Saturday, August 16, 2014

Garnhart Doubles Up at Davenport

Davenport, IA (Friday, August 15, 2014) - Friday night at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport, IA it was another weekly points night, as the regular points season begins to come to an end. An extra added bonus to the five weekly feature events in the IMCA Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA SpotMods, Street Stocks and 4 Stocks, was the make-up IMCA SpotMod feature from last week.

The first event to take to the track was the 15 lap IMCA SportMod make-up feature, with Gary Rentfro and Jake Morris leading the field to the green flag. Morris would take advantage of his front row starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Jacob Beal and Bryce Garnhart, who started 8th. Garnhart, who was running the bottom of the track, slipped under Morris on lap 3 to take over the top spot. The only thing to slow Garnhart down was the first and only caution of the race on lap 13, as Angie Feller stopped in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Garnhart moved back out front and held on over the final two laps to pick up his fourth win of the season at the track. Beal was 2nd, Henry Carson started 6th and finished in 3rd, Joe Grant was 4th, with Morris holding on for 5th.

Up next was the 12 lap 4 Stock feature, with Richard Dearborn and Sean Fersch leading the field to green. But it was sixth place starter Andy Loy who quickly moved to the front to grab the lead on lap 1 over Jake Benischek, who started 7th, and Fersch. Just as lap 1 was scored complete the first caution would appear, as Steve Boyle spun in turn 3 from contact from Fersch and Dearborn to bring out the yellow. On the restart Loy jumped back out front over Luke Benischek, who started 6th, and Brandon Dahl, who started 9th. Loy looked to be heading to the win, until disaster struck him on lap 6. The caution was thrown when Loy's car started to leak fuel, which caused him to be sent to the pits. On the restart Zach Dahl, who started 11th, jumped to the outside of Brandon Dahl to edge him out at the line by inches to take the top spot. Zach then held off Brandon over the final 5 laps to claim his first win of the season at the track. Brandon Dahl settled for 2nd, Tristin Clark started 10th and finished in 3rd, Luke Benischek was 4th, with Jake Benischek rounding out the top 5.

Steve Cox and Bryan Ritter made up the front row for the 15 lap Street Stock feature, with Ritter taking advantage of his starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Mike Anderson and Randy Lamar. Anderson, who was running the bottom of the track, slipped under Ritter to grab the lead away on lap 2. But Lamar, who was up top, used the momentum to edge out Anderson at the line to lead lap 3. The action up front was slowed for the first time after the completion of lap 3, when Jacob Whittington spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Lamar moved back out front, but now had Kevin Dickey, who started 6th, and Cary Brown, who started 9th, glued to his back bumper. The second caution flag of the event on lap 5 would slow the action up front, as Mark Anderson spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Dickey, who was running 3rd, slipped over the track in turn 1 to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw Lamar jump back out front, with Mike Anderson over taking Brown for the runner up spot. Anderson would slip under Lamar on lap 7 to grab the top spot away and then held it until the fourth caution appeared on lap 8. Nick Claussen, who started 7th and was running 4th, Donnie Louck, who started 10th and was running 6th, Dickey, who recovered from he slip over the tack in turn 1 on lap 5 was running 7th, and Brian Wiseman all collided in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Anderson once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Lamar and Brown battling for the second spot. Brown would use the low side of the track off turn 4 to slip under Anderson and Lamar to take over the top spot. Brown then held on over the final 3 laps to pick up his second win of the season at the track. Anderson settled for 2nd, Lamar was 3rd, Rick Schriner was 4th, with Claussen recovering from the lap 8 crash to come back up to come home in 5th.

The regular 15 lap IMCA SportMod feature was up next, with Jared Miller and David Norton on the front row for the event. Miller would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Jake Morris and Norton. Miller then looked to be heading for an easy win, until the first and only caution of the event appeared on lap 6 to bring the field back to his back bumper. Gary Rentfro spun in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Bryce Garnhart, who started 9th, used the bottom of the track to slip under Miller for the top spot. Garnhart then held off Miller over the final 8 laps to pick up his second win on the night and fifth of the season at the track. Miller settled for 2nd, Doug Burkhead came from 7th to finish in 3rd, Morris was 4th, with Henry Carson coming from 8th to round out the top 5.

