Birkhofer, Carter and Wauters Headline Sheet Metal Showdown at Davenport

With the cancellation of the Sprint Invaders show at 34 Raceway, I made the trip north on Saturday for the Sheet Metal Showdown at the Davenport Speedway where a $2,000 top prize was up for grabs in each of the Late Model, Sport Mod and Hobby Stock divisions. Plus the Modifieds, Street Stocks and Four Cylinders were also in action on a hot, steamy night that actually wasn't too bad while sitting in the vast covered grandstands at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds with a steady breeze helping to take the edge off of the heat.

As it turned out I am really glad that I was here tonight as it was the first career Late Model feature victory for young Cruz Birkhofer. His grandfather Dave Birkhofer was one of my favorites growing up and I watched him win many features at West Liberty, Burlington, here at Davenport and other tracks. Dave's son Brian Birkhofer started out in a Street Stock before moving on to the Late Models and after establishing himself as a frequent winner locally, he went on to national fame winning the World 100, the Knoxville Late Model Nationals and many others, but perhaps one of his proudest nights at the track came last night when his son Cruz held off the persistent challenges from Andy Nezworski to score his first win.

Cruz started from the outside of row one and took the lead at the drop of the green with the fourth starting Nezworski in hot pursuit. The twenty-five lap feature would go non-stop and Nezworksi was never more than four car lengths back throughout. On lap fifteen as Birkhofer entered turn one behind the soon to be lapped car of Broderick Prescott, Nezworski dove low and was able to take the lead momentarily as they headed down the back stretch and into turn three. Birkhofer would nail the now precariously high cushion perfectly though to get back to the lead at the scoring loop and then, with five laps remaining, Nezworski had one more opportunity as Birkhofer went to put Chris Lawrence a lap down.

Again Nezworksi would drive in low and pull even with the leader, and once again the young driver did not flinch hitting his marks on the high line to maintain the lead and the eventual win worth a hefty $2,000. Nezworski made his way into victory lane to first give the winner a fist bump, and then a big bear hug to congratulate him on the victory. Logan Veloz started fifth and finished third, Evan Miller was fourth and Dustin Smith finished off the top five.

I spent my younger years cheering for Dave's victories, I proudly watched Brian rise to stardom through my middle ages and now I hope to fill my senior years watching Cruz continue to find victory lane!

The $2,000-to-win Sport Mod feature was the first of six on the card with twenty-five laps on a freshly groomed race track with Josh Starr racing out to a big advantage from his front row start. Dylan VanWyk had started tenth and when he finally made his way into second, Starr was still a full straightaway ahead of him and he had Brayton Carter who had started twelfth now hot on his heels in third.

The caution would soon fly on lap eleven when the right rear tire blew on Finn Oppenheimer's car and he was not able to clear the speedway as he had been racing in a tight pack prior to the blowout. This was the worst circumstance for Starr though as not only was his big lead erased, but he now had the top two Sport Mod drivers in the state in Carter and VanWyk lined up side-by-side on his back bumper for the restart. 

And they would swallow up Starr in turns one and two on the restart and as he was now third racing down the back stretch it appeared that some sheet metal and a wheel cover came flying off of his car resulting in a caution for debris that would give him the opportunity to try it again from the front. The second restart would have the same result though as VanWyk would race to the lead with Carter in hot pursuit and the two drivers from Oskaloosa would now race it out for the big money here in Davenport.

VanWyk was in control until lapped traffic came into play and when he had to hesitate behind a slower car in turns one and two, Carter went low to pull even with him going down the back stretch. And with another slower car in the leader's preferred line entering turns three and four, Carter would take the lead with just two laps remaining and score his twenty-third Sport Mod win on the season. VanWyk would settle for second, Cole Suckow took third, Starr slipped to fourth and Cole Stichter came from fourteenth to take fifth.

The big money for the Hobby Stocks was doled out in the fifth feature of the night with pole-sitter Erick Knutsen setting the early pace in the twenty-five lap event. Daniel Wauters had started in row two and he would take the lead on lap three even stretching it out a bit before the caution waved for Carson Butt's spin in turn four on lap eight. Once back to green Wauters had both Kile Vohringer and Matt Bennett in hot pursuit all running the high line around the quarter-mile until the caution waved again with ten laps remaining due to a three car spin in turn two.

That same three car battle would resume following the restart and as the laps wound down Vohringer would let the leader know that he was there with some taps on the rear bumper. On the final lap Vohringer drove to the bottom in turns three and four hoping to find the bite that he needed, but it was not there as Wauters scored the win by just over a car length. Vohringer was second, Bennett took third, Preston McDonald was fourth and Randy Lamar came from tenth to fifth.

With this much money up for grabs I was surprised that only eighteen Hobby Stocks were on hand with apparently the hot weather keeping some away? The one big traveler was Joel Magee who made the tow over from Sioux City and after starting thirteenth he had raced his way up into the top five while making a lower to middle line work. However that went away from him late as he faded back to ninth at the checkers.

It was all Logan Veloz in the twenty lap IMCA Modified feature as he started from the front row and was never seriously challenged in a race that was slowed just once by a caution. Chris Zogg started fifth and finished second, Ben Chapman came from eighth to finish third, Charlie Mohr moved from seventh to fourth and Kurt Kile rounded out the top five. 

Promoter Jeff Struck Jr. brought his car out to race in the Street Stock division to honor his father who had passed away earlier in the day. Drawing an outside front row starting spot, Struck appeared to be headed for victory in the fifteen lap event after taking the lead from Keegan Wells on lap two, but he was chased down late by Blake Woodruff who had started ninth and took the lead at the white flag to score his eighth win of the season here at Davenport. Struck was second, Donnie Louck came from tenth to third, Jake Lund finished fourth and Landen Chrestenson was fifth.

Seven Four Cylinders would close out the evening for twelve laps with Dustin Forbes going flag-to-flag for the victory. Josh Starr would run second, Caleb Giese was third with Zachary Pappas and Thomas Adams next in line.

The entertaining program was wrapped up around 9:40 p.m. and it was an interesting drive home listening to the events that had just taken place in Iran. Tonight we close out the weekend with a trip to the Quincy Raceways where the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders will headline the action and then on Wednesday we plan on being at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa for the SLMR Late Model show. Then, next weekend, I hope to add a first time visit to a track in another state. Where will that be? You will have to make a return to the Back Stretch to find out!