We began our "Speedweek" at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson last night. The two plus hour trip was well worth it as the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified race was a thriller! Also on the docket were the Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts...making for a full night of racing action.
There was a $100 bounty on the head of Sport Compact driver Austen Beccera. Well....it's still there as Beccera led all but the opening lap of the fifteen lap event. Beccera finished with more than a healthy lead over second place Skip Dunker. John Whalen took third over a closely contested race between Mike Grossman, Brandon Reu and Chuck Fullenkamp who finished fourth through sixth in that order.
The SportMods went 18-laps in their A main. Bobby Anders was in command when a yellow flew at lap eight, track point leader Tony Dunker riding in second. By lap fourteen, Dunker had taken over the helm and Anders was now having to fend off the challenges of Jim Gillenwater. That's when another caution flew and when the race restarted Gillenwater flew around Anders and into the runner up spot. With just a lap to go, Gillenwater made the move around Dunker for the lead and held it to the checkers and the victory. Dunker finished as the runner up, Anders was third, Sean Wyett was fourth and Joey Gower completed the top five.
The Hobby Stocks went 16-laps in their feature. Brandon Symmonds led the troops the first lap, but by lap two, it was Dustin Griffiths in charge. From there on, Griffiths was out for a Sunday cruise, winning the main event by a large margin. Second was Dane Blozovich, Symmonds was third, and Sierra Wilsey was fourth. Only four cars finished as the #12 of Mike Kincaid and Andrew Hustead did not finish.
The Stock Cars went 20-lap in their feature. The 14B of Tom Bowling, Jr. led it through lap five when he was literally pushed across the line by John Oliver, Jr. knocking on the door. The next lap, Oliver had sneaked under Bowling to take over as captain of the ship and lengthened out his lead. Bowling wasn't done though and made up ground in the closing laps....but got a little too high to mount any real challenge as Oliver scored the win, Bowling having to settle for second. Independence, Iowa racer, Justin Temeyer pulled down to Donnellson and went home with a third place finish, Louis Lynch was fourth and Jeremy Pundt was fifth.
The highlight of the night was the 30-lap Hawkeye Dirt Tour race with the Modifieds. After suffering rain outs, this would be just the third night racing completed in the series. Some of those rain outs will be made up, others will not. Going into the night, two drivers were tied for the point's lead....Tim Ward, who calls Gilbert, Arizona home, but is hanging his hat in Iowa this summer, and Newton, Iowa's Mike VanGenderen.
There were 29 Modifieds on hand, and it took two B mains to whittle the starting line up to 22 and two series point provisionals were tagged on to the starting A main. The top twelve qualifiers got to play a little game to secure their starting spot. They were all called across the track and onto the stage in front of the grandstand. Cups with a # on the bottom were chosen by each....no peeking at the number. Then they were asked if they wanted to keep or exchange the cup for one of the other qualifier's cups. The lucky two that got the front row were driver Hunter Marriott picking #1 and Bill Roberts, Jr. with the #2. Both had opted to keep their original picks.
Marriott established the lead at lap one, but by then fourth place starter Jesse Sobbing (who made the LONG haul over from Glenwood, Iowa) and fifth place starter Mike VanGenderen were up to challenge. Marriott held down the lead for a few laps while Sobbing and VanGenderen were duking it out. Sobbing got to the point by lap nine, Marriott still in second and VanGenderen riding in third. At lap seventeen, the one and only yellow flew, setting up a restart. By lap eighteen, VanGenderen had taken over second place and the chase was on to catch leader Sobbing. From there on, the fans got their money's worth! VanGenderen set sail on the topside, Sobbing choosing the low side. The final five laps were a swapping of the lead. VanGenderen took over at lap 25, Sobbing opting to ride the mid portion of the track out of turn four. Several slide jobs gave each driver the lead at certain points of the race, VanGenderen having the lead at lap 29, only to have Sobbing get back around after the white flag flew! The final run to the checkers saw VanGenderen get the advantage back, and he beat Sobbing to the checkers and the win. Wow! It was an awesome last few laps to watch! VanGenderen took his first Hawkeye Dirt Tour win, Sobbing having to settle for the runner up spot. Richie Gustin, the Gilman, Iowa hot shoe, made the most advancement. He raced from starting eleventh, to take third place. Hunter Marriott hung to the front of the field all night, and finished fourth and local area favorite, Jeff Waterman took fifth.
We will be pointing the vehicle south tonight for the second night in a row for an HDT race. It will be in Oskaloosa during the Southern Iowa Fair. Will be interesting to see how it plays out on the Monster Half Mile tonight. Thanks for reading and happy racing!
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