Stovall cruises to $10,000 MLRA win at Farley Speedway

FARLEY - Jesse Stovall had never stepped foot on Farley Speedway before Monday night's MLRA Late Model event. The Billings, Mont. native came in a little nervous - for a few reasons.

The last few weeks hadn't been too kind to him, and he was up against a field of Open Late Models that featured a host of drivers who had a lot of laps around the 3/8-mile track.

But Stovall need not have worried. He never set a foot wrong all day and cruised to a flag-to-flag victory, taking home the $10,000 check.

'It's definitely a morale booster from where I was at last weekend,” a happy but relieved Stovall said in Victory Lane. 'We struggled and struggled (at the USA Nationals in Cedar Lake, Wis.). It had me really wondering. I'm really glad to come back and feel that my racecar is still under me.”

Stovall started from the pole after amassing the most passing points - which is how MLRA sets its lineups - in his heat race. He was surrounded by guys who had been here earlier this year for the UMP Summernationals Open Late Model race in Jason Feger, Chris Simpson (who ended up pulling off at Lap 16 after running third), Chad Simpson and Justin Kay.

But as the track rubbered up from the big Open Late Model tires, that front row starting spot worked to his advantage.

He weathered three restarts in which second-place Terry Phillips and Chad Simpson were able to close the gap. Being able to run a clean line and get the open air to the nose was everything he needed to cruise to the victory.

'The track raced decent - it raced better than I thought it would, actually,” Stovall said. '(The front row start) was huge here. The track was a little dirty and the way it shaped up, a front row start meant a helluva lot.”

Phillips ran the first half of the race in second behind Stovall, but lost a spot to Mount Vernon's Chad Simpson on what ended up being the final restart at Lap 27. By the time Simpson had cleared Phillips, Stovall had a straightaway lead and a clear track in front of him.

As they got into lapped traffic, Simpson was able to close the gap just a little bit, but not enough to close the gap substantially. He said 'we were inching on (Stovall) a little bit there.”

'It was latching down there pretty good at the end,” Chad Simpson said. 'I needed about 10 or 15 more laps. He was about a straightaway ahead of me and we ran him down to about at least half that in the last eight laps. Another 10 or 15 laps and it'd have gotten exciting.”

Stovall acknowledged his starting spot being one of the biggest factors in propelling him to a win by saying he didn't think, were the roles reversed, he'd have been able to catch Simpson or Phillips if they had gotten out to a big lead.

But that certainly didn't mean he was apologizing for it. He earned the starting spot through passing points, and held the winner's check tight.

'Probably not here tonight,” Stovall said. 'It was rubbered up bad down here (in Turns 3 and 4) and it was starting to in 1 and 2.

'We'll go (to West Liberty on Tuesday) night and see if we can get another one.”

KAY CRUISES TO ANOTHER WIN; EYES NATIONAL POINTS

Wheatland driver Justin Kay pulled double-duty Monday night, running both his Open Late Model in the MLRA main event and his IMCA Late Model.

Without having run a ton of Open Late Model races this year, he wasn't certain how the night would go, but he started seventh and finished eighth in MLRA A-main - a result he was satisfied with given how little he's run Open this year.

'We weren't bad, but we can be a lot better (in the Open),” Kay said. 'First time in it and a brand-new car, so I'm not complaining at all.

'You look at how many racing those are doing and that's all they're doing is Open. We're trying to jump back and forth. I think if we got a little more time in one we could be running well and up front.”

After he hopped out of the Open Late Model, he got in his IMCA car and did what he's done so often in the last three seasons.

He started outside front row on a track that had rubbered up from the Open race, so it was smooth sailing for 25 laps en route to the victory.

The win moved him to 22 victories across all sanctions and classes this season, including 14 in weekly IMCA racing. It's those 14 - plus five second-place and one fifth-place finish - that count toward the national points standings, which he's won the past two seasons. As of the July 31 IMCA release of standings, Kay was 30 points behind Davenport's Matt Ryan for the lead.

He added two wins this weekend - which then eliminated two low finishes from his top 20 overall finishes that count for national points - so the race for the title should either be neck and neck or with him out front when things are tallied again.

Last season he maxed out with 20 wins early in the season and didn't have to worry about it. This year is different - and he, in some ways, likes it.

'We've been keeping an eye on it. We've got to win the track championship at Dubuque, that's the biggest thing,” Kay said. 'We're going to have to watch what Matt does and see how he's faring.

'In years past I can remember it always coming down to the last night with guys fighting for one point here and there. This year I think seconds are going to come into play - though it'd be nice to get those 20 wins.”

Kay estimated he had eight or nine weekly IMCA races left this season, and even if he thinks that's not enough time, he's not ruling out getting to 20 and leaving no doubt in the title race.

'Oh I know we could do it,” Kay said. 'It depends on how much we go racing. It's just nice to have nights off now and then and still have a shot at it.”

MLRA OPEN LATE MODELS

FARLEY SPEEDWAY RESULTS

1. 00 Jesse Stovall, Billings, Mont.; 2. 25s Chad Simpson, Mount Vernon; 3. 75p Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.; 4. 25f Jason Feger, Bloomington, Ill.; 5. 39 Tim McCreadie, Avon, N.Y.; 6. 18c Chase Junghans, Manhattan, Kan.; 7. 22s Gregg Satterlee, Indiana, Penn.; 8. 15k Justin Kay, Wheatland; 9. 58e Dave Eckrich, Oxford; 10. 98 Jason Rauen, Farley; 11. 50 Denny Eckrich, Tiffin; 12. 15b Jason O'Brien, Atlantic; 13. 0j Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.; 14. 16a Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.; 15. 31u Jason Utter, Columbus Junction; 16. 29d Spencer Dierks, Davenport; 17. 157 Mike Marlar, Winfield, Tenn.; 18. 56 Andy Eckrich, Oxford; 19. 32s Chris Simpson, Oxford; 20. 6w RC Whitwell, Tucson, Ariz.; 21. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 22. 58 Ray Guss Jr., Milan, Ill.; 23. 186 Jeremy Payne, Springfield, Mo.; 24. 4w JC Wyman, Griswold.

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