Hafertepe Takes Knoxville's 360 Nationals Opener

Five-time ASCS National Tour champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. from Sunnyvale, Texas, drove under Canadian Thomas Kennedy on lap seven and then pulled away to take the win in the twenty-lap main event on the opening night of the 32nd 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank. Thursday's victory is Hafertepe's second win at the famed Knoxville Raceway half-mile oval in 2022, but under the event's unique qualifying method where drivers earn points in qualifying, heat races and the main events his effort puts him third in the points after night one of two for qualifying.

Kennedy would outduel fellow front row starter Garet Williamson to take the early lead with Hafertepe looking strong from the fourth starting slot. The Texan would drive by Williamson on lap four and using a low line he would pass Kennedy on the seventh circuit just before the only caution of the event waved for a two car tangle on the front straightaway. Contact between Matt Covington and Alex VandeVoort would send VandeVoort sliding sideways while Covington would suffer a flat left rear tire that he would be able to change prior to the restart.

Sam Hafertepe Jr. - Barry Johnson photo

After the restart Gio Scelzi, Ayrton Gennetten and Aaron Reutzel would make their moves to try to get to the front with some great racing action using the entire width of the race track. Scelzi, the defending champion of this event would move to second with six laps remaining and while he was able to cut into the lead a bit, Gio was unable put a challenge on Hafertepe who would take the convincing victory.

Aaron Reutzel's drive from seventh to third, along with his efforts earlier in the evening would put him on top of the points list for the night at 487,. Williamson would fade a bit to fourth with Kennedy holding on for fifth. Briefly getting as high as third during the second half of the race, Gennetten slipped to sixth at the checkers, but still earned the second highest point total for the evening. Chase Randall moved from eleventh to seventh, Matt Juhl finished eighth, Cory Eliason was ninth and Parker Price-Miller advanced six positions to complete the top ten.

Early leader Thomas Kennedy - Barry Johnson photo

Following Reutzel, Gennetten and Hafertepe in the first night point standings are Sclezi, Kennedy, Eliason, Williamson, Justin Henderson, Randall and Juhl. They will now wait to see how their points match up with Friday's qualifiers to see how Saturday's Championship race will lineup.

The Rest of the Story.......Considered to be one of the pre-race favorites, Shane Golobic would start his night in fine fashion earning 200 points with the quick time in qualifying. But the highs and lows of Knoxville would be quickly demonstrated when Golobic hopped the right rear tire of McKenna Hasse in turn three on the opening lap of the first heat race sending him hard into the guardrail. The mangled car would then take a couple of tumbles before coming to rest and thankfully Shane climbed out uninjured, but with his chances for a Saturday night championship all but washed away......He did somehow tally 361 total points ranking him 28th in the standings for the night so apparently drivers still earn points for races that they do not participate in. This assumption is backed up by the fact that Chase Porter earned 230 points despite never taking a lap after popping a motor in hot laps......Once back to green in that first heat race, Scelzi would come from fourth to nip Hasse at the line on lap one and then cruise to an easy victory. McKenna would then ward off a late charge from Ryan Giles to secure the fourth and final transfer position.....After starting third, seventeen-year-old Chase Randall would charge to the lead on the second lap and then drive away for the win in heat race number two. Sawyer Phillips who had posted the second best time in qualifying would have his night come to an end on lap two with mechanical issues and the battle for the fourth and final transfer spot would get wild on the final lap. Matt Covington had passed Garet Williamson for the position, but when Covington got a little out of shape in turn two, Williamson would have a big run on him down the back stretch. Entering turn three Covington went toward the bottom, the same line that Williamson was heading for and that would lead to nose-to-tail contact as Williamson tried to make a quick lane change to the top. Covington would save his car from a spin while Williamson also tried to salvage momentum and they would now exit turn four side-by-side. One more bit of contact would occur as Covington tried to ride him out, but it would be Williamson who would take the position that would eventually land him on the front row of the main event. This is what I love about Knoxville's format, because if this battle for fourth comes out differently, it completely changes everything else for the remainder of the night!.....Heat three would see Parker Price-Miller win from the front row with Kennedy, Eliason and Henderson coming from fourth, fifth and sixth respectively to make the transfer.....A three-car battle for fourth during the early laps of the fourth heat was worth the price of admission in itself as Aaron Reutzel, Austin McCarl and Sam Hafertepe Jr. duked it out trading sliders and crossovers amongst themselves before Reutzel was able to clear himself from that battle and then charge to second at the checkers behind Rookie-of-the-Nationals contender Corey Day. McCarl had to stand on the brakes to keep from being pinched into the guardrail by Hafertepe exiting turn two mid-race and once again the results of one of these heat race battles goes a long way in determining the outcome of the evening as Hafertepe would race on to third while McCarl was not able to catch Alex VandeVoort in time to crack the top four.....Hometown driver Devin Kline would be the only pole-sitter to win a heat race tonight in the fifth qualifier with Ayrton Gennetten moving from sixth to second to help him toward his second best point total on the night.....The B-Main had some trouble getting started as on the first attempt a scramble mid-pack would send Ryan Giles backing into the guardrail just before the entrance to turn one. On the second try Scott Bogucki would get crossed up exiting turn two with Nathan Mills being the victim of a rollover as drivers tried to avoid. Once the twelve lap event was able to get underway four of the top five starters, McCarl, Covington, Jack Dover and Riley Goodno would claim the final four starting spots in the night's A-Main while pole-sitter, and the first driver to take time earlier in the night, Tyler Blank would fade to sixth.

