Neal wins wild race at Jackson County Speedway

MAQUOKETA — Of all the planning it takes to make a racing event happen, there's always one factor that's completely out of organizers' control (apart from weather): the actual racing itself.

Track workers can prepare the racing surface, officials can set the rules and promoters can fill the stands, but once the cars are on the track, it's in the hands of the drivers.

And on Saturday night at Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa, the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Model Summer Series drivers delivered one of the best 40-lap races in its history, with Ely's Terry Neal coming out on top.

'That right there was one of the better races I've seen in 14 years of doing this,' said series director Kevin Yoder. 'It was clean racing, three-wide racing. The track came around. There was fantastic respect among the competitors.

'It really doesn't get much better than that.'

It was the kind of racing fans can only see out of a series or track where the competitors know each other well, and can trust that close racing won't end up in torn up racecars.

For a 15-lap stretch in the middle of the main event, four drivers raced side-by-side, two rows deep, with no room in between — looking like high-speed pace laps. Terry Neal, Nate Beuseling, Andy Eckrich and Jeff Aikey all swapped positions, seemingly on a lap-by-lap basis, even negotiating lapped traffic along the way.

On multiple occasions, three-wide racing occurred on the tight 1/4 mile track, with Aikey pulling a fourth-to-second move that split Eckrich and Neal in Turn 3. The seven-time Summer Series champion gave a hearty laugh when asked about the move and said, 'that's called accuracy.'

'You've just got to keep your car straight, and hopefully everybody's got respect for who's quicker,' said Aikey, who finished third. 'Me and Terry Neal did bump going into (Turns) 1 and 2, and he said 'You were gonna blow by me.' Then after the restart, he blew back by me. What do you do? It was a hell of a race.'

After the final caution with 11 laps remaining, the race whittled down to a two-man battle between Neal and Eckrich. With Neal in the high lane, and Eckrich on the bottom, the two traded leading laps.

And on the slick, but fast, Jackson County Speedway surface he's known for years, Neal was the man who came out on top — about a foot ahead of Eckrich — when the musical chairs of position-swapping was finished.

'That was a lot of fun, it was a good race,' Neal said. 'It was good passing back and forth, great racing. You've just got to keep your cool and try to do your thing; don't let someone else disrupt what you're doing.

'I didn't plan (running the top), but (Eckrich) got me on the bottom. I knew I wasn't going to get under him, so I went up top.'

When the race was finished, and cars had been through inspection, all four who had raced so closely together laughed and rehashed what happened, giving each other congratulations and thanking one another for a clean race.

Each one also gave Neal a slap on the back for getting his first Summer Series win since 2011 at Quincy (Ill.) Raceways. He, at one time, was nearly unbeatable in the Summer Series races at Jackson County Speedway, winning the tour's stop at the track each year from 2005-07.

'Terry Neal is the king of Maquoketa; always has been, always will be,' Eckrich said. 'The bottom was good, you just had to be super, super, super patient, and he was rolling the middle momentum-wise. I just knew who screwed up the least (would win).

'I screwed up (in Turns 1 and 2), went down there (into Turns 3 and 4), go excited, and Terry got me.'

It was the kind of night that left everyone in attendance with a smile on their faces — even among the guys who got beat on track.

And if he could, Yoder would bottle up and sell the racing his drivers did on Saturday, so it could be shared with all who appreciate and love quality dirt racing.

'As the laps wound down, watching Terry Neal, Jeff Aikey and Andy Eckrich race side-by-side — those guys have a mutual respect for each other (and) they're pushing their equipment as hard as they can push it,' Yoder said. 'It's pretty rewarding to watch guys put on a show of that quality. I'm in awe of what they can do with a racecar.

'It's difficult to put into words without actually having seen it. Anybody who went somewhere else tonight and not Maquoketa missed a whale of a race.'

FEATURE RESULTS

1. Terry Neal, Ely; 2. Andy Eckrich, Oxford; 3. Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls; 4. Nate Beuseling, Silvis, Ill.; 5. Tommy Elston, Keokuk; 6. Ryan Dolan, Lisbon; 7. Justin Kay, Wheatland; 8. Scott Fitzpatrick, Urbandale; 9. Jason Rauen, Farley; 10. Matt Ryan, Davenport; 11. Joel Callahan, Dubuque; 12. Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 13. Joe Ross, Thomson, Ill.; 14. Ron Klein, Sherrill; 15. Jon Poll, Delmar; 16. Rob Moss, Iowa City; 17. Joe Zrostlik, Long Grove; 18. Rob Toland, Colona, Ill.; 19. Colby Springsteen, Wapello; 20. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown; 21. Dean Wagner, Evansdale; 22. Luke Pestka, Robins; 23. Chad Holladay, Muscatine; 24. Jon Merfeld, Dubuque.

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