Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings: July 2

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, or comment in the comments section.

New this week: Mother Nature, David Brandies, Nathan Chandler, Brad Chandler

Dropped out: Jeff Aikey, Nathan Ballard

RANK

+/-

NAME

CLASS

THOUGHTS

1

N/R

Mother Nature

Water/

Wind

Uncle. Oklahoma. Whatever, enough of all this rain. Mother Nature won this weekend, cancelling or postponing all or half of eight area tracks and special events. Here's to hoping she lets up soon. This week's rankings won't have big changes, because I won't penalize the several drivers who didn't get the chance to race at all.

1a

--

Justin Kay

Late Model

Joking aside, Kay was one of the few who were in last week's rankings to get to race more than once this weekend with all the storms. It was also - at least by my count - the first time he didn't get a win at least one place he went, finishing second at Davenport and Vinton on Sunday. 

2

+2

Austin Moyer

Sport Mod

Moyer takes the biggest jump this week, and has vaulted up the rankings in the last couple weeks because he's been nearly unbeatable in an IMCA Sport Mod. He added to his career total of 50 wins over the weekend, getting a win at Farley Speedway on Friday night. He finished fourth at West Liberty on Saturday night as well.

3

-1

Benji Irvine

Hobby Stock

Get ready for a lot of these entries to look like this one: Irvine rained out all weekend, with all three of his usual tracks either raining out completely or before his main event. Marshalltown didn't run, and Independence and Benton County Speedway both were cut short before he had a crack at the feature.

4

-1

Andy Eckrich

Late Model

Eckrich only got to race once this weekend, and it didn't go as he'd hoped. The Cosgrove native ended up 24th at Legends Night in Farley, then got rained out before his feature in West Liberty. He also didn't get to run at the Deery Brothers Summer Series show Tuesday, which was called a day in advance.

5

--

Ronn Lauritzen

Modified

Speaking of frustrating weekends. Lauritzen lost all three of his normal race nights at Marshalltown, Independence and Vinton like Irvine did. When he did get to race, at Algona for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour, he struggled, running midpack in his heats and failing to make the main event. Don't expect that to last.

6

--

Jenae Gustin

Sport Mod

Ctrl + C the entry for Irvine here as well. The Marshalltown native hasn't had many opportunities to get on track since she lost an engine at Marshalltown Speedway in the Deery Brothers support race on June 24. Something tells me when she gets back to the track she'll be just fine.

7

--

Troy Cordes

Modified

One more Independence Motor Speedway and Benton County Speedway regular who didn't get to run his main events this weekend. Cordes got to run heat races both nights, and was set to start fifth in Vinton before the rain hit. He's been running solid lately, and will be interesting to see if he can continue.

8

--

Bill Whalen

Sport Compact

By his standards, it was a long weekend. Whalen actually got to race three times over the weekend, and finished top five in all three. It just wasn't up to his usual standards, with no wins. He finished fifth at Southern Iowa Speedway, fifth at West Liberty and third at Benton County Speedway in Vinton.

9

N/R

Brad & Nathan Chandler

Sport Compact

Because the brothers run such limited schedules, they share a space this week. Both deserve to be in the rankings, with Brad winning the last two main events at Hawkeye Downs, and Nathan getting a win in Vinton and a second at West Liberty. They're the favorites for their dad's memorial race at Hawkeye Downs on Saturday.

10

N/R

David Brandies

Stock Car

The Atalissa driver has been the man to beat in an IMCA Stock Car at West Liberty all year long. He has eight victories there this season, including this week before rain cancelled the rest of the program. He also runs well at Dubuque, where he has one win this season. 

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@sourcemedia.net