Sheppard Grabs the Big Iron at Quincy

Sunday night it was back to Quincy Raceways for weekly racing. For a while, it looked like Mother Nature might win the night, and with the pit area especially still wet from heavy mid week rains, it would not have taken much to end the nights activities. But the clouds moved on, and we were left with a super fast, smooth racing surface. A total of 59 cars in five classes checked in for the night of racing. Qualifying for UMP late models and UMP modifieds got the show going. Michael Long paced the mods, while Bobby Pierce turned a lap at 13.388 seconds to top the 12 late models. Following his heat race win, Pierce pulled a "5" to set the feature invert for the late models, and first heat winner Keith Pratt drew a "4" to set the mod invert.
 With a lengthy intermission out of the way, the IMCA stock cars came to the track for an 18 lap feature. Only seven stock cars signed in, and Jerry Jansen was a no show, having retired on the first lap of the heat race. Jerry suffered heavy damage last Sunday, and thought he had the # 06 race ready, but it was not to be. But with only six cars, the race was as good as I have seen all season. Nathan Hays led lap one, with Terry Houston taking over on the next circuit. Lap three saw those two, plus Brandon Savage run three wide, and on lap four, Abe Huls powered into second. With those four tightly bunched, Beau Taylor was right there searching for an opening. Savage eased past Huls on lap nine, and on the next trip around, slight contact between Brandon and Houston enabled Savage to take over the lead. Huls eventually move around Houston, and the two leaders ran side by side, Savage on the high side, Huls on the bottom. At the checkers, it was Savage, Huls, Houston, and Taylor, and even I was out of breath just watching!
 With several travelers on hand, the late model 30 lapper ran next. The five car invert had Denny Woodworth and Justin Reed, back after engine woes, up front, with Brandon Sheppard and Jason Perry in row two. Woodworth shot to the early lead ahead of Reed, with Perry moving to second on lap two. Running third, Reed brought out the caution on lap six, as he powered through turn four in a duel with Sheppard. On the restart, Denny stayed on the low side, and B Shepp pounded the cushion to take over the lead. On lap eight Pierce went to the top side, moving to third, then to second on lap 11. By then Sheppard held a straightaway lead. He looked to be on his way to an easy win when Perry contacted the front stretch wall with five laps to go while running fourth. As racing resumed, Sheppard and Pierce both went to the cushion, and Mark Burgtorf, who is suddenly becoming a hard luck driver, exited the track with a puff of smoke. Try as he might, Pierce could not reign in Sheppard, as Brandon picked up his first QR feature win of the season. Pierce, currently leading UMP national points, posted a second to go with his two QR wins of 2014. Woodworth increased his track point lead with a podium finish, followed by Clint Kirkham, Reed, and Evan Fink, as only six cars took the checkers.
 All but one of the 13 IMCA sport compacts took the green, with Bryce Bakers # 27 on the trailer as he sat behind me in the grandstands. Kimberly Abbott suffered heavy damage in her heat race, loaded up, hustled home to get her " back up " car, making it back as the late model feature was rolling out. Austin McClean took the lead at the green, with Brandon Lambert leading lap two. Point leader Austen Becerra soon moved to second, setting up a two car battle for much of the 15 laps. On lap 11, Becerra finally gained the advantage, taking his 32nd win of 2014 ahead of Lambert, Seith Woodruff, and Abbott.
  Only 11 UMP mods were on hand, and even Dave Weitholder, who has not missed a night at QR in several seasons was on the sidelines. Dave reportedly has a hip injury, and the doctors advised him to stay off the track for the night, although he was patrolling the pit area! Craig Spegal and and Michael Long sat on the front row, and they both rocketed to the front on the start, with Michael out front in his
" backup " car. The first yellow waved on lap nine, and on the restart, third starting point leader Steven Delonjay began to apply pressure to Spegal. As Steven took over second, the caution waved again, with Delonjay and Spegal set up behind Long on the Delaware restart. Again Michael jumped out front as Spegal, running his best ever race at QR, continued to hound Delonjay. Spegal rettok the runner up spot briefly, but Delonjay prevailed, crossing the line well  behind Long. Jared Schlipman made his return from engine issues and ran fourth after a good battle with fifth finishing Pratt.
  The last race on the card was the 18 lap IMCA sport mod battle. All 16 competitors came to the grid. Adam Birck paced the opening circuit, with Brandon Lennox taking over to lead the next several trips around. Jim Gillenwater quickly moved to second and on lap four, Tanner Klingele joined the top three. Three caution periods in the next half dozen laps kept things close, and Lennox and Gillenwater completed lap 14 side by side. Gillenwater led lap 15 before the final caution flag flew. On this final restart, Tony Dunker, who had been lurking in fifth, charged to second.  Dunker then out ran Gillenwater on the final lap to pick up the win. Lennox crossed the line in third, but was scored last in the official rundown. I was not around for post race tech, so I am not certain what the issue may have been. Klingele, Brad Holtmeyer, and Bobby Anders rounded out the top five.
  The final checkers waved before 9:00 on what turned out to be a very pleasant night with great racing in all classes. The late models and modifieds are off next week at QR, as the ASCS sprints and Sprint Invaders headline the card along with stock cars, sport mods and sport compacts. The late models and mods return the following Sunday, August 24. The early forecast for this coming weekend is looking a bit dicey, but hopefully we will see you somewhere Racin' Down the Road.