First Deery Win for Matt Bailey Comes At His Hometown Track

The Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models moved south to the Quincy Raceway on Sunday night for race number three on the 2011 schedule. The field was solid with thirty-five drivers on hand to do battle on the reconfigured quarter-mile oval although there were some notable absences including former champion Jeff Aikey and the first two race winners of 2011 Brian Harris and Matt Ryan.


Mark Burgtorf has been the man to beat in the Late Model division at the Quincy Raceway for the past decade or more and when he drew the pole position for the forty-lap feature it was thought to now be a race for second. But a couple of youngsters had other ideas. Tyler Bruening had impressed the crowd earlier in the night by passing defending series champ Ray Guss Jr. to win the second heat race and he picked up the early challenge on Burgtorf for the lead. When the only caution of the race waved on lap ten for Jason Frankel who had pulled off the top side of turn two, the field was realigned two-wide behind the leader. With the return of the green it was Matt Bailey who found the bite off the bottom of turn four as he drove past Bruening for second and then set his sights on Burgtorf. When the leader slipped up the track a bit off four Bailey shot to the inside and picked up the lead on lap twelve, but Burgtorf was not about to let him just drive away.

Running one groove higher than Bailey, Mark was able to pull even with him in the corners only to have Matt edge ahead on the straightaways. The battle continued this way for several laps with the two crossing the stripe in a virtual dead heat on lap sixteen before Bailey established himself as the true leader. And, just a few laps later, when Bailey was able to drive under Mike Garland and Boone McLaughlin who were racing side-by-side without skipping a beat, it allowed him to put a nice cushion between himself and Burgtorf. It was a cushion that Bailey would hold all the way to the checkers to record his first career victory on the Summer Series while Burgtorf would have to settle for second on this night. Terry Neal started in the seventh row and passed Justin Reed on the final lap to finish third while Bruening rounded out the top five finishers.

Deery Series Q Notes…..It was decided that the 2010 season at Quincy saw too much one-grooved racing around the top side so track owners have put in the extra hours during the offseason in an effort to make this a two, or even a three grooved surface once again. The first heat race of the night showed the fruits of their effort as, while Matt Strassheim ran away from the field, the race for second was a thrilling race-long three-wide affair featuring Denny Woodworth, Mark Burgtorf and Terry Neal. Woodworth prevailed as the runner-up with Burgtorf taking the third and final qualifying spot allowing him to later redraw the pole position for the feature. Neal was the odd man out and had to win the first B-Main to get qualified showing just how much the outcome of the night may have changed if that first heat race had ended just a bit differently…..Joey Gower who was disqualified from a transfer spot in the B-Main the night before in Burlington for missing a chip came back strong tonight by winning the third heat race…..Tom Darbyshire won heat race number four and during the redraw he told front stretch announcer Dwain Hulett the main reason that he has Matt Strassheim driving his other car is that more girls come to the trailer after the races. You see, not only is Strassheim a pretty good racecar driver, but apparently the ladies find him incredibly attractive. The girl who works where I get my hair cut confirmed that fact so I am keeping my wife away from him as I don’t want her expectation level being elevated…..Sam Halstead fought off Lonnie Bailey for the fourth and final qualifying spot in the first B-Main. This actually may have ended up being a good thing as Lonnie was then able to “coach” his son Matt with a bright yellow sign from the top of the pit bleachers. And, during the lap ten caution, Lonnie was giving some other hand and arm signals to Matt that I couldn’t decipher, but obviously Matt did and it just might have been the advice that produced a victory…..Mike Garland passed Billy Tuckwell on the final lap to take the last transfer out of the second B-Main…..The Deery Series has a tripleheader scheduled for this coming weekend at Davenport, Maquoketa and East Moline….The UMP Modifieds had one of those events where the racing upfront was fantastic, but it kept being interrupted by cautions in the back. On the ninth caution, and with nineteen laps in the scorebook, the checker flag was waved with Jared Schlipman taking the win over David Wietholder, Vance Wilson, Tony Dunker and Steven DeLonjay. This is definitely not the norm for the Mods at Quincy…..Bobby Anders dominated the Hobby Stock feature that was run just prior to the Late Model main event…...It looked like a lot of people stayed home due to a weather forecast that called for a 60% chance of thunderstorms with some possibly severe as the crowd was nowhere near as big as it should have been for this show. The weather did develop, but the first cell passed north of the track and a heavier one passed by only ten miles to the south during the Late Model main event. When the checkers fell on that race at 9:10 p.m. I decided to hit the road for home with the Stock Car and Hornet mains yet to be run….A big thanks to everybody at Quincy for their hospitality, it is always a pleasure to see the lovely ladies at the pit gate and I hope to be back often in 2011.

