Near the end of last season Billy Moyer announced that he would be racing a very limited schedule in 2016. Okay, so maybe he has skipped a show here and there, but the Hall of Fame driver who some consider to be the best dirt late model racer ever has still been very active this season and is currently ranked eighth in the Back Stretch's National Dirt Late Model Points. So this past week when I hear announcer James Essex say at Eldora that this will be Moyer's final appearance at the World 100 and then again last night when it was said that this will be Mr. Smooth's last weekend as a driver at Knoxville, forgive me if I am a bit skeptical. Especially when he still has the ability to go out and beat the best in the business in a convincing manner as he did during Thursday's opener of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals.
Sixty-nine names were on the draw sheet and there were sixty-eight cars in the pits, more on that later, and Knoxville officials along with those of us who also attended the Thursday night shows at both the 360 and 410 Sprint National here back in August had to be feeling a sense of deja vu in regard to the weather as just like those two evenings an ominous line of heavy thunderstorms had formed to the north and west and they were slowly inching toward Knoxville. During the two sprint car shows the track officials were able to run off the 360 Nationals opener by nine o'clock, beating the rain by about twenty minutes, and at the Thursday qualifier for the 410 Nationals the checkered flag waved right about 10:00 p.m. again beating the rain by less than a half hour. They were in "hurry up" mode again last night as the field was split into two qualifying groups and as soon the final car in Group B hit the track for qualifying the first heat race for Group A started to roll into staging pausing only for a strong rendition of our National Anthem by Jackie Schmillen. The three Group A heat races were followed by the three Group B heat races, something that Eldora should consider rather than staggering them, and the only "down time" of the night came as the lineups for the D, C, B and A Mains were finalized.
That's right folks, no "politically correct" three B-Mains here at Knoxville! If you finished tenth on back in your heat race you went to the D-Main where you would then have to qualify for the C and then hope to race your way into the top four to get to the B-Main where the top six would qualify for the Main event. It is tried and true the BEST method to get the BEST twenty-four cars of the night into the feature. Just something for other tracks and promoters to consider.....
With lightning flashing to the north the A-Main took to the track in such a hurry that B-Main winner Mike Marlar had to hustle onto the racing surface and then stop as the four-wide salute formed up to make sure that he had all of his safety equipment hooked up. Brandon Sheppard and Billy Moyer would bring the field to green for 25-laps and it would be Moyer who would not only take the lead at the onset, but he quickly pulled away from the stellar field. Sheppard had his hands full with challenges from Jimmy Mars and Shane Clanton early, but once he firmly established himself in second he started to close the gap on Moyer, trying to cut into a lead that had grown to a full straightaway in the first ten laps.
The margin had been chopped in half by lap fifteen and to about ten car-lengths with five laps remaining with lapped traffic now looming ahead for the leader. On lap twenty-one Moyer made a rare mistake when he stumbled on the cushion in turns three and four and suddenly Sheppard was within striking distance with just four laps remaining. That slight error seemed to motivate Moyer though as not only was he perfect over those closing laps, he sealed the deal by splitting two lapped cars in turn one after taking the white flag and the native Iowan scored his ninth win here at Knoxville and his 814th career feature win in convincing fashion. Sheppard would take the runner-up honors as Josh Richards came from sixth to third. Clanton finished fourth, Mars was fifth, Bobby Pierce was sixth followed by Chris Simpson, Don O'Neal, Jonathan Davenport and Tim McCreadie.
After finishing second in the B-Main, McCreadie's charge from 20th to 10th was by far the best of the night other than the three car advancements by both Richards and Davenport. And actually two of the three that Davenport passed came when he got a nice little jump on the start passing the row in front of him before getting to the flagstand. So no, there was not much passing going on during the non-stop feature, but the action in the six heat races definitely made up for it as only the top three finishers with an eight car invert would transfer to the main event.
Perhaps it was the result of already being in "hurry up" mode, but instead of starting fifth in the first heat race where he was scheduled for, Ryan Unzicker took the green flag from the ninth position and let's just say that this would set the tone for his night as he pretty much went unnoticed running seventh in the heat and later seventh in the C-Main. West Virginia's Jared Hawkins was enjoying his first ever visit to Knoxville, but after ten laps his engine threw in the towel big time going up in a huge cloud of white smoke. Front row starters Jimmy Owens and Rodney Sanders finished one-two as the drivers to watch were Don O'Neal and the Group A fastest qualifier Mike Marlar. They were originally to start together on row four, but with Unzicker feeling generous O'Neal moved up a row and then held off Marlar in the closing laps for the final transfer.
The second heat was the best race of the night with pole-sitter Brent Larson getting out to a big lead early, but as you will often see in an inverted heat race everybody converges on the front in the final laps and that was definitely the situation here. The top six including Larson, Steve Francis, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chad Simpson, Billy Moyer Jr. and Bobby Pierce were all in a tight pack and racing through turn two when Ryan Gustin's motor let go with just two laps remaining. The action picked right back up again following the restart and on the final lap when Simpson got too high off of turn two, and when Thornton jumped the cushion in turn three, they both dropped out of transfer spots as Francis passed Larson for the win coming to the checkers. Pierce would finish in the third spot with Simpson dropping to fifth behind Moyer Jr. and Thornton's miscue hurt him dearly as he faded to seventh dropping him to the C-Main.
I may have missed this before, but I finally noticed that third heat pole-sitter Ray Guss Jr. had changed his number from 58 back to 12 as he closes out his Hall of Fame career. Darrell Lanigan started outside of Guss and he would go flag-to-flag to win this one as Brandon Sheppard finished second and Jimmy Mars fought of persistent challenges from Dennis Erb Jr. to take third.
