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Eckrich wins duelMIDDLETOWN, Sep 05, 2011 (The Hawk Eye - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Andy Eckrich has known Ray Guss, Jr., since Eckrich was 10 years old. He has been dreaming of beating Guss in a big race ever since. Back in 1993, Guss was driving for Larry Eckrich, Andy's father, when Guss won the Pepsi USA Late Model Nationals at 34 Raceway. On Sunday night, 18 years later, Eckrich realized his dream. Eckrich passed Guss for the lead with seven laps remaining in the 99-lap feature, then held on after a caution flag with two laps to go to win the $10,000 top prize. Eckrich, now 28, celebrated the biggest victory of his career and pulled within six points of Guss' lead in the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models points standings. For Eckrich, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream. "I thought about it all last night sitting there in the hauler sleeping. I thought, 'Man, it would be awesome to follow in the footsteps of somebody like Ray Guss, Jr., a great driver. They'll never take this away from me," Eckrich said. "I've won a couple $10,000-to-win races, but this one is the crown jewel of Iowa. This one is a pretty big deal for me." For Guss, it was a bitter pill to swallow. He has come close to winning the Pepsi USA Late Model Nationals on several occasions since 1993, but saw this one slip away late after leading 70 of the 99 laps. "There at the end when we caught some lapped traffic I chose a bad line and Andy got on the outside of me. He just basically started pulling away from me. I was kind of struggling most of the race, really. When he got ahead of me he got smoother and pulled away a little bit. I tried the outside on him there in the green, white, checkered to see if I could make that stick. It wasn't the way to go, but what the heck, he's a tough competitor," Guss said. Justin Reed of Quincy, Ill., finished third and was coming on strong over the last 20 laps. Jay Johnson of West Burlington, the 1997 champion, finished fourth, followed by Tom Goble of Burlington. However, neither had cleared through IMCA technical inspection as of press time. Both drivers had their ignition boxes confiscated by IMCA officials. Colby Springsteen of Morning Sun finished sixth. Tyler Bruening of Decorah took the lead on the start, with Guss in close pursuit. Bruening led the first 21 laps before spinning out in the fourth turn. That put Bruening in the back and gave Guss a lead he would hold for the next 55 laps. Johnson moved up to second and challenged Guss for the lead midway through the race. Johnson looked set to make his move for the lead when a caution flag came out for debris on the track. Johnson would fall back on the restart. Eckrich powered past Johnson on the restart, then set his sights on Guss. Eckrich took the lead for one circuit on Lap 76 before Guss blew past him on the low side coming out of the second turn. While Guss led the next 16 laps, he knew he was running on borrowed time. The decisive moment came on Lap 92. Guss, trying to hold off Eckrich, came up on the lapped car of Darrel DeFrance. As the three cars went into the third and fourth turns, Guss stayed low while Eckrich went high. That left Guss trapped on the bottom with nowhere to go and nothing to do but watch Eckrich slide by for the lead. "That was some of the deal. I don't sit here and blame anybody. (DeFrance) was running his line. I have to choose another line. I just didn't choose it soon enough," Guss said. "I was down there on the bottom. He was coming off there, too. I should have moved up a little bit and tried him more in the middle." "I was trying my hardest every lap. There was no strategy. I was really going hard at it. I knew if I didn't screw up and hit that corner twice in a row with those lapped cars coming up, I might be able to get by the bottom one first and then duck low and time it perfect and get the other one. Sometimes it just works in your favor. It came out in the end," Eckrich said. Eckrich was pulling away from Guss when a final caution came out with two laps to go when Dennis Woodworth, the 34 Raceway season champion who was running third at the time, spun out in the third and fourth turns. That gave Guss one final shot at Eckrich. "I was thinking, 'Don't screw up.' This is what you dream about. Every kid that plays basketball dreams about shooting the winning shot in the last couple seconds. When you're a racer growing up, you dream about passing for the lead on the last lap. You don't want to get passed. Nervous is one thing to say. Respect is another. I knew he wasn't going to move me out of the way. So I knew if I wasn't screwing up, he was going to beat me because he was faster, not because he was going to blade me," Eckrich said. "There was a muddy stripe right there coming off the corner. I knew if I hit it with the left rear tire and then hit this one here (turns three and four) with the right front tire, I was going to make two pretty good laps. I guess I did my two jobs." Eckrich finally realized his dream. He beat Guss and won the biggest IMCA late model race of the season. "I started racing when I was 16. I came to my first race when I was six weeks old. I have been around racing all my life," Eckrich said. "Most kids took the garbage out and fed the chickens. I was grooving tires." Eckrich won't have much time to rest on his laurels. The Deery Brothers Summer Series fo IMCA Late Models make a stop this afternoon at Boone Speedway. "We've been running one-two. He gained a point on me tonight, so it's still a close battle. It's going to be that way all the way to the end, I think," Guss said. "It feels awesome. The only thing that sucks is (today) I have to be in Boone at 2 o'clock in the afternoon to probably eat some humble pie in a hurry. I don't get to enjoy it for long. But we'll take her how. I'm glad to do it," Eckrich said. "Ray is just tough competition. It's going to come down to who doesn't have a bad night." ___ (c)2011 The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa) Visit The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa) at www.thehawkeye.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |