Nezworski takes East Moline Late Model checkers after Terbo DQ’d

 

Nezworski takes East Moline Late Model checkers after Terbo DQ’d

Larson, Veloz, Owen, Wauters, Gonzales, Forbes also take wins

 

BY ROB HINCKLEY

 

EAST MOLINE, Ill. (May 23) – The tail slapping the turn one wall, sparks flying and negotiating the top groove cushion was all for naught for visiting Late Model star Tyler Erb Sunday evening at East Moline Speedway.

The New Waverly, Tex. ace piloted the Doug Curless-owned No. 99 Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model first to Joe Carleton’s checkered flag. However, post-race inspection found the rear deck height too tall, handing point leader Andy Nezworski his second 2021 victory.

Nezworski took the lead near the midway point of the 25-lap feature and pulled away, only to have the field restacked after a fifth caution. “Terbo” restarted third and reeled in the Buffalo, Iowa hotshoe.

Erb, who is currently eighth in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points and coming off a runner up finish Friday at Farley, Iowa, was met with loud cheers as he hit the winners circle after the apparent victory.

“Doug just hit me up on Facebook,” Erb said about the ride. “To be honest I just love racing. I don’t care what the car is, where it is. A lot of people have said bad things about this place, but that was fun as hell and I hope everyone enjoyed watching it.”

Jacob Waterman was awarded second followed by Joe Ross, Chuck Hanna and B.J. Jackson.

A pair of incidents involving former winner Matt Ryan and 18-time track champion Gary Webb ended up parking both those cars after the latter wreck while running in the top five.

Jeff Larson borrowed Kenny Kostenbader’s machine for the second straight night and won for the second evening in a row. He dominated the J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified 20-lap main. With the win  and previous night at Maquoketa Speedway, he picked up a $100 bonus for the second time this year.

Travis Denning, missing a lot of sheet metal, roared from near the back for second. Tim Hamburg, Brandon Durbin and Brandon Hamburg rounded out the top five.

It was a rollercoaster race for Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMod driver Justin Veloz. He started fifth, suffered an early flat tire and then raced the high groove from the rear after a restart to take the 15-lap finale. Jarett Franzen zipped to second, but could not chase down Veloz. Jacob Copley also came from the tail to take third, followed by Logan Veloz and C.J. Durbin.

A couple drivers finally got the “monkeys off their backs”.

Defending track champion Jesse Owen sped to the front and won the County Waste Systems Street Stock 15 lapper for his first 2021 win. Cary Brown, Kyler Hickenbottom, Rick Schriner and Erick Turner were next.

Blake Gonzales’ rough season hit a high note as he wheeled his brother R.J.’s Weekend Performance IMCA Mod Lite to victory, leading all 15 laps. Jon Padilla, Mike Morrow, Anthony Guss and Rob Guss followed.

Daniel Wauters took advantage of a couple tangles between Drew Burk and Randy Lamar to win the Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stock 12-lap feature. Burk, Lamar, Adam Parker and Logan Gustaf were next, topping a season high in car count.

Dustin Forbes passed Cody Brewster early and won the 12-lap Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts finale. After Brewster was Cris Courson, Jimmy Dutlinger and Drew Wise.

A slew of cautions during all the features pushed the show to about 10 p.m. A total of 90 entries jammed the pits.

The season continues on the quarter-mile dirt oval this Sunday May 30. Racing takes place in all seven classes as the Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Models were scheduled to be off, but were added back to the tilt. Gates open at 4 p.m. Hot laps are at 5:30 with racing to follow.

For more information, log on to the East Moline Speedway Facebook page or call 563-343-8250.

RESULTS:

Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Models

Feature (25 laps) – 1. 7 Andy Nezworski 2. 10 Jacob Waterman 3. R19 Joe Ross 4. 65 Chuck Hanna 5. BJ Jackson 6. 53 Leroy Brenner 7. 1H Mike Haines 8. 71H Anthony Haines 9. Mike Guldenpfennig 10. 007 David Norton 11. W56 Gary Webb 12. 07 Matt Ryan 13. 35 Ryan Claeys 14. 70 Shawn Mulvany (Disqualified – 99 Tyler Erb).

