The 2nd Annual Workforce 40 once again brought in a large crowd to the Quincy Raceways Thursday night for a unique doubleheader featuring the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Models and the Neal Tire MOWA Sprint Cars presented by Casey's General Stores. With more than an inch of rain overnight, plus one more brief shower early in the afternoon, promoter Ken Dobson and his crew had to scramble just to get the facility in shape to not only find dry parking areas for the race haulers, but also for the fans who crammed into every available space and beyond the track's parking lot.
At the inaugural event eventual Outlaws champion Shane Clanton was within four laps of a victory here before one mistake allowed Billy Moyer to steal the win. On this night Clanton returned to Quincy with redemption on his mind and when he drew the pole position for the 40-lap main event he was in a great position to achieve his goal. Brian Shirley started to Clanton's outside and the opening laps were a battle of two different race lines around the recently reconfigured track. Shirley was banging off of the tall and treacherous cushion while Clanton worked the bottom and for the first ten laps it would be Shirley with the edge on the straightaways although Clanton would draw even in the corners.
Laps ten and eleven were virtual dead heats as the two crossed the stripe, but on lap twelve with heavy lapped traffic looming ahead, Clanton gained the advantage and took the lead. The defending champ then made quick work of that traffic and pulled away a bit while Shirley was now dealing with a challenge from current point leader Josh Richards. A pair of cautions on laps eighteen and twenty bunched the field and with Clanton again pulling away that battle for second got physical. Richards drove off the bottom of turn four and came up the track to take away the outside line down the front stretch, but with the momentum off the top of turn four Shirley did not lift and his left front caught the right rear quarter panel of Richards sending him for a spin in turn one.
Richards was sent to the rear while Shirley remained in second, but this time it was Rick Eckert who found the bottom to his liking and he would soon take the spot. There would be no catching Clanton though who raced away to a convincing $8,000 top prize, putting to rest the disappointment that he experienced here last year. Eckert finished in second, with Shirley third, Bobby Pierce came home fourth while Steve Casebolt moved from the fifth row to fifth at the checkers. Richards made it back up to eighth at the pay window.
In the companion MOWA 410 winged sprint 25-lap feature Parker Price-Miller started from the pole and led lap one before one of his top contenders Brady Bacon spun in turn two on the second lap and pulled an amazing wheelstand as he tried to keep the car in motion. Price-Miller opened a sizable advantage after the restart while the battle for second waged on between Joey Moughan and Paul Nienheiser with Nienhesier eventually taking the spot on lap fifteen. The lapped car of Steve Russell took a hard tumble in turn three on lap eighteen with Moughan also suffering race-ending damage as he could not avoid the flipping car and following the red the final seven laps were what Sprint Car fans absolutely love about the sport.
Nienheiser threw a slider at the leader in turns three and four with five laps remaining with Price-Miller turning back under him and regaining the lead down the front stretch. On the next lap Nienheiser tested the bottom line, but could not find enough bite to take the lead so he gathered himself back up and vaulted off of the cushion in turn two to make one last charge on the final lap. The crowd came to their feet as Nienheiser slid up the track, but since the young driver did not have the leader cleared he did not go all the way to the cushion and Parker Price-Miller would score the win with Nienheiser a fan favorite in second. Jake Blackhurst was right there waiting for a mistake in third, Joe B. Miller was fourth and A.J. Bruns who won the Illinois Sprint Speedweek opener in Peoria on Wednesday night was fifth.
The MOWA Sprint move on to Jacksonville tonight (Friday) and then to the Mighty Macon Speedway on Saturday.
A huge thanks to Mary and Larry Loney, Brian Neal, Doug Miller, Jack Walbring, promoter Ken Dobson and the entire CILTRAK crew for their hospitality and it was also nice to catch a moment with World of Outlaws Race Director Brett Emrick.
Another wedding for me this weekend so my next race will come on Monday for night one of Summer Fest at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Get on out to the races!
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