Sunday Notebook April 10th, 2011

With most of the rest of the Positively Racing crew on hand last night at 34 Raceway I will let them provide the details since I had a microphone in my hand rather than a notebook, but I will make a few observations. Brad Stephens and his folks do a great job in lining up sponsors and support for the annual Slocum 50 and their efforts were rewarded last night as the event drew a large crowd and more than $2,000 was raised for the scholarship fund in memory of the personable driver who lost his life in a pit accident here six years ago. The racing was exciting in all three classes, especially in the features with all three going right down to the final laps before being decided. Yes, the track became rough and for the drivers it was a handful. Nearly an inch of rain overnight on Thursday and cloudy and cool conditions all day Friday, coupled with the fact that it was the second Saturday in April did not help that. Drivers hate a rough track and the fans know that, but sometimes the racing is just so good on a rough track that as a fan you can feel a bit guilty about it, at least that is how I feel today thinking back. The Late Model feature had a dozen or more twists and turns, none more important than when Brian Harris and Ray Guss Jr. made contact in turn two while racing for fourth leaving Harris sideways and Guss headed to the pits with a flat. From there you had nobody at the front that was "expected" to win. Matt Ryan was fast all night winning the first heat race with ease and then driving to the front in the main event, but as the laps wound down he made some bobbles in the turns that he wasn't making before allowing Boone McLaughlin to close back in and make one last run. Knowing how much both of these guys loved Brent Slocum made the battle even more intriguing and the fans were on their feet for the final lap. And that is when you know that it has been a hell of a show! Matt clenched his eyes shut tight to fight back the tears as he and Brad Stephens bear-hugged each other in victory lane. I'm glad that they had that moment as it gave the winner the time that he needed to gain his composure before somebody stuck a mic in front of him. After the hug he started to take off the top of his driving suit and IMCA Marketing Director Kevin Yoder suggested that he leave it on for the photos. Ryan wasn't about to do that though as he wanted to show off the ratty old t-shirt with a couple of golf ball sized holes in it that he had on underneath, as on this night and in this place that old Brent Slocum t-shirt looked perfect.

Jayson Dittworth put on quite a show in the 305 Sprint Car feature as an early bobble left him right near the back of the seventeen-car field, but by lap fourteen he was all the way up to fourth. The race had been clean until a spin on lap fourteen and two attempts at a double-file restart produced two accidents where cars got upside down. The decision was then made to restart single-file and the race was clean the rest of the way with Dittsworth taking the win. I know that a majority of people disagree with me, but I am not a fan of double-file restarts, especially in a weekly sprint car division. The World of Outlaws might be able to pull it off, but even they struggle with it at times. Dittsworth drives the Olson Brothers Custom Shop car and when I saw Conrad Olson afterwards he said that they don't know what to do now since they usually crash it or blow it up on opening night!.....The Four Cylinders featured a three-car battle for the lead over the final half of the race involving Darin Smith, Nick Wilkerson and Wayne Noble. Noble, who is in his mid-seventies, was holding off the youngsters until the final turn when Wilkerson nosed ahead for the victory......The track did a great job in honoring a local military unit that will be deployed in the next two weeks and as well as remembering Slocum the large crowd kept Late Model driver and former track owner Johnny Johnson in their hearts during an entertaining night of racing.

