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Past the Pit Gate.......
by Danny Rosencrans
May 25, 2009
Quincy Raceways actually managed to avoid the raindrops this past weekend,
although they seemed to be in the minority of race tracks doing so. The
holiday weekend brought a change in the program, as the UMP modifieds were
given the night off, and the Midwest 410 All Star Sprints along with non
sanctioned mod lite/ dwarf cars were added to the card. A mixture of 21 410
and 360 cubic inch sprinters showed up, with 20 taking the green flag for
the 30 lap feature event. The big tires help to "slick off" the track,
laying rubber down, and giving us our smoothest racing surface of this very
wet spring. Veteran Jim Moughan from Springfield,Il. returned from a
Saturday night show in Wisconsin to lead all 30 laps and take the $ 2000.00
top prize back home. Missouri pilot Tom Dickerman from Cedar Hill was able
to close on Moughan in traffic, but several caution periods gave the leader
clean air and an open track, and he used jack rabbit restarts to build a
comfortable lead each time. Bill Rose from Plainfield, In. led another pair
of Illinois drivers, Ryan Bunton from Morton, and AJ Bruns from Lincoln in
completing the top five. Series points leader Kaley Gharst, the popular hot
shoe from Decatur,Il. charged into the top five with his
#51 Maxim machine before falling back to sixth. Gharst pulled a breathtaking
360 degree spin in traffic on lap 27, never stopping, and avoiding contact!
After a rash of rollovers last week, only one car left its wheels this week,
the # 17A sprinter of young Austin McCarl of Altoona, Iowa. He was able to
make repairs and take the feature green. Bearing a surname familiar to
sprint car fans, Kody Kinser made the trip to Quincy, but finished outside
the top ten. Sprint cars will make another two appearances at the track on
July 19 and on final night of the 2009 season when the 360 c.i. Sprint
Invaders come to town on Sept. 13. In addition, there may be another
announcement coming soon concerning sprint cars.
The mod lite/dwarf cars field totaled 13, with a solid showing from the
Kansas City and Quad City areas. A couple of former late model pilots were
on hand with the 1100 - 1200 c.c. powered machines, and former IMCA late
model driver Jason Masongarb from Colona,Il. wheeled his #30 into victory
lane. David Rafferty of KC took second ahead of Justin Bucholz of Pleasant
Hill, Il. Another former late model competitor, Kevin Goben of Sherrard, Il.
led Mike Rafferty of KC to the line for fourth. A pair of names from the
well known Quad City area Guss racing clan, Rob And Daniel also competed on
Sunday. These cars are well suited for tracks the size of QR and smaller,
and put on a quick and entertaining show on Sunday, running caution free in
their 15 lap main event. They will also be back as a support class at our
Labor Day show on Sept. 6, which will feature the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer
Series late models. There is talk of the class becoming a regular feature at
another area speedway in 2010, so perhaps we will see more local
participation in the future.
Three of our regular Sunday night classes participated in the night of
racing, with the IMCA stock cars fielding 15 entries. Former modified driver
Terry Houston took the feature lead at the start and held on despite stiff
challenges for his first stock car win. The Mt Sterling driver has been
close on more than one occasion, but this time kept his Ford powered # 97
out of trouble, and avoided overheating issues. He was pressured early by
last weeks winner Chris Larson of Keokuk, Iowa, then after Larson faltered,
points leader Kevin Tomlinson made a late
charge to take second. Visiting John Oliver Jr. rolled to a third place
finish ahead of Abe Huls, back from a rollover the week prior, and Andrew
Griffin. Again the #04 teams of Steve Steinkuhler and Aaron Brocksieck were
plagued by gremlins, with Aaron missing his heat, and the two credited with
the final two spots in the 20 lap finale. The first caution period did not
come until lap 16, when Chris Wibbell suffered a flat tire. A yellow then
came on the restart for Doug Huls who was uncharacteristically not a factor
all night, and during the caution, the second running Larson ducked off the
track with a flat as well. The move of the night may have come in stock car
heat one, when Wibbell made a third to first move out of turn four coming to
the checkers. Oliver Jr. accompanied by his racing father John Sr. and
racing Uncle Jim Jr., had spent the day at the Havana, Il. drag strip before
heading our way for the night on the oval.
