If you are only going to give Justin Kay one slice of pizza during intermission, then you should assume that the race will be for second and that was exactly what happened Sunday night at the 4th Annual Hershel Roberts Memorial at the Quad City Speedway in East Moline. Of course those of you who have not attended a Deery Brothers Summer Series event for IMCA Late Models over the last couple of years have no idea what I am referring to, so first a quick explanation.
Casey's General Stores came on board as a sponsor of the regional Late Model series a couple of years ago so during the intermission at each event the top twelve qualifiers from the heat races are brought to the front of the grandstand and, since Casey's is "Famous for Pizza", each of the drivers are handed a Casey's pizza box that have anywhere from one to twelve slices of pizza inside. The drivers then go through a process where they can hold onto their pizza box, or swap it with another driver and so on and so on until one by one they open the box to reveal how many slices they have which then represents their starting position for the night's main event. Of course the box only contains an image of a slice or slices of pizza, otherwise the lightest box would be the one to find, so really all twelve drivers go hungry but you have to admit that the whole process is a pretty good marketing tool for a sponsor that has really stepped up to support the sport in many ways over the past few years.
So there you have it, a pretty long explanation of an attempt at a cute reference that says that if you are going to start Justin Kay on the pole of any feature race these days it is likely going to turn into a race for second. Man, I am really hungry for some pizza right now!
The current Deery series point leader, Kay brought the field to green for the 58-lap event honoring the long-time driver here that lost his battle with cancer not long ago and while the action was fast and furious behind him, Kay was pretty much on cruise control running right around the very bottom of the wide high-banked quarter-mile oval. A pair of cautions in the first seven laps kept the field tightly bunched and while some contenders were letting the sparks fly by dragging their right tail section across the concrete wall in turns one and and two, others tried to replicate Kay's speed by taking the short way around. These contenders changed often throughout the race with Jason Rauen trying to keep pace early, then it was Mike Zemo Jr. followed by Mike Murphy Jr., Joel Callahan and eventually Jeff Aikey.
Just two laps after the crossed-flags indicated the halfway mark Kay was trying to pick his way around Matt Ryan who was also working the bottom groove and as the leader entered turn one he threw it in a little more sideways and when the right side stuck, the left side of the car rose up in the air and the car bounced twice hard before it settled back down. Just as this was happening the caution flag was waving for Rauen who had stopped in turn four, so as the field gathered for the restart Justin was checking things out to make sure that his wheel hopping had not done any damage.
Earlier in the evening Callahan broke while leading his heat race forcing him to qualify out of a B-Main and he was fast once again moving up from a ninth row starting spot to second, but even after making the big run to the front he could not keep up with Kay. Three laps later Todd Malmstrom got sideways in turn two causing Andy Eckrich and Andy Nezworski to spin to miss and when Malmstrom maintained his forward motion he was able to retain his fifth position for the restart while Eckrich was obviously frustrated in having to be placed at the rear of the field.
Jeff Aikey, the unlucky driver that ended up with a full pizza box earlier (he drew the twelve), was now in contention and the three car battle for second with Callahan and Murphy was very entertaining to watch as Kay again snuck away. The final caution waved with ten laps remaining when Scott Fitzpatrick spun in turn two and on the restart it looked like the high-riding Aikey might be able to give the leader a run for his money, Kay's low groove was much less perilous tough and when Aikey made just one slight bobble on the cushion Kay again pulled away to secure the $3,000 top prize in flag-to-flag fashion. Aikey would finish in the second spot, Callahan took third, Murphy Jr. was fourth while Brian Harris took fifth.
Deery Notes......A solid field of 31 Late Models were on hand at a track that usually favors the local drivers, but not tonight as Mike Murphy Jr. was the only QCS regular to crack the top five......Yes, Kay won from the pole, but if you wanted to see some passing consider the starting spots of the drivers who finished second through fifth respectively; 12th, 17th, 7th and 11th......Mike Zemo Jr. finished in sixth, Todd Malmstrom was seventh, Tyler Bruening used a provisional and started 22nd before finishing in eighth. Andy Eckrich came back to finish ninth while Matt Ryan was tenth.....His late spin knocked him back in the finishing order, but I am impressed with the improvement of Scott Fitzpatrick as the driver from Urbandale passed several cars to finish second in the second B-Main.....Colby Springsteen who ranked fourth in points and was the series' winner at West Liberty a few weeks back was not in attendance at QCS......The next event for the Deery Brothers Summer Series will be on Memorial Day Monday May 26th at the Boone Speedway.
The feature finish in two of the support classes was very similar each with a driver making one last charge for the win to only come up short. An impressive field of twenty-three IMCA Modifieds lined up for twenty laps and as they came off turn four to score lap number two contact sent potential leader Brandon Durbin sliding to the infield where he then scrambled to rejoin the field at the back of the pack. Greg Durbin would set the pace, also choosing to run the bottom groove , as Jason Bahrs applied the pressure from the top side while Doug Crampton tried to find some racing room in third. A caution with two laps remaining bunched the field once again and after taking the white flag Bahrs had a terrific run off the topside of turn two and pulled even with Durbin entering turn three. Instead of going to the top Jason attempted to use the groove just one car-width higher than Durbin and when he hit the throttle to try to win the drag race off of turn four it didn't stick and he spun up the track. The checkers waved for Greg Durbin and the caution waved as well for Bahrs who could not straighten it out and finish the race. Unofficially it was Crampton running second, Brian Bushong who had started eighteenth I believe was credited with third while it looked like Brandon Durbin recovered nicely for fourth.
This scenario was a virtual repeat of what happened moments earlier in the Street Stock feature as Tim Current made a big run at race-long leader Rob Nylin on the final lap. Current used his momentum off the top side of turn two to slam the cushion hard in turn three causing his left front wheel to rise a good foot or two off the ground. The bite was there, but the cowboy could not contain the bucking bronco as Current also spun to a stop and did not finish as the caution flag soon followed the checkers that waved over Nylin. Unofficially the rest of the top five were Steven Jackson, Jeremy Gustaf, Jarrett Franzen and Perry Gellerstedt.
The IMRA Midget Lites were well represented with eighteen cars on hand, but since it was a cooler than anticipated evening and with a bit of a Sunday night drive ahead of me I did not stick around for their final event of the night.
I want to thank QCS Race Director Brad Hines along with flagman Brit Montgomery and scorer Ken Reimers for their hospitality and the entire crew for presenting a fantastic race program that saw the Late Model checkered flag wave before 9:30 p.m. I also enjoyed sitting with Jeff Terhune and 34 Raceway promoters Jeff and Amy Laue for the evening. My colleague Danny Rosencrans was also a few rows down from us so be sure to check out his views on the evening soon at Racin' Down The Road.
My racing plans for the week ahead may include a Wednesday night visit to either Oskaloosa or Peoria and then on Saturday we will conveniently be in the Maquoketa area for the graduation party of a special young lady, so we plan to top off the evening by checking out the MLRA Late Models at the Jackson County Speedway. Look for us on the Back Stretch!
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