Race fans filled the grandstands at Independence Motor Speedway on Wednesday night for the Red Dralle Memorial as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models made its annaul visit to the Buchanan County Fairgrounds. A track record-tying 50 Late Models signed in to compete in the event, which honored Red Dralle, a veteran Late Model driver at the speedway who passed away last October. By the end of the 84-lap feature, a distance recognizing Dralle's first car number, Jeff Aikey took home the $5,004 winner's share in a thrilling event that left fans on the edges of their seats until the checkers waved.
At the drop of the green, pole-sitter Joe Zrostlik paced the field with fellow front row starter Nate Beuseling in tow. Third row starter Colby Springsteen made it a three-car break-out at the front of the pack as he joined the lead pair following the first lap.
The leaders remained unchanged, but within striking distance of each other until Beuseling was able to make his way around Zrostlik just prior to the race's first caution on lap 17. Just prior to the caution, Zrostlik fell back to fourth as Justin Reed, who started in the third row outside of Springsteen, and Ray Guss Jr advanced positions. Reed then began to reel in the leaders when the caution waved.
When racing resumed, Reed motored around the high side of Springsteen and chased Beuseling for a number of laps. The leaders briefly ran in three-wide formation with Reed holding the point before a pair of stoppages on laps 35 and 37. Stephan Kammerer and Aikey, who started in rows four and five, worked into the top five a few laps prior to the pair of cautions and restarted in row three behind the leaders.
On the lap 37 restart, Aikey swept past Kammerer, Springsteen and Beuseling in just a couple of laps to settle into second as the race reached its midway point. Aikey chased down the leader as those two battled for the lead, entering lapped traffic on lap 49. Aikey was able to take advantage of the backmarkers and slipped beneath Reed on the 55th circuit. He never looked back as drove to the exciting win. Reed ran second at the line. Springsteen and Kammerer were able to close late as the leaders raced through traffic, running a close third and fourth, respectively. Beuseling completed the top five.
A trio of drivers advanced 12 positions from thier starting spots, however Bryan Klein earned the best finish among those drivers by moving from 19th to seventh. As a result, he earned a $504 bonus as the race's hard charger. All purse money ended in "4" on the night in recognition of the car number Dralle drove at the end of his career.
Feature (starting positions in parentheses)
1. (10) 77 Jeff Aikey, Waterloo
2. (6) 1ST Justin Reed, Collinsville, IL
3. (5) 38 Colby Springsteen, Morning Sun
4. (8) 77K Stephan Kammerer, Blue Grass
5. (2) 46 Nate Beuseling, Silvis, IL
6. (4) 58 Ray Guss Jr., Milan, IL
7. (19) 25 Bryan Klein, Cedar Rapids, IA
8. (16) 28C Terry Neal, Ely
9. (9) 56 Andy Eckrich, Iowa City
10. (22) 33 Nick Marolf, Moscow (hard charger provisional)
11. (23) 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah (points provisional)
12. (11) 73 Greg Kastli, Waterloo
13. (24) 42 Tom Darbyshire, Morning Sun (points provisional)
14. (20) 22 Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake
15. (1) 50 Joe Zrostlik, Long Grove
16. (7) 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo
17. (14) 12J T.J. Criss, Oskaloosa
18. (13) 21B Joel Brasch, Dunkerton
19. (12) 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn
20. (17) 14M Mike Murphy Jr., Colona, IL
21. (3) 16S Dan Shelliam, Hazel Green, WI
22. (18) 07 Matt Ryan, Davenport
23. (21) 7B Mark Burgtorf, Quincy, IL
24. (15) 45 Curt Martin, Independence
First heat (3 qualify, 2 redraw) - 1. Eckrich; 2. Reed; 3. Kastli; 4. Neal; 5. Murphy; 6. G1 Mike Garland, Morrison, IL; 7. 53 Darren Ackerman, Readlyn; 8. 98 Travis Smock, Independence; 9. Sam Halstead, New London; 10. 21 Ryan Duhme, Lamotte.
Second heat - 1. Kammerer; 2. Beuseling; 3. Hackwell; 4. Klein; 5. McKenna; 6. 99 Luke Pestka, Robins; 7. Darbyshire; 8. 40 Joel Callahan, Dubuque; 9. 60 Dean Wagner, Evansdale; 10. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly.
Third heat - 1. Shelliam; 2. Aikey; 3. Brasch; 4. Ryan; 5. Bruening; 6. 42S Matt Strassheim, Morning Sun; 7. 76 Jason Hahne, Webster City; 8. 21M Luke Merfeld, Dubuque; 9. 14 Boone McLaughlin, Mediapolis; 10. 88 Drew Johnson, Belle Plaine.
