Mark Burgtorf is not a big fan of the draw-redraw format for lining up Late Model races. On Saturday night at 34 Raceway the Quincy, Illinois, driver drew out the highest number of the sixty-four drivers in attendance, a “98”, putting him on the back of a qualifying heat. He started eleventh, sliced through the field in just ten laps to win and then later went on to win the fifty-lap feature event, the opener for the 2010 Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models. On Sunday evening at his hometown track, Mark pulled a “2” out of the bag and when nobody drew the “1” he started the first heat from the pole position. Not surprisingly he won that ten-lap event and then later in the evening once again landed in victory lane after fifty laps of feature racing. So is this proof that it can be done from both ends of the spectrum when it comes to the draw format? Yes, but it really helps if you are Mark Burgtorf!
The Quincy feature had a similar storyline as the night before at 34 where a driver takes the lead early, opens up a full straightaway advantage, and is later tracked down and passed by Burgtorf. Darrell DeFrance established the early pace with Kevin Blum and Jason Frankel applying the pressure. On the thirteenth circuit Frankel charged into turn three on the high side and drove past DeFrance for the lead. As Frankel pulled away Burgtorf, who started sixth, moved past Blum and DeFrance to take second lap eighteen and the chase was on. A pair of cautions on laps twenty-one and twenty-two erased Frankel’s cushion and on the restart Burgtorf applied the pressure. Jason was up to the challenge though as he kept the challenger in his wake as the field seemed to all settle into the high groove.
As the leaders raced by me on lap thirty-one I heard the sound of metal snapping and I looked to see if somebody had caught the frontstretch wall. Everybody looked clean, but on the next trip by I noticed that the blade of the spoiler on the right corner of Frankel’s car had broken loose and was now floating in the wind rather than providing the downforce that it was supposed to. There did not appear to be any damage to the right rear quarter-panel on Frankel’s car so I’m not sure if contact with the wall caused the issue, or if the spoiler just gave way, but Burgtorf was now ready to pounce. Two laps later he charged to the inside and moved past Frankel for the lead and then pulled away for the convincing victory.
Ray Guss Jr. who started in row six tried a similar move on Frankel over the final laps, but would settle for third at the checkers being the only outsider to break up the “Quincy party” in the top five. Track regulars Keith Pratt and Denny Woodworth rounded out the top five with Woodworth coming all the way from row nine. Tom Darbyshire would finish sixth, DeFrance was seventh, Tyler Bruening had a solid run in eighth, Rob Toland was ninth and Jay Johnson completed the top ten. The win was worth $2,000 for Burgtorf who will enjoy a comfortable early point lead as the Deery series now prepares for a tripleheader weekend at Davenport, Maquoketa and Dubuque.
The IMCA Stock Car feature preceded the Late Model headliner and it was Terry Houston who raced to victory after taking the early lead away from Aaron Brocksieck. Former Late Model driver Kevin Tomlinson chased Houston in for second, Jeff Mueller came back from an early pit stop for third while Abe Huls and Jerry Janssen completed the top five. Earlier in the night Janssen climbed the frontstretch wall, wiped out a catch fence pole and then rolled his car a couple of times coming to the checkers in his heat race. Track crews took a little over a half hour to make repairs that would ensure the safety of the large crowd on hand and Janssen and his crew also worked hard to get that car back on the track for the feature event.
“Q” Notes…..The fifty IMCA Late Models on hand established a new track record for Quincy according to “Stevie Dirt” Steve Eighinger of the Quincy Herald Whig. If you have any interest in what goes on at the Quincy Raceways you need to check out his regular columns and you can find them on the home page of Heartland Motorsports at http://www.heartlandmotorsports.com …..Jason Rauen took the checkers first in the second Late Model heat, but was disqualified in tech when the “sniffer” did not like his tires. Rauen returned for one of the two B-Mains but could not advance to a transfer spot…..Two of the Deery series top drivers over the past several years had a night to forget as Jeff Aikey and Terry Neal did not make the main event. Aikey actually loaded up and left after his heat race…..Kelly Meyer appeared to have a transfer position in hand in the first B-Main until he slipped the right rear tire over the top of turn three with two laps remaining allowing Denny Woodworth and Boone McLaughlin to get by…..Dale Hackwell earned the Hard Charger provisional while Tom Goble and Matt Strassheim, two top-five finishers from the night before in Burlington, started the feature as series provisionals….Andy Eckrich was racing in the top ten in the main event before spinning in turn one on lap twenty-two. He would be credited with 21st…..Jeremiah Hurst was running eighth in the feature when he slowed and pulled off the track as the leaders took the white flag ahead of him…..After his beautiful new black #25 Stock Car let out a puff of smoke during hot laps, Andrew Griffin retrieved his old car and ran it in the feature race finishing seventh…..With the delay for fence repair earlier in the evening we chose to head out after the Late Model main event was completed. Michael Long took the top prize in the UMP Modified division over a solid field of twenty-two cars and Bobby Anders took the win in the Hobby Stock division…..Track owner Tony Rhinberger handled the announcing duties on the night…..Weekly Sunday night action continues at Quincy on April 18th.
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