DONNELLSON — It was the final Drive for Five UMP Pro Crate Late Model qualifier as racing returned to Saturday nights at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson.
In addition, the other five regular classes — modifieds, stock cars, sport mods, hobby stocks and sport compacts — were in action.
Fifteen laps would be the distance for the four-cylinder sport compacts around the D-shaped 3/8-mile oval. Pole sitter Chuck Fullenkamp and row two starting Hannibal, Mo. visitor Dyllan Bonk would be neck-and-neck as lap one was scored, with Bonk slightly ahead the next time around. Defending track champion Brandon Reu would line up in row four, but quickly charge to second on lap three. Soon the front pair was joined by Luke Fraise as they race passed the halfway point.
With seven circuits still to go, Fraise used a power move to go from third to first, although Bonk and Reu continued to stay close. Four laps remaining showed on the scoreboard when Bonk suddenly slowed and pulled to the infield, his run over. Again this race went caution free, with Fraise opening a bit of a lead in the closing laps. Reu would take second chased by Barry Taft, Kimberly Abbott, and Elvaston, Illinois youngster Ethan Prim.
Last week at LCS, stock car racer Keegan Wells picked up his first ever feature win. On Saturday it looked as though he would need to settle for a runner-up finish, as one of Iowa’s best, Dustin Griffiths, was well out front and cruising towards the checkers.
But Yogi Berra’s “it ain’t over ‘till its over” came into play, as Griffiths slowed dramatically with just two laps remaining. He later stated that he could feel his right rear tire going down, and before the final checkers, it was pretty much shredded off the rim.
And there was Wells, ready to pounce, as he ran down the leader and picked up win No. 2 in his brief career. Griffiths somehow wrestled his disabled ride home in second behind Wells for the second consecutive week, with Beau Taylor closing fast in third. Nicholas Profeta and Kelly Buckallew completed the first five. All 20 laps clicked off caution free.
But before Griffiths could stake a claim as a “hard luck” driver, he was able to come back strong in the hobby stock division. Starting in row three, he grabbed the lead from Corey VanDerwilt on lap two, then drove off to a nearly half-lap lead to top the non-stop 15-lap finale, matching his win from last week. Eighth-starting David McCalla battled with VanDerwilt for most of the race before securing the runner up position. Jeremy Dooley and Jason Schutterle rounded out the top five.
Feature racing began on this very warm evening with modifieds going at it for 20 laps. Pole sitter Kyle Madden of Oxford, in a rare visit to the track, and Dakota Simmons, filled out row one. They would battle side-by-side in the early laps while seventh-starting Kurt Kile worked his way to third. Madden had opened a nice lead as the race reached the halfway mark, but four circuits later Simmons had closed the gap. At lap 17 the duo again were racing side-by-side with Kile taking advantage to close quickly in third. Again the race went green to checkers with no caution flags, and as the front three passed beneath starter Kevin Egglestons’ double checkers, it was Madden, Simmons, and Kile all within a couple car lengths. Derek Walker made the trip down from Riverside to capture fourth ahead of Donnellson racer Levi Smith.
For Simmons, it was his second runner-up finish in a row at the track.
Logan Cumby shot from the pole to pace the sport mods opening lap, taking along his row one mate Kyler Girard, and Adam Birck. Birck, wheeling the Austen Becerra owned No. 122, would drive to second on lap two, then join Cumby as they left the pack behind. Five circuits in, Birck used an inside move off turn four to jump to the front, then he methodically opened a commanding lead. Girard recovered to run down Cumby, grabbing the runner-up spot three laps from the end of the 15-lap event.
Once again, there were no yellow flags to slow the action, with Birck picking up his second consecutive checkers. Girard was second, topping Cumby, Brandon Dale, and Jim Gillenwater.
With lots of racing around the state of Iowa this night, the late model field was a bit short, but still produced good racing. But when defending champion and six-time feature winner Tommy Elston picked up a heat race win and started outside row one in the feature, it was a matter of his car holding strong for 25 laps.
Veteran driver Vance Wilson held down second early before third generation hot shoe C.J. Horn took up the chase with five laps scored. But by then Elston had checked out and the racing was further back as sixth-starting Denny Woodworth found a groove to his liking and charged to third. The first of only two yellow flags in all six main events came with 10 laps scored, when heavy contact sent Jeremy Pundt spinning in turn two. Following the Delaware-style restart, Woodworth cleared Horn for second, but only one more lap was run before the second and final yellow following more contact that sent Pundt to the trailer with damage and Spencer Havermale to the infield.
Horn this time won the battle for second, and although he closed the gap on Elston a bit in turns three and four, the Keokuk driver was a rocket off turn two, picking up win No. 7 at the fairgrounds this season. Horn, Woodworth, Darin Weisinger Jr., Wilson, and Ron Boyse were the only cars that were still on the track at the finish.
