DAVENPORT, Iowa — The first Friday in June proved to be a great one at Davenport Speedway. The race fans in attendance were treated to lovely weather, super-close finishes, and spectacular crashes.
Andy Nezworski snared his first Petersen Plumbing & Heating IMCA Late Model feature win of 2023. Andy started 10th and slowly worked his way to the front. Nezworski pulled the lead shortly after the halfway point of the 25-lapper.Â
Joe Beal used a late race surge to finish second. Mike Goben and Chris Lawrence battled the entire race with Goben winding up third. Bryce Garnhart came home fifth.
The closest race of the evening was the Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Modified main. After twenty laps of hard-fought competition, the race was won by the slimmest of margins, 0.002 seconds. That sliver of time was enough to propel Mitch Way into victory lane at Davenport for the first time since 2004.Â
On the tough luck end was Chris Zogg, who just missed out on his third victory of the year. Charlie Mohr collected a third-place finish. Travis Denning and Matt Werner completed the top five.
Ben Chapman scored his third Matzen Trucking IMCA SportMod feature win this year. Chapman took the lead from David Engelkens on lap five and then held off Logan Veloz late in the race for the win. Following Logan in third was Justin Veloz. Todd Dykema recorded a fourth-place finish with Casey Williams fifth.
A first-lap crash brought out the red flag in the Koehler Electric Street Stock feature. The incident eliminated the cars of Shad Murphy and Nick Hixson. Both drivers escaped without serious injury.Â
When racing resumed, Jeff Struck Jr. went from worst to first in only two laps. Struck built a sizeable lead that was washed away by a late race caution. On the restart Struck again pulled away and took the win. His second victory of the season. Jesse Owen took second at the checkers, ahead of Cary Brown. Landen Chrestensen and Roger Rickels rounded out the top five.
Former late model and modified racer Jason Bahrs found the Kunes Nissan IMCA Stock Car class to his liking Friday night. Bahrs swept both the heat and feature races in dominant fashion. Finishing second in the feature was Justin Kay. David Brandies took third with Keegan Wells fourth.
Cyle Hawkins recorded his fourth QCjeeps.com Sport Compact feature win of the season. Hawkins took the lead on lap three and led the remainder of the race. Second went to Shawn McDermott, nearly five seconds behind the leader. Roy Schmidt took third with last week’s winner Jack Fitzgibbon fourth.
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