The fourth heat saw Modified star Jesse Sobbing lead the opening laps with national late model stars Billy Moyer, Shane Clanton, Jonathan Davenport and Tim McCreadie all chasing him. And, you know what? They weren't going to catch him either, but we will never know as on lap seven Sobbing slowed suddenly and pulled to the infield with mechanical issues that would end his night. Clanton threw a nasty slider on Davenport, even with some contact in turn four as they raced for second with two laps remaining as Moyer took the win.
Gregg Satterlee was getting plenty of traction tonight as he ran off and hid from the field in heat race number five. Yes, in case you were wondering, that was a subtle jab based upon one of the biggest story lines in dirt late model racing this season, although I'm not taking sides here, just being a smart*$$ as usual. Chris Simpson continued to give his Hawkeyes wrap a nice ride as he charged from eighth to second and he would go to the feature as the high point man. Young Tyler Erb was impressive in third. Sprint car ace Donny Schatz was making a one night only appearance that came to an early end as he slapped the guardrail of turn two on the final lap and spun as the checkers waved for Satterlee. Schatz was later a no-show for the D-Main.
Jason Rauen ran off to a big lead in the sixth and final heat race and then held off the top ranked driver in the country Josh Richards after a late restart to take the win. Dale McDowell was running in the top three before puffs of smoke started to show mid-race and as Richards was passing him for third with three laps remaining McDowell slowed and created that late caution. Jason Feger would take the final transfer.
Spencer Diercks would win the D-Main and in the C-Main a pair of Arizona natives Ricky Thornton Jr. and Jake O'Neill would swap the lead with O'Neill taking the win prompting announcer James Essex to make the comment to Knoxville's own Tony Bokhoven that perhaps the last Arizona driver to win at Knoxville was Ron Shuman. Only the top four moved up to the B-Main and Chad Holladay was running sixth and closing fast with two laps to go before he got too wide in turn four and smacked the guardrail hard. After the restart Morgan Bagley was able to drive by Rob Toland for that fourth and final transfer.
The B-Main would see the top six transfer to the feature and with the fastest qualifiers who did not advance through the heats starting up front the race went pretty true to form. Only one driver who started in the first three rows did not stay in the top six and that was Chad Simpson who faded from third to ninth at the checkers.
I picked up a draw sheet as I entered the grandstand and noticed that Scott Bloomquist was on the list. Team Zero was nowhere in sight though throughout the entire evening and other than race fan Jeff Terhune stating on the Iowastockcars forum that he saw the Bloomquist hauler parked behind the Back Stretch grandstand after the races I have not seen anything other than speculation as to why he did not race tonight. Under Knoxville's format a driver uses his "best" point night from Thursday and Friday to determine Saturday's lineup so it may not be a big deal if he goes out and runs well tonight. Plus, since this is a Lucas Oil Late Model Series event, if he does have bad luck tonight I do believe that there will be provisional starters at the back of the feature, but leave it to Bloomquist to be a bit of a mystery no-show at one of the sport's crown jewel events.
The final checkers waved at 10:01 p.m. and once again the Knoxville Raceway outraced a line of thunderstorms that soon after converged on the area. After some scattered showers today, the forecast for the final two nights looks perfect so "hurry up" mode will no longer be needed.
A social commitment for tonight will keep me away from the track and on Saturday night I will be at 34 Raceway near Burlington for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Season Championship. There are plenty of great races on the calendar this weekend so get on out and enjoy one near you!
Friday, September 16, 2016
Thursday, September 15, 2016
All Iowa Points Still In Doubt For Several Classes
I am hustling around to get ready for night number one of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals so this will be short and sweet, but for those of you who do enjoy following the All Iowa Points we definitely have some tight races that will be decided during the Fall specials.
Rob Toland holds a 13 point lead over Luke Goedert in the Late Models, a lead that Goedert can erase if he races and finishes well at Marshalltown tonight and West Liberty next week and Tipton on October 5th. Then, don't forget that the Lee County rules Late Models will run shows at Donnellson and Memphis as well, but that will be a long trip for the northeast Iowa driver. Of course Toland could clicnh with a top-five run or two of his own.
Chris Abelson has the Modified title clinched for the third year in a row and in the Limited Modifieds Tyler Soppe trails defending champion Tony Olson by just twelve points with several events for the division still in play.
It is a three diver battle for the Stock Cars where Mike Nichols leads Derek Green by just three points and three-time defending champion Damon Murty is just six markers back. Again there are plenty of Stock Car events still on the schedule, but Murty has shown to be more active in the Fall schedule than the other two the past couple of years.
Four-time Hobby Stock champion Shannon Anderson holds a two-point lead over Cody Nielsen with plenty of races still on the schedule and in the Four Cylinders defending champion Jay DeVries has a one-point lead over Kimberly Abbott, a two-point lead over Brandon Setser, an eleven-point lead over Tyler Thompson and a fifteen-point edge on Cody Van Dusen. Abbott may hold the edge though as the majority of the Fall specials in October are held at tracks near her home and don't count out Super Nationals champion Josh Barnes who is only 19 points back of the leader.
Not much Sprint Car racing left on the schedule so it looks like Danny Lasoski will repeat his title in the 410's, Tim Kaeding has a two point lead on Clint Garner with Sprint Invaders point leader Chris Martin still within striking distance for the 360's and Tyler Drueke appears to be headed for his first championship in the 305's.
