MAQUOKETA, Iowa — As Jeff Aikey drove the four-wide parade lap, he knew his car would be competitive.
The 56-year old veteran put his fairly new ride to the test early in Tuesday evening’s 50-lap Deery Brothers Summer Series IMCA Late Model feature at Maquoketa Speedway. It passed the test with flying colors as he flew to the $2,000 victory.
“I could go anywhere on this track,” the all-time Deery Brothers feature win leader said in C&W Trucking/Hoker Trucking/Kam Koncepts Victory Circle after his 69th career win. “The track was prepared great.”
Aikey rolled off third and had the point by lap four, passing Andy Eckrich. He drew away from a charging Joel Callahan for several laps after Callahan took second on lap 10. Callahan finally caught and then led for a couple laps before Aikey regained control on the 45th circuit.
“I can’t believe we won this thing,” Aikey added. “Rick Dralle gave me a perfect car. I hadn’t been in a Deery Brothers race for three years. So this really feels good.”
The only caution flew on lap 46.
Aikey then beat Callahan, Matt Ryan, Terry Neal and Darrell DeFrance.
“We were having a good run and it was tiring with no cautions. When Joel showed his nose I knew I had to go.”
Aikey won for the fifth time in six races behind the wheel of Dralle’s Rick’s Detail/Code Red Repair Rocket.
This race had been rescheduled from an April rainout.
Jeff Larson found the holes needed to vault from midpack to the front of the QCJeeps.com IMCA Modified 20-lap feature. Bryce Garnhart, Greg Durbin, Steve Johnson and Jarrett Franzen followed.
Tyler Soppe drew the 1 pill after his heat and led all 15 B&D Pit Stop IMCA SportMod feature laps. Gage Neal, Dustin Schram, Justin Becker and Jerry Miles all battled, finishing in that order behind the winner. Soppe took his sixth win in seven tries at Maquoketa this season.
Kile Vohringer took a wild 15-lap Shawn’s Auto Service IMCA Hobby Stock finale. He beat Daniel Wauters, Jake Benischek, Lane Vohringer and Lukas Short.
Nick Proehl started out front and stayed there the entire 12 laps of the Obie’s Bar and Restaurant/B&C Liquor 4 Cylinder main.
A total of 77 race teams hit the track and racing was completed before 10 p.m.
The finish:
Feature (50 laps): 1. 77 Jeff Aikey 2. 40 Joel Callahan 3. 07 Matt Ryan 4. 28 Terry Neal 5. 99D Darrell DeFrance 6. 15K Justin Kay 7. 58 Jeremiah Hurst 8. 45 Curt Martin 9. 56 Andy Eckrich 10. 87 John Emerson 11. 7 Andy Nezworski 12. 32C Chad Holladay 13. 84 Sam Halstead 14. 6D Doug Nigh 15. 65 Chuck Hanna 16. P7 Eric Pollard 17. 05 Paul Nagle 18. 7B Brian Harris 19. 60 Dalton Simonsen 20. 10T Jeff Tharp 21. Z50 Joe Zrostlik 22. 75M Todd Malmstrom 23. W Gary Webb 24. 12 Donnie Pataska