Quincy Waits out the Rain

  Sunday started out as the type of day race fans like myself barely glance at a weather forecast. But when friends and family to the north began calling and texting wanting to know if it was raining, things changed in a hurry. I always like to get to the track early when the travelers come to town, and with the UMP late model and modifieds on the card at Quincy Raceways along with IMCA sport mods, I was trolling the pits early. And watching the clouds build up and answering those calls and texts about heavy rains as close as my home, less than 20 miles away as the crow flies. Sure enough, as race time approached, here came the rain, and back in the trailer went the cars. As the rain came down a bit harder, the haulers headed for solid ground, and I went to the car to wait for the inevitable cancellation call. But QR promoter Ken Dobson is one stubborn dude, and as the showers subsided, the UMP contingent came down the hill with the word -" we are racing!" The track crew had purposely not watered the reconfigured oval - this would be the first race since the banks were cut down and dirt was added - so the rain completed the watering process. Of course, it still took some time to get the track again race ready, and the green flags would definitely come later than hoped. While the weather no doubt hurt the car count, including one mod driver who headed home to Arkansas, the fans turned out in amazing numbers.
 Modified qualifying was paced by Kenny Wallace, while series point leader Bobby Pierce topped the 19 late models with a lap of 12.883 seconds.
  While all cars would start the features, the heat winners redrew to determine to top three slots.
  Following the nine heat races, there was  ales than welcome intermission, the only negative in the program. But it was soon feature time, with the 18 UMP mods lining up for 258 laps and a $1,000 top prize. Kelly Bartz could not get his ride going. so 17 cars took the green flag. Ray Bollinger and Wallace sat on row one, and Bollinger paced lap one. Soon it was a two car duel, with track point leader Michael Long Moving to fourth on lap four. As the race stayed green, Long slipped past the " showstopper" Ray Walsh for third on lap ten. With slower traffic coming in to play on lap 12, Wallace took over the lead. As Long closed in on Bollinger, Wallace tangled with a lapped car on the 15th circuit, ending his run behind the wrecker, the first and only caution of the race. The field restarted single file, and with the low line the preferred way around, Bollinger and Long hugged the low groove, putting distance over the pack. While Long dogged the leader, Bollinger made no mistakes, and it was a very happy driver who took the checkers. Long settled for second followed by Walsh, Shaun Deering and Donovan Lodge.
  It would be 40 trips around the oval to decide who would take home the $5,000 top prize for the late models. Heat one winner Tyler Erb, the Texas teenager, and heat three winner Pierce sat on row one, while heat two victor Ryan Unzicker was joined by Michael Kloos in row tow. Pierce used a dandy crossover move to lead lap one, quickly moving to the low side of the track, while Erb was hanging his # 91 out on the high side, retaking the second spot from Unzicker on lap two. Eight laps in, Kloos found his way past Unzicker for third. The leaders were into heavy traffic by lap 13 when the caution waved for a spinning Bo Brockway. Both Pierce and Erb took evasive action, going over the top of the track, but neither made contact, and both were allowed to restart at the front. Again the restart was single file, and by now 16th starting Jason Feger was in the top ten, and he charged to his familiar high line on the speedway. Two circuits later he was up to eighth, but Pierce was opening a lead as Kloos moved up to challenge Erb. Lap 17 saw Kloos take second, on lap 19 Feger moved to seventh. The second and final caution came for a stopped Gordy Gundaker on lap 20, and he was the first to drop from the action. On the restart, Kloos mounted a challenge of Pierce, and while they battled, Unzicker slipped around Erb and Feger moved to sixth on lap 23. Two circuits later, it was Erb again powering around the high side, gaining two spots back to the runner up slot. But the 19 year old Pierce was a master in traffic, and he completed the flag to flag win, his tenth on the Summernationals tour. Victory lane at QR is a familiar place for Bobby, who was something of a semi regular at the Bullring for a couple of seasons. Erb earned plenty of style points for his second place run. Kloos was steady in third, followed by Unzicker and Dustin Griffin. Feger advance ten spots to finish sixth ahead of Bob Gardner in brother John back up # 38c. Bob had his # 4G out of the hauler, reloaded when the rains came, the could not get the door open on the hauler! Track regulars Jason Perry, Mark Burgtorf, Denny Woodworth, and Justin Reed were next on the final grid.
 With the clock now heading to the 10:00 hour, grandson Peyton and I headed to the car before the sport mod finale. Congratulations to rookie Justin Ebbing on his feature win over Austen Beccera and " racer X," Brandon Lennox.
  The Summernational tour wraps up this coming week in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, while Quincy Raceways gets back to weekly racing next Sunday. See you at the races!