Denny Eckrich Claims 30th Annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic

By: Sam Steiner and Mike Schmidt

  Farley Speedway was packed solid Saturday night, in anticipation of the 30th annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic.  Three preliminary nights lead to the action packed Saturday night.  Saturday night started with the Auto Acres Non-Qualifiers race.  Plenty of big names were relegated to this race after not qualifying through heats or consolation races on Friday night.  Darren Miller and Dan Shelliam lead the field to green to start the twenty-five lap race, hoping to take the final two spots in the Yankee Dirt Track Classic.  Miller took the early lead, running the top side, with Shelliam close behind.  The top two started to pull away from the pack as Brian Harris worked his way forward from his ninth position starting spot.  Early in the race, Darren Miller jumped the cushion, giving the lead to Shelliam, who promptly ran away from Miller.  Shelliam pulled away to a straight-away lead, until he started to encounter lapped traffic on lap sixteen.  Miller then began to reel in Shelliam.  The race's only caution flag flew on lap 20, putting Miller and Brian Harris right on Shelliam's back bumper.  On the restart, Shelliam again took the lead, and Harris worked his way around Miller to grab the final transfer position into the Yankee.  Shelliam went on to win the Auto Acres feature race over Harris, Miller, Craig Jacobs, and Darrin Duffy.  Both Shelliam and Harris took the option to start at the back of the Yankee 100 field.
  After the 25 lap Auto Acres race, the field of 26 cars was set for the 100 lap main event, with fastest qualifier Eric Pember on the pole position.  At the drop of the green flag, John Anderson shot to the lead ahead of Pember and Denny Eckrich.  Denny Eckrich made quick work of Pember, taking second on lap two and setting his sights on the leader.  By lap eight, Denny Eckrich had taken over the lead from John Anderson.  By lap fourteen, Eckrich had already begun lapping cars in the back of the pack.  Eckrich continued to stretch his lead over second place Anderson, gaining a straight-away advantage by lap twenty-five.  The first caution flag flew for the stalled car of Jill George on lap 35.  On the restart, Eckrich again took command ahead of Anderson, younger brother Andy Eckrich, Eric Pember and Jeremiah Hurst.  Another caution flew on lap fifty-one for Brian Harris.  On lap 61, the f15 car of Justin Fegers was pressuring the 11 car of Ace Ihm heavily for the ninth position.  This was only a sign of things to come for Justin Fegers.  After a restart on lap seventy, Dave Eckrich was on the move, passing both Hurst and Andy Eckrich to take third.  Another caution on lap seventy-six gave Dave Eckrich new life and a chance at taking the lead from his brother, Denny.  On the restart, he got past John Anderson, and was trying starting to try to reel in his front-running brother.  All three Eckrich's were running in the top five, until lap ninety-two, when Andy Eckrich slowed and went pit side for the remainder of the race.  On the restart, Justin Fegers was in fifth position, and was able to take fourth from Chris Simpson.  John Anderson worked his way back around Dave Eckrich for second place.  The final caution came on lap ninety-eight for the slowed car of Jeff Aikey.  Denny Eckrich again paced the field to the green flag, ahead of John Anderson, Dave Eckrich, Justin Fegers and Chris Simpson.  On the last lap, Eckrich pulled away to take the win over Anderson.  Fegers was able to take third from Dave Eckrich, and Chris Simpson scored a top-five finish.  The win was Denny Eckrich's fourth Yankee Dirt Track Classic win, and his third in the past four years.

Jason Schueller led all 25 laps to take home the modified feature. By lap five the top six began to break away from the field. Schueller used the low line spread out his lead over the field. After several caution Schueller began to increase his lead. On lap 15 Mark Schulte raced to the second position. On lap 19 there was three wide racing for the third position between Ryan Dolan, Brad Diercks, and Darin Walch. Walch was scored as third. After a few late race cautions Schueller continued to lead with a four wide battle took place with Schulte, Dolan, Diercks, and Walch. Schueller took home the modified Yankee title on Saturday night ahead of Schulte, Dolan, Diercks, and Walch.

