Dubuque Speedway
At Dubuque, Guss grabs second straight win
Ray Guss Jr. and his father in victory lane at Dubuque. (Dan Busch)
DUBUQUE, Iowa (May 8) — On a night that saw more than its share of passing, no one could catch up with Ray Guss Jr.
The Milan, Ill., driver won his second straight Deery Brothers Summer Series feature event Wednesday evening, taking the $3,000 checkers at Dubuque Speedway. He led the last 31 times around the track in the IMCA Late Model 50-lapper. | Slideshow
Runner-up Jeremiah Hurst of DeWitt, Iowa, passed 15 cars while series point leader Brian Harris of Davenport, Iowa, raced to his third third-place finish in as many series events thus far. Andy Eckrich of Oxford, Iowa, and Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls, Iowa, completed the top five.
Eckrich started on the pole and split time at the front with Darrel DeFrance. A handful of cautions slowed the race between laps 10 and 15 but the feature stayed green the last 35 circuits.
Guss, also the May 5 winner at Quad City Speedway, drew the 10th starting spot, found his way into the lead on the quick lower line and checked out on everybody from that point.
He caught up with the back of the field on lap 27, padding his lead in traffic while Eckrich, Harris and Hurst mixed it up over second. Hurst finally got the best of that battle but crossed the stripe well behind Guss.
Notes: Guss’s No. 58 is sponsored by Roemer Machine & Welding, Sears Seating, Eriksen Chevrolet-Buick and P&L Transportation. ... Both the top two finishers passed cubic inch and engine compression tests in post-race tech. ... Jeff Aikey and eighth-place runner Mike Garland both moved up 16 spots. ... Rick Wendling was out for the rest of the night following a gentle roll in his heat race. ... Tyler Bruening was the $250 Sunoco Race Fuels drawing winner. ... Among drivers failing to make the feature lineup: Matt Strassheim, Larry Harris, Doug Yates, Spencer Diercks, Joe Ross, Travis Denning, Travis Smoke, Kyle Hinrichs, Luke Merfeld, Mitch Current and Dave Stichter. ... Up next for the tour is a May 21 show at Farley (Iowa) Speedway.
Deery Brothers @ Dubuque: (1) Ray Guss Jr., (2) Jeremiah Hurst, (3) Brian Harris, (4) Andy Eckrich, (5) Jeff Aikey, (6) Denny Eckrich, (7) Nate Beuseling, (8) Mike Garland, (9) Dean Wagner, (10) Jason Utter, (11) Darrel DeFrance, (12) Justin Kay, (13) Joel Callahan, (14) Tyler Bruening, (15) Rob Moss, (16) Luke Goedert, (17) Colby Springsteen, (18) Ron Klein, (19) Curt Martin, (20) Tom Darbyshire, (21) Dan Shelliam, (22) Nick Marolf, (23) Matt Ryan, (24) Jon Merfeld. Heat race winners (among 37 cars): Springsteen, Shelliam, DeFrance, Harris. Consolation winners: J. Merfeld, Callahan. Provisional starters: Wagner, Moss, Garland, Aikey.
