Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Aikey Tops Deery Bros at Maquoketa

Well, they finally got this show in!!! I have been trying multiple times to get to the Maquoketa Speedway this year and have been thwarted by the weather each time. Just as the promotional team at Maquoketa has been trying to get in their special events and has been fighting the weather in the same manner, along with their other track at Dubuque. Well, the stars were finally in alignment on Tuesday, June 18th and the Deery Brothers Summer Series was able to get their second show of 2019 in the records books, as this series has been struggling with the weather just as much as everyone else.

That's not to say that it was a perfect night for racing as I drove in a considerable amount of precipitation on the way to the track and the weather folks were talking about showers possibly moving into the area by evening but nothing materialized and other than a humid night, it was indeed finally a good night for dirt track racing.

Along with the Deery Brothers show on this night, also featured was a full program of Modifieds, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and unsanctioned Four Cylinders. All IMCA classes were racing for points except for track points and remarkably, those darn track points would keep some racers home in their garages rather than at the track as for some people, points are still more important than cash, a concept that I have never been able to understand. However, they did have a very nice field of Modifieds and enough Sport Mods for two heats while the other two classes, which struggle here on a regular basis to get cars, continued that trend on this night.

New to me, they were pitted on what they call the "back forty" which is a new pit area that sits behind the back chute on the North side of the grounds in a field of lush grass. I was told that they use this pit area only when they have special shows with lots of large haulers which all can't be fitted comfortably in their regular pit area on the South side of the track behind the main grandstands. There are advantages and disadvantages to using the North pits. It is quite a hike around the track back there and for those of us working both sides, it gave us a chance to get some exercise. There definitely is much more room on the "back forty" and more room for workers and pit people to park their personal vehicles. The knats and bugs were atrocious back there, but that may have been the case everywhere as is that been a great Spring for hatching just about any kind of flying pest. However, by far the biggest problem is when they forget to haul the portable satellites in and everyone is left scrambling to find a tree or hedge line to hide behind! It was indeed a long time to hold it, if you catch my drift!

But on to the racing itself. I took the chance to meet up with some folks racing here tonight that I have either make acquaintances with  in my travels in this area or have known over the years but don't get to see race much.

Daniel Wauters is a Hobby Stock driver who I first met right here at Maquoketa a number of years ago. He was a rookie driver then, full of enthusiasm and "wide eyed" about the sport as he was just getting started. We talked that day and ever since when we meet at the track, we say hello again. He is now a top notch driver in the Hobby Stocks, has two race cars and has won his share of feature races which he had never done when we first met. He is currently breaking in a new Rev Chassis car and has been having some good runs. Daniel works for the Iowa City School District in the maintenance department, and likes his job. Right now they are doing one of the grimier jobs following the school year as all the kitchen facilities at the schools have to be cleaned and all the tables cleaned, and if you remember your days as a youth, you'll remember all the stuff you stuck under the tables at lunch!!!

On this night, Daniel ended up second in the Hobby Stock main but it was a tough battle getting there as first he was spun out and given a flat tire which he pitted and changed, then he had to go to the back a second time when he stopped to avoid a spinning car. He got up on the wheel the last four laps of the race, however, and drove back up to second.

Andy Nezworski, Late Model driver from Buffalo Iowa, is originally from Ironwood Michigan and I used to watch him race Street Stock and Super Stocks under the WISSOTA banner before he got a job working in the Hawkeye State and then eventually moved South and worked his way up to a Late Model. We spent a few minutes talking about some of his friends from the UP and northern Wisconsin and how they were doing in their racing as he keeps a close eye on the results from his old home track, the ABC Raceway in Ashland Wisconsin.
 He is having a good year this year so far, with two feature wins. He has moved to a crate engine this year, telling me that both his spec engines were "tired" and needed to be replaced and with the option of the crate and price of it in comparison, he decided to make the switch. He said that so far, the crate was OK.

Old friend Gary Webb was debuting a new Kryptonite chassis Late Model on this night. He said that he actually had it on Sunday at East Moline but then took it home in favor of the old blue car after he saw how muddy the track was. And you could say that Hell has now officially frozen over as I was stunned to learn that Webb also has a crate motor in his new car. I never thought that I would see that day, but the times they are a changin'.

Gary said that IMCA is pushing toward the "all crate" concept for the Late Models so he decided to move in that direction also and that the cost differential was certainly a factor. Webb had some first night issues to sort out on the new car which is brand new from stem to stern and spots an engine from Friesen in Nebraska. he did make the show but dropped out early after he got lapped.

