Quad Cities 150 Opener Falls To Feger

Okay, so that headline may be a bit harsh as "The Highside Hustler" was strong all night as you might expect when the rim of the wide quarter-mile at the Davenport Speedway was dominant for most of the evening. But it was a flat tire under caution with six laps remaining that handed the lead back to Jason Feger and he would hold off a late challenge from Bobby Pierce to take Thursday's opener in the World of Outlaws Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking.

Overnight rains left standing puddles of water here and there on the ground of the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds and with the extra moisture in the surface the track was lightning fast with a strong cushion as evidenced by a new track record in qualifying set by Bobby Pierce at 13.207. That cushion remained the place to be throughout heat race and last chance race action as while drivers would give the shorter way around a shot early in each race, by the time the checkers waved pretty much everybody was chasing each other around the rim. It was during the twenty lap IMCA Modified main event that some different lines started to show some strength and after a bit of manicuring by promoter Ricky Kay and his team, the track was back to its normal six lanes of choice for an exciting forty lap Late Model headliner.

Ashton Winger and Jason Feger would bring the field to green and I wish that I had a good picture of the field as they fanned out while thundering through turn one on the opening lap. Winger appeared to have a big run coming off of two setup after swinging to the top at the entry of turn one, but Kent Robinson and others had dove to the bottom entering one and had now blocked his exit from turn two causing the pole-sitter to have to brake. Feger emerged from the chaos as the leader of lap one and he would set sail on the still quick cushion with the fourth-starting Devin Moran in hot pursuit.

Caution would fly on lap two when four-time Outlaws champion Josh Richards spun in turn one and the red flag would be needed three laps later when Chad Simpson's car bicycled at the top of turn four and then rolled before slamming the concrete wall beyond the exit of the turn. With the wind knocked out of him, the current MLRA point leader took a moment or two before exiting the car under his own power.

Once back to racing Feger and Moran continued their two car chase around the top while the rest of the field scrambled for position and once lapped traffic came into play Moran started to try the bottom and the middle. Forced off the top by a lapper with twelve laps to go Feger lost some of his momentum, so when he went back to the cushion Moran's shorter way around allowed him to the take the lead on lap twenty-nine.

Not far behind them, both Ryan Gustin and Bobby Pierce had been making up ground on the lead duo with Gustin doing most of his work by pitching his car hard sideways at the entry of both corners and maintaining the bite around. It was no surprise to me then when on lap thirty-four his right rear tire shredded bringing out the caution for the final time in the event. What did surprise everybody though was what happened next.

After passing Feger for the lead, Moran had gone back to the rim and was driving away to a three second advantage, but soon after Gustin entered the hot pit for his tire change, there was Moran as well in the infield with his right rear tire going flat. Both drivers would return for the final six laps with Feger now back out front and with Pierce poised to make a challenge.

Late Model fans know that both of these drivers prefer the top and that is where they would both stay for five laps with Feger maintaining about a three car length advantage as Pierce waited for the slightest of bobbles. If Bobby would have sensed that he had a run there is no doubt that a big slide job would have been served up, but as the white flag waved he tried to stick the bottom through turns one and two.

The nice sized crowd for a Thursday night cheered in anticipation as the leaders exited turn two side by side with Feger's momentum off the top bringing him back to the lead down the back stretch and while Pierce tried the bottom again in three and four there was no passing Feger on this night as Jason would take his second career win with the World of Outlaws. Pierce would settle for second, Tanner English not only extended his lead in the Rookie of the Year standings with his third place finish, he would also close in on the series point lead as he currently ranks second behind Dennis Erb Jr. Ashton Winger was solid in fourth and Billy Moyer returned to action as the native Iowan filled out the top five. Shannon Babb would finish sixth ahead of Kent Robinson, Tyler Bruening came from the seventh row to take eighth, Frank Heckenast Jr. was ninth and Moran rallied to tenth.

