Long,Lennox,Huls and Weisinger On Top at Quincy

A total of 51 race teams checked in Sunday night for four classes of action at Quincy Raceways. The evening began with time trial qualifying for the UMP modifieds, with Ray Bollinger setting the top mark at 14.437 seconds. Bollinger and Michael Long picked up heat race wins, and Bollinger rolled a three for the feature invert. The first feature of the night, however was for the stock cars. Abe Huls jumped to the lap one lead in the 18 lapper. After a lap two caution, Beau Taylor used the Delaware restart to overtake heat winner Jake Powers for the runner up spot. Another pair of yellows in the next four laps brought Huls back to the pack, and Taylor soon found Troy Brierton mounting a challenge for the second spot. Taylor began to put some real estate between himself and Brierton, but he suddenly pulled to the infield on lap eleven. Huls now had a straightaway advantage before another caution with three laps to go. On the restart,Brierton slipped off the top of turn two, losing a couple positions before another yellow slowed the action one more time. Huls was up to the task, however, leading the distance for the win. Powers came home second, followed by Nathan Hays and Brierton. The sport compacts were up next for 15 laps. Jeffrey Delonjay took the early lead, with Alyssa Steele and Craig Bangert in tow. With the tight three car battle going on, Bangert and Steele made contact in turn three, with Steele coming to a stop, but both cars were sent to the back for the restart. Back under green, it was now Darin Weisinger Jr and Kimberly Abbott battling for second. Weisinger finally secured the spot, and by lap seven, he was side by side with Delonjay. Weisinger used a higher line to wrestle the lead away from Delonjay, then held on for the win. Delonjay setlled for second, while Abbott held off Bangert for third. All but one of the 16 UMP modifieds lined up for their 20 lap feature. The three car invert put Dave Weitholder and Long on row one, with Bollinger and Steve Grotz in row two. Long crossed the stripe leading Bollinger as lap one was scored, butv Wetholder fought back to take second on the next circuit. The only caution flag of the race came on lap three, as Joey Gower spun in turns one and two. Back to racing, Bollinger regained the runner up slot, as Long set a torrid pace. By the halfway mark, Michael had built a straightaway lead, as Bollinger and Weitholder battled for second. Long encountered heavy lapped traffic at the lap 16 mark, but he was smooth in negotiating the slower cars. Long cruised to the victory, whle Bollinger and Weitholder battled to the checkers, with Ray taking the second spot. Kevin Blackburn turned in a solid run in fourth, Gary Bently ran fifth , and Shaun Deering came home in sixth. The final feature of the night was 18 laps for the 18 sport mods. Brandon Lennox, Vance Wilson, and Tony Dunker had pickeed up heat race wins, and Lennox redrew the outside row one spot for the finale. Jeffrey Delonjay, running two classes, looped his ride on the start, but kept going. Lennox jumped to the early lead, challenged by row two starter Austen Becerra. The first of several cations came on lap two for a spinning Jon Renier. Back under green, Beccera nosed ahead on lap four, with the yellow waving for Adam Birck, who went off turn one, then headed for the trailer. The restart had Becerra out front, with Lennox and sixth starting Dunker in the next row. Becerra bobbled on the restart, with both Lennox and Dunker slipping around him. The caution waved again on lap six, and on the restart, several cars tangled in turns one and two, with fourth running bobby Six heading for the trailer. Under green, Lennox continued to lead, while Becerra, Dunker, and row five starter Brandon Dale now ran three wide for second, while Daniel Fellows, the 18th starter, advanced to sixth. Yet another caution slowed the action at lap ten, and Tanner Klingele, who had started in row two and fell back, now reentered the top five. Lennox was running a low line, with Becerra pounding the cushion in close pursuit. Dunker and Klingele made contact on lap 13, with Dale spinning to avoid, but a caution for another spin brought out the yellow and the lap was not scored. Klingele moved to fourth on the restart, and one more yellow with a pair of circuits to go set up a green, white, checkers finish. Lennox held on for the win, followed by Becerra, Dunker, Dale, and Fellows. Klingele was making a bid for second in the final set of turns when contact sent him to the infield, ruining his strong run. Despite the lengthy sport mod finale, the final checkers waved about 8:50, aided by a barely 15 minute intermission. The track surface was as good as we have seen all season at QR, as it stayed moist and smooth all night, dust free and two grooved. Next up for the new owners with be a visit by the 360 Sprint Invaders on Sunday, September 17, with hot laps about 6:00. It has been announced the Quincy Raceways will be in action through OCtober 22 with an assortment of classes each Sunday night. Schedules are available at the Quincy Raceways Facebook page. Of course, this is also the week of the Knoxville, Iowa late model nationals, and I hope to take in a night or two of the three day extravaganza. So hopefully, we will meet somewhere, Racin' Down the Road!