Check out the full standings for each division on the Points page at Positively Racing.
Off to Knoxville!
Rob Toland holds a 13 point lead over Luke Goedert in the Late Models, a lead that Goedert can erase if he races and finishes well at Marshalltown tonight and West Liberty next week and Tipton on October 5th. Then, don't forget that the Lee County rules Late Models will run shows at Donnellson and Memphis as well, but that will be a long trip for the northeast Iowa driver. Of course Toland could clicnh with a top-five run or two of his own.
Chris Abelson has the Modified title clinched for the third year in a row and in the Limited Modifieds Tyler Soppe trails defending champion Tony Olson by just twelve points with several events for the division still in play.
It is a three diver battle for the Stock Cars where Mike Nichols leads Derek Green by just three points and three-time defending champion Damon Murty is just six markers back. Again there are plenty of Stock Car events still on the schedule, but Murty has shown to be more active in the Fall schedule than the other two the past couple of years.
Four-time Hobby Stock champion Shannon Anderson holds a two-point lead over Cody Nielsen with plenty of races still on the schedule and in the Four Cylinders defending champion Jay DeVries has a one-point lead over Kimberly Abbott, a two-point lead over Brandon Setser, an eleven-point lead over Tyler Thompson and a fifteen-point edge on Cody Van Dusen. Abbott may hold the edge though as the majority of the Fall specials in October are held at tracks near her home and don't count out Super Nationals champion Josh Barnes who is only 19 points back of the leader.
Not much Sprint Car racing left on the schedule so it looks like Danny Lasoski will repeat his title in the 410's, Tim Kaeding has a two point lead on Clint Garner with Sprint Invaders point leader Chris Martin still within striking distance for the 360's and Tyler Drueke appears to be headed for his first championship in the 305's.
Check out the full standings for each division on the Points page at Positively Racing.
Off to Knoxville!
Monday, September 12, 2016
Burgtorf Wins A Wild One at Quincy
A couple of rounds of heavy rain this past week left the quarter-mile oval at the Quincy Raceways a bit on the choppy side during qualifying races Sunday night. However, a full grading of both sets of turns during intermission produced a wide and tacky racing surface that allowed for some wild racing action come feature time, especially for the UMP Late Models who were literally flying around the Bullring on Broadway.
The Stock Cars were the first to get a shot at the newly groomed surface and the early battle for the lead in the 18-lap feature was a good one. With this being a non-point night due to it being IMCA Super Nationals weekend, Brian Hoener turned over the wheel of his #66 to former track champion Aaron Brocksieck and he showed no signs of rust leading Michael Larsen through the opening laps. Rudy Zaragoza made it a three car battle as he worked the top side and just as Zaragoza made his way into second on lap six disaster struck for his teammate Mike Hardwick.
Racing mid-pack Hardwick got sideways on the front stretch and, when he was t-boned by Dean Kratzer, Hardwick's car rolled onto its side with the nose of Kratzer car climbing high into the air atop of it. A small fire erupted in the engine compartment of Krazter's car and he scrambled out quickly to make sure that Hardwick had escaped as well and both drivers were uninjured. Thank goodness that a long boomed wrecker that is not usually at the track was there tonight otherwise we might still be there as the nose of Kratzer's car was at least ten feet off the ground and it needed to be lifted off of Hardwick's damaged ride in order to flop it back over.
Once back to racing Brocksieck would continue to hug the bottom with Larsen and Zaragoza going back and forth for second. With three laps remaining Zaragoza had the advantage on Larsen down the front stretch so he drove to the bottom in turns one and two to try to shut the door. Instead he got completly sideways forcing Larsen to slide through the infield to avoid him and when both drivers kept moving the green light stayed on with Abe Huls taking advantage of the miscue to move to second. Huls was able to close the gap on the leader over the final laps, but not enough to mount a challenge as Brocksieck made it clear in victory lane that his wife considers this a one night only return to racing at this point. Huls, who made the big dance up at Boone this week, finished in second, Zaragoza recovered for third, Brandon Savage finished fourth, Jerry Jansen was fifth and Larsen had to be frustrated with sixth.
A solid field of nineteen Late Models would be up next for 25-laps and a $2,000 top prize with local favorites Jason Perry and Denny Woodworth starting from the front row. Bo Brockway spun in turn one to wave off the initial start and McKay Wenger spun in turn three to negate the second try, so on the third attempt it was Perry who vaulted to the lead with fourth starting Kevin Weaver giving chase. The leaders were setting a blistering pace and by lap five Perry was closing in on traffic, perhaps a little too fast as Perry hooked the right rear of Mike Hammerle and spun him in turn one to bring out the next caution.
Following the restart the high speed chase continued with Perry getting so sideways on a couple of occasions that it looked like he would spin, but somehow he would manage to regain control and still hold onto the lead. The caution waved again for Bo Brockway on lap fourteen when smoke billowed from under the hood and a caution for debris allowed everybody to catch their breath again on lap seventeen.
Mark Burgtorf had now joined the race for the lead and with Weaver choosing the bottom on each restart Burgtorf would go to the cushion and stay right with the lead duo. On the lap seventeen restart though the fourth place car of Dustin Griffin spun up the track in turn three and collected Chuck Mitchell knocking both contenders out of the race. The caution flew again one lap later when Vance Wilson ground along the front stretch wall and during that caution Woodworth had to hustle to the work area to change a flat tire.
The three car race for the lead would really heat up on the restart, but when the rear end went out of Ricky Frankel's car and when Shawn Deering slowed along the front stretch the caution waved once again with just three laps to go.
