For the second year in a row the Deery Brothers Summer
Series for IMCA Late Models inadvertently kicked off at the Quincy Raceway due
to poor early spring weather that wiped out the first two scheduled events in
Webster City and Burlington. The sun was bright and the air was crisp,
especially after that sun disappeared, and a large crowd was treated to a
record car count for Quincy as a familiar name raced his way into victory lane
in a very entertaining main event.
With forty-eight Late Models on hand, just making the
twenty-four car feature field was an accomplishment, and those who did were
ready to put on a show that featured six lead changes between four drivers over
the forty-lap distance. The racing attorney Denny Woodworth snared the lead at
the drop of the green with Brian Harris in hot pursuit. Woodworth was running
the high line while Harris hugged the bottom and by lap five the two drivers
were keeping the scorekeepers on their toes by coming across the flagstand
side-by-side lap after lap. Harris nosed ahead for laps six and seven, before
Woodworth came back to lead the next two circuits by a nose. It was Harris by a
nose on lap ten and then Woodworth the next circuit before the fun was
interrupted by a caution for Terry Neal who had spun in turn four.
On the restart Harris slipped off the top side of turn two
and faded back to fifth allowing Boone McLaughlin to take up the chase of
Woodworth. McLaughlin always runs strong on the Quincy quarter-mile and on this
night his car was like a rocket off the bottom as he gradually closed the gap
on the leader. A mid-race restart gave McLaughlin the opportunity that he was
looking for as he charged past Woodworth for the lead. By this point many-time
track champion Mark Burgtorf had picked his way forward from a fourth row start
making it a three-way battle for the lead. Burgtorf was putting a nose to the
outside of McLaughlin off of turn four and when Boone made one slight bobble,
Burgtorf sped past five laps shy of the finish. One final caution with three
laps to go gave Boone one last shot and the two leaders made contact coming off
turn four for the green causing Burgtorf’s left front tire to begin to deflate.
Despite this increasing handicap Mark was able to hold on for the final laps
and hold off McLaughlin for the $2,000 victory. Woodworth held back a late
effort by Rob Toland to finish third while Terry Schlipman completed the top
five.
The pits were jammed with thirty-one Modifieds as well and
their racing was very exciting, that is while they were racing. The three
qualifying heats and the B-Main were sprinkled with cautions and the A-Main,
scheduled for twenty-five laps, ran one more lap (8) than it had cautions (7).
Thankfully a time limit was enforced with the checkered flag taken by Michael
Long. For Long, it was his second win of 2007 at Quincy as he also took the
opener two weeks before and even though the race was shortened, the fastest car
was in victory lane. Early race leader David Holder was credited with the
second spot with Ryan Meyer, Tony Dunker and Brandon Lennox rounding out the
top five.
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| Colby Springsteen is mentioned in the notes, here is his father Frank in the early 90's |
“Q” Notes……Burgtorf has now won six of the seventeen Summer
Series events held at Quincy for a .353 winning percentage…..Sixth position was
not the place to be in the final five laps of the Late Model main. Jay Johnson
had steadily picked his way up to sixth after starting fourteenth, but then
retired to the pit area with four laps to go. On the next lap Darrell DeFrance
was running sixth when he was spun to the infield in turn one….DeFrance raced
his way into the feature, and an eleventh row starting position, when he passed
Keith Pratt coming off of turn four for the third and final qualifying spot in
the second B-Main. The same type of battle for the final transfer position
occurred in the first B-Main as well when Eric Gustaf passed Luke Goedert in
turn one on the final lap only to have Goedert return the favor coming off of turn
four to earn his ticket for the main event…..Both Gustaf and DeFrance would
have had provisional starting spots based upon their rankings in the 2006
series point standings, so Sam Halstead was happy to see DeFrance race his way
in as that allowed Terry Neal, Gustaf and “Superman Sam” to start the
forty-lapper…..Colby Springsteen was running a strong second in the first
B-Main, but during a mid-race caution his car just shut down and coasted to a
halt on the frontstretch…...Gary Russell is usually a threat when he makes an
infrequent trip to th……Rookie late
model drivers Charlie McKenna of Mason City and Rob Petsche of Peosta made the
long trip down, but failed to make the feature…..Shannon Frank of Jefferson
City and Todd Bates of Canton made long pulls with their Modifieds……Getting the
forty-eight Late Models through the Summer Series pre-race tech line delayed
the start of hot laps by nearly an hour. Add in the numerous cautions and we
wound up with a late night of racing as the checkers flew on the Late Models at
11:25…..Quincy will host the FASTRAK Crate Late Models for a $1,000-to-win
feature along with their regular four classes this Sunday night April 22nd
and, unless something changes, I’ll be back for another night of action on the
quick quarter-mile this weekend…...The Summer Series makes a three race swing
around the Quad Cities this weekend running Friday night at Davenport, Saturday
at Maquoketa and Sunday in East Moline.
Quincy, but after spinning out of a qualifying spot in the
final heat race he was unable to recover in the B-Main. Look for Russell to be
a top contender when the Deery Series runs its make-up date at his home track,
34 Raceway near Burlington on Tuesday night, May 15
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