Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings: August 5

Welcome to the Inside Track's Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings. Each week of the racing season, the Gazette's Jeremiah Davis will rank the area's top 10 drivers across all divisions.

Think the list should be different? Tweet him at @jeremiahdavis10, send him an email at jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com or leave a comment at The Inside Track by Jeremiah Davis Facebook page.

New this week: Matt Ryan, Troy Bauer, Zach Less

Dropped out: Troy Cordes, Jenae Gustin, Ryan Dolan

Just missed the cut:  Quinton Miller, Andy Nezworski, Jarrett Franzen, Nick Marolf, Jerry Luloff, Richie Gustin, David Brandies, Mark Schulte, Kyle Brown, Tyler Soppe, Brian Irvine, Benji Irvine, Jeff Aikey

RANK

+/-

NAME

CLASS

THOUGHTS

1

--

Justin Kay

Late Model

Kay has said recently his 2016 plans could be very different from how he's gone about the last three seasons. His Open Late Model aspirations were on display Monday and Tuesday. He ran eighth in Farley and sixth in West Liberty at the MLRA shows. Tuesday was most impressive, driving from 18th. More time in those cars and there's a good chance he's a winner there, too. Oh, and he won three times in his IMCA car this week. Ho-hum.

2

--

Nathan Ballard

Hobby Stock/

Hobby Stock/

Sportsmen

For the second straight week, Ballard did not lose a race, and now has 22 wins overall so far this season. He got all three in his Hobby Stock - Friday at Hawkeye Downs, Saturday at Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa and Sunday at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. 

3

--

Tony Olson

Sport Mod

To have the year Olson's had requires two main pegs: team performance (and all its factors) and luck. This season Olson has had heaping helpings of both, but on Sunday he finally got some bad luck and took a DNF in Vinton. Even still, that came a day after he got win No. 20 at Independence Motor Speedway. 

4

--

Jeremiah Hurst

Modified

Hurst continued the run he's been on in the last several weeks over the weekend. He got to race Dubuque twice, finishing third early in the week, then taking another win there in the fair race. In what's become an upset, he did NOT win at Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa - but he did finish second.

5

--

Tyler Droste

Late Model

This guy only got to race once this week, but he made it pretty worthwhile. Droste got another win at Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday night. It'll be very interesting to see if he can keep the roll he's on going in the Late Model when the Deery Brothers reconvene at Tipton on Tuesday.

6

+2

Damon Murty

Stock Car

Murty made the long trip to Dubuque Speedway from his shop in Chelsea and got a win in the first of their two races there. Then he did double duty in Des Moines at Iowa State Fairgrounds, finishing ninth in Stock Car and second in Dirt Trucks. He ended up second in Vinton on Sunday. Not a bad week with a lot of racing.

7

-1

JD Auringer

Modified

Like many who stay in the rankings week-to-week, Auringer has set a high bar for himself with how he's run this season. Not getting a win somewhere each weekend is a disappointment for him and his team. But a pair of second place finishes at Dubuque (fair race) and at Independence isn't too shabby.

8

NR

Matt Ryan

Late Model

Consistency is a good thing. It's the mark of a quality driver and team. But consistently second has to be infuriating. For Ryan, it's been nearly a month of almosts. He had another weekend like that, finishing second at Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa, then again at Quad City Speedway in East Moline, Ill.

9

NR

Troy Bauer

Sport Mod

Bauer has been on the cusp of making the rankings for the last few weeks, and finally breaks in for the first time. He's won a bunch at Farley Speedway this season and has run well at Dubuque. He didn't get to race at Farley - they only ran the MLRA/IMCA race Monday - but got a win and second in two Dubuque races.

10

NR

Zach Less

Modified

After a week away, Less returns with a pair of third-place finishes at Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday night and at Benton County Speedway on Sunday. Like Ryan, he's been consistently on the cusp of wins for the last month or so, and hasn't broken through as much as he'd like. Still, he's running well.

Previous: April 29; May 6; May 13; May 20; May 27; June 3; June 10; June 17; June 24; July 1; July 8; July 15; July 22; July 29

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com