You just knew that this one was going to get wild as long as everybody else would quit stopping on the track and as Perry completed the first lap following the restart he veered high coming off of turn four. This gave Weaver the opening that he had been waiting for and he raced underneath Perry into turn one while Burgtorf hammered the cushion and drove to the outside of both of them. In an effort to hold onto the lead Perry kept his foot to the floorboard as well and he again got completely sideways in turn two with his left front making contact with Weaver's right rear. This turned Weaver hard right and sent Perry toward the infield as Burgtorf rocketed by on the outside.
Weaver did everything that he could to recover nearly doing a full 720 degree spin down the back stretch as the rest of the field scrambled to avoid him. The caution waved even though the only driver that may have actually stopped on the track was Brian Diveley. As the field circled under caution officials were obviously trying to figure out how to handle the situation while both Perry and Weaver quickly placed themselves back at the front of the field. Both Burgtorf and Justin Reed were happy to give their opinions to officials as the discussion continued and finally the call of an "inadvertent yellow" was announced with everybody going back to the positions that they were in on the last fully completed lap.
Now obviously you are going to find a full range of opinions on how this should have been handled, most of them being biased as to how it affected their particular favorite driver, but in my opinion this was probably the "best" call that could be made given the circumstances. Note that I said "best", not "right" as I am sure that somewhere in a rule book it says that somebody should have gone to the back and for those of you who might remember the most renowned "inadvertent yellow" involving Danny Lasoski and Brian Brown at the Knoxville Nationals many years, the track now has a rule that in the case of a yellow being thrown where all drivers kept moving, the scorekeepers would then determine where the spinning drivers would have been running had the green stayed on and then place them in that position for the restart. So in this case neither Perry or Weaver would have still been at the front. Anyway, what happened next kind of made the majority of the place happy, so no harm no foul.
Officials had to pull away the left front nose piece on Perry's car during the caution and Weaver may have needed a change of undergarments after his crazy ride so when the race went back to green it was Burgtorf who immediately took second and then stormed past the leader when Perry was again sideways off turn four coming to the white. On the final lap Perry made one last charge to the inside in turn three and as he slid up the track in four Burgtorf did not flinch and took the win with the crowd on its feet and cheering the outcome. Perry would finish in second, Weaver would go third, McKay Wenger ran back up through the field to finish fourth and Justin Reed would fill out the top five.
The 15-lap Sport Compact main would follow and with nearly all drivers in the eleven car field capable of taking the win it looked like this one could be interesting. Front row starters Kimberly Abbott and Jeffrey DeLonjay swapped paint on the opening lap with DeLonjay taking the lead. On lap five, as the tightly bunched field entered turn one it appeared that the throttle stuck on the car driven by Alyssa Steele as she slammed into Brandon Lambert sending him up the track and into the path of Barry Taft. Contact between the two sent Lambert for a tumble while Steele continued up and over turn two and hard into the guardrail protecting the pit area.
All drivers were okay, but during the long red flag period DeLonjay's car sat steaming on the front stretch leaving a big pool of water beneath it. DeLonjay would maintain the lead once back to action with 34 Raceway track champion Ron Kibbe moving up to second. Kibbe was set to challenge but when he ran over the infield marker exiting turn two he did his best Joie Chitwood imitation driving on two wheels down the back stretch. When the left side came back to earth it must have caused some sort of damage as Kibbe then slowed to bring out the caution.
DeLonjay's car would make it to lap ten before he pulled to the infield turning the lead over to Craig Bangert, but it would be just one lap later that Abbott would make her way back to the front to score the win. Bangert was second and Brandon Herron was the only other car still running at the checkers in third.
Twenty-one UMP Modifieds were up next for twenty laps of action with Michael Long racing to the lead from the pole position. Five cautions in the first seven laps though pushed me to my self-imposed curfew of ten o'clock and I headed for my car a bit disappointed that I would miss the rest of the Mods as well as the Sport Mods, but still electrified by the wild action that I had witnessed with the Late Models.
Thanks to Jack Walbring who does a great job reporting the results for Quincy (if only they had someone like him at Jacksonville as well) I know that Long would go on to win the Modified feature followed by Ray Bollinger, Rick Conoyer, Brandon Roberts and Dave Wietholder while in the Sport Mods it was Brandon Lennox taking the win ahead of Tony Dunker, Joey Gower, Austen Becerra and Cole Campbell.
Two more Sunday's of racing action still on the card at Quincy for 2016 so drop on in before the season ends!
Opening night of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals is next up for me on Thursday night, hope to see you there!
The Stock Cars were the first to get a shot at the newly groomed surface and the early battle for the lead in the 18-lap feature was a good one. With this being a non-point night due to it being IMCA Super Nationals weekend, Brian Hoener turned over the wheel of his #66 to former track champion Aaron Brocksieck and he showed no signs of rust leading Michael Larsen through the opening laps. Rudy Zaragoza made it a three car battle as he worked the top side and just as Zaragoza made his way into second on lap six disaster struck for his teammate Mike Hardwick.
Racing mid-pack Hardwick got sideways on the front stretch and, when he was t-boned by Dean Kratzer, Hardwick's car rolled onto its side with the nose of Kratzer car climbing high into the air atop of it. A small fire erupted in the engine compartment of Krazter's car and he scrambled out quickly to make sure that Hardwick had escaped as well and both drivers were uninjured. Thank goodness that a long boomed wrecker that is not usually at the track was there tonight otherwise we might still be there as the nose of Kratzer's car was at least ten feet off the ground and it needed to be lifted off of Hardwick's damaged ride in order to flop it back over.
