Hawkins edges Dutlinger, flies to East Moline Season Championship Checkers and Title

 

Nezworski, Larson, Franzen, Owen, Parker, Guss also crowned champs

 

BY ROB HINCKLEY

 

EAST MOLINE, Ill. (August 29) – The battles were on the track Sunday evening at East Moline Speedway. The wars were on paper.

One track championship came down to the final laps of the regular season. Cyle Hawkins led Jimmy Dutlinger by a single point going into the season championship 12-lap feature. It finished as it should, those two swapping the lead. Hawkins drove away late and won both the battle and the war.

“Jimmy got around me and down low was kind of soft,” Hawkins said in the winners circle. “Then I found something up high and able to get back by.”

Dutlinger outran Drew Wise, Nick Proehl and Dustin Forbes.

“I was so glad we got to run it tonight,” Hawkins added. “Leading in points I was kind of hoping for rain, but I’m glad we got to do it and didn’t want (doubt) at the end. Actually, if that didn’t happen to Dustin Begyn, we’d all be racing for second.”

Andy Nezworski clinched the Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model title. On the quarter-mile high banks, Nezworski put the exclamation point on that title by winning the 25-lap Season Championship finale.

Chuck Hanna, Branda Rothzen, Gary Webb and Jacob Waterman followed. Waterman took over second early, but spun in turn four during the non-stop affair.

The J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified point lead for Jeff Larson was not insurmountable, but the national point leader put the finishing touches on 2021 with the 20-lap win.

Brandon Durbin, Nezworski, Travis Denning and Jim Sandusky came next. Denning ran second until clipping a tire on the inside on lap 11, but recovered for that spot and points runner up.

Jarett Franzen copped the Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMod title after a win in the 20-lap feature. Jacob Copley, David Engelkens, Dakota Cole and Trey Grimm were next. Standings runner up Logan Veloz had issues after accepting a back row challenge and finished 10th.

County Waste Systems Street Stock ace Jesse Owen was the only EMS pilot to have his second straight championship wrapped up before the green flag fell. But Robert Cottom won the battle, taking his second straight 15-lap feature. Owen led early and fell victim to a caution. The champ still took second in the main ahead of Joe Bonney, Alex Pappas and Veronica Anderson.

Anthony Guss did not win a single feature all regular season, but the consistency of 13 top five finishes gave him his first Weekend Performance IMCA Mod Lite crown. He took fourth in the 15-lap ender behind Mike Zemo, Jr., R.J. Gonzales and Jon Padilla. Mike Morrow rounded out the top five.

Adam Parker took second in the 12-lap Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stock finale and hung on for his first championship. Drew Burk took his eighth 2021 win. Logan Gustaf, Darrell Ward and Don Cole were the rest of the top five.

A total of 83 cars were in the pits and the final checkered flag fell around 10 p.m., even with on track introductions for all seven classes.

The “post season” gets off to a great start this Sunday Sept. 5. The RTs Fallen Heroes Street Stock Memorial gets the green with at least $1,044.01 up to the winner. Purse and contingency sponsors continue to come into the track.

IMCA Modifieds, IMCA SportMods, Sport Compacts and the Nostalgic Stock Car Racing Club also are in action on the quarter-mile oval this Sunday. Gates open at 4 p.m. Hot laps are at 5:15 with racing to follow.

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

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Models

Season Championship (25 Laps) – 1. 7-Andy Nezworski[1]; 2. 65-Chuck Hanna[3]; 3. 33-Brandon Rothzen[8]; 4. W56-Gary Webb[2]; 5. 10-Jacob Waterman[5]; 6. 1H-Mike Haines[6]; 7. 111-Guy Morse[9]; 8. 14-BJ Jackson[4]; 9. 12-Don Pataska[7]

1st Heat (10 laps) – 1. Waterman 2. Nezworski 3. Webb 4. Jackson

Champion – Nezworski

J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modifieds

Season Championship (20 laps) – 1. B1-Jeff Larson[1]; 2. 15D-Brandon Durbin[3]; 3. 85-Andy Nezworski[5]; 4. 56D-Travis Denning[2]; 5. J1-Jim Sandusky[4]; 6. 1A-Donovan Lodge[11]; 7. 11-Ray Cox Jr[13]; 8. 613-Dan Hahn[8]; 9. 35-Chance Huston[10]; 10. 47-Jason Hyerdall[12]; 11. 3C-Richard Vela[7]; 12. 23-Alex VerVynck[9]; 13. 9G-George Spence III[14]; 14. 313-Doug Lenth[6]; (DNS 2-Franky Manso)

