Jay Johnson Wins Inaugural Decorah Deery Show

Over the past couple of years, I have been blessed to witness a lot of "first times". Whether that be a new track that I've never attended, a new series I've never seen race before, or venturing to a new state. Tonight (Wed., July 15th) would be another first-time ever event as the IMCA Deery Brothers late model series made its inaugural appearance at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah. Also on the card would be the USRA hobby stocks and USRA bmods.

The heat races were completed at a brisk pace. But then, there were only seven heat races to be run as the car counts were nothing too spectacular. Two heats each for hobby stocks and bmods were run before the late models took to the track for the first time ever. Burlington's Matt Strassheim would pick up the first heat race win while Ray Guss Jr and Jason Frankel topped the other two. Heat race action gave way to the grader just shortly after the 8:00 hour as track officials graded the entire track from top to bottom.

When the grader left the track, USRA bmods took to the track for their feature event. Twelve of the fourteen cars checked in took the green flag with pole sitter Junior Boyer bolting to the lead. Eric Verthein settled into the runner up spot after slipping back a bit on the start. Boyer would extend his lead as the crossed flags signaled to the drivers the race was half over.

It was at that point that track point leader Matt Jones began his march towards the front. Jones started tenth on the grid, but quickly made his way up to fourth just after the halfway point. He would later get by Brian Schrage for third as he used the inside lane for the pass. As the field took the white flag it appeared that nothing was going to stop Junior Boyer from taking home the win. That is until the red flag came out as he exited turn two to head down the backstretch. Chad Halverson's car slowed exiting turn two and resulted in a fire under the hood as he made his way off the track towards the pit area. As the red flag came out, safety officials were able to make their way from the infield across the track and extinguish the flame.

The announcers mentioned that it would be a green, white, checkered restart, but the flagman threw a monkey wrench into the equation as he threw the green and the white flag together to finish up the race. The double file restart didn't phase Junior Boyer one bit as he led every lap on his way to victory lane. Matt Jones came home second, Eric Verthein was third, Shane Panos fourth, and Brian Schrage rounded out the top five.

Following the bmods would be the USRA hobby stocks. Two cars failed to make the call in this one as well, but thirteen drivers were ready to battle it out for bragging rights. Dan Sacquintne used the pole position to grab the top spot, but outside front row starter Adam Cline used the top line to get by him on the next lap to assume command on the next lap. Sacquintne would lose that spot to Brandon Hare on the next circuit as Hare ducked under for the pass. Sacquintne wouldn't give it up that easily though as the two ran side by side for much of the remainder of the race.

With two laps to go, Kevin Christensen put his name into the hat as he looked under Hare for the third spot. His efforts would not be enough as Hare kept his momentum up on the top side of the speedway. But up front it was all Adam Cline as he took home the top prize. Dan Sacquintne was second, Brandon Hare third, Kevin Christensen fourth, and Scott Spilde rounded out the top five. Track points leader Chris Hovden was unable to start the feature as his car appeared to overheat at the conclusion of his heat race.

The final event of the night would be the forty-lap IMCA Deery Brothers late model feature. With only twenty-three drivers on hand tonight, everybody was able to run the feature. Jay Johnson and Boone McLaughlin paced the field to the green flag with Johnson holding a slight advantage at the line to complete lap one. Jason Frankel dove to the inside of McLaughlin two laps later to take over the second spot, but later positions two through five were bunched up in a pack that saw Terry Neal work his way to third. A caution came out on lap nine when Stephan Kammerer's car tagged the outside retaining wall, suffering extensive right front damage and ending his night early.

As the field prepared to take the green flag, Ray Guss Jr. pulled his car pitside. Guss Jr. had just taken the second spot in series points away from Frankel the previous night in West Union after his win, but obviously will give it back after not finishing tonight's program.

While noting Guss Jr.'s problem, Terry Neal made his way to second as the top ten drivers got spread out and were running single file as the track rubbered up on the bottom side of the track. Another caution came out on lap eighteen, allowing the field to bunch up for a restart.

Unfortunately for them, Johnson continued to hit his marks throughout the rest of the race. Once he caught lapped traffic, Johnson attempted to go to the outside to get by. That is, however, until he saw Neal stick his nose under him. After seeing that, Johnson quickly moved back down the track and settled in behind the slower car ahead of him. From that point on, Jay Johnson had it on cruise control as he took home his first-ever Deery Brothers win. Terry Neal finished second, Jason Frankel was third, Boone McLaughlin fourth, and Matt Strassheim rounded out the top five.

Jeff Aikey continues to lead the series points chase as unofficially he has a seven-point advantage over Jason Frankel. Guss Jr. slips back to third and now trails by twenty-one points.

Jeff Aikey - 424
Jason Frankel - 417
Ray Guss Jr. - 403

The bmod and hobby stock races were pretty good. Unfortunately the wider tires of the late models rubbered up the track and didn't provide much passing in their feature. It was fun seeing them earlier in the night as I'm sure many of them were flat-footing it around the 1/4-mile speedplant. In fact, Bobby Hansen told me at one point he only lifted for a brief moment entering turn three before standing on it the rest of the way around the track.

Rookie driver Ryan Giles made the long trip up from West Des Moines. He informed me had made a wrong turn around Cedar Falls that wound up costing him a lot of time on his way to the track. Fortunately for him, he made it in time for his heat race in which he finished second. He started the feature outside row three and finished with a respectable eighth place finish. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good birthday present for the youngster.

The Deery Brothers late model series takes a week off before heading south to the big half-mile track known as the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa next Wednesday night. It will take place as part of the Southern Iowa Fair and be ran in conjunction with the track's weekly race program of USRA hobby stocks, USRA bmods, USRA stock cars, and USRA modifieds. The Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah will have their weekly race program on Saturday.

Before I forget, it was fun talking with Hawkeye Racing News columnist Ed Reichert and blogger Kyle Ealy. I got to know both gentlemen last year throughout my travels, so it was fun chatting with them and finding out where each were going in the near future. Even though Kyle didn't give me credit for his information that he received from me Monday night in Fort Dodge. Haha.

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