Monday, September 7, 2009

Burgtorf Tops Deery Brothers Summer Series Victory at Lee County Speewday; Collects "Drive For Five" Bonus

Donnellson, IA (Sept. 5, 2009) - What a beautiful night for racing at the Lee County Speedway, as the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models made a return trip. Also in action was the Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Wild Things. After all the racing action was complete just before 10:00 p.m., taking home feature wins on the night were Mark Burgtorf (IMCA Late Modesl), Abe Huls (Stock Cars), Kaleb Bentley (SportMods), Jake Wenig (Hobby Stocks) and Rob Hammel (Wild Things).

The first feature of the night was the 15 lap Stock Cars, with Jim Redmann and Corey Strothman drawing the front row for the event. Redmann would jump out into the lead on lap 1, as Strothman worked to hold off Abe Huls for second. Redmann would hold the top spot until lap 8, when Huls slipped under him to take over the lead. While Huls was out front, Redmann, John Oliver Jr. and Jeff Mueller, who started 9th, had a great battle going for second. Oliver Jr. would get by Redmann with three laps to go and then worked on Huls for the lead. But Huls would hold him off at the checkers to claim the win. Mueller would finish in third, Redmann held on for fourth, with Jason Cook coming home in fifth.

Up next was the 12 lap Wild Things feature, with Rob Hammel and Rex Smart making up the front row. Hammel would take advantage of his front row starting spot to grab the lead on the drop of the green flag. Wayne Noble would follow Hammel to take the second spot and tried for the entire 12 laps to get by Hammel for the lead. But Hammel would hold him off to pick up the win. James Oliver III would come home in third, Travis DeMint was fourth after starting 8th, with Chris Loring Jr. coming from 9th to round out the top five.

Jim Kuhlmeier and Thad Gaylord drew the front row for the 15 lap SportMod feature, with Gaylord grabbing the lead on the drop of the green. Gaylord was working to hold off AJ Johnson for the lead, when Johnson spun in turn two on lap 7 to bring out the only caution of the event. On the restart, Gaylord moved back out into the lead, but now had Kaleb Bentley challenging him for the top spot. Gaylord, who was working the top of the speedway, and Bentley, who was on the bottom, ran laps 9 and 10 side-by-side. Bentley would grab the advantage on lap 11 when Gaylord got to high coming out of turn two. Bentley then held on for the final 4 laps to pick up his first win of the season at Lee County. Gaylord held on for second, Jason Cook came from 7th to finish in third, Phillip Cossel charged from 14th to come home in fourth, with the 2009 Track Champion Rodger Dresden rounding out the top five.

The 15 lap Hobby Stock feature took to the track next, with Jim Lynch and Justin Malone on the front row. Malone would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 and then held it until lap 4. When the caution came out for Matt Tucker who spun in front of the field while running second, collecting Dean Kratzer. Tucker would be done for the night, while Kratzer was able to tag the back of the field. On the restart, Malone again grabbed the lead, but now had Jake Wenig on his back bumper. Jake would take the top spot away from Malone on lap 9 and then held it until the final caution came out on lap 10, for Victor Hastings, John Oliver Sr., Derek St. Clair and Kratzer. All would continue and tag the back of the field, except Kratzer who was done for the night. Jake jumped out into the lead on the restart, with Malone, Jason Gerdes, who started 8th, Lynch and Dan Wenig, who came from 13th, battling for second. Dan would go from fifth to second with two laps to go and now worked on his son Jake for the lead. Jake would hold off his father at the line to claim the win. Gerdes would come home in third, Malone held on for fourth, with Lynch coming home in fifth.

The final feature of the night was the 35 lap Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models. Ray Guss Jr. and Boone McLaughlin would draw the front row for the event, with McLaughlin grabbing the early lead. The field was slowed for the first of two cautions on lap 4, when Matt Ryan and Tony Fraise spun on the front stretch. On the restart, McLaughlin moved back out front, with Guss Jr. challenging him for the lead. Guss Jr. would slip under McLaughlin on lap 10 to take over the top spot and then held it until the final caution of the race came out on lap 12. Jason Frankel came to a stop on the frontstretch while running in the third spot. Guss Jr. moved back out front on the restart, with McLaughlin, Rob Toland, Jeff Aikey, who started 7th, and Tom Goble, who started 8th, battling for the seond spot. Guss Jr. looked to be pulling away from the field, as Mark Burgtorf, who started 19th, had worked his way into the second spot on lap 27. Disaster would strike Guss Jr. on lap 29, as he slowed going down the back stretch and pulled into the back pits, giving the lead over to Burgtorf. Burgtorf was working heavy lap traffic, allowing Toland and Aikey to close in. The three drivers would run nose to tail and sometimes third wide for the lead on laps 31-34. Before Burgtorf got the advantage he needed on the final lap to pick up the win. Toland held on for second, Aikey was third, Goble came home in fourth, with Tommy Elston coming from 14th to round out the top five.

LCS Notes: 43 Late Models, 28 Hobby Stocks, 19 Wild Things, 17 Stock Cars and 15 SportMods made up the 122 cars signed in to do battle on the night......Both the Stock Car and Wild Things feature events went CAUTION FREE! While the SportMod feature only had one caution, the Hobby Stock feature only had two, with the Late Models also having two cautions. Putting an end to the show just before 10p.m......Kaleb Bentley made his first visit to the Lee County Speedway worth it, as he pulled from Fairbank, IA to take home the 15 lap SpotMod feature....AJ Johnson also made the pull from Oskaloosa, IA to compete in the SportMods. He would challenge for the lead early before spinning on lap 7. But would recover late in the race to take home a 9th place finish......Brandon Symmonds won the Hobby Stock B and started 16th, but passed 8 cars in the feature to take home an 8th place finish....Jake Powers also came from the B to start the feature 19th, he would pass 9 cars to finish in 9th....Jay Hayes was another driver who came from the B to start the event in 22nd, he would pass 10 cars to finish in 12th....Tim Pettibone came from the B also to start 21st, he would finish 14th after passing 7 cars....Dugan Thye came from 23rd to pass 8 cars to finish in 15th, another driver who came from the B......Mark Burgtorf was one of 11 drivers who had a chance for a $3,000 bonus going into the night. The Pilot Grove Savings Bank / Ideal Ready Mid "Drive For Five" Bonus was to be awarded to any driver who only missed one Late Model race during the 2009 regular season at the Lee County Speedway. If one of those drivers won the Deery Brothers Summer Series race they would collect a $3,000 bonus on top of the $2,000 for winning the race, making it $5,000 possible to win....Early on in the race the bonus would look to be unpaid, but Burgtorf had other ideas as he worked his way from 19th to 7th by the last caution on lap 12. He then would work his way into second by lap 27 and inherited the lead on lap 29, when Guss Jr. slowed with mechanical troubles. Burgtorf then had to work to hold off challenges from Toland and Aikey at the end to pick up the win. Burgtorf would collect $2,000 for the win and the "Drive For Five" Bonus of $3,000 to give him $5,00o on the night....Denny Woodworth came from 16th in the feature to take home a 7th place finish....Matt Strassheim would get the hard charger provisional for passing the most cars in the B. He would start the feature in 22nd and passed 8 cars to finish in 14th....Terry Neal was suppose to start the feature in the 23rd spot, but problems with his car would scratch him from the event. So Sam Halstead was in line to get the final starting spot in the feature. He would started 24th and passed 7 cars to finish 17th.

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