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Late charge to front nets Frankel $10,000 Pepsi USA Nationals
Deery win
WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (Sept. 19) – Jason Frankel ended his 2009 Deery
Brothers Summer Series in the same place he started it: 34 Raceway’s victory
lane.
Frankel won Saturday’s Pepsi USA Nationals Deery Brothers Summer Series main
event, passing Jeff Aikey and then Mark Burgtorf the last two times around
the track to earn $10,000 in the top paying event on the IMCA Late Model
tour. He’d begun the series campaign by winning the opener at West
Burlington back in April.
The 100-lap series finale saw three lead changes, constant shuffling in and
out of the top five, and just two cautions as the race stayed green the last
47 laps. Burgtorf led most of the distance but settled for second ahead of
“B” qualifier Rob Toland, series champion Aikey and Terry Neal.
Defending race winner Matt Strassheim was sixth.
Burgtorf started outside the front row and was chased by Lonnie Bailey and
Frankel into lapped traffic on the 13th circuit. Fred Remley brought out the
first caution when he got too high on the track and caught the turn four
wall on lap 16.
Burgtorf, Bailey and Aikey ran three-wide for the lead before Bailey and
Aikey swapped the second spot on lap 23 and again on lap 24.
Bailey found the low groove to his liking on lap 29, passing both Aikey and
Burgtorf for the lead.
He’d stay there until lap 47, when Burgtorf motored by. Aikey made a pass of
his own for the front, which was negated when the third running Neal and
fourth running Bailey got together to bring out the second and final caution
on lap 53.
After slipping back as far as sixth, Frankel started working his way back
up, catching Fraise and then Neal to get back into contention for the big
payday. Aikey fell on lap 97 and Burgtorf, who’d held Bailey at bay when the
pair finished 1-2 at the 2007 Pepsi, gave way on lap 98.
The victory was the series career third for Frankel, who moved past Ray Guss
Jr. into second in series point standings with the win.
Aikey clinched his career sixth Deery title at the Sept. 7 show during the
IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals.
Frankel also won Friday’s 20-lap Ironman feature for the 10 drivers with
perfect attendance through the first 19 events of the series.
That win was good for $840, after each driver received an extra $90 from J &
J Steel.
Winners of drawings for sets of Brodix cylinder heads were Guss among the
feature qualifiers and Robby Warner among the non-qualifiers.
Sixty-four Late Models were in the pits for the Sept. 18-19 show, the
seventh highest single event total in the series’ 23-year, 352-race history.
The all-time record is 71, set at the 2006 Pepsi.
Total car count for this season’s 20 races was 759, second only to the 849
in 1998. An average of nearly 38 cars was on hand for each series date.
Feature results –
1. Jason Frankel, Quincy, Ill.;
2. Mark Burgtorf, Quincy, Ill.;
3. Rob Toland, Davenport;
4. Jeff Aikey, Waterloo;
5. Terry Neal, Ely;
6. Matt Strassheim, West Burlington;
7. Tony Fraise, Montrose;
8. Jason Hahne, Webster City;
9. Ray Guss Jr., Milan, Ill.;
10. Boone McLaughlin, Mediapolis;
11. Tommy Elston, Keokuk;
12. Tom Darbyshire, Morning Sun;
13. Tom Goble, Burlington;
14. Lonnie Bailey, Quincy, Ill.;
15. Jason Bahrs, Colona, Ill.;
16. Matt Bailey, Quincy, Ill.;
17. T.J. Criss, Oskaloosa;
18. Keith Pratt, Mendon, Ill.;
19. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown;
20. Stephan Kammerer, Blue Grass;
21. Colby Springsteen, Morning Sun;
22. Jay Johnson, West Burlington;
23. Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake;
24. Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn;
25. Tyler Bruening, Decorah;
26. Fred Remley, Blue Grass.
1st heat (top two) – 1. Lonnie Bailey; 2. Neal.
2nd heat – 1. Burgtorf; 2. Hahne.
3rd heat – 1. Fraise; 2. Elston.
4th heat – 1. Frankel; 2. Criss.
5th heat – 1. Aikey; 2. Strassheim.
6th heat – 1. Guss; 2. Matt Bai ley.
1st “B” feature (top three) – 1. DeFrance; 2. McLaughlin; 3.
Springsteen.
2nd “B” feature – 1. To land; 2. Remley; 3. Johnson.
3rd “B” feature – 1. Bahrs; 2. Goble; 3. Pratt.
Ironman feature results –
1. Frankel;
2. Aikey;
3. Neal;
4. Toland;
5. Guss;
6. McKenna;
7. Justin Kay, Wheatland;
8. DeFrance;
9. Bobby Hansen, Center Point;
10. Greg Kastli, Waterloo.
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