Miller Wins Sprint Shootout at Quincy

 The 360 cubic inch Sprint Invader series made their annual stop at Quincy Raceways on Sunday night. A solid field of 22 drivers, including a handful of first timers signed in to do battle on the .29 mile oval. The three regular weekly IMCA classes, sport modifieds, stock cars, and sport compacts along with the two person cruisers were also on the car as well while the UMP Pro Crate late models and UMP modifieds took the night off. The midgets made an appearance, also.
 The first feature of the night was a twelve lap event for the midgets. Mitchell Davis shot to the lead on the opening lap and held off an early charge by Andy Baugh before eventually cruising to the win. Baugh took runner up honors as the race went green to checkers non stop. Bart Andrews emerged from a race long four car battle to finish third, and Jeremy Hull and Jeff Sparks completed the top five.
  Getting cars to staging in a timely manner has been an on going issue at the track, something that has been addressed in the drivers meetings by the new race director. On Sunday he followed through on his warnings, penalizing several sport mod drivers for being tardy to the lineup area. The shake up found Austin Howes and Tanner Klingele lining up in row one for the 16 car 18 lap feature. Klingele took advantage to lead lap one, and Howes was out front as the next lap was scored. Howes then drove to the infield, his night over just ahead of a lap four caution. Austen Becerra took up the chase as racing resumed, with tenth starting Nathan Bringer and point leader Adam Birck now in the top four. Birck moved to third on lap eight as Becerra worked high and low for a line around the leader. The final caution came at lap eleven, and Becerra charged to the front as the green flag waved. Birck also cleared Klingele to take over second, but was not able to mount a serious challenge for the win. Becerra cruised to the checkers followed by Birck. Bringer slipped past Klingele late for fourth, and Brandyn Ryan raced home in fifth.
  Sport compacts were next on the card, another twelve lap contest. Outside pole starter Kimberly Abbott and fourth starting point leader Barry Taft ran side by side for the first two circuits before Taft took command on lap three. Again the race went caution free, with Taft scoring the win. Darin Weisinger Jr. stalked Abbott, but settled for third, while David Prim and Alyssa Steele scored top five finishes.
  The headline event, the 22 car, 25 lap Invader showdown was next. Paul Nienhiser, who has become something of a QR favorite lined up on the pole flanked by series point leader Cody Wehrle, thanks to Shake Up Dash winner Dustin Adams drawing the number six pill to set the first three rows. Driving the #50 car on this night instead of his familiar #9, Nienhiser led lap one ahead of Wehrle, Josh Schneiderman, and Justin Bucholtz. The first caution came on lap three, and following the single file realignment used by the series, the yellow waved again on the restart. Nienhiser shot out to a nice lead as racing resumed, but the third and final caution came just one lap later. It was now apparent that ninth starting Joe B Miller was the man on the move, as he entered the top four. The leaders caught slower traffic on lap nine, and Miller powered to third. It took another eleven laps of intense green flag action before Miller found his way around Wehrle. With only five trips past the flag stand remaining, Miller cut the margin between himself and Nienhiser just a bit each lap. The pair took the white flag side by side, and Miller was out front as they drove through turns one and two. Nienhiser took command again in turn three, but Miller was not to be denied and he charged ahead as the duo exited turn four, winning the drag race to the line before a roaring crowd. Wehrle held on for third in front of the Schneidermans, Josh and Jared.
  Although it would have been a thrilling climax to the evening, there remained a pair of features to be run. The stock cars came to the track for 18 laps of action. Polesitter Brandon Lambert was a nose in front of Beau Taylor as lap one was scored, and Beau returned the favor on lap two. From there, however, it was Taylor in command. Michael Larsen had the rear end of his #48 knocked loose in a heat race crash, but made quick repairs with the help of his crew to make the feature call. On lap seven, he took over the second spot, and began to chase down the leader while running the inside line of the track, even as Taylor, who usually prefers the low groove, ran just below the narrow cushion. Larsen could never get close enough to challenge for the lead, and Taylor cruised to the victory in the third non stop race of the night. Larsen was pleased with his runner up finish, while Jerry Jansen came out ahead in a spirited three car battle for third over Jake Powers and Lambert.
  The two person class continues to struggle with car counts, so the four in attendance finished things off with a six lap feature that saw only two finish. The win went to the team of Hatfield and Hinkamper.
  The final checkers waved just past the 9:00 hour, completing an entertaining night of racing on what may have been the raciest surface of the season at QR.
  Next Sunday night will be regular racing at the Raceways, with the late models and modifieds back on the card. Then season championships on September 29. At a time on the calendar when racing was hard to find not so many years ago, there are still lots of events going on around the area, so make plans to attend as many as you can. I know I am!