8/19/06
Echo Valley Speedway
West Union, IA
IRA
30 cars
Billy Alley (21st car out to time) shattered the one year old track record of Joe Roe with a trip around the 4/10 mile banked oval in 14.165 seconds. Travis Whitney (4th car out) was second quick, followed by Tom Busch (1st), Ty Bartz (3rd), Jerry Richert Jr. (20th), Steve Meyer (5th), Ricky Logan (23rd), John Haeni (14th), Scott Neitzel (22nd) and John Sernett (15th). A good crowd gathered and a tacky surface was in the offing. Mike Stefka made contact with an infield tire and took a wild barrel roll, then end over end trip over the turn two wall. He jumped out of the car, but an eye was kept on him by medical personnel. Joseph Kouba also failed to get a time in after breaking a front end in hot laps and motor problems in time trials. With fairly priced food and a nice facility, Echo Valley is always a treat.
Heat one (started): 1. Logan 55x (4) 2. Dave Uttech 68 (2) 3. Alley 17G (6) 4. Wayne Modjeski 77 (1) 5. J. Sernett 91 (3) / 6. Bartz 75 (5) 7. Ryan Irwin 49 (8) 8. Scott Uttech 7 (7) 9. Alex Bliesner 45x (10) 10. Todd King 97 (9)
Logan circled the front row and led the 8 lapper flag to flag. King exited on lap two. Alley was running well with two to go, when an oil line let go, bursting into a large ball of flame. He finished out the last lap and a half in third after a brief mid-race battle with Modjeski.
Heat two (started): 1. Mike Reinke 02 (2) 2. Whitney 9 (6) 3. Richert 55 (5) 4. Haeni 21J (4) 5. Andy Hunt 9A (1) / 6. Bill Wirth 53w (9) 7. Charley Osborn 53 (7) 8. Scott Biertzer 4B (3) 9. J. Kouba (8) DNS – Joe Symoens 96
Reinke led the distance and won going away. Biertzer had to start at the rear after needing a second push. He battled to sixth, one spot out of a transfer, before spinning on lap three. He restarted at the tail, and after contact with Wirth on the restart, retired. Reinke led Haeni, Richert, Whitney and Hunt on that restart. Whitney went to the high side to surge into the runner-up spot by the checkers, outdueling Richert and Haeni in some tight action.
Heat three (started): 1. Neitzel 2w (4) 2. Billy Balog 1H (3) 3. Bill Warren 95 (1) 4. Meyer 85m (5) 5. Tim Sernett 91T (7) / 6. Donny Goeden 78 (8) 7. Busch 4Bx (6) 8. Kim Mock 1m (2) 9. Howie Gleason 21G (9) DNS – Mike Stefka 35s
Mock led the first five circuits in the stoutest heat field of the night. Balog attempted a slider for the lead on lap five, and when Mock checked up he spun the 1m. On the restart, Balog led Neitzel, Warren, Meyer, T. Sernett and Goeden back to green. Neitzel grabbed the point went the action started again, while Meyer impressed after falling back in the field and surging forward on the high side. T. Sernett was the beneficiary of Mock’s misfortune grabbing the final transfer. Mock added to his frustration, hitting an infield tire in a battle for sixth on the final go-around. Gleason exited on lap six.
B main (started): 1. Bartz (2) 2. Busch (1) 3. Goeden (8) 4. Biertzer (3) 5. King (9) 6. Irwin (7) 7. Wirth (10) 8. Mock (4) 9. Osborn (6) / 10. Bliesner (12) 11. Gleason (11) 12. S. Uttech (5) DNS – Symoens, J. Kouba, Stefka
At the first drop of the green, Wirth, Goeden and S. Uttech tangled with the latter getting upside down. The other two restarted. Busch grabbed the point early in the 12 lapper. On lap two, Mock spun bringing caution. Busch led Bartz, Biertzer, Irwin, King and Goeden back to green flag conditions. Goeden was impressive, taking to the high side and quickly moving into the top three after a fierce battle with Biertzer. Bartz was persistent in his pursuit of Busch and caught the leader on the white flag lap. Entering turn four he took the low line and the lead in an exciting finish. Gleason probably accomplished something noone has. Two 360 spins in one race without the yellow being thrown.
A main (started): 1. Whitney (3) 2. Reinke (5) 3. Meyer (1) 4. J. Sernett (7) 5. Haeni (9) 6. Logan (10) 7. Biertzer (13) 8. Alley (4) 9. Busch (11) 10. Bartz (12) 11. T. Sernett (20) 12. Modjeski (16) 13. Irwin (21) 14. Wirth (24) 15. King (23) 16. Neitzel (8) 17. D. Uttech (14) 18. Hunt (17) 19. Richert (2) 20. Warren (18) 21. Mock (15) 22. Goeden (22) 23. Balog (6) 24. Osborn (19)
Whitney shot by the front row starters for the early advantage in the 25 lapper. Two laps were in the books when Mock performed a 360 spin (he also had one lining up for the event), Warren spun to avoid him, and the yellow was thrown. Whitney led Alley, Meyer, Richert and J. Sernett back to green. On the restart, Osborn came to a stop and retired. Once underway Alley shot under Whitney to claim the lead on lap three. Three more circuits were in the book before Mock did another 360 bringing out the caution. Alley led Whitney, Meyer, Reinke and Logan at the time. On lap 8, all hell broke loose. D. Uttech made contact with something, flattening his left rear. On the restart, Balog got sideways and collected Neitzel. Both got upside down. Balog was done, but Neitzel had time for repairs when a fuel stop was ordered. Logan spun, collecting a helpless and charging Goeden, who had moved up to 7th. Warren contacted another machine on the next attempted green, flattening his left rear. He also made repairs. On the fourth retry at completing lap nine, Mock got upside down, finally ending his night. The last stoppage negated a Reinke pass of Whitney for second. They trailed Alley, and were followed by Meyer, J. Sernett and Richert. Five more laps finally got in the books, before three cars completed 360 spins in turn four including the leader Alley, Irwin, Hunt and T. Sernett. All were forced to restart at the rear, though Alley also made a stop in the work area. Whitney inherited the lead in what would prove to be the last stoppage, ahead of Reinke, Meyer, J. Sernett and Haeni. That’s the way the top five would look 12 laps later. Logan would recover from his restart at the tail for sixth, while Alley would do the same for eighth. Neitzel was back in the top eight as well, but pulled to the infield with mechanical ills with two to go. The win was the IRA points’ leader’s second at Echo Valley.