Once back to racing Brocksieck would continue to hug the bottom with Larsen and Zaragoza going back and forth for second. With three laps remaining Zaragoza had the advantage on Larsen down the front stretch so he drove to the bottom in turns one and two to try to shut the door. Instead he got completly sideways forcing Larsen to slide through the infield to avoid him and when both drivers kept moving the green light stayed on with Abe Huls taking advantage of the miscue to move to second. Huls was able to close the gap on the leader over the final laps, but not enough to mount a challenge as Brocksieck made it clear in victory lane that his wife considers this a one night only return to racing at this point. Huls, who made the big dance up at Boone this week, finished in second, Zaragoza recovered for third, Brandon Savage finished fourth, Jerry Jansen was fifth and Larsen had to be frustrated with sixth.
A solid field of nineteen Late Models would be up next for 25-laps and a $2,000 top prize with local favorites Jason Perry and Denny Woodworth starting from the front row. Bo Brockway spun in turn one to wave off the initial start and McKay Wenger spun in turn three to negate the second try, so on the third attempt it was Perry who vaulted to the lead with fourth starting Kevin Weaver giving chase. The leaders were setting a blistering pace and by lap five Perry was closing in on traffic, perhaps a little too fast as Perry hooked the right rear of Mike Hammerle and spun him in turn one to bring out the next caution.
Following the restart the high speed chase continued with Perry getting so sideways on a couple of occasions that it looked like he would spin, but somehow he would manage to regain control and still hold onto the lead. The caution waved again for Bo Brockway on lap fourteen when smoke billowed from under the hood and a caution for debris allowed everybody to catch their breath again on lap seventeen.
Mark Burgtorf had now joined the race for the lead and with Weaver choosing the bottom on each restart Burgtorf would go to the cushion and stay right with the lead duo. On the lap seventeen restart though the fourth place car of Dustin Griffin spun up the track in turn three and collected Chuck Mitchell knocking both contenders out of the race. The caution flew again one lap later when Vance Wilson ground along the front stretch wall and during that caution Woodworth had to hustle to the work area to change a flat tire.
The three car race for the lead would really heat up on the restart, but when the rear end went out of Ricky Frankel's car and when Shawn Deering slowed along the front stretch the caution waved once again with just three laps to go.
You just knew that this one was going to get wild as long as everybody else would quit stopping on the track and as Perry completed the first lap following the restart he veered high coming off of turn four. This gave Weaver the opening that he had been waiting for and he raced underneath Perry into turn one while Burgtorf hammered the cushion and drove to the outside of both of them. In an effort to hold onto the lead Perry kept his foot to the floorboard as well and he again got completely sideways in turn two with his left front making contact with Weaver's right rear. This turned Weaver hard right and sent Perry toward the infield as Burgtorf rocketed by on the outside.
Weaver did everything that he could to recover nearly doing a full 720 degree spin down the back stretch as the rest of the field scrambled to avoid him. The caution waved even though the only driver that may have actually stopped on the track was Brian Diveley. As the field circled under caution officials were obviously trying to figure out how to handle the situation while both Perry and Weaver quickly placed themselves back at the front of the field. Both Burgtorf and Justin Reed were happy to give their opinions to officials as the discussion continued and finally the call of an "inadvertent yellow" was announced with everybody going back to the positions that they were in on the last fully completed lap.
Now obviously you are going to find a full range of opinions on how this should have been handled, most of them being biased as to how it affected their particular favorite driver, but in my opinion this was probably the "best" call that could be made given the circumstances. Note that I said "best", not "right" as I am sure that somewhere in a rule book it says that somebody should have gone to the back and for those of you who might remember the most renowned "inadvertent yellow" involving Danny Lasoski and Brian Brown at the Knoxville Nationals many years, the track now has a rule that in the case of a yellow being thrown where all drivers kept moving, the scorekeepers would then determine where the spinning drivers would have been running had the green stayed on and then place them in that position for the restart. So in this case neither Perry or Weaver would have still been at the front. Anyway, what happened next kind of made the majority of the place happy, so no harm no foul.
Officials had to pull away the left front nose piece on Perry's car during the caution and Weaver may have needed a change of undergarments after his crazy ride so when the race went back to green it was Burgtorf who immediately took second and then stormed past the leader when Perry was again sideways off turn four coming to the white. On the final lap Perry made one last charge to the inside in turn three and as he slid up the track in four Burgtorf did not flinch and took the win with the crowd on its feet and cheering the outcome. Perry would finish in second, Weaver would go third, McKay Wenger ran back up through the field to finish fourth and Justin Reed would fill out the top five.
The 15-lap Sport Compact main would follow and with nearly all drivers in the eleven car field capable of taking the win it looked like this one could be interesting. Front row starters Kimberly Abbott and Jeffrey DeLonjay swapped paint on the opening lap with DeLonjay taking the lead. On lap five, as the tightly bunched field entered turn one it appeared that the throttle stuck on the car driven by Alyssa Steele as she slammed into Brandon Lambert sending him up the track and into the path of Barry Taft. Contact between the two sent Lambert for a tumble while Steele continued up and over turn two and hard into the guardrail protecting the pit area.
All drivers were okay, but during the long red flag period DeLonjay's car sat steaming on the front stretch leaving a big pool of water beneath it. DeLonjay would maintain the lead once back to action with 34 Raceway track champion Ron Kibbe moving up to second. Kibbe was set to challenge but when he ran over the infield marker exiting turn two he did his best Joie Chitwood imitation driving on two wheels down the back stretch. When the left side came back to earth it must have caused some sort of damage as Kibbe then slowed to bring out the caution.