Two-time All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion Shannon Anderson slipped down to I-35 Speedway in Winston, Missouri, last night and picked up the win. Jordan Grabouski pulled over from Beatrice, Nebraska, and ran 11th in the IMCA Modified division in an event won by Todd Wilson. Jared Timmerman of Norwalk, the defending champion of the Sport Mod division at the Harris Clash, won that division's feature at I-35 last night......The notes from I-35 shows one of the things that I love about sanctioned race tracks, a driver can go from one track to another and know that he is legal under one common set of rules. Now before everybody starts choosing up sides here (why do you do that?) I am talking about all sanctions whether it be IMCA, UMP, WISSOTA, USRA, etc........Canadian Tyler Turnbull ran sixth in the Modified feature at Fairmont Friday night and in yesterday's notebook I noted the cheeseheads at Marshalltown. At Boone last night Green Bay's Troy Jerovetz finished third and Tracy Wassenberg was 10th in a field of 45 Sport Mods.....Damon Murty is the early man to beat in the All Iowa Points Stock Car division as he posted his second runner-up finish of the year last night at Boone to go along with two victories here in the first two weeks......Last season Eric Stanton pulled his Hobby Stock down to Winston, Missouri, from his home in Hartford where he won quite a few times. Last night he was in Boone and finished third.....Ryan Unzicker won again at Peoria last night with Late Model rookie Mike Spatola in second. Teenager Bobby Pierce was fourth......Fifty-five MLRA Late Models filled the pits at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, last night with Iowa's Chad Simpson taking the win over Jesse Stovall and Brandon McCormick. The Andy's Frozen Custard duo of Jeremy Payne and Terry Phillips completed the top five. Alabama's Ronny Lee Hollingsworth was a surprise entrant and finished 14th.....Brian Birkhofer ran fourth behind Bllomquist, O'Neal and Pearson at Brownstown's Indiana Icebreaker last night.....The old Winged Outlaw Warrior organization kicked off their new relationship with ASCS in grand fashion last night with 41 cars at LA Raceway in La Monte, Missouri. Danny Lasoski took the win ahead of Mark Shirshekan while Midget star Brad Loyet finished third.......Not too far up the road the ASCS Midwest Region had 39 cars at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska, where the top five consisted of Brian Brown, Wayne Johnson, Jack Dover, Don Droud Jr. and last night's winner Seth Bergman. Looks like Sprint Car racing, at least in the 360 division, is alive and well in this area......Sixteen-year-old Austin Rettig edged out Billy Moyer Jr. for the Late Model win at Riverside Speedway in Arkansas last night. Seven years ago Rettig lost his then thirteen-year-old brother Nathan, who was a young Late Model phenom at the time, in a four-wheeler accident.....Nick Lyons earned his second UMP Late Model victory of the young season at I-55 Raceway in Pevely edging out another hot driver Michael Kloos. Quincy's Rickey Frankel was third.....Iowa native Danny Breuer, who now calls North Carolina home, won the NeSmith Crate Late Model event at Greenville, Mississippi last night extending his point lead in the series......Who would have ever thought that my 19-year-old Willy Kraft t-shirt would have sparked so many comments yesterday!.....As of 2:45 the radar is still clean so if you are heading to Quincy tonight I hope to see you there.

Lee County Speedway Car Show Pics

Jim Lynch

Josh Foster

Tanner Thomann

Jason Cook

These and seventeen more pics from Saturday's show in the West Point town square can be found on the PositivelyRacing.com page on Facebook.

