With a change of plans that can be attributed to an inaccurate future radar, I made my way to the East Moline Speedway on Sunday night for the annual Ronnie Weedon Memorial. The high banked quarter-mile in the Quad Cities was my Sunday night destination of choice many years ago, often after an afternoon of putting a couple of dollars down at the harness races. Memories of "Twin 50's" nights that would draw in visitors like Ed Sanger, Roger Long, Dick Taylor, the Strube brothers and many more to take on Gary Webb, Ray Guss (both Senior and Junior) and all of the other track regulars are some of my favorite nights at the races.
Lately though my visits have been limited to once or twice a year and frankly, I did not often find a reason to make the 100+ mile trip back as the track would usually be hard and slick with no cushion and a lot of dust which would often lead to a "spin out fest", especially in the support classes, and a lot of follow the leader racing when the green flag could stay out.
That was definitely NOT the situation on this Sunday night!
This was by far the best racing surface that I have seen at East Moline in years and nearly all of the seven drivers that visited victory lane on the night said so during their interview. There was moisture in the track that allowed for a cushion to build, there was no dust and drivers could even find a fast line around the very top running above the cushion. Best of all, only one event saw a rash of cautions (more on that later) which meant that even with an inexplicably long thirty minute intermission where no track prep was needed, the final checkered flag waved at 9:04 p.m. And as I hustled out to my car, all I could think of was that if this is how the track prep will be going forward, how many times can I come back this year?
The Nostalgia Cars would be up first come feature time and this class definitely brings back memories as intended with replicas of cars once driven by Ed Sanger, Dave Birkfofer, Brian Birkhofer, Curt Hansen, Ronnie Weedon, John Connelly, Jim Gerber and Darrell Dake in action. Bert McDaniel had Hansen's #9 look alike nearly a half lap in the lead until lap six when the Gerber and Weedon cars driven by Randy Christner and Jeff Walker tangled in turn four. Disaster struck for McDaniel during the caution as he would lose his left rear spring and start leaking rear end fluid requiring a tow back to the pits as well.
The Keith Simmons owned #38 is definitely the car to beat whenever I see this group and with Jeremiah Hurst behind the wheel tonight, he was busy navigating traffic through those first six laps after starting ninth. Now on the restart though, he would set sail and drive away from the field as Hurst would win going away over the #95 of Austin Honts, Mark Claeys was third, Jamie Huff in the #8 convertible was fourth while Jeff Snyder finished fifth.
The IMCA Late Models were up next for twenty-five laps with Joe Ross holding off the persistent challenges of Travis Denning over the first five circuits. Ryan Claeys' spin in turn four would cause a restart and Denning would drive deep into turn three and then shut the door on the rim riding Ross to take the point on lap six. A second and final caution of the race would wave on lap ten when contact between Broderick Prescott and Sycamore visitor Jason Breese would send Prescott for a spin and again Denning would drive away once the green flag reappeared.
With Denning in control, the battles behind him were entertaining and when the checkers waved Travis had nearly a half of a lap advantage over runner-up Jesse Bodin who had warded off Andy Nezworski for second. Ross would slip to fourth while the ageless one, Gary Webb would complete the top five.
The Sport Mod feature, originally scheduled for fifteen laps, was a disappointment for the fans as eight stoppages would interrupt what was looking to be a pretty darn good battle between Logan Veloz and Jarrett Franzen for the win. C.J. Durbin was the early leader as Veloz quickly worked his way toward the front after starting twelfth. As Veloz looked to the inside of Cole Stichter for second on only the third lap, Stichter would spin in turn four and that would be the first delay of this race that included a couple of debris cautions and a backmarker spinning on the back stretch before the green even waved on a restart. That delay was extended when that same car then drove alongside the front of the field for a lap and a half before dropping to the rear to try it again.
Meanwhile, once a certain number of cautions were reached, they started taking laps away so this one would end on lap thirteen as Veloz held off the challenge from Franzen to take the win. It was noteworthy that during his victory lane interview, Logan thanked the nice-sized crowd for coming out to the races rather than staying home and watching them on TV. Durbin would hold on for third, Stichter battled back to finish fourth as Trey Grimm filled out the top five.
In my recent visits to East Moline, that rash of cautions would usually lead to more of the same, but not on this night as a small field of Hobby Stocks would run their twelve laps from green to checkers with no incidents. And it was good race for the win as well with Jordan Patz leading early before Keith Lilly eased on by on lap three. Former All Iowa Points champion Randy Lamar soon moved to second and he would now stalk Lilly over the next several laps, but unable to make a move to the front.
That would come with just two laps to go though when the leader got just a bit loose allowing Lamar to drive by to take the lead and the eventual victory over both Lilly and Patz. Donnie Cole was not far behind in fourth while Ethan Roberts was credited with fifth.
The Sport Compacts would provide the race of the night though in a twelve lap distance that was slowed just once when the rear bumper cover off of the car of Jason Rhoads ended up laying on the back stretch on lap five. Nolan Morrow was the leader of lap one before Dustin Forbes went to the front and in those final seven laps he would be joined by Shawn McDermott and Cyle Hawkins.
Forbes looked to be in control despite the close proximity of his challengers, but when the leader's car started to smoke in the closing laps, McDermott and Hawkins were ready to pounce. A slip on the exit of turn two by Forbes on the final lap would find McDermott now on his inside with Hawkins to his right and they would go three wide into turn three much to the delight of the crowd. Shawn would have the advantage exiting turn four and he would take the win as Forbes narrowly edged out Hawkins for second. Dustin Munn and Michael Snyder would then follow the trio in for fourth and fifth respectively.
The fifteen lap Mod Lite feature would go non-stop as well and while they confined themselves to the bottom two lines around the high banks, it was still some good racing as R.J. Gonzales passed his brother Blake on lap three and then held off Jon Padilla to take the win. Brandon Freeburg was right there as well in third as Blake Gonzales finished fourth. Mike Morrow completed the top five.
Cautions on laps eight and thirteen would slow the field and Matt Werner's #93 would go up in smoke with ten laps remaining to require the final caution of the night. Seventh starting Jason Pershy would now join that battle for second and even though Larson was final able to focus on trying to reel in Barnes over the closing laps, there would be no catching Eric who would go flag-to-flag for the four figure payday. Larson would take the runner-up honors with Pershy on the podium in third. After getting to second mid-race coming from the outside of row three, Mohr would slip back to fourth at the finish as Blaise Lewis took fifth.
As mentioned above the final checkers waved just a few minutes past nine o'clock and there was still a hint of twilight as I headed for home, happy to see that the East Moline Speedway had returned to what I had cherished from the past, at least for this night.
Up next for me, future radar readings pending, will be the visit by the High Limit Sprint Car Series to the Davenport Speedway on Tuesday night. Then it will be two hits of the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders over the weekend, first on Friday night June 7th at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, and then on Sunday night we will be at the Adams County Speedway in Quincy, Illinois.
Perhaps we will see you again soon here on the Back Stretch.
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