August 6, 2023 | By Anthony Ainslie

Aikey pulls last lap heroics for Hoker Trucking Late Model win at Kossuth County

Algona, IA —  Jeff Aikey wins a Saturday night thriller as the Malvern Bank and Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking Super Late Models Series invaded the Kossuth County Speedway.

The 4/10 mile in Algona, Iowa was the sight for another East vs. West battle. The race served as round 15 for the West Series and round 16 for the East. It was the East Series’ first time at Kossuth County while the West tour was there for only the second time.

West Series Point Leader Tad Pospisil was the night’s top qualifier when he turned in a lap of 17.289 seconds. The three heat races on the night were won by Charlie McKenna, Josh Leonard and Bill Leighton Jr. After passing and finishing points were tallied, it Pospisil and McKenna who were on the row for the night’s 25-lap main event.

Pospisil wasted no time taking the race lead. The Norfolk, Nebraska driver proceeded to dominate the first half of the race. As the race reached the halfway point, Jesse Sobbing was ready to take the fight for the lead to Pospisil. The two battled closely on the bottom lane before the two got too close and caused Sobbing to lose control of his car. Sobbing would spin in turn two which brought out the final caution of the race.

When racing resumed, Pospisil led while Jeff Aikey and Justin Zeitner ran second and third. Aikey got the middle lane to work for him on the restart, and soon, the Hall of Fame Driver from Cedar Falls, Iowa went side-by-side with Pospisil for the lead.

Pospisil and Aikey traded the lead back and forth in the final eight laps. Pospisil had the lead by half a car length as he and Aikey came to the white flag. The next time by, Aikey and Pospisil came off turn four for a drag race to the line. By .078 seconds, Aikey took the win and the $3,000 winner’s check over Pospisil. The win marked Aikey’s second win on the year and his sixth with the series in his career.

Justin Zeitner recorded third while East Series Point Leader Chad Holladay took fourth. Bill Leighton Jr., the winner at Kossuth County the year before, rounded out the top five.

With the Kossuth County Speedway now in the books, the Malvern Bank West Series heads back to Nebraska for stops at Thayer County Speedway in Deshler and Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction on August 11th and 12th. As for the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series, the tour will have two big shows in southeastern Iowa. On August 18th, the series makes its return to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, and then the very next night, the tour makes its second and final appearance of the year at the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty.

REUSLTS

Malvern Bank Hoker Trucking A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 77-Jeff Aikey[8]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 3. 62-Justin Zeitner[3]; 4. 32C-Chad Holladay[12]; 5. 24-Bill Leighton[10]; 6. 85-Josh Leonard[9]; 7. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 8. 53-Andrew Kosiski[7]; 9. 56-Andy Eckrich[6]; 10. 07-Matt Ryan[20]; 11. 5-Jason Hahne[11]; 12. 4-JC Wyman[13]; 13. 42-Fred Remley[14]; 14. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[21]; 15. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[19]; 16. 56S-Chris Spieker[16]; 17. 1-Jaxon Saathoff[17]; 18. 43-Derrick Stewart[18]; 19. 52-Brian Kosiski[4]; 20. 99-Jesse Sobbing[5]; 21. 15C-Curt Schroeder[23]; 22. 58-Dave Eckrich[15]; 23. 32-Curtis Glover[22]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Charlie McKenna[5]; 2. 58-Dave Eckrich[1]; 3. 4-JC Wyman[2]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 5. 5-Jason Hahne[4]; 6. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[7]; 7. 1-Jaxon Saathoff[3]; 8. 32-Curtis Glover[8]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Josh Leonard[1]; 2. 53-Andrew Kosiski[3]; 3. 42-Fred Remley[2]; 4. 52-Brian Kosiski[5]; 5. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 6. 07-Matt Ryan[7]; 7. 56S-Chris Spieker[4]; 8. 15C-Curt Schroeder[8]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[1]; 2. 77-Jeff Aikey[3]; 3. 56-Andy Eckrich[5]; 4. 99-Jesse Sobbing[6]; 5. 32C-Chad Holladay[4]; 6. 43-Derrick Stewart[2]; 7. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[7]

