Eckrich Turns In Dominant Wdrl Performance At Mason City

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Series points leader survives numerous restarts to pick up the victory

By Tom Lathen

(Mason City, Iowa) Denny Eckrich grabbed the lead on the second lap Tuesday night and ran to an impressive win in the North Iowa 50, a WORLD Dirt Racing League PolyDome Late Model Series sanctioned event here at I-35 Speedway.

Eckrich survived a number of caution flags, including one on the white flag lap, to grab his second series victory of the season, and the top prize of $5,000 on the well-groomed North Iowa Fairgrounds ½ mile oval.

“I’m just the nut behind the wheel,” joked Eckrich in victory lane. “We went back to our notes from when we ran here last year and Doug (crew chief Doug Eckrich) came up with a great set-up. I was just lucky enough to be able to drive the thing.”

“This race track was beautiful tonight,” he added. “It was racey from top to bottom, it was smooth, there wasn’t a rut in it. All around, it was just a good race track. But I won, so of course I’m going to say it was good.”

Eckrich followed pole-setter Keith Foss across the stripe on the opening circuit before darting to the advantage on lap two as the two front-runners raced out of turn two and down the back straightaway.

A caution flag slowed the field a pair of laps later, but when racing resumed, Eckrich again powered his Precision Performance/Barry Wright/Grove Automotive Pontiac Grand Prix to the point, with Kyle Berck outrunning Foss for second, just ahead of Justin Fegers and Dave Eckrich.

Berck’s car number-14 began to apply pressure to the front-runner as the pair moved up on slower traffic, but a second caution flag was waved on lap 17 when Marion, Iowa’s Chris Simpson spun in turn two. The caution flag again waved directly following the restart when Missouri driver Chris Smyser got turned around as heavy traffic raced into turn four.

Fegers took advantage of the lap 17 restart to outrun Berck and grab the runner-up position before veteran Blue Grass, Iowa driver Gary Webb got off the race track momentarily down the back stretch and careened sideways off the banking heading into turn three on lap 20.

By lap 30, Eckrich had raced to a dozen car length advantage over Fegers, but as the race leaders again worked up on slower traffic, the Mound, Minnesota series rookie closed the gap, before contact with the lapped car of Kelly Tapper on lap 39, sent the slower car off the race track heading into turn three and bringing out yet another caution flag.

With Eckrich again darting to the advantage on the restart, Berck surprised Fegers to retake the runner-up position, but disaster struck the two-time series champion on the white flag lap, when an engine failure ended his chances less than a mile from the checkers.

“I hate to see anybody run into trouble like Kyle did tonight,” noted the victorious Eckrich. “We’ve always enjoyed running with him and he’s a good sport, and a major failure like that really sets you back.”

At the line, Eckrich held a comfortable advantage over the runner-up Fegers, with Chad Simpson coming from a tenth place start to grab third. Foss came back for a fourth place finish, with Papillion, Nebraska’s Mark Wyman, who started 21st finishing fifth.

RACE REPORT:
First PolyDome Qualifier: 1. Chris Simpson (Marion, IA), 2. Denny Eckrich (Tiffin, IA), 3. Gary Webb (Blue Grass, IA), 4. Chad Simpson (Mount Vernon, IA), 5. Chris Smyser (Lancaster, MO).
Second PolyDome Qualifier: 1. Dave Eckrich (Cosgrove, IA), 2. Keith Foss (Winona, MN), 3. Darren Miller (Chadwick, IL), 4. Sonny Findling (Kirksville, MO), 5. Johjn Anderson (Omaha, NE).
Third PolyDome Qualifier: 1. Kyle Berck (Marquette, NE), 2. Justin Fegers (Mound, MN), 3. Eric Pember (Pittsville, WI), 4. Ace Ihm (Hazel Green, WI), 5. Matt Furman (Iowa City, IA).
KSE Racing Products Consolation: 1. Mark Teske (Spring Valley, MN), 2. Caley Emerson (Grand Rapids, MN), 3. Mary Wyman (Papillion, NE), 4. Kelly Tapper (Webster City, IA), 5. Darrell DeFrance (Marshalltown, IA).
Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation Pole Dash: 1. Foss, 2. Denny Eckrich, 3. Berck, 4. Miller, 5. Dave Eckrich, 6. Fegers, 7. Webb, 8. Chris Simpson.
North Iowa 50: 1. Denny Eckrich, 2. Fegers, 3. Chad Simpson, 4. Foss, 5. Wyman, 6. Miller, 7. Dave Eckrich, 8. Anderson, 9. Johnny Bone, Jr. (Pea Ricge, AR), 10. Chris Simpson, 11. Teske, 12. Pember, 13. Tapper, 14. Berck, 15. Bill Koons (Omaha, NE), 16. Findling, 17. Furman, 18. Smyser, 19. Webb, 20. Al Humphrey (Giltner, NE), 21. Emerson, 22. Ihm, 23. DeFrance, 24. Jeff French (Waukee, IA).

ITEMS OF INTEREST:
Lap Leaders: Foss (1), Denny Eckrich (2-50)
QA1 Motorsports Passing Points: Fegers (63.8)
Chase Race Decals Hard Luck Driver: Berck
Provisional Starters: Koons, DeFrance

CONTINGENCY AWARDS:

Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insuation: Foss, Denny Eckrich, Berck
QA1 Motorsports: Fegers
Chase Race Decals: Berck
KSE Racing Products: Teske
Oval Craft Racing Aluminum Designs: Denny Eckrich, Fegers, Chad Simpson
Champ Pans: Foss
Design 500 Racewear: Wyman
Performance Bodies: Miller
 




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