August 20, 2023 | By Anthony Ainslie

Chad Simpson survives late race drama to Win at West Liberty

West Liberty, IA —  Chad Simpson completed the weekend sweep with the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking Super Late Models East Series with a perfect Saturday night at West Liberty Raceway.

The massive half-mile oval at the Muscatine County Fairgrounds in West Liberty, Iowa played host to the East Series for the 17th stop on the tour. Drivers from all across Iowa as well as Illinois and even Arizona made the trip out to West Liberty for a chance at the $3,000 top prize.

Chad Holladay was the night’s top qualifier. The Muscatine, Iowa driver clocked in at 18.802 seconds. Nick Marolf, Chad Simpson, Brian Harris, and Matt Ryan won the four heat races on the night. Later in the night, 26 cars took center stage for the 25-lap main event with Charlie McKenna starting on the pole.
McKenna was quick to take the race lead while Matt Ryan ran second. Behind Ryan was an intense battle as Holladay, Simpson, Harris, Andy Eckrich, and Jeff Tharp were all battling for position.

A couple of cautions came out with eight laps to go, first for Dave Eckrich stopping in turn four and then for Luke Goedert who spun in turn two on the restart.

When racing resumed, Simpson caught McKenna and pulled a crossover move on McKenna for the lead as they came out of turn four. The caution would come out the very next race for a 2-car incident in turn three.

The caution would set off a wild final five laps. Under the caution, Charlie McKenna would pull off with a mechanical issue while running second.
The biggest incident of the night came two laps later with three to go as Kyle Krampe went up and crashed through the wall in turn three bringing out a red flag. Krampe was fortunately able to walk away from the wreck.

Heartbreak would strike another second-place runner with two laps to go as Brian Harris lost his motor putting an end to a potential career best run for the Davenport, Iowa driver.

After it was all said and done, it was Simpson who took the big check for the third time in 2023. The win also completed the weekend sweep after Simpson won a tight race at Lee County Speedway the night before. Simpson also became the fifth different winner in five races with the East Series at West Liberty Raceway.

Chad Holladay finished second and added to his points lead while Andy Eckrich took third. Nick Marolf came in fourth, and Jeff Tharp rounded out the top five.
With Lee County and West Liberty both in the books, the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series meets back up with the Malvern Bank West Series for a big Labor Day weekend doubleheader in Iowa. On September 1st, both tours head to Farley’s 300 Raceway for the 46th annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic. The following night, both tours go head-to-head again at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City.

RESULTS

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 2. 32C-Chad Holladay[3]; 3. 56-Andy Eckrich[5]; 4. 33-Nick Marolf[10]; 5. 10T-Jeff Tharp[7]; 6. 56S-Chris Spieker[15]; 7. 07-Matt Ryan[2]; 8. 77-Jeff Aikey[14]; 9. 91U-Gabe Umbarger[12]; 10. 42-Fred Remley[25]; 11. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[23]; 12. 32-Curtis Glover[24]; 13. 74-Ron Boyse[13]; 14. 15C-Curt Schroeder[22]; 15. 78-Steve Stultz[21]; 16. 21H-Brian Harris[4]; 17. K1-Kyle Krampe[20]; 18. 22-Charlie McKenna[1]; 19. 12-Brandon Queen[18]; 20. 43-Derrick Stewart[9]; 21. 44-Luke Goedert[11]; 22. 58-Dave Eckrich[8]; 23. 25K-Bryan Klein[19]; 24. 5-Jason Hahne[17]; 25. 91-Michael Guldenpfenning[26]; 26. 9G-Anthony Guss[27]; 27. 15K-Justin Kay[16]; 28. (DNS) 11J-Jerry Johnson; 29. (DNS) 01-CJ Horn

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Nick Marolf[2]; 2. 22-Charlie McKenna[5]; 3. 32C-Chad Holladay[6]; 4. 5-Jason Hahne[3]; 5. 77-Jeff Aikey[4]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[1]; 7. 91-Michael Guldenpfenning[7]; 8. 01-CJ Horn[8]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich[5]; 3. 12-Brandon Queen[2]; 4. 78-Steve Stultz[1]; 5. 56S-Chris Spieker[4]; 6. 25K-Bryan Klein[3]; 7. 9G-Anthony Guss[7]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21H-Brian Harris[6]; 2. 91U-Gabe Umbarger[2]; 3. 44-Luke Goedert[3]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 5. 15K-Justin Kay[4]; 6. 32-Curtis Glover[7]; 7. 42-Fred Remley[1]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Matt Ryan[4]; 2. 74-Ron Boyse[2]; 3. 58-Dave Eckrich[5]; 4. 10T-Jeff Tharp[6]; 5. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 6. K1-Kyle Krampe[3]; 7. 11J-Jerry Johnson[7]

Qualifying A: 1. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:18.802[13]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:18.882[4]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:18.904[12]; 4. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:19.051[3]; 5. 77-Jeff Aikey, 00:19.102[6]; 6. 56S-Chris Spieker, 00:19.123[2]; 7. 5-Jason Hahne, 00:19.270[11]; 8. 25K-Bryan Klein, 00:19.307[15]; 9. 33-Nick Marolf, 00:19.391[5]; 10. 12-Brandon Queen, 00:19.573[10]; 11. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:19.606[14]; 12. 78-Steve Stultz, 00:19.817[9]; 13. 91-Michael Guldenpfenning, 00:20.475[8]; 14. 9G-Anthony Guss, 00:20.651[1]; 15. 01-CJ Horn, 00:20.653[7]

