June 20, 2024 | By Anthony Ainslie

Andrew Kosiski Gets First Win of 2024 by Dominating Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Ia. — Andrew Kosiski found his way back to victory lane with the Malvern Bank Super Late Models East Series in Thursday’s race at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway.
The high-banked 1/3 mile in Dubuque, Iowa was the sight for round six for the East Series. The race was on a Thursday night after the originally scheduled date on May 26th was rained out. Drivers from five different states packed the pit area for a hot and humid night of racing.

Andy Eckrich started the night being the fastest in time trials as he led group A with a lap of 15.051 seconds. Chris Simpson was fastest in group B when he stopped the clock at 15.245 seconds for his fastest lap.

The four heat races on the night were won by Darrel DeFrance, Joel Callahan, Tom Berry Jr., and Spencer Diercks. Berry was making his Malvern Bank Series debut driving for the #77 normally piloted by Jeff Aikey.

After Luke Goedert won the B feature on the night, 24 cars took to the speedway to finish out the night with a 30-lap main event. Andrew Kosiski capitalized on his outside-front-row starting position and jumped out to the lead. The rest of the top five spots were up for grabs as Andy and Dave Eckrich, Derrick Stewart, Spencer Diercks, and Chris Simpson all battled and exchanged spots.

Championship implications came on lap 12 when the caution came out. Points Leader Chad Holladay went down with a flat tire. His crew was able to get a new tire put on the car and get him back in the race, and the defending East Series champion came back to finish 14th.

Trouble would strike again as Dave Eckrich went down with a mechanical failure with 11 laps to go. He was running third at the time before drawing the race’s final caution. Eckrich would be credited with a 20th place finish.

As the laps progressed, Kosiski continued to lead the race while Andy Eckrich ran second. Kosiski did everything to run the outside line as quickly and carefully as he could. He even tapped the wall coming off turn two. However, he was able to keep trouble to a minimum, and the La Vista, Nebraska driver went on to take the feature win.

The win was worth a $3,000 plus a bonus of $500 that came from Affordable Furniture out of Dubuque who chipped in. The victory was Kosiski’s sixth with the series tying him with Jeff Aikey for ninth on the all-time wins list. The win also made Kosiski the third different winner in three races at Dubuque.

Andy Eckrich took second and took over the championship point lead. Meanwhile, Chris Simpson, in his first start of the season with the series, came in third. Derrick Stewart and Spencer Diercks rounded out the top five. As well, Tom Berry Jr., in his first-ever Malvern Bank Series main event start, finished an impressive eighth.

With Dubuque in the record books, the East Series gets ready for uncharted territory. On the 21st, the tour makes its maiden voyage to the Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington, Wisconsin. It will be the first time not only the track, but the state itself, has ever hosted the series. After Wisconsin, a big Iowa tripleheader weekend in Iowa for the East Series will be next on June 26-28 with stops to Oskaloosa, Cresco and West Union.


RESULTS

MalvernBank A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 53-Andrew Kosiski[2]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich[4]; 3. 98-Chris Simpson[5]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart[1]; 5. 29-Spencer Diercks[6]; 6. 38T-Dylan Thornton[12]; 7. 33-Nick Marolf[8]; 8. 11-Tom Berry Jr[11]; 9. 76H-Jason Hahne[15]; 10. 32G-Curtis Glover[14]; 11. 15K-Justin Kay[21]; 12. 99-Luke Pestka[7]; 13. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[10]; 14. 32C-Chad Holladay[9]; 15. 42-Fred Remley[20]; 16. 15C-Curt Schroeder[19]; 17. 44-Luke Goedert[16]; 18. 17-Ryan Hill[23]; 19. 07-Matt Ryan[17]; 20. 58-Dave Eckrich[3]; 21. P7-Eric Pollard[22]; 22. 8-Jaden Fryer[18]; 23. 40-Joel Callahan[13]; 24. 10T-Jeff Tharp[24]

Preadator Trailers B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 44-Luke Goedert[1]; 2. 07-Matt Ryan[3]; 3. 8-Jaden Fryer[6]; 4. 15C-Curt Schroeder[2]; 5. P7-Eric Pollard[10]; 6. 42-Fred Remley[5]; 7. 44W-David Webster[7]; 8. 20-Zach Less[4]; 9. 17-Ryan Hill[9]; 10. 15K-Justin Kay[8]; 11. 22-Charlie McKenna[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[2]; 2. 99-Luke Pestka[4]; 3. 56-Andy Eckrich[6]; 4. 32C-Chad Holladay[5]; 5. 44W-David Webster[1]; 6. 20-Zach Less[3]; 7. 17-Ryan Hill[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Joel Callahan[1]; 2. 10T-Jeff Tharp[4]; 3. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich[6]; 5. 42-Fred Remley[2]; 6. 32G-Curtis Glover[5]; 7. P7-Eric Pollard[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Tom Berry Jr[2]; 2. 53-Andrew Kosiski[4]; 3. 98-Chris Simpson[6]; 4. 8-Jaden Fryer[1]; 5. 07-Matt Ryan[3]; 6. 76H-Jason Hahne[5]; 7. 22-Charlie McKenna[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Spencer Diercks[4]; 2. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 3. 15C-Curt Schroeder[2]; 4. 44-Luke Goedert[3]; 5. 33-Nick Marolf[6]; 6. 15K-Justin Kay[1]

Qualifying A: 1. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:15.051[2]; 2. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:15.258[1]; 3. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:15.383[7]; 4. 32G-Curtis Glover, 00:15.383[8]; 5. 99-Luke Pestka, 00:15.523[13]; 6. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:15.557[11]; 7. 20-Zach Less, 00:15.600[10]; 8. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:15.623[12]; 9. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:15.683[9]; 10. 42-Fred Remley, 00:15.703[14]; 11. 44W-David Webster, 00:15.731[4]; 12. 40-Joel Callahan, 00:16.151[5]; 13. 17-Ryan Hill, 00:16.993[3]; 14. P7-Eric Pollard, 00:28.047[6]

Qualifying 2: 1. 98-Chris Simpson, 00:15.245[10]; 2. 33-Nick Marolf, 00:15.357[7]; 3. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:15.390[9]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:15.427[11]; 5. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:15.444[5]; 6. 29-Spencer Diercks, 00:15.587[4]; 7. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:15.638[8]; 8. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:15.702[12]; 9. 11-Tom Berry Jr, 00:15.738[3]; 10. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:15.877[2]; 11. 8-Jaden Fryer, 00:15.882[6]; 12. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:15.970[13]; 13. (DNS) 22-Charlie McKenna