Dustin Schram drove turns three and four of East Moline Speedway a little differently Sunday evening.
Working the steering wheel, he used the upper racing grooves and sped to the 25-lap Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model season championship feature win.
“Wow, we really actually have struggled recently, but put a lot of work into this and here we are,” Schram said in Victory Lane.
Track champion Jacob Waterman led from the pole until the Colona hotshoe lost control in turn four just a handful of laps from the checkered flag. He ended up fourth and clinched the title.
“We had our ups and downs all year,” Waterman said. “We kept trying things on the car and it worked especially on the nights we won. I have a lot of people to thank to make this possible.”
The race stayed green even after Waterman fell back and Schram held off a charging Mike Guldenpfennig at the end.
“I was looking to stay high, but made it work wherever I needed to go,” Schram added. “Not too bad for a spec engine racing against these crates.”
Guldenpfennig, Joe Beal, Waterman and Gary Webb rounded out the top five.
Travis Denning may have faced the toughest competition all year, but still got the job done in the 20-lap J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified title race. He beat visitor Jed Freiburger, Mitch Morris, Californian Troy Morris III and Mike Garland.
Denning entered the event just two points ahead of Brandon Durbin. The latter paced the first lap and then stopped against the wall in turn one, ending his hopes. Denning took off on the restart and paced the rest of the way.
Logan Veloz started out front and won the Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMod 15-lap win, topping off the 18-year old’s first track crown. The win was not without battles as track runner up David Engelkens and Trey Grimm stayed close the entire distance while waiting out cautions. He finished the regular season with nine wins and beat Engelkens, Grimm, Keith Wiersema and Rayce Mullen.
Jesse Owen capped his third straight Dynamic Power Street Stock title with a victory in the 15-lap feature followed by Rob Nylin, Joe Bonney, Kyler Hickenbottom and Veronica Anderson. Rob Henry was in the mix early for the top spot, but a mechanical issue ended his run early.
Randy Lamar became the third different Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stock champ in the three-year history of the class at the track, following Steve Cox and Adam Parker.
Lamar led all 12 circuits to take the finale over Donnie Cole, Jordan Patz, Keith Lilly and Nathan Smith.
Cyle Hawkins already had clinched the Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compact crown and topped it off with the 12-lap feature victory. Drew Wise, a charging Tommy Staggs, Dustin Porter and Jason Rhoads followed.
Jeff Durst took the American Iron Racing Series 12 lapper, making it three different winners on the high banked quarter-mile speedplant in 2022. Owen Hayes, Terry Mattly, Doak Allen and Ron Cook came next.
A total of 98 cars were in the pits and the final checkered flag fell before 10:00 p.m.
With the track championships decided, the 2022 season continues this Sunday Sept. 4 with the annual Fallen Heroes Memorial Street Stock special. Owen is the defending winner. Drivers are expected from as many as five states for the $2,000 top prize. Modifieds, SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts also will be in action.
For more information, log on to the East Moline Speedway Facebook page or call 563-343-8250.
Following are the UNOFFICIAL RESULTS of stock car racing Sunday evening at East Moline Speedway, East Moline, Ill., listed with finishing position, car number, driver and starting position.
Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Models
Season Championship Feature (25 laps) – 1. 92-Dustin Schram[2]; 2. 91-Mike Guldenpfennig[10]; 3. 77-Joe Beal[6]; 4. 10-Jacob Waterman[1]; 5. W56-Gary Webb[5]; 6. 2-Bryan Klein[14]; 7. 07-Matt Ryan[3]; 8. 53-LeRoy Brenner[4]; 9. 1H-Mike Haines[7]; 10. 74-Doug Burkhead[11]; 11. 18F-Anthony Franklin[12]; 12. 9-Bobby Hansen[13]; 13. 35-Chance Huston[9]; 14. 70-Mack Mulvany[8]
