Donnellson, IA (April 17, 2010) - The 2010 season got underway at the Lee County Speedway on Saturday, with the 1st Annual IMCA Modified Smackdown presented by Discount Tire & Service. Michael Long (IMCA Modifieds), Phillip Cossel (IMCA SportMods), Derek Kirkland (Hobby Stocks) and James Oliver III (Wild Things) would take the top prizes back home with them at the end of the evening.
The first feature of the night was the 15 lap Hobby Stocks, with Jeremy Pundt and Dave Cloke drawing the front row for the event. On the drop of the green, Josh Tripp would clip a tire coming off of turn four to bring out the caution before the lap was complete. Pundt would jump out into the lead on the restart and then held it until another caution came out on lap 4. Jeremy Billings would loose the left rear axle and tire in turn four to bring out the yellow. On the restart, Cloke would stall in turn four to bring the caution back out again. Pundt again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Derek Kirkland close behind in second. Kirkland would slip under Pundt on lap 7 to grab the top spot and then held it until a caution on lap 10. Cloke would spin off of turn four to avoid Rob Wilsey, who crossed in front of him to get off the track. On the restart, Kirkland moved back out into the lead and looked to be heading for his first win of 2010, when the final caution came out on lap 14 to set up a green-white-checkered finish. Kirkland was up to the challenge on the restart, as he jumped out front on the start and then held on to claim the win. Jim Lynch would come home in second, third went to Andy Coleman, who started 16th, Dale Porter started 13th and came home in fourth, with Jake Wenig coming from 11th to round out the top five.
Up next was the 12 lap Wild Thing feature, with James Olive III and John Helenthal leading the field to the drop of the green. Oliver III would take advantage of his front row start to jump into the lead on lap 1. The first of three cautions would appear on the speedway on lap 6, when William Michel lost a right front tire while running fourth. On the restart, Oliver III moved back out into the top spot only to be slowed on lap 7 for a spin by Don DeMint in turn four. He was also running fourth at the time of his spin. The caution would come back out on the restart, when Chris Loring Jr., who was running 6th, slowed to a stop in turn one. Once again Oliver III would grab the lead on the restart and then pulled away over the final 5 laps to pick up the win. Jerry Ostby would come home second, Helenthal held on for third, Kimberly Abbott came from 9th to finish in fourth, with Mike Horning Jr. coming from 11th to take home a top five.
Michael Bliven and Jim Lynch, rookie SportMod driver, drew the front row for the 15 lap IMCA SportMod feature. The caution would appear before lap 1 could be complete, for a spin in turn two for Jacob Smith. On the restart, Bill Gibson, Jayme Duninik and Kaleb Bentley would get together in turn four to bring the caution back out. Cayden Carter, Dean Kratzer, Lynch, Adam Shelman, Jason McDaniel, Rick Barlow Jr. and Bentley would collide in turn four on the restart to bring out the yellow again. The field was set into single file formation for the restart. Bliven would take advantage of the single file start to lead lap 1 over Phillip Cossel. Cossel would slip under Bliven on lap 3 to grab the top spot and then held it until a caution on lap 7 for tires in turn four. On the restart, Cossel jumped back out into the lead, with Bliven and Gillenwater, who started 9th, battling for second. Another caution would appear on the speedway on lap 12, when Kratzer spun in turn two while running 8th. Cossel again took the lead on the restart only to be slowed for the final time for another caution on lap 13, as Gibson spun in turn three. He was also running 8th at the time. On the restart, Cossel again grabbed the lead and then held off Gillenwater over the final 2 laps to claim the win. Gillenwater would cross the line second, but was DQ'ed after finding an illegal ignition switch. Bliven was moved to second, Kurt Hogan came from 12th to finish in third, Carter held on to finish fourth, with Thad Gaylord coming from 11th to finish in fifth.
The 35 lap IMCA Modified feature was the final one of the night, with Rich Smith and Greg Cox drawing the front row for the event. Smith would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on the drop of the green flag. The first of three cautions would come out on lap 3, as a tire would be pushed onto the track. On the restart, Smith took off where he left off, leading the field. Smith started to build up a lead over the battle for second, when another caution appeared on lap 9. Jeff Waterman would spin in turn two to bring the field back to Smith's bumper. Smith again moved out into the lead on the restart, with Mark Elliott, Josh Foster and Michael Long battling for second. Long would jump to the top of the track on lap 15 to grab the second spot and then set his sights on Smith for the lead. Smith stayed glued to the bottom, as Long worked the top side. Long would over take Smith on lap 21 for the top spot, only to be slowed on lap 22 for a spin into the front stretch wall by Mark Schulte. On the restart, Long took off into the lead and then led the final 13 laps to take home the $2,000 top prize. Smith settled for second, Foster came home in third, Scott Hogan came from 7th to finish in fourth, with Elliott coming home in fifth.
LCS Notes: 37 Modifieds, 28 SportMods, 21 Hobby Stocks and 15 Wild Things made up the 101 cars signed in to due battle.......Donavan Nunnikhoven came from 14th and passed 8 cars to finish 6th in the Hobby Stock feature....TJ Henderson also passed 8 cars from his 15th place start to finish in 7th.....Kirkland was the winner, Coleman 3rd, Porter 4th, Nunnikhoven 6th and Henderson in 7th gave the 9:1 Hobby Stocks 5 of the top 7 spots.....Dan Wenig came from 8th and was going for the win on the white flag lap, when he slowed going into turn one. He would come across the line in 8th....Pundt would recover from his spin to make it back to 10th....Chuck Fullenkamp came from 19th to finish 11th......Carter VanDenBerg came from 16th and passed 10 cars to finish 6th in the SportMod feature....Derek Coleman passed 13 cars from his 20th starting spot to finish in 7th....Jason Cook came from 13th to finish in 8th....Mike Shelton started 17th and passed 8 cars to take home 9th....McDaniel recovered from the lap 1 crash to come back to 11th....Rod Staats came from 18th to finish in 12th....Eric Flander who moved up from the Stock Car class to the SportMods in 2010, was running 3rd when he pulled into the pits on the lap 7 caution with mechanical troubles to end his strong run up front......Troy Cordes came from 16th and passed 8 cars to take home an 8th place finish in the Modified feature......Max Corporon started 15th and came home in 9th....Corey Dripps came from the back of the B-Main, when he jumped into Duane Peterson's car after he lost an engine in his heat, to take the 22nd place starting spot. He would pass 11 cars to come home in 11th....Mark Schulte had a good run going, when he had to pit on the lap 9 caution for a left rear tire going down. He would return to tag the back of the field, only to bring out the final caution on lap 22.
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