Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings: June 15

Welcome to the Inside Track's Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings. Each week of the racing season, the Gazette's Jeremiah Davis will rank the area's top 10 drivers across all divisions.

Think the list should be different? Tweet him at @jeremiahdavis10, send him an email at jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com or leave a comment at The Inside Track by Jeremiah Davis Facebook page.

New this week: Nathan Wood

Dropped out: Chris Zogg

Others considered (in no order):  David Brandies, Luke Goedert, Benji Irvine, Tyler Bruening, Ronn Lauritzen, J.D. Auringer, Nathan Ballard, Matt Ryan, Rob Toland, Mark Schulte, Mitch Hovden, Kyle Olson, Johnny Spaw, Troy Hovey, Daniel Wauters, Dalton Simonsen, Richie Gustin, Kyle Brown, Troy Cordes, Dan Hovden, Bryce Garnhart, John Oliver Jr, Darrel DeFrance, Jimmy Gustin, Andy Eckrich, Darin Duffy, Chris Zogg

RANK

+/-

NAME

CLASS

THOUGHTS

1

+1

Justin Kay

Late Model/Modified

This was a difficult decision (you'll understand even more in the next entry) but ultimately despite DNFs at Farley and Independence in his Late Model, his sweeping the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series and Hawkeye Dirt Tour races at West Liberty earn him is (approximately) 1 millionth time atop the Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings. He also got a win in his Modified on Friday at Farley, by the way. His Late Model drive at West Liberty was something special.

1a

-1

Tyler Soppe

Sport Mod

He got his second straight weekend sweep, winning at Farley, Maquoketa and Dubuque this week, and while car counts are down at two of those places, he still got it done against the guys who bothered to show up. So, because they're my rankings and I can do what I want with 'em, he's 1a to Kay. It's only a half a spot drop. He's winning seemingly at will, so a bump back up wouldn't be a shock.

3

--

Tyler Droste

Modified

Second sucks. Anyone who's ever been in a racecar knows that. So it was actually a bit surprising seeing how upbeat Droste was after finishing second on Sunday to Patrick Flannagan in the Urbana 5 Memorial main event. But I suppose it's a sign he's consistently fast, and finishing second enough times leads to wins. He also made the trip to Hamilton County Speedway and ended up fifth in the Topless 50.

4

+1

Chris Simpson

Late Model

Simpson made the trip out to Rossburg, Ohio and Eldora Speedway for The Dream, and represented Iowa well. He ran seventh in his qualifying main event Thursday, was fourth on Friday to lock himself into the big show on Saturday. He was 11th in the main event, won by Scott Bloomquist, outrunning guys like Bobby Pierce, Don O'Neal, Darrell Lanigan and Jonathan Davenport.

5

+1

Tony Olson

Sport Mod

He was leading at the Sport Mod Challenge before contact under yellow gave him some damage that he said affected the car quite a bit, leaving him third. He won at Independence on Saturday, and then Sunday's non-drama happened. He was DQd from his heat race thanks to his MSD box reading 6299 instead of the 6200 limit. After resetting the box, he started 24th and raced to fourth in that main event. 

6

+1

Hunter Marriott

Modified

He hasn't raced as much in the last few weeks, but he made it to Webster City on Tuesday...and left with a $2,000 victory at the Topless 50 at Hamilton County Speedway. Personally, I'm not a fan of the topless races myself - the cars look goofy, OK? - but the cars he beat are stout regardless of how weird they look without sail panels.

7

-3

Jeremiah Hurst

Late Model

He's had better weekends, but was still a top five car almost everywhere. Hurst was fifth Friday night at Davenport, second at Maquoketa on Saturday and third at Dubuque on Sunday. Finally, he wrapped up his race week with a bit of a struggle at West Liberty. He managed an eighth place finish despite the car not agreeing with him most of the night.

8

--

Damon Murty

Stock Car

Ho-hum just another weekend of running in the lead or near the lead. The Chelsea Charger won Friday night at Marshalltown Speedway, then had a fierce battle for the win at Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Sunday, ultimately settling for second in a finish that came down to the line.

9

--

Cayden Carter

Late Model/Modified

Since the rankings are a day late (sorry, it's been a busy week), two weeks of Wednesday night racing apply. He got a win two Wednesdays ago in his Modified, then was fourth there this Wednesday. Then he helped put on the best race of the night at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour show at West Liberty, ending up second to Kay in Modified. He's a humble kid, and refused to admit frustration with finishing second. Still, that new VanderBuilt Chassis agrees with him, apparently.

10

NR

Nathan Wood

Stock Car

I realized today Wood wasn't in the "Others considered" the last few weeks, which was an omission on my part. He should've been, because he's been very good at CJ Speedway and Benton County Speedway, and backed it up again this week. He got three wins in four days at Osky, Columbus Junction and beating Murty on Sunday at Vinton. Not too shabby.

Previous weeks: May 10, May 17; May 24; May 31; June 7

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com