After two straight cancellations and with just this coming Sunday October 29th remaining on the schedule the new owners of the Quincy Raceways made the unusual decision to schedule a race on a Monday night in October based I believe in part due to a weather forecast that called for sunny skies with a temperature near seventy. Just the fact that I could go to a race on a Monday night in October had me hooked so I decided to make the ninety mile drive knowing that I would likely see a short field of cars.
Yes, the temperature did approach seventy in Quincy during the afternoon and yes there was sunshine, but there was also a thin line of showers that passed through late in the afternoon and that set things back by quite a bit as the hot laps that were scheduled for 7:00 p.m. did not get underway until well after 8:00 after a big effort to get the track rolled in. The decision was then made to run features only, but with a large number of laps given the car counts in each division. That seemed to work out though as there was only one caution flag needed in the 105 laps of racing action that then took place.
The Crate Late Models were up first for thirty laps with Tommy Elston and Denny Woodworth drawing the front row of the seven car lineup. The irony of this is that Elston and Woodworth had won all but one of the Crate Late Model races held at Quincy in 2017 yet the luck of the draw planted them in front for the drop of the green. Elston would take the lead on the opening lap and on lap two Woodworth slowed while going down the back stretch and headed for the pits leaving us to think that this would now be an Elston runaway.
Clint Kirkham had other ideas though as he was wheeling Charles Van Zandt's car #80 and was steadily coming to the front after passing Vance Wilson and Sam Halstead. When Elston first encountered the lapped car of Rudy Zaragoza, Kirkham was able to narrow the gap on the leader and when Elston caught up with Zaragoza again on lap twenty things got interesting. Elston showed patience for a couple of laps trying to pick a clean line, but when the lapper got nearly completely sideways in turn four Kirkham saw his opportunity and pounced. As both cars cleared Zaragoza Kirkham was able to get under Elston as well and he would take the lead on lap twenty-three. Surprisingly Elston was not able to mount a challenge over the closing laps and Kirkham pulled away to take his first win of the season. Elston was the runner-up and showed his frustration with Zaragoza exiting the speedway, Brandon Savage finished third, Halstead was fourth and Wilson finished fifth.
Only four Stock Cars signed in and they were able to negotiate their feature down to twenty laps with the count dropping to three when Beau Taylor broke a ball joint on the opening lap. The three remaining cars then maintained about an equal distance from each other throughout the twenty laps as Jake Powers took the win over Jerry Jansen and Nathan Hayes.
Eight Sport Mods then came to the track for a thirty lap race where the initial start was waved off due to the lineup being a bit jumbled coming to the green. It was then discovered that one of the front row starters Mike Goodwin's car was missing its fuel cap. Apparently the crew could not find it anywhere as he was not able to return in time for the start that saw Tanner Klingele come from the outside of row two to take the lead on the opening lap. Track champion Brandon Lennox was right there to challenge though and Klingele was able to hold him off until lap seven when Lennox powered by and into the lead. The only caution of the night came on lap twelve when Tyler Burton had something break on the front of his car and he stopped at the top of turn two.
There would be no keeping up with Lennox on the restart as he would cruise the final eighteen laps to secure the win. Klingele had his hands full with A.J. Tournear over the closing laps holding on to second by just less than a car length at the checkers. Tournear liked the extra laps on a Monday night as he posted his best finish of the season in third while John Renier and Gary Stevenson completed the top five.
Seven cars were scheduled and six started the twenty-five lap finale for the Sport Compacts with pole sitter Jeffrey DeLonjay racing out to a big early lead. Barry Taft started sixth and he methodically raced his way up to second mid-race and then set his sights on catching the leader. With five laps to go Taft was within striking distance and on lap twenty-two he made the pass that would lead to the win. DeLonjay would settle for second with Kimberly Abbott in third, Jadon DeLonjay was fourth and Jordan Jones fifth. Darin Weisinger Jr. was running a strong second early before mechanical issues forced him to the pit area.
With seven cars signed in to compete the win was worth just three points for Taft as he tries to catch Nate Coopman in the All Iowa Points standings. Combined with his third place finish in Memphis on Saturday night Barry is now seven points back with just three possible race dates still on the calendar so not only does he need to finish at the front he also needs the weather to cooperate this weekend because if he loses both shows the seven point difference then becomes insurmountable.
This show was not likely a money-maker but there were more people in attendance than I would have expected and for me it was the best race with the most cars that I have ever seen on a Monday night in October. Plus I was able to get in plenty of bench racing with good friends Danny Rosencrans, Gary Lee and Bob Litton so I am glad that I made the trip!
Now, after what has been a warmer than normal Fall specials season, we will see who will brave the forecast and move ahead with their show for this weekend. If they do I will make every effort to be there with full cold weather gear in tow and I hope that you will too.
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