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Last Sunday night was the last night of regular racing this season at Quincy Raceways. But it was far from the final night of racing. Each of the next six weeks of action will have some type of showcase event, and this coming week it will be the UMP Modifieds turn to shine. The Dunker Concrete sponsored modified shootout was all set to go with a $2,000.00 top prize, when some folks not affiliated with the speedway stepped up to add an additional $1,000.00 to the first place money for the 24 car, 40 lap event. This equals the top prize of $3000 paid to the IMCA late models earlier this year. Track officials are expecting around 50 cars after a season high 34 of the open wheel machines showed up for the tune up on Sunday. The interesting aspect of the UMP formula of drawing each week for heat race starting position was in evidence, with the nine car second heat stacking up like a mini feature. The mod drivers were much better behaved on Sunday, and the result was a well run, entertaining feature race. Festus, Mo. late model veteran Rusty Griffaw made his first visit to Quincy in a modified after several trips here with his UMP late model. Rusty drew the pole position for the 25 lapper, and took off hugging the low side of the speedway. The # 16 car looked like the car to beat until a mid race caution bunched the field. On the restart, points leader Justin Reed vaulted to the top side of the track and charged into the lead. From there, it was smooth sailing through another four cautions, until the checkers flew. Griffaw held his line to take second. Tony Dunker had a third place run end when he jumped the turn three cushion. Jared Schlipman took advantage to nab third ahead of Dave Wietholder, and another visitor, mid Missouri hot shoe Danny Crane finished fifth. We could have used programs, as drivers were ride hopping in the mods. Veteran Brandon Lennox was behind the wheel of C. J. Ostranders # 8 car. Terry Wilson was wheeling the # 4G, and brother Vance Wilson qualified the # 22C, but mechanical woes caused him to park it and start at the back of the feature in Brian Rieck's # 12. Vance was coming off a Saturday night win at Moberly, Mo. After several weeks away from the track, Michael Long was back to debut a new Kraft car. Michael was mainly looking to just "shake" the car out, although he did win the B-main. He then pulled out of the feature early. Look for him to be a factor this coming Sunday. Speaking of the Wilson brothers, mom and dad Wanda and Gary were in the pits for the races. While Gary is mending nicely, Wanda is sporting a neck/back brace which she will need to wear for about three months. She remains in good spirits, as always. The IMCA stock car class was a little short, with only 11 cars, and yet they got off to a rough start with a lap two caution in the feature. After that, however, things settled down, and hard charging Aaron Brocksieck took off with the checkered flag in sight. Aaron had come close to a feature win on Friday night, and was not to be denied on Sunday. Terry Houston put the pressure on, but settled for the runner up spot. Chris Wibbell rebounded from some tough outings of late to grab third ahead of Steve Steinkuhler and Kevin Tomlinson. The finish by Tomlinson was good enough to vault him ahead of Abe Huls into the points lead. Abe scuffled near the back of the pack in an uncharacteristically tough night. The hobby stock class was also a bit short of cars, with 12 on hand. As any of you who travel to other tracks know, the somewhat smaller car counts is not limited to QR, as most of the tracks we visit are seeing the same thing. As the saying goes, “It’s the economy, stupid!” The hard luck award for the night goes to Wes Mayfield. The “Taz Man" was the points leader when the night began, and he was running second in the 20 lap finale when he destroyed a tire on his # 21. Wes was unable to rejoin the race, and wound up with a last place finish. He had led early in the race, but his closest competitors, Steve “Tea Man” Carlin and Jimbo Powell took advantage. Carlin held the top spot until lap 17 when Powell moved to the point and the win. Carlin held second, with Jake Powers, late arriving Steve Watkins Jr., and Travis Booher completing the top five. Powell’s sixth win gave him a three point lead over Carlin. Among the missing on Sunday was Justin Bartz, who is suffering from a sick engine in his # 15. Mark Burgtorf came to his home track with the monkey finally off his back. Mark had been trying for several weeks to collect his 100th IMCA feature win. His Pierce chassis had simply not been the same since a heat race accident back in June at QR. As it turns out, Mark had made some changes while making repairs that had quite simply put the car "in a bind." After a lot of trial and error, the problem was figured out, and that meant bad news for the other late model guys at QR and elsewhere. Mark picked up that 100th win on Friday night at Donnellson, Iowa, and then notched # 101 on Sunday. Neither win was easy, and on Sunday, Mark did not get the lead until lap 27 of the 30 lap race. Jason Perry made a determined battle to get win number one of '09, and Keith Pratt was just as eager to get his third feature checkers, but they settled for second and third. Those three had an edge of your seat battle in the event, which had only one caution period, on lap 13. Matt Bailey was looking for a third straight win, but could not get his car to fire, and was pushed pit side during the parade laps. Both Matt and father Lonnie caught a lucky break in their heat race, when front running Ron Elbe and Jason Frankel made hard contact at the white flag, with Frankel smacking the front stretch wall. The accident moved the Baileys into invert positions for the finale, although it was in vain for Matt. Frankel was filling in for Robbie Warner, who has been fighting his # 79 ride of late. Jason seemed to find the handle, and rolled to a fourth place feature run ahead of Denny Woodworth. If you remember, Frankel spent several weeks in the # 79 during his championship '08 season. Justin Reed managed a sixth place run, but the elder Bailey was right behind, and with neither getting heat race points, Lonnie still holds a four point lead. Still neither man has captured a feature win this season at QR, as we edge ever closer to only the second time in track history a late model championship is won without a feature victory. Jason Krigbaum was a spectator this night, and he said work had kept him from making needed repairs to his # 11. After a busy week, Frankel remains in second place in the Deery Brothers Summer Series points standings. The series will make their second visit to QR on Labor Day weekend, and we have just learned that the 410 winged sprint cars will be on hand that night as well! Before that, however, we have the big modified show, the trophy dash finales, the UMP Monster Midwest late models, with IMCA late models on the same card, and season championship night. The season will end at QR on September 13 featuring the 360 Sprint Invaders making their second visit to the track. Like I said, lots of showcase events! See you at the races.
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