By Brian Neal
DONNELLSON, Iowa (April 30) – Joel Callahan and Cayden Carter took home $1,000 checks from Lee County Speedway’s first Drive For Five qualifier of the season Friday night.
Callahan and Ben Seemann drew front row starts for the IMCA Sunoco Late Model 25-lapper and it was Callahan jumping into the lead on lap one over Seemann and Matt Strassheim.
While Seemann tried to stay in Callahan’s tire tracks, the rest of the field was racing all over for positions behind them. Callahan’s fast pace put him into lapped traffic on lap 14 and this allowed Seemann to close in.
Callahan was able to maneuver the lapped traffic without any problems however and pulled away over the later part of the caution-free race to score the top prize. Seemann finished second, Logan Duffy was third and Tommy Elston was fourth, with Strassheim fifth.
Already on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot, Carter and Jeff Waterman drew the front row for the IMCA Modified main with Carter leading Ethan Braaksma and Waterman early on.
A couple cautions before lap four allowed 11th place starting Michael Long to climb his way to third. On the restart of lap five, Long slid up in front of Carter for the top spot but a red appeared for a medical emergency in the pits before the lap was scored complete, giving Carter back the lead for the ensuing restart.
Carter moved back out front on the restart and started to pull away from the rest of the field. Lapped traffic helped Braaksma cut Carter’s lead to less than a second by lap 20 but that was as close as he could get.
Long, Dennis LaVeine and Chris Zogg rounded out the top five.
Cayden Carter banked $1,000 after he topped Friday’s IMCA Modified Drive For Five feature at Lee County Speedway. (Photo by MF Photography)
Six more Iowa Corn Growers Association and Hinkle Auto Sales Drive For Five qualifying nights, presented by Ideal Ready Mix, Floyd’s Waste Systems, J.J. Nichting Company Case IH, Triple Seven Trucking, Woodworth Attorney at Law, Triple R Performance Engines, Old Barn Taxidermy, Mike Campbell’s Body Shop & Towing, Donnellson Tire & Service, KQ92 and Big Country 103.1 are on the schedule at Donnellson this season.
Other Friday night winners at Lee County Speedway were John Oliver Jr. in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Austen Becerra in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods and Brandon Reu in the Mach-1 Sport Compacts.