September 2, 2023 | By Anthony Ainslie

Zeitner dominates for first Yankee Dirt Track Classic victory

Farley, IA —  One of Iowa’s longest running events saw a new champion in Friday’s running of the 46th annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic.

The event made its triumphant return to the 300 Raceway in Farley, Iowa after the previous year’s event was held at the Davenport Speedway. The 3/8 mile oval played host to the Malvern Bank and Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking Super Late Model Series as the first part of a big doubleheader weekend in Iowa.

Farley native Jason Rauen was the top qualifier when he laid down a 16.087 second lap around his home track. The four heat races on the night were won by Jesse Sobbing, Jeff Aikey, Dave Eckrich, and Jeff Larson.

After two B features, a 26-car field took to the raceway to battle it out for 50 big laps. Justin Zeitner jumped to the lead from the pole position and held off point leader Tad Pospisil to show the way early.

Tire ware was a pivotal factory many drivers all throughout the race. Luke Goedert, Jason Rauen, Joel Callahan, Charlie McKenna, Kyle Berck, among others, all fell victim to tire issues and were in and out of the hot pit as the race progressed.

After the final caution came out with only two laps left, it came down to Zeitner and Pospisil in a green-white-checkered dash to decide the win of the Classic. Zeitner would not miss. The Malvern, Iowa driver would go on to capture the big $5,000 check and every last dollar of lap money after he led all 50 laps to secure his first win in the Yankee Dirt Track Classic.

Tad Pospisil had to settle for second while Andy Eckrich came in third. Jesse Sobbing finished fourth, and Dylan Sillman, in his first ever appearance in the Classic, rounded out the top five.

The second part of the Iowa doubleheader weekend for both East and West tours will be at the half-mile Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, Iowa for the Bill Rice Memorial. After that, the Malvern Bank West Series will return to action on September 8th with their third and final stop of the year to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.

RESULTS

A Feature (50 Laps): 1. 62-Justin Zeitner[1]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[2]; 3. 56-Andy Eckrich[7]; 4. 99-Jesse Sobbing[8]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman[9]; 6. 32C-Chad Holladay[18]; 7. 22-Charlie McKenna[19]; 8. 77-Jeff Aikey[15]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski[21]; 10. 58-Dave Eckrich[12]; 11. 40-Joel Callahan[3]; 12. 07-Matt Ryan[20]; 13. 14-Kyle Berck[6]; 14. 15K-Justin Kay[13]; 15. 42-Fred Remley[24]; 16. 99L-Jeff Larson[14]; 17. 98-Jason Rauen[4]; 18. 24-Bill Leighton[17]; 19. 56S-Chris Spieker[26]; 20. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[25]; 21. 76H-Jason Hahne[11]; 22. 85-Josh Leonard[16]; 23. 44-Luke Goedert[5]; 24. 68-Mike Prochnow[10]; 25. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[23]; 26. 15C-Curt Schroeder[22]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[4]; 2. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 3. 45-Curt Martin[3]; 4. P7-Eric Pollard[5]; 5. 74-Ron Boyse[7]; 6. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[6]; 8. 42-Fred Remley[9]; 9. 52-Brian Kosiski[1]; 10. 43-Derrick Stewart[10]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 32C-Chad Holladay[1]; 2. 07-Matt Ryan[2]; 3. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[4]; 4. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[6]; 5. 10T-Jeff Tharp[3]; 6. 25B-Bryan Klein[7]; 7. 56S-Chris Spieker[9]; 8. 32-Curtis Glover[8]; 9. 8-Jaden Fryer[5]; 10. 17-Ryan Hill[10]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Jesse Sobbing[2]; 2. 07-Matt Ryan[1]; 3. 68-Mike Prochnow[3]; 4. 40-Joel Callahan[6]; 5. 52-Brian Kosiski[4]; 6. 8-Jaden Fryer[7]; 7. 74-Ron Boyse[9]; 8. 32-Curtis Glover[8]; 9. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[5]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Jeff Aikey[1]; 2. 15K-Justin Kay[2]; 3. 44-Luke Goedert[4]; 4. 14-Kyle Berck[6]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman[5]; 6. 45-Curt Martin[3]; 7. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[8]; 8. 25B-Bryan Klein[7]; 9. 17-Ryan Hill[9]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Dave Eckrich[1]; 2. 76H-Jason Hahne[2]; 3. 98-Jason Rauen[6]; 4. 62-Justin Zeitner[5]; 5. 24-Bill Leighton[8]; 6. 10T-Jeff Tharp[3]; 7. 43-Derrick Stewart[4]; 8. 56S-Chris Spieker[9]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski[7]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 99L-Jeff Larson[1]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich[3]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 5. 32C-Chad Holladay[4]; 6. 85-Josh Leonard[5]; 7. P7-Eric Pollard[8]; 8. 15C-Curt Schroeder[7]; 9. 42-Fred Remley[9]

Qualifying A: 1. 40-Joel Callahan, 00:16.201[4]; 2. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:16.264[16]; 3. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:16.296[2]; 4. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:16.309[12]; 5. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:16.337[1]; 6. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:16.389[15]; 7. 68-Mike Prochnow, 00:16.445[3]; 8. 45-Curt Martin, 00:16.451[13]; 9. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:16.466[7]; 10. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:16.535[11]; 11. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:16.627[8]; 12. 77-Jeff Aikey, 00:16.728[10]; 13. 8-Jaden Fryer, 00:16.831[14]; 14. 25B-Bryan Klein, 00:16.834[17]; 15. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:16.863[5]; 16. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:16.877[6]; 17. 74-Ron Boyse, 00:17.094[18]; 18. 17-Ryan Hill, 00:17.177[9]

Qualifying B: 1. 98-Jason Rauen, 00:16.087[4]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:16.153[3]; 3. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:16.217[2]; 4. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:16.240[7]; 5. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:16.288[9]; 6. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:16.351[15]; 7. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:16.396[1]; 8. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:16.440[5]; 9. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:16.496[14]; 10. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:16.515[18]; 11. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:16.523[12]; 12. 99L-Jeff Larson, 00:16.553[8]; 13. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:16.640[6]; 14. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:16.729[10]; 15. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:16.752[13]; 16. P7-Eric Pollard, 00:16.776[16]; 17. 56S-Chris Spieker, 00:16.795[11]; 18. 42-Fred Remley, 00:16.806[17]