By Anthony Ainslie (Columbus Junction, IA) -- Derrick Stewart won big in front of his home crowd for the second time this year, this time to win Saturday’s Iowa Governor’s Cup for the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking Super Late Models East Series.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Ruefer
Round 21 of the season saw the high-banked 4/10 mile at the Louisa County Fairgrounds play host to the East Series for the 2023 Iowa Governor’s Cup. The race was the third to last night of racing for the year for the East Series.
Points Leader Chad Holladay sat the fastest time in qualifying when he stopped the clock at 18.713 seconds. Later in the evening, Jeff Aikey, Matt Ryan and Ron Boyse all took victory in the heat races.
When the drivers came back out, it was Derrick Stewart sitting on pole position for the 35-lap Iowa Governor’s Cup main event. Stewart hit his marks on the initial takeoff, and from there, the Ainsworth, Iowa driver would do everything he could to stay up front while also keeping enough equipment fresh to make it to the end.
Chad Simpson proved to be a contender to take Stewart’s lead away. Simpson, who had won three times on the tour this year, kept cutting into Stewart’s advantage.
Simpson’s hopes for a fourth victory would come to an end when he shredded his right-rear tire while running in second. He would pull off the track finishing in 17th.
The race went on, and Stewart continued to show the way. Meanwhile, Chris Spieker and Chad Holladay did everything they could to track him down. Holladay was able to make a pass on Spieker for second and then set his sights on Stewart for the lead.
Holladay tried to get one last run on the final lap, but he would run out of time, and Derrick Stewart would become the newest winner of the Iowa Governor’s Cup. It was Stewart’s third win on the season, his second East Series victory, and pulling off the sweep at C J Speedway after he won the Tony Stewart Tribute back in June.
Holladay would take second while Spieker finished third. Andy Eckrich and Jeff Tharp rounded out the top five.
Only the championship weekends for both tours remain on the 2023 calendar. On October 7th, the Malvern Bank West Series Championship will be decided at the Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa. The following week, the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series will crown their champion on October 13-14 at Mason City Motor Speedway in Mason City, Iowa.
RESULTS
Hoker Trucking A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 43-Derrick Stewart[1]; 2. 32C-Chad Holladay[5]; 3. 56S-Chris Spieker[2]; 4. 56-Andy Eckrich[4]; 5. 10T-Jeff Tharp[3]; 6. 77J-Jeff Aikey[7]; 7. 22-Charlie McKenna[15]; 8. 76H-Jason Hahne[12]; 9. 07-Matt Ryan[10]; 10. 44-Luke Goedert[14]; 11. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[16]; 12. 58-Dave Eckrich[13]; 13. 15C-Curt Schroeder[19]; 14. 15K-Justin Kay[9]; 15. 42-Fred Remley[20]; 16. 32-Curtis Glover[11]; 17. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 18. 77-Josh Foster[17]; 19. 74-Ron Boyse[8]; 20. 3D-Thomas Stevens[18]
Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 93-Jay Johnson[1]; 2. 39-Ed Hollenbeck[2]; 3. 00-Dan Kessler[3]; 4. 5-Rusty Patterson[4]; 5. 34-Scott Strauss[5]
Ideal Ready Mix Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77J-Jeff Aikey[2]; 2. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 3. 32C-Chad Holladay[6]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna[1]; 5. 32-Curtis Glover[4]; 6. 44-Luke Goedert[3]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[7]; 8. 5-Rusty Patterson[8]; 9. 34-Scott Strauss[9]
Ideal Ready Mix Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Matt Ryan[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 3. 15K-Justin Kay[3]; 4. 56-Andy Eckrich[5]; 5. 76H-Jason Hahne[4]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[2]; 7. 42-Fred Remley[7]; 8. 00-Dan Kessler[8]
Ideal Ready Mix Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 74-Ron Boyse[2]; 2. 10T-Jeff Tharp[5]; 3. 56S-Chris Spieker[6]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich[3]; 5. 77-Josh Foster[1]; 6. 3D-Thomas Stevens[8]; 7. 39-Ed Hollenbeck[7]; 8. 93-Jay Johnson[4]
