Larson first to Durbin Memorial checkers
Waterman, Veloz, Bonney, Padilla, Burk, Proehl also win
BY ROB HINCKLEY
EAST MOLINE, Ill. (July 3) – Just like any skilled veteran dirt race car driver, Jeff Larson remembered the best line around East Moline Speedway and it paid off big time Sunday evening.
“Bone” redrew No. 1 after winning his J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified heat race and rolled to a flag-to-flag victory in the 3rd Greg Durbin Memorial.
After waiting out a handful of cautions, Larson “diamoned” turn one, launched the backstretch and crept through turns three and four for 25 laps en route to a $1,500 pay day plus some bonus money. That style carried him to the 2021 EMS track title. He is focusing on his Hoker Trucking East Series SLMR Late Model ride in 2022, but occasionally races the Modified.
Last year’s Durbin Memorial winner and current track point leader, Travis Denning, started seventh and maneuvered by teammate B.J. Jackson for the runner up spot on lap seven, but Larson’s familiar Bader Construction No. B1 repeatedly opened big advantages.
Denning also was second behind Eric Barnes, Greg Durbin’s brother, in the inaugural event in 2020. Barnes drew the outside pole, but dropped out with a mechanical issue and finished 18th in the 21-car field.
Jackson hung on for third in a great battle with Denning. Austin Blume used the high side for fourth followed by two-time EMS winner Mitch Morris.
Durbin’s other brother, Brandon, also succumbed to mechanical issues and was 19th. But the two brothers put on a spirited battle in Heat 3 with Durbin beating Barnes.
Donavon Lodge made a last minute decision to compete and the veteran was the hard charger, moving from 16th to sixth and earning bonus money.
Jacob Waterman hit the cushion and got by Matt Ryan on the final lap to win his third straight Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model 25-lap feature. Early leader Dustin Schram, Gary Webb and Jacob Beal followed.
Logan Veloz again mastered the Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods, taking the 15-lap finale. The caution-filled event finally took the checkers with veteran David Engelkens, Brad Salisberry, Jesse Bodin and Rayce Mullen in tow.
Joe Bonney took his third Dynamic Power Street Stock 15 lapper in a great battle with A.J. Franklin, who was driving Frank Waters’ car. Jesse Owen, Shawn Pappas and Rob Nylin were next.
Jon Padilla’s hard work paid off. His crew made repairs to his machine and he won the County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lites 15-lap feature, beating the Jokers Chassis house cars of Jason Masengarb and Jacob Copley. R.J. Gonzales and Blake Gonzales followed.
The best field ever at EMS of Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks (10) was topped by Drew Burk, taking another win over John Richardson, Randy LaMar, Logan Gustaf and Donnie Cole.
Nick Proehl jumped from his third starting position and dominated the Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compact 12-lap feature, beating Cyle Hawkins, Drew Wise, Nolan Morrow and Henry Hess.
A total of 104 cars were in the pits and the final checkered flag fell about 9:30 p.m.
The 2022 season continues this Sunday July 10 with all regular weekly classes in action plus the American Iron Racing Series makes its second 2022 appearance.
For more information, log on to the East Moline Speedway Facebook page or call 563-343-8250.
Following are the UNOFFICIAL RESULTS of stock car racing Sunday evening at East Moline Speedway, East Moline, Ill., listed with finishing position, car number, driver and starting position.
