Chasing championships

Five crown themselves season champions at Lafayette County Speedway

Roger Trame (02) speeds past Noah Eisenhower (5) on a straightaway during the Late Models feature race Aug. 21 at Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington. Trame took 12th, while Eisenhower, who had part of his spoiler fall off earlier in the race, finished 14th. - photo by Adam Krebs

Trame Eisenhower — Roger Trame (02) speeds past Noah Eisenhower (5) on a straightaway during the Late Models feature race Aug. 21 at Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington. Trame took 12th, while Eisenhower, who had part of his spoiler fall off earlier in the race, finished 14th. - photo by Adam Krebs

DARLINGTON — With skies clear and temperatures in the 70s, the Lafayette County Speedway hosted its season championship races Aug. 21. The large crowd witnessed dozens of cautions, a short-lived fire, five heated feature races and celebrated the end of the 2020 regular season with a handful of champions.

David Crimmins of Dubuque needed to simply begin the feature race in order to clinch the season championship. Driving his 16C Hobby Stock car, Crimmins avoided a wreck in the hot laps and in the heat race. He finished ninth in the feature, but he still ran away with the points championship, scoring 300 on the season.

Thomas Wood of Monroe finished five in the feature, but edged out race winner Dakota Simonsen of Fairfax, Iowa, for second place in the season standings by just four points. Jeff Bennett of Darlington was four points behind Simonsen at season’s end for fourth.

In the Hobby Stock feature, Monroe’s Brandon Drafall led much of the race and looked to be on his way to his first win of the season. A caution with five laps to go shrunk Drafall’s lead, and coming out of the yellow flag Simonsen took over the top spot as Drafall was spun around on a turn, leading to another immediate caution. Drafall finished the race in last place.

It was the sixth win of the season for Simonsen — the most in any division at the speedway.

In the Sports Mods feature, Jason Roth of Hazel Green cruised to victory lane and finished the season with a 13-point advantage on Kyle Hoffmann of Benton, who was third in the race.

Jay Ethridge of Verona was on the pole in the feature, and the cars were slowed down almost instantly with a first-lap caution. The race saw six total yellow flags come out, the final with just five laps to go. Ethridge finished the race second. Mike Coogan of Winnebago, Illinois, was third in the season points standings.

In the Late Model class, Freeport’s Jamie Pfeiffer capped his stupendous season with another spin around victory lane. Pfeiffer was 10th of 16 cars coming out of the heat races, but lap by lap he found his way to the front of the pack.

It was the fourth win of the year for Pfeiffer, who ended the season with 316 points, 23 ahead of Dubuque’s Steve Schueller, who took second. Pfeiffer finished in the top three in all races at the speedway this season. Jeff Parks (286) was third in points to close out the year, with DJ Sweet (282) finishing fourth.

Eric Beau of Benton continued his dominant run in the 4-cylinder division. He finished third in the feature behind Dickeyville’s Dylan Kuhl and Dubuque’s John Campbell, but Beau’s 303 points on the year were nine more than Kuhl, who was second. Jared Kingery of Gratiot was third in points in 2020, with Jonathon Walton of Benton finishing fourth.

In the feature, the only yellow flag of the race camp on the last lap. Juda’s Jason Kurth was fourth overall, finishing just ahead of Walton and Cameron Wahl of Montfort.

The final feature of the night was the Modified division, which saw Jeff Larson enter with a 10-point lead on Mike Fryer of Freeport. Larson began and ended the night in the pole position to take the race and the season championship. Larsen, of Freeport, has 18 wins in 41 races on the season around the Midwest, including in 5 of 7 races at the speedway this summer.

Finishing second in the Modifieds feature was Monroe’s Trent Wyssbrod, who held off Derek Thompson, also of Monroe. Thompson would finish third in the season points standings, just two points behind Freeport’s Mike Fryer for second place. Brad Moring of Freeport was fourth, with Wyssbrod finishing fifth in the point totals.

Early on in the race Dustin Wilwert’s 7D went into a wall after clipping Joey Jorgenson’s 21R car. Wilwert’s vehicle briefly produced flames, but he was able to get the engine back on track. After the restart, the race went on for much of the scheduled 20 laps before a yellow with five to go. Larson’s lead never wavered, however, and he took home the final checkered flag of the regular season.

The final scheduled event of racing on the season is set for Sept. 18 and 19 — the Bob Larson Memorial Race where the winner of the Modifieds race will bring in a $3,000 prize.