Andy Eckrich shot into the lead at the drop of the green from his outside front row starting spot. He quickly pulled away from the pack while Bryan Klein, Jeff Aikey and Denny Eckrich pursued. Denny, working the low groove in turn two, shot beneath Aikey to steal third on the third lap, then took over second one lap later in the same set of turns. By the time Denny made his way to second, Andy was already leading by a straightaway.
Andy maintained his lead while Denny pulled away from third running Klein. The margins between the leaders remained the same until Andy encountered lapped traffic at the start/finish line to complete lap eight. It took just two more laps for Denny to reel in the younger Eckrich as he pulled to within a couple car-lengths of the leader, a straightaway ahead of Aikey who was then sitting in third.
Denny chased Andy through the backmarkers for a handful of laps, trying both the high and low grooves to keep pace while maneuvering through slower traffic. Denny saw his chance and shot to the inside of the leader in turn three and inched ahead at the line to complete lap 15. While the leaders traded spots up front, they also swapped racing grooves as they continued to make their way through lapped cars.
Meanwhile, Aikey, who was still running in third, led a three-car pack that included Tyler Bruening and Ray Guss Jr. After running just a few car-lengths apart over the course of a dozen laps, Aikey eventually broke free from that group on lap 22. By that time, both Eckriches encountered heavy lapped traffic, which allowed Aikey to keep them in his sights on the straightaways.
Out front, Andy closed in on Denny and briefly ducked beneath the leader in turns one and two, however Denny eventually pulled away and built a straightaway advantage with 15 laps to go. By that time, Aikey closed to within half of a straightaway of Andy.
Lapped traffic again allowed Andy to close late as he put the nose of his #56 to the inside of the leader exiting turn two on both the flying green and white flag laps. Denny proved to be too strong off the corners and drove to the exciting win in an event that ran caution-free in under 14 minutes. The charge Aikey mounted ran out of steam as he settled for third, nearly a straightaway behind the leaders. Tyler Bruening ran fourth. Series points leader Mike Murphy Jr. came from the 12th starting spot to finish fifth. Nate Beuseling, Kurt Kile and Darrel DeFrance completed the top eight, the only cars remaining on the lead lap when the checkers waved.
FEATURE - 1. 50 Denny Eckrich; 2. 56 Andy Eckrich; 3. 77 Jeff Aikey; 4. 16 Tyler Bruening; 5. 14 Mike Murphy Jr.; 6. 46 Nate Beuseling; 7. 77K Kurt Kile; 8. 99D Darrel DeFrance; 9. 19G Richie Gustin; 10. 93 Jay Johnson; 11. 25 Bryan Klein; 12. 56W Gary Webb; 13. 15 Justin Kay; 14. 38 Colby Springsteen; 15. 40 Joel Callahan; 16. 58 Ray Guss Jr.; 17. 84 Sam Halstead; 18. 72 Doug Yates; 19. 60 Dean Wagner; 20. 9 Ryan Giles; 21. 30 Todd Cooney; 22. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr.; 23. 73 Greg Kastli; 24. 76 Jason Hahne.
First heat (top 5 qualify) - 1. Guss; 2. DeFrance; 3. D. Eckrich; 4. Beuseling; 5. Cooney; 6. Kile; 7. Kay; 8. 5J Jeff Mitrisin; 9. Callahan.
Second heat - 1. Murphy; 2. Aikey; 3. Bruening; 4. J. Johnson; 5. Webb; 6. 45 Curt Martin; 7. 8 Al Johnson; 8. Hahne; 9. Giles.
Third heat - 1. Gustin; 2. A. Eckrich; 3. Wagner; 4. Klein; 5. Kastli; 6. Yates; 7. Halstead; 8. Hackwell; 9. Springsteen.
B Feature (top 6 transfer) - 1. Kay; 2. Kile; 3. Halstead; 4. Giles; 5. Hackwell; 6. Springsteen; 7. Callahan; 8. Yates; 9. Mitrisin; 10. A. Johnson; 11. Hahne; 12. Martin.
* Callahan, Yates and Hahne were points provisionals.
In other action, Jenae Gustin remained on her hot streak in the IMCA SportMod division. Gustin took command on the third lap of that 20-lapper, then held off a hard-charging Racer Hulin to take the thrilling win.
Outside front row starter Andy Tiernan paced the field for the first two laps before Gustin ran the high side into contention from her second row starting spot. She swept past Tiernan to lead three laps before the race's first caution on lap five.
When racing resumed, Eric Elliott worked past Sam Wieben to take second while Hulin was making his way through the field from a sixth row start. Gustin built a near-straightaway advantage by the time Hulin and Carter Vandenberg reeled in second running Elliott. That trio of drivers waged a terrific battle for position, going three-wide in turns three and four at the midway point. Elliott held onto the position until the final yellow flag waved with just five laps to go, just as it appeared Gustin was about to be slowed by a cluster of lapped cars.