Interestingly, a couple of other Late Model drivers that I talked to told me that the new IMCA rules which require a plate on the spec engines dropped their horsepower by at least 125 horse which is a huge amount and thus makes then pretty equal to the crates. They also said that you could buy a used spec engine for perhaps half the cost of a new crate, simply because there is such a limited market for them now. This was all interesting stuff to me.

Thirty Late Models signed in to race on Tuesday and their fifty lap main event was one of the better races that I have seen so far this year. Twenty four cars started the main event and they raced forty six laps before the first, and only yellow flag of the race, came out! and only five cars failed to finish also.

It took Jeff Aikey only four laps to come up from the second row and pass Andy Eckrich for the lead and after that Aikey drove away from the field. Aikey is now driving the #77 as Rick Dralle has changed the number on the car for Aikey.

Aikey was able to pull away for a number of laps as the green stayed out and he worked lapped traffic well but on the move was Joel Callahan who started in the third row and by the thirty lap mark was definitely starting to cut into Aikey's lead. After the top side of the track was dominant early, some of the drivers were working the lower groove and that was where Callahan was doing"business". However, even though he race that same groove, perhaps to work through traffic, Aikey was not nearly as fast there.

Callahan continued to close on Aikey, and with seven laps to go he drove past and took over the lead. You could see that Aikey realized he needed to get up on the wheel and he stormed to the cushion and drove past Callahan to retake the lead. Just seconds later, the only yellow flew when Johnny Emerson flew off turn four.

Aikey sealed off Callahan, on the bottom for the double file restart, on the green and then returned to pounding the cushion for the final four laps and he pulled away to win his first Deery show since 2016, which is about the time he generally stopped racing Late Models and started to focus on the Modifieds. As the all time leader in Deery feature wins, his reuniting with Dralle has been a blessing for both of them as well as Late Model fans who have been missing the #77 at the track.

Other drivers who had strong runs included Matt Ryan, up from seventh for a strong third, Terry Neal and DD(DeFrance) who completed the top five. Justin Kay, who looked, quite frankly, slow in both his heat and B Feature, really picked up the pace in the main as he came from twenty third to sixth with only that one yellow flag to aid him. And it is particularly tough with all those nonstop green flag laps to not get lapped as the field gets strung out.

The Late Model feature was run as the third feature of the five scheduled, thus ensuring an early completion for those fans wishing to head home early and also guaranteeing a good race track for their main. Certainly they were helped by the humid conditions that always help a track hold up, it was a very racy track indeed with a solid cushion to work off of but also a low groove that seemed to be good too, for those that knew how to set up for it.

Bryce Garnhart seemed to be the man to beat in the Modified feature after he showed great speed in coming from the back in his heat race to the front and he was starting in the second row on the draw/redraw night. He quickly took the lead and seemed in control.

However, on this night there would be no stopping Jeff "Bone" Larson who was on a mission. He started way back in the sixth row, but while others were running the middle of the track, he was hammering the cushion and was extremely fast as he flew to the front. He caught leader Garnhart and blew past him down the back chute and after that, he was gone.

Several yellow flags slowed the action, including one for a driveshaft off Jaden Fryer's car that ended a good run, but each time Larson pulled away as he scored a dominating win. Garnhart did hold on for second, with Greg Durbin, Steve Johnson and Jarett Franzen trailing. Franzen came all the way from fifteenth to the top five.

The Hobby Stocks had only nine cars but they still managed to put on an exciting main event. Randy Lamar led for most of the race but he got caught for the lead by Kyle Vohringer with his Mopar near the end. Lamar was trying to work his way past a stubborn back marker that wouldn't get out of the way to let the leaders race out for the win and Lamar caught a piece of the rear end of the slower car and turned him around.

The call, from the officials, was to put the slower car, Lamar and poor Wauters, who stopped to avoid the wreck, all to the back. This gave a clear path for Vohringer who drove on the last four laps for the win. Wauters charged back up to second ahead of Jake Benischek.

The evening was completed when Nick Proehl ran away from a small field of Four Cylinders with both the Hobby Stock and Four Cylinder mains running after the Late Model feature was completed. The final checkered wave at 9:47 pm with the Late Models being done earlier yet for those "clock watchers" that had to get on the road. The entire program was completed in under three hours with old friends Doug Haack and Kevin Feller very much involved in making that happen.

It was a very well run and organized show and it clicked off at a quick pace, perfect for midweek racing to be successful. The folks at the back gate were very friendly and accommodating and it was a good night for racing at the Jackson County Fairgrounds. Speaking of the Fairgrounds, new aluminum sections of bleachers are being constructed on both ends of the grandstands which should increase the capacity of the facility considerably, perhaps making even bigger shows a possibility. In fact, crews were working on the assembly of the new grandstands all through the racing program on Tuesday, stopping only for the National Anthem. 

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