Rain Stops Jacksonville Summernationals

  We headed for the Jacksonville,Il. Speedway Wednesday afternoon knowing we were taking a chance of seeing more rain than racing. When we arrived at the 1/4 mile fairgrounds speedway, the sun was out and temps were holding in the nineties. The pits were filling up with UMP late models, UMP modifieds, and UMP street stocks. The previous nights edition of the " Hell Tour " at Belleville,Il. was rained out during heat race action, so drivers, officials, and fans alike were anxious to get what would now be night number one of " Legends Week " under way. Before we even arrived at the track, the message came that Spoon River Speedway had already postponed the Thursday night stop on the tour, with a reschedule date of Monday, June 25.
  Promoter Ken Dobson was working hard to make sure the show started as scheduled, no small task for a week night show. Hot laps started right on time at 6:15, with 27 late models, 31 modifieds, and somewhere around ten street stocks in the pits.
  Following late model hot laps, the modifieds had a combined hot lap/time trial session, with four cars at a time on the track. Overall quick time went to Rick Conoyer.
  The late models then qualified, two cars at a time for two laps. Bobby Pierce was fastest in the first of three groups, but it was Billy Moyer in group two turning the fastest lap overall at 12.220 seconds. Daniel Flesner paced the nine cars in group three.
  A quick hot lap session for street stocks set the stage for three modified heats. Conoyer led the distance from his pole start to capture heat number one. From outside row one, Brian Lynn got the jump on Ray Bollinger to pick up the heat two checkers. On the final lap, the second running Bollinger suffered a flat tire, creating a logjam out of turn two. The result saw Dave Weitholder slamming into Bollinger, damaging both of the contenders. Michael Long took the green from the outside pole, won the drag race with polesitter Mike Harrison to turn one, then pulled away to win the eight lapper by a comfortable margin. 
  The skies began to darken to the south as the late models lined up for three ten lap qualifiers. By this time, the preferred racing groove in turns three and four had the cars scraping the rear spoiler on the concrete wall. Timothy Culp started outside row one and led the early laps before briefly losing the handle in those treacherous turns. Pierce took advantage to grab the top spot and open a sizable lead. As the laps clicked off, a tight four car battle developed behind the front runners. With the top five moving on to the feature, one of that group would be headed to the C main. Brian Shirley, Michael Kloos, Rusty Schlenk, and Shannon Babb were running in a tight pack. I am not sure what happened, but suddenly the fourth running Kloos slammed the turn one wall on the drivers side of his ride. Kloos sat in his car for several minutes as emergency personnel talked to him. He eventually exited his #6K, but was placed in the ambulance on a backboard and was transported to the hospital which is just down the street. The word this morning is that the veteran racer has been released, no doubt still feeling some effects. We wish the personable Kloos a speedy recovery.  Back under green, Schlenk was now running fourth when he slowed, heading to the pits. As the checkers waved, it was Pierce, Culp, Babb, Shirley, and Nick Hoffman in transfer positions.
  Moyer outran his son to turn one in heat two, then pulled away to take an easy win. Moyer Jr. ran second ahead of Jason Feger, Ryan Unzicker, and Kevin Gundaker.
  The final heat saw outside row one starter Frank Heckenast Jr. power to the lead, and like Moyer, he opened a big lead and cruised to the victory. Flesner and Kolby Vandenburgh took the checkers side by side, with Flesner apparently scored second. Australian Paul Stubber and former IMCA late model hot shoe Luke Goedert took the final transfer spots. There was some confusion as the #44 of Goedert was listed as another driver on the lineup sheet.
  During the down time for the Kloos incident, promoter Kenny Dobson crossed the track to inform officials that the street stock heats would be scrapped and only a feature would be run as the non qualified late models prepared for their C main.. However, as the clocked neared 8:00PM and with the modifieds lined up for their  consolation qualifier, a strong wind picked up, blowing papers from the scoring tower and creating a dust storm. With Dobson on the portable mic urging everyone to take cover under the grandstands while we waited 20 minutes or so to see if the disturbance would blow over, we headed for the car. This turned out to be a wise move, as the rain drops were pelting down by the time we climbed in. We then sat through a deluge of rain as the pits quickly emptied. Even had the rain subsided quickly, a curfew of I believe 10:00 PM would have made completing the program near impossible.
  Dobson had assured the large gathering that if rain stopped the action, the event would be completed at some point. Of course, Spoon River had already rescheduled, and Belleville has requested the open date of June 27, made available by the track closure and subsequent cancellation of Paducah Raceway, so no make up date has been set at this time. And at this time, things look iffy for the next tour race, Friday night at Tri City Speedway in Granite City,Il. If the weatherman cooperates, I will hopefully have a report from Tri City, so stay tuned.
  Thanks to Dobson and the Jacksonville staff for their hospitality, if possible we will be back for the completion of the show.