Heckenast Initiates A New Era for MARS, Kay Doubles Up At Davenport

It took an extra three months, but Tony Izzo Jr. was finally able to bring his new brand of the MARS Late Model Series to the track on Thursday night at the Davenport Speedway and it was an entertaining program to say the least. Not only was the racing good for the Supers, but a pair of IMCA Late Model features had the nice sized crowd on the edge of their seat as well on the first of two straight nights of racing action on the quarter-mile oval at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.

After purchasing the long running series during the offseason, Izzo had planned to run his traditional Thaw Brawl at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa, to debut his version of MARS on the final weekend of March. Well we all know what happened with that plan, so over the past two weeks with tracks in Illinois finally able to get back to racing, Izzo quickly pulled together a three race swing at Davenport, Donnellson and Peoria to start the 2020 series.

Twenty-one Super Late Models might have disappointed some, but as I have mentioned here before there is a lot of Super Late Model racing being scheduled now in an area that frankly had little or none over the past ten years. So the bottom line is, I will take this car count and the quality of drivers that it included anytime of the week at this point. The second MARS heat race was worth the price of admission in itself, with numerous slide jobs, jumped restarts and so much back and forth action it was hard to believe that it was only a ten lap race.

The show was delayed by nearly a half hour when MARS officials were unable to get the transponder loop to function and while this caused some of the fans to get a little impatient, for me at least it was well worth it as the probable "qualify and start 'em straight up" format was ditched for a draw/redraw set of three heat races that would have otherwise been more of a follow the leader affair. With the top two out of each heat having the chance to pull the front row for the forty lap A-Main it would be Jonathan Brauns and Bobby Pierce leading the field to green.

Pierce would sail around the cushion to open up a big early advantage as the rest of the field tried to find the line that suited them the best. With Ricky Kay and Al Dlouhy now doing the track work, the surface is wider than I have ever seen it and while the cushion was strong all night, it became treacherous as well once it reached the very top of the banking and while it looked like they were putting around the bottom, the sheer difference in the distance made that groove a winner at the end of the night.

Chris Simpson was the first to make up ground on Pierce using that bottom line and after a couple of cautions on laps twelve and fourteen, Brian Birkhofer became a factor running the rim as well. Frank Heckenast Jr. had started ninth, but he was now the king of the putters, by all appearances creeping around the very bottom of the speedway while still reeling in the leaders who were tearing around the top. Heckenast was up to third, then second and was about to overtake Pierce when suddenly the leader got the signal to go low to try to block off the charge.

He did not get low enough though as Heckenast eased into the lead on lap twenty-five and Pierce went back up to the top to try to return to the point. Birkhofer was now right behind him in third and when Pierce went searching in the middle on lap twenty-nine, Birky was ready to pounce but he slipped off the top of turn four and lost several positions before he could recover. Just after that Jake Miller slowed on the back stretch just ahead of the leader and when Heckenast had to stand on the brakes as Miller pulled to the infield, that gave Pierce new life.

Bobby was cutting into the gap and was poised to challenge for the lead when he too slipped off the top of turn four with just seven laps remaining. This allowed Allen Weisser, another catfisher to pick up the second spot, but he could not close in on Heckenast despite some lapped traffic over the closing laps as the second generation driver out of suburban Chicago picked up the win. Weisser was impressive in second, Brian Shirley came from eleventh to third, Simpson was steady in fourth and Birkhofer recovered to post a top five finish.

As noted earlier, the opening weekend for MARS continues tonight in Donnellson and on Saturday at the Peoria Speedway.

This was a dream night for Danny Rosencrans as the only other division on the card was the track's weekly IMCA Late Models who would start off the night with a 25-lap makeup feature from last Friday's rain out and they would then run a full program of three heats and another 25-lap main event. Let's just say that Matt Ryan probably had an orange #15 in his nightmares overnight.

In the makeup feature National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer and eight time All Iowa Points champion Gary Webb paced the field for the first seven laps before Ryan was able to dive under him in turn one. Meanwhile Justin Kay who had started deep in the pack due to arriving to the track as the heat races were being run last Friday, after initially going to Columbus Junction, was picking his way to the front and had the high side working as the laps ticked away. Ryan's lead was nearly a straightaway when Kay moved to second, but the gap closed quickly and as the two exited turn four coming to the white flag Kay sailed around Ryan to take the lead and one lap later the exciting win. Andy Nezworski finished in the third position, Chuck Hanna was fourth and the seventy-two-year-old Webb held down the fifth spot.

Gary Webb still putting on a show at Davenport - Dennis Krieger Imagery

In the second 25-lapper for the IMCA cars Ryan started from the outside of the front row and used the high line to again open up a big lead. Joe Zrostlik was the only driver making the bottom work mid-race as he was running third, but when he tangled with the lapped car of Shaune Lewis, Zrostlik spun on the front stretch to produce the only caution of the race. Kay had started the race in eleventh and was now lined up sixth on the restart with eight laps remaining. When the green flag waved Ryan again put some distance on the field, but soon young Logan Duffy was making up ground running the inside with Kay following in his tracks. Duffy went under Nick Marolf for second with Kay still in tow, but when the youngster missed his mark in turn one with four to go, Justin drove under him and into second.

The crowd went nuts as Kay again carved away at Ryan's advantage and this time as they came to the white flag it was Kay digging down low to take the lead, and one lap later the exciting win! It would be a pair of runner-up finishes on the night for the the two-time and defending All Iowa Points champion Ryan. Marolf finished in third with Brian Harris nipping Duffy at the line for fourth. And, while we are recognizing All Iowa Points championships, there were plenty represented on the night as Justin Kay is also a three-time champ and Harris won the title in 2008.

It was a great night of racing on the quarter-mile at Davenport and as I put the finishing touches on this story I am ready to make the same trip north as tonight the Sprint Invaders will join the Modifieds, Street Stocks, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts for a Friday night of action in Davenport. Then on Saturday night the Sprint Invaders will headline the racing at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Hope to see you there!