Erb is Illinois State Champion

 On a cool and blustery Saturday, Darryl and I headed out to the Peoria,Ill Speedway for the 100 lap $5,000 to win 61st annual Illinois State Championship race for UMP late models. Blissfully - until now - unaware of the nightmare traffic jam that is the Spoon River Color Drive, we arrived at the 1.4 mile oval just as the late models were being summoned to the track for 5:30 hot laps. Considering the biting wind and cold conditions, that may have been a fortunate situation for us. Joined by friend Lane Evans, we settled in for a night of quality racing action.
 We were pleasantly surprised by the solid field of 36 late models, including two - Dennis Erb Jr and Brandon Sheppard - who high tailed it back to their home state after the Lucas Oil weekend of racing was washed out in Georgia by Hurricane Joaquin. Also on the card were modifieds, street stocks, Hornets, and the final appearance of the Illinois Lightning Sprints, a group that would be disbanding after the nights action.
 Newlywed Mike Spatola set quick time for the late models in single lap qualifying, with the field broken into four ten lap heat races.
 Following two heats for the ten street stocks, the late models clicked off their heats, with the top four from each event advancing to the 100 lapper. Jason Feger captured heat one from the pole over Donny Walden, Kevin Weaver, and Tim Manville. Heat two went to row two starter Ray Guss Jr ahead of Kyle Logue, and  track champ Todd Bennett in a photo finish over Billy Drake. Ryan Unzicker topped Spatola in the third heat, with McKay Wenger and Rich Bell also running in the top four. The final heat went to Erb, besting Gordy Gundaker , Sheppard, and Brad Stewart.
 16 UMP mods, 18 sprints, and 11 hornets ran heat races, and then it was a pair of B-mains for the remaining 20 late models. With only the top two in each B moving up, the racing was intense. But it was front row starters Ryan Vandenbergh and Mike Mullvain advancing from the first 12 lapper. Outside polesitter Jason Wagner topped fifth starting Mike Provenzano in the second consy. It was a great recovery for Provenzano, who stumbled in time trials, and started on the tail of heat three. Local racer Charley Hess, the feature winner in our last trip to Peoria, was granted the lone provisional, rounding out a 21 car starting field.
  Following a break for the third watering and repacking of the track, the street stock 15 lap feature was up. Wally Zander, the track champion and a 42 year racing veteran, led the first ten laps, but Robert Cottom sneaked past after a lap 11 caution, picking up the win.
  Next up was the modified 20 lap finale. Mike Chasteen Jr led flag to flag for the win, while a great battle for second saw Nathan Balensiefen edge Hess, driving in two classes, for second.
 To our delight, the 100 lap headliner was up next . The four heat race winners had drawn for the two front row starting spots during one of the breaks. Guss Jr and Unzicker sat on row one, Erb Jr. and Feger in row two, with the rest of the field straight up by heat race finishes. Guss shot to the early lead, with Unzicker in hot pursuit, The yellow waved on lap ten for Provenzano, who stopped in turn two just before going one lap down. As Unzicker continued to pressure the leader, the caution came out again five circuits later as Sheppard was unable to exit the track on the front stretch, his run over. One lap back to racing, a four car pile up in turn four again stopped the action. Under green, Guss continued to pace the field, riding a high line as Unzicker worked a middle groove. On lap 24, Guss suddenly dove to the infield with apparent engine issues, ending his run. Unzicker was now in charge, with Feger pounding the cushion in second. As Feger  moved in to challenge, the leaders caught slower traffic on lap 28. Now Erb joined the fray, and the top three exited turn four three wide on lap 33 as the yellow came out . As racing resumed, it was a three car race, but Unzicker continued to be scored the leader. Lapped traffic came in to play again at the half way Mark, and now it was 14th starting Drake joining the leaders. On the 69th trip through turns three and four, sparks flew as Feger made contact with the outside wall, and Drake dove past to take third. Two more laps saw him battling with Erb and Unzicker, with heavy traffic in play 75 laps in. With 23 circuits left, Erb found a way around the leader in traffic, and once out front, he opened a commanding lead. The final 67 laps went caution free, even with more than 15 cars circling the incredibly smooth oval, by far the best surface I have ever seen at Peoria. Erb collected the $5,000 check, with Unzicker holding off Drake for second. Feger and Spatola recorded top five finishes. The next five spots went to Wenger, Weaver, Bennett, Manville, and Walden. By my count, the top seven finished on the lead lap.
 With two races still to run, we headed to the car, with the clock reading 10:00 on the dot as Darryl fired up the heater and we began a much shorter journey home!
 Despite the unfavorable weather, it was a very good night of racing, as mentioned, the best I have ever seen the Peoria 1/4 mile. It was also most likely our final late model race of 2015, though there are  still a few weekends of racing close to home. But after six straight weekends, I may need to take a breather before finishing out the season. Big racing weekends await, two in Donnellson,Ia and one in Memphis,Mo., so there are still plenty of good choices. Quincy Raceways is also toying with possibly one more circle track event later in October after an October 18 Night of Destruction, so keep an eye on the QR website for more info.
 Maybe we will see you yet again in 2015 Racin' Down the Road!