Donnellson, IA (Friday, April 27, 2012) - Finally after two straight weeks of rain outs new owners Dave and Yvonne Sapp, with promoter Dwain Hulett, were finally able to get the 2012 season started on Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA. Despite mother natures attempts before and during the night to rain on the season opening points night, all events were able to be completed with the final checkered flag being waved at 10:05pm.
The IMCA Modifieds 20 lap feature was the first one to take to the track, with Tyler Cale and Brandon Savage drawing the front row for the event. Cale took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Brandon Banks and Ryan Cook. The first and only caution of the event came out on the completion of lap 2, as Derek Hamm spun his machine in turn 2. On the restart Cale moved back out into the lead, with Cook and Josh Foster, who started 9th, battling for second. Cale would go on to lead all 20 laps to take the win. Foster would come home in 2nd, Cook was 3rd, Banks was 4th, with Jeff Waterman coming home in 5th.
Up next was the 15 lap IMCA Stock Car feature, with John Oliver Jr. and Jake Wenig leading the field to the green. Wenig would edge out Oliver Jr. at the line to grab the lead on lap 1, with Jeff Mueller close behind in 3rd. The first of four cautions in the event would come out after the completion of lap 1, as Jim Lynch spun off turn 4. On the restart Wenig got to high in turn 3 which allowed Oliver Jr. to slip under to take over the top spot and Mueller getting by for 2nd. After the completion of lap 2 Wenig would slow in turn 2 with a right rear flat and Tenny Sammons spun in turn 3 to bring out the second caution. On the restart Abe Huls would get into Corey Strothman, which resulted in Strothman spinning in turn 2 to bring the yellow light back on. Huls was penalized to the back, with Strothman getting his spot back. Oliver Jr. moved back out front on the next restart, with Mueller pressuring him for the lead. Mueller would jump to the outside of Oliver Jr. to take over the top spot on lap 4. The two would run the next 4 laps side-by-side, with Oliver Jr. leading lap 8 on the bottom. But Mueller wouldn't give up as they ran the next 3 laps side-by-side, before the final caution came out on lap 11. This time Strothman would spin his machine in turn 2 to slow the great battle up front. Mueller would exit to the pits under the caution with mechanical troubles, which put an end to his great battle up front for the lead. Once again Oliver Jr. would jump back out front for the restart, with Jim Redmann now battling him for the lead. Redmann would try the same middle grove as Mueller to get by Oliver Jr. for the lead over the final 3 laps. But Oliver Jr. held off all challenges to grab the win. Redmann settled for 2nd, Jason Cook came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Jeremy Pundt was 4th, with Chris Webb rounding out the top 5.
Scott Smith and Brandon Lambert drew the front row for the 12 lap IMCA Sport Compact feature. But it was fifth place starter Chuck Fullenkamp who quickly moved to the front to grab the lead on lap 1. The first of two cautions of the event would come out on lap 2, when Austen Becerra spun in turn 3. On the restart Fullenkamp jumped back out front, with Darin Smith, who started 7th, moving up 2nd. The only thing to slow Fullenkamp down over the next 6 laps, was another caution on lap 8. This time a tire was clipped and thrown out onto the track in turn 1 to slow the action down for the final time in the event. Fullenkamp again grabbed the lead on the restart and then held it over the final 4 laps to pick up the win. Smith came home in 2nd, Kimberly Abbott started 8th and took home 3rd, Robert Thompson finished 4th after starting in 9th, Lambert was fifth but was disqualified for illegal tires, moving Mike Hornung Jr. up to take home 5th.