Scelzi, Hafertepe and Reutzel joined by Mt. Pleasant native Abby Liechty in Victory Lane - Barry Johnson photo

My evening started with the most friendly and happy young lady at the Credentials building who greeted me as if I were a long lost friend. I wish that I had asked her name, because she deserves a mention for her hospitality especially when some of us media folk can be real jerks at times. I hope that she maintains that smile throughout the next ten days because it is infectious. (Saturday follow up, her name is Angie) I then made my anticipated visit to the Italian restaurant on the square, Baggio's for a great meal followed by a cold one and some good conversation with Spencer Watts and his crew who have to have one of the best camping spots in town.

We do it all again tonight with an absolutely stacked field of drivers including Kyle Larson, Terry McCarl, Brian Brown, Tyler Courtney, Blake Hahn, fifteen-year-old sensation Ryan Timms and Thursday night's BC39 Midget feature winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's dirt track, Buddy Kofoid all in action. Hot laps will get underway sometime after 7 p.m. with racing to follow. Tickets are primarily General Admission and if you cannot attend in person be sure to tune in the action on DirtVision.

Huddy Owns Davenport

For once lapped traffic actually helped the leader late in a race, either that or Hudson O'Neal's "stick man" waited until the last second to motion his driver up to the top line Tuesday night during the MARS sanctioned Hoker 50 at the Davenport Speedway. The timely lane change on the wide quarter-mile resulted in O'Neal's third straight victory here again over some of the most talented Late Model drivers in the country. And keep in mind that those three wins have come in the second generation hot shoe's only three appearances here in the Quad Cities, so it will come as no surprise when "Huddy" lobbies for more big Late Model shows to be on the schedule here at the Davenport Speedway. Perhaps the continuation of the Silver Dollar Nationals here in 2023? In my mind, and in O'Neal's it would be the perfect venue!

After putting a buzz in the crowd by setting a new track record in qualifying with a lap of 13.350, O'Neal would later have that time bettered by another second generation star Devin Moran who toured the oval in 13.333 in perhaps one of the most entertaining qualifying sessions that I have seen outside of Knoxville's Sprint Car Nationals. It definitely helps having an automated scoreboard that instantly posts the times rather than straining to hear the announcer over the sound of horsepower. Both drivers would be the best of their "groups" in qualifying and win heat races one and three respectively, but in perhaps a flaw in the lineup method Moran would start third with second heat race winner Mike Marlar earning the outside front row next to O'Neal for the fifty-lap $10,000-to-win headliner.

Marlar would edge ahead briefly on the opening lap only to have O'Neal come charging back to go in the scorebook first and the race was on with twenty-eight drivers choosing from one of the many racing lines available on Ricky Kay's and Al Dlouhy's well maintained surface. With O'Neal favoring the low line, Bobby Pierce was on the move and no surprise it was coming on his generally preferred rim ride after starting fifth. And the hottest driver in the country, Jonathan Davenport, was on the move coming from seventh to fourth in the early laps.

The race would stumble though a series of four cautions starting on lap thirteen when Jimmy Owens slowed on the track looking to pit and ending with Bob Gardner's spin in turn one on lap twenty-two. On that final restart, with the bottom now the favored line, Pierce would fade back to fourth and Davenport would quietly exit with Moran and Marlar now appearing to be O'Neal's most formidable foes.

Pierce did not give up on the top though and by lap thirty-five he moved back into second, but with the leader nearly a straightaway ahead of him. Even with most of the cars still in action using a lower line, you could see that top line starting to shine black with rubber and it only took a couple of laps for Pierce to erase the advantage held by O'Neal. Two lapped cars racing for position in the bottom groove just ahead of him may have prompted Hudson to go up top, or it could have been a frantic signal from the "stick man" because Bobby was coming fast only to have O'Neal's sudden lane change block his run.

The final eight laps would be run in high speed fashion around the rubbered up top and while Pierce made two dives to the inside in turns one and two trying to make the pass, he could not get it done as O'Neal would win for the third time in as many starts here at Davenport. Moran would be close behind in third, Max Blair tuned up for the World of Outlaws appearance here in late August with a fourth-place run after starting eighth while Marlar continued his amazing streak of consistency with another top five finish.

Thinking outside of the box, the Benton County Speedway in Vinton is going to run a "Bald Tire Bash" for the IMCA Stock Cars on a Sunday night in August. With the wide racing surface here at Davenport and the history of how much the preferred groove changes over the course of a race, I would like to see the "No Stick Man 50" where the drivers have to continually hunt and search for the best line. All without the assistance of a coach!

Set up the hot pit area out on the back stretch of the half mile and don't allow any crews to be in the infield of the quarter-mile. Make sure that nobody is signaling the driver in anyway. Wouldn't that be awesome? Maybe run it as the preliminary night to a race like this one, where on the second night they can all have their orange vests, fluorescent green hats and those gaudy sticks like Geppetto working their puppet standing on the stage of the front stretch.

Support class action was entertaining as always here in Davenport with a good field of cars in both the Modifieds and the Street Stocks.

The top two drivers in the Quad Cities area so far in 2022 did battle in the Modified twenty lap feature with Travis Denning jumping out to big early lead. A caution on lap nine would put Matt Werner on his tail and the driver that had worked his way up from the eighth starting spot was ready to challenge. Working the inside line Werner would take the point on lap ten, but Denning was not about to give in and he would stay right on Werner's bumper.

With the lead duo using the high line in turns one and two, Denning would execute a slide job to take back the lead going down the back stretch with three laps to go only to have Werner driver under him again in turns three and four. That would seal the deal for the Geneseo, Illinois, driver as he scored his seventh victory of the season, three of them coming in the past couple of weeks. Denning was right there in second, Ryan Duhme finished third, Chris Zogg advanced from seventh to fourth and young Charlie Mohr filled out the top five.

The Street Stock division car count was bolstered by four or five IMCA legal Stock Cars who were racing for some extra money as the top finisher of that group, but everybody would be chasing Jeff Struck Jr. who drew the pole position and held the lead throughout the distance. Rob Henry tried his best to pull even with Struck on the outside over the final laps making one last bid on the final lap but he came up a car length short as Struck scored the win. Jesse Owen was closing quickly in third after starting from the fifth row and David Brandies collected the IMCA legal bonus money in fourth after challenging Struck for the lead on a lap nine restart. Justin Kay would wrap up the top five.

Thanks as always to Ricky and Brenda Kay for their hospitality and for putting on another excellent mid-week special where the final checkered flag waved before 10 p.m.! I'm hoping for the same timeline tonight as I make the trip a little farther upstream on the Big Muddy to the annual Dubuque County Fair where the Sprint Invaders are again ready to attack the wide high banks at the Dubuque Speedway. Perhaps we'll see you there!

