It was good to get back to the track, and Tuesday night provided a great evening to go racing. I can’t believe it was time for the Deery Brothers to return to Marshalltown. I look forward to this race every year and it was time to head north again. Forty late models were on hand for the night. Come feature time, Andy Eckrich had the field covered from the drop of the green, taking advantage of his pole position start. The track was black from top to bottom, and very smooth, providing a place to race for everyone. In talking with Eckrich after the race he said that his car was best when running the bottom. There were laps when he had to get through traffic and had to run more to the middle –when this happened, Eckrich said it felt like he could barely come out of the corners. The sooner he could get to the bottom, the better. He held his line most of the night, as he easily pulled away from the rest of the field. Only three cautions slowed the race, two of them coming with two laps complete. Mike Garland and Tommy Elston tangled in turn three, and were then collected by Colby Springsteen. Garland and Elston would continue, but Springsteen went off on the hook. On the restart a Sam Halstead spin in turn two brought out the caution again. The race would stay green until lap 22 when Jeff Aikey shredded his left rear tire. Aikey changed the Hoosier and rejoined the race, which stayed green the rest of the way. The field got close to Eckrich on these restarts, but had nothing to challenge him with. Andy ‘s biggest threats came when encountering traffic that was racing for position, as it often went two or three wide and shut the door on him. It was good race for second as Tom Darbyshire and Tyler Bruening went door-to-door for several laps, with Darbyshire finally keeping the spot. Free of Bruening, Darbyshire could not get close to Eckrich, facing his own battles with traffic. The two-three finish between the 42 and the 16 moved them into a tie for first place in the Deery points heading into the Boone race on Memorial Day. Two drivers moved up well through the field during the 50 laps. Ray Guss, Jr. started 12th, and took off fast in the low groove, eventually reaching 4th. Guss told me after the race that once he reached fourth, as the laps ran down, the car’s handling started to leave him, so he was hoping the race would end more sooner than later so he could hang on to his spot. Todd Cooney also had several eyes on him as he started 18th and would eventually finish 6th. Cooney also used the low groove to pick off positions. Usually you will find Cooney running up top at Marshalltown and Boone, but his number 30 looked comfortable on the bottom last night. All-in-all, it was a decent race, not any challenges for the lead, but a lot to watch from second on back. Terry Neal led the points going into the night and finished ninth. That was better than I thought he had done as I lost track of where he was in the final laps. That finish keeps him second in the Deery points, just one out of the lead heading to Boone. The Boone show has been entertaining in the past and I look forward to this year’s edition. This Deery season is proving to be a good one when it comes to action on the track, and in the point standings. A stout field of sportmods was on hand Tuesday, and there was some good racing for the win in that one. Scott Davis set the tone early and looked like he might motor off with the win. However, Tyler Droste kept him close, as did Doug Smith in third. Smith would eventually get around both Droste and Davis to take the win. Davis finished second, Droste third. Two other classes were on the card, with Josh May winning in mod lites, and Steve Churchill winning in dirt trucks. I will include some pictures on this blog and on our Facebook page in the near future. I am heading to the Oskaloosa opener tonight, so I will add those pictures as well as an Osky update tomorrow a.m.
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