Donnellson, IA (Friday, March 29, 2013) - Despite mother nature dumping several inches of snow on the facilities last Sunday at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA, the scheduled season opener went off as planned. The track promoter Mike Van Genderen and owner Dave Sapp worked all day Monday to remove the snow from the track and pits, and then waited until Thursday and Friday to work it back in. There hard work would pay off, as the Mohrfeld Electric Spring Extravaganza was put into the books.
The first feature of the night was the 16 lap Shottenkirk Parts Express IMCA SportMods, with Jim Gillenwater and Derek St. Clair drawing the front row for the event. Gillenwater took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1, with Clint Luellen and St. Clair close behind. But Gillenwater would only lead lap 1, as Luellen slipped by on the top side of lap 2 to take over the top spot. The first caution of the event appeared on the completion of lap 2, as Brandon Brinton spun into the wall in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Bobby Anders slowed to a stop in turn 3 to bring the yellow light back on. Luellen jumped back out front on the next restart, with Gillenwater working to hold back St. Clair for second. The four car battle up front was slowed for the third time on lap 7, as Brayton Carter and Victor Hastings collided in turn 1 to bring out the caution. On the restart Luellen moved back out front, but now had defending track champion Tony Dunker, who started 6th, battling him for the lead. While Luellen worked to hold back Dunker, Gillenwater was battling Carter VanDenBerg, who started 8th, for the third spot. Gillenwater's run up front came to a stop on lap 10, as he got into the wall in turn 2 to bring out the caution. Luellen once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Dunker now in a battle with VanDenBerg for second. VanDenBerg would clear Dunker for second on lap 14 and then went to work on Luellen for the top spot. The two drivers took the white flag with Luellen running up top and VanDenBerg on the bottom. VanDenBerg made a last corner charge on the bottom to come to the checkered, but wasn't able to get past Luellen who held on by half a car length to claim the $500 top prize. VanDenBerg was 2nd, Dunker was a close 3rd, Brett Lowry came from 12th to finish in 4th, with Brad Iverson coming from 10th to round out the top 5.
Up next was the 18 lap Donnellson Tire IMCA Stock Car feature, with Jim Lynch and Damon Murty leading the field to the drop of the green. But just as the green was dropped the yellow light would come on, as Michael Bilyer spun in turn 1 to bring out the caution. On the restart Lynch would slow with troubles causing Nathan Wood to jump over Jeremy Pundt's right rear and sending Wood into the guardrail in turn 1 to bring the yellow light back on. This would move Todd Reitzler from 5th to the pole for the restart, but it was Murty who jumped out into the lead on lap 1. Murty then had to work to hold back Jason Cook over the next 18 laps, as the two pulled away from the rest of the field. Murty was able to hold back several attempts by Cook to claim the win and the $500 top prize. Cook crossed the line in 2nd but lost an engine, Reitzler was 3rd, John Oliver Jr. came from the rear after electing to start at the tail to finish in 4th, with Chris Wibbell rounding out the top 5 after starting in 12th.
JD Beal and Scott Hogan drew the front row for the scheduled 20 lap Budweiser IMCA Modified feature, that was cut to 15 laps. Hogan took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Jacob Murray, who started 5th, and Tyler Cale, who started 7th. The first caution of the event appeared on the completion of lap 1,as Bill Roberts spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Hogan moved back out front, with Cale close behind in second. Hogan worked to hold back Cale, until the next caution of the race appeared on lap 5 for debris in turn 2. Hogan again jumped back out front on the restart, with Cale close behind in second. Cale's run up front came to a halt on lap 7, as he got into the guardrail in turn 1 to bring out the caution. On the restart Hogan moved back out front, with Murray working to hold back Jeff Waterman, who started 12th, for second. Waterman drifted high in turn 1 and got sideways, which caused Mitch Morris, who was running 5th, to get into the guardrail in turn 1 to bring out the yellow on lap 9. Hogan once again grabbed the lead on the restart and then pulled away over the final 6 laps to claim the win and the $1,000 top prize. Murray held on for 2nd, Brandon Rothzen came from 13th to finish in 3rd, Waterman was 4th, with Steve Stewart coming from 11th to take home 5th.
