We ventured to Tipton, Iowa on Tuesday night to visit the Cedar County Raceway. The track, which isn't running weekly this year, was hosting the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Model and IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour for Modifieds. Thirty-one Late Models and forty-three Modifieds were on hand. Four Deery heats and two B's, as well as five heats and three B's for the HDT Modifieds, plus four provisionals for the Late Models, and two for the Modifieds, and the 24 car starting fields were set.
The redraw for the heat qualifiers, (top 2) was done in the pits for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour, setting the starting spot for the top ten. Mike Burbridge and Colt Mather were the lucky front row starters for the 25-lap feature.
Colt Mather established the lead at the drop of the green. The only yellow of the race came at lap three when veteran Dan Chapman had issues. When the racing restarted, Mather picked up where he had left off, working the track near flawlessly through lap traffic. Justin Kay, who had started fourth, closed in on leader Mather, but at the checkers, had nothing for him. Mather took the win and the $1,000 pay day and a Fast Shafts Qualifier for the 2016 All Star ballot for next year's IMCA Super Nationals. Kay finished as the runner up, after his run in second for all but the opening laps and third went to Mitch Morris, who established himself in that spot nearly from the get go. Fourth was Brad Dierks who had started deep in the field in 16th starting spot, and pole sitter Mike Burbridge rounded out the top five. Mather got his first Hawkeye Dirt Tour win and said in Victory Lane that this was his first "big" win on a short track. Mather became the seventh different winner out of seven races on the HDT this year. Previous winners were Jason Wolla, Jeremiah Hurst, Richie Gustin, Kyle Strickler, Kelly Shryock and Nick Deal.
The top two in Hawkeye Dirt Tour points is a close one. Going into the night, Mike VanGenderen held a slim one point lead over Kyle Brown. At the close of the night, Brown was the new leader by four points over VanGenderen. Brown qualified through a B main and had started twenty-second and became hard charger on the night, finishing in seventh. VanGenderen started seventh and as the race wore on, fell back to finish in twelfth after having his tires go away on the slick, rubbered track. The final race for this year's Hawkeye Dirt Tour will be on Saturday, September 19 at the Farley Speedway.
The top twelve qualifiers from the Deery Brother's heats did their usual Casey's pizza box draw on the front stretch. After a bit of "keep or exchange" was completed, it was Brunson Behning, from Davenport, Iowa getting the coveted #1 spot to start the race. The #2 slot went to Hazel Green, Wisconsin's Dan Shelliam. Lurking in row two for the start were "Double Duty Justin Kay", point leader for the Deery Series, and Andy Eckrich. It was now time for the 50-lap main event.
Shelliam took the point spot immediately, leading Behning and Kay when lap one was scored. By lap fifteen, Kay had made his way around Behning and then made his peek under Shelliman pay off, taking command of the ship. Kay worked the lap traffic beautifully, dipping low when he needed to, or taking the high road around if necessary. At the halfway mark of the 50-lap contest, the first yellow appeared when Sam Halstead slipped off the track and tried to reenter. When things got sorted out for the restart, Kay held the top spot, Behning was still in second and Shelliman was running third. When the race returned to green flag racing, Kay motored off, but Shelliman made the move to the runner up spot, and veteran Ray Guss, Jr. moved up to run third. One more yellow would fly in the contest at lap 39, but it was no bother to Kay, who pulled away in the closing laps to take the comfortable win. Shelliman held on to second place, and Guss to third. Fourth went to tenth place starter Kevin Kile and Richie Gustin was fifth. This marked the sixth win this season in the Deery Brother's Summer Series for Kay, and his second in a row.
Next up for the IMCA Deery Brothers will be at the West Liberty Raceway on Friday and Saturday, September 4-5. Then the series moves to the Boone Speedway on Labor Day, September 7, where they will be part of the opening day of the 33rd Annual IMCA Super Nationals.
We enjoyed our evening with racing friends and fellow Positively Racing cohort Jeff Broeg. Look for his take of the night's racing under "Back Stretch" on the website. Thanks for reading!
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