Padilla tops East Moline IMCA Mod Lite championship race
Waterman, Larson, Veloz, Henry, Hawkins also take checkers
BY ROB HINCKLEY
EAST MOLINE, Ill. (Aug. 21) – Accelerating through the dirt in the high groove of turns one and two and then maneuvering the low side of turns three and four is a common strategy around East Moline Speedway.
Jon Padilla tried a different route Sunday evening and came out of a three-car battle for the 15-lap County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lite Season Championship feature win.
The Silvis, Ill. pilot won the night’s battle and the season-long war as he was unofficially crowned the 2022 track champion. Last Year’s champ, Anthony Guss, did not win one feature en route to that title. Padilla finishes this season with a pair of victories.
“Starting up front helped but I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Padilla said in victory lane. “It worked great on the bottom (groove) and the car grabbed hold and got a good bite off the corner.”
Padilla started on the pole and paced every lap beating Brandon Freeburg, season runner up R.J. Gonzales, Mike Morrow and Jacob Copley.
The Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks featured a track record car count (12) and equal amount of drama. Three different drivers led the event – Josh Lane, Randy Lamar and Donnie Cole. A plethora of battles, cautions and contact ended up restacking the field for a two-lap dash to the finish.
On the ensuing green, more contact left three cars on their roof or close to it near turn one and the race was called complete.
At press time, track officials were still determining a final finish.
Jacob Waterman sped by Chuck Hanna on lap 15 and cruised to his fifth Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model 25-lap feature win. Hanna had to check up for a back marker that lost control allowing Waterman to move by. Hanna, Chance Huston, Mike Haines and LeRoy Brenner rounded out the top five.
Jeff Larson visited again, with a new wrap this time, and ran away with the J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified 20 lapper. Travis Denning closed in after a caution and took second ahead of Charlie Mohr, early leader Brandt Cole and Kenny Kostenbader.
Brandon Durbin headed Denning by just a couple points before this event. They will decide the title next week.
Logan Veloz took the ultra-competitive and highly dramatic Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMod 15-lap feature. After multiple cautions, the checkers fell with Matt Speidel, Trey Grimm, David Engelkens and Rayce Mullen rounding out the top five.
Veloz leads the points heading into the Season Championship. The 18-year old is seeking his first track title.
Jesse Owen took third in the Dynamic Power Street Stocks 15-lap main and will try to wrap up his third consecutive track championship this Sunday. Owen charged from ninth, but winner Rob Henry moved from a 10th starting spot. Kraig Hughes debuted his new car in second place. Pete Odell and Rob Nylin followed.
Defending track champ Cyle Hawkins has wrapped up the 2022 title and led up to the Season Championship with a thrilling 12-lap win over Nick Proehl. Dustin Porter, Jason Rhoads and Shawn McDermott followed.
A season high total of 110 cars were in the pits and the final checkered flag fell about 10 p.m.
The 2022 season continues this Sunday Aug. 28 with season championship events for the other six regular stock car classes plus another appearance by the American Iron Racing Series.
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.
County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lites
Season Championship (15 laps) – 1. 11P-Jon Padilla[1]; 2. 171-Brandon Freeburg[4]; 3. 18G-RJ Gonzales[2]; 4. 17M-Mike Morrow[5]; 5. 55C-Jacob Copley[11]; 6. 9G-Anthony Guss[3]; 7. 16G-Blake Gonzales[8]; 8. 41-Jason Masengarb[12]; 9. 5-Michael Dominguez[6]; 10. 807-John Wright[13]; 11. 131-Bryan Wonick[7]; 12. 29-John Belville[14]; 13. 00B-Brittani Dominguez[9]; 14. 23-Tiffani Dominguez[10]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Padilla 2. Masengarb 3. Guss 4. Wonick
