Kay gets Deery Bros redemption with dominant win

INDEPENDENCE - Tuesday night in West Liberty, IMCA Late Model racer Justin Kay got beat by about three feet for the main event win by Brian Harris.

He stood on the front stretch, frustration clearly bubbling right under the surface. He's not too used to losing in his No. 15k car.

Twenty-four hours later at Independence Motor Speedway, he left no doubt as to who still rules the roost of IMCA Late Model competition, taking the Deery Brothers Summer Series main event win by a straightaway ahead of Jeff Aikey in second and Ryan Dolan in third.

'I needed that after last night,” Kay said. 'Yeah, I wasn't letting up at all tonight. I was pushing as hard as I could every lap.

'You've got Jeff Aikey at this place and Ryan Dolan, when you've got them coming up on you, you've got to keep it rolling.”

Keep it rolling, he did.

Kay started eighth in the Summer Series A-main, the fourth of which he's won this season. He had to get around Aikey and Dolan in the first place to take the lead around halfway, and used a late caution and clear track to drive away.

As good as Aikey and Dolan are in traffic, the caution certainly made life a little easier on Kay. But the Wheatland driver was confident enough in his car and how it was handling, it likely wouldn't have mattered either way.

'I don't know how good their cars really were,” Kay said. 'Seemed like Dolan couldn't quite run the bottom like I could and it seemed like I was more maneuverable. I could run the top, bottom, middle if I had to. I don't know if they needed a certain line on the racetrack or how it worked out.”

Before Kay took the lead for good, Lisbon driver Dolan was riding the cushion on the top line of the track. He'd built himself a decent lead before Kay broke free of the rest of the field into second.

The veteran driver notched his second top five in three Summer Series races with his third place run, and said the versatility of Kay's car was what his lacked. He had to stick to one line and just didn't have what Kay and Aikey did at the end.

'Those two cars were just better than I was,” Dolan said. 'I just couldn't lean on the cushion as hard as I wanted to because there wasn't much left. I just kind of slowly dropped back. But we're running good, so we're happy.

'With Kay and Jeff and these guys, you've got to be there. They've got it together. It's a good barometer. We're almost there. We want to beat them bad. That's what racing's about.”

For Kay, this marks his 13th career Summer Series victory, putting him at a tie on the all-time list with Darrel DeFrance.

Anyone who's raced an IMCA Late Model or paid attention to that division in the last three years knows he's dominant even when he doesn't have a fire lit beneath him like he had Wednesday night.

But when there is one? The drive of a frustrating string of runs and renewed confidence in his Gheer'd Up Racecar chassis made him unbeatable on the high-banked, 3/8-mile track in Independence.

'It was just disappointing (Tuesday) night with the way the whole night went,” Kay said. 'To get it back and make it happen again means a lot.

'Sometimes (motivation) helps, sometimes it could hurt you. I don't know what (crew chief) Tyson (Gheer) did to the car, but it felt good again, where last night I wasn't the most comfortable. Tonight I could stick my nose anywhere I wanted again.”

IMCA DEERY BROTHERS SUMMER SERIES FOR LATE MODELS

INDEPENDENCE MOTOR SPEEDWAY RESULTS

1. 15k Justin Kay, Wheatland; 2. 77 Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls; 3. Ryan Dolan, Lisbon; 4. 78 Rick Wendling, Hazelton; 5. 24 Scott Fitzpatrick, Wheatland; 6. 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 7. 31 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 8. 19g Richie Gustin, Gilman; 9. 37b Brunson Behning, Davenport; 10. 1m Rob Moss, Iowa City; 11. Z50 Joe Zrostlik, Long Grove; 12. 7 Andy Nezworksi, Buffalo; 13. 56 Andy Eckrich, Oxford; 14. 93 Jay Johnson, West Burlington; 15. 87 John Emerson, Waterloo; 16. 81 Jon Merfeld, Dubuque; 17. 43 Jeremy Grady, Story City; 18. 9 Bobby Hansen, Center Point; 19. 2p Jon Passick, Waterloo; 20. 75m Todd Malmstrom, Silvis, Ill.; 21. 8r Sean Johnson, Independence; 22. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 23. 15 Kyle Hinrichs, Swisher; 24. 1h Brian Hunter, Independence.

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