here earlier in the season it would have been a $5,000 check waiting for him at the pay window instead. Here is Danny's report from the race night.

The Sprint Invaders were part of the program for the Drive for Five finale in the Modified division as well back in August that saw Cayden Carter lead the final forty-two laps to capture the $5,000 top prize as he had met the qualifying night criteria. In fact, fifteen of the sixteen entries that night were eligible for the big money so only one driver showed up to race for what still is a hefty winner's check of $2,000.

The Drive for Five concept is a great promotion by the Lee County Speedway (other than the fact that my spell check keeps wanting to call it the "Driver" for Five), but perhaps the finale needs to be tweaked a bit as both events ran well into the night and, at least this year, did not produce a compelling battle for the lead. Long distance races for expanded purse money was the norm back in the good ol' days, but I have to wonder if the reason why there weren't more cars in attendance with drivers who were only eligible to win $2,000 would be that fifty laps is a long way to go for that payoff. Not to mention the extra ten laps of heat racing to set the lineup. Perhaps a thirty lap feature with a five minute break at the twenty lap mark might lend itself to a better race and only one set of heats using passing points to set the feature lineup might increase the car count while definitely consolidating the show.

Just my opinion that could very well be wrong as promoters Brian and Marcie Gaylord look ahead to continuing this great promotion into 2022. Don't forget that the Lee County Speedway still has three nights of racing on the schedule for October. The Casey's Harvest Hustle will take place on Friday and Saturday October 8th and 9th while my favorite event of the year, Shiverfest will be held on Saturday October 30th. Make your plans to attend now!

Now that we are into the Fall specials season a check of the All Iowa Points shows that realistically we only have one of the nine divisions that is still up for grabs when it comes to crowning the 2021 champions. That is in the Limited Modified class where Logan Anderson and two-time champion Tyler Soppe are in a dead heat right now. Jarrett Franzen, Johnathan Logue and Dan Hovden are still within striking distance while defending champion Brayton Carter may still have a shot as the season runs through the first weekend in November as currently scheduled.

In the other eight divisions championships are all but locked up with Justin Kay on his way to his fourth All Iowa Points Late Model title. After coming close in each of the past two years, Jeff Larson will win  his first Modified championship. Dallon Murty is running away with his second straight Stock Car championship. Kaden Reynolds has raced past early leader Daniel Wauters on his way to his first AIP title and Caine Mahlberg is in control of the Four Cylinders for what would be his first championship. 

In the three Sprint Car divisions Justin Henderson holds just a three point lead over Austin McCarl in the 410's but I can't see any other races for the division on the schedule for the rest of the year at a points paying track. Henderson was the 2015 champion in the 360's and this would be his first 410 title. With only a handful of events still to be run in the 360 class it looks like Jack Dover will earn his fourth straight and seventh overall All Iowa Points title while Stu Snyder has the 305 class wrapped up for his first AIP championship.

If you are not familiar with the points click on the link above for an explanation of how and why they are now being calculated for the 55th season. Then click on the individual classes to see where you, or your favorite driver currently ranks.

I get back to action tonight with my annual trip to the Thursday qualifying night of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals. If I go anywhere on Saturday night it will be to the Eldon Raceway for the annual Michael Petersen Memorial and then on Sunday night I will make the drive up to the East Moline Speedway where they will be paying tribute to one of my heroes, Gary Webb. A member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame and an eight time All Iowa Points champion, the 72-year-old Webb is a threat to win his own tribute race as he is having an impressive season with three feature wins and he is currently ranked sixth in the Late Model All Iowa Points for 2021. I just hope that I am still able to drive myself to the races when I am 72!

The following week will be a busy one as well with a Thursday night trip to the Dubuque Speedway where promoter Bob Wagener and his crew will present the first of three nights of Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series racing. They will then go to West Liberty on Friday night before closing out the series schedule on Saturday at Davenport. My destination on Friday night will be Memphis, Missouri, for the opener of the 4th Annual Jim Oliver Sr. Memorial at the wide and racy Scotland County Speedway. Then on Saturday night, if you are a Sprint Car fan, 34 Raceway west of Burlington will be the place to be for the $5,000-to-win Fall Haul featuring the Sprint Invaders and a cast of who's who in winged 360 Sprint Car racing joining them. Then on Sunday night it will be back up to East Moline for a $2,500-to-win Sprint Invaders show on the high banked quarter mile oval.

If this itinerary doesn't suit you, I do hope that you will use our Special Events Calendar at Positively Racing to help plan out the remainder of your 2021 racing season. Hopefully we will see you somewhere along the way!