After three straight cancellations due to our Arctic-like Spring, the Southern Iowa Speedway was finally able to drop the green flag on its 2013 season Wednesday night and despite cool and breezy conditions a solid crowd was on hand to watch a nice field of cars do battle. With the cold and wet weather there was some concern that the racing surface might rut out, especially with the new dirt that had been added since the end of last season, but only a ripple or two appeared as the half-mile stayed fast and multi-grooved all night.
The Sport Compact feature was the first of five weekly divisions to take to the track with the Whalen brothers, Bill Jr. and John, leading the seven-car field to the green. John Whalen would open up the early lead as Merv Chandler muscled his way past Bill for second, a move that included some contact entering turn one. On lap four Chandler would take over the lead with Bill Whalen Jr. hot on his heels moving past John for second. Chandler left the inside line open and on lap seven Bill pulled even with leader on the front stretch. They ran side-by-side like that, and even banged doors one or twice over the next two laps until Whalen edged ahead by a car-length as the white flag waved. Chandler made one more run at him in both sets of turns on that final lap, but came up short as Bill Whalen Jr. took the win in an entertaining ten-lapper. John Whalen chased that duo in for third, Matt Moore was just behind him in fourth and Alex Sampson came over from Iowa City to finish fifth.
Team Griffiths made up the front row for the 14-lap Hobby Stock main event with Dustin Griffiths outrunning Dale Porter to the point into turn one. An early caution for debris is all that slowed Griffiths in this one as he was never challenged on his way to victory. Bill Bonnett was a distant second while Porter held off the charges of Danny Thrasher and Craig Brown to finish third.
Ryan Fullenkamp blasted to a big lead on the opening lap of the Sport Mod headliner as Curtis VanDerWal made a big move himself from sixth to second. VanDerWal quickly reeled in the youngster and on lap four he made the pass for the lead going down the back stretch. Trying to maintain the pace, Fullenkamp drove too deep into turn three, got up into the crumbs and spun down the race track causing the first caution period of the event. A spin by Tyler Gross two laps later was the only thing that would slow down VanDerWal as he would cruise the rest of the way to secure the opening night win here in his hometown of Oskaloosa. Brett Lowry was impressive advancing from row five to finish in the runner-up position, suburban Kansas City based teenager Ben Kates took third, current All Iowa Points leader Carter VanDenBerg finished fourth after starting next to Lowry and pole-sitter Jason Hall completed the top five.
There is nobody in any division as hot as Damon Murty is right now and when he drew the pole position for the IMCA Stock Car feature the odds were pretty good that he would win this one. However it was his fellow front row starter Nathan Wood who raced to the early advantage before a caution for a five-car pileup in turn two slowed the field. On the restart Murty went to work on Wood and on lap four "The Chelsea Charger" took over the lead. Jason Minnehan had made the trip down from Churdan and was on the move coming from eighth up to third, but his run ended on lap six when it appeared that something broke in the steering on his ride. There was no touching Murty from there as the field got spread out over the final laps and Damon told announcer Tony Paris in victory lane that he was now eight for nine on the early season. Wood would finish well back in second, Corey Stout used the outside line to pass Alan VanGorp in turn four on the final lap for third and Tommie Killen filled out the top five.
An impressive field of eighteen IMCA Modifieds was on hand for the lid-lifter and all but one of them would take the green flag for the 18-lap finale. Southwest Iowa driver Jesse Dennis would lead the field on the opening lap before Cayden Carter flew by him on the outside in turn four on lap number two. As Carter started to build his lead Todd Shute moved into the second spot and tried to keep pace. Carter's advantage stayed consistent until the closing laps when he started to reel in the back of the field and as the white flag waved it was now clear that lapped traffic just might play a role in this one. Carter stayed patient on that final lap, but in doing so it allowed Shute to close quickly and in turn four Todd was able to get to the inside of Cayden. There may have even been a little contact between the two talented drivers as they raced for the first checkers of the year here and with the crowd coming to their feet Cayden Carter prevailed by a bit more than a car-length over Shute. Jesse Sobbing was not far behind them in third, Kyle Wahlert drove one of Jacob Murray's Modifieds from the sixth row to finish fourth while Murray himself came from fifteenth to fifth. Dennis would come home in the sixth position, Tyler Groenendyk returned to Modified action at Osky in seventh, and Andrew Schroeder was eighth ahead of Tim Murty and Colt Mather.
Dick and Joyce Eisele have a full listing of the results and will also have their thoughts on the event posted soon on the 4dFan Report at Positively Racing.
The final checkered flag for the weekly show waved at 9:47 p.m. and I headed for the warmth of my car rather than watching the 30-lap main event for the small field of Iowa Sportsman Series cars on hand. Thanks to Mike VanGenderen and his entire crew for their hospitality and their usual crisp program. Don't forget race fans that the IMCA Late Models will join the Southern Iowa Speedway program for their first of five appearances here next Wednesday night May 1st.
Another commitment will keep me away from the race tracks on Friday and Saturday this weekend, but I am definitely looking forward to seventy degree temperatures for the second annual Shootout at Knoxville on Sunday night. Drivers, there are still opening in each of the four divisions so if you are interested in competing on the famed half-mile, contact the speedway and get your entry in now!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Chad Simpson Completes Weekend Sweep at Quincy
On Thursday afternoon most of the Quincy Raceways track and pit area was underwater. Three days later that same pit area was full of haulers and the quarter-mile oval was hard and smooth as the Corn Belt Clash, MARS and ALMS Late Models did battle for a $3,000 top prize.