Matt Bodman scored back to back Yankee Limited Late Model titles. Bodman took the race lead on lap one. Fans saw the red number 35 of Jim Brokus work his way through the field to challenge for second on lap five. A side by side battle broke out between Jon Rogers and Scott Reichers for fourth on lap six. By lap eight Brokus started to decrease the lead that Bodman had on him. After several cautions Brokus was getting closer and closer to Bodman. Bodman took him his second straight Yankee victory over Brokus, Joel Callahan, Brian Beaudry, Rogers and Becky Roth.

Steve Wetter survived several cautions and some rain to take home the b-modified feature win ahead of Ron Barker, BJ Schmitt, Tim Current and Mark Massey.

Greg Gill put his stock car into the lead on lap one with Mark Massey and Scott Diercks behind him. On lap three Gill and Massey put their cars side by side for the race lead. After a restart Gill and Massey got together causing Gill to fall back. Diercks took that advantage and took over the race lead. The stock car race was put into time out to allow for the late model races. After the time out was lifted Diercks continued to lead ahead of Gill, and Rick Brokus. On lap eight the huge Yankee crowd saw Diercks and Gill went back to side by side racing for the lead, Diercks edged out for the lead. Diercks and Gill continued to race side by side till the end. The last lap was exciting watching Diercks, Gill, Massey and Brokus running all bunched up for position. Gill took home the win over, Diercks, Massey, Brokus and David Brandies.

Jeff Willis was awarded the Limited Stock Yankee trophy after a post race inspection forced officials to disqualify the race winner Kelly Welter. Scott Lundell took home second, Roger Gaul third, Jack Jewison fourth and Larry Schultz fifth.

Joe Zrostlik won the Farley Flyer Yankee feature ahead of John Flury, Shawn Stackis, Chuck Schmitz, and Matt Stagman.

Jeremiah Hurst won the Wednesday night late model show ahead of Andy Eckrich, Jeff Aikey, and Kurt Kile. Brian Harris took the early race lead and lead until he made contact with the wrecked car of Rob Toland. Harris had a nine second lead over the field before the contact and caution. After the restart Harris began to fall back while Hurst took over the lead. Hurst led the last five laps to earn the victory.

Farley 9-15-07

Yankee Night #4

Late Model

1. Denny Eckrich
2. Jon Anderson
3. Justin Fegers
4. Dave Eckrich
5. Chris Simpson
6. Eric Pember
7. Chad Simpson
8. Jeremiah Hurst
9. Joel Callahan
10. Steve Ihm
11. Dan Shelliam
12. Darren Mish

• John Kanta
• Mike Fryer
• Jason Rauen
• Jeff Aikey
• Levi Benn
• Andy Eckrich
• Larry McCall
• Jill George
• Tom Elston
• Brain Harris
• Steve Lance
• Scott Lemke
• Pete Parker
• Curt Martin

Auto Acres

1. Dan Shelliam
2. Brian Harris
3. Darrin Miller
4. Craig Jacobs
5. Jeff Tharp
6. Darin Duffy
7. Gary Webb
8. Jerry Miles
9. Andrew McKay
10. Bob Bollen
11. Ed Sanger
12. Ed Nelson
13. Ron Klein
14. Will Harris
15. Jerry Lauber
16. Chris Schroeder
17. Steve Hunter
18. Denny Woodworth
19. Nick Marolf
20. Jerry King
21. Todd Hormel
22. Curt Schroeder
23. Dale Stolte
24. Mike Stadel
25. Joe Dirks
26. Mike Fryer
27. Larry McCall

Modified

1. Jason Schueller
2. Mark Schulte
3. Ryan Dolan
4. Brad Diercks
5. Darin Walch
6. Mike Weideman
7. Ron Barker
8. JD Auringer
9. Dennis Dugan
10. Mike Burbridge
11. Larry Herring
12. Mark Massey
13. Mel Saffran
14. Shaun Lewis
15. Phil Holtz
16. Ryan Deshaw
17. Jan Messer
18. Scott Stetcher
19. Jerry King
20. Robbie Verbeck
21. Rusty Deshaw
22. Jeremy English
23. Jacob Seegmiller
24. Steve Johnson
25. Rickie Smith