J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modifieds
Greg Durbin Memorial (30 laps) – 1. B1-Jeff Larson[1]; 2. 56D-Travis Denning[7]; 3. 56B-BJ Jackson[3]; 4. 19B-Austin Blume[11]; 5. 70-Mitch Morris[9]; 6. 1A-Donovan Lodge[16]; 7. 11-Ray Cox Jr[5]; 8. 85-Mike Zemo Jr[8]; 9. J1-Jim Sandusky[12]; 10. 9G-Anthony Guss[13]; 11. 35-Chance Huston[18]; 12. 19C-Alex VerVynck[4]; 13. 3C-Richard Vela[15]; 14. 19H-Nick Hillyer[17]; 15. G1-Mike Garland[14]; 16. 01M-Mitch Way[6]; 17. D6-John Connolly[20]; 18. 1-Eric Barnes[2]; 19. 15D-Brandon Durbin[10]; 20. 313-Doug Lenth[21]; 21. 81C-Casey Franks[19]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Denning 2. Zemo 3. Sandusky 4. VerVynck
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Larson 2. Cox 3. Blume 4. Jackson
3rd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Durbin 2. Barnes 3. Morris 4. Way
Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Models
Feature (25 laps) – 1. 10-Jacob Waterman[11]; 2. 07-Matt Ryan[7]; 3. 92-Dustin Schram[4]; 4. W56-Gary Webb[5]; 5. 96-Jacob Beal[2]; 6. 1H-Mike Haines[1]; 7. 53-LeRoy Brenner[3]; 8. 70-Mack Mulvany[10]; 9. 32-Cory Beckstrom[6]; 10. 77-Joe Beal[9]; 11. 7-Jenna Johnson[12]; 12. 1M-Mike Goben[8]
1st Heat (10 laps) – 1. Schram 2. Goben 3. Jo. Beal 4. Haines
2nd Heat (10 laps) – 1. Ryan 2. Webb 3. Brenner 4. Ja. Beal
Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods
Feature (15 laps) – 1. 1. 43LV-Logan Veloz[3]; 2. 65-David Engelkens[9]; 3. 28-Brad Salisberry[2]; 4. 2JR-Jesse Bodin[7]; 5. 77JR-Rayce Mullen[1]; 6. 89-TJ Patz[8]; 7. 10-Erick Turner[11]; 8. 90-Keith Wiersema[12]; 9. 34-Josh Marth[6]; 10. 17-Jed Frederick[15]; 11. 76-Chuck Fox[10]; 12. 71-Bryan Heather[13]; 13. 08-Tyler Carrol[16]; 14. 35-Pat Emerick[5]; 15. 88-Trey Grimm[4]; 16. 19H-Brandon Comins[14]; 17. 57-Jeff Schoonover[17]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Mullen 2. Patz 3. Marth 4. Emerick
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Bodin 2. Veloz 3. Fox 4. Salisberry
3rd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Turner 2. Wiersema 3. Grimm 4. Engelkens
Dynamic Power Street Stocks
Feature (15 laps) – 1. 70-Joe Bonney[3]; 2. 27-AJ Franklin[10]; 3. 95-Jesse Owen[6]; 4. 3P-Shawn Pappas[5]; 5. 1-Rob Nylin[4]; 6. 36-Ben Odell[8]; 7. 8H-Kyler Hickenbottom[2]; 8. R00-Veronica Anderson[7]; 9. 61S-Jeff Streitmatter[9]; DNS – 37-Peter Odell; 83-Jim Rutsaert
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Bonney 2. Hickenbottom 3. P. Odell 4. Pappas
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Owen 2. Nylin 3. Franklin 4. Anderson
County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lites
Feature (15 laps) – 1. 11P-Jon Padilla[10]; 2. 41-Jason Masengarb[3]; 3. 55C-Jacob Copley[8]; 4. 18G-RJ Gonzales[6]; 5. 16G-Blake Gonzales[9]; 6. 70-Alex Eischeid[14]; 7. 171-Brandon Freeburg[2]; 8. 131-Bryan Wonick[7]; 9. 00B-Brittani Dominguez[11]; 10. 9G-Anthony Guss[1]; 11. 5-Michael Dominguez[12]; 12. 17M-Mike Morrow[4]; 13. Z-Mike Zemo Jr[5]; 14. 23-Tiffani Dominguez[13]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Padilla 2. Freeburg 3. B. Gonzales 4. Morrow
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Copley 2. Zemo 3. R. Gonzales 4. Masengarb
Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks
Feature (12 laps) – 1. 77W-Drew Burk[1]; 2. 25-John Richardson[5]; 3. 4R-Randy LaMar[2]; 4. 86-Logan Gustaf[3]; 5. 15-Donnie Cole[4]; 6. 513-Josh Lane[8]; 7. 92-Brandon Schneider[6]; 8. 79-Michale Putt[9]; 9. 17M-Jared Miller[7]; DNS – 52-Billy Stanford
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. LaMar 2. Miller 3. Gustaf 4. Lane
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Burk 2. Putt 3. Richardson 4. Stanford
Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts
Feature (12 laps) – 1. 101-Nick Proehl[3]; 2. 28-Cyle Hawkins[1]; 3. 14-Drew Wise[9]; 4. 25M-Nolan Morrow[5]; 5. 20-Henry Hess[4]; 6. 22DB-Dustin Begyn[17]; 7. 33-Tommy Staggs[7]; 8. 27-Michael Lundeen[6]; 9. 11P-Codie Proehl[11]; 10. 58T-Michael Snyder[2]; 11. 6-Jeff Hess[15]; 12. 513-Chris Kissell[14]; 13. 29-Roy Schmidt[12]; 14. 514-Jason Rhoads[10]; 15. 88-Dick Quimby[19]; 16. 8-Travis Hawkins[8]; 17. 47-Thomas Adams[18]; 18. 4D-Dustin Porter[13]; 19. 79-Joey Dorsey[16]
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. N. Proehl 2. Morrow 3. Staggs 4. Wise
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. C. Hawkins 2. T. Hawkins 3. Rhoads 4. H. Hess
Category: Illinois
