May 28, 2024 | By Anthony Ainslie

Chad Simpson scores Malvern Bank Late Model win at Davenport

DAVENPORT, Ia. — Chad Simpson scored big with the Malvern Bank Super Late Models East Series in Monday’s Memorial Day showdown at Davenport Speedway.

After Mother Nature washed out the original Friday date, Monday saw the Malvern Bank East Series return to the quarter-mile Davenport Speedway in Davenport, Iowa. Drivers from all over Iowa as well as Illinois and Wisconsin came to the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds for a chance at the $3,000 top prize.

Defending Series Champion Chad Holladay proved to be the fastest in time trials when he clocked in at 14.059 seconds. Iowans Luke Petska, Luke Goedert and Dave Eckrich were the three heat race winners on the night. Later on, Jason Hahne dominated to win the B feature to help set up the 22-car field for Monday’s 25-lap main event.

Early on, Luke Petska looked to be the favorite to win. The Robins, Iowa driver led the opening laps while Chad Holladay and Chad Simpson applied pressure to take the top spot away.

Holladay would eventually get the lead away from Petska as the two came off turn four on lap nine. The Reigning East Series Champion got the lead shortly before the race’s only caution came out for a spun-out car in turn four. When racing resumed, it was Holladay vs. Simspon for the lead and ultimately the win.
Holladay led on the top side while Simspon kept right behind him. Simpson tried a couple of times to take the lead as he dove into turn one for a slide job attempt, but he could not make it stick.

It was not until five laps were left when Simpson got what he was looking for. Holladay slipped up trying to run the top side of turns one and two. He jumped the cushion in turn two allowing Simpson to make the go-ahead pass for the lead.

From there, the Mt. Vernon, Iowa native would run out the laps to capture the big win. It was his fourth career East Series win, as well, the win made Simpson the sixth different winner in 10 races at the Davenport Speedway for the series.

As an added bonus, since Simpson started in the sixth position and won the feature, he received the Skyline Materials Lucky 6 award giving him a $750 bonus, giving him a total payday of $3,750 at the end of the night.

Derrick Stewart made a big late-race charge to take second on the night while Holladay fell back to finish third. Luke Goedert took fourth, and previous race winner Justin Kay rounded out the top five.

After a busy and weather-affected Memorial Day Weekend, the East Series is off for a week before getting back to action on June 14th for the annual Tony Stewart Tribute at the C J Speedway in Columbus Junction, Iowa.

As for the West Series, a 2-day swing in Nebraska is next up on May 31st and June 1st. On the 31st, the tour heads to the Beatrice Speedway in Beatrice. Then,
the tour heads north to the Off-Road Speedway in Norfolk.


RESULTS

MalvernBank A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 2. 43-Derrick Stewart[7]; 3. 32C-Chad Holladay[4]; 4. 44-Luke Goedert[5]; 5. 15K-Justin Kay[8]; 6. 58-Dave Eckrich[10]; 7. 32G-Curtis Glover[9]; 8. 10T-Jeff Tharp[15]; 9. 38T-Dylan Thornton[19]; 10. 07-Matt Ryan[11]; 11. 29-Spencer Diercks[16]; 12. 99-Luke Pestka[1]; 13. 56-Andy Eckrich[13]; 14. 76H-Jason Hahne[17]; 15. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[20]; 16. 20-Zach Less[12]; 17. 15C-Curt Schroeder[18]; 18. 33-Nick Marolf[2]; 19. 42-Fred Remley[21]; 20. 22-Charlie McKenna[3]; 21. 44W-David Webster[22]; 22. (DNS) 25B-Bryan Klein

Preadator Trailers B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 76H-Jason Hahne[2]; 2. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 3. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 4. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[5]; 5. 42-Fred Remley[6]; 6. 44W-David Webster[7]; 7. 18-Ty Webster[4]; 8. 9G-Anthony Guss[9]; 9. 79-Nathan Balensiefen[8]; 10. 56S-Chris Spieker[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Luke Pestka[2]; 2. 07-Matt Ryan[1]; 3. 15K-Justin Kay[3]; 4. 33-Nick Marolf[5]; 5. 32C-Chad Holladay[6]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[7]; 7. 42-Fred Remley[8]; 8. 76H-Jason Hahne[4]; 9. 56S-Chris Spieker[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Luke Goedert[2]; 2. 20-Zach Less[1]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna[5]; 4. 15C-Curt Schroeder[7]; 5. 18-Ty Webster[9]; 6. 25B-Bryan Klein[4]; 7. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 8. 56-Andy Eckrich[6]; 9. 9G-Anthony Guss[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Dave Eckrich[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 3. 32G-Curtis Glover[3]; 4. 29-Spencer Diercks[2]; 5. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 6. 10T-Jeff Tharp[4]; 7. 44W-David Webster[8]; 8. 79-Nathan Balensiefen[7]

Qualifying A: 1. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:14.059[23]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:14.361[7]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:14.367[15]; 4. 33-Nick Marolf, 00:14.424[21]; 5. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:14.452[5]; 6. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:14.512[10]; 7. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:14.535[24]; 8. 25B-Bryan Klein, 00:14.590[11]; 9. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:14.606[19]; 10. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:14.621[9]; 11. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:14.642[13]; 12. 32G-Curtis Glover, 00:14.696[20]; 13. 99-Luke Pestka, 00:14.702[1]; 14. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:14.765[18]; 15. 29-Spencer Diercks, 00:14.782[4]; 16. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:14.805[16]; 17. 20-Zach Less, 00:14.885[26]; 18. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:14.936[3]; 19. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:15.024[25]; 20. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:15.035[8]; 21. 79-Nathan Balensiefen, 00:15.351[6]; 22. 42-Fred Remley, 00:15.369[17]; 23. 9G-Anthony Guss, 00:15.423[14]; 24. 44W-David Webster, 00:15.437[22]; 25. 18-Ty Webster, 00:15.655[2]; 26. (DNS) 56S-Chris Spieker, 00:15.655