Group qualifying, four heats and two B-Mains trimmed the thirty-three car field down to twenty-four for the forty-lap main event with Chad Simpson and Brandon Sheppard starting from the front row. Simpson grabbed the lead at the drop of the green with Sheppard and Shannon Babb keeping pace. The top three gradually separated themselves from the rest of the field and while Simpson maintained about a five car-length advantage, Babb was able to put a nose under Sheppard on a couple of occasions.
As the leaders worked traffic with ten laps remaining, Babb tried the topside around turns one and two going a bit too wide and dropping the right rear off the top of the racing surface. To make the save Babb turned completely sideways and somehow avoided contact with a lapped car as he drove down the track, but since the lead trio was now so far in front of the rest of the pack Babb's near spin did not even cost him a position.
With the laps winding down Sheppard's attempts to keep Simpson within striking distance were not successful as the leader worked traffic like a master going flag-to-flag for a dominating victory. The win backed up his victory the night before when Chad came from the twelfth starting spot at 34 Raceway in Burlington. Sheppard finished second, Babb took third, Brian Shirley moved from ninth to fourth while Jason Perry finished where he started in fifth. Tony Jackson Jr. was sixth for the second night in a row, Chris Simpson finished seventh, Tyler Reddick faded from fourth to eighth, Terry Phillips took ninth and Kevin Weaver rounded out the top ten.
Q Notes......Group qualifying meant that the fast cars started up front in the heats with three of the four (Chad Simpson, Sheppard and Babb) being won from the pole position. Tyler Reddick started third and passed Jake Meier to win the fourth heat....The third heat took a little extra time to complete when Justin Reed and Kevin Weaver made contact on the back stretch during the opening lap sending Weaver for a spin. Dustin Walker spun his car to avoid Weaver and slid right through the only standing water that I saw on the grounds in the infield in turn three sending a big splash of moisture out onto the race track. It took several laps of wheel packing before the race could be restarted. Then, once it did, the cars of Reed and Dave Eckrich got hooked together on the front stretch creating another long delay while they were carefully pulled apart.....The two B-Mains saw good battles for the third and final transfer spot with Ryan Unzicker edging out Brandon Thirlby in the first one and Justin Reed coming from mid-pack to take third in the second one.....Six provisionals, two each from the three tours were added to the field: Thirlby, Doug Herrick, Dustin Walker, Dave Eckrich, Justin Asplin and Brunson Behning......Veteran St. Louis area drivers Ed Dixon and Mike Hammerle were among the nine drivers who did not make the A-main.
Skipp Dunker started the Sport Compact main event from the pole position and was challenged early by Josh Barnes. As Barnes pulled even with the leader following a lap two restart the right front tire came off the rim of Barnes' car ending his evening and from there Dunker went unchallenged for the win. Kimberly Abbott finished second for the second week in a row here, last Sunday's winner Craig Bangert ran third, Matt Moore made the long pull from Ottumwa, Iowa, to finish fourth and Bryce Baker was the last car running in fifth.
Michael Long and Steven DeLonjay had a good battle going in the 25-lap UMP Modified finale until the challenger, DeLonjay slowed and pulled to the infield on lap eight. Robbie Reed who had started sixth was now reeling in Long and was ready to challenge before the caution waved on lap sixteen for a Jake Griffin spin in turn four. On the restart David Wietholder pinched Reed down to the bottom in turn two to take over the second spot and then he went to work on Long over the final laps. Wietholder was able to pull even with Long exiting turn two twice in the final laps, but Long maintained his composure to fight him off in turn three in order to hold on for the victory. Wietholder was a solid second ahead of Reed who had another nice run tonight. Jimmy Cummins made the trip up from the St. Louis area to finish fourth while Shawn Deering completed the top five.
Ours thanks to the QR crew for their usual fine hospitality and for putting on an efficient show that saw the final checkers wave at 8:45 p.m. For as much work that the Quincy Raceways staff put in over the past three days just to have this show, they deserved a better crowd than what they had this evening. Hopefully they get a more normal week of weather requiring much less work and the stands will fill in nicely for weekly racing here next Sunday night.
Group qualifying, four heats and two B-Mains trimmed the thirty-three car field down to twenty-four for the forty-lap main event with Chad Simpson and Brandon Sheppard starting from the front row. Simpson grabbed the lead at the drop of the green with Sheppard and Shannon Babb keeping pace. The top three gradually separated themselves from the rest of the field and while Simpson maintained about a five car-length advantage, Babb was able to put a nose under Sheppard on a couple of occasions.
As the leaders worked traffic with ten laps remaining, Babb tried the topside around turns one and two going a bit too wide and dropping the right rear off the top of the racing surface. To make the save Babb turned completely sideways and somehow avoided contact with a lapped car as he drove down the track, but since the lead trio was now so far in front of the rest of the pack Babb's near spin did not even cost him a position.
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| Shannon Babb (18) made several attempts on Brandon Sheppard (B5) for second before nearly spinning out. Babb held on to finish in third - Barry Johnson photo |
With the laps winding down Sheppard's attempts to keep Simpson within striking distance were not successful as the leader worked traffic like a master going flag-to-flag for a dominating victory. The win backed up his victory the night before when Chad came from the twelfth starting spot at 34 Raceway in Burlington. Sheppard finished second, Babb took third, Brian Shirley moved from ninth to fourth while Jason Perry finished where he started in fifth. Tony Jackson Jr. was sixth for the second night in a row, Chris Simpson finished seventh, Tyler Reddick faded from fourth to eighth, Terry Phillips took ninth and Kevin Weaver rounded out the top ten.
