Gundaker Takes the Cash at Quincy

Quincy Raceways put extra cash on the line Sunday night for the UMP late models, paying $2,000 to win the 30 lap main event. And while the car count was disappointing, the on track action was not! Jason Perry started the night off with a fast qualifying lap of 13.946 seconds. This put the # 27 on the pole for heat one, but it was outside pole sitter Gordy Gundaker who jumped to the lead, taking the win. Mark Burgtorf, in his third week in the Rick Frankel machine led the distance to capture heat two. Gundaker a catcher on the Quincy University baseball team then rolled a " two " for the feature invert, setting himself up on the outside of Burgtorf. A two inch Friday downpour had left the track and pit area a mess, and it took considerable work to even get the .29 mile banked oval in racing shape. Early on, there were a couple of dips in turns two and three, and it was a real crap shoot for the drivers to figure out what lines would be the fastest. And with the sun bringing up some dust, track crews did some watering after the late model heats, so no doubt the surface would change. Then there was more track work at intermission, and the extra work helped, as the dust went away and the holes smoothed out. Burgtorf had bested Gundaker each of the past two weeks, running the high side one night and the low groove the next. So the youngster, just turned 22, shot out to the lead and took off in the high groove, with Mark and Denny Woodworth in pursuit. The caution flew on lap six as Justin Reed s # 1st made an ugly sound and rolled to a stop in turn two. On the restart, Burgtorf fell to fifth, with Woodworth jumping to second. Two laps later, Jamie Wilson powered to third around Jason Perry, but on lap 11 Perry took the spot back. On lap 14 the struggling Burgtorf stopped to bring out the caution and then headed to the hot pit area, restarting in tenth. On the restart Perry moved quickly to the runner up spot, the charged past Gundaker for the lead. He began to open a lead before a debris caution on lap 20, with Burgtorf again going to the work area. On the restart, Gundaker pulled a successful slide job in turn four, but a pile up behind the leaders negated the move, with Wilson going to the hot pit. as the field realigned, Perry was observed with a flat right rear tire. He finally went to the work area, but could not make repairs in his alloted two laps. Racing resumed, and Perry edged up the apron of the track, bringing out the caution and drawing a black flag to end his night. Back to action, Gundaker was in control, with Burgtorf on the move. He quickly advanced to third, but could not get around Woodworth. Gundaker picked up win number two at QR, with Woodworth second and Burgtorf third. Denny closed thr point gap to one behind Mark with one night of late model racing to go. Wilson recovered to finish fourth, and Trace Westling used the bottom groove to turn in his first top five of 2014. Jim Moon was a late arrival, coming thru the pit gate at intermission, and he raced a high as third before crossing the line in sixth. After the race, Burgtorf indicated he had a shock freeze up, necessitating the two trips to the work area. While the UMP late models and modifieds raced for points, the IMCA classes used a non points draw, redraw format for the night. This put Abe Huls up front for the 18 lap feature, and the point leader led from start to finish to pick up the win. The rtacing was tight behind him, wqith the usual slicing, dicing, and position swapping. Terry houston worked hard to try and close the gap, but as he did, Beau Taylor picked his way forward. when the checkers waved, three cars crossed the line side by side, with Taylor claiming second, Houston third, and Brandon Savage in fourth. Huls appeared to run the last dozen or so laps with a possible broken shock, as the left rear showed considerable wobble, but he held on for the victory. With a late start due to the rain and the two breaks to rework the track,time was becoming a factor for me and grandson Parker, as we both had early calls on Monday. The IMCA sport compact feature came to the track,with point leader Austen Becerra jumping to a commanding lead. When the caution waved about half way thru, we regretfully headed for the car, something I normally would not do at Quincy. Checking the results, I see Becerra picked up the win over Kimberly Abbott and Brandon Lambert. The UMP modified point race looked to be all but over a few weeks ago, but leader Steven Delonjay has hit an uncharacteristic run of bad luck. Last night it was an accident knocking him out of the running with a 14th place finish. Coupled with Michael Longs win, and the title will now come down to next weeks season championship night. Steven now hold only a two point advantage, so as with the late models,the title will come down to which of the two finishes ahead of the other in the feature event.Kenny Wallace and Brian Lynn chased Long to the checkers. With no points offered, the sport mod class was opened up to allow other B-mod cars, and a nice field of 26 signed in. The cars seemed surprisingly evenly matched, with IMCA regular Joey Gower taking the win ahead of the B-mod driven by Vance Wilson, and track pint leader Tony Dunker.The sport mods will be racing for a whopping $1253.00 top prize in two weeks - ramrodded by Tony Dunker, thus the payoffs ending in "3" - in conjunction with a return visit by the MOWA 410 sprint cars. Yet another night has been added to the schedule on Sept. 28, and it will be a $5.00 fan appreciation night unless the season championship night this coming Sunday needs to be postponed. Late models will not run if the fan appreciation night goes off as planned. Next up for me looks like a visit to Tri City Speedway in Pontoon Beach,Il this Friday for $10,000 to win super late models, coupled with a $1,000 payday for both modifieds and B- modifieds. Maybe we will see you there!