Rothzen flies to East Moline opener and first career win

 

Durbin, Grimm, Bonney, Gonzales, Burk, Hawkins also win

 

BY ROB HINCKLEY

 

EAST MOLINE, Ill. (May 8) – The right rear of Brandon Rothzen’s MastersBilt barely touched the turn one wall…just the way he wanted.

Using the diamond technique in turns one and three, Rothzen drove away from the Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model field for the 25-lap win Sunday evening at East Moline Speedway.

The victory was the Mediapolis, Iowa pilot’s first career Late Model win.

“I always like running the top so when it’s available that’s where I go,” Rothzen said. “I only ran this car about six times last year. I’ve won a lot in the Modified, but this is coming around and we’re getting used to it.”

Rothzen won his heat and flew from the front row, leading every circuit.

“It was great getting a good start. The restart, I wasn’t sure, but keeping it up high was good and the car was on.”

Jacob Waterman, Chuck Hanna, Andy Nezworski and Gary Webb followed.

Last year, Trey Grimm did not get a Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMod win until late August. He started a new trend in 2022 by taking the 15-lap finale.

Matt Speidel, Chuck Fox, Jesse Bodin and Josh Marth came next in the caution-filled event.

Brandon Durbin was the second Durbin family member to get a win. He took a terrific dual over Travis Denning in the J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified 20-lap feature. The two battled high in the first two turns and used different grooves in the last turns.

George Spence III, Doug Lenth and Mike Garland rounded out the top five.

Joe Bonney became the third leader of the Dynamic Power Street Stock 15-lap main and held on through several cautions for the win. Jesse Owen, Kyler Hickenbottom, Peter Odell and Jeff Walker were next.

R.J. Gonzales paced all 15 laps of the County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lites feature. Jacob Copley passed late for second, followed by Blake Gonzales, Jon Padilla and Anthony Guss.

Drew Burk sped by the field for a 12-lap Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stock win. Randy LaMar, Brandon Schneider, Donnie Cole and Logan Gustaf rounded out the top five.

Track champion Cyle Hawkins won a battle with Drew Wise and brother Travis Hawkins for the Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compact 12 lapper. Cody Proehl and Dustin Porter came next.

A total of 93 cars were in the pits and the final checkered flag fell about 9:45 p.m.

The 2022 season continues this Sunday May 15 with weekly racing in all seven classes plus the Kidz Modz.

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.

Eriksen Chevrolet Late Models

Feature (25 laps) – 1. 33-Brandon Rothzen[2]; 2. 10-Jacob Waterman[5]; 3. 65-Chuck Hanna[3]; 4. 7-Andy Nezworski[8]; 5. W56-Gary Webb[4]; 6. 92-Dustin Schram[6]; 7. 07-Matt Ryan[9]; 8. 70-Shawn Mulvany[7]; 9. 53-LeRoy Brenner[1]; 10. R19-Tim Marsden[10]

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

2nd Heat (10 laps) – 1. Waterman 2. Ryan 3. Hannah 3. Brenner

J&J Campers IMCA Modifieds

Feature (20 laps) – 1. 15D-Brandon Durbin[1]; 2. 56D-Travis Denning[2]; 3. 9G-George Spence III[6]; 4. 313-Doug Lenth[3]; 5. G1-Mike Garland[4]; 6. J1-Jim Sandusky[5]; 7. 2-Franky Manso[7]; DNS – 19H-Nick Hillyer; C9-Brandt Cole

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Denning 2. Durbin 3. Garland 4. Lenth

Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods

Feature (15 laps) – 1. 88-Trey Grimm[4]; 2. 14J-Matt Speidel[2]; 3. 76-Chuck Fox[1]; 4. 2JR-Jesse Bodin[12]; 5. 34-Josh Marth[8]; 6. 89-TJ Patz[3]; 7. 39-Perry Gellerstedt[6]; 8. 90-Keith Wiersema[13]; 9. 6-Brody Prescott[14]; 10. 57-Jeff Schoonover[11]; 11. 10-Erick Turner[10]; 12. 81-Adam Parker[9]; 13. 65-David Engelkens[5]; 14. 7-Colin Lyon[16]; DNS – 43LV-Logan Veloz; 78J-Jamie Armstrong; 08-Tyler Carrol