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| Chad Simpson was on cruise control for the $3,000 victory - Barry Johnson photo |
Q Notes......Group qualifying meant that the fast cars started up front in the heats with three of the four (Chad Simpson, Sheppard and Babb) being won from the pole position. Tyler Reddick started third and passed Jake Meier to win the fourth heat....The third heat took a little extra time to complete when Justin Reed and Kevin Weaver made contact on the back stretch during the opening lap sending Weaver for a spin. Dustin Walker spun his car to avoid Weaver and slid right through the only standing water that I saw on the grounds in the infield in turn three sending a big splash of moisture out onto the race track. It took several laps of wheel packing before the race could be restarted. Then, once it did, the cars of Reed and Dave Eckrich got hooked together on the front stretch creating another long delay while they were carefully pulled apart.....The two B-Mains saw good battles for the third and final transfer spot with Ryan Unzicker edging out Brandon Thirlby in the first one and Justin Reed coming from mid-pack to take third in the second one.....Six provisionals, two each from the three tours were added to the field: Thirlby, Doug Herrick, Dustin Walker, Dave Eckrich, Justin Asplin and Brunson Behning......Veteran St. Louis area drivers Ed Dixon and Mike Hammerle were among the nine drivers who did not make the A-main.
Skipp Dunker started the Sport Compact main event from the pole position and was challenged early by Josh Barnes. As Barnes pulled even with the leader following a lap two restart the right front tire came off the rim of Barnes' car ending his evening and from there Dunker went unchallenged for the win. Kimberly Abbott finished second for the second week in a row here, last Sunday's winner Craig Bangert ran third, Matt Moore made the long pull from Ottumwa, Iowa, to finish fourth and Bryce Baker was the last car running in fifth.
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| Skipp Dunker (3) started from the pole and went flag-to-flag for the Sport Compact win - Barry Johnson photo |
Michael Long and Steven DeLonjay had a good battle going in the 25-lap UMP Modified finale until the challenger, DeLonjay slowed and pulled to the infield on lap eight. Robbie Reed who had started sixth was now reeling in Long and was ready to challenge before the caution waved on lap sixteen for a Jake Griffin spin in turn four. On the restart David Wietholder pinched Reed down to the bottom in turn two to take over the second spot and then he went to work on Long over the final laps. Wietholder was able to pull even with Long exiting turn two twice in the final laps, but Long maintained his composure to fight him off in turn three in order to hold on for the victory. Wietholder was a solid second ahead of Reed who had another nice run tonight. Jimmy Cummins made the trip up from the St. Louis area to finish fourth while Shawn Deering completed the top five.
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| Michael Long was all alone mid-race, but he had to hold off a late challenge from David Wietholder to win the UMP Modified main event - Barry Johnson photo |
Ours thanks to the QR crew for their usual fine hospitality and for putting on an efficient show that saw the final checkers wave at 8:45 p.m. For as much work that the Quincy Raceways staff put in over the past three days just to have this show, they deserved a better crowd than what they had this evening. Hopefully they get a more normal week of weather requiring much less work and the stands will fill in nicely for weekly racing here next Sunday night.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Chris Simpson Drops Out Late, Chad Simpson Takes It From There at 34
Late Model fans had it good at 34 Raceway near Burlington Saturday night as three regional touring series (MARS, ALMS and the CBC) came together to produce a solid field of forty-four cars and in the end it was the defending Corn Belt Clash champion Chad Simpson standing in victory lane.
Terry Phillips and Kevin Weaver would bring the field of twenty-seven to the green for the 40-lap main event with Weaver rocking the cushion to take the early lead. A caution on lap two for Jake Meier slowed the pace and on the restart Weaver again raced out to a comfortable lead. Third-starting Chris Simpson was battling Phillips for second and when Weaver bobbled in lapped traffic on lap eleven, both Phillips and Simpson drove by. Simpson would work his way past Phillips two laps later to take the lead while his brother Chad was methodically working his way through the field after starting twelfth.
A caution for Mark Burgtorf on lap fourteen and another for Scott Schmitt on lap seventeen kept the field tight and on lap nineteen Chad made his move to put the Simpson brothers one-two with Chris out front. Despite the hard charge through the pack Chad was not gaining any ground on Chris for the lead and in fact the gap between the two began to grow as the laps clicked away. The race to watch was the battle for third where Jesse Stovall and Brian Shirley were swapping the position back and forth several times while Tyler Reddick closed in on the two of them looking for some racing room of his own.
Chris Simpson looked like he had this one well in hand until with just two and a half laps remaining he suddenly slowed down the back stretch and pulled to the infield. Brother Chad was happy to take it from there as he would lead the final two circuits to pick up the $4,000 top prize. Stovall prevailed in what now had become the race for second while Shirley finished third. Reddick, the young native Californian, had to use a provisional to start twenty-sixth and put on quite a show to finish fourth while Terry Phillips completed the top. Tony Jackson Jr. crossed the stripe in sixth, Weaver faded to seventh, Billy Drake used an ALMS series provisional to start 22nd and finished eighth while Justin Kay came from the tenth row for ninth.