Fourth heat - 1. Zrostlik; 2. Springsteen; 3. Criss; 4. 38S Dain Sires, Cedar Falls; 5. 4D Rick Dralle, Waterloo; 6. 78 Rick Wendling, Hazleton; 7. 15K Justin Kay, Wheatland; 8. 777 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; 9. 95 Eric Sanders, Coal Valley, IL; 10. 68 Tysus Pattee, Vinton.
Fifth heat - 1. Passick; 2. Guss; 3. Martin; 4. 44 Luke Goedert, Holy Cross; 5. Burgtorf; 6. 99D Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown; 7. 93 Jay Johnson, West Burlington; 8. 3 Kevin Sather, Ankeny; 9. Marolf; 10. 2V Vic Lovejoy, Manilla.
First B feature (top 3 transfer) - 1. Neal; 2. Ryan; 3. McKenna; 4. Goedert; 5. Garland; 6. Strassheim; 7. Dralle; 8. DeFrance; 9. Darbyshire; 10. Merfeld; 11. Sather; 12. Duhme; 13. Kay; 14. Smock; 15. Lovejoy; 16. Sanders; 17. D. Johnson; 18. Wagner.
Second B feature - 1. Murphy; 2. Klein; 3. Burgtorf; 4. J. Johnson; 5. Marolf; 6. Sires; 7. Pestka; 8. McLaughlin; 9. Callahan; 10. Ackerman; 11. Wendling; 12. Pattee; 13. Bruening; 14. Hahne; 15. Halstead; 16. Thomsen; DNS Pattee.
Along with the Late Models, 35 IMCA Stock Cars signed in for the second night of the Great American Stock Car Series. After being rained out at Buena Vista Raceway in Alta on Monday, the the three-day series was shortened to two days with the first night of action taking place on Tuesday at Marshalltown Speedway.
At the start of the 30-lapper at Independence, Justin Temeyer took the lead. He paced the field until an early caution following lap one. On the restart, Sean Johnson shot to the inside of both Temeyer and second-running Damon Murty to take command by lap two until the second of three caution flags waved on lap three.
On the restart, Johnson set sail, leaving Temeyer to battle with pole-sitter Murty for second. Murty quickly worked beneath Temeyer and then attempted to reel in Johnson, who was pulling away from the field on the high groove. As Johnson led, Tuesday night's winner, Donavon Smith, was making his way through traffic from a fourth row start. Smith snuck past Temeyer for third on lap seven, then went to work on cutting into his sizable deficit. Johnson, Murty and Smith ran 1-2-3 until the third and final caution waved on lap 21, just as the leaders entered lapped traffic.
When racing resumed and with a clear track in front of him, Johnson again showed the way despite having defending series champion Murty and current series points leader Smith hot on his heels. He led the remaining nine circuits to score the first series win of his career, earning $1,004 in the process. Murty and Smith followed. By virtue of his first and third place finishes, I believe Smith clinched the series title by a single point over Johnson, who finished fourth at Marshalltown on Tuesday. Trent Murphy, who earned one of the final qualifying spots from a B feature, made an impressive run through the field to finish fourth after starting 21st.
Feature
1. (3) 8R Sean Johnson, Independence
2. (1) 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea
3. (7) 35 Donavon Smith, Lake City
4. (21) 25 Trent Murphy, Jefferson
5. (9) 21X Devin Snellenberger, Pulaski, WI
6. (2) 56T Justin Temeyer, Independence
7. (10) 36 Larry Karcz, Pulaski, WI
8. (14) 3W Jeff Wollam, Marshalltown
9. (11) 19J Jay Schmidt, Tama
10. (8) 57 John Heinz, Green Bay, WI
11. (18) 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton
12. (16) 32 Derek Green, Granada, MN
13. (4) 1330 Justin Jacobsen, Black Creek, Wi
14. (24) 17 Kenny Hansen, Audubon
15. (22) 22K Kevin Rose, Waterloo
16. (20) 27J Jason Cook, Mt. Pleasant
17. (6) 09M Brett Mather, Lamont
18. (19) 24 Eric Brown, Boone
19. (15) 89B Dave Stricker, Waterloo
20. (13) R31 Ryan Leeman, Roland
21. (23) 1SW Tony Ritterbush, Dunlap
22. (12) 20M Perry Misner, Garden City, KS
23. (5) 75 Curt Hook, Ackley
24. (17) Steve Meyer, Grundy Center
First heat (top 4 qualify, 3 redraw) - 1. Karcz; 2. Hook; 3. Misner; 4. Leeman; 5. Meyer; 6. 69 Jake Ludeking, Decorah; 7. 10 John Schaefer, La Porte City; 8. Ritterbush; 9. Murphy.
