The Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models moved south to the Quincy Raceway on Sunday night for race number three on the 2011 schedule. The field was solid with thirty-five drivers on hand to do battle on the reconfigured quarter-mile oval although there were some notable absences including former champion Jeff Aikey and the first two race winners of 2011 Brian Harris and Matt Ryan.
Mark Burgtorf has been the man to beat in the Late Model division at the Quincy Raceway for the past decade or more and when he drew the pole position for the forty-lap feature it was thought to now be a race for second. But a couple of youngsters had other ideas. Tyler Bruening had impressed the crowd earlier in the night by passing defending series champ Ray Guss Jr. to win the second heat race and he picked up the early challenge on Burgtorf for the lead. When the only caution of the race waved on lap ten for Jason Frankel who had pulled off the top side of turn two, the field was realigned two-wide behind the leader. With the return of the green it was Matt Bailey who found the bite off the bottom of turn four as he drove past Bruening for second and then set his sights on Burgtorf. When the leader slipped up the track a bit off four Bailey shot to the inside and picked up the lead on lap twelve, but Burgtorf was not about to let him just drive away.
Running one groove higher than Bailey, Mark was able to pull even with him in the corners only to have Matt edge ahead on the straightaways. The battle continued this way for several laps with the two crossing the stripe in a virtual dead heat on lap sixteen before Bailey established himself as the true leader. And, just a few laps later, when Bailey was able to drive under Mike Garland and Boone McLaughlin who were racing side-by-side without skipping a beat, it allowed him to put a nice cushion between himself and Burgtorf. It was a cushion that Bailey would hold all the way to the checkers to record his first career victory on the Summer Series while Burgtorf would have to settle for second on this night. Terry Neal started in the seventh row and passed Justin Reed on the final lap to finish third while Bruening rounded out the top five finishers.
Deery Series Q Notes…..It was decided that the 2010 season at Quincy saw too much one-grooved racing around the top side so track owners have put in the extra hours during the offseason in an effort to make this a two, or even a three grooved surface once again. The first heat race of the night showed the fruits of their effort as, while Matt Strassheim ran away from the field, the race for second was a thrilling race-long three-wide affair featuring Denny Woodworth, Mark Burgtorf and Terry Neal. Woodworth prevailed as the runner-up with Burgtorf taking the third and final qualifying spot allowing him to later redraw the pole position for the feature. Neal was the odd man out and had to win the first B-Main to get qualified showing just how much the outcome of the night may have changed if that first heat race had ended just a bit differently…..Joey Gower who was disqualified from a transfer spot in the B-Main the night before in Burlington for missing a chip came back strong tonight by winning the third heat race…..Tom Darbyshire won heat race number four and during the redraw he told front stretch announcer Dwain Hulett the main reason that he has Matt Strassheim driving his other car is that more girls come to the trailer after the races. You see, not only is Strassheim a pretty good racecar driver, but apparently the ladies find him incredibly attractive. The girl who works where I get my hair cut confirmed that fact so I am keeping my wife away from him as I don’t want her expectation level being elevated…..Sam Halstead fought off Lonnie Bailey for the fourth and final qualifying spot in the first B-Main. This actually may have ended up being a good thing as Lonnie was then able to “coach” his son Matt with a bright yellow sign from the top of the pit bleachers. And, during the lap ten caution, Lonnie was giving some other hand and arm signals to Matt that I couldn’t decipher, but obviously Matt did and it just might have been the advice that produced a victory…..Mike Garland passed Billy Tuckwell on the final lap to take the last transfer out of the second B-Main…..The Deery Series has a tripleheader scheduled for this coming weekend at Davenport, Maquoketa and East Moline….The UMP Modifieds had one of those events where the racing upfront was fantastic, but it kept being interrupted by cautions in the back. On the ninth caution, and with nineteen laps in the scorebook, the checker flag was waved with Jared Schlipman taking the win over David Wietholder, Vance Wilson, Tony Dunker and Steven DeLonjay. This is definitely not the norm for the Mods at Quincy…..Bobby Anders dominated the Hobby Stock feature that was run just prior to the Late Model main event…...It looked like a lot of people stayed home due to a weather forecast that called for a 60% chance of thunderstorms with some possibly severe as the crowd was nowhere near as big as it should have been for this show. The weather did develop, but the first cell passed north of the track and a heavier one passed by only ten miles to the south during the Late Model main event. When the checkers fell on that race at 9:10 p.m. I decided to hit the road for home with the Stock Car and Hornet mains yet to be run….A big thanks to everybody at Quincy for their hospitality, it is always a pleasure to see the lovely ladies at the pit gate and I hope to be back often in 2011.
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