CBC/MARS/ALMS/34 Notes......As expected the field was diverse and was chock full of drivers that you knew had an opportunity to win. Tonight's format saw drivers draw for their starting spots in the five heat races with passing points determining the feature qualifiers......2012 Quincy Raceways track champion Jason Perry showed his strength edging out former UMP National Champion Ryan Unzicker for the win in heat one as Jesse Stovall started eighth and finished third.....Chris Simpson walked away with the second heat taking the checkers well ahead of Scott Schmitt while Ray Guss Jr. took third......Brandon Sheppard started on the pole of the third heat, faded to third early, but then came back to take the win. Kevin Weaver who flew to the early lead after starting sixth wound up in second while local driver Jay Johnson was third......Terry Phillips and Steve Lance Jr. were one-two in the fourth heat that was highlighted by a three-wide battle for third between Mark Burgtorf, Michigan's Brandon Thirlby and Minnesota's Nick Herrick......The fifth heat closed out in thrilling fashion as on the final lap a pair of sliders were thrown in turns three and four. Brian Shirley tried to put one on Tony Jackson Jr. only to see the southwest Missouri shoe Jackson come back under Shirley off of four to take the win. And right behind them it was Chad Simpson trying to make the same move on Denny Eckrich with Eckrich also coming back to take the third position......Two cars out of each of the two B-Mains would advance with Brian Harris winning the first one. Ray Guss Jr. tried to hold on for that final transfer only to see both Justin Kay and Tyler Reddick drive by him before he slowed on the final lap......In the second B Mark "Fluffy" Dotson would take a convincing win with Rich Bell snagging the final transfer......Provisional starters were Dustin Walker, Billy Drake, Jake Meier, Dave Eckrich, Justin Asplin and Tyler Reddick while event sponsor Denny Woodworth, Attorney at Law, was also added to the field.......Brandon Sheppard started eighth in the A-Main and was quickly into the top five before pulling to the infield just after the second lap restart......Dotson had charged from the ninth row into the top ten before his left rear tire went flat on lap 22.....The Clash for Cash combo moves south to the quarter-mile bullring in Quincy Sunday evening.
Sixteen 305 c.i. Sprint Cars were on hand for their opening points race of the season with Andy Huston starting from the pole for the 20-lap main event. On his outside was Damian Getchell, who I believe was competing in his first night ever in a winged sprint car and he looked pretty good before hooking a hole and going for a spin on lap three. Huston had lost his right side headers early in the race and sounded like a high-speed popcorn machine as he raced by the stands in the lead lap after lap. But with just two laps remaining Donnie Steward used the high line in turn two to fly by Huston for the lead, and soon the win. Huston would settle for runner-up money, Jayson Dittsworth was up to third early before spinning on the front stretch and restarting tenth, but he came right back to take the third position at the checkers. John Schulz would finish in the fourth spot followed by Ryan Jamison and central Illinois driver Andy Baugh.
The Sport Compact division was thirty cars strong with twenty-nine of them taking the green for the 12-lap main event. Michael Grossman out dragged fellow front row mate Brent Hartley to take the early lead with the race coming to an abrupt stop two laps later when Corey Sheetz rolled his car off the top of turn two. Hartley blew a tire just as the red flag came out with Dustin Ravelin now picking up the chase of Grossman in second. Eric Hood came from deep in the pack, row nine, to challenge Ravelin for second and with just two laps to go those two drivers came together as the caution waved for another skirmish just ahead of them on the front stretch. There was no stopping Grossman on this night though as he pulled away on the final restart to take the win. Steve Miedke came from row six to claim the second spot while John Whalen and the ageless veteran Wayne Noble were scored third and fourth at the finish. The driver in fifth, Dayton Racer, made the long pull down from Apple Valley, Minnesota, obviously wanting to get out of the snow so that he could racing. Just a sophomore in high school Racer recently won the Class AAA Minnesota state wrestling meet at 145 pounds and helped his team to their eighth straight state title. The youngster got a little jumpy though on that final restart as he actually crossed the finish line in third, but was docked two spots to fifth at the pay window.
Congratulations and a big note of appreciation to Jeff & Amy Laue and the entire 34 Raceway staff for somehow drying this place out enough to race tonight after getting over three inches of rain here on Wednesday and Thursday. The cold temperatures likely kept the crowd down a bit, but those who were here tonight surely enjoyed what they saw and are hopefully excited about doing it all again tomorrow night (Sunday) at the Quincy Raceways.
Terry Phillips and Kevin Weaver would bring the field of twenty-seven to the green for the 40-lap main event with Weaver rocking the cushion to take the early lead. A caution on lap two for Jake Meier slowed the pace and on the restart Weaver again raced out to a comfortable lead. Third-starting Chris Simpson was battling Phillips for second and when Weaver bobbled in lapped traffic on lap eleven, both Phillips and Simpson drove by. Simpson would work his way past Phillips two laps later to take the lead while his brother Chad was methodically working his way through the field after starting twelfth.
A caution for Mark Burgtorf on lap fourteen and another for Scott Schmitt on lap seventeen kept the field tight and on lap nineteen Chad made his move to put the Simpson brothers one-two with Chris out front. Despite the hard charge through the pack Chad was not gaining any ground on Chris for the lead and in fact the gap between the two began to grow as the laps clicked away. The race to watch was the battle for third where Jesse Stovall and Brian Shirley were swapping the position back and forth several times while Tyler Reddick closed in on the two of them looking for some racing room of his own.
Chris Simpson looked like he had this one well in hand until with just two and a half laps remaining he suddenly slowed down the back stretch and pulled to the infield. Brother Chad was happy to take it from there as he would lead the final two circuits to pick up the $4,000 top prize. Stovall prevailed in what now had become the race for second while Shirley finished third. Reddick, the young native Californian, had to use a provisional to start twenty-sixth and put on quite a show to finish fourth while Terry Phillips completed the top. Tony Jackson Jr. crossed the stripe in sixth, Weaver faded to seventh, Billy Drake used an ALMS series provisional to start 22nd and finished eighth while Justin Kay came from the tenth row for ninth.
CBC/MARS/ALMS/34 Notes......As expected the field was diverse and was chock full of drivers that you knew had an opportunity to win. Tonight's format saw drivers draw for their starting spots in the five heat races with passing points determining the feature qualifiers......2012 Quincy Raceways track champion Jason Perry showed his strength edging out former UMP National Champion Ryan Unzicker for the win in heat one as Jesse Stovall started eighth and finished third.....Chris Simpson walked away with the second heat taking the checkers well ahead of Scott Schmitt while Ray Guss Jr. took third......Brandon Sheppard started on the pole of the third heat, faded to third early, but then came back to take the win. Kevin Weaver who flew to the early lead after starting sixth wound up in second while local driver Jay Johnson was third......Terry Phillips and Steve Lance Jr. were one-two in the fourth heat that was highlighted by a three-wide battle for third between Mark Burgtorf, Michigan's Brandon Thirlby and Minnesota's Nick Herrick......The fifth heat closed out in thrilling fashion as on the final lap a pair of sliders were thrown in turns three and four. Brian Shirley tried to put one on Tony Jackson Jr. only to see the southwest Missouri shoe Jackson come back under Shirley off of four to take the win. And right behind them it was Chad Simpson trying to make the same move on Denny Eckrich with Eckrich also coming back to take the third position......Two cars out of each of the two B-Mains would advance with Brian Harris winning the first one. Ray Guss Jr. tried to hold on for that final transfer only to see both Justin Kay and Tyler Reddick drive by him before he slowed on the final lap......In the second B Mark "Fluffy" Dotson would take a convincing win with Rich Bell snagging the final transfer......Provisional starters were Dustin Walker, Billy Drake, Jake Meier, Dave Eckrich, Justin Asplin and Tyler Reddick while event sponsor Denny Woodworth, Attorney at Law, was also added to the field.......Brandon Sheppard started eighth in the A-Main and was quickly into the top five before pulling to the infield just after the second lap restart......Dotson had charged from the ninth row into the top ten before his left rear tire went flat on lap 22.....The Clash for Cash combo moves south to the quarter-mile bullring in Quincy Sunday evening.
Sixteen 305 c.i. Sprint Cars were on hand for their opening points race of the season with Andy Huston starting from the pole for the 20-lap main event. On his outside was Damian Getchell, who I believe was competing in his first night ever in a winged sprint car and he looked pretty good before hooking a hole and going for a spin on lap three. Huston had lost his right side headers early in the race and sounded like a high-speed popcorn machine as he raced by the stands in the lead lap after lap. But with just two laps remaining Donnie Steward used the high line in turn two to fly by Huston for the lead, and soon the win. Huston would settle for runner-up money, Jayson Dittsworth was up to third early before spinning on the front stretch and restarting tenth, but he came right back to take the third position at the checkers. John Schulz would finish in the fourth spot followed by Ryan Jamison and central Illinois driver Andy Baugh.
The Sport Compact division was thirty cars strong with twenty-nine of them taking the green for the 12-lap main event. Michael Grossman out dragged fellow front row mate Brent Hartley to take the early lead with the race coming to an abrupt stop two laps later when Corey Sheetz rolled his car off the top of turn two. Hartley blew a tire just as the red flag came out with Dustin Ravelin now picking up the chase of Grossman in second. Eric Hood came from deep in the pack, row nine, to challenge Ravelin for second and with just two laps to go those two drivers came together as the caution waved for another skirmish just ahead of them on the front stretch. There was no stopping Grossman on this night though as he pulled away on the final restart to take the win. Steve Miedke came from row six to claim the second spot while John Whalen and the ageless veteran Wayne Noble were scored third and fourth at the finish. The driver in fifth, Dayton Racer, made the long pull down from Apple Valley, Minnesota, obviously wanting to get out of the snow so that he could racing. Just a sophomore in high school Racer recently won the Class AAA Minnesota state wrestling meet at 145 pounds and helped his team to their eighth straight state title. The youngster got a little jumpy though on that final restart as he actually crossed the finish line in third, but was docked two spots to fifth at the pay window.
Congratulations and a big note of appreciation to Jeff & Amy Laue and the entire 34 Raceway staff for somehow drying this place out enough to race tonight after getting over three inches of rain here on Wednesday and Thursday. The cold temperatures likely kept the crowd down a bit, but those who were here tonight surely enjoyed what they saw and are hopefully excited about doing it all again tomorrow night (Sunday) at the Quincy Raceways.
