We made the trip down to the Lee County Speedway on Thursday night, looking forward to the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour. Thirty of the IMCA Modifieds were on hand looking for the $1,000 win, that included having their name on the ballot for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational at the IMCA Super Nationals. The IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Northern SportMods and IMCA Sport Compacts also competed.
The IMCA Sport Compacts had 14 cars on hand.....more than we are accustomed to seeing at any other track. Josh Barnes reeled in Mike Reu at lap ten and then led the remaining distance to take the win. Mike Reu finished as the runner up, third was Michael Grossman, Brandon Lambert was fourth and Brandon Reu rounded out the top five. The race was caution free.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran a 20-lap feature, vying for $500 to win. Track point leader, Joey Gower led this one from start to finish. In the final laps, he was strongly challenged by Tony Dunker as lap traffic came into play, but Gower held his ground and took the checkers first. Dunker was second, third went to Brandon Dale, Brandon Lennox (there are an abundance of "Brandon's" racing in that area!) was fourth and veteran racer Jim Gillenwater took fifth.
The IMCA Stock Cars were also running for a $500 payday. All classes were draw/redraw tonight and by the luck of the draw, "The Chelsea Charger", Damon Murty found himself sitting on the outside of the front row for the start of the 20-lap event. Murty immediately took the lead but by lap two, Nathan Wood had slipped by when Murty found it a tad bit slick at the top of turn four. He recovered quickly however, and regained the lead on the back stretch, and was scored the leader again at lap three. He held command the rest of the distance to the checkers and the win....his 13th of the season. Nathan Wood finished as the runner up. It was a close one for third and fourth, with Andrew Hustead just beating Jeremy Pundt, and Corey Strothman came home in fifth.
The night's racing ended with the 30-lap IMCA Modified Hawkeye Dirt Tour feature. Lucky recipients of the redraw, giving them front row starting spots were Bill Roberts and "G Money", Richie Gustin. Gustin found it to his liking, as he immediate snatched up the lead. Fourth place starter Kyle Brown, who now calls State Center home, moved quickly into second place. Brown challenged Gustin, momentarily getting past him, only to have Gustin take back the top spot. This race would be marred with yellows, as turn four in particular, found several cars involved in each of the cautions, and thus eliminating many of the top running cars. There was a fine line at the top of the track, and turn four proved to be the most tricky place. However, front runners Gustin and Brown avoided those disasters, completing the 30-laps unscathed. Gustin.....who has earned the nickname "G Money" as he often wins the top paying features,....showed again why that is, taking home the win and the $1,000. Kyle Brown finished in second place, Troy Cordes started tenth and finished in third, fourth went to ninth place starter, Todd Shute, and Andrew Schroeder qualified through a B main, started eighteenth and was fifth. Point leader of the HDT series Mike VanGenderen, also had to qualify through a B main, started nineteenth and took sixth place.
The Lee County Speedway will now fall silent for a couple of weeks, with their next regular Friday night event on July 10.
It turned out to be a beautiful night again to be sitting at the races. We had a bit of a concern as the closer we got to Donnellson, it was cloudy and it appeared on radar as if the remnants of Hurricane Bill were still swirling up to the area. However, that turned out to be an unfounded issue, as we all were treated to another beautiful Iowa sunset. What a backdrop when the cars are on the track! We enjoyed our time at the Lee County Speedway. It was made more enjoyable by sharing it with racing friends.
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