Qualifying 1: 1. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:17.289[11]; 2. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:17.307[2]; 3. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:17.315[12]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:17.386[14]; 5. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:17.416[4]; 6. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:17.441[6]; 7. 5-Jason Hahne, 00:17.616[15]; 8. 56S-Chris Spieker, 00:17.618[3]; 9. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:17.631[13]; 10. 1-Jaxon Saathoff, 00:17.648[7]; 11. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:17.753[16]; 12. 77-Jeff Aikey, 00:17.850[10]; 13. 4-JC Wyman, 00:17.853[17]; 14. 42-Fred Remley, 00:17.860[22]; 15. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:17.912[1]; 16. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:17.962[5]; 17. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:18.013[8]; 18. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:18.069[9]; 19. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:18.122[21]; 20. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:18.158[23]; 21. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:18.169[20]; 22. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:18.195[18]; 23. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:18.606[19]

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IMCA MODIFIEDS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 3-Kelly Shryock[2]; 2. 2-Nick Meyer[1]; 3. 49K-Cody Knecht[3]; 4. 3W-Garett Wilson[4]; 5. C5-Chris Palsrok[5]; 6. 32X-Gerald Curry[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kelly Shryock[5]; 2. 49K-Cody Knecht[1]; 3. 2-Nick Meyer[2]; 4. 3W-Garett Wilson[3]; 5. C5-Chris Palsrok[6]; 6. 32X-Gerald Curry[4]

IMCA STOCK CARS

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 3-Kelly Shryock[8]; 2. 517-McCain Jennings[1]; 3. 343-Jeff Feaster[10]; 4. AK46-Gary Pesicka[3]; 5. 76-Ben Petersen[6]; 6. 154E-Karter Evans[5]; 7. 75-Phillip lusson[4]; 8. 57-Chris Palsrok[2]; 9. (DNF) 44K-Kevin Opheim[7]; 10. (DNF) 46M-Loren Pescicka[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kelly Shryock[1]; 2. 44K-Kevin Opheim[2]; 3. 46M-Loren Pescicka[5]; 4. 76-Ben Petersen[4]; 5. 154E-Karter Evans[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 517-McCain Jennings[2]; 2. 343-Jeff Feaster[1]; 3. 57-Chris Palsrok[3]; 4. 75-Phillip lusson[5]; 5. (DNF) AK46-Gary Pesicka[4]

IMCA SPORT MODS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 08-Alec Fett[8]; 2. 00-Colby Fett[4]; 3. 5J-Justin Raymond[1]; 4. 5-Jake Simpson[2]; 5. 81-Charlie Stevens[7]; 6. 79W-Bill Wegner[9]; 7. XA-Alissa Palsrok[11]; 8. 69-Greg Noah[3]; 9. 67-Greg Kramer[6]; 10. (DNF) 25-Ray Shoemaker[5]; 11. (DNF) 25S-Alex Smith[10]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 08-Alec Fett[2]; 2. 5J-Justin Raymond[1]; 3. 00-Colby Fett[6]; 4. 5-Jake Simpson[3]; 5. 25S-Alex Smith[4]; 6. XA-Alissa Palsrok[5]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 67-Greg Kramer[1]; 2. 81-Charlie Stevens[5]; 3. 79W-Bill Wegner[2]; 4. 25-Ray Shoemaker[3]; 5. 69-Greg Noah[4]

IMCA HOBBY STOCKS

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. T8-Brandon Nielsen[7]; 2. 00-Cody Hubbell[9]; 3. 10X-Brett Doege[6]; 4. 99X-Josh Sidles[2]; 5. 1-Greg Sidles[13]; 6. 27X-James Burns[8]; 7. 48-Derrick Barglof[1]; 8. 28-Jay Sidles[5]; 9. T1M-Tim Sidles[10]; 10. 43-Jade Lange[12]; 11. 9-Tony Pogeler[11]; 12. (DNF) 01-Micah Lavrenz[3]; 13. (DNF) 91-Chris Krug[4]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. T8-Brandon Nielsen[5]; 2. 00-Cody Hubbell[4]; 3. 10X-Brett Doege[6]; 4. 01-Micah Lavrenz[1]; 5. 28-Jay Sidles[3]; 6. 9-Tony Pogeler[7]; 7. (DNF) 1-Greg Sidles[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 27X-James Burns[2]; 2. 99X-Josh Sidles[3]; 3. 48-Derrick Barglof[6]; 4. T1M-Tim Sidles[4]; 5. (DNF) 91-Chris Krug[5]; 6. (DNF) 43-Jade Lange[1]