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Past the Pit Gate.......
by Danny Rosencrans
QUINCY, IL (July 13, 2010) - The most anticipated event of the 2010
circle track season at Quincy Raceways lived up to its billing this past
Sunday. The annual visit of the UMP late model Summernationals Hell Tour
blew in to town, and left with the fans buzzing about the program. It was
the 24th stop on the 29 race - 32 day tour, but the excitement remains high
with a half dozen or so competitors still chasing the points title which
pays a hefty bonus. Along with the $5,000 to win, and $500 to start, there
was plenty on the line for the touring hotshoes. Helping to increase the
field, ten of our weekly IMCA drivers entered their cars in both dividions
for the night, and in addition, Denny Woodworth unloaded both his IMCA and
his " outlaw " car to run two classes.
Justin Reed signed in his # 1st in the IMCA class, and checked in with Tony
Dunkers # 4 with the UMP folks. Mark Burgtorf has at least temporarily
parked the car he was using on the Summernationals tour, switching engines
back and forth in his IMCA chassis, so on sunday the 14 time track champ
competed only with the United Midwest Promoters cars. Added up, there were
32 cars signed in to the premier division, although only 31 were around to
hot lap, as top five point man Jeep Van Wormer, from Pinconning, Michigan
had suffered a flat on his hauler near Lincoln, Il., and was running well
behind. The tour uses a group qualifying system, where drivers draw for
there slot, then hot lap, time trial, and run their heat race with the same
group of cars. Whether by luck or design, Van Wormers draw placed him in
group four, and he rolled down pit road as qualifying was beginning.
Burgtorf set a quick lap as the second car out, a time that held until the "
Highside Hustler " Jason Feger turned a lap of 13.038 seconds as the 30th
car to time. Without benefit of a hot lap, Van Wormer followed that with the
third quick time, an omen of things to come. Four heat races and a B-main
saw 18 cars earn
starting spots in the 40 lap main event, with three provisional starters
filling the 21 car field. A track provisional was given to Reed, putting
three QR regulars on the starting grid. With the four heat winners redrawing
for the first two rows, Chatum,Il driver Brian Shirley, driving a
# 48 Tim Lance owned machine, and the # 24 of Ryan Unzicker claimed the
front row. Shirley jumped to the early lead, with third starting Van Wormer
behind him. Billy Moyer Jr exited the track first in a cloud of smoke, then
Shirley slowed out of turn two, nearly getting run over by Jeep. Once Van
Wormer took the top spot, attention shifted to those trying to run him down.
Feger worked his way to second, and took up the chase. Meanwhile, 12th
starting Shannon Babb, a two time winner of the event here at QR was
charging through the pack. On lap 27, he tried to slide under two lapped
cars that were running side by side, and he collected the # m14 of Brandon
Thirlby, the two getting hooked together. As a result, Babb, who was running
fourth, had to restart in the ninth position. Still he moved quickly back to
sixth, but he could go no further. Unzicker held third, with surprise Ohio
visitor Doug Drown taking fourth ahead of Burgtorf. Defending tour champ
Dennis Erb Jr. was seventh, ahead of GRT chassis house car driver Jack
Sullivan, Woodworth, and Tim Lance. 13 year old Bobby Pierce, son of racing
legend Bob Pierce finished 12th, one lap down begind Austrailian driver
Craig Vosbergen who was also one lap down.
Next up was the 14 car hobby stock 20 lap main event. Jim Brown fron
Hannibal, a well known racer from years gone by has had a tough return to
the speedway, but he put his # 83 out front and built a straightaway lead
before the caution flew with just three laps to go. On the restart, Brown
briefly lost the lead to Nathan Hays, but quickly recovered for his first
win. Nathan outlasted last weeks first time winner, Jeremy Buss, with Bobby
anders and Jim Powell completing the top five. Michael Larsen was back in
the hobby class for the night, wheeling the # 87 normally driven by Larry
Powell. Michael finished in ninth, while points leader Steve Carlin settled
for seventh on the night.
Rolling out next was the 17 car IMCA late model feature, with Ron Elbe and
Dustin Neese up front. Ron looped his # 3 coming out of turn four on lap
one, clooecting Bill Genenbacher, who suffered a broken front end. Neese
took off, looking for his first win of 2010, with Joey gower in hot pursuit.
Meanwhie, Woodworth and Reed were moving forward, but things went south for
Denny when he was involved in a mishap that sent him to the back. Justin
soon charged to the front, picking up his second QR feature of the year.
Gower got around Neese for second, while Woodworth flew back to fourth ahead
of Sam Halstead. The finish put Woodworth and Reed in a tie atop the points.
As the late models were loading up, the night was not over for Reed, who was
also competing with the UMP modifieds - three classes on one hot Sunday
night! Ah, to be young again... Justin had won his heat race, but crossed
the line with a puff of smoke coming from his # 4st.
With him being in the points race, the Dunker - Reed team went to work and
got the # 16j usually wheeled by Justin Daggs to the track in time for the
25 lap feature. Justin would have to start at the back, and he retired from
the event early. Dave Weitholder had waited around all night, and now the
points leader was ready to race. He jumped out to a solid lead, pacing the
field, as Steven Delonjay patiently worked into the runner up slot. Try
though he did, Steven could find no opening to the front, not until the
final turn of the final lap. With Weitholder running a low line, Delonjay
went high, and crossed stripe .01 of a second ahead of Dave, an amazing
finish for the still sizeable crowd to witness.
Shawn Deering hung around the entire time to nab third, with Dunker and
Robbie Reed, who suffered heavy damage in his heat race rounding out the top
five in the 17 car field.
It took a bit of manicuring during intermission, but the track was smooth
and fast for the features, hopefully the weather pattern has finally
stabilized, and we can look forward to plenty more great racing action in
the second half of the season. The IMCA stock cars will be back this Sunday
to join the late models, mods, and hobby stocks on the card. Hope to see you
then!
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