Saturday Morning Notebook: Big Shows This Weekend, More Vintage Pics
There is a herculean effort going on right now at both 34 Raceway near Burlington and at the Quincy Raceways. Both tracks were inundated with heavy rains this week and it would have been real easy for each to pull the plug, wait for all the water drain and just go racing again next weekend. But this weekend is special as both have scheduled a unique event featuring the Super Late Models from three different sanctioning groups, the Mid-American Racing Series (MARS), the Sunoco American Late Model Series (ALMS) and the Corn Belt Clash Series (CBC), a combination that will bring an extremely interesting mix of drivers to each track.
From the MARS roster I would look for Brian Shirley, Justin Wells, David Turner, Jesse Stovall, Tony Jackson Jr., Dustin Walker and Brandon Morton. The ALMS drivers I would expect would be Jason Jaggers, Billy Drake, Kevin Weaver, Rich Bell, Ryan Unzicker and depending upon the status of races originally scheduled east of here perhaps even some of the East Region ALMS competitors like Brian Ruhlman and Jon Henry may make the trip over if they have no place to run. The Corn Belt Clash will be well represented by current point leader Terry Phillips (although he might be considered more of a MARS point chaser), Chris and Chad Simpson, Dave Eckrich, Justin Mitchell, Jake Meier and Tim Isenberg. The Burlington Hawk Eye has reported that Tyler Reddick and Ray Guss Jr. will also be in action, plus add in Late Model drivers who are just looking for a place to race this weekend and the pit area should be full.
Both tracks are going the extra mile to put on a show this weekend and I hope that you, the race fans will get out and support them!
While making my regular stop at Ron Meyer's The Rest of the Dirt blog this week I noticed that he had a link to a story by Charlotte based motorsports writer John Close titled NDRL A Reminder That There Is More To Racing Than NASCAR. At first glance I was thrilled that dirt track racing was getting some pub from someone who primarily only writes about the "big leagues", but as I read further it became obvious that it was written by someone who did not actually attend either NDRL show and who was perhaps using this to just bag on NASCAR. He makes a comparison to "start and parkers" yet at Paducah it was reported elsewhere that only 10 of the 24 starters finished the race due to rough track conditions caused by the miserable spring weather. So that point kind of misses home. Then he writes "another full house at Federated Speedway" watched the Saturday night show while the guys from Dirt on Dirt had a discussion this week as to why the crowd count was so low in Pevely.
Close writes "These comparisons are made not to discredit NASCAR, but rather to remind race fans that there’s a lot more to America’s auto racing landscape than what they see on television each weekend." Well I'm not so sure about the first part of that statement, but amen to rest of it!
There is another interesting scenario playing out here in Iowa right now and that is the effect of the demise of the Who?Who Forum boards. I have had several conversations with racing friends and we all felt the same that without this board a lot of race tracks may suffer for awhile until they figure out a new way to get the information out to the race fans. A perfect example of this right now is the scheduled April 28th Shootout at Knoxville featuring the Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Last year this event gained a ton of momentum from discussions and debates on the Who?Won forums and most race fans knew what was going on. Unfortunately Mother Nature forced multiple postponements until the event was finally run in June. This year the event was put on the Knoxville Raceway schedule once again and as we are just eight days away from this show the number of pre-entries is surprisingly low. One of the reasons? Nobody was talking about it on a forum until it was brought up this week on Iowa Stock Cars and fans who do not actually go to the track's website would not have even known about it otherwise. ISC has prided itself on being the information place for eastern Iowa racing, but here's hoping that their reach gradually grows to the west to take care of the whole state.
I still have some people who believe that I am "anti-forum" and that is absolutely not true. I am totally against AWP's (anonymous weasel posters, Craig Kelley's term, not mine) and if a forum is properly moderated, as is Iowa Stock Cars, then it can be a great source of information and entertainment as well. For instance I had to chuckle when one of the biggest cheerleaders of the Shoot Out at Knoxville last year on the Who?Won forum made his first comment on this year's race stating "Knoxville only cares about Sprint Cars." But yet this event was still included on this year's schedule.
My friend Randy Foor stopped by the office this week and dropped off another disc with several old racing photos from West Liberty and Columbus Junction. A couple of them are below and if you want to see more visit the PositivelyRacing.com page on Facebook. Hope to see you at either Burlington, Quincy or both!
From the MARS roster I would look for Brian Shirley, Justin Wells, David Turner, Jesse Stovall, Tony Jackson Jr., Dustin Walker and Brandon Morton. The ALMS drivers I would expect would be Jason Jaggers, Billy Drake, Kevin Weaver, Rich Bell, Ryan Unzicker and depending upon the status of races originally scheduled east of here perhaps even some of the East Region ALMS competitors like Brian Ruhlman and Jon Henry may make the trip over if they have no place to run. The Corn Belt Clash will be well represented by current point leader Terry Phillips (although he might be considered more of a MARS point chaser), Chris and Chad Simpson, Dave Eckrich, Justin Mitchell, Jake Meier and Tim Isenberg. The Burlington Hawk Eye has reported that Tyler Reddick and Ray Guss Jr. will also be in action, plus add in Late Model drivers who are just looking for a place to race this weekend and the pit area should be full.
Both tracks are going the extra mile to put on a show this weekend and I hope that you, the race fans will get out and support them!
