Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings: August 21

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 send him an email at jeremiah.davis@sourcemedia.net

New this week: Damon Murty, Scott Pippert

Dropped out:  Nathan Ballard, Dan Keltner

RANK

+/-

NAME

CLASS

THOUGHTS

1

+1

Justin Kay

Late Model

A two week hiatus from the top spot is over, and in convincing fashion. Kay raised his 2014 win total to 26 with wins at Dubuque Speedway on Sunday and his third win in four races - fourth overall - on the Deery Brothers Summer Series, this time at Tipton. It's shake-your-head level success at this point, and he doesn't seem to be slowing down.

2

-1

Troy Cordes

Modified

The Hawkeye Dirt Tour event Tuesday at Benton County Speedway didn't go as planned for the Dunkerton driver, but his weekend was still pretty solid. He got wins at Farley Speedway and third place finished at Independence Motor Speedway and Vinton's regular Sunday show. He may not be tops in this ranking, but he's still the top Modified driver.

3

+5

Tony Olson

Sport Mod

There was a driver who finished Sunday's Sport Mod main event with only one wheel stud holding his left rear on the car. No way that was a winning car, right? Wrong. Olson won back to back features Sunday and Monday at Benton County Speedway, and did so Sunday with just the one stud. That's, uh, not exactly easy to do.

4

+3

Brian Happel

Hobby Stock

The Vinton driver has seen about as good a turnaround from the beginning of the season to the end as one could have. He ran second at Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday night, won again at Benton County Speedwway on Sunday, then followed that up with a third at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour event on Monday. He's rolling now.

5

-1

Jenae Gustin

Sport Mod

Gustin went a rare week without a win somewhere, but still held her own at her usual haunts. The Marshalltown driver finished third at her home track on Friday night, ran fourth at Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday and finished sixth at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Benton County Speedway on Monday.

6

-1

Benji Irvine

Hobby Stock

Irvine also went without a win this weekend, but avoided any penalties or on-track accidents this week. He finished fourth at Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday night, and followed that up with a second place finish at Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Sunday.

7

-1

Ronn Lauritzen

Modified

The wins aren't coming as frequently as they did last year, or even early on this season. But Uncle Ronn is still in the mix, and raced a lot this weekend. He ran third at Marshalltown, fifth at Independence, seventh at Vinton's weekly show and third at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour event there Monday. Struggled at the Tipton HDT show, though, and finished 17th.

8

N/R

Damon Murty

Stock Car

The Chelsea driver returns to the rankings after a near-perfect weekend of racing in Eastern Iowa. He won Friday night at Marshalltown Speedway, on Sunday at Benton County Speedway, and again in Vinton at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour event on Monday. He wrapped up a busy weekend with a fourth at Cedar County Raceway's HDT event on Tuesday.

9

N/R

Scott Pippert

Stock Car

Like Murty, Pippert had a busy weekend himself. He got a win Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway before a fifth at Benton County Speedway on Sunday. He battled with Murty for the win in Monday's HDT show in Vinton, but settled for second. He then finished those four straight days of racing with a third at Cedar County Raceway on Tuesday.

10

-7

Austin Moyer

Sport Mod

It appears he took another week off as the season comes to a close, and drops nearly out because of that. Make no mistake, though, he's still the best in a Sport Mod in Eastern Iowa. He just has to get back on the racetrack to remind everyone that's the case.

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