Aikey dominant at Yankee Dirt Track Classic

FARLEY — There's a reason Jeff Aikey is the most decorated driver in IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models history.

The Cedar Falls driver has won the series seven times, and though Justin Kay sealed his second straight series title Saturday night at Farley Speedway, Aikey hasn't fallen far from the top. He showed that in dominant fashion during the 38th Yankee Dirt Track Classic, in which he led 90 of 100 laps and picked up his second IMCA Late Model crown jewel in 10 days.

Before the season-ending trio of specials that included the Liberty 100, IMCA Supernationals and the Yankee, Aikey was asked which of the three meant the most. After kicking it around, he settled on Supernats.

But after taking the win in both Boone and Farley back to back?

'I like 'em both. Especially back to back. That's about a $15,000 week. That's not too bad,' Aikey said through his trademark grin. 'I knew at Boone I had a hell of a car, and I said, 'Don't even touch it. We're going with the same deal for the Yankee.' This car is good.'

And then some.

Aikey took the lead on Lap 10 after passing Scott Fitzpatrick, who had started on the outside pole. From there, the now-66-time Summer Series winner could do whatever he wanted with his red No. 77. At one point, he had a half-lap lead on second-place Nick Marolf, who worked back into second midway through the race after starting on the pole.

The only issue Aikey had was in lapped traffic, where he purposely took it easy, so as not to burn up his tires in the longest race of the year. Marolf would catch him in traffic, but as soon as they broke clear, Aikey was gone again.

With the help of some hand signals, the Late Model legend was able to deftly navigate a race that ran the first 52 laps caution-free and only had three cautions total.

'I babied it when we got into lapped cars. I didn't want to wreck,' Aikey said. 'I could go through the corners so much faster than those guys, but I didn't want to use my tires up. I had (my crew guy) down in the corner telling me if they were close, and he kept telling me I had plenty of room, so I just took my time.

'I had such a good car. If I needed to go, I could go.'

Marolf ended up second, Summer Series champ Kay was third, just edging fourth-place Richie Gustin at the line, and Rookie of the Year Tyler Droste was fifth.

For Marolf, the result was certainly a positive one overall — especially given the myriad problems he and his No. 33 team have suffered this season — but left a slightly bitter taste. Aside from the agitation that is finishing second, he also was kicking himself just a bit.

Anticipating a poorer-handling car than he had, Marolf put a used right rear tire on the car to save new rubber. That tire held up, but barely — going flat on the cool down lap. He had to take extra care of it throughout he race, which cost him a chance, he said, to really challenge for the win.

'He was better in clean air, and then in traffic we could run him down. He drove a good, clean race and we drove a good, clean race,' Marolf said. 'I went out on an older tire thinking we weren't going to be great. I just kept driving the car straight, concentrating on trying to save my tire. It went flat on the cool down lap, so good thing I didn't push Jeff too hard.'

In the end, though, Marolf could take pride in being the odd man out of the top five.

He was the only non-Gheer'd Up Mastersbuilt chassis in the top five, which swept the top five positions at Supernationals. Aikey, Kay, Gustin and Droste are in that stable. Gheer'd Up also had Jason Rauen and Scott Fitzpatrick in sixth and seventh, to make six of the top 10 finishers.

Marolf acknowledged what the rest of the sport has become painfully aware: those cars have a leg up on everyone, and the field finished the year chasing them as it had all season.

Tyson Gheer, the crew chief for Kay, is the man behind those cars — specifically the front end design. He's a man of few words, and politely declined to brag about his cars' showing this season. He preferred to let his drivers do the talking.

Aikey, Kay and the rest were more than happy to do so after a dominant night and season.

'Tyson just gets it. He knows how to put a car together to give you something to start with,' Kay said. 'He can tell you how to make it better if you can explain it to him right. He just knows what he wants to do to put them together.

'He's been doing this his whole life. There's something to that. I've been farming my whole life, so when somebody new comes around you have to explain things to them that seem simple to you, but if you didn't know, you wouldn't even think about it. It's the same way with the racecars. He's watched so many different people and worked with so many different people, he just figures it out.'

CORDES REGROUPS FOR YANKEE WIN

Dunkerton driver Troy Cordes and his crew had a plan.

With $2,000 on the line in the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified main event at the Yankee Dirt Track Classic — and a set of scales at Farley that threw some for a loop Saturday — he and his crew had to play it safe. They added extra weight and packed the tank full of fuel, which resulted in a poor-handling car to start the race.