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Larson 2. Nezworski 3. Durbin 4. Hahn

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Denning 2. Sandusky 3. Vela 4. Huston

Champion – Larson

Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods

Season Championship (15 laps) – 1. 1. 33-Jarett Franzen[1]; 2. 55C-Jacob Copley[7]; 3. 65-David Engelkens[10]; 4. 18C-Dakota Cole[5]; 5. 88-Trey Grimm[3]; 6. S4-Steven Spiker[4]; 7. 44-Joe Grant[11]; 8. B33-Cody Calam[8]; 9. 09R-Rob Nylin[6]; 10. 43LV-Logan Veloz[2]; 11. 922-Chris Hesseling[9]; 12. 2JR-Jesse Bodin[13]; 13. 33X-Jeff Waterfall[12]

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Franzen 2. Copley 3. Veloz 4. Englekens

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Cole 2. Spiker 3. Grimm 4. Hesseling

Champion – Franzen

County Waste Systems Street Stocks

Season Championship (15 laps) – 1. 1-Robert Cottom[10]; 2. 95-Jesse Owen[1]; 3. 70-Joe Bonney[9]; 4. 3P-Alex Pappas[6]; 5. R00-Veronica Anderson[4]; 6. 61S-Jeff Streitmatter[5]; 7. 94-Jim Parr[11]; 8. 26N-Kori Murphy[8]; 9. 8H-Kyler Hickenbottom[3]; 10. 8-Rick Schriner[2]; (DNS  83-Jim Rutsaert; 383-James Comins)

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Owen 2. Cottom 3. Anderson 4. Pappas

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Bonney 2. Murphy 3. Hickenbottom 4. Streitmatter

Champion – Owen

Weekend Performance IMCA Mod Lites

Season Championship (15 laps) – 1. 1. Z-Mike Zemo Jr[2]; 2. 18G-RJ Gonzales[8]; 3. 11P-Jon Padilla[5]; 4. 29-Anthony Guss[1]; 5. 17M-Mike Morrow[6]; 6. 91-Rob Guss[4]; 7. 5-Michael Dominguez[3]; 8. 21-Dillon Letts[9]; 9. 00B-Brittani Dominguez[7]

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Padilla 2. Zemo 3. Letts 4. Morrow

Champion – A. Guss

Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks

Season Championship (12 laps) – 1. 1. 77W-Andrew Burk[2]; 2. 81-Adam Parker[1]; 3. 86-Logan Gustaf[4]; 4. 10-Darrell Ward[7]; 5. 15-Donald Cole[5]; 6. 31W-Jesse Wetzel[6]; (DNS 09R-Steven Rangel)

1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Burk 2. Gustaf 3. Cole 4. Ward

Champion – Parker

Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts

Season Championship (12 laps) – 1. 1. 28-Cyle Hawkins[1]; 2. 00J-Jimmy Dutlinger[2]; 3. 14-Drew Wise[4]; 4. 101-Nick Proehl[12]; 5. F68-Dustin Forbes[5]; 6. 47-Thomas Adams[11]; 7. 11P-Codie Proehl[9]; 8. 11-Blake Dotson[14]; 9. 53-Norm Marcov[7]; 10. 513-Josh Lane[10]; 11. 27-Michael Lundeen[13]; 12. 514-Jason Rhoads[3]; 13. 4-Chris Kissell[6]; 14. 12-Brandon Snyder[15]; 15. 74-William McPherson[17]; 16. 516-John Norton[18]; 17. 5C-Gary Roberson[16]; 18. 28E-Andrew Bolio[8]

1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Dutlinger 2. Wise 3. C. Proehl 4. Dotson

2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Hawkins 2. N. Proehl 3. Adams 4. Lane

Champion – Hawkins

Category: Illinois