Despite pulling the #6 from the hat after winning the Fast Dash, Chad Simpson didn't let a third row start deter him as he powered to the win in the Dart Corn Belt Clash Late Model Series at Fayette County Speedway.
Twenty-two Late Models signed in to compete on the opening night of the 2011 Fayette County Fair and a few of those entries played a role in the outcome of the 35-lapper when they became lapped traffic to the leaders.
At the start of the feature, Chris Simpson took the lead from his pole position starting spot. He paced the field for two laps until the caution flag waved. While under caution, the leader exited to the pits with a flat tire, leaving Jason Utter and Justin Mitchell on the front row for the restart.
Utter took command when racing resumed as Chad Simpson made his way to the front after restarting fourth. Running the low groove, Simpson squeezed beneath Utter to take the lead a couple laps later while Jason Rauen worked into the top five running the high groove.
Midway through the race, Rauen made his way into second and attempted to cut into Simpson's straightaway lead. With the assistance of lapped traffic blocking Simpson's progress on the low side of the smooth, fast oval, Rauen was able to close the gap in quick fashion.
With five laps to go, Rauen pulled even with Simpson, then shot passed him for the lead as Simpson struggled with the lapped cars. Simpson made his way below the backmarkers and was able to stay close to Rauen when the new leader encountered lapped traffic of his own a short time later. This allowed Simpson to sneak beneath Rauen when the flying green waved as Simpson drove to the exciting win.
For Simpson, it was his fourth series win this season and the 14th of his career. The current points leader's 14 career wins have come at 11 different tracks. It was Simpson's second win this season at West Union.
FEATURE (35 laps, with starting positions)
1. (6) 25 Chad Simpson (Mt. Vernon)
2. (11) 98 Jason Rauen (Farley)
3. (2) 31 Jason Utter (Columbus Junction)
4. (7) 45 Curt Martin (Independence)
5. (5) 28X Justin Mitchell (Cedar Rapids)
6. (12) 77 Kurt Kile (Nichols)
7. (20) 15H Jeremiah Hurst (Dubuque)
8. (14) 50 Denny Eckrich (Tiffin)
9. (1) 32 Chris Simpson (Oxford)
10. (10) 1M Rob Moss (Iowa City)
11. (19) 20 Jake Meier (Tipton)
12. (15) 78 Rick Wendling (Hazleton)
13. (17) 5M Mike Freyer (Freeport, IL)
14. (3) 3 Kevin Sather (Ankeny)
15. (22) 9T Tim Isenberg (Marshfield, WI)
16. (21) 58 Dave Eckrich (Cosgrove)
17. (18) 15C Curt Schroeder (Ames)
18. (16) 45H Todd Hansen (Muscatine)
19. (9) 22 Jill George (Cedar Falls)
20. (13) 33L Joe Ludemann (Grand Meadow, MN)
21. (8) 88 Kevin Kile (West Liberty)
22. (4) 15K Justin Kay (Wheatland)
In other action, Jimmy Broszeit ran the high side to the big early lead in the 15-lap B Mod main event. As Broszeit distanced himself from the field, Jake Timm made an impressive run on the low side. Assisted by a few cautions, Timm stayed close with the leaders and made his bid for the lead following a lap 11 restart. He pulled away from the field to score the victory ahead of Broszeit and Troy Hovey.
1. 19 Jake Timm
2. 88X Jimmy Broszeit
3. 76X Troy Hovey
4. 56H Brandon Hare
5. 23B Brett Bumgardner
6. 21 Curtis Engen
7. 14M Brian Mahlstedt
8. 8X Josh Roney
9. 21K Ron Kruger
10. 98 Kyle Anderson
11. 17 Boyd Halverson
12. 14 Brian Schrage
13. 7 Chad Dugan
14. 21W Chris Weigert
15. 10T Trevor Fecht
16. 29X Paul Fauser
17. 96 Lucas Lundry
18. 12B Paul Brandenburg
19. 25 Alan Wessels
20. 198 Sam Wieben
Chris Hovden used the high line to make a mid-race pass on leader Scott Spilde to drive to the win in the Hobby stock feature.
1. 70C Chris Hovden
2. 18 Scott Spilde
3. 22 Steve Larson
4. 70 Steve Holthaus
5. 16 Dan Hovden
6. 30 Steve Ritter
7. 35B Shawn Kuennen
8. 98R John Roete
9. 82 Al Niles
10. 000 Ruth Fels
11. 95 Matt Lundry
12. 79 Benji Irvine
Adam Gates swapped the lead with Matt Durnan during the early stages of the Hornet feature before Gates broke free from that battle to drive to the convincing win.
1. 007 Adam Gates
2. 99 Matt Durnan
3. 2X Nate Becker
4. 19 Paul Seabrooke
5. 18 Dylan Clinton
6. 68 Matt Kimball
7. 70 Brian Kimball
8. 7X Zach Marmann
9. 14 Arthur Schott
After the leaders engaged in early three and four-wide battles at the front of the pack, Brian Irvine slipped through to take the lead on his way to victory in the Stock Car feature.
1. 26 Brian Irvine
2. 67 Kyle Falck
3. 25 Dan Jones
4. 20 Dan Trimble
5. 23 Matt Jones
6. 97 Lynn Panos
7. 00 Danny Cole Jr.
8. 55 Derek Dettmann
9. 00B Jeff Fels
10. 37 Loren Kuennen
11. 98 Jeff Roete
12. 68 Tracy Quigley
13. G1 Mike Padden
14. 42 Dan Christopher
Tuesday was the first of three straight nights of Corn Belt Clash action. On Wednesday, I'll be behind the mic at Highway 3 Raceway in Allison for night number two before the final night of the three day stretch on Thursday at CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction. I hope to see you there!
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