Gustin Leads Flag to Flag at I-55

 Saturday night, Darryl, Fred, and I headed south to I-55 Raceway in Pevely,Mo for the third and final leg of the Mars/UMP challenge series. The mini tour began Thursday night in Paducah with Jason Feger taking the win, and Fred was on hand Friday at Pontoon Beach,Il as Billy Moyer topped the field.
 33 super late models checked in Saturday as part of a 102 car five class field. Apparently, there had been some complaints about the 1.3 mile being too " hammer down " fast, so the track crew did not do the normal track prep to facilitate a more dry slick surface. Unfortunately, the result was a a rubbered up, basically one lane track after late model and UMP modified and B modified hot laps. Oxford, Iowas Chris Simpson set the quick time in qualifying at 14.398 seconds. After hot lap sessions for the UMP sportsmen and 4 cylinder cars, five late model heat races were contested.
 Despite the slick track, there were multiple lead changes in the first ten lapper. Simpson took the early leasd, with fourth starting Tony Jackson Jr taking the top spot. Following a caution period, fifth starting Ryan Gustin grabbed the lead, and held on to the checkers over Jackson and Simpson.Track regular Tim Manville led flag to flag in heat two ahead of Californian Jason Papich and series regular Justin Asplin. In the third heat, front row starters Bobby Pierce and Kolby Vandenbergh ran side by side, Pierce low and Kolby in the middle line for several laps before Bobby finally pulled ahead for the win. with Shannon Babb taking second over Vandenburgh late in the race. Billy Moyer led the distance from the pole in heat four, besting Jesse Stovall and Gordy Gundaker,and Jason Feger took command of the final heat after polesitter Alan Murray looped hid ride on the opening circuit. Newcomer to the late model ranks, crowd favorite Rusty Griffaw came home seecond with Scott Weber third.
 With support class heats in the books, two nine car B -mains ran for 12 laps to qualify six more feature starters. Polesitter Austin Rettig checked out in the first consy, with fourth starting Brian Shirley cruising in second. Dave Jumper put on a late charge, blasting past Dewayne Kiefer on the final lap for third. The final preliminary event saw Jim Shereck take the win over Jeff Roth and Brandon McCormick.
 As it was obvious the track conditions were less than ideal, it was decided to do some track prep at intermission. The problem was, a steady rain began to fall at the same time. The announcer assured us we were on the edge of a passing cell, and the rain would stop soon, and as we watched, the farming of the high banks continued. Although the shower lingered, it was never enough to stop work on the track, and eventually even the water truck made a few laps. Much to the delite of the nice sized crowd, it was announced that the 40 lap $5,000 to win late model headliner would run first. Four provisionals were added to the field, series regulars Leroy Johnson and Randy Roth, and track regulars Kenny Rumble in the Kreke # 13 and Cody Conner, and the 25 starters came to the track to " blow off " the water before lining up for 40 laps of action.
 The extra track prep combined with the added moisture gave us a much improved feature track, with the usual three groove racing common at Pevely, although the top side was now the place to be.
 The straight up start put Gustin and Manville in row one, with Ryan leading the first lap. Going into turn one on lap two, he moved a bit up the track and Manville lost his grip, smacking the concrete wall. The caution came out, and Manville limped to the outer pits, his night over early. On the Delaware restart, Gustin took the high line, with bottom feeder Pierce in tow, as they pulled away from the pack. Soon Moyer was gaining on the front two, and positions were being swapped every lap from fourth on back. Ninth starting Stovall was on the move, entering the top five on lap eight. The leaders caught slower traffic by lap ren, but two laps later, the yellow waved for Jumper, who slowed with a flat tire. Gustin again took off with a clear track, as Moyer grabbed the second spot and Stovall moved to fourth. At the half way mark, lapped traffic again came in to play, but again, two laps later, the final caution came out for a slowing Shirley. The final restart saw no change at the top, with Jackson Jr retaking fourth from Stovall. Gustin stayed true to the high line, with Moyer trying the middle groove to make a move. As the laps wound down, Gustin stretched his advantage, and Moyer had to fend off a challenge from Pierce, who was again at work on the low side. The second generation driver was set to take a run at the Hall of Famer on the final lap, but a lapped car blocked his line in turn three.
 The Marshalltown, Iowa ace, Gustin scored the flag to flag win, with Moyer second and Pierce in third. Jackson and Stovall completed the top five. Feger came home sixth, and Babb, who was challenging for third early, settled for seventh. Simpson advanced to eighth, Griffaw, in only his second weekend in the late model rolled home ninth, and McCormick gained 11 spots to take tenth
 With the clock now easing past 10:30 and a three hour drive ahead of us, we regretfully headed for the parking lot with four features still to go.
 Tonight it is a regular five division show at Quincy Raceways, and next weekend, one of our " cant miss " events, night two of the Liberty 100 at West Liberty, Iowa. And that, folks, opens September, so get to the race track while you can!