Aikey triumphs at 'Dirt at the Downs'

It was certainly fitting that Jeff Aikey posed for photos with an index finger extended into the air. After all, Aikey has made a habit of reaching victory lane showing everyone he's No. 1.

He's first in his series' all-time wins, first in season points and was first again for the first time in 10 years at Hawkeye Downs Speedway.

Aikey was near flawless in capturing his fourth win at Hawkeye Downs in the Deery Brothers Summer Series in the IMCA Late Model Dirt at the Downs.

“It's kind of neat to come down (to) Cedar Rapids,” Aikey said. “We just had a good night.”

It's the lone race on asphalt for the dirt track series and crews have to adjust to the surface. In years past, Aikey's crew made a number of changes but didn't have to this time around.

Aikey was fast from the moment he hit the track and won a heat race.

“We were dialed ion from the get-go,” Aikey said. “We unloaded. We only made two little bitty changes to the car and that's kind of fun when you can come down and do that.”

Aikey dominated the field and was barely challenged, controlling the pace and lapping cars at will in the 35-lap feature that was green from start to finish.

“It was pretty tough to win today. There were so many fast cars,” said Aikey, who sources said was visibly emotional in victory lane after dedicating the race to his mother who died a week ago. “Third Deery win of the year and we have four or five seconds so we have a hell of a year going.”

The only hiccup came with about 12 laps to go when he got bottled up by lapped traffic.

The crafty veteran noticed only 10 laps remained and knew he didn't have to risk his lead by making any moves.

His car was running so well he knew it was going to take a massive effort to overtake his lead.

“Down here it's hard to pass on the outside and you really have to have a good car,” Aikey said. “I just had my line and did what I needed to do.”

The finish mirrored the season points rank with Aikey first and Jason Frankel, of Quincy, Ill., second. Marion's Terry Neal finished third and Johnny Spaw, of Cedar Rapids was sixth.

It was Aikey's first win here since he won the last of three straight in 1999.

“My guys work their tails off to do this, and I try to get them a cap up front every night I can,” said Aikey, 46. “I get older every year so wins to me are big. These young guys coming up, it's sometimes hard to beat them.”

Aric Becker had a similar performance in the local Sportsmod division, winning the heat and feature convincingly. Becker had led in two features here and one in Independence before mechanical trouble or a wreck ended his winning bids.

“A lot of weight lifted off my shoulders,” Becker said. “It's nice to finally get it.”

Becker said his car has a good baseline and he's modified it slightly to keep running well. He had it set right last night, beginning in second and pulling away from the field for his first win this season.

“Hopefully, it starts a streak of good luck,” Becker said.

Greg Hentrich also won his first feature of the season in the stock car class, Jeff Franks won his fourth straight feature in the hobby stock class.

Youth was served in the Hornets feature when 15-year-old Brogan Fiala won his second feature this season.