While making my regular stop at Ron Meyer's The Rest of the Dirt blog this week I noticed that he had a link to a story by Charlotte based motorsports writer John Close titled NDRL A Reminder That There Is More To Racing Than NASCAR. At first glance I was thrilled that dirt track racing was getting some pub from someone who primarily only writes about the "big leagues", but as I read further it became obvious that it was written by someone who did not actually attend either NDRL show and who was perhaps using this to just bag on NASCAR. He makes a comparison to "start and parkers" yet at Paducah it was reported elsewhere that only 10 of the 24 starters finished the race due to rough track conditions caused by the miserable spring weather. So that point kind of misses home. Then he writes "another full house at Federated Speedway" watched the Saturday night show while the guys from Dirt on Dirt had a discussion this week as to why the crowd count was so low in Pevely.
Close writes "These comparisons are made not to discredit NASCAR, but rather to remind race fans that there’s a lot more to America’s auto racing landscape than what they see on television each weekend." Well I'm not so sure about the first part of that statement, but amen to rest of it!
There is another interesting scenario playing out here in Iowa right now and that is the effect of the demise of the Who?Who Forum boards. I have had several conversations with racing friends and we all felt the same that without this board a lot of race tracks may suffer for awhile until they figure out a new way to get the information out to the race fans. A perfect example of this right now is the scheduled April 28th Shootout at Knoxville featuring the Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Last year this event gained a ton of momentum from discussions and debates on the Who?Won forums and most race fans knew what was going on. Unfortunately Mother Nature forced multiple postponements until the event was finally run in June. This year the event was put on the Knoxville Raceway schedule once again and as we are just eight days away from this show the number of pre-entries is surprisingly low. One of the reasons? Nobody was talking about it on a forum until it was brought up this week on Iowa Stock Cars and fans who do not actually go to the track's website would not have even known about it otherwise. ISC has prided itself on being the information place for eastern Iowa racing, but here's hoping that their reach gradually grows to the west to take care of the whole state.
I still have some people who believe that I am "anti-forum" and that is absolutely not true. I am totally against AWP's (anonymous weasel posters, Craig Kelley's term, not mine) and if a forum is properly moderated, as is Iowa Stock Cars, then it can be a great source of information and entertainment as well. For instance I had to chuckle when one of the biggest cheerleaders of the Shoot Out at Knoxville last year on the Who?Won forum made his first comment on this year's race stating "Knoxville only cares about Sprint Cars." But yet this event was still included on this year's schedule.
My friend Randy Foor stopped by the office this week and dropped off another disc with several old racing photos from West Liberty and Columbus Junction. A couple of them are below and if you want to see more visit the PositivelyRacing.com page on Facebook. Hope to see you at either Burlington, Quincy or both!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Lierly Edges Harris at Quincy For His First Super Late Model Win
Jerry Lierly has spent most of the past year and a half on the road. The UMP Late Model driver from Camp Point, Illinois, has been traveling keeping a similar schedule to Dennis Erb Jr., the nationally known driver out of suburban Chicago who has helped Lierly with setups both in the pits and by driving the car #7L from time to time. That experience on the road definitely showed Sunday night during the season opener at the Quincy Raceway as Lierly patiently pressured leader Brian Harris until the final two laps before making his move to capture his first career win in the UMP Super Late Model division.
Lierly and Harris earned the front row starting spots for the 30-lap main event on the quarter-mile bullring with Harris getting the jump from the outside to take the lead. Most of the sixteen car field then settled into the bottom groove despite the fact that the support division events just prior had shown that multiple grooves still existed. Perennial Quincy Raceway favorite Mark Burgtorf started seventh and he went up to the topside to try to work to the front, but instead he gradually faded toward the back before making an early exit making it look that indeed the low groove was the place to be.
Harris stayed glued to the bottom and Lierly applied the pressure putting the left side tires into the infield on a couple of occasions to get his nose under Harris. In the past, this might have resulted in contact with the leader or a spin by Lierly, but lessons learned had him backing off and waiting for another opportunity. After a couple of aborted starts this event went green all the way and as the laps clicked off Harris found himself closing in on a pack of five cars racing for position at the back of the field with all but one of them planted in the preferred lower groove. Harris nosed up to the rear bumper of Billy Genebacher's #72 and waited for an opening on the inside while Lierly was right on the rear bumper of the leader waiting for him to step out of line to attempt to pass the soon-to-be-lapped car. After two laps of running like this and with the white flag about to wave, Lierly confidently moved to the high line and drove past both Harris and Genebacher, and he remained up top for the final circuit to pull away for the win. Harris was in "no man's land" as he knew that his challenger was ready to pounce if he would have left the low groove so he instead stayed there and settled for second. Defending track champion Jason Perry finished where he started in third, Denny Woodworth started fifth and finished fourth while quick qualifier Clint Kirkham took fifth.
Five caution flags kept the 25-lap UMP Modified main event from being considered a classic, but it was still a pretty good one with four lead changes across four drivers. SPEED Channel celebrity Kenny Wallace was on hand to mix it up with the locals and he would have been starting from the pole position had he not spun out while leading the Dash earlier in the evening. Instead it was Michael Long who shot from the pole position and he would lead the first four laps before making a quick exit off of turn two and to the pit area. David Wietholder would inherit the lead at that point with Robbie Reed working his way up from the fourth row to challenge. Reed would inch ahead for the advantage on lap eleven only to see Wietholder fight back to regain the top spot a lap later.
Following a restart defending track champion Steven DeLonjay would go to work on the leader and when Wietholder left an opening in turn two DeLonjay drove past him on the bottom. From there the race for the lead was over as the second generation speedster opened up a straightaway advantage before taking the checkered flag on opening night. Wietholder would take second, Reed held off a late challenge from Wallace to take third and Shawn Deering completed the top five.
