Cordes cruises to biggest win of his career

FARLEY — With five laps to go in the Aftermarket Nationals Modified main event Thursday night at Farley Speedway, Troy Cordes heard every part of his car creak and pop.

There was $10,000 on the line, and he'd never won a race that big. So, of course, anything that could conceivably go wrong, he thought it was going wrong.

'I can't even hardly talk now,' Cordes said. 'I saw a car spin (and leave the track) with three to go, then I thought my right rear was going flat, and I was like, 'Oh my god.'

'I heard every little thing. I thought 'This isn't going to be good.''

But nothing went wrong. Not in the main event, and not either night of the Aftermarket Nationals, as Cordes swept every race he was in en route to the main event victory and big payday.

Before the race, he said to win, drivers would need to conserve tires and not overdrive the car with the surface slick and rubbered up. It took just that, and the Dunkerton native cruised to an easy win ahead of Benji LaCrosse, who made the drive from Green Bay, Wis., and Delhi's Mark Schulte.

'We just wanted to keep the car under me and not blister the tires off,' Cordes said. 'Actually, the tires look way good. I kind of can't believe it.'

The 50 lap main event was split into two 25-lap segments, and the second segment went green to checkered without any cautions. That allowed Cordes to stretch his lead and run the race he wanted — 'I loved it,' Cordes said — and kept LaCrosse and Schulte from making a serious challenge.

Schulte had an ear-to-ear grin after the race, both for the payday he got himself — he pocketed $2,500 for third — and the run he had.

He battled with LaCrosse for second, and while both drivers were briefly within attacking distance of Cordes, there wasn't going to be any catching him without a caution. Like Cordes, he too had to be in tire conservation mode over the course of all 50 laps.

'Our tires ended up holding up really good,' Schulte said. 'At the end, I was skating the car around. It would've taken a screwup to get (LaCrosse or Cordes).

'Sure didn't appear that way (that anyone had something for Cordes). At the halfway point, I thought on restarts I could hang with him if I was pushing it, that I could maybe get a run at him. But it was tough knowing what to do.'

A total of 55 cars entered the Modified main event, and 30 more in the Sport Mod division. It's one of the biggest Modified events in the Midwest in terms of payout and car count, so the win clearly meant a great deal to Cordes and his team.

Cordes is a soft-spoken person and a man of few words, but the win was an emotional one, and he said it will give him a tremendous boost for the rest of the season.

'It's kind of hard to soak in, I guess,' Cordes said. 'We've won some $1,000 to win shows, but this is by far the biggest race we've ever won. I can't believe it.'

MOYER CONTINUES HIS ROLL

As clean and smooth as the Modified main event was Thursday night, the Sport Mod main event was pretty much the exact opposite.

Twenty eight cars lined up for a main event that paid out $2,000 to win, and the 30-lap race turned into more of a marathon, instead of the shootout it's intended to be. Austin Moyer took home the victory, continuing a slew of wins in the last month.

'We definitely had a good car, I can't complain,' Moyer said. 'It was like a marathon, just one caution after another.

'It was getting old, especially being out front. Just had everything and anything running through my mind that could go wrong. It gave me a test on my restarts, that's for sure.'

Moyer is well into double digits in wins for this season, surpassing the 50 career-win mark two weeks ago at Davenport Speedway.

The Dubuque native had to hold off Maquoketa's Doug Nigh and Marshalltown's Jenae Gustin for the win at Farley, a track he runs weekly. When asked about his success this season, he stayed humble.

'We've made some changes to the car this year from last year that me and my dad had been thinking about for a while,' Moyer said. 'We just kind of tried and tested them early in the year, and I think we've kind of got something figured out here, and it's working pretty good right now.'

AFTERMARKET NATIONALS

FARLEY SPEEDWAY RESULTS

MODIFIED

1. Troy Cordes, Dunkerton, $10,000; 2. Benji LaCrosse, Green Bay, Wis., $5,000; 3. Mark Schulte, Delhi, $2,500; 4. Justin O'Brien, West Union, $1,250; 5. Kyle Kudick, Two Rivers, Wis., $1,000; 6. Jordan Gragouski, Beatrice, Neb., $950; 7. Kurt Kile, Nichols, $900; 8. Hunter Marriott, Brookfield, Mo., $850; 9. Stacey Mills, Webb, $800; 10. Mike Mullen, Seymour, Wis., $750; 11. Jared Siefert, Luxemburg, Wis., $700; 12. Jason Roth, Hazel Green, Wis., $650; 13. Brad Dierks, Clarence, $600; 14. JD Auringer, Waterloo, $550; 15. Jeremiah Hurst, Dubuque, $500; 16. Kyle Brown, State Center, $500; 17. Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls, $500; 18. Chris Horn, Marion, $500; 19. Levi Nielsen, $500; 20. Jerry Luloff, Independence, $500; 21. Kenny Konstenbader, Freeport, Ill., $500; 22. Matt Gansen, Dubuque, $500; 23. Mitch Schmitz, Lost Nation, $500; 24. Ryan DeShaw, Dyersville, $500, 25. Justin Kay, Wheatland, $500.

SPORT MOD

1. Austin Moyer, Dubuque, $2,000; 2. Doug Nigh, Maquoketa, $1,250; 3. Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown, $625; 4. Eric Pollard, Dubuque, $500; 5. Bob Sutherland, Blairsburg, $475; 6. Kip Siems, Cedar Falls, $450; 7. Branden Schmitt, Beaver Dam, Wis., $425; 8. Rod McDonald, Manchester, $400; 9. Aaron Muhle, Beaver Dam, Wis., $375; 10. Bryce Garnhart, Shannon, Ill., $350; 11. Sam Wieben, Dysart, $325; 12. Kyle Kaiser, Cuba City, Wis., $300; 13. Craig Enke, Dubuque, $275; 14. Tyler Soppe, Dubuque, $250; 15. Matt Miller, Dubuque, $225; 16. Scott Busch, Cuba City, Wis., $200; 17. Kyle Bentley, Independence, $175; 18. Troy Bauer, Dubuque, $150; 19. Matt McGranahan, Maquoketa, $150; 20. Ryan Schilling, Bernard, $150; 21. Trent Wyssbrad, Monroe, Wis, $150; 22. Logan Rogers, German Valley, Ill., $150; 23. Colby Heishman, Brooklyn, $150; 24. Jerry Miles, Bernard, $150; 25. Matt Rolff, Dubuque, $150; 26. Steve Miller, Bellevue, $125; 27. Creston William, Newhall, $125; 28. Ryan Pace, Atalissa, $125; 29. Hason Riechers, Belmont, Wis., $125. 30. Jayson Wiggins, Maquoketa.

l Comments: (319) 398-8884; jeremiah.davis@sourcemedia.net