The Rest of the Story......It was a diverse and impressive field of 38 Late Models that gathered here for the weekend tripleheader with only one, local driver Mike Guldenpfennig, failing to take time. He would later return to run a few laps of his B-Main.....After spending the last couple of weeks talking about how important the pill draw is to set the qualifying order at Knoxville due to the track quickly losing speed, that was definitely not the case here at Davenport. Yes, the first car out to time (Ashton Winger) did post the fastest lap in Group A with a lap of 13.378, but the thirteenth driver to go the clock (Ryan Gustin) was just a tick off at 13.398. Then came Group B where two of the last three cars to take to the track would set the two fastest times of the night including Bobby Pierce's new track record and Billy Moyer's 13.365. Now that is an even surface through 37 qualifiers!.....Winger is now behind the wheel of the Big Frog Motorsports #58 and the Ocala, Florida, based team may just be as far from home as they have ever been with this appearance at Davenport......Considered to be one of the top two Dirt Late Model drivers in the history of the sport, Moyer was back in action last weekend near his current home of Batesville, Arkansas, for what I believe was one of his first races of 2022, but for us Iowans he will always be from Des Moines.....Heat race action went true to form with the front row finishing first and second in all four. A look at the stats may refute that as you will see that in the fourth qualifier Kent Robinson took the win after starting third, but he was moved up to the pole after the first try at a start was called back. The pole-sitter Moyer was penalized one row for apparently jumping the start, a call that was resoundingly booed by the crowd who had seen a couple of earlier starts also called back with no drivers penalized. So yeah, with Moyer battling his way back into second by the checkers there was actually one driver who did come from a "row two" starting spot to make the redraw......In the fourth heat hometown favorite Spencer Diercks threw one of the sliders of the night on Boom Briggs to finish third after starting fifth.....Series point leader Dennis Erb Jr. made a big move early to go from sixth to second in the first B-Main, a finish that would place him 19th on the starting grid for the feature. He would run a steady race to finish eleventh, but would see his point lead shrink by 16 markers with English racing from tenth to third in the main event.....Michigan visitor Chad Finley passed Brian Shirley on a mid-race restart to take the third and final transfer from the first B-Main....Trevor Gundaker would win the second B-Main ahead of the defending IMCA Modified National Champion Jeff Larson who put the locally owned #99 of Doug Curless in the feature field. Another series rookie who also ranks third in the overall point standings, Max Blair would take the final transfer leaving Australian driver Kye Blight one spot shy of making the A......While racing for $10,000 to win each night, Late Model drivers are accumulating points in the Thursday and Friday shows to set the lineups for Saturday's finale that will have a $30,000 check waiting in victory lane.

In a bit of a surprise, the legendary Billy Moyer is an entrant at Davenport for the weekend

A stout field of thirty-one IMCA Modifieds served as a hearty appetizer with the track regulars taking on some talented out of towners and, in the end, it would be one of the weekly Friday night competitors in victory lane after the twenty lap feature. Front row starters Ryan Duhme and Matt Werner would cross the stripe in a virtual dead heat after one quarter of a mile of racing with only the scoreboard letting me know that Werner would be officially scored as the leader. The defending IMCA Super Nationals Champion Cody Laney was in town from Torrance, California, and after starting sixth he would move to second on lap three just before the caution waved for Jed Freiburger's spin in turn one.

On the restart Travis Denning would reclaim second from Laney and it would now be a familiar chase as Werner and Denning have been the top two Modified drivers on the Quad Cities tracks in 2022. That chase would be short lived though as two laps later Ray Cox Jr. jumped the cushion in turn one and as drivers checked up behind him it would quickly create a three car pileup including Justin Becker, Austin Blume and Jerry Dedrick. On this restart Laney would return to second, but again only two more laps would be recorded before a front stretch scuffle would leave Freiburger facing the wrong direction once again. 

With the yellow fever now out of their system, the race would go green for the final thirteen laps with Werner going unchallenged to collect his eleventh win of the season. Laney would impress the Quad Cities crowd with his second place run, seventeen-year-old Charlie Mohr would get his third podium finish of the season in third, current All Iowa Points leader Austen Becerra would finish in the fourth spot while Duhme slipped past Mitch Way on the final lap to reclaim fifth.

More Modifieds......Denning had slipped back to fourth when he jumped the cushion and went over the top of turn one with eight laps remaining. Rather than stopping to draw a caution the Sterling, Illinois, driver proceeded to the pit area. Denning currently ranks second in the All Iowa Points to Becerra and is currently tied for fourth in the IMCA Modified National Points......Along with the Californian Laney, Bricen James from Albany, Oregon, was in action and was credited with a 22nd place finish in the feature....Mitch Way started twelfth and finished sixth while Jason Pershy came from 22nd to seventh at the checkers.....Despite the two cautions, Freiburger rallied back to a ninth place showing....Speaking of the All Iowa Points, six of the top twenty drivers were in the field tonight with Becerra (1st), Denning (2nd), Werner (7th), Freiburger (12th), Duhme (16th) and Drew Janssen (18th).....The 1987 IMCA Modified National Champion Shane Davis was joined on the microphone by National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee Rick Eshelman on this night to call the action for both those in attendance and for those who had tuned in on DirtVision.....One of those watching on DirtVision from New Jersey was my son Morgan who was holding my now five day old grandson Walker who was at least listening to his first race.

The Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking continues tonight with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series joining the World of Outlaws Late Models for another great night of action. I am interested to see how the midgets race the wide quarter-mile oval. Hope to see you there!