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Quincy Raceways hosted two nights of racing this past weekend, and both turned out to be real crowd pleasers. On Friday, the ground pounding UMP Summernational late models roared into town for the speedways first ever $ 10,000.00 to win main event. While the $ 6,000.00 top prize for this show in previous seasons had drawn a stout field of cars, the extra money on top brought in all of the heavy hitters. For the long time race fans, the first ever appearance of Billy Moyer at QR was certainly a special moment, our friends from up north ere excited to have Brian Birkhofer in the house for the first time since he became a national star, and the younger crowd seems to be split between Jeep Van Wormer, Jason Feger, and Shannon Babb. It was the Babb faithful who were rewarded on Friday. Predicted by many to dominate the tour in 2009, Shannon had until last week been fairly ordinary. However, he followed up a 100 lap victory on Thursday night in Macon, Il. by taking home the big trophy from Quincy. For 33 of the 40 laps, it looked as though former UMP national champion Rodney Melvin would grab his second win of '09. As Melvin powered his # 27 into turn one on lap 34, his car made a loud pop and rolled to a stop in turn two. Apparently the MSD box malfunctioned, shutting down his engine until Melvin got it refired. The same thing had happened at Tri-City on June 24th costing Melvin a good finish then as well. Rodney’s dad made the comment to Todd Turner of “Dirt on Dirt” that he had told Rodney to replace the box but it did get changed. So, for the sake of not spending $400 to change the MSD, Melvin lost $9500 and roll to a 12th place finish which paid $500. Babb and Moyer had been in his shadow for several laps, but with an open track in front of him, Shannon pulled away for the win. Moyer played the bridesmaid, with Wisconsin pilot Terry Casey third. Defending series and national champion Dennis Erb Jr. was fourth, ahead of another first time visitor, Bill Frye. Current series points leader Randy Korte captured sixth to hold on to the points lead. It was a less than pleasant night for Indiana driver Scott James, who rolled his # 83 piece off turn two in the consolation event after starting on the front row, and Chatham, Il hot shoe Brian Shirley, who rolled off the same corner in the feature. 33 cars signed in for the event including four track regulars. Denny Woodworth finished third in his heat to make the big show, while Bill Genenbacher took a track provisional to start last in the 21 car field. Jason Perry was in line for the last spot, but broke the crank in his engine in his heat race. Will Vaught, the youngster from Crane, Mo. set fast time with a blistering 12.669 second lap, an average of over 82 MPH. The IMCA stock cars also raced for a $1,000.00 top prize, and despite all the out of town talent on hand, it was local hot shoe Aaron Brocksieck taking home the big check. Aaron had former national champion Damon Murty on his bumper most of the way, but he hit his marks perfectly and gave Murty no opening. Current track point leader Abe Huls advanced to third place, the only other local in the top group. It was Aarons second stock car win after he captured the hobby stock championship in 2008, and what a time to get it! A solid field of 27 stock cars checked in, including two from Nebraska, and one from North Dakota! The hobby stocks competed in a points race, with James Leffew getting the win over rookie Adam Scott. 15 hobby stocks filled out the 75 car field. Intermittent sprinkles did not dampen the enthusiasm of what could only be described as a huge crowd. On Sunday, it was back to "business as usual" with IMCA late models and stock cars, UMP modifieds, and QR hobby stocks in action for midseason championship night. As it was Friday, the track was smooth and fast. 18 late models signed in, and Jason Perry, with his engine woes, was behind the wheel of Dustin Griffins # 20. Since IMCA allows discretion on line up procedures for midseason races, the point leaders for the late models, stocks and hobbys were brought to the front stretch before the features to flip a coin to determine if lineups would be by regular invert, or straight up by points. Justin Reed ' lost ' the flip, and the late models went by invert. "Superman" Sam Halstead survived the 30 lappers lone caution and held the top spot for 16 laps before high flying Jason Frankel charged to the front after starting ninth. Jason then checked out for his third win of '09 at QR. Denny Woodworth slipped by Halstead on lap 28 for second, while Joey Gower and Lonnie Bailey rounded out the first five. Bailey gained a couple of points on leader Reed, who finished seventh, and now leads by six as he pursues his first ever title. Mark Burgtorf, who started the points season with two no start shows has amazingly moved in to fourth in the standings. Jerry Weisenberger was celebrating 34 years of married bliss, and looked early on like a contender, but faded to eighth late in the race. The IMCA stock car field was a bit light with 13 cars, but the racing was close, as always. Like his late model counterpart, Abe Huls wound up with an inverted start. Sarah Woodhurst was back in action, and she led the early laps before Terry Houston put his flying Ford in the top spot. The former modified driver then powered his way to win number three of the season, as he recovers from early season mechanical woes. Kevin Tomlinson rebounded from a couple of tough nights to grab second, with Andrew Griffin, Huls and Steve Steinkuhler in tow. Huls holds a solid 12 point advantage over Tomlinson as we start the second half of '09, and Chris Wibbell trails by 14. The hobby stocks do not fall under IMCA sanction, but track officials used the same procedures for the class, and point leader Steve Carlin "won" his coin flip. Thus the point leader started on the pole, second place outside row one, etc. Carlin used that advantage to lead the 16 car field for all 20 laps, picking up his first feature win of the year. Wes Mayfield pushed Steve hard, but could not make the key pass. Jim Powell, who has more feature wins than anyone, held third ahead of James Leffew and Mike Wiley. Carlin leads Leffew by four points and Powell by five. Hard luck Travis Booher got turned around on the backstretch and climbed atop the guard rail in his # 38 early in the race. Stock car driver Bobby Anders was behind the wheel of Nathan Anders # 22 for the second time recently, but retired early. Last on the card on Sunday was the UMP modifieds. Per UMP rules, draw, redraw is their lineup procedure every night. There could not be a more frustrating class than the mods. 24 cars signed in, and come feature time, the racing was excellent. But once again, eight caution periods turned the 25 lap finale into a marathon and a good portion of the large crowd was gone when the checkers fell at a very reasonable 9:40. Vance Wilson is the latest driver of the Charlton Racing # 22, and he showed why he is in demand, with a hard fought win, incredibly his first at QR in a couple of seasons. Vance was pushed hard for most of the race by the hottest mod driver around, Wyatt Lantz. Steven Delonjay blew past Lantz in the closing laps to take second, while Tony Dunker slipped by Ryan Meyer for fourth. Delonjay was easily the story of the night, as he blew his engine in his heat race, apparently ending his night. Never underestimate the tenacity of the Delonjay crew, however. Led by dad Henry, the completed a engine change in less than an hour, and obviously got everything in the right place and tightened down, as Steven started in the tenth row of the 24 car field, and climbed to second! I don't know that I can remember a full engine change in the pits at QR during a Sunday night event before this one! The hard worked put Delonjay atop the points by three over season long leader Justin Reed. Should he capture his first modified title, this is the night we will all remember. Second on the all tenacity team is Dave Wietholder. Dave rolled his # 05 two times off turn two in his heat race, then came out and won the trophy dash. Dave was not able to complete the feature event. The UMP mods get their first special this Sunday, at least half of them do. The top 12 in points will compete in the 30 lap River City Rumble sponsored by Toni Dunker of Advance Trading. The 12 eligible cars will run 15 laps inverted by points, and then take a pit stop. At this time, the top ten will redraw for staring position for the final 15 lap segment. A cool $ 1,000.00 will go to the winner. For qualified drivers, check out the flyer at Quincy Raceways.com, or HeartlandMotorsports.com As always, the late models, stock cars, and hobby stocks will also be on the card. See you at the races!
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