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Patz 2. Fox 3. Grimm 4. Turner

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Bodin 2. Marth 3. Engelkens 4. Parker

3rd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Veloz 2. Gellerstedt 3. Speidel 4. Schoonover

County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lites

Feature (15 laps) – 1. 18G-RJ Gonzales[1]; 2. 55C-Jacob Copley[3]; 3. 16G-Blake Gonzales[2]; 4. 11P-Jon Padilla[6]; 5. 9G-Anthony Guss[4]; 6. 17M-Mike Morrow[5]; 7. 5-Michael Dominguez[7]; 8. 11-Dustin Ford[13]; 9. 131-Bryan Wonick[10]; 10. 99X-Darrick Knutsen[8]; 11. 54-Zach Holerud[12]; 12. 301-Michael Mann[11]; 13. 00B-Brittani Dominguez[9]; 14. 23-Tiffani Dominguez[14]

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Padilla 2. Copley 3. B. Gonzales 4. Wonick

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. R. Gonzales 2. Guss 3. Morrow 4. M. Dominguez

Dynamic Power Street Stocks

Feature (15 laps) – 1. 70-Joe Bonney[6]; 2. 95-Jesse Owen[4]; 3. 8H-Kyler Hickenbottom[1]; 4. 37-Peter Odell[12]; 5. 66W-Jeff Walker[7]; 6. 0-Kraig Hughes[8]; 7. 1-Rob Nylin[11]; 8. 78-Nick Lawrence[13]; 9. 83-Jim Rutsaert[10]; 10. 36-Ben Odell[5]; 11. JO-Craig Jones[20]; 12. 3P-Alex Pappas[9]; 13. 94-Jim Parr[14]; 14. 7-Austin Riggs[18]; 15. 4S-Jeff Struck Jr[2]; 16. R00-Veronica Anderson[15]; 17. 61S-Jeff Streitmatter[17]; 18. 8-Rick Schriner[3]; 19. 6-James Bennett[16]; 20. 91-Jason Bielema[19]; DNS – 73-Gary Osborne Jr

1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Struck 2. Bonney 3. Hughes 4. Schriner

2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Owen 2. Hickenbottom 3. B. O’Dell 4. Pappas

3rd Heat (8 laps) – 1. P. O’Dell 2. Rutsaert 3. Walker 4. Nylin

Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks

Feature (12 laps) –  1. 77W-Andrew Burk[3]; 2. 4R-Randy LaMar[5]; 3. 92-Brandon Schneider[1]; 4. 15-Donnie Cole[4]; 5. 86-Logan Gustaf[2]; 6. 513-Josh Lane[7]; DNS – 2-Nathan Smith

1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Burk 2. Gustaf 3. Lamar 4. Schneider

Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts

Feature (12 laps) – 1. 28-Cyle Hawkins[5]; 2. 14-Drew Wise[9]; 3. 8-Travis Hawkins[3]; 4. 11P-Codie Proehl[6]; 5. 4D-Dustin Porter[2]; 6. 514-Jason Rhoads[7]; 7. 75M-Gary Schlieper[15]; 8. 53-Norm Marcov[8]; 9. 513-John Norton[10]; 10. 4-Chris Kissell[4]; 11. 25M-Nolan Morrow[14]; 12. 19L-Trent Lebarge[11]; 13. 68-Tyler Koutsky[13]; 14. 27-Michael Lundeen[1]; 15. 18N-Jake Bendixen[12]

1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. T. Hawkins 2. Marcov 3. Porter 4. Rhoads

2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. C. Hawkins 2. Wise 3. Proehl 4. Lundeen

Category: Illinois