We took our annual Memorial Day trip over to the Boone Speedway for the running of the Deery Brothers Summer Series race. It was a full evening of racing as we not only saw 40 late models in competition, but joining them for play, were the IMCA stock cars, sportmods, hobby stocks and MADCRA Mod Lites. All in all, a total of 170 race cars. The late model winner ran an almost flawless race and three of the other classes saw a Smith brother out of Lake City, Iowa, take the checkered flag first.
It was a warm, but very windy day and with racing to start at 5 p.m., you can almost bet we would be seeing some dust rising during the heat races. That was the case, but when the sun went down and another great farming session took place after the heat races, the track was nicely groomed and remained dust free there after.
We stopped by at the Karsyn's Krusaders booth that was set up behind the grandstands. This is a great cause born out of the fight of a couple's young daughter, Karsyn, who fought leukemia. With support of family, friends and community, they have continued to raise money through the sale of t shirts and other items, as well as holding fund raising events. They "pay it forward" by giving scholarships as well as donating to such organizations as Make A Wish foundation. We were happy to learn that Karsyn has been cancer free for nine months! If you see Karsyn's Krusaders at a track you visit, please stop by and support this great organization and help Kick Cancer's Butt!
After all of the heat races were run and the B for the late models and the hobby stocks, a little change up occurred in the regularly scheduled order of events. Why? A look to the west and south told us why. Yet another approaching cloud mass with potential for rain was creeping closer and closer. It was decided to bring the main event to the track, the IMCA Deery Brothers late models, for their 40-lap feature.
After the top twelve qualifiers from the heat races drew for their starting positions in front of the grandstand, it was Darrel DeFrance, veteran and local favorite, who drew the number one starting spot. Andy Eckrich, winner of the Deery race at the Marshalltown Speedway earlier this month, picked number two. Twenty drivers qualified through heats and two b mains, and to fill the 24-car starting field, four drivers tagged the tail as provisionals. Those were Mike Garland (hard charger), Matt Strassheim, Nate Beuseling and Sam Halstead.
At the drop of the green flag, the 56 car of Andy Eckrich flew to the lead. Darrel DeFrance trailed a distance behind through lap twelve when on a restart, both Tom Darbyshire and Ray Guss, Jr. made the pass into second and third. Eckrich continued to pull away from those behind him, almost making it look easy, as he wound his way through lap traffic. Guss made the pass around Darybshire with less than a handful of laps remaining and slowly gained ground on Eckrich, but not enough. Eckrich took his second Deery win in a row after earlier capturing an equally impressive win at the Marshalltown Speedway. He has certainly been "Mr. Smooth" in those two races. Guss grabbed the runner up spot, with Darbyshire hanging on for a third place over Jeff Aikey in fourth and Terry Neal came from winning a b-main, to take the fifth spot.
Mother Nature seemed to smile on the Boone Speedway once again. Not a drop of rain fell, and after the late model feature was completed, the final b mains were completed and the Dwarf/Mod Lites came to the track for their main event.
The Dwarfs ran an 18-lap feature. Charlie Brown led the first handful of laps but young Josh May took over the command by lap eight. From there on, it was smooth sailing for May as he picked up the victory. Colby Oberembt took second place over Charlie Brown who finished third. Tim Hennigar was right on Brown's tail at the finish for fourth place and James May, the winner's father, finished in fifth.
The 15-lap hobby stock feature was dominated by one of the Smith brothers out of Lake City--Devin Smith. Smith took over the lead from Danny Watson by lap two, never to look back. Smith stretched his lead while Michael Murphy, Eric Stanton and Watson battled three-wide behind him for second place. Smith took the easy win with Murphy gaining control for second. Third went to Danny Watson, Eric Stanton was fourth and fifth went to the 27 car out of Missouri Valley, Iowa, Jason Kohl.
Thirty-nine Northern SportMods checked through the gates, and after four heats and two b mains, the 24-car starting field was set. Cody Warrick and Brian Miller battled for the lead through lap twelve of the 20-lap feature. Not surprisingly, Doug Smith had now sneaked up to third spot, and was wanting more. That was soon a done deal, as he took his #12 ride into the top spot at lap 14, and would win going away. Chalk up another win for a Smith brother out of Lake City, Iowa. Brian Miller grabbed second place and Andy Tiernan and Scott Davis finished a close third and fourth, in that order. Former IMCA Super Nationals winner, Mike Pruitt from Redfield, rounded out the top five.
The IMCA stock cars brought an exciting conclusion to the program with the running of their 20-lap affair. The excitement started early with cars going four-wide down the front chute and then five-wide in the corner! Andy Bryant relinquished his lead to Wayne Gifford and second place runner Donavon Smith...yes another Smith brother from Lake City...by lap six. From there on, it was an intense duel between Gifford and Smith, as they swapped the lead. Gifford was leading at the white flag, but Smith out powered him to get to the checkers flying first, making it a three for three night for the Smith brothers. Following Gifford for a third place finish was Alan VanGorp, fourth went to David Smith---yup, another Smith brother--and Jay Schmidt came from nineteenth with an impressive run, to nab fifth.
Boone Speedway will be running their regularly scheduled show for points in all divisions again come Saturday night June 4. Check www.raceboone.com for complete schedule and information concerning the track. Also be sure and check www.imca.com to see more about the evening's program. Full results are listed below this blog.
Happy racing!
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