Qualifying B: 1. 21H-Brian Harris, 00:18.903[7]; 2. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:18.938[10]; 3. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:18.973[13]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:19.115[5]; 5. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:19.227[1]; 6. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:19.427[12]; 7. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:19.532[4]; 8. K1-Kyle Krampe, 00:19.686[2]; 9. 91U-Gabe Umbarger, 00:19.775[8]; 10. 74-Ron Boyse, 00:19.812[3]; 11. 42-Fred Remley, 00:19.862[6]; 12. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:19.967[9]; 13. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:20.207[11]; 14. 11J-Jerry Johnson, 00:21.717[14]

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SPORT MOD - KILE MOTORSPORTS RACING SUPPLIES

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 00-Shaun Slaughter[1]; 2. 9W-Ryan Walker[6]; 3. 42-Tyler Heckart[3]; 4. 71J-Justin Schroeder[12]; 5. 28-Brad Salisberry[4]; 6. 3Z-Jason Van Zomeren[10]; 7. 16-Joel Payne[9]; 8. 16M-Nick Mosier[8]; 9. 15-Michael Bear[13]; 10. 5A-Nick Aupperle[7]; 11. 352-Charlie Weber[5]; 12. 29-Colton Livesay[2]; 13. (DNS) 25CB-Jim Russell

Heat 1 top 3 redraw (6 Laps): 1. 9W-Ryan Walker[4]; 2. 00-Shaun Slaughter[6]; 3. 28-Brad Salisberry[2]; 4. 5A-Nick Aupperle[5]; 5. 16-Joel Payne[3]; 6. 25CB-Jim Russell[7]; 7. 15-Michael Bear[1]

Heat 2 Top 3 redraw (6 Laps): 1. 42-Tyler Heckart[5]; 2. 352-Charlie Weber[2]; 3. 29-Colton Livesay[3]; 4. 16M-Nick Mosier[1]; 5. 3Z-Jason Van Zomeren[4]; 6. 71J-Justin Schroeder[6]

STOCK CAR - WEST LIBERTY AUTO PARTS CARQUEST

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 29-Nathan Ballard[5]; 2. 00-Johnny Spaw[6]; 3. 96-Greg Gill[2]; 4. 22-Tanner Allen[4]; 5. 23W-Keegan Wells[7]; 6. 08-Bronson Spaw[10]; 7. 83-Harold O'Brein[8]; 8. 27-Matt Picray[3]; 9. 20V-Dustin Vis[1]; 10. 31-Josh Woods[9]

Heat 1 top 3 redraw (6 Laps): 1. 27-Matt Picray[2]; 2. 29-Nathan Ballard[4]; 3. 22-Tanner Allen[3]; 4. 08-Bronson Spaw[1]; 5. 31-Josh Woods[5]

Heat 2 top 3 redraw (6 Laps): 1. 00-Johnny Spaw[2]; 2. 20V-Dustin Vis[3]; 3. 96-Greg Gill[4]; 4. 23W-Keegan Wells[5]; 5. 83-Harold O'Brein[1]

COMPACTS - WEST LIBERTY AUTO PARTS CARQUEST

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 89-Cristian Grady[1]; 2. 53-Cody VanDusen[3]; 3. 23H-Alex Hayes[5]; 4. 12T-Trent Fowler[2]; 5. 86-Tim Long[4]; 6. 13-Rachel Kile[6]; 7. 1Z-Colton Zaputil[7]

Heat 1 top 3 redraw (5 Laps): 1. 89-Cristian Grady[1]; 2. 53-Cody VanDusen[4]; 3. 12T-Trent Fowler[2]; 4. 86-Tim Long[3]; 5. 23H-Alex Hayes[7]; 6. 13-Rachel Kile[5]; 7. 1Z-Colton Zaputil[6]

HOBBY STOCKS - KILE MOTORSPORTS RACING SUPPLIES

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 77W-Andrew Burk[1]; 2. 17M-Jared Miller[3]; 3. 55-Cody Staley[5]; 4. 88-Jason Schutterle[2]; 5. 5-Kaden Staley[4]

Heat 1 top 3 redraw (6 Laps): 1. 77W-Andrew Burk[5]; 2. 5-Kaden Staley[3]; 3. 17M-Jared Miller[2]; 4. 55-Cody Staley[4]; 5. 88-Jason Schutterle[1]

MODIFIED - JR'S CAR & TRUCK REPAIR

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 50-Denny Eckrich[1]; 2. 77-Kurt Kile[5]; 3. 9Z-Chris Zogg[9]; 4. 30M-Tim Plummer[2]; 5. 3-Jason Schueller[8]; 6. 25-Derek Walker[4]; 7. 99-Charlie Mohr[7]; 8. 17-Tim Simpson[6]; 9. 20F-John Fellman[11]; 10. 57-Andrew Hamburg[12]; 11. 98-Tim Bader[16]; 12. 7W-Mark Winkel[14]; 13. 01M-Mitch Way[3]; 14. 9G-Anthony Guss[13]; 15. D6-John Connolly[15]; 16. 21B-Barry Dugan[10]

Heat 1 Top 4 Redraw (8 Laps): 1. 50-Denny Eckrich[6]; 2. 17-Tim Simpson[2]; 3. 30M-Tim Plummer[7]; 4. 25-Derek Walker[8]; 5. 9Z-Chris Zogg[5]; 6. 20F-John Fellman[1]; 7. 9G-Anthony Guss[3]; 8. D6-John Connolly[4]

Heat 2 Top 4 Redraw (8 Laps): 1. 99-Charlie Mohr[1]; 2. 77-Kurt Kile[3]; 3. 3-Jason Schueller[5]; 4. 01M-Mitch Way[7]; 5. 21B-Barry Dugan[2]; 6. 57-Andrew Hamburg[4]; 7. 7W-Mark Winkel[6]; 8. 98-Tim Bader[8]