WORLD DIRT RACING LEAGUE SET TO KICK-OFF 2006 SEASON
Outstanding fields expected at Davenport and West Liberty, Iowa
By Tom Lathen

Gilman City, MO (March 27, 2006) - The WORLD Dirt Racing League PolyDome Late Model season is set to kick off its much-anticipated 2006 touring season.

This year, the Gilman City, Missouri based series will open with eastern Iowa stops at Davenport Speedway and West Liberty Raceway. The opener on the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds half-mile at Davenport is scheduled for Friday, April 7, with the always-popular West Liberty event set for the following evening, April 8.

“Three of the four years our series has been in existence, we have opened at Davenport,” noted series founder and President Jim Wilson. “Davenport Speedway has a long, rich history of great racing and we always look forward to getting things started there.”

“Historically, we have had a great field of race cars at both of these venues,” he added. “I would expect that after a long winter, we’ll see the same again this year.”

Heading up the list of drivers expected to be in attendance at Davenport and West Liberty is defending PolyDome Late Model Series champion Denny Eckrich. The 33-year old Tiffin, Iowa native will begin defense of his series crown following a championship year that saw him score four feature race wins and six runner-up finishes among his 21 top-ten finishes. The driver of the Precision Performance/Barry Wright/Grove Automotive Pontiac Grand Prix scored series wins at Muskogee, Oklahoma in late May, at Mason City, Iowa in mid July, and West Liberty, Iowa in late September, before clinching the WDRL title with a win at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas the first weekend in October.

Also expected to be in the field is two-time series champion Kyle Berck of Marquette, Nebraska. After a slow start a year ago, the central Nebraska grain farmer and race car builder finished the season with three wins in the final 12 events including an impressive late-race victory over John Anderson in the series finale on October 8 in Kansas City.

Eckrich’s older Dave, who picked up his first ever WDRL victory last August at Echo Valley Speedway in West Union, Iowa, is also expected to be in the field, along with last year’s series Rookie-of-the-Year and 21st Image People’s Choice Award winner Justin Fegers. Fegers, of Mound, Minnesota scored wins last season at Superior, Wisconsin and Webster City, Iowa en route to a fourth place finish in the final PolyDome Late Model Series point standings.

Eric Pember of Pittsville, Wisconsin is also anticipated to be in attendance at both Davenport and West Liberty, as well as John Anderson and Bill Koons, both of Omaha, Nebraska. Pember, entering his third season of WDRL competition, finished fifth in last year’s final series standings, with Anderson and Koons finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. Anderson, who missed four series events a year ago because of a rash of engine woes, opened his 2006 season with a victory in the Xtreme Winter Nationals at USA Race Park in Tuscon, Arizona in early February, before racing to a pair of top-five finishes in the Wild West Shootout at Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande later in the month.

Veteran Steve Boley of West Liberty, Iowa, who is expected to make a run at this year’s WDRL championship, will also be in attendance, along with eastern Iowa racing brothers Chad and Chris Simpson. Chad, the eldest of the two, ended last season in fashion, picking up his first-ever win at the Yankee Dirt Track Classic at Farley Speedway in Iowa.

Among other series regulars expected in the field are 37-year Kirksville, Missouri veteran Sonny Findling, Iowa drivers Matt Furman of Iowa City, Tommy Elston of Keokuk, Rob Moss of Iowa City, Jason Utter of Columbus Junction, and John VanDenBerg of Oskaloosa, Nebraska drivers John Hampel of Union and Mark Wyman of Papillion, northern Wisconsin hot-shoe Todd Gehl of Solon Springs, and rising, young Minnesota star Trent Follmer of Elk River.

A host of other drivers are expected in the field, including Milledgeville, Illinois traveler Darren “The Thriller” Miller, who won five WDRL events a year ago, “The Wisconsin Wild Man,” Dan Schlieper of Sullivan, Wisconsin, four-time NASCAR regional champion Ray Guss, Jr. of Milan, Illinois, 26-year old eastern Iowa driver Brian Harris, who won seven weekly feature races on the Davenport Speedway quarter-mile a year ago, 34-year central Nebraska veteran Al Humphrey of Giltner, exciting southwest Wisconsin driver Ace Ihm, and four-time Northern Latemodel Racing Association (NLRA) titlist John Seitz of Bemidji, Minnesota.

Action will get underway both at Davenport and West Liberty with hot laps at 6:00 p.m., followed by qualifying race action at 6:30 p.m. Open-wheeled Modifieds will provide the support for the WDRL Late Models at both venues.

The series will debut its new Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation FinishLine scoring system at the Davenport Speedway event. The system features an on-board AMB-manufactured transponder that will score each participant electronically as his or her car crosses a pick-up loop, buried underneath the race track, at the start-finish line.