Saturday Morning Notebook: April 9, 2011

Wisconsin drivers made the trip to Marshalltown on Friday night for weekly IMCA racing with Mike Wedelstadt posting the best showing of the bunch finishing second to Jon Snyder in the Modified feature……Todd Reitzler has moved from the Hobby Stocks to the Stock Cars in 2011 and he posted his first top-five finish running fifth at Marshalltown……Brad Looney made it two wins in a row on the MLRA Late Model tour with his victory at Heartland Park Topeka Friday night. Forty-one Late Models filled the pits including eastern Iowa drivers Denny Eckrich (8^th), Nick Marolf (11^th), Dave Eckrich (14^th), Chris Simpson (19^th), Chad Simpson (22^nd) and Matt Furman (24^th). Kurt Kile finished fourth in a B-Main. The MLRA runs at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, tonight April 9^th……I spoke with USMTS head man Todd Staley on Friday and he noted that even with the warmer than expected conditions in southeast Minnesota this week, the Queensland family said that the Deer Creek Speedway would not have been ready to host the World Dirt Track Modified Championship as originally scheduled this week. The big show has been pushed back to the end of July…..No shortage of 360 Sprints at the ASCS Midwest Region opener at I-80 Speedway Friday night as Washington traveler Seth Bergman topped a stellar field of 45……It doesn’t happen often, I’ve witnessed it once during the Knoxville Nationals of all places, but having fog put an early end to the racing has to be one of the most frustrating things that race fans can have happen to them. It happened last night during the USAC Sprint show at Eldora Speedway in Ohio. The remainder of the program will be run tonight…..Mike Spatola of Manhattan, Illinois, is making a splash during the early portion of his rookie campaign in a UMP Late Model. A graduate of the Modified ranks Spatola ran second to Ryan Unzicker in the Don Bohlander Tribute at Peoria last Sunday night and last night he finished third behind Brian Shirley and Frank Heckenast Jr. in the season opener at Farmer City Raceway. The event drew 33 Late Models and 26 Modifieds to the eastern Illinois track that shut down early last year……In western Missouri it was announced this week that the Butler Speedway will run a weekly Sunday night program in 2011……After sitting out for a year with back problems, Randy Korte picked up his first feature win Friday night at the Belle-Clair bullring. Michael Kloos continued his strong start to 2011 by finishing second…..Every promoter would LOVE to have someone like Steve Eighinger covering the action at their track. Known to the folks around Quincy as “Stevie Dirt”, reading his blog makes you want to be in the stands every race night at the Bullring so if you are headed to Quincy Raceway this Sunday for the Deery Brothers Summer Series, or if you’d like to be convinced to do so, check out his work here …….Things had to be pretty wet around the edges as the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton held their lid lifter last night with a solid car count across the board. Brad Diercks came from the sixth row to win the A-Mod feature with defending All Iowa Points champion Ryan Dolan in second and two-time AIP champ Mark Schulte was third. Nate Caruth was a surprise visitor finishing 16^th in the 19-car field. Dan Chapman won the B-Mod feature as he was reportedly shaking down the car that his son will drive this season…..The season opener at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines fell to wet grounds. Mick Trier and the crew will try again next Friday night…..The Lee County Speedway Car Show will be held today (Saturday April 9^th) at the square in West Point from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. followed by a party at the 4^th Street Bar at 7 p.m. Check back in here later today as hopefully we’ll post some pictures from that event……With Rich Adams not arriving until later and with Jake Croxton moving to the flagstand this year, I’ll be grabbing the microphone for the 3^rd Annual Brent Slocum Memorial at 34 Raceway near Burlington. The second stop on the 2011 Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models will take the green at 7:15 tonight and should draw a huge field of cars……You may have to travel a bit tonight to find a race, but get out and support the sport if you are able to!

Wisconsin Driver Collects Big Money At Vinton's Frostbuster

After sitting out Friday and Saturday night while spending some time with my lovely bride in St. Louis, I was able to catch the final night of the IMCA Frostbuster weekend at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Given the weather forecast going into the weekend I did not even think that there would be a shot of racing Sunday night, but the storms developed just to the south and east of Vinton and the first Sunday of April felt more like mid-June with temperatures in the high seventies throughout the evening.

The Modifieds were the headliner tonight with a solid field of thirty-six on hand from Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Canada. Originally scheduled to run last on the program, officials moved the Mod feature to fourth on the list as the radar started to light up around 6:30 and by then the low groove of the quarter-mile had chopped out quite a bit. Pole-sitter Ryan Dolan shucked a driveshaft coming off turn two on the first lap and pulled to the infield with fourth-starting Dan Ratajczak jumping to the lead on lap one of twenty. Scott Hogan, who started behind Ratajczak in sixth, settled in behind him and went to work on the driver from Frog Station, Wisconsin. Troy Cordes found the middle groove smoother and more to his liking as he moved toward the front after starting from row five and when he caught the lead duo, the battle was on. Cordes slipped into second with just a handful of laps remaining and with two to go he made his move to the outside of turns one and two. Cordes cleared Ratajczak by a car-length down the back straightaway, but the Wisconsin driver hit his marks perfectly in three and four to regain the lead at the white flag. Once again Cordes was able to pull even with the leader off of turn two and the two ran wheel-to-wheel down the backstretch. When Ratajczak pushed his challenger up the track entering turn three, Cordes kicked it off the cushion and tried a high-to-low move off of four that came up a half a car length short as Ratajczak took the $1,000 victory. Hogan settled for the third spot, J.D. Auringer started fifteenth and finished fourth while Shawn Fisher completed the top five.

