Brandon Sheppard took command after a lap one restart and paced the field for all forty laps to win the second night of qualifying for the Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking Friday night at the Davenport Speedway.
Sheppard would nip pole-sitter Jason Feger at the line to lead the opening lap before the only caution of the race waved when Richie Gustin and Dennis Erb Jr. tangled in turn one. On the restart Sheppard would go to the top line around the quarter-mile as did Bobby Pierce who moved from fifth to second on the restart and soon the entire twenty-four car field was riding the rim.
Thursday's winner Devin Moran started eighth on this night and he would throw a couple of sliders at Feger for third until one finally stuck around lap ten and that may have been the final pass of the race. Last night the low line was dominant, but tonight everybody went to the top and once the rubber was laid down not a single driver chose to even try another line. Sheppard would catch the back of the field on lap seventeen and he never made an attempt to pass a lapped car for fear of leaving the fast line.
The high side parade would end with Sheppard taking the win over Pierce, Moran and Feger with Chris Madden wrapping up the top five. For the second night in a row during the re-draw drivers wondered what they might do to the track during intermission only to have it go untouched making me wonder if the World of Outlaws might have been making that call. This is just not how we have seen the Davenport Speedway race over the past couple of years.
The twenty lap Modified feature would be up next and they would have a tough time getting started as four cars piled up in turn three as the green flag started to wave, and on the second try a five care melee would see Matt Werner's car put up onto its side in turn two. While waiting for a third start I realized that there were four former All Iowa Points Champions in the field. Details on that at the end
When the race was able to stay green pole-sitter Tom Berry Jr. would go to the top for the first lap before driving down low to chop off the challenge from Mike McKinney. The caution would wave again on lap five when Dustin Smith spun in turn and after the restart Berry would start to pull away while still working the bottom.
Then for some reason the defending IMCA Modified National Champion went back up to the top allowing McKinney to reel him back in, but before he could make the pass Berry would go back down to the bottom to block. On lap twelve the leader slipped a bit exiting turn four and McKinney was there to pounce and he would pace the final eight circuits to score the win. Normally a UMP racer, McKinney appears to be in Ryan Duhme's IMCA car for the weekend with a nice looking 96m (thanks to my Positively Racing colleague Ed Reichert for pointing that out) on it and perhaps we would have heard McKinney confirm that during his victory lane interview if not for the muffled sound system that seems to be a symptom of the DirtVision broadcast for the weekend. Translation, we have never had a problem hearing the sound system here during our other visits the past two seasons.
Denny Eckrich, who spent much of the event riding the high line, moved down low over the closing laps to pass Berry late for second. Chris Simpson used the high line throughout to finish fourth and Brad Dierks scored his second straight fifth place finish.
The fifteen lap Sport Mod feature struggled through four cautions in the first five laps and the fifth and final stoppage occurred when Aaron Hitt, Trey Grimm and Nathan Balensiefen were racing three wide for third as the Sport Mods were using all of the track. Grimm would go for a spin and apparently Hitt was pinned with the blame as he would also go to the rear of the field for the restart.
Ryan Reed would hug the bottom throughout to take the apparent win after starting on the pole, but a check of the results as I write this shows that he was disqualified handing the win over to Ben Chapman. This would put Brandon Jewell in second at the pay window, the driver who started the race from twenty-second while Thursday's winner Logan Veloz came from eleventh to third. Balensiefen would take the fourth spot and Todd Dykema would finish fifth. (Saturday morning update, Reed was disqualified for an illegal shock)
The Quad Cities 150 will wrap up on Saturday night with the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models lined up for their heat races by the points accumulated on Thursday and Friday. Without 36 cars taking two laps each of qualifying perhaps it will allow for the type of surface that we are used to seeing here at Davenport as the seventy lap finale will pay a whopping $30,000 to the winner.
The four former All Iowa Points Champions who lined up for the Modified feature were:
2020 Modified Champion Tom Berry Jr.
2001 and 2002 Late Model Champion Denny Eckrich
1984 Sportsman Champion and 2003 Late Model Champion Jeff Aikey, and
2011 Stock Car Champion Timmy Current
The 1983 Stock Champion Bob Dominacki did not make a transfer out of his B-Main
Social commitments will keep me away from the tracks the remainder of this weekend and next, but I do hope to make the trip up to Farley next Wednesday September 1st for the Season Championship at the 300 Raceway.
The season is slipping away, get out and support the tracks of your choice!
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