This was a show that you would have thought would never happen given the dire weather forecast and the colorful radar loop throughout the day. But somehow 34 Raceway near Burlington stayed dry enough for a return visit by the Lucas Oil Late Model Series Friday night and in the end it was a driver from nearby Muscatine, Brian Birkhofer standing in victory lane.
Thirty-seven Late Models filled the pits and it was Steve Francis in a brand new Mastersbilt who set quick time as the first car on the track for qualifying. As Francis was being interviewed on the front stretch a cold drizzle intensified and you could see the reflection of the track lights off his silver wheel covers on the now greasy surface. The precipitation was coming down thick enough that we started to head for the car to wait it out, but before we got out of the gate it subsided and a few moments later the two qualifying heats for the 305 Sprints came to the speedway.
The track was smooth and lightning fast for the Late Model heat races and, even though they were lined up straight-up by qualifying times, there was a bit of drama in three of the four as drivers needed to finish in the top four to get a quick ticket to the 50-lap finale. Scott James was the big mover in heat one coming from the third row to finish third while Billy Moyer needed a last lap pass of Chad Simpson to take fourth. Heat two saw Bub McCool fight off a door-banging challenge from Dale McDowell on the final lap to take the fourth and final transfer position. Heat three was relatively uneventful as Brad Neat won to claim an outside front row start for the feature and then you had heat race number four. Front row starters Brian Birkhofer and Jeep VanWormer ran the first two laps side-by-side with Birky down low and Jeep up top. On lap three both drivers stayed on the loud pedal a little longer than they should and, as Birkhofer gained the advantage, both drivers had to pitch their cars completely sideways to save them allowing Eric Wells to drive by VanWormer for second. As the laps wound down it was a treat to watch Jared Landers try everything that he could to get past Ray Cook, but the veteran was not rattled and Cook held Landers at bay for the final transfer to the A-Main.
The weather stayed dry as the Mod Lites clicked off three heat races in quick fashion and I was pleased to see the first of two Late Model B-Mains lined up in staging, ready to go immediately following the final Mod Lite heat. McDowell, Chad Simpson and Don O'Neal behind the wheel of the Moring Motorsports #1 tonight advanced out of that race while the final qualifying race of the night produced the closest finish of the evening. Landers would walk away with the win with Jason Feger chasing him in for second. Darren Miller was strong early racing his way past Steve Casebolt for the final transfer mid-race, but as the laps wound down Miller visibly slowed allowing both Casebolt and Chris Wall to have one last run at him. Coming out of turn four for the checkers Wall pulled even with Miller and the two crossed the line in a virtual dead heat, however a review of the transponders revealed that Miller had held on for third forcing Wall to use an "emergency provisional" to start in row thirteen for the fifty-lapper.
In what would turn out to be the best move of the night, officials took a short break at this point to allow the B-Main qualifiers to make adjustments as the rest of the feature qualifiers started to make their way to staging. Within ten minutes the feature field was on the track and ready to rumble for fifty-laps in quest of the $10,000 top prize. Brad Neat was credited with leading lap one before Steve Francis stormed back on the bottom to take the point on the second circuit. Birkhofer dispatched Neat quickly and went to work on Francis using the high groove taking the lead by a nose on lap six only to see Francis come back again the following lap. The first of two cautions would then wave following lap seven as Billy Moyer was the victim of a bunch up sending him for a spin in turn two.
On the restart Francis started to pull away a bit as Birkhofer tested out some different lines around the three-grooved speedplant. After being a half of a straightaway back Birkhofer then started to cut into that lead without the benefit of lapped traffic impeding the leader. As he did earlier in the race, Birkhofer attacked Francis from the outside and on lap 22 he stormed back into the lead, just a lap before the caution waved for Tyler Reddick who was now facing the wrong direction on the back stretch.
When the green flag reappeared Birkhofer was gone, opening up a full straightaway cushion within just a few laps. Scott Bloomquist then made his way past Francis for second and the chase was on as Scott tried to earn his fifth straight Lucas Oil Series feature win. His progress was slow and little though as Birkhofer worked traffic like a master and as the checkered flag waved Birkhofer still enjoyed a half of a straightaway advantage over the current point leader on the series. Bloomquist would have to accept runner-up money tonight, Francis was third while Jimmy Owens finished fourth. Fifth went to John Blankenship, Chris Simpson ran a solid race taking sixth, Shannon Babb was on the move late and ended up in seventh, Neat held on for eighth and Mike Marlar was ninth ahead of Scott James.
Lucas Notes......Dennis Erb Jr. and Tyler Reddick were the series provisionals while Chris Wall and rookie-of-the-year contender Frank Heckenast Jr. each used one of their two available "emergency provisionals". When a driver does this they are basically racing for points only to go along with their non-qualifiers check. Only if they advance to a position that pays better than the $700 start money do they get any additional cash, and then they get what that position pays less the seven hundred bucks......Non-series regulars that did not make the feature included Mark Burgtorf, Jay Johnson, Denny Woodworth, Jon Rogers, Jeremiah Hurst and Tyler Bruening......The Lucas Series moves to LaSalle Speedway while 34 Raceway will have IMCA Late Models as part of a card featuring $5 grandstand admission Saturday night. Weather permitting of course......The 305 Sprint feature followed the victory lane ceremonies and the rain started to fall on lap seven of the scheduled twenty-lapper. By lap eleven the track was too slick and the caution waved, followed soon by the checkers with Jayson Dittsworth credited with the victory. Ryan Jamison was second followed unofficially by Kevin Hetrick, Justin Parrish and Cori Timmerman......Kudos to the Laue family and the entire 34 Raceway crew for pushing this one through despite the fact that the threatening weather obviously kept the crowd count down a bit. The decision to go straight into the Late Model feature following that division's B-Mains was the move that allowed the fans to go home very satisfied with what they saw.
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