Aikey pounces on Kay mistake, gets Deery Bros win

EAST MOLINE, Ill. - Before Sunday night, Jeff Aikey had been to Victory Lane in the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models 63 times - nearly 30 more than the next highest win total - and in the now 29 seasons he's been at it, he's learned when to pounce.

The seven-time Summer Series champion did just that at Quad City Speedway to get win No. 64, passing defending series and Late Model national champion Justin Kay just before halfway as the two negotiated lapped traffic.

Kay made one small mistake, and Aikey was there to take advantage. From there?

'I knew he was back there and I was digging like hell, man,” Aikey said through his trademark grin. 'I was running like a scared rabbit.

'He went off the bottom down there (in Turns 1 and 2) and it was so good on the bottom. He didn't want to get messed up on the lapped cars, and I just let her eat.”

For his part, Kay was happy with the finish but frustrated with himself for the mistake that led to his being passed under green for the lead and ultimately the win - something that is exceedingly rare on the Summer Series tour.

The new dad - his daughter was born Friday - hasn't been beat head-to-head in a while, but he said the silver lining was it coming from a guy he pits next to and bounces ideas back and forth with since they're both on the same chassis.

'I screwed up,” Kay said. 'We were in the lapped cars and I tried to roll one of the lapped cars on the outside and shouldn't have done that. Jeff snuck under me. It's just the way it is.

'I thought I might have something at the end for him. I was really good around the top in (Turns) 1 and 2, and thought I might have something for him at the end. But I folded front of the nose under and just couldn't get it done after that.”

At the tight, ¼-mile bullring that is Quad City Speedway, the only car not in traffic is the leader on a restart.

Kay took the lead from the initial start, and was passing lapped cars within 10 laps. The track had slicked off, then rubbered up and forward bite off the corner became paramount to completing passes. Cars that were able to get a good run off the corner made progress while others went backwards.

'My car was so hooked up coming off the corners, I could just fly right by them,” Aikey said. 'You have to use your head; you don't want to wreck. I was watching what I was doing, but luckily I never had to go off the bottom and pass anybody on the outside. I'd just get them out of the corner.”

Fellow Gheer'd Up Chassis driver - and another who pits beside Aikey and Kay - and Davenport native Matt Ryan helped sweep the podium for that group. He was hooked up on the bottom as well and drove his way from 13th starting position to third at the finish.

Getting there required patience as much as that drive out of the corner.

'It was working the best right on the bottom tires,” Ryan said. 'It was a matter of patience. I had to wait until somebody pushed up a little bit and I could cut underneath and make the run off the corner. That was the whole deal: wait long enough and don't force the issue.”

With the new cars working so well - Aikey said it was fast 'from Day 1” - and as much enthusiasm as he's had in his nearly 30 years following the Summer Series, the Cedar Falls native and all-time Series wins leader said there's no slowing down now - neither literally or figuratively.

The next milestone he wants is six wins away.

'Sixty-four, is that all? I thought we had more than that,” Aikey said jokingly. 'Well, lost a couple (along the way) we should've had anyway.

'It doesn't ever get old. We want to get to 70 next.”

IMCA DEERY BROTHERS LATE MODELS

RESULTS

1. Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls; 2. Justin Kay, Wheatland; 3. Matt Ryan, Davenport; 4. Ray Guss Jr., Milan, Ill.; 5. Andy Nezworski, Buffalo; 6. Ryan Dolan, Lisbon; 7. Nate Bueseling, Silvis, Ill.; 8. Scott Fitzpatrick, Wheatland; 9. Joel Callahan, Dubuque; 10. Jonathan Brauns, Muscatine; 11. Todd Malstrom, Silvis, Ill.; 12. Jay Johnson, West Burlington; 13. Mike Garland, Morrison, Ill.; 14. Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 15. Corey Zeitner, Bellevue, Neb.; 16. Jeremy Grady, Story City; 17. John Emerson, Waterloo; 18. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown; 19. Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake; 20. Joe Zrostlik, Long Grove; 21. Gary Webb, Blue Grass; 22. Shawn Mulvany, Moline, Ill.; 23. Eric Sanders, Sherrard, Ill.; 24. Brunson Behning, Davenport.

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