Qualifying A: 1. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:18.713[3]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:18.762[9]; 3. 56S-Chris Spieker, 00:18.818[4]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:18.838[7]; 5. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:18.919[11]; 6. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:19.004[8]; 7. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:19.057[15]; 8. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:19.094[1]; 9. 93-Jay Johnson, 00:19.104[6]; 10. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:19.166[19]; 11. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:19.228[21]; 12. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:19.318[23]; 13. 77J-Jeff Aikey, 00:19.328[12]; 14. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:19.443[18]; 15. 74-Ron Boyse, 00:19.483[5]; 16. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:19.508[24]; 17. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:19.655[10]; 18. 77-Josh Foster, 00:19.738[16]; 19. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:19.788[13]; 20. 42-Fred Remley, 00:19.940[20]; 21. 39-Ed Hollenbeck, 00:20.516[14]; 22. 5-Rusty Patterson, 00:20.637[25]; 23. 00-Dan Kessler, 00:21.073[17]; 24. 3D-Thomas Stevens, 00:23.144[2]; 25. 34-Scott Strauss, 00:23.144[22]
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STEWART & SONS FUEL IMCA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 9Z-Chris Zogg[1]; 2. 77-Kurt Kile[5]; 3. 40-Dakota Simmons[6]; 4. 32-Kyle Madden[9]; 5. 88-Jarrett Brown[7]; 6. 25-Derek Walker[4]; 7. 72-Kolton Osborn[3]; 8. 32H-Skyler Harroun[2]; 9. 24-Kyle Roose[12]; 10. 9G-Anthony Guss[8]; 11. 96-Matt Lundry[14]; 12. 9-Derek Wilson[13]; 13. 22W-Drew Wilfawn[11]; 14. 99-Charlie Mohr[10]; 15. (DNS) 20F-John Fellman
Heat 1 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 25-Derek Walker[2]; 2. 99-Charlie Mohr[5]; 3. 72-Kolton Osborn[3]; 4. 32H-Skyler Harroun[7]; 5. 9G-Anthony Guss[1]; 6. 22W-Drew Wilfawn[6]; 7. 9-Derek Wilson[8]; 8. 20F-John Fellman[4]
Heat 2 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 88-Jarrett Brown[2]; 2. 77-Kurt Kile[1]; 3. 32-Kyle Madden[3]; 4. 9Z-Chris Zogg[5]; 5. 40-Dakota Simmons[6]; 6. 24-Kyle Roose[4]; 7. 96-Matt Lundry[7]
MINCER FORD IMCA STOCK CARS
A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 05-John Oliver Jr[1]; 2. 00-Johnny Spaw[11]; 3. 72H-Miciah Hidlebaugh[8]; 4. 79S-Jason See[6]; 5. 22-Tanner Allen[15]; 6. 3D-Jason Cook[3]; 7. 74-Brock Haines[2]; 8. 27-Matt Picray[9]; 9. 12-Chad Krogmeier[5]; 10. 33-Trenton Witt[12]; 11. 56-Austin O'Donnell[18]; 12. 3T-Tonia Stevens[13]; 13. 196-Austin Schuring[10]; 14. C4-Corey Strothman[17]; 15. 08-Bronson Spaw[16]; 16. 1K-Michael Sheen[19]; 17. 23W-Keegan Wells[14]; 18. 10-Logan Clausen[20]; 19. 32-Tom Cannon[7]; 20. (DNS) 62-Norman Bean
Heat 1 - Top 4 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 12-Chad Krogmeier[4]; 2. 3D-Jason Cook[6]; 3. 74-Brock Haines[1]; 4. 27-Matt Picray[3]; 5. 3T-Tonia Stevens[7]; 6. 08-Bronson Spaw[2]; 7. 1K-Michael Sheen[5]
Heat 2 - Top 4 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 05-John Oliver Jr[1]; 2. 62-Norman Bean[2]; 3. 196-Austin Schuring[4]; 4. 72H-Miciah Hidlebaugh[6]; 5. 23W-Keegan Wells[3]; 6. C4-Corey Strothman[5]; 7. 10-Logan Clausen[7]
Heat 3 - Top 4 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 79S-Jason See[2]; 2. 00-Johnny Spaw[3]; 3. 32-Tom Cannon[4]; 4. 33-Trenton Witt[1]; 5. 22-Tanner Allen[5]; 6. 56-Austin O'Donnell[6]
HUSTON BROS TRUCKING IMCA SPORTMODS
A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 117-Dylan VanWyk[3]; 2. 7V-Shane Paris[10]; 3. 00-Shaun Slaughter[8]; 4. 42-Tyler Heckart[1]; 5. 12S-Sean Wyett[6]; 6. 53-Logan Anderson[9]; 7. 44G-Levi Gaunt[7]; 8. 22R-Kevin Rasdon[13]; 9. 15K-Kyle Harwood[12]; 10. 9W-Ryan Walker[5]; 11. 21-Todd Hansen[2]; 12. 71J-Justin Schroeder[11]; 13. 7R-Tom Ruble[14]; 14. 16-Levi Laymon[4]; 15. 25CB-Jim Russell[15]
Heat 1 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 53-Logan Anderson[2]; 2. 42-Tyler Heckart[1]; 3. 117-Dylan VanWyk[7]; 4. 7V-Shane Paris[6]; 5. 12S-Sean Wyett[5]; 6. 71J-Justin Schroeder[4]; 7. 22R-Kevin Rasdon[3]; 8. 25CB-Jim Russell[8]
Heat 2 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 21-Todd Hansen[2]; 2. 16-Levi Laymon[6]; 3. 00-Shaun Slaughter[5]; 4. 9W-Ryan Walker[3]; 5. 44G-Levi Gaunt[7]; 6. 15K-Kyle Harwood[4]; 7. 7R-Tom Ruble[1]
CJ AUTO PARTS - NAPA IMCA HOBBY STOCKS
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 52X-Joren Fisher[1]; 2. IB25-Shane Richardson[8]; 3. 1K-Tom Killen Jr[6]; 4. 11B-Solomon Bennett[2]; 5. 28-Tucker Richardson[4]; 6. 5-Kaden Staley[12]; 7. 45-Justin Wacha[3]; 8. 20A-Steven Crees[7]; 9. 00-Jeremy Honts[5]; 10. 86R-James Roose[13]; 11. 6XP-Preston McDonald[11]; 12. 7-Tyler Nimrick[14]; 13. 0-Ryan Havel[10]; 14. 33-Luke Phillips[9]
Heat 1 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 11B-Solomon Bennett[1]; 2. 0-Ryan Havel[4]; 3. 1K-Tom Killen Jr[3]; 4. 20A-Steven Crees[2]; 5. 28-Tucker Richardson[6]; 6. 6XP-Preston McDonald[7]; 7. 86R-James Roose[5]
Heat 2 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 33-Luke Phillips[4]; 2. IB25-Shane Richardson[3]; 3. 52X-Joren Fisher[5]; 4. 45-Justin Wacha[1]; 5. 00-Jeremy Honts[2]; 6. 5-Kaden Staley[7]; 7. 7-Tyler Nimrick[6]