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Past the Pit Gate.......
by Danny Rosencrans

QUINCY, IL. (August 3, 2010) - After two more long weeks of no Sunday night racing, Quincy Raceways came back to life as the month of August began. Only five points races remained in what will amount to little more than half a season of racing, so each and every point takes on added importance. The IMCA late model chase has turned into a tight three car battle between Denny Woodworth, Justin Reed, and Jason Perry, with Joey Gower still within striking distance. Woodworth, Reed and Perry had all visited victory lane previously, and their point averages found them occupying the eighth thru tenth positions on the feature grid. Although Denny and Justin started the night tied for the top spot, Woodworth blasted through to a heat race win and the three points that goes with it, while justins fifth place run yielded no markers. Perry edged closer with a runnerup finish to teammate Bill Genenbacher in heat two. The 30 lap finale saw polesitter Justin Jennings lead lap one before Dustin Neese took over. Dustin kept his # 8 out front until lap 19, when Perry used a smooth move to overtake second running Keith Pratt and Neese. The race continued caution free until a lap 27 caution for a spinning Neese. When racing resumed, Perry held on for his second feature win of 2010 at QR. Pratt ran a solid second ahead of gower and Woodworth. Genenbacher edged Jennings at the flagstand for fifth. Reed appeared to miss the set up on his ride, as he was never a factor, retiring early and being credited with a tenth place finish. Only eight cars of the starting 14 were around when the checkers flew. Unofficially, Woodworth holds a four point lead over new runnerup Perry, with Reed nine points down. after two off weeks, we might have expected a bigger car count, but among the missing was Mark Burgtorf, who is having his IMCA engine freshened, and Lonnie Bailey, who spent the evening working out of the parts trailer after suffering a back injury.

  As has been the case most nights this season, the UMP modifieds offered the most cars, with 24 of the open wheel machines on hand. There were several visitors from the south, as weather has played havoc with tracks throughout Missouri as well. A familiar face in the pit area was Hannibal driver Dan Tourney, a long time competitor at QR. Dan said he had not been on the track for four seasons, and his # 61 was four seasons old. Although he did not run up front, he looked smooth as both he and his ride became acquainted with the reconfigured oval. Ryan Meyer made his first visit to QR with his new ride, promptly winning his heat race. The Liberty farmer then smacked the guardrail in the trophy dash, doing heavy front end damage to the # 82m. Plenty of hard work got him out for his third row feature start, and he powered to a third place run. Meanwhile, Michael Long rolled from a seventh row starting spot, and methodically worked his way forward, taking over the top spot on lap 13. A series of lap 21 cautions brought the field to Michaels back bumper, but eliminated his two closest competitors, as contact in turn four sent runnerup Steven Delonjay and third place Tony Dunker spinning. Steven rejoined the back of the pack, but Tony apparently did not like his restart spot after a trip to the hot pit, and wound up on the trailer. Long stretched his lead over the final four laps for his seventh win in seven feature starts in 2010. Jared Schlipman took over the point lead with a second place run, and Robbie Reed, with a new number ( 3 ) nabbed fourth ahead of Justin Reed. It was a bad night for Dave Weitholder, who had engine problems all night, as he made multiple trips to the track to try and work out his issues. Dave was credited with a 22nd place finish,falling to second in points.

  The low car counts in the IMCA stock car class continued, with only nine cars entered. All nine took the feature green, although top contender Terry Houston was pitside with front end woes before I had made my way back to my grandstand perch from the pit area. Kevin Tomlinson looked like the man to beat, but a bobble off turn two opened the door for Abe Huls, and the Carthage hot shoe took advantage. Kevin rebounded for second, holding off Wes Mayfield, Jerry Jansen, and Steve Steinkuhler, as only five cars completed the 20 laps. Huls now holds an eight point lead over Houston in the championship chase.

  The hobby stocks ran the final feature of the night, with 13 of the 14 cars signed in making the call. Mike Wiley had something go wrong with his # 26 as his heat race ended, and he watched the main event from the trailer. It was the first chance for the drivers from Hannibal who were victimized by the Bear Creek flash flood to see if their cars were in racing condition. Michael Larsen and Jim Powell gave me a birds eye view of Jimbos' # 48j, which was under water up past the tops of the doors. In fact, there was still water in his guages! The pair said they had checked out the engine, and thought it to be race ready, but the way the car stumbled in hot laps, I thought maybe they were wrong. come race time, however, both Powell and Steve Carlin took off like nothing had happened. Come feature time, both joined Bobby Anders as the trio chased Jake Powers. Four laps from the checkers, Powers and Anderts made contact, with Jake smacking the front stretch fence, handing the lead to Anders. From there, Bobby held on for his sixth main event checkers of 2010. Carlin made a late charge into second ahead of Powell. Adam Scott nabbed fourth ahead of Jeremy Buss, with Powers finishing a disappointing sixth. Carlin holds a four point lead over Anders, with Powell still within striking distance in a race that will probably come down to the final night.

  The final checkers flew at 9:12. Racing continues next Sunday night, with four wide open points races only adding to the excitement. The season is winding down way to fast, don't miss a chance to catch the action. See you at the track!