Southern Iowa Speedway
Denny Eckrich grabs victory at Oskaloosa
Denny Eckrich smiles in victory lane at Oskaloosa, Iowa. (Barry Johnson)
OSKALOOSA, Iowa (June 20) — Denny Eckrich of Tiffin, Iowa, helped make the scorer’s job easier Wednesday at Southern Iowa Speedway.
Eckrich led every time around the half-mile oval at Oskaloosa, winning his career second Deery Brothers Summer Series feature in dominating style. The $2,000 victory came ahead of two-time defending series champion Ray Guss Jr. of Milan, Ill., who ran second all 35 circuits. | Slideshow
Home-state drivers Todd Cooney of Des Moines, Jeff Aikey of Waterloo and Andy Eckrich of Oxford completed the top five for the midweek IMCA Late Model tour main event. Series points leader Mike Murphy Jr. of Colona, Ill., was sixth.
Guss drew the pole with Denny Eckrich outside row one. Dialed in from the get-go, Eckrich pulled ahead from the pack and ran by himself most of the night.
The only caution of the contest came out for a single car miscue on lap 20. Eckrich remained unchallenged after the restart, taking the checkers well ahead of Guss.
Notes: Denny Eckrich’s Barry Wright Race Car is sponsored by Precision Performance, Grove Automotive, Mac Tools and Ace Auto Recyclers. ... Eckrich had won his Deery career first feature last month at Marshalltown. ... Jeff Aikey was the hard charger, advancing eight positions from his original starting spot to finish fourth. ... Hometown driver Jeff Mitrisin pocketed the $250 Sunoco Race Fuels feature qualifier drawing. ... Independence Motor Speedway hosts the tour’s 25th visit to that venue on Monday, July 2 with a $2,525 to win main event. Pit gates open at 5 p.m., hot laps are at 6:45 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.
Deery Brothers @ Southern Iowa: (1) Denny Eckrich, (2) Ray Guss Jr., (3) Todd Cooney, (4) Jeff Aikey, Waterloo, (5) Andy Eckrich, (6) Mike Murphy Jr., (7) Kurt Kile, (8) Jay Johnson, (9) Spencer Diercks, (10) Darrel De�France, (11) Kevin Kile, (12) Colby Springsteen, (13) Justin Kay, (14) Jay Chenoweth, (15) Joel Callahan, (16) Jeff Mitrisin, (17) Tyler Bruening, (18) Justin Diercks, (19) Paul Glendenning, (20) Kevin Sather, (21) Jason Utter, (22) Mike Klinkkam�mer. Heat race winners (among 22 cars): A. Eckrich, Murphy, D. Eckrich.
