Writing that headline something inside tells me that I could come up with something much more humorous, but it is getting late in the day and I need to be on the road soon to the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson where the Sprint Invaders will kickoff a big doubleheader weekend tonight before moving on to 34 Raceway near Burlington on Saturday.
Returning from a trip to the east I was able to drop in on the county fair Thursday show at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway, my first time at the track in nearly thirty years, and as the night went on I kept asking myself why it had been so long. This fantastic facility is just under a three hour drive from home and one of the coolest things about it is that as you enter the town there is a sign that says "Welcome to Fairbury" with race cars painted on it. A community that appreciates what the track does for the community and is proud of it. What a concept!
The Lucas Oil POWRi Midgets were the headliners on this night with a lineup sheet listing some of the biggest stars in the division on the twenty-seven driver roster. Sixteen-year-old Zeb Wise used a veteran move by getting a bit of a jump on the start of his heat race to earn the most passing points and that would land him on the pole of the thirty lap main event. The track was in perfect shape for midget racing, nice and wide with a nice cushion to catch a slide job with, but the field had a few more issues than I am used to seeing at a POWRi event.
It took until the third start to get a lap scored and then the race itself was hindered by four different caution periods for spinners, with a couple of them coming right as Wise and his chasers were about to enter lapped traffic and make things really interesting. Wise was definitely the fastest car on the track tonight and he proved that by pulling away over the final two laps to take the win, but it still would have been more fun to see how some traffic would have been dealt with.
The battle for second was a good one as Thomas Messeraull and Tyler Courtney went at it with Courtney taking the position before T-Mez slowed to a stop with six laps remaining to end his night. The final caution came on lap twenty-seven when Maria Cofer spun for the second time and on the restart Courtney tossed out a somewhat lazy slider into turn one on Wise that only allowed Logan Seavey to pass him for second. Seavey had put on quite a show coming from the outside of row seven and nearly went for a ride when he got together with his teammate Jesse Colwell mid-race.
Tanner Thorson, who I thought had a fantastic showing at the Knoxville Nationals last week, was strong tonight as well coming from twelfth to fourth as three-time series champion Zach Daum took fifth.
The Midgets will have a four race swing through central Illinois with POWRi shows tonight at Lincoln and Saturday in Macon before closing out the weekend with an unsanctioned race on Sunday in Jacksonville.
The UMP Pro Crate Late Models do not race regularly at Fairbury so it was no surprise to see drivers come from near and far for their one shot at the famous facility. The twenty lap feature was a good one with Jose Parga pacing the first three circuits before Dakota Ewing took the point. Aaron Heck soon moved to second and on a lap nine restart Heck threw a big slider on Ewing with the two making contact in turn two. They continued to lean on each other going down the backstretch and for a split second it looked like we were going to wad up the whole field, but everybody did a nice job of making saves and we stayed green with Ewing holding on to the lead.
That was short-lived though as Heck was able to make another slider stick to take the lead with eight laps remaining and the driver from Mount Vernon then fought off a slider from Ewing as well in the closing laps to take the win. Ewing and Parga were next in line followed by Torin Mettille and Bobby Richey Jr, who lists Chattanooga, Tennessee as his home despite driving a car lettered like central Illinois driver Bob Gardner. Southeast Iowa driver Sam Halstead finished in tenth.
The UMP Modifieds would close out the night with a twenty-five lap feature that was a three car battle early between Allen Weisser, Danny Schwartz and Mike Harrison. Schwartz was able to pass Weisser to lead lap five only to have Allen come right back to the point and Harrison was poised to challenge only to have a left front tire go down during a lap fourteen caution. Once Harrison retired Weisser took full control to take the win over Schwartz, Jeffrey Ledford, Steven Brooks and a steady climbing Jim Ferris who came from thirteenth to finish fifth.
It was an enjoyable evening sitting in the top row with my friend Gary Lee who I haven't been around much lately and it was also good to see veteran flagman Doug Haack taking in the show. My goal now is to make it back to #FALS within the next year!
Hey before I go, one more thought on last week's Knoxville Nationals. For the second year in a row a driver won the Capitani Classic on Sunday night, then won on his qualifying night before closing out with the Nationals Championship. In 2018 it was Brad Sweet and of course this year it was David Gravel. Instead of racing in the Capitani Classic, Donny Schatz went from Pevely to his home in Minot, North Dakota, where he won an NLRA Late Model race on that Sunday night. Do you suppose he will be at the Cappy in 2020?
Hope to see you at Donnellson tonight, 34 Raceway on Saturday and then on Sunday night we will be at the Quincy Raceways for the Deery Brothers Summer Series show!
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