Ellithorpe throws slider to win thriller at Maquoketa

Dirt Cast, Modified, Northern SportMod, Results, Sport Compact, Stock Car

By Jerry Mackey

MAQUOKETA, Iowa (May 13, 2023) – Saturday was another one of those race days the weatherman threatened to throw a curve ball at the plans for a night of racing at Maquoketa Speedway. The threat of wet weather moving in was not realized and racing went on as scheduled. 

The IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature provided lots of exciting racing with the final laps run with the win up for grabs. Jerry Miles rode the high side of the quarter mile for the first 13 laps in the lead. A late-race caution set up a two-lap dash to the finish.

Jacob Ellithorpe threw a hard slider at Miles in turn one and the 72 of Ellithorpe and the 4 of Miles raced down the back chute wheel-to-wheel coming to the white flag. Ellithorpe was able to nose out front and take the win by less than a car length. Brandon Vorbeck crossed the finish line in third. 

The Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds saw veteran driver Jeff “Bone” Larson win his second feature event of the 2023 season in two nights of racing action. Larson started eighth and worked to the front quickly. Larson hounded leader Jed Freiburger for several laps before taking control of the race as the halfway point was reached. Freiburger took second ahead of Spencer Diercks. 

The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods saw veteran Freeport, Ill., driver Bob Silaggi break a two-year dry spell by winning the 15-lap main event.

Silaggi found the extreme high line to his liking in leading the race flag-to-flag. Ben Chapman’s season is off to a great start and the Clarence driver piloted his 1JR to a second place finish ahead of Jacob Arp. 

The action-packed IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature saw 24 drivers take the green flag making for a very busy race track.

Buffalo Bandit Randy LaMar advanced from his outside third row start and took the top spot away from Lukas Short. LaMar went on to get to the checkers first ahead of Scott Wetter and Short. 

And the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts featured another exciting battle as the lead pack was four drivers racing for the top spot throughout the 12 lap main. Henry Hess led until local driver Mitch Bielenberg, who started deep in the field, was able to move into the lead with three laps to go. Bielenberg took the win ahead of Josh Chambers and Hess. 

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