Jeff Aikey made his way around the outside of Jason Utter just shy of the 10-lap mark and pulled away to lead the remainder of the 35-lap Late Model feature to take his first win of the season in the Corn Belt Clash Late Model Series at Fayette County Speedway.
Pole-sitter Utter took charge at the drop of the green while Aikey, who started right behind him, battled other front row starter Kurt Kile for second. Running the low groove, Aikey broke free of Kile and powered into second a handful of laps into the event.
Moving up to the high side, Aikey quickly ran down the leader and pulled alongside Utter's #31 exiting turn four a few laps later. Aikey then pulled ahead at the start finish line and into the lead, a spot he would not relenquish.
Aikey remained committed to the high side while Utter worked low. Although Aikey held the point, Utter furiously challenged the leader multiple times, pulling even with him down the straightaways. Lapped cars slightly impeded Aikey's progress around the midway point of the event, allowing Utter to stay close as he chased the leader through the backmarkers.
Once Aikey cleared himself from traffic, he dropped to the low side and pulled away from Utter as a terrific multi-car battle for position ensued behind them. Kile, Adam Hensel, Keith Foss, Denny Eckrich and Jason Rauen jockeyed behind Utter as Utter moved to the top groove.
Utter slipped back into that fray as Hensel worked low and Rauen worked high. Hensel battled Foss while Rauen dialed in his #98 on the high side. He swept past his foes and into third, then motored around the outside of Utter late in the race.
Over a straightaway ahead of the field, Aikey drove to the impressive win with Rauen following. Utter held on for third with Hensel and Eckrich completing the top five.
CBC Notes: It was not a good night for a trio of drivers who entered the night in the top five in points. Points leader Chad Simpson pulled to the infield only a couple of laps into his heat race after suffering engine problems. He was unable to start the feature... Chris Simpson, who entered the night second in points, suffered a flat tire on the first lap of the feature to bring out the only yellow flag in the event. He returned prior to the race resuming, however pulled off again in the middle of the event to finish 15th... Dave Eckrich, fourth in points entering the night, also suffered breakage and was also unable to take the green flag in the feature despite winning his heat race.
Corn Belt Clash Late Models
1. 77 Jeff Aikey
2. 98 Jason Rauen
3. 31 Jason Utter
4. 44 Adam Hensel
5. 95 Keith Foss
6. 50 Denny Eckrich
7. 60 Dean Wagner
8. 88 Kevin Kile
9. 29R Becky Roth
10. 3 Kevin Sather
11. 61 Scott Riechers
12. 88X Roger Torgerson
13. 12 Ron Klein
14. 75 Clint Wendel
15. 32 Chris Simpson
16. 15K Justin Kay
17. 77 Kurt Kile
18. 8 Randy Wheeler
19. 45 Curt Martin
20. 25 Chad Simpson
21. 58 Dave Eckrich
Series Points (through July 27)
1. 25 Chad Simpson, 476 points
2. 98X Jason Rauen, 418
3. 32 Chris Simpson, 402
4. 31 Jason Utter, 386
5. 58 Dave Eckrich, 358
6. 3 Kevin Sather, 324
7. 20 Jake Meier, 322
8. 44 Adam Hensel, 288
9. 15K Justin Kay, 278
10. 50 Denny Eckrich, 246
At season's end, drivers will discard their two lowest point events in the 15-race schedule. The points listed above include each driver's best eight finishes through 10 events.
Also on-hand to kick off opening night of the 2010 Fayette County Fair were Modifieds, Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks, all of which were running for weekly track points.
Junior Boyer led from start to finish in the 18-lap B Mod main event. From his outside front row starting spot, Boyer rocketed into the lead at the drop of the green flag and quickly pulled away from the field.
Behind Boyer, Ben Moudry and Brandon Hare entered an exciting wheel-to-wheel battle for the runner-up spot while Matt Jones was working through traffic after starting deep in the field in row seven. Jones made his way into the top four just as Boyer entered lapped traffic when the caution flag waved on lap 11.
When racing resumed, Jones entered the mix for second with Moudry and Hare as Boyer again powered into a big lead. Jones made his way past both Moudry and Hare to take second, but could not reel in the leader as Boyer took the checkers. Hare ran third and Greg Mitchell, who also started in the seventh row, made a nice run to come home fourth. Troy Hovey, who started last in the 20-car field, wowed the crowd to come home fifth.
B Mod
1. 42 Junior Boyer
2. 23 Matt Jones
3. 56H Brandon Hare
4. 20 Greg Mitchell
5. 76X Troy Hovey
6. 85 Ben Moudry
7. 76J Joshua Wedo
8. 88X Jimmy Broszeit
9. 16 Eric Verthein
10. 14M Brian Mahlstedt
11. 196 Ray Lundry
12. 10T Trevor Fecht
13. 25 Alan Wessels
14. 12B Paul Brandenburg
15. 17C Chad Halverson
16. 23B Brett Bumgardner
17. 96 Lucas Lundry
18. 21 Ron Kruger
19. 23A Jeramia Boynton
20. 92C Craig Cordes
A number of cautions slowed the Hobby Stock feature, but Dillon Anderson left little doubt he was the man to beat during the event, which timed out with only a couple of laps remaining.
