By Brian Neal
DONNELLSON, Iowa (May 7, 2022) – Veteran Chuck Hanna and rookie Austen Becerra were IMCA Drive For 5 winners, while Dylan VanWyk took Drive For 3 honors at Lee County Speedway.
All three earned $1,000 for their Saturday night efforts, Becerra’s checkers making him Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible as well.
The 25-lap IMCA Sunoco Late Model Drive For 5 feature opened with Dustin Schram and Hanna leading the field to green. Schram led lap one, only to have Hanna power past to grab the top spot on lap two.
The first and only caution of the race appeared on lap three and on the ensuing restart, Hanna jumped back out front with Denny Woodworth taking the runner-up spot.
While Hanna set the fast pace out front, ninth starting Tommy Elston used lapped traffic to move into second. There was no catching Hanna, however, as he went on to claim the win. Schram got back by Woodworth late to finish third.
Becerra and Jardin Fuller led the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified field to green with Becerra taking advantage of his draw to grab the early lead over Fuller and Dennis LaVeine.
Action was slowed for the only time by a caution on lap four. Daniel Fellows and Bill Roberts Jr. moved to second and third, respectively, on the restart and by halfway Mark Burgtorf joined the battle for the runner-up spot, as Becerra was pulling away.
With 5 laps to go Burgtorf climbed into second but there weren’t enough laps left to track down Becerra. Fellows was third.
Dylan VanWyk and Adam Birck drew the front row in the Drive For 3 feature for Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods, with VanWyk setting a blistering pace that had him in lapped traffic just six laps into the race.
Just when it looked like the race would go green to checkered, the only caution of the contest appeared on lap 18. VanWyk stayed strong in winning ahead of Brayton Carter and Logan Anderson.
Damon Murty was the $1,000 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car winner and Jason Ash held off Brandon Reu for the victory in the caution-free Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact main event.
Murty is newly eligible to qualify for the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational.