Rollover,DQ, at Quincy Raceways

Things sratred out tame enough, but the action picked up late in the action Sunday night at Quincy Raceways. Michael Long started off the action setting quick time for the UMP modifieds on a smooth and fast racing surface. Michael picked up the heat one win, then rolled a three for the feature invert. It was the IMCA sport mods running the first feature of the night, with all but one og the 16 cars taking the green flag. Rick Barlow,Jr paced the opening three circuits, with Austin Howes taking over on lap four. As Howes opened a lead, Mike Goodwin and Brandon Lennox locked in a battle for second. The caution waved on lap six, and when racing resumed, Lennox took command of second, with Tanner Klingele easing past Goodwin for third. Howes stayed glued to the bottom of the track while Lennox ran the high line until the caution waved again on lap ten. Justin Ebbing moved to fourth on the restart, but the front three had pulled away. Three laps from the end of the 18 lapper, Lennox jumped the turn two cushion, falling to third, and the yellow waved a final time on the same lap. The field was now set single file, and Klingele tried unsucessfully to squeeze under Howes coming to the white flag. He lost a bit of momentum with the move, and Lennox retook the spot on the final circuit. At the checkers, it was Howes, Lennox, Klingele, Vance Wilson, and Ebbing. The UMP Pro Crate late models were up next for 20 laps. Heat two winner Tommy Elston drew the pole position, with the caution waving at the end of lap one for a spinning Brandon Savage. Back under green It was Denny Woodworth in command, but the yellow came out on lap four as Bill Scott lost a drive shaft in turns one and two. This is the same Bill Scott who was a regular at QR some 40 years ago! Elston grabbed the lead as racing resumed, and the leaders pulled away. Meanwhile there was a great three car battle for third between Tommy Sheppard Jr., Clint Kirkjam, and Savage. On the ninth circuit, Woodworth took the lead and began to put some distance between himself and Elston. As the race for third raged on, Tegan Evans, the 14 year old young lady from Clinton, Iowa making her first visit to Quincy, brought out the caution with a lap 17 spin. The field was reset with three laps remaining, and one lap later Elston and Woodworth were side by side down the front stretch when contact got Elston sideways. With Woodworth unable to slow in time, the momentum sent Elston into a pair of hard sideways rolls, drivers side first, stopped when he contacted the tractor tire at the entrance to turn one. Tommy emerged from his badly damaged car, sore today, I am sure. Woodworth would have to restart at the back of the now five car field with only two laps remaining. Sheppard was the new leader, and he held off Savage for his first QR win. Woodworth powered back to third ahead of Kirkham, Charles Vanzandt, and Evans. Savage however, failed post race inspection due to the incorrect placement of weight in the back of his car, moving him to ninth behind the remaining cars on the track, as well as Elston, Joey Gower and Scott. Until these final three circuits, only one lap in the crate class had been led by anyone other than Woodworth and Elston on 2017, a first lap lead for Brad Denney. The IMCA stock cars were up next for 15 laps. Jake Powers charged to the opening lap lead, as Brian Hoener and Beau Taylor slugged it out for the second spot. The stock cars all elected the low line, although Hoener and Taylor locked together briefly going down the back chute as they fought for position behind Powers. Jake held his line, running 15 mistake free laps, and picking up his first stock car win. Hoener, Taylor, Jerry Jamsen, and Nathan Hayes completed the top five. All 19 UMP modifieds came to the track for 20 laps of action. Following a couple of first lap cautions, Dave Weitholder and Long vaulted out to a two car lead.On lap six, Long charged to the top spot, and Weitholder came hard into turn one, looping his machine. Though he did a good job of powering out of the spin,with the field bearing down on him, the caution waved, and Weitholder was headed to the back. Before racing resumed, he apparently could not get his #05 refired, and he was pushed to the pits. As the green waved, Jason Frankel used the Delaware restart to take second from Gary Bently, but he could not run down his brother in law, Michael Long. it was now Bently, his teammare Rick Conoyer, and Shaun Deering in a tight race for third. As Long easily negotiated slower traffic, Conoyer took over third and began to run down Frankel. With about two laps to go, Conoyer moved to the runner up spot, but at the checkers, it was Long with the easy win. Conoyer, Frankel,Deering, and Bently scored top five runs. The clock was now heading past 9:15, so I headed to the car as the seven car IMCA sport compact finale was still to be contested. Craig Bangert picked up another win over Darin Weisinger Jr., Brandon Lambert, Jeffrey Delonjay, and David Primm. As the is originally a scheduled night off at the track, the turn out was perhaps better than might have been expected. In fact, the 19 modifieds checked in persuaded promoter Ken Dobson to add them to the card next Sunday night along with the return of the UMP super late models,the crates, stock cars, sport mods, and sport comapcts. Then Sunday August 27 is a scheduled night off before racing every week in September. It looks now like next Sunday might be my next race night, maybe I will see you there!