The IMCA Stock Cars were the first of the five features to be run with the 2012 Hobby Stock track champion Jake Powers leading early. The Hobby Stock division is no longer in competition here so while the move to a Stock Car may have been forced, Powers looks like he will be a driver to contend with this year leading until lap five when two of the best here in this class, Abe Huls and Terry Houston slipped by. Houston stalked Huls for several laps and with just two to go he was able to get under Huls for the lead and the eventual win as another defending track champion found opening night success. Second and third went to Huls and Powers respectively, Jerry Jansen was fourth while Darren Lambert filled out the top five.
The ten car Sport Mod feature was littered with six caution flags that kept interrupting a pretty good race up front. Tony Dunker got by Joe Bliven on lap five and then kept Bobby Anders a car-length or two behind him over the final green flag laps to take the win. You guessed it, Dunker is the defending track champion in this division. Bliven finished third with Nathan Anders and Charles VanZandt filling out the top five.
The Sport Compact feature closed out the evening with some drama as a thrilling three-car battle for the lead turn into a three-car accident while racing for the white flag exiting turn four. Robert Thompson Jr., Austen Becerra and Craig Bangert were all looking for the win before contact sent all three of them off the topside of turn four. Bangert was able to keep his car in motion so he restarted in the lead, Thompson sped off to the pits and Becerra restarted at the rear for the final two laps with Bangert holding on to take the win. Kimberly Abbott then held off a hard charging Becerra to finish second.
Temperatures in the 70's supported by a strong southerly wind greeted the opening night crowd and while the skies did not look overly threatening there were a few raindrops felt during the Stock Car main event. The show was run off in a fine fashion and despite the abundance of cautions in the two Modified features the final checkered flag flew right at 9 p.m. I am hoping that the weather during the week ahead still allows for a trip back down to Quincy next Sunday night as the ALMS/MARS/Corn Belt Clash Late Model tripleheader weekend wraps up here on April 21st following a scheduled Friday night stop at Tri-City Speedway and a Saturday night show at 34 Raceway.
Lierly and Harris earned the front row starting spots for the 30-lap main event on the quarter-mile bullring with Harris getting the jump from the outside to take the lead. Most of the sixteen car field then settled into the bottom groove despite the fact that the support division events just prior had shown that multiple grooves still existed. Perennial Quincy Raceway favorite Mark Burgtorf started seventh and he went up to the topside to try to work to the front, but instead he gradually faded toward the back before making an early exit making it look that indeed the low groove was the place to be.
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| Jerry Lierly is all smiles in victory lane - Barry Johnson photo |
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| After trying to slip by on the low side, Jerry Lierly (7) used the high line to pass Brian Harris (15) in the final two laps for the UMP Late Model win at Quincy - Barry Johnson photo |
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| Steven DeLonjay (35) makes the winning pass - Barry Johnson photo |
The IMCA Stock Cars were the first of the five features to be run with the 2012 Hobby Stock track champion Jake Powers leading early. The Hobby Stock division is no longer in competition here so while the move to a Stock Car may have been forced, Powers looks like he will be a driver to contend with this year leading until lap five when two of the best here in this class, Abe Huls and Terry Houston slipped by. Houston stalked Huls for several laps and with just two to go he was able to get under Huls for the lead and the eventual win as another defending track champion found opening night success. Second and third went to Huls and Powers respectively, Jerry Jansen was fourth while Darren Lambert filled out the top five.
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| Terry Houston (97) passed Abe Huls with two laps to go to win the Stock Car main event - Barry Johnson photo |
The ten car Sport Mod feature was littered with six caution flags that kept interrupting a pretty good race up front. Tony Dunker got by Joe Bliven on lap five and then kept Bobby Anders a car-length or two behind him over the final green flag laps to take the win. You guessed it, Dunker is the defending track champion in this division. Bliven finished third with Nathan Anders and Charles VanZandt filling out the top five.
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| Tony Dunker (3) and Bobby Anders (20) race for position early in the Sport Mod finale - Barry Johnson photo |
The Sport Compact feature closed out the evening with some drama as a thrilling three-car battle for the lead turn into a three-car accident while racing for the white flag exiting turn four. Robert Thompson Jr., Austen Becerra and Craig Bangert were all looking for the win before contact sent all three of them off the topside of turn four. Bangert was able to keep his car in motion so he restarted in the lead, Thompson sped off to the pits and Becerra restarted at the rear for the final two laps with Bangert holding on to take the win. Kimberly Abbott then held off a hard charging Becerra to finish second.
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| Robert Thompson Jr. (9), Austen Becerra (22) and Craig Bangert (99B) make contact while racing for the lead in turn four with just over one lap remaining - Barry Johnson photo |
Temperatures in the 70's supported by a strong southerly wind greeted the opening night crowd and while the skies did not look overly threatening there were a few raindrops felt during the Stock Car main event. The show was run off in a fine fashion and despite the abundance of cautions in the two Modified features the final checkered flag flew right at 9 p.m. I am hoping that the weather during the week ahead still allows for a trip back down to Quincy next Sunday night as the ALMS/MARS/Corn Belt Clash Late Model tripleheader weekend wraps up here on April 21st following a scheduled Friday night stop at Tri-City Speedway and a Saturday night show at 34 Raceway.
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