Two months ago, Josh Foster became the first driver in history to win a feature in the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour. Last night, at his "hometown" Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Foster added to that as he became the first driver to win his second feature in series history.
An impressive 47 IMCA Modifieds signed in to compete on the 3/8-mile oval as part of Liberty Cup action to provide an early kick-off to the 4th of July holiday weekend.
At the start of the 30-lap feature, Davenport's Rich Smith took the lead from his pole position start. He survived a pair of yellow flags early to pace the field while Richie Gustin followed and Vern Jackson settled into the third position. Foster was running the high groove after starting in the fifth row and swept into the top three just prior to the next stoppage on lap five.
When racing resumed, Smith continued to work low while Foster went back to work up top. Just one lap later, Foster motored around the outside of his competitors and into the lead, a position he would not give up. While Foster extended his advantage, Smith also started to separate from the pack, leaving Gustin and Jackson to engage in a terrific wheel-to-wheel battle for third. As those two thrilled the crowd, Mark Elliott was working through the field from an eighth row start and into a challenge with Gustin and Jackson.
Out front, Foster came upon lapped traffic with only a handful of laps to go, however he eased through the backmarkers to score the win and extend his series points lead. Smith came home comfortably ahead of the rest to take second. Gustin edged Jackson for third while Elliott completed the top five.
Also on the card for the night was the final of four straight nights for the IMCA Great American Stock Car Series. While down in number (25 cars signed in), the field provided a great show, as the Stock Car division always seems to do.
Pole-sitter Kenneth Hansen held the point at the start of the 30-lap event. Hansen took charge at the drop of the green with John Oliver Jr., Matt Greiner and series points leader Damon Murty in pursuit. Murty made his way into second just prior to a lap five caution, however he quickly went backwards upon the restart while Chris Webb made his way into the mix out front after starting in the third row.
Following another caution on lap seven, Webb went to work on the inside of Hansen and made his bid for the lead just one lap later as the leaders navigated turns one and two. As a majority of the field went to work on the low side, Kyle Frederick, Jim Redmann and Jeff Anderson were the lone rangers working the high groove of the speedway.
Advancing through the field running the bottom was Jason Cook as he worked the low side of Hansen when the flying green waved. Webb continued to lead, however Cook chased him down as soon as he cleared Hansen.
Trying to reel in the leader in the final lap, Cook came up short as Webb drove to the win and $1,000 payday. Cook ran second ahead of Hansen. Frederick and Redmann completed the top five.
Also in action were the Hobby Stocks as 18 of those machines signed in to compete. Pole-sitter Alex Buffington led the entirety of that 15-lap event to take the victory.
It was nice to see a strong field of Modifieds travel to southeast Iowa for this event. I know this was one date that many were questioning as far as car count since it isn't necessarily in the center of HDT country. The Stock Car count was a little disappointing as only 25 showed up for their series finale. Location may have been a factor for the drivers who had been following the series from Kansas and Wisconsin, or it may have been the three straight days of competition prior to that before heading back to their weekly tracks for weekend shows. Regardless, it was a good show overall, with only a couple of snafus.
One thing that admittedly alarmed me was the size of the Modified heats. Knowing there were nearly 50 Mods in the pits, I was expecting no fewer than five, and maybe six, heat races. When the first 12-car heat hit the track, I had a feeling we may be in for a little more carnage than originally anticipated. The four heats that ran had numerous cautions and took almost an hour to complete. While the drivers on-hand were some of the best, this is the first year that many of these guys have been a part of a traveling series and a great number of them have had limited experience at Lee County, if any. At least one driver, Mark Schulte of Delhi, didn't make it through turns one and two on the first lap of his heat before being involved in an accident (that was no fault of his own), forcing him to end his night far earlier than he planned. It is nice to see a lot of cars competing and earning their feature qualifying spots, but many times, fewer cars in more heats not only moves the show quicker, it provides for even better racing.
Other than that, the night did go a bit later than many hoped, especially for a mid-week show, as it was nearly 11:20 when the final checkered flag waved. I've long been a believer that any race night should have its first feature on the track no later than 9 p.m. If not, it's best for the powers-that-be to scrap any intermission or other planned events for the program. While I understand the novelty of Thursday night's boxcar races and draw/redraw intermission in front of the grandstand, I think it's best to do what you can to save time and get people on the road as close to 10 p.m. as possible. That's a rule that's good to follow for a weekly racing program on Friday and Saturday nights, so it's especially important to do when running a mid-week show and most of your competitors and fans have traveled from long distances.
Overall, the racing was good and provided fans their money's worth. Plenty of two, three and four-race racing throughout the night made for an entertaining evening. The Late Models and 305 Sprints are part of the show tonight in Donnellson as their Independence Day weekend of racing continues.
No racing for me tonight. I'm going to take a night off before heading back to Independence tomorrow night for the seventh night of weekly points racing. After that, I'm hoping to find a new track to hit on Sunday. Having Monday off work for the holiday, I may try to venture to Quincy, Ill., for my first visit. It's a long weekend though, so we'll see what happens.
Regardless what you decide to do, have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment