Flood threat doesn't put damper on Blake's racing

CEDAR RAPIDS - Matt Blake did not take the night off from his hobby.

He was in the pits, preparing his legends car like every Friday since he started racing in 2011. No one would blame him if he stepped away instead of being here handling a battery with his grease-covered hands.

Blake competed in weekly points races at Hawkeye Downs Speedway on Friday, facing the threat of the Cedar River flooding and wiping out his successful contribution to downtown's social scene for the second time since 2008. Blake had one of his best showings this year, placing third in the feature won by Bryce Bailey.

Dublin City Pub, which sponsors the legends division at Hawkeye Downs, and Grafton Street Pub were complete losses in the flood five years ago. Dublin City reopened in a different location on First Street SE a little more than a year, but could be impact if water levels continue to rise. Precautions have been taken, and Blake said he hopes the estimations are more accurate than the last time.

"We have the drains plugged, and the sump pump is running," Blake said. "We have our fingers crossed. Now, it's kind of a waiting game."

Racing is a hobby to Blake, but it doesn't serve as an escape from the situation downtown. He spent part of Friday assisting friend and fellow driver, Jason Beauregard, whose janitorial business was also threatened by possible flood waters.

"It's kind of a little unnerving to see the water that high again," Blake said. "No matter what you do that part doesn't go away."

Blake has contributed to the race nights at the asphalt track. He has sponsored the class the last two seasons. Legends have some of the best turn out at Hawkeye Downs this season.

"I'm just trying to support the program out here," said Blake, who encourages his establishments customers to attend and gives away tickets. "It's fun out here. A lot of people don't know about it or don't think about it."

Blake, a longtime race fan before getting behind the wheel, entered Friday tied for seventh in points. The competition has been fun, but challenging this season. He said his performances have been better than last year. Blake has learned a lot on three seasons and continues to gather tips from helpful colleagues.

"It's a new problem now," Blake said. "There's so many guys out there it's kind of hard if you have a bad heat race or line up in the back. I don't know how you're going to get anywhere. It's all part of racing, I guess."

Bailey earned his first victory of the season and third legends win of his career. He had been in control of previous races this season, suffering some bad luck on the track in recent weeks. He overcame that this week, maintaining his lead after a caution forced a restart about midway through the 30-lap feature. Blake pressured Bailey for the first 20 laps of the race before dropping a spot behind runner-up Tim Goettsch, who won the feature last week.

"I thought Matt was going to come for me," Bailey said. "It stayed together tonight, so that's a plus."

Tim Plummer made his way back to victory lane. The multi-time track champion claimed his third win of the season, taking the lead early and pulling away from the modified field. He led by nearly quarter-lap.

"Ryan started moving out a little bit and gave me enough room to slip by there," Plummer said. "Then it was counting down the laps, hoping it gets over soon."

The biggest battle was for second in the modified race between defending season points champion Brian Gibson and heat winner Ryan Luedtke. They ran side-by-side much of the race, making contact a couple times, before Gibson move ahead to finish as runner-up.

Plummer contended for a win in the late model feature like past weeks, but couldn't hold off Griffin McGrath again. McGrath passed Plummer with seven laps left and cruised to his third feature after missing the opening week. Competition is getting tougher but consistency has been key.

"I had to work my butt off out there," said McGrath, complimenting runner-up Plummer and third-place Thor Anderson. "Every week it's getting a little bit harder, but the car just stays the same from the first lap to the last."

Sportsmen points leader Dave McCalla captured his third feature win of the season. He jockeyed for position with Cory Houdek, taking the lead with a pass to the outside with 12 laps remaining. He said the track was hard to tame due the moist it has seen with the rain this week.

"The track was hard to get grip tonight," McCalla said. "I don't know how many times I dirt-tracked it in turns 1 and 2, because it was so slick out here tonight."

Like McCalla, Kurt Bohnsack extended his points lead with his third feature win of the season. Bohnsack went from last to first in the hornets race, overcoming a test by chasing down runner-up Todd Ness. Bohnsack had to rebound from an mishap on the start.

"We started at the back (and) had fun," Bohnsack said. "Moved up through the pack. Me and Todd had a little run, rubbed a little bit ... it's a part of racing. We had a good time."

Matt Petrzelka continued his dominance in the hobby stock division. He is the only driver to win a feature this season, claiming his fourth straight victory. Petrzelka has won the last two season points championships, and now has 22 feature wins during that stretch.

HAWKEYE DOWNS SPEEDWAY

LATE MODELS

Heat winner - Brad Osborn

Feature - 1. Griffin McGrath, 2. Tim Plummer, 3. Thor Anderson, 4. Jay Jaspers, 5. Brad Osborn

HOBBY STOCKS

Heat winner - Matt Lacoursiere

Feature - 1. Matt Petrzelka, 2. Lacoursiere, 3. Brandon Herb, 4. Jason Sherman, 5. Malena Betzer

SPORTSMEN

Heat winner - Ben Glascock

Feature - 1. Dave McCalla, 2. Glascock, 3. Cory Houdek, 4. Greg Hentrich, 5. Jim Hanson

LEGENDS

Heat winners - 1st: Bryce Bailey; 2nd: Logan Mitchell

Feature - 1. Bryce Bailey, 2. Tim Goettsch, 3. Matt Blake, 4. Al Diercks, 5. Kevin Korsmo

MODIFIEDS

Heat winner - Ryan Luedtke

Feature - 1. Tim Plummer, 2. Brian Gibson, 3. Luedtke, 4. Jim Dixon, 5. Ed O'Brien

HORNETS

Trophy Dash winner - Hallie Hanson

Heat winner - Todd Ness

Feature - 1. Kurt Bohnsack, 2. Ness, 3. Jose DeJesus, 4. Jeff Dvorak, 5. Hanson.