Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings: June 15

Welcome to the Inside Track's Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings. Each week of the racing season, the Gazette's Jeremiah Davis will rank the area's top 10 drivers across all divisions.

Think the list should be different? Tweet him at @jeremiahdavis10, send him an email at jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com or leave a comment at The Inside Track by Jeremiah Davis Facebook page.

New this week: Justin Kay

Dropped out: Joel Rust

Others considered (in no order):  Troy Cordes, Matt Ryan, Zach Less, Bryce Garnhart, Rob Toland, Jeff Aikey, Norman Chesmore, Joel Callahan, Mark Schulte, Mitch Morris, Chris Zogg, Tyler Bruening, Mitch Hovden, Dan Hovden, Leah Wroten, Kyle Olson, Matt Gansen, Cayden Carter, Sam Wieben, Johnny Spaw,  Jim Hanson, Troy Hovey, Joel Rust, Ronn Lauritzen, Daniel Wauters, Brian Irvine, Corey Dripps

RANK

+/-

NAME

CLASS

THOUGHTS

1

+2

Tony Olson

Sport Mod

Tony Olson has won a lot of races in the last few years, but he's never won as much money for doing so as he did this weekend. He took $2,000 at Davenport Speedway on Friday in dominating the Sport Mod Challenge, then took $1,400 in the Urbana 5 Memorial in Vinton on Sunday. With the take for his fifth place at Independence on Saturday and contingency money, he cleared $3,800 (38, nice) for the weekend. Not too shabby.

2

-1

Tyler Soppe

Sport Mod

Soppe had been perfect at Farley Speedway before this weekend, which enticed him to make the trip north instead of Davenport for the big money. He saw his streak broken with a second place finish there, but got back in the winner's circle on Saturday night at Maquoketa Speedway. On Sunday in the Urbana 5 Memorial, he had to start from the back in the main, and made his way to fourth at the end.

3

-1

Nathan Ballard

Hobby Stock/Sport Mod

It seems like every other weekend Ballard has something go wrong. This week just happened to be one of those weeks. He was passing for the lead at Farley in Sport Mod and spun himself out, and broke the motor in his Hobby Stock earlier that night. Then, on Sunday, he was spun in his heat race, blew a tire in the feature, spun in the feature...and drove all the way back to fourth at the finish.

4

+1

Damon Murty

Stock Car

The new car he talked about after win No. 200 sure has got him into the form he's talked about expecting. The "Chelsea Charger" got a pair of wins over the weekend. He got one at Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night, then took $500 for winning in the Urbana 5 Memorial on Sunday at Benton County Speedway. He also ran at 34 Raceway in Burlington on Saturday, finishing 11th.

5

+1

Benji Irvine

Hobby Stock

Irvine got to go back to Independence Motor Speedway for the first time in a couple weeks after rainouts, and promptly went right back to Victory Lane, stretching out his then win streak. It looked like he might stretch it further on Sunday in the Urbana 5 Memorial at Benton County Speedway, but lost a close battle with August Bach and settled for second. 

6

-2

Kyle Brown

Modified

There's no doubt Brown has still been fast, but circumstances and luck have not been kind him. He was 10th in Algona for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour race there after a rough main event. He was second at 34 Raceway on Saturday. On Sunday in the Urbana 5 Memorial, he ran out of gas in his heat, which meant a start from the back in the main - in which he managed to drive to third. Then on Tuesday in the HDT race at West Liberty, contact with Richie Gustin put him to the back; then a broken left rear put him out for good.

7

NR

Justin Kay

Late Model/Modified

Let's review: since his comeback to IMCA racing after traveling to Open Late Model shows, his only results that weren't wins were a 20th in Modified at Davenport two weeks ago (mechanical failure running second) and a 16th in the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified race at West Liberty on Tuesday (mechanical failure while leading). Otherwise all he's done is win, capped off by sweeping Davenport, a last-lap win in West Liberty Saturday and the Deery Bros win on Tuesday. 

8

+1

Tyler Droste

Late Model

No wins for Droste this weekend, but after his fifth place run at Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday - and a rainout at Dubuque on Sunday - the Deery show on Tuesday was a bit cathartic. He tore up his No. 31 Late Model the first time the Deery Brothers Summer Series was at West Liberty Raceway, but ran strong Tuesday, finishing fourth.

9

-2

J.D. Auringer

Modified

Auringer was the winner in last year's Urbana 5 Memorial, but he missed it this year to do some USRA racing experimentation. The Waterloo driver got a pleasant surprise (at least according to his reaction on his Facebook page) with a fourth place run at Mason City on Sunday. He also ran fifth on Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway.

10

-2

Jeremiah Hurst

Late Model/Modified

Hurst seems to be finding more and more consistency in his Roberts Motorsports Late Model. He didn't get to run the feature in Farley on Friday night (rain halted the program), but he ran fourth at West Liberty Raceway on Saturday night, then was sixth in the Deery Brothers Summer Series race at West Liberty on Tuesday night.

Previous weeks: April 27; May 4; May 11; May 18; May 25; June 1; June 8

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com