But after falling from his second-place start to fifth and burning off some of that fuel, the car came to life. He used a restart to go from third to first around Jason Schueller and Kyle Brown and never looked back. He took the Yankee win comfortably — a small consolation after a tough week at Supernationals.

'The scales read so light here, we had to add weight. We knew we'd be better later on once we got that fuel burned off,' Cordes said. 'We were hoping for some yellows, too. Right before the last one it started getting better, and I was starting to drive it in harder, too. It started coming around then.

'It's always better when you get a win. It gives us a boost headed into (season championships at Vinton). We'll get a little rest and then head to Vegas.'

MURTY DOES THE DOUBLE

With the rain on Thursday and Friday, Simmons Promotions was forced to move heats and qualifying races for IMCA Modified and Late Model from those two days into one long program on Saturday.

Racing got started at 4:30 p.m. and went until just before 2 a.m. Sunday. The length of the program allowed one racer to do a double between the World Nationals at Marshalltown Speedway and the Yankee in Farley.

Chelsea's Damon Murty was that guy. One of his cars was towed to Farley (where he'd qualified Wednesday), and he and the other went to Marshalltown. He ran second in the two Stock Car main events in the Worlds, then hauled freight back to Farley. The long program got him to the speedway in plenty of time, and he used that to win his third straight IMCA Stock Car main event at the Yankee.

DRAMA IN HOBBY STOCK

IMCA Hobby Stock kicked off main events at the Yankee on Saturday night, and it got things off to a dramatic start. Quinton Miller led most of the main event, but not all.

On the final lap, he was just ahead of second place Leah Wroten, who dove underneath headed into Turn 3 coming to the checkers. The two made contact twice, sending Miller spinning and Wroten across the line first. She pulled into Victory Lane, but the result was overturned by race officials, handing the win to Justin Wacha.

Wroten protested vehemently directly to IMCA President Brett Root, who intervened in Victory Lane, but to no avail.

SOPPE HOLDS OFF OLSON

A pair of No. 3s battled it out throughout 15 intense laps and a few restarts, but in the end it was 3T that came out ahead of the K3 in IMCA Sport Mod.

Tyler Soppe and Kyle Olson raced hard for the final 10 laps of the main event for the Yankee, with Soppe holding the lead the entire way and Olson doing his best to find a way around. Olson did everything short of wreck Soppe in the final laps, giving him a series of bumps down the straightaway and searching for different lines in the corners. 

Ultimately Olson came up short and Soppe took the win - a much-needed one that helped put a frustrating IMCA Supernationals to rest.

38th YANKEE DIRT TRACK CLASSIC RESULTS

IMCA DEERY BROTHERS SUMMER SERIES LATE MODELS

1. Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls; 2. Nick Marolf, Moscow; 3. Justin Kay, Wheatland; 4. Richie Gustin, Gilman; 5. Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 6. Jason Rauen, Farley; 7. Scott Fitzpatrick, Wheatland; 8. Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 9. Andy Eckrich, Oxford; 10. Ray Guss Jr., Milan, Ill.; 11. Chris Horn, Cedar Rapids; 12. Joel Callahan, Dubuque; 13. Ryan Dolan, Lisbon; 14. Andy Nezworski, Buffalo; 15. Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake; 16. Travis Denning, Sterling, Ill.; 17. Matt Ryan, Davenport; 18. Chad Holladay, Muscatine; 19. Joe Zrostlik, Long Grove; 20. Ben Seemann, Waterloo; 21. John Emerson, Waterloo; 22. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown; 23. Denny Eckrich, Tiffin; 24. Travis Smock, Bondurant; 25. Kyle Hinrichs, Swisher.

IMCA HAWKEYE DIRT TOUR MODIFIEDS

1. Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 2. Kyle Brown, State Center; 3. Jason Schueller, Dubuque; 4. Justin Kay, Wheatland; 5. Matt Gansen, Dubuque

IMCA SPORT MODS

1. Tyler Soppe, Sherril; 2. Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 3. Ty Griffith, Webster City; 4. Matt Short, Maquoketa; 5. Kip Siems, Cedar Falls

IMCA STOCK CARS

1. Damon Murty, Chelsea;  2. Jerry Miles, Bernard; 3. Greg Gill, Muscatine; 4. Phil Holtz, Manchester; 5. Darren Duffy, Hazelton 

IMCA HOBBY STOCKS

1. Justin Wacha, Vinton; 2. Billy Rhoades, Maynard; 3. Randy Byerly, Tipton; 4. Brett Vanous, Quasqueton, 5. Shawn Randall, Raymond

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