With heavy rain falling to the north and a radar showing green blobs passing over Donnellson for most of the day, Lee County Speedway promoter Brian Gaylord went live on Facebook several times on Friday just to show everybody that all was well at the 3/8th-mile oval situated in the southeast corner of Iowa. Yes, it did sprinkle a few times here and there, but never enough to show mud on his tractor tires so the purpose of his live videos was to assure both drivers and fans that racing would go on as planned. What those videos also showed was just how much work goes into preparing a dirt track for racing and, with an assist from those sprinkles that kept the skies cloudy all day, Gaylord's track turned out to be just about as close to perfect as you can ask for.
Sending out a few pack trucks to roll in the top side during a brief intermission would yield a smooth and fast surface from the bottom to the top and the IMCA Sport Compacts would be the first class to have at it for their fifteen lap main event. I know that they were five-wide entering turn one and if I could get a good look at a replay I would bet you that there was a point that they would be six-wide and it would be Chevy Barnes coming from the outside of row two to take the early lead. Chevy's father, Josh Barnes would quickly make his way up from seventh to second and he would soon put the pressure on his son for the lead.
Would Dad want to escort his son to his first feature win? Heck no, he would need to earn it by holding off the former IMCA Super Nationals Sport Compact champion and Josh would pull even with Chevy as lap five went in the books. They would race door to door through turns one and two, and then down the back stretch with Josh sliding up and in front of Chevy exiting turn four to take the lead. The father would then leave his son in his wake as Josh would run away with the win. Brandon Reu would drop Chevy to third late in the race, Kimberly Abbott finished fourth with Jason Ash coming from tenth to fifth.
The Stock Cars were up next for twenty laps and they too found the smooth wide surface to their liking with some of their own five-wide action exiting turn four on lap one. Third starting Dustin Griffiths would lead that first lap only to have his fellow second row starter Dustin Vis power by on lap two. Last week's winner Josh Foster made a quick charge up from eighth and started putting the pressure on Vis, even pulling close to even with him on a couple of occasions before the caution waved on lap six when a broken fan blade severed the radiator on the #71 car of David Brandies.
On the restart Griffiths and Foster would lock into a battle for second that allowed Vis to get away a bit, and once Foster reestablished himself in second he was unable to reel in the leader again as Vis would build upon his current All Iowa Points lead in the division with the victory. Foster who is really enjoying his trips back to his original home track would be tonight's runner-up with Beau Taylor driving a car that he recently purchased from Tony Hofbauer in for third with a late pass of Griffiths. Former All Iowa Points champion John Oliver Jr. returned to action with the debut of a new car coming from eleventh to fifth.
A talented field of IMCA Modifieds would take the green next for twenty-two laps with veteran drivers Mark Burgtorf and Denny Eckrich leading the way and they would be joined by Austen Becerra to go three-wide exiting turn four to score the opening lap. Eckrich would have the advantage by a nose at the stripe and he would steadily build up a big lead before the caution waved on lap thirteen.
Becerra would try to stay in touch with Eckrich following the restart, but he now also had Jarrett Brown knocking on his back door looking for second and that allowed Eckrich to again drive away and take a convincing victory. Becerra who is also atop of the current All Iowa Points in the Modifieds would hold off Brown who currently ranks sixth and who is looking to move up in those standings after a strong showing in this past week's Western Iowa Racing Results Midwest Madness Tour. Chris Zogg would hold down the fourth spot while Burgtorf slipped to fifth.
The IMCA Late Models would attack the track next with disaster striking on the opening lap for Burlington driver Ed Hollenbeck. Racing mid-pack Hollenbeck's car suddenly veered to the right in turn four smacking the guardrail nearly head on and coming to an immediate stop. After gathering his thoughts for a few moments thankfully the driver who has returned to action this year after a long layoff would climb from the car uninjured.
After a debris caution on lap two the race would get underway with pole-sitter Nick Marolf setting a lightning quick pace. C.J. Horn was up to the challenge though and while Marolf was running a higher lane, Horn was digging on the bottom and soon pulled even with the leader. They would race that way for nearly three full laps before Marolf was able to nose ahead again and, once he did that, Nick would move down to Horn's preferred groove and begin to drive away.
The lead would grow to a full straightaway before the checkers waved over Marolf with Horn taking second by another full straightaway over Darin Weisinger Jr. in third. Independence, Iowa, visitor Sean Johnson would finish in the fourth position while Jeff Guengerich came home fifth.
Twenty-nine Sport Mods were whittled down to a feature field of twenty-four for their main event and the track was obviously still to their liking as just one caution would slow the race and that came on lap three with a three car tangle at the back of the field in turn four.
Dylan Van Wyk had paced those opening laps, but on the restart young Kyler Girard would power by to take the point. Van Wyk was not about to give in though and two laps later he would return to the lead with yet another current All Iowa Points leader, and defending Limited Modified champion Logan Anderson soon moving to second. Van Wyk was strong on this night though as Anderson was unable to mount a challenge over the back half of the race as Van Wyk would score the win. The 2020 AIP champion in this class Brayton Carter would race his way up from twelfth to third at the checkers while Jim Gillenwater and Girard would fill out the top five.
Seven of the Mini Hauler trucks were here as a guest division and they would close out the evening with Tucker Richardson powering past Tim Wagner on lap two and he would then drive away for the win. Brian Tipps would be the runner-up, Sheldon Brockett finished third followed by Wagner and Don Wood.
The final checkered flag waved at 10:20 on a very satisfying night of action from this fan's standpoint and I look forward to returning to Donnellson next Thursday night July 7th when the POWRi 410 Winged Sprint Car series will headline the action during the annual Lee County Fair. Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts will also be in action at the longest running county fair west of the Mississippi.
I haven't done three nights in a row since February in Florida, and I am really looking forward to tonight's Slocum 50 with $10,555 going to the winner of the MLRA Late Model main event. This race is to honor the memory of a true "good guy" racer in Brent Slocum so I do hope that I might see you tonight at 34 Raceway west of Burlington!
Finally I want to ask for your thoughts and prayers for my good friend Dennis Krieger. One of the greatest racing photographers ever, DK is battling some health issues right now and needs your support.
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