DeLonjay's car would make it to lap ten before he pulled to the infield turning the lead over to Craig Bangert, but it would be just one lap later that Abbott would make her way back to the front to score the win. Bangert was second and Brandon Herron was the only other car still running at the checkers in third.
Twenty-one UMP Modifieds were up next for twenty laps of action with Michael Long racing to the lead from the pole position. Five cautions in the first seven laps though pushed me to my self-imposed curfew of ten o'clock and I headed for my car a bit disappointed that I would miss the rest of the Mods as well as the Sport Mods, but still electrified by the wild action that I had witnessed with the Late Models.
Thanks to Jack Walbring who does a great job reporting the results for Quincy (if only they had someone like him at Jacksonville as well) I know that Long would go on to win the Modified feature followed by Ray Bollinger, Rick Conoyer, Brandon Roberts and Dave Wietholder while in the Sport Mods it was Brandon Lennox taking the win ahead of Tony Dunker, Joey Gower, Austen Becerra and Cole Campbell.
Two more Sunday's of racing action still on the card at Quincy for 2016 so drop on in before the season ends!
Opening night of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals is next up for me on Thursday night, hope to see you there!
Friday, September 9, 2016
Miller and O'Neal Open World 100 Weekend With Wins
A late afternoon thundershower caused a three and a half hour delay, but drivers and fans persisted to complete the opening night program of the World 100 at the Eldora Speedway Thursday night and well into Friday morning.
The 108 car roster included several "Big E" first timers and in fact fast qualifier Michael Norris of Sarver, Pennsylvania, was one of those event rookies. Announcer James Essex noted earlier that one of the reasons that Norris made the trip was the new tire rules that limited the number of compounds that could be used and, more importantly, would not allow any cutting or siping.
Chris Simpson started the night out in fine style driving his Iowa Hawkeye themed wrap to victory in the first of ten heat races, but the outcome was not the same for his brother. Chad was way out in front of the fifth qualifier when he slapped the wall in turns one and two after taking the white flag. Simpson's car slowed to a stop causing a yellow and he went from being a feature qualifier to the back of a B-Main in the matter of a few seconds. Chris would come back later to finish sixth in the first 25-lap feature afer starting tenth and he is being touted as a "dark horse" for Saturday's grand finale.
Darrell Lanigan's nightmare of a season continued when a head gasket issue scratched him from a row two start in the second heat race. What looked like a dream pairing of the many time World of Outlaw champion with Clint Bowyer Racing and a switch to the Lucas Oil Series has definitely not lived up to expectations in 2016.
Sixteen-year-old Hudson O'Neal, the son of Don O'Neal, was impressive running second to R.J. Conley in the third heat race, but the youngster hopped the cushion on the opening lap of the first feature and dropped from a second row start to finish eleventh.
Another teenager who is the son of a dirt track legend, Bobby Pierce had his night go south during the seventh heat race when a broken fan blade forced him to give up a transfer position.
It has been more than a decade since Rob Toland has made the trip to Eldora, but on the momentum of his 2016 IMCA Late Model National Championship the veteran driver bolted in the big motor and came east, A strong qualifying effort landed Toland on the pole of the eighth heat with some stiff competition and even though he could not fight off Doug Drown, Don O'Neal and Jonathan Davenport, Toland did hang on for the fourth and final transfer spot. Toland would then finish 21st in the second feature of the night.
Shannon Babb gave a preview of what was to come later in the morning when he came from outside of the four car invert to win the ninth heat race. Babb had started sixth on the grid and blew by this year's Dream 100 champ Dennis Erb Jr.
Heat races ended at 1:00 a.m. and the first B-Main did not take the green until 1:30 as the cushion was dragged and rolled in.
Matt Miller does not travel like he used to,but his Rick DeLong owned #3 is always strong at Eldora and he would win the first 25-lap feature holding back both Babb and Erb at the checkers. The two Illinois drivers closed in on Miller quickly during the closing laps with lapped traffic in play and, in fact, Erb had a run on the leader entering the final two turns. But with Brian Ruhlman racing in Erb's lower line, not only did it keep Erb from competing the slider on Miller, it would cost him the second spot as well. Billy Moyer in his final World 100 effort finished fourth and Shane Clanton sporting a wrap that pays tribute to the late Grant Junghans was fifth.
Even though his season has been solid, Don O'Neal has not won a race since January in Arizona, but he would end that drought in convincing fashion during the second 25-lap feature. Starting from the outside of row one O'Neal drove away from the field to post the victory although he would have been in big trouble had there been a late caution. Jonathan Davenport was by far the fastest car on the track at the checkers as he came from fourteenth to run second with Josh Richards and Chris Madden next in line. DeKalb, Illinois, driver Mike Mataragas was solid in his first Eldora appearance holding down the fifth spot after earning the pole position. Mataragas has been a consistent winner at the Sycamore Speedway near his hometown when they run the "4-Bar Late Models", but this was his first exposure to the big stage.
It was a long night here at Eldora and while the World 100 was able to overcome Mother Nature on opening night, she might just have some more punch to bring to the fight on both Friday and Saturday.
I was planning to head to the Jacksonville Speedway tonight for the MOWA Sprints and POWRi Midget doubleheader, but the rain has already created an interesting scenario on this Friday morning. Apparently POWRi has announced that they will not be racing tonight due to the inclement weather, but the track has not yet cancelled the show. They will update the status later today, but if they do race the show will not include the midgets.
