Auto racing: McGrath captures two feature wins

CEDAR RAPIDS - Griffin McGrath went from worst to first.

The next time didn't have the same dramatics.

McGrath made a late pass for one victory and then grabbed an early lead before pulling away from the field to sweep the late model double feature Friday night at Hawkeye Downs Speedway. The wins were his fifth and sixth of the season after missing the season-opening race.

In the opener, McGrath made a late move to pass Tim Plummer between Turns 1 and 2 with two laps left and then pulled away for another trip to victory lane. He has had success by closing strong this summer.

"Our car has been set up to be better at the end of the race, when I think some others set their stuff up to be a little bit faster early," McGrath said. "That was by far our toughest race of the year."

McGrath scoffed at the idea that he executed a strategy perfectly, timing the late pass. It wasn't planned, and even seemed a little too close for comfort as Plummer, who looked like he might hold McGrath at bay. Instead, he had to settle for another runner-up finish to McGrath.

"I had to get up on the wheel to be able to even get up next to Tim," McGrath said. "I think he's gotten the gap a lot closer between us, as far as differences between our cars.

"Trust me, I'd like to be up there right away. You just want to wait for your opportunities and take advantage."

The first race was a makeup from last week when oil leaked onto the track prevented the last 12 laps of the feature to be complete. They ran earlier than normal. The sun, temperatures and moisture from large amounts of rain this season made conditions slicker than usual. McGrath said the conditions messed with their setup.

"It throws another wrench into it," McGrath said. "We didn't really know what to do. We just left it the same."

The two have competed for years against each other on the asphalt half-mile track, including modified racing. The two have battled for the top spot in a diminished late model field. They have produced some exciting races.

"We have so much fun racing together," McGrath said. "He's always been great to race."

In the nightcap, McGrath worked his way to the front from a fifth-place start. He blew away the rest, lapping the fifth-place car and finishing well ahead of runner-up Jay Jaspers. Plummer was third.

McGrath has dominated the late model division. He has won every feature he has competed in, missing the opening week that was won by Jaspers. Things have gone better than he imagined.

"Obviously, I couldn't have planned for anything more," McGrath said. "We rebuilt the car over the winter., bumping up what we wanted to change. Thankfully, I think most of it worked."

Plummer, who held on to his points lead in late models and increased his modified lead, blew away the modified field. he won his fifth feature of the season.

"The sea parted for me on the start," Plummer said. "I kind of backed into that one a little bit, getting in the open track right away.

"The car was just about flawless."

Brad Chandler took over where his brother, Dallas, left off last week. He followed his brother's second hornet win of the season with a win in his first appearance at the track this season, holding off Kurt Bohnsack's late charge.

Chandler entertained the crowd with a burnout spin in front of the grandstand, sending black smoke through the air. He was able to participate because he received a rare Friday night off of work and jumped behind the wheel of Jeff Dvorak's ride.

"It feels good to not be here all year and come out here and be able to win the race," Chandler said. "It was kind of tricky because you couldn't run on the bottom over here (in Turn 4) because of all that mud."

Dave McCalla and Cory Houdek provided thrills in the sportsmen feature. The duo raced side-by-side for about the last five laps. McCalla stayed on the high side, edging Houdek at the finish line of the quarter-mile oval. They made contact, sending McCalla into a spin that came to a stop in Turn 1 of the half-time track.

"That was really close," McCalla said. "That was a lot of fun. It was a great time."

Matt Petrzelka remained perfect in the hobby stock division, earning seven feature wins in as many weeks this season. The defending points champion increased his lead. Petrzelka was able to avoid trouble on the track to make his way to the front and then leaving the field in the dust.

"I couldn't on the outside," Petrzelka said about getting caught up with Jason Sherman. "I gave him a little nudge and got a little loose. I got on the inside. I kind of came down to (Turn) 3 and got a little crammed up. You got to do what you have to do, I guess."

Bryce Bailey earned his second feature win of the season.

HAWKEYE DOWNS SPEEDWAY

Late Models

Makeup Feature - 1. Griffin McGrath, 2. Tim Plummer, 3. Jay Jaspers, 4. Brad Osborn, 5. Scott Siems

Feature - 1. McGrath, 2. Jaspers, 3. Plummer, 4. Andy Edwards, 5. Siems

Modifieds

Heat winner - Tim Plummer

Feature - 1. Plummer, 2. Brian Gibson, 3. Mike Schulte, 4. Craig Bender, 5. Ryan Luedtke

Sportsmen

Heat winner - David Ballstaedt

Feature - 1. Dave McCalla, 2. Cory Houdek, 3. Ben Glascock, 4. Bob Ahrendsen, 5. Jim Hanson

Legends

Trophy dash - Logan Mitchell

Heat winners - 1st: Austin Kunert; 2nd: Tim Goettsch

Feature - 1. Bryce Bailey, 2. Kunert, 3. Goettsch, 4. Kyle Diercks, 5. Matt Blake

Hobby stocks

Heat winner - Matt Petrzelka

Feature - 1. Petrzelka, 2. Jason Sherman, 3. Matt Lacoursiere, 4. Bob McCorkle, 5. Brian Bries

Hornets

Heat winner - Kurt Bohnsack

Feature - 1. Brad Chandler, 2. Bohnsack, 3. Todd Ness, 4. Jose DeJesus, 5. Dan Schmidt