Rob Dominacki and Rich Smith led the field to green in the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature. But just as the green flag was waved the caution light would appear, as Milo Veloz Jr. spun in turn 1 from contact from Matt Werner to bring out the yellow. On the restart Smith jumped out front on lap 1 over Dominacki and Brian Bushong. Just after lap 1 was scored complete another caution appeared, as Bruce Fosdyck Sr., spun in turn 2 and collected Dustin Smith and Werner to bring out the yellow. Rich Smith grabbed the lead on the restart, with Bushong close behind in second. Bushong, who was running the top of the track, would edge out Smith at the line to lead lap 5. Smith wouldn't give up his shot at the lead, as he used the bottom of the track to take the top spot back on lap 9. But Bushong used the momentum off the top of the track in turn 4 to grab the lead back on lap 13. While those two battled up front for the lead, Doug Crampton, who started 11th, was working his way towards the front. Crampton, who used the bottom off turn 4, slipped past Bushong to take over the top spot on lap 14. The action up front was slowed for the third and final time on lap 18 to set up a 2 lap dash to the win. This time Rob Henry, who was running 7th, stopped in turn 3 with front end troubles to bring out the yellow. On the restart Crampton jumped back out front, with Tony VonDresky, who started 6th, over taking Bushong for second. Crampton would hold on for the final 2 laps to pick up second win of the season at the track. VonDresky settled for 2nd, Bushong was 3rd, Joe Beal came from 9th to finish in 5th, with Bob Dominacki coming home in 5th.

The final feature to take to the track was the 25 lap IMCA Late Models, with LeRoy Brenner and Chuck Hanna making up the front row. Hanna would take advantage of his starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Shaune Lewis and Brenner. Just as Hanna started to pull away, the first caution would come out on lap 2. Trevor Muilenburg spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Hanna moved back out front, with Brunson Behning, who started 6th, over taking Lewis for the second spot. Behning, who was running the bottom of the track, slipped under Hanna on lap 4 to take over the top spot. Behning then had to work to hold off Ray Guss Jr., who started 7th, over the next 3 laps. Guss Jr., who was running the top of the track, would edge out Behning at the line to grab the lead on lap 9. But before the lap was scored complete, Muilenburg would spin in turn 2 to bring out his second solo caution to end his night. This would also give the lead back to Behning for the restart. On the restart Behning went to the top of the track to grab the lead over Guss Jr. and Joe Zrostlik. While Behning worked to hold back Guss Jr. for the lead, Mike Murphy Jr., who started 9th, and Justin Kay, who started 10th, were working their way towards the front. Behning started to enter lapped traffic on lap 21, which allowed Guss Jr., Murphy and Kay to close in on him for the lead. But Behning was able to hold them off over the final 4 laps to claim his first career Late Model feature win. Kay used a great move on the bottom on the final lap to go from 4th to 2nd, Guss Jr. was 3rd, Murphy was 4th, with Zrostlik holding on for 5th.

Notes from Davenport: Andre LaPorte started the make-up SportMod feature in 11th and finished in 7th....Ron Cook came from 14th to finish in 9th....Dustin Crear, Tony Dunker, and Jacob Arp were unable to return for the make-up race......Sean Fersch recovered from his involvement in the lap 1 yellow to come back up to finish in 6th in the 4 Stock feature......Donnie Louck recovered from the lap 8 yellow to come back up to finish 6th in the Street Stock feature....Kevin Schloemer started 11th and finished in 8th....Jacob Whittington recovered from his lap 3 spin to come back up to finish in 10th....Cord Williams, was running 6th, when he slowed on the final lap to end his night in 11th....Gerald Ward had troubles after his heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature......Jason Wiggins had transmission troubles in the make-up feature that forced him to scratch from the regular night of SportMod racing......Mitch Morris started the Modified feature in 10th and finished in 6th....Scott Powell passed 7 cars from his 15th place starting spot to come home in 8th....Steve Johnson passed 8 cars from his 17th place starting spot to come home in 9th....Chris Zogg started 13th and finished 10th....Craig Crawford passed 9 cars from his 20th place starting spot to come home in 11th....Todd Dykema came from 16th to finish in 12th....Matt Werner recovered from the lap 1 caution to come back up to finish 14th....Greg Wilson came from 21st to finish in 15th....T.J. Patz had motor troubles in his heat race that forced him to scratch from the event......Spencer Diercks started the Late Model feature in 11th and finished 7th....Matt Ryan passed 6 cars from his 15th place starting spot to come home in 9th....Todd Malmstrom started 14th and finished in 10th....Mike Zemo Jr. came from 16th to finish in 11th.

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