Hamilton County Speedway hosts April 1 Deery Brothers Summer Series opener

Webster City, Ia (March 22, 2006) ­ The 20th annual Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Sunoco Late Models gets off to a quick start, with the first green flag of the 2006 season set to wave Saturday, April 1 at Hamilton County Speedway.

Pit gates at Webster City open at 12:30 p.m., with hot laps at 3:30 p.m. and racing to follow. The Late Model feature pays $2,000 to win and a minimum of $300 to start. Rounding out the program are stock cars, hobby stocks, 360 modifieds and dirt trucks.

Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for students ages 7 through 13, with kids six and under getting in free with a paid adult.
Pit passes are $25. The track website is www.hamiltoncountyspeedway.com.

Twenty-five series events have been held at the Hamilton County half mile dirt venue since 1987, with 15 different drivers visiting victory lane. Jeff Aikey of Waterloo has collected six of his series career leading 45 wins at Webster City; Terry Neal of Ely won two of the three Deery events held there last year enroute to the series crown.

Marshalltown's Darrel DeFrance has competed at every race in series history, a streak that now reaches 284 consecutive events.

34 Raceway and owner Johnny Johnson kick in $650 bonuses at each of the first 19 of the 20 events on this year's schedule to pay out to the back of the feature field.

Fifty points will still be given for feature wins, but each following place finish will be worth one point, instead of two points less as in previous seasons. In addition, the number of points awarded to non feature qualifiers has been doubled from 10 to 20.

"This is going to be an exciting series right out of the gate," predicted Kevin Yoder, director of the series for IMCA. "With the rule changes in place and with the new Hoosier tire on cars for the first time, opening night in Webster City will put everyone at the same learning point. It really will come down to which drivers' learning curves are the shortest."

From Webster City, the Deery Series travels to Lee County Speed-way in Donnellson, 34 Raceway at West Burlington and Quincy, Ill., Raceway for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday, April 7-9 triple-header.