Davenport In Davenport

Nezworski Takes Only Late Model Checkers For 2022 In Vinton

Benton County Speedway promoters Rick and Corey Dripps had planned on having the Late Models join their Sunday night program in Vinton at least three times in 2022, but Mother Nature had other plans on those first couple of nights. Finally the weather cooperated last night and it looked like the perfect opportunity to draw a big field of cars since both Dubuque and East Moline, tracks that race the IMCA Late Models weekly on Sunday nights, were not in action due to the setup and tear down respectively of their county fairs. While the assumption was a good one, that big field of Late Models did not materialize as expected, but the twelve drivers who did make the trip in put on a good show along with the track's regular six classes and a good-sized crowd enjoyed an evening that finally had a cool breeze blowing in form the north.

This was a also a big night for the Legend Cars who were raising money for Concerns of Police Survivors or COPS and after providing a touching salute during opening ceremonies the Legends would later contest the first of seven feature races on the night. Griffin McGrath would come from his third starting spot to take the point on the opening lap and the driver from Cedar Rapids who earlier this year won a Big 8 series Late Model race on the pavement at Hawkeye Downs would ward off the challenges of Parker Jones until lap seven when Jones would spin in turn two in trying to take the lead.

On the restart Jordan Miklas would drive under McGrath in one and two to take the point and soon Michael Weber would drop McGrath to third. With four laps remaining there would be another caution for a second place car as Weber went spinning off the back stretch. McGrath would stay close to Micklas after the restart, but he could not mount a challenge as the Wisconsin native scored his fifth win of the season here. Jones rallied back through the pack to finish third with Robby Morrison and Kasey Korsmo coming from the back of the thirteen car field to complete the top five.

The twelve-lap Sport Compact main event would become a two car battle between drivers who were both looking for their first career feature win. Nolan Tuttle started third, but would lead the opening laps only to have Spencer Roggentien pull even with him as the duo went under the crossed flags on lap six. Tuttle would fight off that challenge only to have Roggentien come right back at him to take the lead by inches as lap nine was scored.

That was important because soon after the caution would wave for debris on the race track and it would now be Roggentien that would bring the field back to green for the final three laps. Tuttle would make one good run at the new leader once back to green only to to have Roggentien ward him off to take his first ever victory. Blake Driscol came from the fifth row to finish in the third spot, Stephen Schmitz who last week won his first feature came from twelfth to fourth and Colton Stewart rallied from the back after having to change a tire to finish in fifth.

The Late Models would be up next for twenty laps of non-stop action that would see pole-sitter Dalton Simonson race out to a big advantage while the racing for position went on behind him. Once the fourth starting Andy Nezworski cleared Bobby Hansen for second he would have more than a straightaway lead to eat into in order to catch Simonson and he would do just that lap by lap. 

That lead had disappeared with five laps remaining and on lap sixteen Nezworski drove under Simonson exiting turn four to take the point. Dalton battled back though and with a lapped car racing in that lower line of Nezworski's, Simonson would come back to lead again on lap seventeen. With that lapped car now cleared Nezworski again went to that lower line and as the white flag waved Andy would complete the pass and take the win in just his second appearance ever here at Vinton. Simonson would have to settle for the runner-up position with Hansen a bit further back in third. The battle for fourth was entertaining in itself with five cars battling for position during the final half of the race. Kevin Kirkpatrick would prevail followed by Darren Ackerman in his first night out for 2022.

After veteran driver Vern Jackson spun in turn four after leading the first two laps it looked like we might also have a first time feature winner in the Sport Mods as Josh Banes was fast and consistent around the quarter-mile oval. Three more cautions mid-race though would keep the competition close to Banes and on lap twelve he could no longer fight off the challenges of Joe Docekal who completed the pass that would take him to victory.

Docekal had come from the inside of row seven to score the win over Banes who still celebrated his first ever top five finish with the runner-up honors. Colby Heishman posted his best finish of the season thus far in third while Ben Chapman and Brandon Tharp completed the top five. Chapman's race had started from just in front of Docekal in row six.

In his first full season behind the wheel of a Modified, Dallon Murty has been a quick study and no surprise has found victory lane often, especially here in Vinton. Jesse Belez made him work for it tonight though as Murty quickly moved from eighth to second only to have Belez hold him off for eight laps after an early restart. With seven circuits remaining Murty would complete the pass and then drive away to another win while Belez posted his best finish of 2022 so far in second. Chris Snyder would finish where he started in third with the same being said for Mark Schulte in fourth while fifth went to Brennen Chipp.

