Lierly Edges Harris at Quincy For His First Super Late Model Win

Jerry Lierly has spent most of the past year and a half on the road. The UMP Late Model driver from Camp Point, Illinois, has been traveling keeping a similar schedule to Dennis Erb Jr., the nationally known driver out of suburban Chicago who has helped Lierly with setups both in the pits and by driving the car #7L from time to time. That experience on the road definitely showed Sunday night during the season opener at the Quincy Raceway as Lierly patiently pressured leader Brian Harris until the final two laps before making his move to capture his first career win in the UMP Super Late Model division.

Lierly and Harris earned the front row starting spots for the 30-lap main event on the quarter-mile bullring with Harris getting the jump from the outside to take the lead. Most of the sixteen car field then settled into the bottom groove despite the fact that the support division events just prior had shown that multiple grooves still existed. Perennial Quincy Raceway favorite Mark Burgtorf started seventh and he went up to the topside to try to work to the front, but instead he gradually faded toward the back before making an early exit making it look that indeed the low groove was the place to be.

Jerry Lierly is all smiles in victory lane - Barry Johnson photo

Harris stayed glued to the bottom and Lierly applied the pressure putting the left side tires into the infield on a couple of occasions to get his nose under Harris. In the past, this might have resulted in contact with the leader or a spin by Lierly, but lessons learned had him backing off and waiting for another opportunity. After a couple of aborted starts this event went green all the way and as the laps clicked off Harris found himself closing in on a pack of five cars racing for position at the back of the field with all but one of them planted in the preferred lower groove. Harris nosed up to the rear bumper of Billy Genebacher's #72 and waited for an opening on the inside while Lierly was right on the rear bumper of the leader waiting for him to step out of line to attempt to pass the soon-to-be-lapped car. After two laps of running like this and with the white flag about to wave, Lierly confidently moved to the high line and drove past both Harris and Genebacher, and he remained up top for the final circuit to pull away for the win. Harris was in "no man's land" as he knew that his challenger was ready to pounce if he would have left the low groove so he instead stayed there and settled for second. Defending track champion Jason Perry finished where he started in third, Denny Woodworth started fifth and finished fourth while quick qualifier Clint Kirkham took fifth.

After trying to slip by on the low side, Jerry Lierly (7) used the high line to pass Brian Harris (15) in the final two laps for the UMP Late Model win at Quincy - Barry Johnson photo

 Five caution flags kept the 25-lap UMP Modified main event from being considered a classic, but it was still a pretty good one with four lead changes across four drivers. SPEED Channel celebrity Kenny Wallace was on hand to mix it up with the locals and he would have been starting from the pole position had he not spun out while leading the Dash earlier in the evening. Instead it was Michael Long who shot from the pole position and he would lead the first four laps before making a quick exit off of turn two and to the pit area. David Wietholder would inherit the lead at that point with Robbie Reed working his way up from the fourth row to challenge. Reed would inch ahead for the advantage on lap eleven only to see Wietholder fight back to regain the top spot a lap later.

Steven DeLonjay (35) makes the winning pass - Barry Johnson photo

Following a restart defending track champion Steven DeLonjay would go to work on the leader and when Wietholder left an opening in turn two DeLonjay drove past him on the bottom. From there the race for the lead was over as the second generation speedster opened up a straightaway advantage before taking the checkered flag on opening night. Wietholder would take second, Reed held off a late challenge from Wallace to take third and Shawn Deering completed the top five.

The IMCA Stock Cars were the first of the five features to be run with the 2012 Hobby Stock track champion Jake Powers leading early. The Hobby Stock division is no longer in competition here so while the move to a Stock Car may have been forced, Powers looks like he will be a driver to contend with this year leading until lap five when two of the best here in this class, Abe Huls and Terry Houston slipped by. Houston stalked Huls for several laps and with just two to go he was able to get under Huls for the lead and the eventual win as another defending track champion found opening night success. Second and third went to Huls and Powers respectively, Jerry Jansen was fourth while Darren Lambert filled out the top five.

Terry Houston (97) passed Abe Huls with two laps to go to win the Stock Car main event - Barry Johnson photo

The ten car Sport Mod feature was littered with six caution flags that kept interrupting a pretty good race up front. Tony Dunker got by Joe Bliven on lap five and then kept Bobby Anders a car-length or two behind him over the final green flag laps to take the win. You guessed it, Dunker is the defending track champion in this division. Bliven finished third with Nathan Anders and Charles VanZandt filling out the top five.

Tony Dunker (3) and Bobby Anders (20) race for position early in the Sport Mod finale - Barry Johnson photo

The Sport Compact feature closed out the evening with some drama as a thrilling three-car battle for the lead turn into a three-car accident while racing for the white flag exiting turn four. Robert Thompson Jr., Austen Becerra and Craig Bangert were all looking for the win before contact sent all three of them off the topside of turn four. Bangert was able to keep his car in motion so he restarted in the lead, Thompson sped off to the pits and Becerra restarted at the rear for the final two laps with Bangert holding on to take the win. Kimberly Abbott then held off a hard charging Becerra to finish second.

Robert Thompson Jr. (9), Austen Becerra (22) and Craig Bangert (99B) make contact while racing for the lead in turn four with just over one lap remaining - Barry Johnson photo

Temperatures in the 70's supported by a strong southerly wind greeted the opening night crowd and while the skies did not look overly threatening there were a few raindrops felt during the Stock Car main event. The show was run off in a fine fashion and despite the abundance of cautions in the two Modified features the final checkered flag flew right at 9 p.m. I am hoping that the weather during the week ahead still allows for a trip back down to Quincy next Sunday night as the ALMS/MARS/Corn Belt Clash Late Model tripleheader weekend wraps up here on April 21st following a scheduled Friday night stop at Tri-City Speedway and a Saturday night show at 34 Raceway.