Yes, the Corn Belt Clash was also involved in Friday night's Midwest Sanction Showdown at the Davenport Speedway, but isn't it obvious why I had to leave them out of the headline?
Jimmy Mars found the high line to his liking around the big half-mile oval at the Davenport Speedway using a mid-race restart to go from third to first on his way to a $5,000 win in front of a large crowd on a beautiful April evening.
Twenty-eight Open Late Models signed in for action with group qualifying, four heat races and a B-Main setting the field for the 35-lap main event. The qualifying format with the heats lined up straight up by times did not yield much action during as outside of Chad Simpson dropping out on the final lap of the fourth heat there was not a change in position beyond the first lap in any of the four qualifiers. It would be the end of the night due to motor issues for Chad, the six-time Corn Clash Champion. The end of the second heat did give the crowd a thrill though when leader Rodney Sanders had to go over the cushion entering turn one on the final lap to get around the lapped car of Leroy Johnson and when Brian Shirley tried to squeeze between them in turn two he clipped Johnson and sent him for a spin to bring out the caution. The MARS announcer declared the race complete and after the field made three more laps around the speedway the flagman waved the yellow and checkers simultaneously to a chorus of boos from the crowd. It was the right call, in my opinion, since it had been Shirley who had spun the lapped car.
The action would definitely pick up in the main event!
The top four from the B-Main along with four provisionals filled out the 24-car grid with defending MARS champion Tony Jackson Jr. bringing the field to green and grabbing the early lead. Shirley started sixth and on the second lap he got sideways in turn four and nearly had it saved before contact from Jason Papich brought both cars to a stop. Both would restart from the rear although Papich would later retire from the event mid-race.
The caution waved again on lap five when two of the provisional starters, Jay Chenoweth and Leroy Johnson tangled in turn four and following the restart Justin Kay started to make the inside line work, especially in turns three and four as he advanced from sixth to fourth as Jackson still enjoyed a comfortable lead. On lap fifteen Kay would drive under Jimmy Mars down the back stretch to take third and when Sanders jumped the cushion in turn three working traffic, Kay moved to second to the delight of his many fans in the stands.
Scott Schmitt stopped on the back stretch the following lap and the crowd now wanted to see if Kay could make a run at Jackson for the lead on the restart. Mars had his own plan though and as the field thundered into turn one the Wisconsin native hammered the cushion and flew by Jackson to take a big lead headed down the back stretch before the field was brought back to him two laps later following a spin by Spencer Diercks. Mars would hold his own through two lap eighteen restarts as the first one was waved off following spins by Diercks and Myles Moos and the race was slowed again by debris with twelve laps remaining.
For this restart the second running Jackson chose the high side on the first double row and as the green flag waved it appeared that Mars slid up to block Jackson. That allowed Kay to dig off the bottom and hold the lead coming down the front stretch where he then moved up into the preferred line of Mars going into turn one. Mars countered with a slide job that left him drifting to the cushion in turn two so Kay crossed over to the bottom to again lead down the back stretch. With Kay aiming for the low line in turns three and four Mars went back to the cushion and flew back around Kay to regain the lead as lap 24 was scored.
From there the field seemed to settle into the same groove and other than Shirley closing in on Chris Simpson in the final laps there were no challenges for position in the top five as Mars scored the win ahead of Kay, Jackson, Sanders and Simpson. Shirley made a nice run back through the pack to finish where he started in sixth, Frank Heckenast Jr. was seventh, Jason Feger had a relatively quiet night for him in eighth, Ray Guss Jr. was ninth and MARS regular Justin Asplin completed the top ten.
When Dakota Hayden pulled into the pit area at nine o'clock and quickly unloaded his car to start the Modified feature it would bring the official count for the division to fifteen although only twelve would start the 15-lap main event. One the three non-starters was Brad Dubil who had earlier won the first heat in impressive fashion. Nick and Rick Hixson would draw the front row with Nick racing out to the early advantage, but it was obvious that Kurt Kile was the class of the field on this night. Kile worked his way past Ray Cox Jr. and then the elder Hixson to take over second and then on lap seven he drove to the inside of Nick to take over the lead in turn four.
Bruce Hanford moved to second with five laps remaining, but by then Kile was off in the distance as he closed out the win on the big half-mile. Nick Hixson would hold down the third spot followed by Cox and Steve Johnson.
Only six of the local Street Stocks decided to run the big track on this night, but despite the count they did wage an interesting twelve-lap feature. Cord Williams would lead early before he drifted high in turn one opening the door for Jesse Owen to take the lead on lap three. Chad Coyne would work his way into second and as the leaders worked through turns three and four looking for the white flag Coyne pulled even with Owen on the high side. They were wheel-to-wheel under the waving white flag and Owen held his line in turns one and two to maintain the lead on the final lap to take the win. Nick Clausson chased them in for third while Williams was the final car still in action at the checkers.
Perhaps there were some communication issues with the back pits, or with the Late Model series' officials, but following a long delay to get the track rolled in there were still several gaps in the program, something that I am not used to seeing at the Davenport Speedway. You can bet that it will be a much more efficient show with races hitting the track one right after another when the regular season opens here next Friday night with racing back on the quarter-mile oval.
A big thanks to Carrier Rouse, Bob Wagener, Mike McGuire and the entire Davenport Speedway crew for their hospitality. They have several special nights of racing on the schedule for 2016 and I look forward to making the trip back up again soon.
Perhaps I will see you tonight at the Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway in Burlington! And if not there, I do hope that you are taking full advantage of this gorgeous weather and enjoying a race near you.
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