After winning the Hobby Stock feature at Hawkeye Downs on Friday night, Scott Siems was looking to pull off the rare pavement/dirt weekend double as he would set the pace for the first three circuits of the fifteen lap Hobby Stock main event only to have young Joren Fisher go charging by on lap four. With Fisher now driving off on his way to victory Siems was tasked with holding off the challenges of Matt Brown, Dalton Weepie and Brett Vanous over the closing laps and he was successful in doing so to take the second place money.

Brown would complete the podium in third while the fourth-place finish of Vanous was impressive considering that he had taken a hard rollover on the front stretch during his heat race. Weepie would complete the top five.

The Stock Cars would close out the night and, as they so often do at any track that we visit, they would leave the fans abuzz as they headed for home with an exciting finish. Norman Chesmore had raced out to a big lead early, but as the laps were ticking away it looked like the veteran driver might have been getting too conservative entering the corners as he tried to stay glued to the bottom of the quarter-mile oval.

With four laps remaining Jason Doyle was just about ready to drive around Chesmore one line up only to have the caution wave for Russell Damme Jr. who had spun in turn three. For the restart Chesmore would bring Doyle and Kaden Reynolds back to the green and both drivers would charge around the outside of the leader in turns one and two. Reynolds would lead by a nose at the stripe on lap twelve of this fifteen lap event, but Doyle had stayed on his inside and was able to squeeze into the lead with two laps remaining.

This would be when the kid would show his ability as he would enter turn one high and then shoot for the bottom to exit turn two and when Doyle left him just enough room it would now be Reynolds who would have the preferred inside line taking the lead again as the white flag waved. Doyle would give it a valiant effort on the final lap, but he could not make the pass as Reynolds posted his tenth win in this his rookie season in the Stock Cars. Shaun Bistline would nip Chesmore at the checkers to finish third while Scooter Dulin completed the top five.

On a night where I thought we might see some cars from other tracks who had the night off, the only real "surprise" entrant was Tommy Fain who had brought his Stock Car here all the way from Abilene, Texas. A big thanks to Rick and Corey Dripps for their hospitality and as always to announcer Ryan Clark for his kind words about what we do here at Positively Racing. The seven division Sunday night program wrapped up at 9:20 which isn't too bad for the local fans and while the addition of the Late Models was part of the reason we came, in my opinion seven classes is one or two too many for any show. But I guess that is what you need to make ends meet these days.

The Benton County Speedway will take next Sunday July 31st off for a mid-summer break before closing out their 2022 schedule with with three nights of action in August.

Next up for me will be the MARS Late Model show at the Davenport Speedway on Tuesday night, then on Wednesday the Sprint Invaders will make their annual visit to the Dubuque County Fair. Hope to see you there!

Andy Eckrich Collects $3K In SLMR Debut At Lee County

After being rained out here in 2021, Joe Kosiski's Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series finally made its long awaited debut in the southeast corner of the state Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Mother Nature did her best to try to take a repeat victory with a burst of heavy rain in the morning, and with overcast skies the rest of the day the black dirt at the 3/8th-mile D-shaped track had plenty of moisture in it for the great field of 32 Super Late Models along with nice counts in the track's weekly divisions.

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!

Werner and Anderson Are The Headliners At Cedar County Fair

With my Wednesday work day wrapping up earlier than expected I made the late decision to make the 75 mile trip up to Tipton for the annual Cedar County Fair race. Turned out to be a very good decision as "Doctor Dirt", Al Dlouhy, had the quarter-mile in prime condition and with no mid-event farming needed the efficient five division program would start just past seven o'clock and would have the final checkers fall at 9:11.

The IMCA Modifieds paying $1,500 to win and the IMCA Northern Sport Mods paying $1,000 to win were the headliners drawing in twenty-four and twenty-two cars respectively while the Midwest Jalopies, Mod Lites and Four Cylinder Sport Compacts filled out the card in front of a nearly full grandstand at the well run county fair.