Second heat - 1. Smith; 2. Temeyer; 3. Murty; 4. Wollam; 5. Brown; 6. 321 Dan Feltus, Allison; 7. 76 Mike Galli, Urbana; 8. 20L Lauren Vis, LeGrand; 9. 18 Tom Schmitt, Independence.
Third heat - 1. Jacobsen; 2. Snellenberger; 3. Heinz; 4. Stricker; 5. 83E Thomas Thompson, Hopkinton; 6. 9E Austin Evens, Independence; 7. 92 Dan Mackenthun, Hamburg, MN; 8. Weepie; 9. 37C Roger Ciesielski, Waterloo.
Fourth heat - 1. Johnson; 2. Schmidt; 3. Mather; 4. Green; 5. J. Cook; 6. Rose; 7. Hansen; 8. 27R Ryan Cook, New London.
First B feature (top 4 transfer) - 1. Meyer; 2. Brown; 3. Murphy; 4. Ritterbush; 5. Schaefer; 6. Ludeking; 7. Galli; 8. Vis; 9. Feltus; DNS Schmitt.
Second B feature - 1. Weepie; 2. J. Cook; 3. Rose; 4. Hansen; 5. Evens; 6. Mackenthun; 7. Thompson; 8. R. Cook; 9. Ciesielski.
The IMCA SportMods were also on-hand as 18 open wheel machines signed in to compete. In that 20-lap feature, Brad Lautenbach made his first-ever visit to the speedway pay off as the Wisconsin driver took the $504 winner's share back to the Badger state.
Racer Hulin, also making his first-ever visit to Independence, took the early lead as Tyler Droste and Ken Kositzky gave chase. Meanwhile, Lautenbach, who did not qualify for the redraw and started the feature in 11th, quickly worked through the field. He sped past Kositzky for third just four laps into the event, then reeled in Droste for second just prior to the midway point on lap nine.
The lone caution of the race came on lap 12, bunching the field for the restart. When racing resumed, Lautenbach took just two laps to dispose of Hulin as he drove to the impressive victory.
SPORTMOD
Feature
1. (11) 21L Brad Lautenbach, New Franken, WI
2. (2) 505 Racer Hulin, Laurel
3. (4) 92 Tyler Droste, Waterloo
4. (3) 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton
5. (12) 25 Tyler Hackett, Algoma, WI
6. (8) 3D Drew Fish, Vinton
7. (7) 26J Joel Rust, Grundy Center
8. (14) 96 Lucas Lundry, Maynard
9. (9) 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls
10. (13) Kip Siems, Cedar Falls
11. (5) Ray Lundry, Maynard
12. (18) 86 Rod McDonald, Manchester
13. (1) K0 Ken Kositzky, Cedar Rapids
14. (15) 36 Matt Pittman, Jefferson
15. (17) 66E Cory Evans, Independence
16. (16) 28P Rick Paulson, Tripoli
17. (6) T17 Tom Rawlins, Kellogg
18. (10) 24B Kyle Bentley, Independence
First heat (top 5 redraw) - 1. Dvorak; 2. Rust; 3. Rawlins; 4. Kositzky; 5. Hulin; 6. Lautenbach; 7. Siems; 8. Pittman; 9. Evans.
Second heat - 1. Buhlman; 2. R. Lundry; 3. Fish; 4. Droste; 5. Bentley; 6. Hackett; 7. L. Lundry; 8. Paulson; 9. McDonald.
It was a beautiful night to honor Red Dralle and a number of Late Model veterans were also on-hand to take in the show. Among those in attendance were Late Model veterans Ed Sanger, Gary Crawford, Bill Zwanziger, Bob Hilmer, Gary Henderson, Larry Wasserfort and Tom Fitzpatrick. Combined, those seven drivers alone account for 112 weekly Late Model wins in the 650+ Late Model features in track history. With Sanger and Crawford being in attendance and Curt Martin, Greg Kastli and Rick Wendling competing in the event, all of the top five in career Late Model wins in speedway history were on-hand. Those five drivers account for 254 career wins in weekly Late Model racing alone at Independence.
Special thank you to Rick Dralle and his crew for all the hard work they did to make last night a success. It definitely paid off as the tribute to his father was undoubtedly a showcase event. After a couple days off, my next race will be the seventh weekly points race of the season at Independence this Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
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