Finally Sunday Racing at Quincy

 For the first time in nearly a month, Quincy Raceways was able to get in a regular Sunday night show. Five divisions of racing featuring 67 entrants made for a fun night of action on what quickly became the type of dry slick track most racers prefer. The track did have some issues early on, but the grader driver went to work during a medical emergency in the grandstands, and by feature time, we were good to go for the rescheduled mid season championships.
 IMCA sport mods drew the largest car count at 19, and they ran the first feature, an 18 lap event. Several of the cars had trouble hooking up on the dry, slick surface, as six caution flags marred the race. Austin Howes led the field through stoppages on laps two, three, and four. Back to green, there was a three way battle for the top spot on lap five, with Joey Gower emerging as the leader. With Gower hugging the bottom of the .29 mile oval, Brandon Lennox took to the high groove. The two were running side by side when the caution waved on lap eight. AQ multi car pile up on the restart was charged to third running Tanner Klingele. Back under green, Bobby Six took the third spot, but the final caution came at the half way point, lap nine. On the restart, Six challenged Lennox for second as Gower pulled away. When the checkers flew, Gower had his third feature win of the weekend, followed by Six , Lennox, Austen Becerra, and Klingele, who battled back into the top five.
 The IMCA stock cars were up next for 18 laps. Brandon Savage, who dropped out while leading the heat race, was the only driver failing to make the starting grid. Jake Powers led the field through a lap two caution, with Jim Lynch coming from row three to second on the restart. Lynch ran the high line, while Michael Larsen challenged on the bottom of the now three groove track. On lap six, the two even swapped lines, and one lap later, Beau Taylor slipped around Larsen for third. At the mid race point, Lynch took the lead, surviving a yellow three laps later.  The final six laps went under green, with Lynch taking the win and taking over the points lead from the missing Abe Huls. Taylor hugged the low line and came home second, with Larsen edging Powers for third. Andrew Hustead completed the top five.
  The headline UMP late model class ran next for 25 fast paced laps. 17 drivers signed in, although Jason Oenning did not compete. Denny Woodworth had set quick time at 13.763 seconds, but it was Justin Reed topping heat one. Reed then rolled a three for the feature invert, putting Vance Wilson and heat two winner Mark Burgtorf on row one for the main event. Although Wilson jumped out front, Burgtorf had the lead as lap one was scored. The caution waved on lap two, with Burgtorf still in control on the Delaware restart. As Wilson pounded the cushion, Woodworth took over second running the bottom groove. Two laps later, tenth starting Jamie Wilson charged to the second spot. With Burgtorf running the top side, Wilson pulled even down low, taking the lead on lap nine. The two veterans battled as the moved in on slower traffic. As the laps wound down, Wilson began to stretch his lead, and picked up his second win of 2015 in a dominant performance. Burgtorf held on for second, with Jim Moon running a season best third. Reed and Woodworth rounded out the first five. Sixth through tenth went to Keith Pratt, Vance Wilson, Trace Westling, Brian Diveley, and Alan Westling.
  All 14 UMP modifieds took the 25 lap feature green. Russ Coultas led from the start, but soon a four car battle developed for the lead. Shawn Deering was out front on lap three. Again on lap five the leaders raced three wide, with Michael Long emerging as the leader, taking Steven Delonjay along. The normally rim riding Long ran the bottom of the speedway, forcing the usually low riding Delonjay to the middle groove. The first yellow came on lap ten, and on the restart, Rickey Frankel in the Mike Begley # B4 climbed to third. Two more quick yellows came on laps 12 and 13, and back to racing it was now Deering chasing the two leaders. Dave Weitholder had started tenth after having handling problems in his heat, but when Delonjay pulled to the infield after the lap 13 restart, Weitholder charged to the runner up spot. After a lap 15 caution Deering moved to second, but lap 18 saw Weitholder back in second and reeling in the leader. A lap 22 caution spoiled a good run for Frankie Wellman, and back to green, Long moved up a lane on the track. Deering and Weitholder swapped the runner up spot, and with two laps to go, Frankel moved around Deering to retake third. At the checkers, it was Long with win number five this season at QR, followed by Weitholder, Frankel, Deering, and Jared Schlipman.
  The final event on the card was the 15 lap IMCA sport compact feature. Point leader Kimberly Abbott jumped to a lap one lead, with Brandon Lambert in hot pursuit. Again, it was the leader running a lower groove, with Lambert pounding the cushion. On lap six, Lambert powered to the lead, and the caution came out one lap later. By lap ten, Abbott was pushing Lambert hard, and she regained the lead as the pack came to the white flag. Third went to Laine VanZandt in another Abbott car, with travelers John Girdley and Trent Orwig turning in top fives.
  The final checkers waved before 9:30, none too soon, as I drove through some pretty strong lightning and light showers on the trip home.
  We will try to take in the MLRA and IMCA late model Tornado Tuesday double header Tuesday night at West Liberty Raceway, and that will be it until next Sunday at Quincy Raceways. Hard to believe it is already August, and I just hit 20 nights of racing!