After two weeks of no racing I was not about to let the heat keep me from attending the first of two nights of Fair racing at the Quad City Speedway Tuesday. I could use one of those worn out phrases like “The action on the track was as hot as the weather”, or “The heat was on in East Moline Tuesday night, especially on the speedway”, but instead I will just say this. I have never sweated so much while sitting still in my life as I did Tuesday night, so thank goodness the racing was pretty good or I would have been MISERABLE!
The track’s two Modified divisions were on display tonight with each drawing nineteen cars while nine Four Cylinders were also on hand to fill out the card. The “A” Mods were up first for their $750-to-win 25-lap feature with 2010 Track Champion John Bull drawing the pole position. It was Jason Pershy though who got the jump at the drop of the green leading the first three laps before the first caution. On the restart Bull chose the outside position on the first double row and once back to action Matt Werner shuffled him back to the third spot. That was where the fade ended though as Bull charged back into second on lap five and then drove under Pershy to take the lead on lap seven. Donovan Lodge followed Bull into second applying the pressure to the leader while the big move of the night was being made by Ray Bollinger. The Kewanee driver started 15th and had moved up to fourth when Werner smacked the turn one wall on lap fourteen. On the restart Lodge continued to work on Bull up front while Pershy, Bollinger, Brandon Durbin and Ryan Dolan waged an entertaining battle for third not far behind the lead duo. With the laps winding down Bull managed to put a few car-lengths on Lodge to take the checkers in style while Bollinger prevailed in that four-car tussle for third. Pershy and Durbin completed the top five while Dolan settled for the sixth spot.
The IMCA Modifieds were the featured class of the night and I was a bit surprised that a few more non-regulars did not brave the heat to shoot for the $1,000 top prize. Of course if any track has drivers who enjoy a “home track advantage” when it comes to a special event, I would have to say that it is this high-banked quarter-mile bullring where it is probably like flying jets in a gymnasium. (Yes, I stole that from an old Rusty Wallace interview about Bristol, but hey it is a great analogy!)
Craig Crawford made the move from a second row start to snare the lead exiting turn four on lap one and he then fought off the challenges of Thad Wilson until lap six when Wilson took over the point. Milo Veloz has won a bunch of “Open” Modified features here and around the area, but his transition into the IMCA ranks has been a bit of a disappointment by his own standards until recently. Veloz won here on Sunday night and on this blistering hot evening he was charging toward the front again after starting in row five. Wilson and Veloz staged a pretty good race for a few laps swapping lines through the corners from one end to the other until Veloz finally got a nose under Wilson going into the preferred low groove in turn three and the pass was complete. Veloz then cruised the final thirteen laps to the big money win while John Ahlers came from the back after being involved in a lap one caution to pass Wilson late for second. Crawford finished in the fourth spot while Mitch Morris took home fifth place money.
As much of the crowd shuffled out to see what was going on at the Fair or to get the air conditioning going on their car, we stuck around for the 15-lap Four Cylinder feature that saw Jacob Ellithorpe fight off a late challenge from Mitch Bielenberg to take the win. Bielenberg had started shotgun on the field after suffering damage during the heat race. Former All Iowa Points Champion Brannon Bechen finished in the third spot with Zach Dahl fourth and Mike Wisdom fifth.
I had noticed on the QCS website that Kansas driver Danny Charles of “Heartland Thunder” fame was going to be in action tonight so I was not surprised to see his father Tom in action as well. To say they had a tough night might be an understatement though. Tom ran in the A Mod class only and it was contact from him that sent Ray Bollinger sliding into the infield during the heat race putting Bollinger back in the eighth row for the main event. Danny ran both classes and in the A Mod feature they were 13th and 14th respectively, the last two cars on the track at the checkers. In the IMCA main event Danny was making progress through the field and was up to fifth after starting 15th, but he apparently (I did not actually see it) made contact with another driver during a caution and was sent to the pits. These are two very good Modified drivers, perhaps proving my notion above about the home track advantage here.
A big thanks to Shane Davis and the entire QCS crew for putting on a fine night of racing under tough conditions. Don’t forget that they are back at it tonight (July 20th) for the first Hershel Roberts Memorial featuring the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models and admission is only ten bucks!! That should be a great show, but I’ll be headed northwest instead for the USMTS Mods at Osky. Yes, it is HOT out, but so is the racing! (Man, that sounds so lame…….)
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