STEVEN LEICHT WINS 33rd
ANNUAL MILLER 200 AT HAWKEYE DOWNS
(
The
American Stockcar League (ASL), which is a new series formed after the American
Speed Association disbanded ran a 150 lap feature along with a 50-lap feature
for Performance Concepts Late Models and a 25 lap feature for the Miller Time Modifieds. The late models and modifieds
are part of the Papa Johns Cup/ I-Wireless Stock Car Championship that runs
weekly at Hawkeye Downs.
In
ASL qualifying, Trevor
Stewart,
Hometown
favorite Landon Cassill led the first lap in the RFK
Transportation Monte Carlo after starting outside row one but surrendered the
lead a couple circuits later to Andrew Morrissey of Deforest, WI. Morrissey, piloting the Terry’s Automotive Ford Taurus.
Morrissey pulled away from the field quickly while some great position battles
were happening with the rest of the field.
Morrissey
would lead the rest of the first 75-lap segement
while drivers like Bryan Reffner, Steven Leicht, and Ryan Mathews maneuvered into the top five. Reffner did take a brief lead on lap 71 after Morrissey was
slowed by a lapped car but Moorrissey powered back
into the lead just before the 75-lap mark.
Crews
were allowed a ten-minute pit stop at about the halfway mark to make
adjustments and that proved to be very beneficial to some as things got very
interesting in the second half of the race.
Steven
Leicht reeled in the second-place car of Bryan Reffner and the two battled for several laps before Leicht took second and set his sights on Morrissey, who had
built nearly a straightaway lead. As the laps ticked off, Leicht
slowly erased the margin and what ensued was an exercise in patience for Leicht as he made challenge afer
challenge for the point. He finally succeeded on lap 134 taking command as the
pair exited turn four.
Leicht, a regular driver in ASA Late Model Series, then
motored on to the win with Morrissey maintaining second. This was Leicht’s first visit to Hawkeye Downs. In victory lane, Leicht
credited his team for making some adjustments during the pit stop that were
crucial to him winning the race. Leight said, “The
car wasn’t bad in the first half, but we made some adjustments and thew car was a rocket after the break.”
Bryan
Reffner finished in third with Ryan Mathews fourth
and fast-qualifier Trevor Stewart was fifth.
The
American Stock Car League’s next race is June 18 at
The
Performance Concepts Late Models ran a 50-lap feature with the lin-up set by two-lap qualifying runs. Kyle Hinrichs of Swisher set fast time turning a lap of 18.878
seconds for a lap of 95.811 according to Alliant Energy Timing and Scoring. Hinrichs drew a ‘six” which inverted the top 6 in time for
the feature.
Chris
Sevey of
Fleck
tried several times to wrestle the lead from Osborn and finally pulled off an
outside pass with fourteen laps remaining to take the lead for good. Wennermark
got around Osborn to finish second and Osborn maintained third.
Flecks’
win was the first for Dudley in a Miller Classic and was the fourth of the
season for the
The
Miller Time Modifieds also saw action on Wednesday
night with Patrick Flannagan holding off Tim Plummer and Arlo Becker for his
first career win at Hawkeye Downs. Flannagan built a sizable lead early but
defending track champion Tim Plummer cut the deficit and challenged for the
lead with eight laps left. Plummer tried an inside pass and he and Flannagan
made contact which caused Plummer to lose some momentum.
A
couple laps later caution slowed the field and brought out the restart cone.
Plummer restarted outside of Flannagan but couldn’t hold the position and then
lost the position to Arlo Becker in the closing laps. Larry Clausen finished in fourth with Bob Gase
fifth.
MILLER TIME MODIFIEDS
FEATURE (25 laps)
PERFORMANCE CONCEPTS LATE MODELS
Qualifying
1) 18.787-Kyle Hinrichs;
2)18.816-Dudley Fleck; 3) 18.960-Ryan Carlson; 4) 18.971- Brad Osborn; 5)
19.046-Scott Wennermark; 6) 19.090-Chris Sevey; 7)
19.227-Jeff King; 8) 19.232- Johnny Spaw, Cedar
Rapids; 9) 19.309- Jim Ross; 10) 19.340-Chase Austin; 11) 19.816- JJ Meyer; 12)
No Time- Brian Allen
FEATURE (50 laps)
ASL LATE MODELS
Qualifying
1) 19.498-Trevor
Stewart; 2) 19.549-Jarit Johnson; 3) 19.567-Ryan Mathews; 4) 19.573- Steven Leight; 5) 19.588-Andrew Morrisey;
6) 19.784-Johnathon Davenport; 7) 19.858-Landon Cassill;
8) 19.881-Paul Paine; 9) 19.886-Bryan Reffner; 10)
19.889-Terry Schoppenhorst; 11) 19.952-Curtis VanDerWal; 12) 20.392-Tim Olson; 13) 21.153-Trey Allen
FEATURE (150 laps run in 2 -75 lap
segments)
1. Stephen Leicht,