1st Heat (10 laps) – 1. Ryan 2. Schram 3. Burkhead 4. Hansen
2nd Heat (10 laps) – 1. Waterman 2. Webb 3. Guldenpfennig 4. Klein
2022 Track Champion – Waterman
J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modifieds
Season Championship Feature (20 laps) – 1. 56D-Travis Denning[1]; 2. 6-Jed Freiburger[13]; 3. 70-Mitch Morris[7]; 4. 07X-Troy Morris III[15]; 5. G1-Mike Garland[3]; 6. J1-Jim Sandusky[4]; 7. 19B-Austin Blume[12]; 8. 56B-BJ Jackson[9]; 9. 85-Mike Zemo Jr[11]; 10. 3C-Richard Vela[8]; 11. 19C-Alex VerVynck[6]; 12. 9G-Anthony Guss[5]; 13. 19H-Nick Hillyer[10]; 14. 02-Tyler McAnally[14]; 15. 15D-Brandon Durbin[2]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Freiburger 2. Morris 3. Zemo 4. Durbin
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Denning 2. Blume 3. Morris 4. Jackson
2022 Track Champion – Denning
Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods
Season Championship Feature (15 laps) – 1. 43LV-Logan Veloz[1]; 2. 65-David Engelkens[2]; 3. 88-Trey Grimm[3]; 4. 90-Keith Wiersema[6]; 5. 77JR-Rayce Mullen[10]; 6. 10-Erick Turner[5]; 7. 28-Brad Salisberry[19]; 8. 31-Austin Coyne[24]; 9. 81-Adam Parker[9]; 10. 34-Josh Marth[7]; 11. 19H-Chris Hesseling[14]; 12. 18C-Dakota Cole[11]; 13. 35-Pat Emerick[16]; 14. 08-Tyler Carrol[13]; 15. 99-Chris Dunn[22]; 16. 71-Bryan Heather[17]; 17. 68B-Raiff Cauwels[15]; 18. 45-Eddie Holden[23]; 19. 3-Will Emerick Jr[18]; 20. 18W-Josh Woodruff[21]; 21. 24-Jeff Schoonover[8]; 22. 76-Chuck Fox[4]; 23. F81-John Freeman[20]; DNS – 6-Brody Prescott
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Marth 2. Turner 3. Grimm 4. Woodruff
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Fox 2. Engelkens 3. Wiersema 4. Rauwels
3rd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Cole 2. Salisberry 3. Veloz 4. Mullen
2022 Track Champion – Veloz
Dynamic Power Street Stocks
Season Championship Feature (15 laps) – 1. 95-Jesse Owen[1]; 2. 1-Rob Nylin[2]; 3. 70-Joe Bonney[4]; 4. 8H-Kyler Hickenbottom[3]; 5. R00-Veronica Anderson[8]; 6. 3P-Alex Pappas[9]; 7. 83-Jim Rutsaert[5]; 8. A78-Austin Vorbeck[11]; 9. 61S-Jeff Streitmatter[6]; 10. 00-Rob Henry[7]; 11. 8-Rick Schriner[10]; 12. 7Z-Clay Hockaday[12]
1st Heat (8 laps) – 1. Henry 2. Bonney 3. Nylin 4. Schriner
2nd Heat (8 laps) – 1. Owen 2. Rutsaert 3. Hickenbottom 4. Pappas
2022 Track Champion – Owen
Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stocks
Season Championship Feature (12 laps) – 1. 4R-Randy LaMar[1]; 2. 15-Donald Cole[2]; 3. 55J-Jordan Patz[5]; 4. 44-Keith Lilly[6]; 5. 2-Nathan Smith[3]; 6. 12-Dylan Said[7]; 7. 37-Virgil Paul Jr[4]
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Lamar 2.Said 3. Cole 4. Smith
2022 Track Champion – Lamar
Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts
Season Championship Feature (12 laps) – 1. 28-Cyle Hawkins[1]; 2. 14-Drew Wise[2]; 3. 14X-Tommy Staggs[7]; 4. 4D-Dustin Porter[4]; 5. 514-Jason Rhoads[3]; 6. 25M-Nolan Morrow[5]; 7. 29-Roy Schmidt[6]; 8. 630-Dustin Munn[8]; 9. 85-Austin Schnupp[9]
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Staggs 2. Wise 3. Porter 4. Rhoads
2022 Track Champion – Hawkins
American Iron Racing Series
Feature (12 laps) – 1. 77J-Jeff Durst[1]; 2. 29-Owen Hayes[5]; 3. 50-Terry Mattly[3]; 4. 01-Doak Allen[8]; 5. 17SR-Ron Cook[6]; 6. 501-Bart Miller[12]; 7. 6-Emily Meyer[2]; 8. 11-Jake Hayes[11]; 9. 15VL-Domanic McNabb[10]; 10. 63-Steve Olson[14]; 11. 42-Bruce Yoerger[7]; 12. 5-Brian Gade[16]; 13. 727-Justin Stock[13]; 14. 15-David Bielenberg[4]; 15. 16-Robin Atkins[17]; 16. 18-Jeff Hollenbeck[15]; 17. 23-Dennis Etten[9]
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Cook 2. Miller 3. Bielenberg 4. Durst
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Mattly 2. O. Hayes 3. Allen 4. Etten
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