Since tonight is doubtful, my hopes are now pinned to Sunday when the Big Ten UMP Late Model Series rolls into the Quincy Raceways. Perhaps I will see you there!
The 108 car roster included several "Big E" first timers and in fact fast qualifier Michael Norris of Sarver, Pennsylvania, was one of those event rookies. Announcer James Essex noted earlier that one of the reasons that Norris made the trip was the new tire rules that limited the number of compounds that could be used and, more importantly, would not allow any cutting or siping.
Chris Simpson started the night out in fine style driving his Iowa Hawkeye themed wrap to victory in the first of ten heat races, but the outcome was not the same for his brother. Chad was way out in front of the fifth qualifier when he slapped the wall in turns one and two after taking the white flag. Simpson's car slowed to a stop causing a yellow and he went from being a feature qualifier to the back of a B-Main in the matter of a few seconds. Chris would come back later to finish sixth in the first 25-lap feature afer starting tenth and he is being touted as a "dark horse" for Saturday's grand finale.
Darrell Lanigan's nightmare of a season continued when a head gasket issue scratched him from a row two start in the second heat race. What looked like a dream pairing of the many time World of Outlaw champion with Clint Bowyer Racing and a switch to the Lucas Oil Series has definitely not lived up to expectations in 2016.
Sixteen-year-old Hudson O'Neal, the son of Don O'Neal, was impressive running second to R.J. Conley in the third heat race, but the youngster hopped the cushion on the opening lap of the first feature and dropped from a second row start to finish eleventh.
Another teenager who is the son of a dirt track legend, Bobby Pierce had his night go south during the seventh heat race when a broken fan blade forced him to give up a transfer position.
It has been more than a decade since Rob Toland has made the trip to Eldora, but on the momentum of his 2016 IMCA Late Model National Championship the veteran driver bolted in the big motor and came east, A strong qualifying effort landed Toland on the pole of the eighth heat with some stiff competition and even though he could not fight off Doug Drown, Don O'Neal and Jonathan Davenport, Toland did hang on for the fourth and final transfer spot. Toland would then finish 21st in the second feature of the night.
Shannon Babb gave a preview of what was to come later in the morning when he came from outside of the four car invert to win the ninth heat race. Babb had started sixth on the grid and blew by this year's Dream 100 champ Dennis Erb Jr.
Heat races ended at 1:00 a.m. and the first B-Main did not take the green until 1:30 as the cushion was dragged and rolled in.
Matt Miller does not travel like he used to,but his Rick DeLong owned #3 is always strong at Eldora and he would win the first 25-lap feature holding back both Babb and Erb at the checkers. The two Illinois drivers closed in on Miller quickly during the closing laps with lapped traffic in play and, in fact, Erb had a run on the leader entering the final two turns. But with Brian Ruhlman racing in Erb's lower line, not only did it keep Erb from competing the slider on Miller, it would cost him the second spot as well. Billy Moyer in his final World 100 effort finished fourth and Shane Clanton sporting a wrap that pays tribute to the late Grant Junghans was fifth.
Even though his season has been solid, Don O'Neal has not won a race since January in Arizona, but he would end that drought in convincing fashion during the second 25-lap feature. Starting from the outside of row one O'Neal drove away from the field to post the victory although he would have been in big trouble had there been a late caution. Jonathan Davenport was by far the fastest car on the track at the checkers as he came from fourteenth to run second with Josh Richards and Chris Madden next in line. DeKalb, Illinois, driver Mike Mataragas was solid in his first Eldora appearance holding down the fifth spot after earning the pole position. Mataragas has been a consistent winner at the Sycamore Speedway near his hometown when they run the "4-Bar Late Models", but this was his first exposure to the big stage.
It was a long night here at Eldora and while the World 100 was able to overcome Mother Nature on opening night, she might just have some more punch to bring to the fight on both Friday and Saturday.
I was planning to head to the Jacksonville Speedway tonight for the MOWA Sprints and POWRi Midget doubleheader, but the rain has already created an interesting scenario on this Friday morning. Apparently POWRi has announced that they will not be racing tonight due to the inclement weather, but the track has not yet cancelled the show. They will update the status later today, but if they do race the show will not include the midgets.
Since tonight is doubtful, my hopes are now pinned to Sunday when the Big Ten UMP Late Model Series rolls into the Quincy Raceways. Perhaps I will see you there!
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Thursday Notebook: September 8, 2016
It seems like the notebook has had way too many instances this year of talking about tracks that are closing and, unfortunately that will be the main theme of today's entry. The one saving grace though is that I also have the good news of one "reopening" of a facility that was closed earlier in the year.
With several tracks closing their gates due to a lack of interest and so any others struggling to stay open with shrinking car counts and little fan support, it is so much harder to see what happened on the final night of racing at the Manitowoc Speedway in Wisconsin this past Saturday night. A huge field of 179 cars jammed the pits and a capacity crowd came out to bid farewell to a track that will likely be razed for the development of a Meier grocery store. Mitch McGrath won the Late Model feature and Jim Melis topped a healthy field of 32 Sprint Cars to headline the results and my question is, where will all of these racers disperse to in 2017? Will they keep racing somewhere else or will some of them call it a career? The same question can be asked of the fans.
It is a sad situation, but hopefully it will help bolster some of the other tracks in the region next year.
