Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Guss Jr Ends Aikey's Mini-streak at Highway 3 Raceway

As many of you may know, winning races can be streaky. One could go a long time without winning a race, or one could roll off several in a row at any given time. After capturing the previous two Deery Brothers late model feature wins at Oskaloosa and Mason City, I picked series points leader Jeff Aikey to win as I got in the car to head towards the Highway 3 Raceway in Allison.

The first feature of the night belonged to the stock cars. Only eight cars checked into the back gate and pole sitter Tory Reicks grabbed the lead from the start. Even after a restart, the field ran single file on the cushion behind Tory Reicks as he motored home with the win. Mitch Hovden was second, a #41 car was third (sorry, couldn't understand the announcer), Jake Ludeking was fourth, and Mike Wiemann rounded out the top five. The #41 car appeared to be Carissa Wagoner's car, but it was a different driver behind the wheel.

1. 27T Tory Reicks
2. 15 Mitch Hovden
3. 41 ??
4. 69 Jake Ludeking
5. 4 Mike Wiemann
6. 33D Kevin Donlan
7. R31 Ryan Leeman
8. 121G Arlen Hoy

Next up would be the sixteen-car field of bmods. Brian Schrage raced to the lead from outside the front row, but he soon felt pressure from Bob Sutherland on the inside groove. Those two raced side by side for several laps by the halfway point in the race before Sutherland was able to slide up in front of Schrage in turn four. Schrage battled back to the inside exiting turn four to regain the top spot going into turn one. Bob Sutherland continued to work the low side and eventually got the lead back on his way to victory lane. Brian Schrage was second, Curtis Engen third, Dan Tenold fourth, and Mike Grantham rounded out the top five.

1. 4ord Bob Sutherland
2. 14 Brian Schrage
3. 21 Curtis Engen
4. 86 Dan Tenold
5. 20G Mike Grantham
6. 92 Tyler Droste
7. 18J Mike Jaeger
8. 32z Alex Zwanziger
9. 88x Jimmy Broszeit
10. 10K Kaleb Bentley (in borrowed car)
11. 44 Brian Lund
12. 10T Trevor Fecht
13. 12A Curt Teeter
14. 4L Mike Ludemann
15. 14M Brian Mahlstedt
16. 32 Dan Felthus

The Deery Brothers late model then made their way to the track, probably as a sign of concern as I believe perhaps threatening weather was off to the western horizon. Al Johnson and Sam Halstead paced the field of twenty-six cars as TJ Criss was unable to make the call. Halstead took the early lead, but a caution quickly slowed the pace down on lap two as Rick Dralle spun in turn four. During the caution period Jason Frankel, second in the points chase, bowed out of the race. I didn't see what ended his night, but there was no sign of smoke or anything.

When the pace picked back up, Johnson dove to the inside of Halstead and drew even with the leader but was unable to keep his momentum up off the corner to allow Halstead to remain out front. Just behind them, Terry Neal snuck under Charlie McKenna to take over the third spot on lap four. After starting the race in the twelfth position, points leader Jeff Aikey had worked his way up to seventh by lap seven and was still searching for a faster way towards the front. As Johnson worked under Halstead for the apparent lead change, Neal drove by both on the top side to snag the lead away from both.

After that pass, Johnson would lose a few positions as Halstead got back by and then Rob Toland a few short laps later. As Toland made the pass, Aikey and Ray Guss Jr were right on their heels looking for a way by as well. Aikey and Guss Jr made their way by Johnson to climb into the top five, but neither would settle on that as Aikey worked inside of Toland to take the third spot away just after the halfway point of the thirty-five lap race. Aikey then focused his attention on Halstead just ahead of him and again used the low line to make the pass for second.

By this time race leader Terry Neal had caught the tail of the field, allowing Aikey to close the gap. A caution flag came out with twelve laps to go to set up the final sprint to the checkers. Aikey found the low groove to his liking again as he grabbed the top spot away exiting turn two down the backstretch. Guss Jr made his way by Halstead to move into third and then later got by Neal on the low side to take over the runner up spot. As the laps clicked off, Guss Jr began to reel in Aikey and would complete the pass for the lead with just four laps to go. Ray Guss Jr was able to put a little distance between he and Aikey as he raced to the big payday. Jeff Aikey settled for second, Terry Neal third, Rob Toland fourth, and Sam Halstead completed a great run to round out the top five.

1. 58 Ray Guss Jr
2. 77 Jeff Aikey
3. 28c Terry Neal
4. 39 Rob Toland
5. 84 Sam Halstead
6. 8 Al Johnson
7. 76 Jason Hahne
8. 43 Jeremy Grady
9. 99D Darrel DeFrance
10. 15K Justin Kay
11. 73 Greg Kastli
12. 3T Jeff French
13. 9 Bobby Hansen
14. 9G Ryan Giles
15. 60 Dean Wagner
16. 16 Tyler Bruening
17. 22 Charlie McKenna
18. Z2 Gary Webb
19. H2O Paul Watters
20. 57 Scott Badker
21. 85 LaVern Carey
22. 4D Rick Dralle
23. 2c Carey Umbarger
24. 93 Jay Johnson
25. 4 Leon Thomsen
26. 0F Jason Frankel
27. 12J TJ Criss - DNS

Fourteen hobby stocks were up next as Cory Gansen used the pole to take the early lead. That lead would not last long as Chris Hovden quickly took the top spot away on lap two. Stac Schroeder was on the move in the middle of the pack as he worked his way up to the third slot and then took over the runner up spot at the crossed flags. Schroeder slowly closed the gap on Hovden as the white flag came out. Schroeder tried to power his machine on the cushion on the final lap, but Chris Hovden was able to slide up a bit on the exit of turn four to slow Schroeder's momentum and was able to hold him off at the line for the win. Stac Schroeder settled for second, Brandon Hare third, Mark Lewis fourth, and Cory Gansen completed the top five.

1. 70 Chris Hovden
2. 51 Stac Schroeder
3. 9 Mark Lewis
4. 6 Cory Gansen
5. 73G Kurt George
6. 57 ??
(all I was able to get)

Hornets were the final race of the night. Ricky Kay took over the race lead on the second lap and cruised to the win.

While the racing was pretty good throughout the night, the crowd was a bit down compared to past races I've attended there. One of the highlights of the night was sitting by track chaser John Moore. Moore lives in Knoxville, Tennessee and has been in the area for the last couple of days. He was originally scheduled to head to Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin on Thursday, travel back to Denison, Iowa Friday, and then make a stop somewhere Saturday before hitting Tipton Sunday night on his way home. I informed him of a race in Rockwell City Thursday night, so he may decide to go that way instead beings it would be on his way to Denison the following night.

The Deery Brothers late models return to the track Thursday night at the Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa Thursday night as part of the Jackson County Fair. Hot laps are set to start at 6:30. For more information on the Deery Brothers series, check out www.imca.com

The Highway 3 Raceway will host its final event of the year on September 2nd as the USMTS series makes a return visit to the big half-mile track as part of The Hunt for the championship. Jon Tesch will look to repeat as he won the first visit to the track while many other drivers will be looking to take home the win. Be sure to keep an eye on the track website for more info as time nears. www.highway3raceway.com

- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!

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