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Bill Martin
ALLISON, Iowa (July 30) - A late-race collision knocked Terry Neal and Todd Cooney out of the Deery Brothers Summer Series feature at Oskaloosa.
Just one week later, Neal saddled up a new ride and held off Cooney at the finish in the IMCA J & J Steel Late Model tour event at Highway 3 Raceway.
The Wednesday night victory paid $2,000 and was Neal's second of the season and series career 17th. Point leader Boone McLaughlin, Rob Toland and Charlie McKenna completed the top five.
Pole starter Ben Nading led the first three circuits before Neal moved to the front. He opened a comfortable advantage and had caught up with the back of the field before the first caution of the contest came out just before midway through the 35-lapper.
Cooney made his move from the 11th starting spot and went three-wide with McLaughlin and Toland in the fight for second. With that position secured, Cooney tracked down Neal and the front pair ran side-by-side down the backstretch on the white flag lap.
Neal found a bit more bite in the final set of turns, pulling ahead to beat Cooney across the finish line by less than two car lengths. The win was also his career second at the Allison speedplant.
McKenna moved up a dozen spots in finishing fifth. Tom Darbyshire earned the sixth and final qualifying spot from the "B" feature, started 22nd and ended in seventh.
With 11 of 17 scheduled shows in the book, the series makes its first-ever visit to Algona Raceway on Thursday, for a much-anticipated Kossuth County Fair show. Pit gates open at 4:30 p.m., the grandstand opens at 6 p.m., hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.
Feature results -
1. Terry Neal, Ely;
2. Todd Cooney, Des Moines;
3. Boone McLaughlin, Mediapolis;
4. Rob Toland, Davenport;
5. Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake;
6. Matt Strassheim, West Burlington;
7. Tom Darbyshire, Morning Sun;
8. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown;
9. Ryan Griffith, Webster City;
10. Stephan Kammerer, Blue Grass;
11. Jason Hahne, Webster City;
12. Ben Nading, Ankeny;
13. Travis Smock, Independence;
14. Justin Reed, Quincy, Ill.;
15. Andy Nezworski, Buffalo;
16. Luke Pestka, Robins;
17. T.J. Criss, Oskaloosa;
18. Al Johnson, Story City;
19. Bryan Klein, Cedar Rapids;
20. Jeff Bair, Solon;
21. Jeff Aikey, Waterloo;
22. Joe Zrostlik, Long Grove;
23. Clint Wendel, Mason City;
24. Greg Kastli, Waterloo.
1st heat (top four) - 1. McLaughlin; 2. Bair; 3. Griffith; 4. Pestka.
2nd heat - 1. Cooney; 2. Strassheim; 3. DeFrance; 4. Wendel.
3rd heat - 1. Toland; 2. Kastli; 3. Nading; 4. Aikey.
4th heat - 1. Reed; 2. Neal; 3. Kammerer; 4. Johnson.
B feature (top six) - 1. McKenna; 2. Hahne; 3. Criss; 4. Smock; 5. Nezworski; 6. Darbyshire.
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