Limited Late Model

1. Matt Bodman
2. Jim Brokus
3. Joel Callahan
4. Brian Beaudry
5. Jon Rogers
6. Becky Roth
7. John Maher
8. Jeff Valentine
9. Rod Cameron
10. Jaime Pfeiffer
11. Mitch Current
12. Steve Hunter
13. Roger Cielieski
14. Rich Picha
15. Randy Nieman
16. Tracy Meinders
17. James Hendricks
18. Ryan Hill
19. Brandon Harris
20. Jake Meier
21. Dan Welp
22. Scott Reichers
23. Terry Lawson
24. Jim Amos
25. Jeremy Gengler
26. Dan Reed
27. Richard Steadman

Stock Car

1. Greg Gill
2. Scott Diercks
3. Mark Massey
4. Rick Brokus
5. David Brandies
6. Ed McIntyre
7. Shane Oberbroeckling
8. Cory Bauer
9. Wayne Hora
10. Nick Nevins
11. Brain Brunscheen
12. Terry Rittmer
13. Dan Miller
14. Matt Bennett
15. Mel Saffran
16. Duke Ruff
17. Dave Hedrick
18. Lee Ruff
19. Matt Picray
20. Ricky Shenberger
21. Mike Potoff
22. Kevin Brame
23. Kelly Welter
24. Morris Beatly
25. Jerry Merkes
26. Jamie Figg

Farley 9-13-07

Yankee Night #2

B-Modified

1. Steve Wetter
2. Ron Barker
3. BJ Schmitt
4. Tim Current
5. Mark Massey
6. Rusty Deshaw
7. Kurt Orgt
8. Doug Bishop
9. Toby Hartman
10. Tony Olsen
11. Kenny Boyes
12. Todd Lawer
13. Bill Campbell
14. Ryan Schilling
15. Rick Galloway
16. Zach Less
17. Phil Beard
18. Jay Laue
19. Joey Jorgensen
20. Matt Christ
21. Phil Holtz
22. Jarrett Franzen
23. Jason Seegmiller
24. Dan Hahn
25. Adam Kinion

Limited Stock

1. Jeff Willis
2. Scott Lundell
3. Roger Gaul
4. Jack Jewison
5. Larry Schultz
6. Thomas Thompson
7. Tyler Soppe
8. Wes Hames
9. Ryan Federman
10. Ryan Schromen
11. Jackson Simmons
12. Kevin Welter
13. Brandon Wilson
14. Jeff Ronek
15. Hope Schmerbach
16. Kelly Welter

Farley Flyers

1. Joe Zrostlik
2. John Flury
3. Shawn Stackis
4. Chuck Schmitz
5. Matt Stagman
6. Jack Jewison
7. Brannon Beschen
8. Jarrett Gerber
9. Dustin Wilwert
10. Curtis Nesteby
11. Jeremy Campbell
12. Cody Richards
13. Charlie Nesteby
14. Matt Roloff
15. Dan Heer
16. Chris Krogmer
17. John Campbell
18. Joe Jewison (DNS)
19. Dan Kaiser (DNS)
20. Jena Barthelemes (DNS)

Farley 9-12-07

Yankee Night #1

Late Model

1. Jeremiah Hurst
2. Andy Eckrich
3. Jeff Aikey
4. Kurt Kile
5. Brian Harris
6. Joel Callahan
7. Curt Martin
8. Matt Furman
9. Jill George
10. Darrin Duffy
11. Mitch Current
12. Fred Remy
13. Gary Webb
14. Bob Bollen
15. Todd Hormel
16. Rob Toland
17. Eric Gustaf
18. Jeff Kennedy
19. Jason Rauen
20. Dale Stole
21. Kevin Kile
22. Joe Diercks
23. Darren Mish
24. Jon Rogers