Davenport Speedway
Guss grabs Deery victory at Davenport
DAVENPORT, Iowa (Sept. 11) — Snow, then rain were to blame for postponing the first two attempts at getting in the Deery Brothers Summer Series event at Davenport Speedway. There was nothing to keep Ray Guss Jr. from winning the twice-rescheduled feature on Sunday night.
The Milan, Ill., driver, just announced as a 2012 inductee into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, sped to the lead when front-running Colby Springsteen and Denny Eckrich got together on the 16th of 40 laps. He pulled away from the rest of the pack from that point, beating Eckrich to the finish line by half a straightaway.
Along with a $3,000 check, Guss upped his advantage in the silver anniversary series point race by four over fifth-finishing Andy Eckrich. Guss will have to hold off his challenger for two more events, the Sept. 16-17 Yankee Dirt Track Classic at Farley Speedway and the Sept. 24-25 finale at Quad City Speedway, before he can claim a second straight Deery crown.
Nate Beuseling was third and Mike Klinkhammer fourth in the All-Star Classic headliner.
Springsteen, fresh from his Labor Day win at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Cenex, looked like a strong contender after drawing the pole.
He opened a big lead and was into lapped traffic before the caution flag came out. After the restart, the fifth-starting Denny Eckrich applied heavy pressure from the outside. The front pair came together, giving Guss the opportunity to drive by.
The win was his second this season and career 23rd. He’s now alone in fourth place on the all-time list for the tour, behind Jeff Aikey with 55, Mark Burgtorf with 26 and Curt Martin with 25. Gary Webb, who was 13th at Davenport, owns 22 Deery checkers.
Winter hadn’t quite given up its grip on the Davenport area when the original Deery date was post poned from April 15. Rain right about the time hot laps were to begin kiboshed the first rescheduled date of Sept. 9.
All-Star Classic: (1) Ray Guss Jr., (2) Denny Eckrich, (3) Nate Bueseling, (4) Mike Klinkkammer, (5) Andy Eckrich, (6) Brian Harris, (7) Justin Reed, (8) Tommy Elston, (9) Terry Neal, (10) Colby Springsteen, (11) Stephan Kammerer, (12) Darrel DeFrance, (13) Gary Webb, (14) Mike Garland, (15) Spencer Diercks, (16) Joe Ross, (17) Todd Malmstrom, (18) Charlie McKenna, (19) Chad Patch, (20) Marty Diercks, (21) Justin Kay, (22) Travis Denning, (23) Eric Sanders, (24) Doug Nigh. Heat race winners (among 24 cars): A. Eckrich, Neal, Harris.