Up next was the 12 lap Coor's Light IMCA Hobby Stock feature, that was cut from its scheduled 15 laps. Erick Knutsen and Garrett Eilander would lead the field to the green, with Knutsen grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Scott Shull and Eilander. While Knutsen continued to hold the top spot, Shull, Eilander, Shannon Anderson and Dustin Griffiths, who started 12th, battled two and even three wide for second. Eilander would work the bottom of the track to get past Knutsen on lap 6 to take over the top spot. The action up front was slowed for the first time on lap 10, when Danny Miller spun to a stop in turn 2 to bring out the caution. This would set up a green-white-checkered sprint to the finish. On the restart Griffiths jumped to the top of the track, with Anderson in the middle and Eilander on the bottom coming out of turn two. Anderson would break an axle going into turn 3 and got into Griffiths, who spun to a stop in turn 4 to bring the yellow back on. The following restart saw Knutsen jump to the top of the track, with Shull down low to over take Eilander for the lead coming out of turn two. Shull would charge into turn three to hot and got into the back of Knutsen, causing himself to spin into the wall in turn four to bring out another caution. On the final restart Andy Coffman came from 5th on the bottom of the speedway to charge into the lead coming to the white flag. Coffman then held off Eilander to claim his first win at the speedway and the $300 top prize. Eilander was 2nd, Knutsen was 3rd, Jason See came from 9th to finish in 4th, with Tim Pettibone coming from 13th to finish in 5th.
The final feature of the night was the 10 lap, cut from the scheduled 12 laps, Sunline Auto Parts IMCA Sport Compacts feature. Chuck Fullenkamp and Seith Woodruff led the field to the green flag, with Woodruff edging out Fullenkamp to lead lap 1. Fullenkamp would work the bottom of the track to work his way past Woodruff into the lead on lap 5. Fullenkamp then had to battle to hold back Austin Becerra, until Patrick Dunker, who started 10th moved up to challenge them two for the top spot. Going into turn 3 on the final lap Fullenkamp would choose the bottom, while Dunker took the top side of the track. Dunker would use his momentum up top to edge Fullenkamp at the line by inches for his first career feature win and the $200 top prize. Fullenkamp was 2nd, Becerra was 3rd, Craig Bangert was 4th, with Brandon Lambert coming home in 5th.
Notes from LCS: 22 SportMods, 21 Modifieds, 17 Hobby Stocks, 17 Sport Compacts and 14 Stock Cars made up the 91 cars signed in on opening night......Bill Roberts came from 20th in the Modified feature to claim a 6th place finish....Kyle Brown passed 10 cars from his 18th place starting spot to finish in 8th....Scott Boles started 17th and took home a 9th place finish....Hunter Marriott finished 10th after starting in the 15th spot....Jeff Mueller made his debut in the Modified class and started 21st in the feature and then took home a 17th place finish....Thad Wilson, AJ Fike and Tyler Groenendyk all had troubles in hot laps or in there heats and were forced to scratch from the feature......Terry Houston started the Stock Car feature in 14th and passed 7 cars to finish in 7th....Jake Wenig made the move up from the Hobby Stock class to the Stock Cars for 2013 and would start 10th in the feature. He would work his way up to battle for 6th, before troubles forced him out to finish 8th....Abe Huls started 9th and had worked his way up to battle for the 4th spot, before troubles forced him out to finish in 11th......Rob Wilsey took over the #1 SportMod ride owned by Dave Sapp for 2013 and would start the feature in 17th. He then passed 10 cars to take home a 7th place finish....Victor Hastings moved up from the Hobby Stock class to the SportMods for 2013, and started the feature in 14th. He would pass 5 cars to take home a 9th place finish in his first time out....Tom Rawlins started 18th and passed 5 cars to claim a 13th place finish....Charles VanZandt came from 21st to claim a 14th place finish....Mike Hornung Jr., Nathan Anders and Chris Larson all had troubles in hot laps or there heat races to force them to scratch from the feature......Gina Gruebel made the pull from Lacona, IA pay off, by coming from 11th in the Hobby Stock feature to finish in 6th....Nathan Ballard was suppose to start the feature in 4th, but was a scratch....Austin Luellen also scratched from the feature, after scheduled to start in the 7th spot....Jamie Songer was a scratch from the feature, after allowing Shannon Anderson to borrow his car to race for the night. Anderson had troubles in hot laps and was forced to borrow Songer's car for the night....Dale Porter, who is driving a second car out of the Dustin Griffiths camp, was also a scratch from the feature after troubles in hot laps......Mike Miller started the Sport Compact feature in 15th and passed 7 cars to finish in 8th....Bradley Stevenson came from 14th to take home home a 10th place finish.
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