The IMCA SportMod 15 lap feature was the next event to take to the speedway, with Rick Barlow Jr. and Tony Dunker drawing the front row. Barlow Jr. would take advantage of his front row start to edge out Dunker at the line to grab the lead on lap 1. But Dunker would jump to the outside of Barlow Jr. to take over the top spot on lap 2. Dunker then started to pull away, leaving Barlow Jr, Phillip Cossel and Chris Larson battling it out for second, when the first caution came out on lap 6. Dean Kratzer, who was running 7th, spun down the backstretch to bring out the yellow. On the restart Dunker jumped back out front, with Cossel getting by Barlow Jr. to move into 2nd. The action up front was slowed for the final time on lap 8, as Derek Coleman, who was running 7th, spun in turn 2 to bring out the caution. Once again Dunker grabbed the lead on the restart, with Cossel trying to hold off Jim Gillenwater, who started 20th, for 2nd. Dunker would go on to lead the final 7 laps unchallenged to claim the win. Cossel would hold on to finish in 2nd, Larson edged out Gillenwater to take home 3rd and Gillenwater settling for 4th, with John Oliver Jr. rounding out the top 5.
Despite only 3 cars taking the green in the 10 lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature, the two car battle up front was one of the best on the night. Andrew Hustead and Dustin Griffiths made up the front row for the event, with Hustead grabbing the lead on lap 1. Hustead would hold off Griffiths until lap 4, when Griffiths jumped to his outside to take over the top spot. Griffiths then had to work to hold back Hustead over the final 6 laps, as Hustead tried him down low on ever lap. But Griffiths was able to hold back all of Hustead's challenges to pick up the win. Hustead had to settle for 2nd, with Michael Wenke finishing in 3rd.
Notes from LCS: Despite the 25 minute rain delay after the 2nd SportMod heat, the track was able to be packed back in and the remainder of the nights events were completed by 10:05pm......Bill Roberts started the Modified feature in 11th and took home a 8th place finish....Todd Hansen came from 12th to finish in 9th....Derek Hamm, who started 14th, an spun on lap 2 to bring out the only caution of the event came back up to finish in 11th....Mike VanGendern, who started 10th and had worked his way up to sixth by lap 17, pulled off on lap 18 with mechanical troubles to end his night in 13th....Rich Smith was running 5th when left front damaged ended his night on lap 9......Jake Wenig grabbed the lead on lap 1 of the Stock Car feature and then held it until lap 2, when he got into the turn 3 and 4 guardrail. As a result he cut down a right rear tire. He would go to the hot pit area to get it changed and then rejoined the back of the field for the restart. Jake would recover to come back to finish 6th....Derek St. Clair came from 12th and passed 5 cars to take home 7th....Abe Huls, who started 11th, was credited with a caution on a lap 2 restart to have to go to the back for the next restart. He would recover to come back to finish in 8th....Defending track champion Matt Greiner struggled all night with mechanical troubles and exited on lap 2 of the feature to end his night in 14th......Dakota Anderson and Laine VanZandt had troubles in hot laps and had to scratch from both the heat race and feature in the Sport Compacts......Bobby Anders, who is in his first full year behind the wheel of a SportMod, started the feature in 14th and passed 5 cars to finish in 8th....Brandon Dale came from 12th to finish in 9th....Brandon Ruffcorn was running 11th, when he had to go to the hot pit area on the lap 6 caution with a flat. He would rejoin the back of the field for the restart and then drove back up to a 10th place finish in the 15 lap feature....Levi Smith passed 8 cars from his 19th place starting spot to take home 11th....Dean Kratzer was running 7th when he spun down the backstretch to bring out the first caution on lap 6. He would go to the rear and then climbed his way back to 13th at the finish....Derek Coleman was running 9th, when he spun on lap 8 to bring out the final caution of the event. He would rejoin the field at the rear and then was able to get back to 14th at the finish....Scott VanBuskirk had troubles in hot laps and scratched from both his heat and the feature......The first year under the IMCA sanctioning in the Hobby Stock division would result in only 4 cars showing up on night 1. Despite the low car count the top 2 cars would put on one of the best battles for the win in all of the other 4 feature events.....John Oliver Sr., driving for Jim Oliver Jr., would have troubles in hot laps and had to scratch from both the heat and feature.
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