Cedar County Raceway
Harris grabs 3rd straight Deery Brothers victory
Brian Harris heads to victory at Cedar County Raceway. (mikerueferphotos.photoreflect.com)
TIPTON, Iowa (June 11) — Brian Harris of Davenport, Iowa, has got to be thinking about building an addition to his trophy case.
Harris won the Deery Brothers Summer Series main event Tuesday evening at Cedar County Raceway, a $3,000 victory that marked his third straight on the IMCA-sanctioned tour. He’s one shy of the tour record established by Gary Webb of Blue Grass in 1994 and equaled by Rob Toland of Colona, Ill., a decade later. | Slideshow
The series point leader gets his opportunity to match the mark himself next Tuesday at West Liberty Raceway.
Half a dozen lead changes, just a single caution and a virtual photo-finish for second place contributed to the story line at Tipton.
Justin Kay of Wheatland, Iowa, drew the pole for the 50-lapper and led the first three laps before outside front-row starter Stephan Kammerer of Blue Grass, Iowa, eked ahead on lap four.
Setting a bristling pace, Kammerer caught up with the back of the field by lap 10. Disaster struck on the next circuit, however, as he missed his mark in the first set of turns and spun, bringing out the yellow and then restarting at the rear.
That put Kay and Denny Eckrich up front for the restart. They’d trade the lead before Eckrich settled in for a 10-lap run in first.
The seventh-starting Harris stayed locked in third until midway, when he found the fast line to the front. He stayed there to the checkers while Kay, Eckrich and Ray Guss Jr. went three-wide for the runner-up spot.
Kay finally got the edge in that battle with 10 laps left and managed to pare some of Harris’ lead in traffic, but ran out of laps to challenge. Andy Eckrich got back in the mix late and came just inches short of besting Kay in the race for second.
Denny Eckrich was fourth and Guss took fifth. Kammerer stayed fast and worked his way back into the top 10 before spinning again.
Notes: Harris drives a Lynn and Karen Richard-owned No. 15r sponsored by Richard Realty & Auction, Shottenkirk Automotive Group, Roehlk Construction, Trump Trucks, Floyd’s Waste Disposal Services and Great River Spine Clinic. ... The cylinder head from the winning car was removed and passed postrace tech inspection. ... Provisional starter and series ironman Darrel DeFrance won hard charger honors with his 23rd-to-12th run. ... Andy Eckrich won the $250 Sunoco Race Fuels feature qualifier drawing. ... Seven-time and reigning series champion Jeff Aikey came into the night second in the standings, 14 points off the pace. He broke in his heat race and did not start his consolation race. ... Darin Duffy won Tuesday’s Karl Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour presented by XSAN feature for IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds at Tipton. ... Among drivers missing the Late Model feature, besides Aikey: Jason Bert, Jon Poll, B.J. Bates, Jay Chenoweth, Ron Boyse, Ryan Claeys, Joe Ross, Curt Martin, Scott Fitzpatrick, Tim Simpson and Chad Lerch. ... For the June 18 Deery Brothers event at West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway, pit gates open at 4 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. with racing to follow.
Deery Brothers @ Cedar County: (1) Brian Harris, (2) Justin Kay, (3) Andy Eckrich, (4) Denny Eckrich, (5) Ray Guss Jr., (6) Nate Bueseling, (7) Mike Zemo Jr., (8) Luke Merfeld, (9) Jason Utter, (10) Joel Callahan, (11) Todd Malmstrom, (12) Darrel DeFrance, (13) Jeremiah Hurst, (14) Dan Shelliam, (15) Kyle Hinrichs, (16) Spencer Diercks, (17) Andy Nezworski, (18) Tyler Bruening, (19) Rob Moss, (20) Ron Klein, (21) Colby Springsteen, (22) Stephan Kammerer, (23) Nick Marolf, (24) Rob Toland. Heat race winners (among 41 cars): Utter, Kammerer, Zemo, Andy Eckrich, Denny Eckrich. Consolation winners: Hinrichs, Moss. Provisional starters: DeFrance, Springsteen.