The Jalopies would be up first for twelve laps with Tim Bader leading the opening circuit before a caution waved for debris. On the restart Late Model ace Justin Kay, who had jumped at the opportunity to drive this 1947 Ford for the evening, would move to the lead after starting eighth in the nine car field. It would now be a race for second as Kay drove away to the victory and Bader would fight off the challenges from Mark Merfeld to claim the runner-up spot. Austin Honts and Jeff Blunt would complete the top five.

A nice mixture of drivers ranging from north central Illinois to central Iowa made up the fourteen entries in the Mod Lite division and it would be the driver from the furthest east Brandon Freeburg from Metamora, Illinois, that would bolt to the lead from the pole position. Perhaps the pre-race favorite, R.J. Gonzalez quickly moved from fourth to second working the top rim of the track, but when he slipped over the top of turn four on the second lap Gonzalez would drop to ninth in the running order. With Cory Sonner, Mike Zemo Jr. and Jon Padilla battling for second, Freeburg would drive away for the convincing victory. Zemo would prevail for the runner-up position while Gonzalez raced his way back up to third at the checkers. Padilla would finish in the fourth spot while Sonner closed out the top five.

The twenty-two car Sport Mod field boasted six of the top nine in the current All Iowa Points standings, so you knew that this would be a good one and two of those top ranked drivers, Shane Paris and Brayton Carter, would bring the field to green as the front row. Carter would use the top line to take the lead and he would pace the field until the caution waved on lap six when Kevin Rasdon was turned around as he exited turn four.

On the restart Paris would find the bite that he was looking for down low and he would take the point from Carter who would then drop out of the race a few laps later. Current AIP leader, and the defending Limited Modified champion Logan Anderson had now moved to second after starting sixth and when Paris left the bottom open, Anderson took the invitation to move to the lead on lap ten. After fading early from the third starting spot, Jarrett Franzen found some speed in the second half of the race and he would steadily close the gap on the leader, but with Anderson staying patient on the bottom while working traffic that would allow him to hold off Franzen to take the win.

This would be the second race for Anderson in a car that he had to put back into action after rolling his primary car back on July 3rd in Quincy. Franzen was a close second, Ben Chapman thrilled his local crowd base with a third place run, Paris held on to fourth while Justin Becker came from twelfth to fifth.

Only nine Four Cylinders signed in for the night, but they were all good ones and this would quickly become a battle of the two second row starters, Jake Benischek and Cyle Hawkins. With Benischek riding the top and Hawkins digging around the bottom while lifting his left rear wheel high in the air, it would be Benischek by inches to lead lap one. Hawkins would stay within striking distance throughout the twelve lap distance although he could never mount a challenge as Jake would take the win over Cyle. Shawn McDermott, Mitch Bielenberg and Drew Wise would wind up the top five.

Twenty-five laps of Modified action would wrap up the evening as the sunset provided a beautiful back drop with Matt Werner taking the lead from the pole position. Drew Janssen took up the chase in second, but the race to watch was for third as Brad Dierks, Justin Kay and Jeff Larson would go at it for several laps before disaster struck for the defending IMCA Modified National Champion. Announcer Jason "Big Boy" Frommelt described it best as when Dierks and Kay went by the lapped car of Nick Hillyer, it perhaps "spooked" Hillyer who suddenly changed lanes going down the back stretch on lap ten and right into the path of Larson. The contact sent Larson spinning off the top of the race track and the resulting front end damage would end his evening.

The restart would erase the big lead that Werner had built and many in the large crowd anticipated a challenge from one of their local favorites in Dierks or Kay. Werner had other ideas though as he again drove away from the field and would click off the final fifteen laps to win in impressive fashion. Dierks would slip past Janssen temporarily for second before the young driver from Pella rallied back to be the runner-up. Dierks and Kay would go third and fourth while Spencer Diercks would come from ninth to finish in fifth.

Since I didn't go to the pits I did not get my annual Kathy Dlouhy fix, but you can bet that she was a big reason why this show ran off in such fine fashion. Don't forget that Tipton will host the Gary Reinhart Memorial on Friday July 29th and will then close out the 2022 season with the Darkside's Annual Fall Bash Thursday through Saturday September 29th, 30th and October 1st.

More county fair action is on tap for me tonight as the Sprint Invaders return to the Davis County Fair in Bloomfield, then on Friday night I look forward to the SLMR visit to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Keep an eye out for us on the Back Stretch!