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Past the Pit Gate.......
by Danny Rosencrans
July 13, 2009
Sunday night racing at Quincy Raceways put the UMP Modifieds on center
stage, with the Advance Trading sponsored River City Rumble for the top 12
in season points.
At the completion of the preliminary events, the top point cars took to the
track for two 15 lap segments separated by a 10 minute pit stop on the
infield. At the break, the 11th and 12th place cars were sent pit side, and
the top ten drivers picked up frisbees on the track with numbered starting
positions for the second segment. Wyatt Lantz had come from a mid pack start
to the front of the pack at the lap 15 stoppage.
Drawing first, however, the Augusta resident picked up the number six
frisbee, putting him outside, row three, with Dave Wietholder and Shawn
Deering filling the first row. Wyatt was not to be denied in the second
segment, however, and he charged to the front and fended off a stiff
challenge from Justin Reed to take the trophy and the $1,000.00 check,
presented by Toni Dunker of Advance Trading. For his part, Reed pushed his
ride a bit too hard in the final turns, jumping the cushion and falling back
to ninth. Vance Wilson and Tony Dunker completed the top three in the second
annual event.
The race was the highlight of the night for the mods, which showed what good
mod racing can be minus the constant yellow flags. Come modified feature
time there were again more laps run under caution than under green. Even
with the feature starting field trimmed to 22 from a field of 28 cars, there
is still too much overdriving and ill handling cars taking away from the
enjoyment of the race. After two unsuccessful attempts to get lap one in,
the field was set in single file order with Deering taking the early lead.
Shawn held the top spot until Tony Dunker made a pass in traffic ahead of
another pair of caution periods. It looked as though Tony might get his
first win of '09, but Reed, who drives a car out of the Dunker garage, had
other ideas. Justin made the winning pass on lap 18 before the final caution
on lap 20 set up a time limit induced green, white, checkers two lap dash.
Reed picked up the win, and regained the points lead in the process, with
Dunker, Moline driver Donovan Lodge, Deering and Wilson completing the top
five. Steven Delonjay, the points leader going in to the race, could do no
better than a ninth place run. Former hobby stock driver Ray Grimsley of
Hull made his mod debut, but came up one spot short of making the main event
lineup.
The hobby stocks started things off with 15 entrants, but Steve Watkins Jr.
arrived after the heat races and started scratch in the 20 lap finale. Larry
Powell was on the other end of the spectrum, having mechanical issues in his
heat and leaving before feature time. The heats were eventful in that 14
year old Tanner Klingele picked up his first ever hobby stock win in heat
two. The first heat win went to Travis Booher, who had spent a long week
doing extensive repairs on his # 38 after climbing the backstretch guard
rail the week before. Travis then jumped out to the feature lead, and picked
up his first win of the year. Wes Mayfield presented Booher with his
strongest challenge, but he had to settle for a runner up finish ahead of
Jake Powers, Adam Scott and Jim Powell. Title contender James Leffew took
the wildest ride in a half season of many such incidents this season. The
teenager lost a wheel as he powered his black # 25 into turn one, and rolled
a half dozen times, more or less, between turns one and two. Although the
car was heavily damaged, James was back on the track in his # 25 modified
when the final feature of the night rolled off! Steve Carlin leads the
points chase in a tight battle with Mayfield and Jim Powell.
The IMCA late model feature was a nail biter over the final 18 laps of the
30 lap event, but in the end, it was Camden, Il. pilot Clint Kirkham in
victory circle for the first time ever in his late model career. Clint took
the lead at the drop of the green, and led the first dozen laps before Denny
Woodworth made a move to slide by. A yellow flag put Kirkham back on top,
and he held Denny back as ninth starting Lonnie Bailey used the top side of
the track to move to third. Lonnie overtook Woodworth and moved past Kirkham
just as the second caution of the event came out as the white flag was
flying. This put Clint back on top, and he kept the # 28 there for the win.
Bailey took second ahead of Woodworth, Mark Burgtorf and 14 starting Keith
Pratt. Kirkham switched chassis brands this year, and is driving a car
prepared for former hot shoe Johnny Johnson who never raced the car. Another
veteran debuted a new ride on Sunday. Dustin Neese arrived late with a yet
to be lettered machine he purchased mid week from Mark Burgtorf. Jason Perry
was back in his own car after a night in Dustin Griffins # 20. Jason had a
healthy power plant back under the hood of his # 27. It has been mostly bad
luck for the third year Payson driver so far in '09.
16 cars signed in, and Ron Elbe was among the missing. Ron is unhappy with
his engine and has temporarily parked his #3. Jason Frankel was also a no
show. It was reported that Jason was having some mechanical issues with his
machine. Joey Gower exited the track early with a broken rear end in # 31.
Justin Reed struggled to an 11th place finish one night after the biggest
win of his career, a $1,200.00 payday in West Burlington, Iowa. Finishing
outside the top ten cost Reed the late model points lead on the same night
he retook the modified top spot. Lonnie Bailey is now atop the points by
three over Justin.
14 IMCA stock cars came to race on Sunday. For most of the 20 lap headliner,
it looked as though Hannibal veteran Michael Larsen would get his first win
in the ultra competitive class. Just 2 laps from paydirt, Larsen got too
high on the backstretch and shuffled all the way back to eighth. Kevin
Tomlinson had been shadowing the # 48, and the former late model driver
grabbed the lead and the win. Ford pilot Jerry Jansen collected a season
best second, holding off Chris Wibbell, Terry Houston, and Aaron Brocksieck.
Carthage driver Abe Huls made it four of four points leaders finishing
outside the top six, but he maintained his lead. It has now shrunk to four
over Tomlinson and eight over last year’s runnerup, Wibbell.
The stock cars will get the night off this week, as the 360 cubic inch
Sprint Invaders touring series makes its first appearance of 2009 at QR. You
can expect 25-30 of the winged open wheel machines to light up the speedway,
joining the IMCA late models, UMP Modifieds, and Quincy Raceway hobby stocks
on the card. Hot laps roll off at 6:00, racing at 6:30. See you at the
races!
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