Dan Ratajczak (73) and Troy Cordes battle it out over the final laps - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography

The Stock Car division was the first feature on the card tonight with only ten cars taking the green. Damon Murty outran fellow front row starter Paul Shepard at the drop of the green for the race lead while Jeff Mueller was the man on the move after starting sixth. Mueller slipped by Shepard into second with four laps to go, but he could never reel in Murty who went flag-to-flag for the win in the non-stop event. Behind Murty, Mueller and Shepard it was Scooter Dulin and Bob Ahrendson in fourth and fifth.

The Sport Compacts also went flag-to-flag in their twelve lap finale with Brad Chandler moving past Brett Vanous on lap eight for the lead. Chandler’s brother Nathan was behind the wheel of Bill Whalen Jr.s #00W tonight and he moved into second over the final laps to make it a one-two finish for the drivers from Cedar Rapids. Vanous collected third-place money followed by Duayne Herb in fourth with the head of the Chandler family, Merv completing the top five.

I’m not sure if it was the track that tore up the Sport Mod feature, or if it was the Sport Mod feature that tore up the track as after eight caution periods they were finally able to complete fifteen green flag laps. As usual in events like this, the racing up front was pretty good when the light was green while the guys in the back were…….well you know. Andy Tiernan started third and jetted to the lead on lap one only to lose it a lap later to sixth starting Austin Kaplan. His tenure at the front was just as short though with Danny Dvorak coming from the inside of row five to take the lead on lap three, a lead that he would not give up the rest of the way to victory. Kaplan was the runner-up, Kurt Hogan finished third with Tiernan and Jim Buhlman next in line.

The Hobby Stocks closed out the night and it looked like they had all learned their lesson after watching the two Modified classes when they all ran the first couple of laps on the smoother upper two grooves of the speedway. Brad Forbes was leading with Nathan Ballard giving chase when a third-running Justin Stander decided to give the low groove a try. It worked for a moment as he quickly pulled even with the leader on lap four, but when he bounced through turn two the next lap Stander could not maintain control and spun on the back stretch. Scott Pippert made the move of the night avoiding the spinning Stander, and then on the restart it was Pippert who took over the lead from Forbes on lap eight and moved to a big advantage over the final seven circuits. It was a good thing that Pippert enjoyed that lead though as he needed all of it when his right rear tire blew entering turn three on the final lap and he nursed his #47 in for the victory ahead of Forbes and Ballard. Justin Lichty took the fourth spot while Kyle Perizek was fifth.

Scott Pippert (47) slips by Brad Forbes for the lead in the Hobby Stock feature - Scott Tjabring, Action Track Photography

BCS Frostbuster Notes…..Richie Gustin was running fifth in the Modified main when he dropped out on lap four…...Quincy, Illinois, driver Jeff Waterman was in fourth when his rear end let go with five laps remaining…..Canada was well represented by the Turnbull family tonight as Ed, Ty and Adam all made the feature event. The other visitors from the Great White North did not fare so well as Derrick and Mason Big Eagle collided with each other in the first heat and Joey Galloway left the track on a hook during his heat…..J.D. Auringer had to come from ninth to fourth in the third heat just to transfer to the A where he then passed eleven cars to run fourth definitely making him the night’s hard charger…..Joe Docekal and Josh Most were notable non-qualifiers in the Modifieds…..Justin Temeyer failed to make the call for the Stock Car heat and then started the feature from the fifth row. He moved quickly up to fourth before retiring in a cloud of smoke with three laps to go…..Jeremy Schaufenbuhl appeared to be a contender in the Sport Mods as he was leading the second heat before contact with Andy Tiernan sent him out into the bean field off the back stretch. Then in the feature he was caught up in the two early multi-car melees puncturing a hole in his radiator that he was unaware of until his motor got hot a few laps later and he coasted to a halt…..It was reported that Bill Whalen Jr., who you will find at just about any track running the four cylinders in the Midwest, was not feeling well and that is why Nathan Chandler was on board the 00W tonight. Hopefully Bill felt better when he picked up that second-place purse check…..Justin Wacha has moved from the Sport Compacts to the Hobby Stocks this year…..Nathan Ballard can usually be found winning features on the pavement at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids. Tonight he proved he could sling the dirt with the best of them as well…..A big thanks to Mick Trier, Dana Benning and the entire Benton County Speedway crew for putting on an entertaining and efficient program that saw the final checkers wave at ten minutes past seven. The regular season kicks off this coming Sunday night, April 10th in Vinton.