A fantastic field of 120-plus cars filled the pits in five divisions Thursday night at Lee County Speedway. Along with a great turnout in the stands, an estimated 1000-plus were in the pit area for the annual Budweiser Customer Appreciation Night.
The program was a unique mix of two premier open wheel series, including the Karl Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds and the Brockway Mechanical & Roofing Sprint Invaders. A fine showing of 32 Mods and 29 Sprints signed in to do battle on the fast 3/8-mile oval.
The Modified field was pared down to 24 starters for the 30-lap feature and pole-sitter Hunter Marriott led the field to green. Marriott paced the field while fellow front row starter Steve Stewart pursued.
Stewart closed in on Marriott working the low side of turn three on the second circuit and pulled even with the leader in that set of turns. The front pair ran wheel-to-wheel until Stewart took the lead exiting turn two on the following lap. He quickly left the field behind while the pack battled for position.
Making a good run through traffic was first B feature winner Richie Gustin, who started inside the seventh row. Gustin worked into the top five in just five laps, then took advantage of a miscue by third-running Tyler Cale. Cale checked up and got a little sideways exiting turn four on lap five, with Scott Dickey and Gustin right behind him. Dickey also checked up, but Gustin had enough room to make other plans and shot around the outside of them. Gustin took over third at the flagstand, then went to work on reeling in Marriott.
With the front three continuing to run in that order for a number of laps, Dickey made his way past Cale for fourth and Ronn Lauritzen, who started in the sixth row, found himself in the top five.
At the halfway point, Stewart was enjoying a full straightaway lead when Gustin caught Marriott. Gustin worked the top side of turn two to pull even with Marriott, then switched things up in turn three when he dove to the bottom. Gustin held the second spot at the flagstand, however those drivers continued to battle for position, swapping second numerous times over the ensuing laps.
In the meantime, Stewart encountered lapped traffic on the 17th circuit, but methodically worked his way through the backmarkers to take the convincing win a straightaway head of Gustin. Marriott, Dickey and Lauritzen completed the top five.
Twenty 360 Sprints took the green flag in the 25-lap Sprint Invaders headliner. Heat and dash winner John Agan led the field to the green flag with Russ Hall, a previous series winner at LCS this season, in second. Josh Schneiderman and Dustin Selvage were running third and fourth when the first caution slowed action on lap seven.
On the restart, Agan pulled away from the pack, leaving Hall in no-man's land in second, with Schneiderman and Selvage closing in during a close battle for third. Selvage worked the top side of Selvage for third on lap 14, just as Agan came upon lapped traffic. Selvage took over third three laps later, however he spun his #73 on the front stretch to bring out the final caution. Schneiderman, too, went to the pits during that stoppage.
Agan was briefly challenged by Hall when racing resumed, however he pulled away over the final laps to complete the evening sweep. Knoxville Raceway regular Wayne Johnson made a terrific qualifying run through the B feature, started 18th on the feature grid, then drove to an impressive third place finish ahead of Randy Martin and Ryan Jamison.
In a wildly entertaining IMCA Northern SportMod feature, Bobby Anders assumed the early lead with Tony Dunker in close pursuit. Anders protected the low groove with Dunker on his rear bumper as the lead pair was half of a straightaway ahead of the pack by the time the yellow flag waved on lap four.
Dunker again pressured Anders on the restart as the leaders pulled away to the same advantage near the midway point on lap nine. Dunker worked the low side of Anders in turns three and four on lap 11 and was able to briefly pull alongside the leader before Anders regained control. Dunker attempted the same maneuver on the following lap, but Anders maintained the point as the caution flag waved again with 12 laps scored complete.
Carter VanDenBerg, who started in row six, worked his way into third by the lap 12 caution. When the green flag waved, he worked the low side of Dunker and was able to steal second until the yellow flag waved again three laps later.
Dunker worked past VanDenBerg when racing resumed, then reeled in Anders for the lead. The front pair swapped racing grooves and the lead numerous times over the final laps, which saw a trio of key restarts. Dunker pulled away on the final restart to take the thrilling win. Anders followed ahead of VanDenBerg, Derek St. Clair and Brett Lowry.
The IMCA Stock Cars also provided a thrilling finish in that 18-lapper. In the early going, it was pole-sitter Jeremy Pundt in control before third row starting John Oliver Jr. raced the high side into contention. Oliver worked the top side of turn two into the lead while Jason Cook started making noise.
Cook ran both high and low on the multi-groove surface and made his way into second on the eighth circuit when he worked the high side of Pundt. Once he cleared Pundt, Cook quickly dropped to the low groove to run down Oliver.
Cook pulled alongside Oliver on the 10th lap as the leaders put on a terrific show, running side-by-side for the remainder of the event. Cook proved to be too fast on the bottom as he drove to the exciting victory. Oliver finished second ahead of Nathan Wood, Ryan Cook and Abe Huls.
It was pure domination in the 15-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature. Adam Gates started outside of row two and took command by the completion of the first lap. He won the event going away to take the win by over a straightaway ahead of Chuck Fullenkamp and Josh Barnes. Bill Whalen Jr. and Austen Becerra rounded out the top five.
Thanks to Dave Sapp, Mike Van Genderen and their crew for the great show and racing surface Thursday night. It was one of the largest car counts I've seen anywhere this season and, by far, the largest count I've seen for a special event. Be sure to check out Positively Racing's Jeff Broeg's take on Thursday action in Donnellson. He was on the mic calling Sprint Invaders action with Bill Wright. His thoughts are on the Back Stretch. LCS regular and scoring aficionado Brian Neal was also in attendance. His report will be in Midwest Racing News.
If you live in southeast Iowa and haven't been a regular visitor of Lee County Speedway, make plans to do it. Thursday's show provided some incredible racing and you'll definitely get your money's worth by a spending a night at the races.
It was a unique experience helping out Thursday night. When flagman Kevin Eggleston was unable to make it to the show, Van Genderen shifted some positions, which left nobody tending to the scales for much of the program. I noticed a line of SportMods at a standstill in the infield following the first qualifier, only to look up to see Brett Lowry patiently waiting on the scales for someone to give him the thumbs-up. If nothing else, I figured I could read numbers and send them to tech.
I had a blast hanging out with IMCA's track relations guru Jim Stannard. When I told him I received a text from someone watching last night's show on XSAN and they wondered why I was working the scales, he felt the need to clarify. He said those folks weren't watching for the scales or tech, they were keeping an eye on the three Bud girls in the infield. You mean there were Bud girls last night, Jim? I guess I hadn't noticed...
Tonight, I'm considering a trip to Marshalltown Speedway for the weekly program there. Initially, I was planning on going to Farley Speedway for the first time since the 2002 Yankee Dirt Track Classic. Since Farley canceled due to the storm much of our area endured early this morning, my plans are now in limbo. If I head west to Marshalltown tonight, I hope to see you there!
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