When the MLRA Late Models visited the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the first time a couple of years ago they loved the place and when their follow up appearance was even better with drivers coming from deep in the field to finish near the front several of them proclaimed it as their new favorite track. On Thursday night the MLRA visited the Stuart International Speedway for the first time and they put on a spectacular show with high speed slicing and dicing, racing grooves from top to bottom to choose from and drivers making big runs to the front with the winner declaring just how much he loved this place in victory lane. So why am I bring up the past with Lee County? Two common denominators; the promoter and the race format.
Mike Van Genderen had to wait out a week of unsettled weather before he could really get to work on the track, but when the skies cleared on Thursday he obviously had a enough time to deliver a surface that the Late Models could really race on. Going with the Passing Points format tonight, gaining positions on the fast and tacky surface during the three heat races was not easy, but with some of the top talent drawing the back of the pack drivers were searching both high and low trying to make their move. And that is something that I have always felt gets lost in the argument between using Passing Points versus Group Qualifying with the fast guys then starting up front.
With Passing Points more racing grooves are developed as faster drivers try to make their way to the front while with Group Qualifying the heat races are generally a parade around the one preferred groove. Bottom line, Passing Points gives the fans a better show not only during the heats, but come feature time as well since the track will now have more room to race than it would have under the Group Qualifying format and I will sum up this argument as I always do. Our sport is called "Racing" not "Chasing".
And boy did we get to see some great racing at Stuart Thursday night, and not just in the Late Models, but more on the weekly divisions later. A solid count of twenty-four MLRA competitors signed in with three heat races to set the field. Payton Looney was impressive taking a win from his third starting spot to earn the pole position for the main event, but it was Bobby Pierce that gave a preview of things to come with perhaps the most entertaining fifth place finish in a heat race ever. Pierce had started eighth and while other stars failed to pick up any positions in just ten laps, the young driver was using every move, groove and line that he could think of to get up to fifth at the checkers. This would put him thirteenth on the grid for the forty lap main event and I couldn't help but to have my focus on Pierce as the race took the green.
Looney would race out to the early lead only to have the caution wave on lap three when Dave Eckrich spun in turn three and in those three laps Pierce had moved up to ninth. On the restart Looney again set a quick pace, but after scoring just one more lap he would slow in turn two with smoke trailing from his car ending the chances for what could have been his first ever MLRA win.
Pierce was now seventh on this restart and with him using the cushion getting the outside row on the Delaware double file realignments was definitely playing into his advantage. Tyler Bruening would now pick up the lead with Looney's departure, but we would only get to lap eight before Jake Neal stopped his car at the top of turn four after being hit in the face of his helmet by debris. The race was red-flagged as medical personal checked out the MLRA Rookie-of-the-Year contender and after a few minutes he buckled down a new helmet and rejoined the race at the back of the pack.
One more lap would be scored before a flat left rear tire sent Jesse Stovall for a spin in turn three and when Andrew Kosiski had no place to go, contact would send them both to the pit area for the remainder of the race.
Pierce was now in third for the restart, again lined up to the high side and he would quickly go to work on the leader. Bruening held tough though holding off the young star until lap fifteen when Pierce sailed past for the lead. As Pierce pulled away the battle for second heated up with both Chris Simpson and series point leader Will Vaught joining Bruening with all three holding the spot at one time or another.
Lapped traffic on the quarter-mile bullring gave Pierce a challenge where he again had to go both low and high to maintain his lead and when the caution waved for debris with eleven laps remaining that would then give him a clear track for the rest of the distance to the checkers. Simpson would prevail in that battle for second followed by Bruening and Vaught while Jordan Yaggy posted another solid run in fifth. Billy Moyer started tenth and finished sixth while Chad Simpson made a big run up to seventh after starting from the tenth row. Mitch McGrath who started next to Chad followed him up to eighth, Richie Gustin proved that his IMCA legal car was capable of posting a top ten in ninth while Logan Martin raced from the eleventh row up to tenth. So as you can see, there was plenty of passing going on in this one!
A stout field of twenty-two IMCA Hobby Stocks started out the feature races in fine fashion going sixteen laps non-stop. Chuck Madden would lead the way early with Jack Phillips applying the pressure along with Shannon Anderson who quickly moved up from fifth. When Phillips tried to get a bite off the bottom, Anderson slipped around him on the high side into second and on lap seven as Phillips again dove low Shannon would split the middle to take the lead. There was plenty of lapped traffic to negotiate and with two laps to go Madden dove low into turn one pulling even with the leader, but Anderson had the momentum off the top to retain the lead and secure the victory. Madden and Phillips were second and third, Clint Nelson started eighth and finished fourth while Adam Ayers moved from tenth to fifth.
The twenty lap Stock Car feature was a good one with Jeremy Gettler setting the early pace. Last week's winner Buck Schafroth would drive past him on lap four dragging along his teammate Todd Van Eaton, but Gettler was not about to give in and on lap six he would dive into turn one extra hard to make it three-wide for the lead going down the back stretch. Unfortunately though on his very low entrance into turn one Gettler had clipped one of the tires marking the infield knocking it just enough on to the racing surface to require a caution flag and the field was rest for the restart.
Van Eaton would keep the heat on Schafroth until lap ten when his driveshaft decided that it had other plans for the evening and following that caution it would now be multi-time IMCA Stock Car National Champion Mike Nichols who would pick up the challenge. Schafroth would hold his line nicely despite the pressure and nearing the finish Shawn Ritter would join the battle after he had started at the back of the sixteen car field. On the final lap Nichols would make one last bid to the inside of the leader in turn three, but when his car bicycled up on its right side wheels he had to let out of the throttle to bring it back down and that would allow Ritter to slip by to finish second as Schafroth made it two wins in a row at Stuart. Kyle Brown started twelfth and finished fourth while the opening night feature winner Josh Daniels was fifth.
The Late Model feature took the checkers just before ten o'clock and with nearly a three hour drive ahead of me I chose to leave knowing that I would be missing a twenty-six car Sport Mod field in their main event. Checking the results I see that Tyler Inman got vindication by taking the win after last week when he went from leading the race entering turn three on the final lap only to finish in third. Hunter Longnecker, Brayton Carter, Austin Kaplan and Jake McBirnie completed the top five.
A big thanks to Mike Van Genderen and his staff for their hospitality as we had five representatives from Positively Racing in attendance. Look for additional reports soon from Danny Rosencrans, Brian Neal and Ed Reichert while Barry Johnson will have some photos up on our Facebook page as well.
Tonight's MLRA event at the Davenport Speedway has been canceled due to wet grounds, but I hope to catch the remaining two events on this swing on Saturday at the West Liberty Raceway and on Sunday when the series makes its first ever appearance at the Quincy Raceways. For tonight though look for the PR gang to be out in full force again joining Joyce and Dick Eisele at the Marshalltown Speedway where the car count could swell even higher after rainouts at Donnellson and Columbus Junction as well. Perhaps we'll see you there!
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