Neal flies to Indee Open Series checkers at Independence Motor Speedway
By Ryan Clark

INDEPENDENCE, IA (Aug. 2, 2006) – It took Terry Neal 12 laps to get to the front of the pack, but once he got there, he left the field in his dust on his way to the Indee Open Series late model win at Independence Motor Speedway.

Neal, who started the event in the fifth row, took the lead following a lap 11 caution and dominated the remainder of the event. Neal beat his nearest competitor by over half of a lap on the 3/8-mile oval, leaving only the top four finishers on the lead lap by the time the checkers waved.

At the start of the 40-lapper, outside front row starter Jeremiah Hurst took command. He quickly extended his lead while Tyler Bruening raced through the field from a fourth row start. Bruening settled into second place after just two laps.

Curt Martin and Jeff Aikey also set a blistering pace as they raced through the field from mid-pack starts. Martin, who started in the sixth row, fell in behind Bruening after just three laps. Aikey, from an eighth row start, joined Martin in his charge through traffic and settled into fourth on lap three. Neal made his own charge through the field, making his way into the top five on the fifth lap.

By the time the caution flag waved on lap 11 when Bruening slowed in turn two due to mechanical problems, Hurst was still out front and Neal had made his way into second. Following the restart, Neal went to work on the high side of the speedway and took the lead one lap later.

From that point, Neal dominated the event. He flawlessly maneuvered through lapped traffic on his way to the impressive win. Aikey worked past Hurst just prior to the midway point and ran the remainder of the event in second. Hurst crossed the line in third, just head of Martin. Neal closed to within a straightaway of lapping those two drivers as the checkers waved.

In the 30-lap modified feature, Jeff Morris took the early lead. From his outside front row start, Morris paced the field at the drop of the green with Mark Schulte and Layne Meyer in tow. Meyer edged ahead of Schulte on the ninth lap running the bottom groove of the speedway.

As the leaders exited turn four on the 10th lap, Meyer made his bid for the lead, but pushed and made contact with Morris. The two drifted to the top of the speedway allowing Schulte to slip beneath them to take the lead.

Schulte led the final 20 laps to take the win, his second series victory of the season. Morris held on for second and Darin Duffy, who started the event in row eight, raced through the field to take home third.

Brian Irvine took the win in the stock car main event, leading all 25 laps. Irvine held off the challenges of Tom Schmitt to score the victory. Jarod Weepie finished third.



RESULTS

LATE MODEL
First heat – 1. 78W Rick Wendling, Hazleton; 2. 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 3. 06 Dean Wagner, Evansdale; 4. H2O Paul Watters, Parkersburg; 5. 7 Greg Hunter, Independence; 6. 22 Jill George, Cedar Falls; 7. 44S Tom Struve, Palo.

Second heat – 1. 14B Levi Benn, Dyersville; 2. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo; 3. 15G Cam Granger, West Union; 4. 8 Randy Wheeler, Cedar Falls; 5. 99D Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown; 6. 43 Jeremy Grady, Story City; 7. 4B Brian Lillie, Independence.

Third heat – 1. 9 Bobby Hansen, Center Point; 2. 85X LaVern Carey, Ionia; 3. 28C Terry Neal, Ely; 4. 86 Rick Dralle, Waterloo; 5. 69B Joel Brasch, Dunkerton; 6. 33 Kevin Kirkpatrick; 7. 25 Nate Hartzell, Cedar Falls.

Fourth heat – 1. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn; 2. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 3. 41J Jeremiah Hurst, Dubuque; 4. 77 Jeff Aikey, Waterloo; 5. 53 Darren Ackerman, Waterloo; 6. 11 Ace Ihm, Hazel Green, Wis.; 7. 19 Jason Snyder, Dunkerton; 8. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly.

B feature – 1. Ackerman; 2. Hunter; 3. Ihm; 4. DeFrance; 5. Brasch; 6. George; 7. Kirkpatrick; 8. Struve; 9. Hartzell; 10. Snyder; 11. Grady; 12. Thomsen; 13. Lillie.

A feature – 1. Neal; 2. Aikey; 3. Hurst; 4. Martin; 5. Wagner; 6. Hackwell; 7. DeFrance; 8. Wendling; 9. Ihm; 10. Hansen; 11. Ackerman; 12. Benn; 13. Granger; 14. Passick; 15. Carey; 16. Brasch; 17. Hunter; 18. Struve; 19. George; 20. Dralle; 21. Wheeler; 22. Watters; 23. Bruening; 24. Kirkpatrick.



MODIFIED

First heat – 1. 21 Layne Meyer, West Union; 2. 26P Kevin Pittman, Waterloo; 3. 92 Shawn Ryan, Waterloo; 4. 1D Mel Saffran, Farley; 5. 32 Dan Feltus, Allison; 6. 22P Dave Plum, Waterloo; 7. 14B Shane Burbridge, Manchester.

Second heat – 1. 2 Joey Schaefer, Waterloo; 2. 9 Leon Wilson, Hopkinton; 3. 41P Keith Pittman, Waterloo; 4. 93 Craig Haupt, Sumner; 5. 9L Tim Current, Dubuque; 6. 9X Ben Metcalf, Evansdale; 7. 70 Jerry King, Waterloo.

Third heat – 1. 27M Mark Schulte, Delhi; 2. 7 Jeff Morris, Long Grove; 3. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 4. 00 J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 5. 19D Darin Duffy, Hazleton; 6. 27X Mike Weidemann, Dubuque.

Feature – 1. Schulte; 2. Morris; 3. Duffy; 4. Meyer; 5. Betzer; 6. Saffran; 7. Ryan; 8. Keith Pittman; 9. Auringer; 10. Weidemann; 11. Feltus; 12. King; 13. Wilson; 14. Current; 15. Schaefer; 16. Kevin Pittman; 17. Burbridge; 18. Haupt; 19. Metcalf; 20. Plum.



STOCK CAR
First heat – 1. 26 Brian Irvine, Oelwein; 2. 12J Justin O’Brien, Volga; 3. 37 Loren Kuennen, Ossian; 4. 20 Dan Trimble, Fairbank; 5. 11R Roger Samec, New Hartford; 6. 7G Jason Goedken, Fairbank.

Second heat – 1. 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; 2. 18 Tom Schmitt, Independence; 3. 59 Larry Portis, Nora Springs; 4. 61 Adam Barlow, Nashua; 5. 56T Justin Temeyer, Independencel 6. 17X Jason Niedert, Fairbank; 7. K38 Kenny Taylor, Strawberry Point.

Feature – 1. Irvine; 2. Schmitt; 3. Weepie; 4. O’Brien; 5. Samec; 6. Barlow; 7. Trimble; 8. Taylor; 9. Goedken; 10. Niedert; 11. Portis; 12. Kuennen; DNS Temeyer.