With perfect weather in the forecast I kicked off what I hope to be a four race weekend on Thursday night with a trip to the Tri-City Speedway across the river from St. Louis in Granite City. My original plan was to head north for the opening night of the Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek, but I noticed a week or so ago that they had cut the Thursday program to make it a two day show in 2020. As it turned out it was raining in southeast Minnesota on Thursday so I would have been headed to the opening night of the UMP Mod Mania event anyway.
While still solid, the car count was down a bit for the Thursday opener of the triple-header as forty-eight Modified drivers signed in with Michael Altobelli getting the long tow award coming in from Saxton, Pennsylvania. In the Late Models, with Chad Bauer from Michigan, Mark Rose from Wisconsin and Mike Fenton from Texas on the roster you would have thought that the count would have been higher than twenty-three given the number of cars based around the St. Louis area and perhaps that count will grow over the next two nights. In the end though, both classes had full fields on a beautiful night for racing and the track was in great shape for action.
The Modified feature would run first with the six heat race winners holding a unique redraw where each diver drew a number and then assigned it to another. I love it when tracks do this as it essentially allows the drivers to handicap the field and when it is only six drivers involved they all seemed to be good with it. Let's just say that when it is a twelve driver redraw, some of them are not so amused. Jeff Leka and Rick Stevenson would wind up on the front row with Stevenson racing out to the early lead in the thirty lap event. Leka would maintain second while Will Krup quickly moved from fifth to third as the guy that the other guys made sure started sixth, Nick Hoffman was slow to move forward.
On lap eleven Krup slipped under Leka for second and just one lap later he made the same move on Stevenson to take the lead. The driver that they call "Shakespeare" then opened up a full straightaway lead before Hoffman made his way into second on lap eighteen, but that lead would be wiped away one lap later when Leka clipped an infield tire and spun in turn two. A caution for debris on lap twenty-one and for Timmy Hill's flat tire in turn four one lap later interrupted the flow and whittled Hoffman's opportunity to just eight laps to challenge for the win.
There would be no touching Krup on this night though as he pulled away from Hoffman and the rest of the field over the final laps to take the win. Hoffman was the runner-up with Kentucky's Josh Harris taking third. Stevenson held on for fourth place money while Mike Harrison passed Mike McKinney on the final lap to complete the top five. The seven time UMP Modified National Champion, Harrison had to qualify out of the first B-Main to start thirteenth in the feature.
Daryn Klein would pace the Late Model field to green for their thirty lap headliner, but it would be the Highside Hustler Jason Feger who would race out to a big early lead. A caution for Jeremy Conaway's spin on lap nine would bunch the field again and Iowa's Chris Simpson would now find some bite on the bottom allowing him to keep pace with the rim riding Feger. On lap eighteen that bottom groove would prevail as Simpson would take the point and start to drive away to an apparent victory. His trip to victory lane would be temporarily delayed though when the third place car of Klein clipped the end of the turn four retaining wall that then turned him hard right into the front stretch wall where he then flipped up and over to bring out the red flag with three laps to go.
Klein climbed out of the damaged car uninjured and after the track was cleared Feger was unable to mount a challenge as Simpson secured the win. Gordy Gundaker started eighth and finished third, Michael Kloos was fourth and Ohio's Rusty Schlenk was fifth. After smacking the wall in qualifying and then missing his heat race, Tim Manville started from the rear of the field and battled his way up to ninth at the checkers.
The final checkered flag waved just shy of eleven o'clock and it was a short drive to the hotel as my Friday night destination, the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, is on my back home. Saturday night will be the Fall Haul for the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway and with $5,000-to-win you can expect a big and diverse field of Winged 360 Sprint Cars there. Then on Sunday the Bullring at the Rock Island County Fairgrounds, otherwise known as the East Moline Speedway has my attention with big money on the line for both the Street Stocks and the Sport Compacts for the Ron Marks Jr. Memorial.
Get out and support the track of your choice this weekend!
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