As the afternoon temperatures climbed into triple digits, we climbed in the van for our second visit of the season to Tammy and Kevin Gundakers Tri City Speedway. UMP Summernational night number four for the super late models along with the Summit modifieds and UMP B mods would be on the card and it would be a $10,000 payday for the winner of the forty lap late model headliner.
A very solid field of thirty eight late models, twenty six modifieds, and twenty five B mods filled the pit area, and a sizable if late arriving crowd came to watch. The good news is that a stiff breeze all evening helped negate the oppressive heat. The bad news is that we consequently brought home quite a bit of the race track in the form of dust. But, hey, it's dirt track racing!
The program began with late model hot laps, then the modifieds did the combined hot lap/qualifying deal. It was no surprise when Mike Harrison paced the field with a lap of 16.562 seconds around the 3/8 mile oval. Late models then qualified with between two and five cars on the track at a time. Tanner English was among the first cars out and his fast lap of 15.566 seconds held up as the track began to take rubber and become slick as it usually does during time trials. Following B mod hot laps, the late models came to the track to contest four heat races. The straight up by time lineups produced four front row winners, although there was quite a bit of movement deeper in the pack. English topped heat one followed by Shannon Babb, Devin Moran, and Ryan Unzicker. Ashton Winger was due to sit on the pole of heat two, but broke a transmission at the end of his qualifying round and set about cobbling together a replacement from his "back up" car. This moved Billy Moyer Jr. to the front row, and he triumphed over Frank Heckenast Jr., Brent McKinnon, and Tim Lance. Brian Shirley eased past early leader Jeff Herzog who was the group two fast timer, to take heat three, besting Jason Feger, Gordy Gundaker, and Dewayne Kiefer. Heat four went to Bobby Pierce in front of Allen Murray, Kolby Vandenbergh, and Mitch McGrath. The late models would later come back with a "C" main which advanced four drivers to the Last Chance ( read "B" main.) Out of that sixteen car field, only two would move on to the feature. Winger made repairs in time to line up sixth in the C, then took the win. He then started in row seven in the Last Chance and charged to another win, edging out Paul Kuper, with both moving to the main event. Four provisional starts were awarded for various accomplishments on the tour, nationally and at the local track, with Joe Godsey, Bob Gardner, Billy Laycock, and third generation driver Brandon Lance moving on in the advertised twenty two car field. Iowa driver Chris Simpson missed a transfer from the B by inches, but then found his way to the feature lineup with a past winners provisional, giving us twenty three starters.
Sandwiched in among the late model action were three heats each for the modified divisions, plus a last chance for the Summit mods.
A brief intermission accompanied by some top side watering preceded the late models lining up for forty laps of racing.
The heat winners redraw put Moyer Jr. on the pole flanked by English, who charged to the lead. The first caution came at lap three as Gordy Gundaker slowed with a flat tire, which his crew was unable to get changed in time for him to rejoin the field. Back under green, Shirley cleared Moyer Jr. for second as Feger and Pierce began an entertaining back and forth behind them. English was solid rolling through the middle of the track ahead of a lap eight spin by Brandon Lance. On this restart, Feger went to the bottom of the track and Pierce began his trademark cushion pounding, wall scraping charge. Lap thirteen saw the yellow fly as the younger Lance again looped his #248 on what was now a very slick surface. Through all this the seventeenth starting Winger was also pounding the cushion, moving into the top ten by lap fifteen. McGrath slowed to bring out the caution one lap later, his top ten effort over, while Unzicker ducked to the hot pit area for some attention. By lap nineteen, Babb was back in the top five behind English, Shirley, Feger, and Pierce, when the caution came as Murray smacked the turn three wall. He apparently thought the hard charging Winger may have contributed to his misfortune, and his night was through. There was no doubt that Winger was on a mission, and the body on his #12 showed his enthusiasm as he continued to bank off the concrete barrier. The laps continued to click off and English built a nice lead, but a final pair of cautions started for debris with three laps to go. On the single file restart, Winger, now running about seventh, smacked the wall one final time, bringing out one more yellow flag and ending his impressive run. It was now go time for Pierce as he went to the very top of the track, first driving around Shirley, then setting his sights on the leader. When he showed his nose on the final lap, English moved to successfully slow his momentum just enough. In his victory lane interview, he stated something to that effect, that after leading thirty nine laps he was not wanting to give up the win! Pierce took runner up honors, while Shirley was third. Feger and Babb also turned in top five runs, followed by Moyer Jr., Heckenast Jr., Moran, Simpson coming from twenty third, and Vandenbergh.
Twenty two modifieds then came to the black, slick track for twenty five laps. Nick Hoffman got the jump on row one mate Tyler Nicely but debris in turn three brought a complete restart. Amazingly, that would be the only stoppage of the race. Hoffman again shot to the lead, finally entering slower traffic about lap twelve. Fortunately for him, most of the field was running in single file order, and he had no trouble negotiating lapped traffic. He slowly built a commanding lead as Nicely tried to keep him in his sights. The only drama in the race came late, as third running Dave Weitholder came upon a pair of lapped cars running side by side. Harrison was closing on him quickly before Weitholder was able to split the slower cars entering turn one. The skillful move was enough for him to lock down a third place finish. Hunt Gossum made a late charge to record a top five behind Harrison. Rick Conoyer also climbed to sixth ahead of a fading Kenny Wallace, while Lucas Lee, Dean Hoffman, and Tommy Sheppard Jr. completed the top ten. It was nearly time to change the day on the calendar, and we headed to the parking lot as the B mods prepared to close out the action. On the long ride home, I found that Matthew Edler had turned an outside row one start into a victory.
Tri City always delivers full fields of cars and lots of action, but also plenty of late nights! With another track cancelling their Summernationals date, Tri City will be hosting a second series event in July along with a slew of other special events throughout the summer and fall, so hopefully we will make it back to the fine St. Louis area speed plant. This will wrap up our racing for this week, so Happy Fathers Day, guys, hope to see all of you at the track next weekend!
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