Two weeks ago it was Chris Simpson with a dominating performance on the historic half-mile oval and tonight his brother Chad had an equally strong performance on the short track to give the Simpson brothers a clean sweep of the 2018 MLRA Late Model action at the Davenport Speedway.
Heavy rains from the past two nights left standing water in turns three and four, but with the pumps running, the sun shining and the wind blowing somehow promoter Bob Wagener and his crew were able to salvage a race track so that the show could go on with near perfect weather conditions come race time. And, even with all of the rain, the track was better than expected with two challenging holes on the inside line in both turns two and four that did create some havoc during the evening.
Twenty-five MLRA Late Models signed in with a few of the regulars such as Mason Oberkramer, Jesse Stovall, Cole Wells and Raymond Merrill surprisingly absent. The field was solid though top to bottom and with the passing points method of qualifying in place tonight the three heat races provided plenty of action. The top two drivers in the MLRA point standings, Chad Simpson and Tony Jackson Jr. earned the front row for the 40-lap main event, but it would be the third starting J.C. Wyman who would drive under both of them coming out of turn two on the opening lap. The caution would wave as five cars piled up at the exit of turn four, but unlike two weeks ago here when a similar scenario played out the MLRA officials went ahead and scored the opening lap giving Wyman the lead for the restart.
Simpson would go to the cushion and pull even with the leader on the restart only to have Wyman beat him back to the line before the caution waved again following Jordan Yaggy's spin in turn one. On the restart Simpson again went top side and after coming up short on lap three he was able to make it stick off turn four to take the lead away on lap four. Wyman fought back though pulling even with the new leader in turns one and two, but Chad was able to shake him off and then open up a comfortable lead over the next several laps. Will Vaught had moved to third and was about to mount a challenge for position on Wyman, but he slowed suddenly coming off tun four on lap thirteen and exited the short track onto the half-mile apparently out of the race.
The caution waved though as Vaught drove to the work area and after several courtesy laps were given his car still sat there as the race went back to green. Nobody would be able to stay with Simpson now and as he drove away the battle for second heated up with Rookie-of-the-Year contender Mitch McGrath briefly taking it away from Wyman. J.C. came back though to regain the position and now it was the leader's brother, Chris Simpson who was the show as he steadily picked up positions after starting from the inside of row seven. At the checkers it would be Chad Simpson scoring the impressive win with Wyman making a solid run in second. McGrath will move into the top five in points with his third place finish while Chris Simpson rallied to fourth at the finish. Payton Looney had a steady night in fifth followed by Jackson Jr., Justin Kay, Jonathan Brauns, Tyler Bruening and Dave Eckrich.
The Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models now load up and head east for a Saturday night show at Tony Izzo Jr.'s LaSalle Speedway.
Street Stocks, Sport Mods and Modifieds were also on the card running for track points for the second time in the young season. Despite the four caution flags the 15-lap Street Stock feature was a good one with Gene Ehlers pacing the field through the first half of the race. On a lap seven restart Jeff Struck Jr. would pull even with Ehlers down the back stretch and when the leader drove into turn three a bit harder to try to protect that lead he left the door open downstairs where Jesse Owen snuck in to go from third to first on lap eight. Owen would maintain control until just two laps remained when a back marker spun for the second time and during that caution Jeremy Gustaf, who had started last in the thirteen car field after missing his heat race, exited the speedway after climbing all the way to third.
With just two laps remaining on the restart Struck decided to try the low line this time and it worked as he was able to get under Owen and take the lead coming to the white flag. Struck then held it over the final lap to win for the second time here in 2018 after also winning on the half-mile when the MLRA was in town two weeks ago. Owen would have to settle for second, Ehlers was third, Kevin Goben clawed his way up to fourth and Austin Riggs came back from an early spin to take fifth.
The Sport Mods had issues early on in their feature as Jeff Haines spun on lap two to generate the first caution. On the restart four cars piled up in turn two with defending All Iowa Points champion Tyler Soppe getting the worst of it as his car left on a tow truck. Two more cautions followed with only one lap being scored and after some rules were enforced the race went green and stayed that way for the remainder of the event. Keith Blum would lead all fifteen laps to pick up the win with Jared Waterman chasing him throughout in second. Joe Nemitz made a nice run to pick up the third position with Brandon Setser fourth and Mike Goben holding off many time winner here Tony Olson to finish in fifth.
The IMCA Modifieds would close out the night for twenty laps of racing and they too had some issues with multi-car scuffles. Mid-pack starters Justin Kay and Rob Toland would spin in turn three on the opening lap and when Toland's car took a shot from another competitor last week's winner here would be done for tonight. Kay would have to restart at the back of the remaining twenty car field, but he did not stay there long as Stephan Kemmerer set the early pace. Kay was already in the top ten when John Ahlers spun on lap eight and when five cars stacked up in turn four on lap twelve it eliminated top five competitors Chris Zogg and Bob Dominacki.
One the restart Kay sailed around the top side going from fifth to first passing Kammerer for the lead off turn four. The third place car of Doug Crampton then spun in turn four on the following lap leaving Todd Mahlmstrom with no place to go. Despite taking a pretty good hit in the front from the piled up mud in the infield as well as the contact from Mahlmstrom, Crampton was able to restart at the tail as Kay drove away from the field. There would no challenge from there as like Struck did in the Street Stocks, Kay also repeated his performance from MLRA night on the half-mile two weeks ago by taking the win in his Modified. Kurt Kile who started the race from the sixth row finished in second, Bryce Garnhart took third, Eric Barnes was fourth and Crampton fought back to complete the top five.
A big thanks to the entire Davenport Speedway staff for their hard work just to have this show tonight. Weekly racing action continues here on Friday nights and you can check the Positively Racing calendar page to see when they put up the big bucks, $2,000-to-win for different classes as the season rolls on.
If I get caught up enough after a hectic week I hope to take in the Deery Brothers Summer Series show on Sunday night at the Quad Cities Speedway in East Moline. Get out and enjoy a race of your choice this weekend!
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