The 2018 Brackets drew an eclectic field of 175 entries with the fastest 18 cars going into the A bracket, with AA, AAA and even AAAA needed for the full sized cars. In the Four Cylinders there was a B bracket and a BB bracket. Last chance races would start the day of racing at noon on Sunday and the first of six feature races rolled on to the high-banked quarter mile paved oval just shy of 1 p.m. with fifty laps the distance for the AA bracket. The fastest qualifier was set to start 20th on the twenty-three car grid, but it was obvious that he was having issues and would not come up to speed. The third starting car would take the lead on lap five only to be given the black flag on lap thirteen for "breaking out" of his qualifying time. This would turn the lead over to Cody Clubb who was driving the UMP Street Stock that he finished seventh in points with at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway this season.
Clubb started eighth in this race and was fighting off the challenges of other contenders who had made their way to the front until Jacob Gille sailed by with ten laps remaining. Gille would then ease away from there, of course having to make sure that he too did not "break out" over the final ten laps in taking the win. Gille had started fourteenth so it was not a surprise when a late challenge from the fourth starting car saw that driver "break out" on the final lap as well moving Clubb up to fourth in the final rundown. A Rockford Speedway veteran, Gille then allowed his car owner to decide whether to take the $1,000 check or a trip for two to the Bahamas, thus the name of the event. The car owner took the cash.
The AAA Bracket feature would be next with an interesting mix of Street Stocks and Hobby Stocks, both from dirt and pavement tracks and in this one I recognized the cars of Cedar Rapids drivers Jacob and Jeremy Floyd who were starting fourth and sixth respectively in this forty lap main event. Jeremy would advance quickly to the front taking the lead on lap three before a red flag stopped the event on lap five when another Iowa driver, Greg Hentrich got the worst of a multi-car pileup on the back stretch. Hentrich's car was damaged bad enough that a rollback was used to take it off the speedway, yet for some reason with just a few laps remaining in the race, he returned to the track under green flag conditions to finish the race. Perhaps you don't get paid unless you are still running at the checkers? I did notice a couple of other cars in other races putting around the bottom for the whole race rather than pulling in. Anyway, back to this race.....
Jeremy Floyd would continue to lead the way through the majority of this one and when Jacob tried to make a move from fifth to fourth on lap eighteen, he "broke out" and was sent to the pits. Peter "Speedy" Hernandez was the fastest qualifier in this bracket starting the race on the outside of row ten and with three laps remaining he drove his sharp looking Monte Carlo around Floyd to take the lead and the emotional win for the Mokena, Illinois, driver who had never been to victory lane here at Rockford before. Jeremy Floyd finished in third.
The A Bracket, the fastest of the field were up next for fifty laps with the pavement Late Models of Alex Papini and veteran Tom Gille lined up behind a variety of cars including four Modifieds, a souped up '57 Chevy Street Stock, some Mid-American Sportsman cars and a Street Stock that had a top wing and a side panel on it. Hopefully you can see some of that variety in the picture included here.
Billy Tuckwell would lead from the pole position, but would later end up in the turn one wall when he lifted after being black flagged for breaking out and was tagged from behind. Papini would get to the lead on lap eleven and as the fastest qualifier this one was essentially over as long as he didn't break out and as an experienced Bracket racer he would stay steady with his laps and claim his fifth Bahama Brackets title driving a car that was a throwback paint job to his father's last car. As he does after any race that he wins here at Rockford Alex then drove over to the turn two wall to salute his father Al Papini III who died there back in 2001 after an autopsy showed that he had a massive heart attack before driving through the infield in turn one and up the track into the wall head on.
When Tom Gille tried to close the gap on the leader he broke out from his qualifying time and was disqualified. Cody Clubb drove his Mid-American Sportsman car to a fifth place finish in this one.
The AAAA Bracket race would follow for forty laps and the pole sitter would shoot out to a big early lead. No surprise he was quickly black flagged for breaking out and even the fastest qualifier in this one broke out after racing from twentieth to second in just fifteen laps. This would set things up nicely for Coggon, Iowa's Mike Loughren who put his big Ford out front after starting seventeenth and he would lead the rest of the way to take the win. In victory lane Loughren told announcer Eric Huenefeld that he first came to this event in 1994 and fell in love with it actually building this car specifically for this race in 2010. The persistence and planning paid off for his first Bracket victory.
It was now four o'clock and I had planned to stay for the B Bracket feature since Dallas Chandler was the fastest qualifier, but when he suffered damage to his right front in a multi-car melee on the opening lap I decided to head for home completely happy with the interesting racing that I had just witnessed. This event is not for everybody, especially if you are one of those "big show" snobs that requires nationally known names to be there to make it worth your while. But for a fan who just enjoys watching plenty of two and even three wide action as the fastest cars try to make their way from the back to the front (even if you don't know who most of the drivers are) then it is definitely something for you to put on your bucket list as well.
No racing for me this coming weekend as my grandson, and of course his lovely parents, will be coming up from Texas for the University of Iowa homecoming festivities. With postponements from earlier weekends and with what was already on the schedule there is plenty to choose from this week and the weather looks like it will cooperate for you to get on out to the track of your choice! And, if the long range forecast holds true, it should be a nice night as well for my next event, Shiverfest at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on October 27th.
Check back in with us before that though as I should have a Notebook entry and some more final 2018 state point standings on the way as well here on the Back Stretch.
No comments:
Post a Comment