I have been in Columbus, Ohio, this week on business and while watching the local news they had a report that the Columbus Speedway will hold its last ever race this coming Saturday night. A quick Google search revealed that this closing was announced way back in April after the track owners agreed to sell the property to the city of Obetz where the track is located. Car counts have been up and weekly attendance was around 2,500, something that nearly all weekly tracks would envy and from the story it sounds like the owners were a bit surprised when the city actually accepted their sell price. A check of the results from last week shows that the car counts are still solid as the speedway prepares for it's Final Lap this weekend.
The Western Tech Speedway Park, formerly known as the El Paso Speedway in Texas also held its final event this past weekend and while I cannot find the exact reason for closing it does appear that the track's finale was similar to that of Manitowoc with 180 cars and 2,000 people in the stands.
Even though these three facilities are going out on a high note, it is still three less race tracks in operation and I struggle with how I feel about that. The exuberant youth that still hides deep inside of me hates it because as a kid it seemed like there was a race track in every community and someday I wanted to visit them all! The realist in me though understands that part of our problem right now is that we likely have too many tracks in operation vying for both the drivers and fans that are available at this time. You have heard that drivers say that on a slick track you must slow down to go fast? Well for racing to get back to a position of strength, we might have to have some tracks that now run weekly step back to a specials only schedule, or even close in hope that they can come back to life when things get better.
On the plus side it was back in June when word came out that the Vermilion County Speedway in Danville, Illinois, would shut down its weekly operations. This past Sunday night the track sprung back to life with a new name, Kickapoo Motor Speedway, and new promoters, the same folks that operate the Daugherty Speedway in Boswell, Indiana. There were 91 cars in five divisions headlined by 34 UMP Modifieds with Kenny Carmichael taking the win and Kickapoo will be back in action on Sunday September 18th.
The last time that I was at a race at this facility it was Jimmy Owens taking the NKF Tour Modified feature win in 2001.
A couple of late season events have recently been added to the schedule in Iowa and Illinois. The Darkside will bring racing back to Tipton for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday tripleheader for the Fall Bash October 6th, 7th and 8th. And, billing it as an opportunity for drivers to get tuned in on a 1/5th-mile oval prior to the Gateway Fall Nationals, the Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois, will hold a race on Saturday December 3rd, weather cooperating of course.
Glad to see those nights added as with rain in the forecast for the next two nights it is going to be hard for me to get to my race total that I have achieved each of the last two years!
With the World 100 getting underway tonight here is the Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model Points to 100. Enjoy your racing weekend!
With several tracks closing their gates due to a lack of interest and so any others struggling to stay open with shrinking car counts and little fan support, it is so much harder to see what happened on the final night of racing at the Manitowoc Speedway in Wisconsin this past Saturday night. A huge field of 179 cars jammed the pits and a capacity crowd came out to bid farewell to a track that will likely be razed for the development of a Meier grocery store. Mitch McGrath won the Late Model feature and Jim Melis topped a healthy field of 32 Sprint Cars to headline the results and my question is, where will all of these racers disperse to in 2017? Will they keep racing somewhere else or will some of them call it a career? The same question can be asked of the fans.
It is a sad situation, but hopefully it will help bolster some of the other tracks in the region next year.
I have been in Columbus, Ohio, this week on business and while watching the local news they had a report that the Columbus Speedway will hold its last ever race this coming Saturday night. A quick Google search revealed that this closing was announced way back in April after the track owners agreed to sell the property to the city of Obetz where the track is located. Car counts have been up and weekly attendance was around 2,500, something that nearly all weekly tracks would envy and from the story it sounds like the owners were a bit surprised when the city actually accepted their sell price. A check of the results from last week shows that the car counts are still solid as the speedway prepares for it's Final Lap this weekend.
The Western Tech Speedway Park, formerly known as the El Paso Speedway in Texas also held its final event this past weekend and while I cannot find the exact reason for closing it does appear that the track's finale was similar to that of Manitowoc with 180 cars and 2,000 people in the stands.
Even though these three facilities are going out on a high note, it is still three less race tracks in operation and I struggle with how I feel about that. The exuberant youth that still hides deep inside of me hates it because as a kid it seemed like there was a race track in every community and someday I wanted to visit them all! The realist in me though understands that part of our problem right now is that we likely have too many tracks in operation vying for both the drivers and fans that are available at this time. You have heard that drivers say that on a slick track you must slow down to go fast? Well for racing to get back to a position of strength, we might have to have some tracks that now run weekly step back to a specials only schedule, or even close in hope that they can come back to life when things get better.
On the plus side it was back in June when word came out that the Vermilion County Speedway in Danville, Illinois, would shut down its weekly operations. This past Sunday night the track sprung back to life with a new name, Kickapoo Motor Speedway, and new promoters, the same folks that operate the Daugherty Speedway in Boswell, Indiana. There were 91 cars in five divisions headlined by 34 UMP Modifieds with Kenny Carmichael taking the win and Kickapoo will be back in action on Sunday September 18th.
The last time that I was at a race at this facility it was Jimmy Owens taking the NKF Tour Modified feature win in 2001.
A couple of late season events have recently been added to the schedule in Iowa and Illinois. The Darkside will bring racing back to Tipton for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday tripleheader for the Fall Bash October 6th, 7th and 8th. And, billing it as an opportunity for drivers to get tuned in on a 1/5th-mile oval prior to the Gateway Fall Nationals, the Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois, will hold a race on Saturday December 3rd, weather cooperating of course.
Glad to see those nights added as with rain in the forecast for the next two nights it is going to be hard for me to get to my race total that I have achieved each of the last two years!
With the World 100 getting underway tonight here is the Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model Points to 100. Enjoy your racing weekend!
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