1st Heat (10 laps) – 1. Mulvany 2. Nezworski 3. Webb 4. Ross

2nd Heat (10 laps) – 1. Ryan 2. Waterman 3. Erb 4. Hanna

J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modifieds

Feature (20 laps) – 1. 33X Jeff Larson 2. 56D Travis Denning 3. 57 Tim Hamburg 4. 15D Brandon Durbin 5. C15 Brandon Hamburg 6. 81C Casey Franks 7. 57A Andrew Hamburg 8. 313 Doug Lenth 9. 20 Jake Whittington 10. 3C Richard Vela 11. 85 Andy Nezworski 12. 89 TJ Patz 13. J1 Jim Sandusky 14. C9 Brandt Cole 15. 23 Mark VerVynck

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. T. Hamburg 2. Durbin 3. Nezworski 4. A. Hamburg

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Larson 2. Sandusky 3. Patz 4. B. Hamburg

Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods

Feature (15 laps) – 1. 43JV Justin Veloz 2. 33 Jarett Franzen 3. 55C Jacob Copley 4. 43LV Logan Veloz 5. 88D CJ Durbin 6. 88 Trey Grimm 7. 18C Dakota Cole 8. 38 Brandon Comins 9. 09R Rob Nylin 10. 54F Andrew Francis 11. 34 Josh Marth 12. S4 Steven Spiker 13. 4G Kevin Goben (Did Not Start – 922 Chris Hesseling).

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Goben 2. Copley 3. J. Veloz 4. Grimm

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Franzen 2. L. Veloz 3. Nylin 4. Spiker

County Waste Systems Street Stocks

Feature (15 laps) – 1. 95 Jesse Owen 2. 81 Cary Brown 3. 8H Kyler Hickenbottom 4. 8 Rick Schriner 5. 94 Erick Turner 6. 3 Alex Pappas 7. 61S Jeff Streitmatter 8. 91 Jason Bielema 9. 26N Kori Murphy 10. R00 Veronica Anderson (Disqualified – 0 Kraig Hughes).

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Schriner 2.. Brown 3. Hughes 4. Pappas

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Owen 2. Turner 3. Hickenbottom 4. Bielema

Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks

Feature (12 laps) – 1. 09 Daniel Wauters 2. 77W Drew Burk 3. 4R Randy Lamar 4. 81 Adam Parker 5. 86 Logan Gustaf 6. 58B Matt Crane 7. 09R Steven Rangel (Did Not Start – 79 Michael Putt).

1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Burk 2. Wauters 3. Gustaf 4. Rangel

Weekend Performance IMCA Mod Lites

Feature (15 laps) – 1. 18G Blake Gonzales 2. 11P Jon Padilla 3. 17M Mike Morrow 4. 29 Anthony Guss 5. 91 Rob Guss 6. 21 Dillon Letts 7. 131 Bryan Wonick 8. 5 Michael Dominguez 9. 00B Brittani Dominguez

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Gonzales 2. Morrow 3. A. Guss 4. Padilla

Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts

Feature (12 laps) – 1. 815 Dustin Forbes 2. 33 Cody Brewster 3. 106 Cris Courson 4. 28X Jimmy Dutlinger 5. 14 Drew Wise 6. 09 Eric Stogdell 7. 514 Jason Rhoads 8. F68 Brenda Forbes 9. 4 Chris Kissell 10. 28E Andrew Bolio 11. 03 Blake Dotson 12. 53 Norm Marcov 13. 28 Cyle Hawkins 14. 24X Tommy Staggs 15. 7T Kyle Taets 16. 71 Mike Snyder 17. 22DB Dustin Begyn (Did Not Start – 78J Jamie Armstrong)

1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. D. Forbes 2. Begyn 3. Snyder 4. Wise

2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Courson 2. Marcov 3. Staggs 4. Brewster

Category: Illinois