Thursday night we rejoined the UMP Summernationals tour with a visit to the Davenport Speedway for a $5,000 to win event. In addition, the IMCA late models and IMCA modifieds were in action along with the Davenport Speedway street stocks. This would be visit number four of the season to the fairgrounds facility where apparently going forward all races will be staged on the very racy inside 1/4 mile oval.
A solid count of one hundred and ten cars checked in, with thirty five UMP super late models topping the bill. The track was smooth, slick, and fast out of the gate, and when Tony Jackson Jr. turned a fast lap in time trials as one of the first cars out, it looked like it might hold up. However along came twenty year old Meridian, Mississippi racer Spencer Hughes, in what I believe was his first visit to Davenport. He proceeded to shatter the track record with a lap at 13.660 seconds, much to the delight of the big weeknight crowd.
Of course the four heat races were lined straight up according to time. Jackson Jr. topped the first ten lapper from the outside pole, then Cade Dillard did the same in heat two. After multiple failed starts for heat three, officials rather curiously moved Frank Heckenast Jr. back one row in heat three, giving the outside pole to the eventual winner, Tanner English. Wednesday night Summernats winner Bobby Pierce broke the string by (gasp) taking heat four from the pole. Of course this happened after the outside pole sitter, leader Jesse Stovall drove off the top of turn two with three laps to go!
An outstanding field of twenty seven IMCA late models was split into three ten lap heats. Joe Zrostlik was the heat one winner from the pole, Chuck Hanna nabbed heat two from row two, and York, Nebraska traveler Cory Dumpert claimed heat three from outside row one.
Jeff Larson, Dustin Smith, and Austin Blume topped the thirty IMCA mods in heat race action, while Nick Hixson and Jeff Struck claimed street stock wins.
Sandwiched around the heats was a consolation event for the supers, with the top four moving to the Last Chance race (read "B main.") Mitch McGrath grabbed the consy win over what was to be a seven car field, but Jason Papich was a no show. Chris Simpson was leading the race when Tim Lance Jr. attempted to exit the track in front of him entering turn three. Chris found himself off the track towards the half mile, but he was able to recover enough to make the transfer. The Last Chance advanced only the top two of sixteen starters to the feature, joining the top four from each heat. Jason Feger and Jeremiah Hurst claimed those two spots. Four provisional starters were then added to fill out the twenty two car starting lineup.
The track was then scraped and watered ahead of feature racing, and it was done to perfection, as the track was multi groove and lightning fast! The $5,000 to win Summernational forty lapper was up first.
Jackson Jr. and Pierce lined up in row one, and they crossed the line in that order as lap one was scored. Pierce soon found himself in a side by side back and forth duel with English, and Jackson Jr. took advantage of that to build a sizable lead. The first caution period at lap seven brought the leader back to the pack, as Billy Moyer Jr. slowed with a flat tire. Back under green, Ashton Winger worked into the top five, and as the leaders came to the stripe for lap twelve, Pierce pulled a successful slide job to take the lead. He quickly pulled away from the pack, but two laps later the second and final caution came as Joe Godsey spun in turn one. Row six starter Dennis Erb Jr. had the hot hand following the restart, jumping to fourth by lap eighteen. Pierce was however, "hauling the mail," entering lapped traffic at lap twenty four. He had no issues, and was in fact increasing his lead, as Heckenast powered to third, Brandon Sheppard quietly powered from row seven to fifth, and provisional starter Shannon Babb, who had not been fast early was now flying through the field. With no more stops, Pierce charged to a dominate victory, a popular one judging by the cheers which far outweighed a few boo birds in the crowd! Heckenast Jr. ran the inside line to a runner up finish, with Sheppard on his tail in third. Jackson Jr, fell to fourth, holding off Babb, who started in twenty first! Erb came home sixth, besting Dillard, English, Hughes, and Winger.
Following the post race made for television hoopla, the IMCA late models lined up for twenty five laps. Jacob Waterman and Bryan Moreland led the twenty six cars to green ( Todd Van Tassel did not make the call.) Waterman shot to the front, taking along third starting Andy Nezworski in what soon became a two car battle. Waterman was hugging the low line while Nezworski stayed committed to the long way around. As the race neared the half way point, eighth starting Justin Kay began to pick off cars as he circled the bottom of the track. With twelve laps left on the scoreboard, he took third place and began to close on the leaders. At the five to go mark, we now had a three car scrum. One more lap was scored when Andy finally found enough high side bite to grab the top spot, and one more lap found Justin in second. Kay appeared to have a razor thin advantage as the white flag waved, and lapped traffic would play into the final lap strategy. As the top two came to the checkers, I could only wait for announcer Shane Davis to inform me that it was Nezworski with the win! Kay was second by inches, followed by Waterman and Zrostlik. Joel Callahan started fifth and finished there. Brian Harris wheeled the Curless Racing #99 from eleventh to sixth. Moreland was seventh in front of Dumpert, Fred Remley, and Logan Duffy, who advanced eleven spots to tenth.
All thirty IMCA modifieds took the green flag for a twenty lap feature. Chris Zogg lined up inside row two and topped the opening circuit. In fact, he topped all twenty circuits! The first caution came at lap four. Incredibly, the only other stoppage of the race came on the restart caused by a multi car crash between turns three and four. The resulting delay was a long one, however, as once the wrecker was hooked to a disabled car, it too became disabled. Finally, a second wrecker hooked to the first wrecker, which was hooked to the modified, and back to racing we went! Zogg was staying glued to the inside line, while Mike Goben followed in his tracks. In fact, only Mitch Morris among the top runners dared move up the oval. Unfortunately for Morris, the top now appeared to offer no traction, and he drifted behind the top six, all running in lock step. The veteran Zogg was able to use slower traffic as a buffer. I imagine he held his breath a bit as he came up on a cluster of cars battling for position with two laps to go, but he had no issues, and cruised to the flag to flag win. Goben came home second, chased by Brandon Durbin, Blume, and eighth starting Travis Denning, piloting a red #27.
10:30 was now staring us in the face with a street stock feature to run ahead of fireworks, but we headed for the parking lot. Reports show that the heat winners, second starting Nick Hixson, and third starting Jeff Struck topped the street stock finale.
This was my fourth visit to Davenport in 2021, and I am four for four on the satisfaction meter. Thanks to Ricky and Brenda Kay for their hospitality, and to the rest of their crew, as well as UMP and IMCA officials for a timely show. There is racing everywhere this holiday weekend, get out and enjoy and maybe we will meet up at the track!
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