The track was so heavy that despite extra laps to try to roll in the cushion prior to each heat race, it remained narrow with about a line and a half around the bottom. Very uncharacteristic for this track that we usually see the cushion pushed nearly all the way up to the guardrails by the end of the evening. There was no way that promoter Brian Gaylord was going to let this continue so, after the heat races, out came the grader for a full scraping of the surface. And while it did add about forty-five minutes to the program, it was well worth the extra time as all five features were fast and furious with action on a track that was now what we are used to seeing here at Lee County.
The Stock Cars would be the first feature of the night going for eighteen laps and this would be a continuation of just an amazing season for Dustin Vis. Starting the year in Bristol where he came away with the win in the championship event in his new Spaw chassis, the magic has continued for the driver from Martelle as he would win his sixth main event of the year in Iowa driving past David Brandies and early leader Josh Foster on lap seven. The win pads his current lead in the All Iowa Points with a current total of 88 and a significant portion of the season still ahead. Dustin's previous best All Iowa Points total for a season was 34 in 2020 when he was ranked at 60th in the final standings, so the improvement has been impressive.
With Vis driving away the three car battle for third was intense as John Oliver Jr. closed in on Foster and Brandies as well. After taking the white flag the trio charged into turn one in tight formation and when contact from Brandies sent Foster for a spin the caution would wave. Officials would keep Foster in second for the restart tagging Brandies as the culprit and while Vis again pulled away to seal the victory it would be Oliver edging out Foster by inches at the checkers to take second and, just behind them, Chad Krogmeier would take the photo finish for fourth over Jason Cook.
With the Davenport Speedway rained out earlier in the day the Modified car count here at Lee County would swell to seventeen with Daniel Fellows and Jerad Fuller bringing the field to green for eighteen laps. Fuller looked like he would lead the opening lap until he slipped high in turn four opening the door for Spencer Diercks to charge to the front. A debris caution after lap two would necessitate a restart and as Diercks exited turn two a shower of sparks would come out from the rear end of the leader's car and after trying to continue through turns three and four Spencer would shut it down with the rear end obviously askew.
Fellows would now claim the lead on the restart and he would pace the field until lap twelve when Chris Zogg would make the pass. Matt Werner who we saw dominate the field at Tipton Wednesday night would get past Fellows with three laps remaining and while he would erase much of the gap between himself and the leader, Zogg was strong to the checkers to take the victory. Werner was the runner-up followed by Fellows and Fuller while Dennis LaVeine edged out Austen Becerra at the checkers for fifth.
Twenty-one Sport Mods would line up next for eighteen laps with young Dakota Girard on the pole next to the wily veteran Jim Gillenwater who has retired as many times as Brett Favre. But hey, when you are still competitive it is hard to hang up the fire suit for good! Girard would get the advantage at the drop of the green with third starting Brayton Carter quickly up to challenge and when Girard missed his mark and entered turn three a bit too high that was all the opening that Carter would need to take the lead.
Gillenwater would soon move to second and tried to keep Carter in his sights, but with seven laps to go he would be passed by another young charger Dylan Van Wyk. Lapped traffic would help Van Wyk cut into the lead, but there would be no catching "Speedy Bray" in this non-stop event as Carter took the win, his eighth of the season. Van Wyk and Gillenwater would fill out the podium, Adam Birck finished fourth and Sean Wyett was fifth.
It was now time for twenty-five laps of Super Late Model action with a $3,000 paycheck waiting for the winner and the track was now wide and fast with a bit of "character" up on the cushion. Curt Martin and Andy Eckrich would make up the front row and they would engage in a high speed battle through the first five laps with Eckrich leading by no more than two car lengths. Martin would pull nearly even with the leader on two occasions before Eckrich started to build an advantage and the racing behind them was intense as drivers tried to make their way to the front.
One of those was series point leader Justin Kay who found himself mired in sixteenth on the passing points chart after qualifying and the heat races. Just good enough for him to skip the B-Mains, but lining him up on the outside of row eight in what would be a non-stop twenty-five lap headliner. I had every intention of keeping close tabs on Kay's progress, but my attention was drawn to the front of the field especially when Martin pushed high in turn four and grabbed the guardrail with just five laps remaining,
The veteran driver was somehow able to recover while only losing a couple of positions and now it was a cushion riding Todd Cooney who was closing quickly on Eckrich. Now unless the fans here at Donnellson follow Late Model racing closely they may not know that the driver from Des Moines has been the most successful Late Model racer in Iowa over the past twenty-two years, at least as far as the All Iowa Points are concerned, and they now understand why as they watched his bonsai charge on the cushion quickly erase the advantage enjoyed by the leader. If this race would have been thirty laps, as I believe that was originally scheduled, we would have had ourselves a barn burner as when the checkers waved over Andy Eckrich, Cooney was just over a car length behind in second.
Luke Goedert would finish in third with Martin holding down fourth and Justin Kay would slip past Jason Hahne on the final lap to finish fifth from sixteenth. If you click on that link in the previous paragraph you will see just how legendary of a field we had here in Donnellson on this night with nine of the top fifteen in action. And the only active driver in that top fifteen that was not here in a Late Model was Mark Burgtorf who was racing a Modified.
With feature races clicking off in non-stop fashion it was easy to stick around for the finale where the Sport Compacts would also go flag-to-flag. Barry Taft behind the wheel of Chuck Fullenkamp's #48 car would lead the way until starter Rodney Bliesener had the white flag in hand. Jason Ash had fired a warning shot the lap before making contact with the left rear fender of the leader and now he would drive around Taft on the outside in the final laps to take the win. Adam Christy would finish where he started in third, Chandler Fullenkamp took fourth with Luke Fraise filling out the top five.
A full night of racing wrapped up just before 11:30 and while that is a bit later than what we prefer, as I noted before the extra time to widen out the racing surface was time well spent. A big thanks to Brian and Marcie Gaylord for their hospitality and it was great to visit with several of my long time friends following the Late Model drivers meeting. Shaking hands with Joe Kosiski I can tell that he is ready for a big week ahead with the final running of the Silver Dollar Nationals at his I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska.
After three nights in a row I will take this evening off for some Christine time and then on Sunday night the Sprint Invaders will take on the high banks of the East Moline Speedway. On Tuesday night I encourage you to make your way to Oskaloosa for the annual Caleb Hammond Memorial at the Southern Iowa Speedway where I hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
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