Davenport, IA (Friday, May 9, 2014) - Friday night marked the first time in series history that the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models made a stop at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport, Iowa. The event was also co-sanctioned by the Corn Belt Clash Series. As for the fans this race turned out to be one of the best races so far during the early 2014 season. Also in action on the night was the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA SportMods, Street Stocks and 4 Stocks.
The first feature up on the night was the 15 lap Street Stocks, with Cary Brown and Mike Anderson leading the field to the green flag. Brown would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Anderson and Cord Williams. Just after the completion of lap 1 the caution would come out, as Steve Gustaf spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Nick Claussen would spin in turn 2 to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw Brown jump back out front, with Anderson working to hold back Jeremy Gustaf, who started 10th. Brown, Jeremy Gustaf and Donnie Louck, who started 5th, had a three car battling going for the lead, until the third caution of the event appeared on lap 7 to slow down the action. This time Williams would spin off turn 4 to bring out the yellow. Brown once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Jeremy Gustaf and Louck close behind. Louck would use the top of the speedway to grab the lead away on lap 9, and then had the caution come out after the completion of the lap. Steve Gustaf spun in turn 3 for his second solo caution to end his night. On the restart Jeremy Gustaf used the bottom groove to get the lead away from Louck, leaving Louck to fend off Andrew Burk, who started 9th, in the battle for second. Louck, who stayed up top, was able to get the lead on lap 11, with Burk and Jeremy Gustaf battling for second. Coming out of turn 4 on the last lap Burk tried to slip under Louck for the win, but Louck held him off at the line to pick up the win. Burk settled for 2nd, Jeremy Gustaf was 3rd, Brown was 4th, with Perry Gellerstedt coming home in 5th.
Up next was the 15 lap IMCA SportMod feature, with Bryce Garnhart and Jacob Beal drawing the front row for the event. Garnhart took advantage of his front row starting spot to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Jake Morris and Beal. While Garnhart started to pull away from the field Brandon Jewell, who started 5th, and Austin Moyer, who started 6th, were working there way towards the front. Before Moyer could get to second place, around lap 10, Garnhart had built up an half a track lead. Moyer was able to chase down Garnhart on the final lap, as the two entered turn 3 side-by-side. But Garnhart used the momentum off the bottom to edge out Moyer at the line for the win in a caution free race. Moyer settled for 2nd, Jewell was 3rd, Beal was 4th, with Morris rounding out the top 5.
Eric Stogdell and Luke Benischek led the field to the green in the 12 lap 4 Stock feature. But just as the green flag was waved the yellow would come out, as Ken Stogdell spun in turn 1 to bring out the caution. The following restart saw Eric Stogdell grab the lead on lap 1 over Benischek and Zach Dahl. Dahl used the bottom of the track to go third wide out of turn four to grab the lead on lap 2. Dahl then held the lead, despite the two and even three wide racing, until lap 10 when Brandon Setser, who started 5th, slipped under Dahl to grab the top spot. But Setser's lead only last 1 lap, as Eric Stogdell used the top of the track to take the top spot back on lap 11. Setser, who was on the bottom, and Eric Stogdell, who was up top, came off turn four on the final lap side-by-side, with Setser claiming the win by inches. Eric Stogdell settled for 2nd, Benischek was 3rd, Andrew Fitzgerald edged out a fourth place finish after starting in 6th, with Dahl holding on for a fifth place finish.
David Imming and Bob Dominacki drew the front row for the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature, with Imming edging Dominacki at the line to lead on lap 1. Dominacki used the top of the track to grab the lead on lap 2. But Brandon Durbin used the bottom of the track to take the top spot away on lap 3. Dominacki jumped to the bottom of the track and then used the same groove to get under Durbin on lap 6 to take the lead back. Dominacki then looked to be heading for the win, when the first and only caution appeared on lap 18. Dominacki would spin his machine in turn 4 to bring out the caution and ended his run up front. On the restart Chris Zogg, who started 5th, edged out Durbin for the lead, with Doug Crampton, who started 10th, close behind in third. Coming out of turn four on the final lap Crampton tried the very top of the track to get around Zogg, but Zogg would hold him off by inches to pick up the win. Crampton settled for 2nd, Durbin was 3rd, Dean McGee, who won a B Main, started 13th and passed 9 cars to finish in 4th, with Tony VonDresky came from 9th to round out the top 5.
The final feature to take to the track, was the 40 lap Lucas Oil MLRA / Corn Belt Clash Late Models. Chris Simpson and Ryan Gustin made up the front row for the event by earning the most passing points in the heats. Gustin would take advantage of his front row start to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Simpson and Brian Birkhofer. While Gustin paced the field out front, Simpson and Birkhofer ran side-by-side for second until they entered lapped traffic on lap 9. Birkhofer was able to clear Simpson on lap 10 and then went to work on Gustin for the lead. Gustin and Birkhofer had to use the bottom, middle and top of the track to get by some of the lap cars, which allowed Simpson and Terry Phillips, who started 5th, to close in on them. Birkhofer used lapped traffic to slip under Gustin on lap 26 to take over the top spot, with Simpson following him into second. Just like Birkhofer, Simpson used lapped traffic to slip under Birkhofer on lap 30 to grab the top spot. Terry Phillips used the bottom of the track to slip past Gustin and Birkhofer on lap 36 and then went to work on Simpson for the lead. But Simpson was able to hold off his last lap challenge, in a caution free race, to pick up the win and the $3,000 top prize. Phillips settled for 2nd, Birkhofer was 3rd, Gustin was 4th, with Chad Simpson coming home in 5th.
