We opted to take the trip over to the West Liberty Raceway on Tuesday night, a track we hadn't been to for 20 years. Justin Kay would take the win in the Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model 40-lap event, and Chris Abelson made his five hour trip from Sioux City pay off by winning the 30-lap Hawkeye Dirt Tour for the IMCA Modifieds.
A nice field of 23 strong contenders were in the HDT Modified division. They ran three heats with the top four from each, eligible for the redraw for starting position for the 30-lap feature. Jake Murray from Hartford, and Derek Walker from Riverside, were the lucky ones to start on the front row.
Justin Kay started third behind the pole sitter and took command of the race at lap five. His night would end when he pulled off under caution at lap eleven, when several cars got together in turn two.
The lead was handed over to Jake Murray, with Chris Abelson waiting in the wings in second as the race restarted.
Another caution flew at lap fourteen, and Abelson was now the leader of the pack, Murray falling to second. The caution arouse when another incident happened in turn two. The race was eventually red flagged as the car of Derek Walker was sitting atop that of Kyle Brown. We heard later, that Brown had a left rear hub break, and Walker launched over him.
When the race resumed, Abelson shot off from the pack, the race going green the remainder of the way, and he took the comfortable win. Jake Murray finished as the runner up, veteran racer Kelly Shryock started seventeenth and finished third, fifteenth place starter Kurt Kile, was fourth, and Chirs Zogg just beat Hunter Marriott to the finish line, as they went fifth and sixth.
This was the first time that Abelson had even seen the West Liberty Raceway, but he mastered it on his first try.
Twenty-seven Deery Late Models were on hand. They ran four heat races, a B Main. The usual pizza box draw for the top twelve in the heats, set the starting grid for the first six rows. Justin Kay ended up with the #1 spot, Denny Eckrich along side him.
Denny Eckrich took the lead as the race went green; Kay falling in behind him. He held that lead until Kay was able to make the pass on lap nineteen, and he was leading when the only yellow flew on lap twenty, when Chad Halladay and Ironman Darrel DeFrance tangled. By this time, the winds shifted and everyone was in hopes that the storm clouds all around would hold back until the finish of the race. They did.
When the green dropped for the restart, Kay maintained his lead, but Scott Fitzpatrick moved by Denny Eckrich, to take over the runner up spot. The running order of the top three stayed the same until the checkers flew with Kay taking the win in comfortable fashion. Fitzpatrick and Eckrich were second and third. Tyler Droste started eleventh and finished in fourth place, and Kevin Kile rounded out the top five.
Winner Kay did double duty tonight, also racing in the HDT contest, but had to exit early with issues. We noticed Kay wasn't in his familiar looking #15K in the Late Model, and I believe we understood that he was piloting the car that Brian Birkhofer has in the past.
There was a shower about an hour before race time, but thankfully, it was done and over with. But the looming clouds were all around and the radar was colorful. We got word that the USMTS race at the Iowa State Fairgrounds track in Des Moines, had been rained out...it had poured there, and by the time we left the track and got on I80, we hit heavy rain. Sometimes...things work out, and this wasn't one of those "wild goose chases" that so many of us race fans have had!
We are in the thick of our Iowa racing season. Find a race to attend and support the sport we all love.
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