Sports : News from the Speedway

No more than a car-length separated Jeff Aikey and Ray Guss Jr. for much of the 40-lapper, but that’s all Aikey needed when the checkers waved in the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models at Independence Motor Speedway. Aikey, who took charge two laps following a lap 10 restart, held off Guss in thrilling fashion to score his first series win of the season and his second straight at Independence. Pole-sitter Guss took the lead at the drop of the green as he raced away from fellow front row starter and series points leader Mike Murphy Jr. Aikey and Joe Zrostlik pursued, joining the leaders on the bottom side of the speedway before a caution on lap 10 slowed action. When racing resumed, Aikey worked the top groove past Guss to steal the lead on lap 12. The pair then pulled away from the pack to battle for the top spot. While Aikey ran the top side, Guss ran down low, staying close to the leader and occasionally pulling alongside him. The leaders swapped racing grooves when they encountered lapped traffic with 15 laps to go as Guss chased Aikey through the backmarkers. Aikey held the lead when the second and final caution occurred on lap 29. On the restart, Aikey again took command with Guss close behind. Guss repeatedly worked the low groove in each set of turns, but was never able to get closer than the leader’s door as Aikey drove to the win. Murphy took advantage of the late restart to steal third from Tyler Bruening, who started in the seventh row. In other action, Brian Happel topped a field of 20 IMCA Hobby Stocks to drive to victory in that 20-lapper. Happel battled with Benji Irvine for the second spot while Justin Stander paced the field over the first five circuits. Following a lap five restart, Happel worked the top groove past Stander to drive to the victory. Pippert and Erick Knutsen each raced from fifth row starting spots to finish third and fourth, respectively. Austin Moyer led all 20 laps to earn the win in the IMCA SportMod division. From his second row starting spot, Moyer swept past front row starters Brandon Smith and Jim Buhlman to take the lead by the end of the first lap. He pulled away from the pack to score the victory ahead of Shane Ebaugh. RESULTS
DEERY SERIES IMCA LATE MODELS Feature 1. 77 Jeff Aikey (Waterloo); 2. 58 Ray Guss Jr. (Milan, Ill.); 3. 14 Mike Murphy Jr. (Colona, Ill.); 4. 16 Tyler Bruening (Decorah); 5. 60 Dean Wagner (Evansdale); 6. 93 Jay Johnson (West Burlington); 7. 45 Curt Martin (Independence); 8. 73 Greg Kastli (Waterloo); 9. 56 Andy Eckrich (Oxford); 10. 98 Travis Smock (Independence); 11. 40 Joel Callahan (Dubuque); 12. 50 Denny Eckrich (Tiffin); 13. 31 Jason Utter (Columbus Junction); 14. 15K Justin Kay (Wheatland); 15. 21B Joel Brasch (Dunkerton); 16. 56W Gary Webb (Blue Grass); 17. 2P Jon Passick (Waterloo); 18. 5J Jeff Mitrisin (Oskaloosa); 19. Z50 Joe Zrostlik (Long Grove); 20. 84 Sam Halstead (New London); 21. 16S Dan Shelliam (Hazel Green, Wis.); 22. 99D Darrel DeFrance (Marshalltown); 23. 41 Matt Strassheim (Morning Sun); 24. 7 Greg Hunter (Independence). First heat (top 3 redraw) – 1. Murphy; 2. Kastli; 3. Brasch; 4. Halstead; 5. Utter; 6. 44 Luke Goedert (Guttenburg); 7. Shelliam; 8. Smock. Second heat – 1. Guss; 2. Passick; 3. A. Eckrich; 4. Wagner; 5. Webb; 6. 76 Jason Hahne (Webster City); 7. 3X Chad Lerch (North Liberty); 8. 4D Rick Dralle (Waterloo). Third heat – 1. DeFrance; 2. Aikey; 3. Zrostlik; 4. Hunter; 5. Martin; 6. Mitrisin; 7. 0 Rory Metcalf (West Union); 8. 4 Leon Thomsen (Waverly). Fourth heat – 1. Strassheim; 2. Kay; 3. Johnson; 4. Bruening; 5. D. Eckrich; 6. Callahan; 7. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr. (Washburn); 8. 77S Stephan Kammerer (Blue Grass). First B feature (4 transfer) – 1. Wagner; 2. Utter; 3. Halstead; 4. Shelliam; 5. Webb; 6. Smock; 7. Hahne; 8. Lerch; 9. Dralle; 10. Goedert. Second B feature – 1. Bruening; 2. Hunter; 3. Martin; 4. Mitrisin; 5. D. Eckrich; 6. Hackwell; 7. Metcalf; 8. Kammerer; 9. Callahan; 10. Thomsen. Provisional Starters – Smock (hard charger); Callahan, D. Eckrich, Webb (series points). IMCA SPORTMOD Feature – 1. 25 Austin Moyer (Dubuque); 2. 14 Shane Ebaugh (Evansdale); 3. 96 Lucas Lundry (Maynard); 4. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 5. 21 Brennen Chipp (Waterloo); 6. S16 Kip Siems (Cedar Falls); 7. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 8. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 9. 87 Aric Becker (Cedar Rapids); 10. 49 Brandon Smith (Rowley); 11. 25T Travis Peterson (Gladbrook); 12. 11M Mike Mitchell (Cedar Rapids); 13. 15B Troy Burkhart (Urbana); 14. 11S Al Sweerin (Waterloo); 15. 21R Randy Butterbrodt (Clarence); DNS 93 Josh Burrell (Dysart); DNS 63 Matt McCahen (Waterloo); DQ 198 Sam Wieben (Dysart). First heat (top 5 redraw) – 1. Hilmer; 2. Siems; 3. Peterson; 4. Buhlman; 5. Wieben; 6. Chipp; 7. Lundry; 8. Sweerin; 9. Butterbrodt. Second heat – 1. Dvorak; 2. Ebaugh; 3. Burkhart; 4. Smith; 5. Becker; 6. Mitchell; 7. Burrell; 8. Peterson; DNS McCahen. IMCA HOBBY STOCK Feature – 1. 46 Brian Happel (Cedar Rapids); 2. 67 Justin Stander (Vinton); 3. 47 Scott Pippert (Elberon); 4. 99 Erick Knutsen (Center Point); 5. 4T3 T. J. Mortenson (Independence); 6. 23 Justin Hanson (West Union); 7. 73 Quinton Miller (Independence); 8. 26 Nathan Christie (Waterloo); 9. 78 Matt Brown (Dysart); 10. 1S Greg Sweerin (Evansdale); 11. 45 Justin Wacha (Vinton); 12. 20B Matt Burmeister (Dunkerton); 13. 79 Benji Irvine (Cedar Falls); 14. 13G Craig Graham (Webster City); 15. 14G Curt Graham (Tiffin); 16. 258 Doug Laughridge (Vinton); 17. 77 Rod Grother (Cedar Rapids); 18. 8 Dave Wheeler (Fairbank); 19. 95 Matt Lundry (Oelwein); 20. 5 Marcus Wayne (Independence). First heat (top 5 redraw) – 1. Pippert; 2. Knutsen; 3. Wacha; 4. Stander; 5. Curt Graham; 6. Craig Graham; 7. Mortenson; 8. Sweerin; 9. Brown; 10. Burmeister. Second heat – 1. Laughridge; 2. Irvine; 3. Grother; 4. Lundry; 5. Happel; 6. Wayne; 7. Christie; 8. Miller; 9. Hanson; 10. Wheeler.