New Track, Same Result

UMP Pro late model drivers Tommy Elston and Denny Woodworth have spent the 2017 season chasing each other around at the front of the pack at the Lee County Speedway and Quincy Raceways. So Saturday night, the two veterans met up again at the Bloomfield, Iowa Speedway as part of the Bob Weaklin Memorial race during the Davis County fair. a total of twelve late models joined 17 sport mods, 22 stock cars, and eight assorted vehicles from the Mississippi Valley Vintage Racing group. Following eight heat races and a brief intermission, the sport mods hit the 1/3 mile oval for their 14 lap feature. 16 cars took the green flag, as Jason Reigel was out the back gate before heat races had even started. Colton Nelson led the opening lap, the Brandon Dale, fresh off a heat race win, smacked the fence in turn one, ending his night. Meanwhile, Jim Gillenwater worked his way to the lead about lap four, building a sizable lead running the inside groove as Casey Lancaster began to use the high side of the track, advancing to third on lap six and the runner up spot two laps later. Gillenwater caught the back of the pack with four circuits remaining, and one lap later, Lancaster took advantage to fly around the leader on the outside. But the only caution flag of the race came out before the lap was complete, putting the veteran Gillenwater back out front for the Delaware restart. Lancaster fell briefly to third on the restart, with Gillenwater able to open a lead. He then moved up the track a bit, and with open track, he cruised to his second win in two nights, having captured the Scotland County fair race in Memphis,Mo. the night before. Lancaster rebounded to take second, while Jason McDaniel came from sixth to third following the restart. Nelson finished fourth, with Daniel Fellows fifth in this his first month in the sport mod class. The vintage group then ran an eight lap feature event, with winners awarded in the various types of sprint, midget, and super modified type cars. Rob Caho was the overall winner of both the heat and feature. The late models were up next, racing 18 laps for a $1.000 top prize. Rookie Eric Knapp #57 was the only driver failing to make the feature call. Although he finished third behind Todd and Gunner Frank in his heat, Elston redrew the pole for the main event, with Gunner on his outside. Elston quickly shot to the lead, wity row two starter Tyler Cale in the Brandon Ruffcorn #11R moving to second. Fourth starting Woodworth cleared the younger Frank for third on lap two as Elston began to stretch his lead. But the yellow waved as Gunner and heat two winner Derek Liles got tangled up in turns three and four. Contact on the restart found Gunner Frank upside down on the front stretch. The youngster stayed in the car until track workers uprighted the #21, then he walked away, apparently uninjured. During the red flag, Sam Halstead also headed to the pits, done for the night. Back under green, Elston put distance on the field as Cale and Woodworth slugged it out for second. By lap ten, the two were still in a duel as Elston built a straightaway lead. Woodworth finally took command of second on lap twelve, but with no more interruptions, Tommy cruised to the victory. Woodworth came home second, with Cale third followed by local driver Jim Lynch and Todd Frank in fifth. Brandon Savage started seventh and finished sixth, with Jeff Guengerich in seventh. Chris Richard was piloting the second car from the Richard Racing stable, with new graphics and #17R replacing the #73R in the new scheme. Chris pulled out with a couple laps remaining, while Liles was pitside with a caved in front end and credited with ninth. The final race of the evening was the $1,000 to win 22 car stock car tribute race in honor of Bob Weaklin. He was a competitor in the IMCA stock car division and was instrumental in the racing program at Bloomfield for many years. He was a gentleman racer that I had the pleasure of meeting when he raced at Lee County in the 1990s. The stock car field was a solid one, although top competitor Jason Cook was a non factor, dropping out of both his heat and the feature after one lap. Gary Harward paced the first lap, with row three starter Mike Hughes taking over on lap two. The caution waved on the third lap, and now fellow row three starter Dustin Griffiths was second. It was then that we noticed that Cayden Carter, who had issues in his heat race and missed the top four redraw, had advanced from row seventh to sixth in those first three laps. On the restart, Carter shot to fourth, and one lap later, Griffiths took the lead. The yellow waved at the end of lap five, but the pass for the lead was official. Back to racing, the field was tight, with Hughes running the low line in second and Derek Agee challenging in third. But the caution waved again as Danny Thrasher, who captured his heat by inches over Griffiths, stopped, bringing out the yellow with 13 laps to go. As racing resumed, Carter now advanced to third, and on the seventh circuit he passed Hughes for second. Just after halfway, it had become a two car battle for the lead when the caution flew again. Abe Huls, the Friday night winner in Memphis, moved to a higher line back under green , and Carter grabbed the lead, and Huls advanced to third, with yet another yellow stopping the action. As the green waved, Griffiths appeared to get a bit loose coming off turn two and spun around to bring out the caution. Officials decided Hughes had "helped" the spin, and both were sent to the back for the final restart. It was now Carter, Huls and Jason See in the top three spots with six laps to go. With Carter running the low line, Huls tried the top groove. He could not get close enough to challenge Carter, who came from the row seven start to collect the big check. For his part, Huls had come from a row six start to second. See came home third, followed by Agee in fourth. Griffiths crossed the line in fifth, but was penalized four positions for jumping the final restart putting Jeremy Pundt in fifth. Buddy Fred and grandson Peyton and I all agreed that it was a well run and very enjoyable show and was enhanced by a very informative announcer, although I did not catch his name. The program ended soon after the 10:00 hour. There is no racing tonight or next Sunday at Quincy Raceways, but the Lee County Speedways springs back into action next Friday night. Thanks for reading!