WEST LIBERTY, Iowa — After sweeping last season’s weeknight specials at Farley and West Liberty, Chris Simpson had reasonable hopes of pulling off the feat again in Corn Belt Clash Series action.
Those hopes lasted, oh, about five seconds until he slapped the concrete wall on the first lap of Monday’s race at Farley Speedway. He was forced to pit to change a tire and ended up retiring after just 10 laps of the 50-lapper won by Spencer Diercks.
That turned Tuesday’s race at West Liberty Raceway into “redemption time,” as Simpson described it. Call it mission accomplished as the 33-year-old driver from Oxford, Iowa, dominated all 50 laps at the slick, half-mile fairgrounds oval for a $10,000 payday.
“That’s what was disappointing about last night,” Simpson said. “We were so close to home and came up with nothing, pretty much. So tonight it was definitely redemption time.”
Jumping into a lead right from the outset, Simpson said he “felt like it was going to take a helluva car to beat us.”
There was no such car as Simpson was never challenged while racing to his sixth overall victory of the season by a four-second margin over Hall of Fame driver Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn.
The winner’s older brother, Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon, Iowa, was third while Rodney Sanders of Happy, Texas, and Diercks, of Davenport, Iowa, rounded out the top five finishers in the 15-car feature field.
The car “was pretty phenomenal all night. You know the car handled good in the heat and handled good in the feature, so a big thanks to my crew guys …” Simpson said. “We had an engineer come out and help us last week and got us straightened out on a few things, and got us straightened out on a few things. We were pretty good tonight. I felt like it would’ve taken a helluva car to get by me, for sure.”
Simpson was so far ahead at the finish that he raised his right arm out the driver’s side window exiting turn four on the final lap and took the checkers with his fist raised high in the air.
“They had this place slick top to bottom. I felt good on the middle, I felt good one the bottom, I felt good on the top. I think we had a real neutral car and it worked out for us,” he said. “I felt like that top line is where I needed to be. I felt like I carried so much momentum, and it felt good up there, so I felt like I needed to drive into (turn) three has hard as I could, as straight as I could, and then just kind of let it roll (from the) center (of the corner) off.”
He was second quickest in qualifying to home-track driver Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, who came out of his retirement for a two-race stint, but Simpson knew his powerplant was up to the task in the main event.
“This thing ran flawless. It’s my smallest motor,” Simpson said. “When I got out-timed tonight by Birkhofer, I was like, ‘Man, that’s only a one-hundredth of a second and a lot smaller motor.’ So I feel good about where our program is at and it’s good to get a win.”
The feature was slowed twice by a pair of minor cautions, first when Jay Johnson rolled to a stop on the backstretch, then again on lap 35 when Joel Callahan had a flat right-rear tire.
Notes: Chris Simpson notched his sixth victory of the season but first since June 2 at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. … He has 11 career Corn Belt Clash victories. … Engine problems kept Justin Kay from starting the feature.