On the restart, Gustin again took charge while Hulin slipped past Elliott for the second spot. Hulin remained glued to Gustin's rear bumper, then dove to the bottom of turn four on the final lap. Gustin, however, powered off the top side to drive to the popular win. Austin Kaplan made a nice run from the fifth row to come home third ahead of Elliott.
FEATURE - 1. 19J Jenae Gustin; 2. 505 Racer Hulin; 3. 1 Austin Kaplan; 4. 9E Eric Elliott; 5. 26J Joel Rust; 6. 7 Carter Vandenberg; 7. 198 Sam Wieben; 8. 10H Jack Housley; 9. 321 Andy Tiernan; 10. 23JR Nick Roberts; 11. S16 Kip Siems; 12. 25T Travis Peterson; 13. 33R D.J. Robinson; 14. 02A Cody Albers; 15. 22A Shawn Albers; 16. 777 Jamie Duinink; 17. 7R Ryan Ashton; 18. 93 Josh Burrell; 19. 3 Stacy Clark; 20. T17 Tom Rawlins; 21. 80 Jared Van Deest
First heat - 1. Tiernan; 2. Ashton; 3. Duinink; 4. Burrell; 5. Clark; 6. S. Albers; 7. Rawlins.
Second heat - 1. Gustin; 2. Vandenberg; 3. Rust; 4. Wieben; 5. Roberts; 6. Siems; 7. Robinson.
Third heat - 1. Elliott; 2. Kaplan; 3. Hulin; 4. Peterson; 5. Housley; 6. C. Albers; 7. Van Deest.
In Mod Lite action, Mike Morrill took the lead just past the midway point of that 14-lapper to take the win ahead of Andy Hennigar. I think 95% of every Mod Lite feature I've witnessed involving Morrill has resulted in him visiting victory lane. It was a terrific run around the top once again for the #6. Dusty Masolini ran third.
FEATURE - 1. 6 Mike Morrill; 2. 15 Andy Hennigar; 3. 8 Dusty Masolini; 4. 99 Josh May; 5. 46Z Bryan Zehm; 6. 0B Colby Oberempt; 7. 11R Jason Whitehead; 8. 20 Jeff Stensland; 9. 19JR Danny Foster; 10. 64 Randy Bryan.
First heat - 1. May; 2. Hennigar; 3. Oberempt; 4. Foster; 5. Bryan.
Second heat - 1. Morrill; 2. Zehm; 3. Stensland; 4. Whitehead; 5. Masolini.
Race Notes:
During the first heat of the night, Stacy Clark took an early left turn in his SportMod and went through victory lane before plowing through a billboard just beneath the scoring tower. In the process, he took out a flower planter, the bottom half of the billboard and, oh yeah, all of the trophies to be awarded to the feature winners. Clark was okay, however I'm sure his pride took a wallop... A pair of rollovers slowed down action in the Late Model B feature. First, Curt Martin got crossed up in traffic before spinning and facing the wrong direction. It was early in the event so the field was running very close, which resulted in another car plowing into the side of Martin and sending him on his top right on the front stretch. Although Martin walked away, his car appeared to sustain heavy damage. Hopefully, he'll be able to get it back in shape to defend his points lead at Independence on Saturday... A few laps later, Jeff Mitrisin took a vicious roll off the high side of turn two. Again, Mitrisin was okay, but his car was not. I took a couple of pictures from the tower with my phone. Although they're not the best of quality, you can still make out the damage. They are posted at the end of the blog... Ray Guss Jr. was having a solid run in the top six before he was pinched into the wall coming off turn four after encountering lapped cars. He immediately took his machine to the pits.
It was a great show and, despite the fact that Marshalltown has seen no rain in the last 15 days, the track held up well. Yes, it got dusty as would be expected, however it stayed smooth with multiple grooves of racing all night long. I spoke with promoter Toby Kruse before the show started and he indicated there was no lack of effort in getting moisture in the track. It became a matter of watering the track for the last couple of days until it was too soggy for the water truck to make it around the high banks, let it dry out enough to put more water on it, then go back at it again. Terrific job to Toby and crew for a great night!
Also, thanks to Jeremy Fox for the Positively Racing mention and thanks to Jerry Vansickle for giving me a few moments on the mic. How are those S'mores and weenies, Jerry?
After a couple days away from the track, the busy Memorial Day weekend awaits. After my weekly travels to Donnellson, Independence and Vinton this weekend, I'm heading to Boone Speedway on Monday for their annual Memorial Day special.
Have a great rest of the week and, as always, thanks for reading!
Curt Martin's night came to a rough, early end during the B feature.
Martin and the track crew survey the damage after getting his car back on all fours.
You can partially see the damage to the right side of Martin's car as it is loaded onto a flatbed trailer.
Jeff Mitrisin's #5J getting assisted back to the pits from every angle after a wild ride off turn two.
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