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Freeburg 2. R. Gonzales 3. Copley 4. B. Gonzales
2022 Track Champion – Padilla
Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Models
Feature (25 laps) – 1. 10-Jacob Waterman[8]; 2. 65-Chuck Hanna[4]; 3. 35-Chance Huston[1]; 4. 1H-Mike Haines[3]; 5. 53-LeRoy Brenner[2]; 6. 77-Joe Beal[7]; 7. 92-Dustin Schram[5]; 8. 11-Jaden Fryer[10]; 9. 7-Andy Nezworski[9]; 10. W56-Gary Webb[6]; 11. 91-Mike Guldenpfennig[14]; 12. 74-Doug Burkhead[13]; 13. 33-Brandon Rothzen[11]; 14. 96-Jake Whittington[12]
1st Heat (10 laps) – 1. Beal 2. Nezworski 3. Schram 4. Brenner
2nd Heat (10 laps) – 1. Hanna 2. Waterman 3. Haines 4. Webb
J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modifieds
Feature (20 laps) – 1. B1-Jeff Larson[6]; 2. 56D-Travis Denning[9]; 3. 99-Charlie Mohr[5]; 4. C9-Brandt Cole[1]; 5. B133-Kenny Kostenbader[10]; 6. 15D-Brandon Durbin[7]; 7. 70-Mitch Morris[8]; 8. 9G-Anthony Guss[2]; 9. 85-Mike Zemo Jr[11]; 10. J1-Jim Sandusky[3]; 11. 3C-Richard Vela[4]; 12. 19C-Alex VerVynck[12]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Denning 2. Mohr 3. Durbin 4. Sandusky
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Larson 2. Morris 3. Guss 4. Kostenbader
Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods
Feature (15 laps) – 1. 43LV-Logan Veloz[3]; 2. 14J-Matt Speidel[10]; 3. 88-Trey Grimm[6]; 4. 65-David Engelkens[8]; 5. 77JR-Rayce Mullen[5]; 6. 76-Chuck Fox[16]; 7. 118-Austin Stamm[11]; 8. 89-TJ Patz[18]; 9. 18C-Dakota Cole[7]; 10. 34-Josh Marth[4]; 11. 3-Will Emerick Jr[17]; 12. 90-Keith Wiersema[15]; 13. 77H-Kyle Neels[19]; 14. 10-Erick Turner[9]; 15. 5-Donnie Cole III[24]; 16. 24-Jeff Schoonover[20]; 17. F81-John Freeman[12]; 18. 69R-Ryan Reed[2]; 19. 6-Brody Prescott[1]; 20. 68B-Raiff Cauwels[21]; 21. 02W-Trevor White[23]; 22. 08-Tyler Carrol[25]; 23. 35-Pat Emerick[13]; 24. 81-Adam Parker[14]; 25. 19H-Chris Hesseling[22]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Speidel 2. Mullen 3. Grimm 4. P. Emerick
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Stamm 2. Cole 3. Prescott 4. Parker
3rd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Veloz 2. Reed 3. Engelkens 4. Wiersema
4th Heat (8 laps) – 1. Turner 2. Marth 3. Freeman 4. Fox
Dynamic Power Street Stocks
Feature (15 laps) – 1. 00-Rob Henry[10]; 2. 4H-Kraig Hughes[6]; 3. 95-Jesse Owen[9]; 4. 37-Peter Odell[5]; 5. 1-Rob Nylin[8]; 6. 1A-Kyle Anderson[13]; 7. 8H-Kyler Hickenbottom[2]; 8. 8-Rick Schriner[1]; 9. 36-Ben Odell[12]; 10. 83-Jim Rutsaert[11]; 11. 61S-Jeff Streitmatter[14]; 12. 3P-Alex Pappas[3]; 13. R00-Veronica Anderson[4]; 14. 91-Jason Bielema[15]; 15. A78-Austin Vorbeck[16]; 16. 70-Joe Bonney[7]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Henry 2. Nylin 3. Schriner 4. Pappas
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Hickenbottom 2. Owen 3. P. Odell 4. Bonney
Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks
Feature (12 laps) – To be determined
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Randy Lamar 2. Drew Burk 3. Matt Bennett 4. Michale Putt
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Logan Gustaf 2. Brandon Schneider 3. Josh Lane 4. Donnie Cole
Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts
Feature (20 laps) – 1. 28-Cyle Hawkins[9]; 2. 101-Nick Proehl[7]; 3. 4D-Dustin Porter[3]; 4. 514-Jason Rhoads[14]; 5. 4-Shawn McDermott[10]; 6. 29-Roy Schmidt[2]; 7. 21M-Dustin Meiners[12]; 8. 14-Drew Wise[6]; 9. 25M-Nolan Morrow[11]; 10. 32J-Logan Jones[15]; 11. 58T-Michael Snyder[8]; 12. 27-Michael Lundeen[4]; 13. 24X-Tommy Staggs[5]; 14. 20-Henry Hess[13]; 15. 6-Jeff Hess[1]; DNS – 630-Dustin Munn; 86-Matt Hess
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Porter 2. Wise 3. Lundeen 4. Schmidt
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Proehl 2. Staggs 3. Snyder 4. Hawkins
Category: Illinois