Justin Bigler held the early lead as he took charge at the drop of the green from his outside front row start. Running the top side, Bigler got caught running a little too high which allowed Anderson to sneak past for the lead midway through the event.
Kyle Anderson and Dan Hovden also made charges to the front, but were unable to reel in the leader as Dillon Anderson scored the win in his first visit to the speedway this season. Steve Larson, who started inside of row seven, proved patience was a virtue as he dodged the cautions and snuck through traffic to come home second. Kyle Anderson held on for third ahead of John Roete and Denny Sacquinte. Hovden ran 14th in the finishing order after being penalized when the rear bumper fell off of his machine to bring out a late caution.
Hobby Stock
1. 44 Dillon Anderson
2. 22 Steve Larson
3. 98 Kyle Anderson
4. 98R John Roete
5. 6 Danny Sacquinte
6. 70 Steve Holthaus
7. 8 Jason Kupka
8. 23 Justin Hanson
9. 64 Nick Taylor
10. 30 Steven Ritter
11. 29 Mick Zweibomer
12. 000 Ruth Fels
13. 8W Dave Wheeler
14. 16 Dan Hovden
15. 5K Keith Schwartzhoff
16. 32 Casey Colsch
17. 41 Jason Hovey
18. 18 Scott Spilde
19. 70C Chris Hovden
20. 88 Robert Anderson
21. 20 Justin Bigler
22. 32X Don Arnold
Pole-sitter Gary Rotenberger led the early stages of the Stock Car feature until a pesky push on his #20R forced him to the high side one too many times in that 18-lap event. Mitch Hovden, who started alongside him and had dropped a few positions early in the race, made his way into second just in time to take advantage of Rotenberger's tight machine midway through the event.
Hovden went on to lead the remainder of that contest to score the victory ahead of a hard-charging Dan Trimble. Trimble, who started eighth, made his way into second with only a few laps remaining and was able to nip away at Hovden's big lead. He came up a car-length short at the line to settle for second. Tory Reicks made his way around Rotenberger late to take third.
Stock Car
1. 15 Mitch Hovden
2. 20 Dan Trimble
3. 27T Tory Reicks
4. 20R Gary Rotenberger
5. 69 Jake Ludeking
6. 97 Lynn Panos
7. 5 Mike Bergan
8. 77D Kirk Fauser
9. 37 Loren Kuennen
10. 98 Jeff Roete
11. 55 Derek Dettmann
12. 00 Jeffory Fels
13. 67 Kyle Falck
14. 7 Rodney Rema
15. 09M Brett Mather
16. 17 Donald Tellin
17. 29X Paul Fauser
18. 00C Danny Cole Jr.
19. 12I Ken Irvine
20. 68 Tracy Quigley
In the evening's finale, Jerry King looked strong early in the Modified feature in his first night in a race car this season. From his pole position start, King, piloting the #91 normally driven by Shawn Ryan, shot into the lead at the drop of the green.
While King led, Kevin Pittman was working through the field from a third row start and into a challenge for second with Mike Darnall just prior to the midway point. Pittman made his way around Darnall then snuck past King a short time later to score the victory. King ran second ahead of J.D. Auringer and Darin Duffy, who both started in the middle of the pack.
Modified
1. 26P Kevin Pittman
2. 91K Jerry King
3. 00 J.D. Auringer
4. 19D Darin Duffy
5. 7M Mike Darnall
6. 27M Mark Schulte
7. 12J Justin O'Brien
8. 41P Keith Pittman
9. 24R Adam Johnson
10. 60 Kurt Krauskopf
11. 24 Tim Heins
12. 93K Jeff Kriz
13. 11B Mike Burbridge
14. 24M Jan Messer
15. 73 Rory Metcalf
16. 8W Duane Roth
A busy night to kick off the fair on a Tuesday night, Chuck and Todd Ihde and the gang did a good job of getting the show in by 10:50. Since other grandstand events fill the schedule for the remainder of fair week, there are no races scheduled for this Friday. Due to that, they wanted to make sure their weekly drivers had the chance to get a race in this week.
Next up for the Ihdes is this Thursday night when the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds invades their other venue, Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah. Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks are also on the card for the July 29 show, with hot laps scheduled for 6:45 p.m. and racing to follow.
After a night off tomorrow, I'll be back in Corn Belt Clash mode on Thursday when the tour makes a stop at CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction during the Louisa County Fair. July 29 is the only appearance for the Late Models on the 4/10-mile oval this season, so take the opportunity to see some of the best Late Model drivers in the region. See you there!
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