The hobby stock numbers continued on an upward trend, as late arriving Steve
Watkins Sr. with his yellow # 77 grew the field to 17. As with the stock
cars, the hobby heats were set at eight laps. I hope this is a permanent
move. Heat two saw young Justin Bartz pick up his first win in his yellow #
15B. good job, Justin! The first heat was something of a preview of the 20
lap feature, as Jim Powell picked up a sweep on the night. The Hannibal
veteran had to work hard in the money race, dogging fellow Hannibal pilot
Steve Watkins, Jr., who led the majority of the event. He finished in the
runner up spot ahead of Wes Mayfield, Mike Wiley, and James Leffew. Even
after the final checkers flew, the action was not over, with some post race
venting of tempers creating a rumble on the track and in the pits. And to
think summer has not even started! The win boosted Powell in to the points
lead by a narrow margin over Mayfield in what may is shaping up to be a nip
and tuck championship run, with wily veteran Steve Carlin lurking in third.
Our first dry slick track of the season presented a real challenge to a
couple of the rookie drivers who had yet to encounter this type of track.
Hopefully they can make the adjustment quickly, as we will likely see lots
more of this type of surface - if the rain ever quits!
A smaller than hoped for field of 13 IMCA late models checked in on Sunday,
with holiday special races luring away some of our regular competitors.
Keith Pratt found himself going in to the weekend with two damaged late
models, so he spent his week repairing his " A " car, the white # 33 he
rolled earlier this season here at QR. Keith said the damage was less than
what he suffered last week to his yellow machine. The week of hard work paid
off, as he rolled home third in the 30 lap finale. Meanwhile, second heat
winner Matt Bailey used an outside front row starting spot to grab the early
feature lead. Fourth starting Mark Burgtorf, who raced Friday with the World
of Outlaw late models before dropping his spec engine back in the car
Sunday, ran down Matt and took over the top spot. Mark looked to be cruising
to yet another feature win, which would have been his fifth at QR, when he
suddenly slowed in turn four just short of the halfway point of the race
with a flat tire on the rear of his # 7B. Mark said he picked up something
off the track, as the tire was sliced all the way through the tread. The
same fate had befallen Bill Genenbacher a few laps prior. This fit in with
the unusually high number of flats on the night, fueling speculation that
the sprint car flip during hot laps may have scattered debris into the
racing surface. Although Burgtorf was able to rejoin the field, he went pit
side after a few laps of riding near the tail of the field. Bailey,
meanwhile, used his second chance to build his lead, and picked up his first
feature win of '09. About the only driver able to move forward on the slick
surface was point leader Justin Reed. Justin rolled off the line in 10th,
taking over the runnerup spot in the final five laps. He was closing fast on
his buddy as the laps ran out, and was the first to offer congratulations to
Matt before exiting the track. It was obvious by his trophy dash victory,
that Reed had the right set up for track conditions, and to the credit of
him and his crew, they were smart enough to leave it alone for the main
event. Ron Elbe continued his good runs by coming home fourth ahead of Jerry
Weisenberger. Tom Goble made the journey down from Burlington, Iowa for his
first driving appearance of the season at QR. Tom had off season surgery,
and had Terry Schlipman wheel his car for the first month of racing.
Starting last on the grid, "Spiderman" took home an eighth place finish.
This Sunday night will be a regular show complete with candy dash at the
speedway before the Power I midgets come to town for the June 7 card. For
you motorcycle fans, this Saturday night will feature the AMA riders in a
national event. See you at the races!
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