EAST MOLINE, Ill. (May 5) – Sunday’s Deery Brothers Summer Series Hershel Roberts Memorial at Quad City Speedway brought out the best in Ray Guss Jr. again.

Guss won the IMCA Late Model tour event, held in memory of his late friend and car owner, for the third time, holding off a late challenge from Mike Zemo Jr. for the $3,000 victory.

Zemo found the fastest line on the high side and almost caught Guss with six circuits left in the 58-lapper. Guss moved up to slam the door shut, taking the win ahead of Zemo, Brian Harris, Dan Shelliam and Colby Springsteen.

Harris made the main event by topping his “B” feature, passed 11 cars and left town with the top spot in the series point standings. Hard charger Dean Wagner advanced 16 positions to finish sixth.

After winning the $250 Sunoco Race Fuels drawing, Springsteen started on the pole and led the first three laps. Outside front row starter Justin Kay took charge on the fourth time around the oval, running in the lead on the top groove to lap 22.  (more…)

VINTON, Iowa (April 30) – Opening night takes the Karl Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour to Benton County Speedway for the third consecutive year next Tuesday, May 7.

The feature event for IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modifieds at Vinton will pay $1,000 to win and a minimum of $150 to start, and is a qualifying event for this fall’s Fast Shafts All-star Invitational ballot.

IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Belleville Motorsports North Central Region and Allstar Performance State points, as well as special series points, will be awarded.

Pit gates open at 5 p.m. and hot laps are set for 6:45 p.m., with racing to follow. Grandstand admis­sion is $12 with a coupon or $15 without; pit passes are $25.

More information Is available from promoter Mick Trier at 515 201-5526, or at the www.jjamracing.net website.

More than 150 different drivers competed over the course of the 2012 series and Jay Note­boom of Hinton made a late charge to capture the tour championship.

After back-to-back feature wins at Farley and Marshalltown launched him back into contention, Note­boom clinched the crown with a second-place showing in the finale, also at Marshalltown. He’ll return to defend his title and plans to debut a new ride early in the series. (more…)

EAST MOLINE, Ill. (April 30) – After five straight rainouts, the Deery Brothers Summer Series gets back on track with a Sunday, May 5 show at Quad City Speedway.

The third annual Hershel Roberts Memorial event for IMCA Late Models pays $3,000 to win and a minimum of $300 to start.

Ray Guss Jr. of Milan won the two previous events, held in memory of his late friend and car owner.

Pit gates open at 3 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 3:30 p.m. The drivers’ meeting is at 5:15 p.m., with hot laps and racing to follow.

Grandstand admission is $15 for adults, $8 for kids ages 6-12 and free for youngsters five and under. Pit passes are $30.

This will be the 15^th tour event held at East Moline dating back to 1990. The only other multiple winner was Rob Toland, now of Colona, in 1998 and 2004.

Denny Eckrich of Tiffin, Iowa was the winner when the 27^th annual Deery Series got its one event in on April 6 at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.

Four previous tours, the most recent of them in 1999, had seen just a single Deery date recorded before the calendar turned to May. (more…)

DAVENPORT, Iowa (April 16) – The first Deery Brothers Summer Series events of the season at Davenport Speedway and at Farley Speedway are slated this weekend.

Davenport hosts the IMCA Late Model tour on Friday, April 19 while Farley is site of the Saturday, April 20 show. Both events will be held on 3/8-mile ovals and each pays $3,000 to win and a minimum of $300 to start.

Pit gates open at 4:30 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. at Davenport. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m. Spectator admission is $17 for adults, $16 for seniors and students, and free for kids 10 and under when accompanying a paid adult.

Gates at Farley open at 3 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. with racing to follow. Grandstand admission is $16 for adults, $14 for seniors, $10 for students and free for kids 12 and under attending with a paying adult.  Pit passes at both tracks are $30.

The series returns to Farley for the Sept. 13-14 Yankee Dirt Track Classic. Davenport hosts the Sept. 21 tour finale.  (more…)

WEST LIBERTY, Iowa (April 9) – Doubleheader action is next on the docket for the Deery Brothers Summer Series, with a pair of events this weekend.

The IMCA Late Model tour is at West Liberty Raceway on Saturday, April 13, then heads to Dubuque Speedway for a Sunday, April 14 show.

Both events pay $3,000 to win and a minimum of $300 to start. The Dubuque race had been postponed and rescheduled from April 5.

Pit gates open at 3 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. at West Liberty. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. with racing to follow. Gates open at 4 p.m. and hot laps are at 6 p.m. with racing to follow at Dubuque.

Spectator admission each night is $16 for adults, $14 for seniors, $10 for students and free for kids 12 and under when accompanying a paid adult. Pit passes are $30.

Four previous series events have been held at West Liberty. Ray Guss Jr. of Milan, Ill., won both races there last season. (more…)

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (April 6) – The first crown jewel in the 2013 Deery Brothers Summer Series belongs to Denny Eckrich.

Eckrich battled with brother Andy much of the way before winning Saturday’s Brenton Slocum Memorial 50 at 34 Raceway. The IMCA Late Model tour victory paid $5,555 and came ahead of defending champion Jeff Aikey and hard charger Brian Harris.

Andy Eckrich and Jason Utter completed the top five. Forty-six cars were on hand for the 27^th an­nual series opener.

Andy Eckrich started on the pole with Denny lined up right behind him for the initial green. With Andy running on top and Denny on the bottom, both caught up with the back of the field by lap 11 and continued their side-by-side, bumper-to-bumper tussle.

Denny was briefly in front on lap 19 and took over that position for good four lead changes later. Aikey, also in pursuit of his eighth career series title, moved into second on lap 39 and began to reel in the leader.  (more…)

VINTON, Iowa (Dec. 14)  – More green is at stake when the checkers fly at 2013 Deery Brothers Summer Series events.

All 17 events in next season’s IMCA Late Model tour will pay a minimum of $3,000 to win and $300 to start. Top paydays are the $5,000 to win Brent Slocum Memorial at 34 Raceway on April 6 and the $7,500 to win event on Sept. 14, during Farley Speedway’s Yankee Dirt Track Classic.

“It has been a number of years since the purse was increased from a minimum of $2,000 to win and $250 to start,” noted Tour Director Kevin Yoder. “Several tracks paid the higher purse at their events last season so that transition was already in place. The increase is justified to help the tour remain the elite series that it is.”

Non-qualifiers will get $100. Entry fee for the $3,000 to win shows will be $50 and pit passes will cost $30 at all series events. Drivers with perfect series attendance who qualify for the feature will also be eligible for $250 Sunoco Race Fuels drawings each night.

Five events are on the initial series schedule before the start of the regular Late Model point season: April 5 at Farley, April 6 at West Burlington, April 13 at West Liberty Raceway, April 19 at Davenport Speedway and April 20 at Dubuque Speedway. (more…)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Nov. 10) – Jeremy Payne outslugged a field of heavy hitters to become the first driver to win the top-paying event for IMCA Modifieds a third time.

Payne earned $7,777 for his Saturday night win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Duel In the Desert. The new 2013 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier had also cashed in at the 2005 and 2006 races.

“It’s awesome that this is my third one,” said Payne, who made the field by winning his Friday qualifier. “It’s been such a long time since I won the last time. I had some bad luck here lately.”

“It was a great race and my car was perfect,” he added, with a plug for car owner and teammate Johnny Saathoff. “The car worked really good on the bottom in hot laps so I just stuck with that.”

John Hansen was the runner-up. Two-time Duel winner David Murray Jr., two-time defending race winner Terry Phillips and Jeff Taylor rounded out the top five.

Steve Hayes was the IMCA SportMod feature winner. The 15^th annual Duel set an overall car count record of 308, with 253 Modifieds coming from 22 states and three Canadian provinces and 55 SportMods traveling from 11 states. (more…)

ABILENE, Texas (Oct. 20) – Josh McGaha came up big at another big IMCA Modified event.

McGaha topped Saturday’s $4,000 to win feature at Abilene Speedway’s Ryan Bard Memorial Southern Challenge, outrunning William Gould in the race to the checkers.

The victory was McGaha’s second straight at Abilene’s traditional season-ending special.

Kevin Sustaire led early before finding himself in a three-wide tussle with Gould and McGaha. Gould drove by Sustaire following a restart; McGaha made use of the multi-lane oval, passing Sustaire and Gould for a lead he’d never relinquish.

Colorado visitor Ricky Alvarado would end in third with Sustaire and Keith White completing the top five.

Five of the six cars involved in a first-lap crash were unable to return to action. McGaha had also won the Oct. 6 Showdown at Kennedale Speedway Park.

Inches made the difference between first and second during much of the race and at the finish of the Southern SportMod feature, as Doug Easterling prevailed over Matt Mueller in the event doubling as the Southern SportMod Nationals. (more…)