Notes from Davenport: 45 Late Models from eight states including Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio and Minnesota signed in for the first ever visit by the Lucas Oil MLRA (co-sanctioned by the Corn Belt Clash Series) at the Davenport Speedway. All drivers drew a pill as they entered the track, with those 45 cars divided into five 10 lap heat races. The top 16 in passing points out of those heat races were locked into the 40 lap A Main, with the rest going to one of the two 12 lap B Mains. Then the top three in each of those B Mains made it into the A Main. Giving you a 22 cars qualifying out of the heats and B Mains, with the rest of the 28 car field filled with provisionals from the Lucas Oil MLRA and Corn Belt Clash Series points....Heat race 1 saw Brandon Sheppard dominate, by picking up the easy win. He was followed by Ray Guss Jr. Brian Birkhofer, who started 9th, Jason Utter, Justin Kay, Jesse Stovall, who started 6th, Mark Dotson, Jordan Yaggy and Bob Cullen....Heat two was won by Rich Bell, who held off Ryan Gustin, who started 6th, on the last lap to win. Chad Simpson came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Jason Rauen was 4th, Jeremy Payne came from 9th to finish in 5th, Jason Bodenhamer was 6th, Dustin Walker was 7th, Curt Martin was 8th, with Rick Wendling scratching for the night after engine troubles in hot laps....Heat race three saw Chris Simpson pick up the win. He was followed by Denny Eckrich, who started 5th, Brian Harris, who started 6th, Jason Jaggers, who started 7th, Mike Fryer, John Anderson, who started 9th, Mark Voigt, Spencer Diercks, and Bill Koons....Heat race four was dominated by Terry Phillips. He was followed by Billy Drake, Brady Smith, Dave Eckrich, who started 9th, Scott Schmitt, Matt Furman, Brad Looney, Andy Eckrich, and Steve Lach....Heat race five went to Jason O'Brien. He was followed by Scott Lewis, J.C. Wyman, Travis Dickes, who started 8th, Justin Reed, who started 9th, Jake Meier, Mike Collins, Greg Wagner and Jay Johnson....B Main number one was won by Jeremy Payne, with Brady Smith and Justin Kay, who started 5th, making up the three cars who made it into the A Main....B Main number two saw Jason Jaggers pick up the win, with Justin Reed and John Anderson taking the final qualifying spots into the A Main....Brady Smith passed 13 cars from his 19th place starting spot to finish 6th and earned the hard charger award....Jeremy Payne came from 17th to finish in 8th....Dave Eckrich finished 9th after starting in 12th....Billy Drake took home an 10th place finish after starting in 14th....Brad Looney, who took and MLRA provisional, started the A Main in 23rd and passed 7 cars to finish in 16th....Matt Furman also passed 7 cars from his 24th place starting spot, after taking an Corn Belt Clash Series provisional, to finish in 17th....What was amazing about the A Main, was that the 28 car starting field went 40 laps on a 1/4 mile track with out a single caution......Twenty-six IMCA Modifieds signed in on the night, with three heats and two B Mains being ran to cut the field down to a 20 car starting field....Rob Henry, who moved up from the Street Stock class into the Modifieds this year, started the feature in 14th and passed 6 cars to finish in 8th....Kelly Meyer passed 8 cars from his 17th place starting spot to come home in 9th....Todd Dykema came from 19th to finish in in 12th....Bruce Fosdyck started 18th and passed 4 cars to finish in 14th....Bob Dominacki was credited with 17th after leading until lap 18 when he spun to bring out the only caution of the feature......Nick Claussen recovered from his lap 1 spin to come back up to finish 7th in the Street Stock feature....Cord Williams also recovered from his spin on lap 7 to come back up to finish 8th....Scott Dickey came from 16th to finish in 10th....Rick Schriner had motor troubles in his heat, that forced him to scratch from the feature......Rick Zifko came from 10th in the 4 Stock feature to come home in 7th....Steven Spiker started 14th and passed 5 cars to finish in 9th....Todd Sibley passed 6 cars from his 17th place starting spot to finish in 11th....Richard Dearborn also passed 6 cars from his 18th place starting spot to finish in 12th....Andy Loy, who started 8th and had worked his way to 2nd by lap 5, pulled off on lap 6 with heavy smoke coming from under his car to end his night in 14th....Drew Wise came from 19th to finish in 15th......In 102 laps of feature racing there was only 7 total cautions, Late Models 40 laps caution free, 20 laps in the IMCA Modifieds only 1 caution, Street Stocks had 5 cautions in there 15 lap race, IMCA SportMods went 15 laps caution free, and the 4 Stock 12 lap feature only had 1 caution. What a great night of racing in all classes!!!
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