English and Nickell Highlight 4-Cylinder Madness

The Midwest Dash Series joined us on Friday, June 9th along with the Enduro Sprint Series and our weekly racing program. This list of races built another fun-filled evening of racing on both tracks at Hawkeye Downs!

The Sunline Hornets had another tight battle once again between Corey Crispin, Chad Vozenilek, and Ian Pate. Crispin led most of the race until he collided with a lapped car on the backstretch during the white flag lap bringing out the yellow flag. Despite some front-end damage, Crispin was able to continue and race officials put him back at the front for a green-white-checkered finish. Crispin would hold off for the feature victory over Vozenilek. 

After a rough finish last week due to a tire issue, Ness was strong again, capturing the Performance Foods Sportsman feature win. He was able to outduel Hanson, who battled a loose car throughout the evening. 

Reggie Mitchell brought a fast car to the track in the Anderson Automotive Hobby Stocks for the second week in a row. He led wire-to-wire, holding off Derek Parrott for the win. Parrott didn’t have to battle traffic as much but wasn’t able to reel in the teenager. 

The Midwest Dash was light on cars this year due to attrition and motor issues, but they were not light on the racing action during their feature race! It was Wisconsin's Mark English who motored past Phil Malouf mid-way through the race to get the victory. Dan Braun, who set a fast time in qualifying, appeared on the bumper of English right at the end but ran out of time to make a move. 

“It was my second time here, and last year we were way under-geared,” said English. “She ran well on the high side, so I went where they weren’t.”

A couple of yellow flag incidents in the Legends.Direct Legends set Kevin Korsmo to the front of the pack. Korsmo led the majority of the race, running the bottom and holding off Jordan Miklas and Danny Lehmkuhl, who weren’t able to find enough speed to make the pass. It was Korsmo’s second victory of the season. 

The Cassill Motors Sport Mods feature was an eventful one, with Hunter Wimer leading the opening part of the race before being involved in a caution and having to fall to the back of the field. From there, the race went downhill for Wimer, who had more issues, including spinning off turn one. The restarts put Jonathan Williams in a good spot to challenge Patrick Flannagan but he just needed a bit more speed to pull it off. Flannagan sped away to the feature win. 

The final race of the evening was the Interstate Power Systems Enduro Sprint presented by Mt Vernon Road Tire & Marion Tire. Drew Nickell ‘drew’ himself the pole and led every lap, managing traffic on his way to victory. Eric Legue was hard-charging but could only get to third place behind Zach Sedlacek. 

“This car has always been fast,” Nickell said. “Starting on the pole was a pretty bad handicap but still got it done.”

This Friday, June 16th is Linn Animal Hospital night at the races! We’ll be hot on the track with our five weekly classes, plus the AIRS Vintage Series and the late models! 

Gates open at 6pm, racing begins at 7pm. More information is available on Facebook.