After attending a graduation party, I was able to make a late flying trip to the Adams County Speedway for some Sunday night racing. Arriving well after the program started, I made my way to the grandstands after having to park in what may have been an area code different from the track, as another large crowd turned out!
The evening began with a make up feature for the Dirtcar 4 cylinders, their main event having been one of three rained out two weeks ago. My seat mate Darryl informed me that Michael Grossman had picked up the win, as the Keokuk, Iowa driver stays hot in the early going.
The sixteen IMCA sport mods had completed their heat races and the first UMP Pro Crate late model qualifier was rolling to the speedway as I made my way to my seat. With Denny Woodworth adding dollars to the late model purse, the feature this night would pay $1,000 to win, and the car count saw a modest increase in numbers. Unfortunately, one of those competitors, Chase Osterhoff, experienced the dreaded flat tire on his hauler and never made it to the track even though he was on the lineup board.
It was a pair of IMCA hot shoes from Iowa picking up the heat wins, with Tommy Elston walking away with heat one in his first visit of 2022, topping Darin Weisinger Jr., Eric Doran, Cody Maguire, and Jeff Dotzert, while week one feature winner Sam Halstead captured heat two over Woodworth, Spencer Coats, and Jason Oenning.
A pair of heats for the thirteen street stocks and three qualifiers for the seventeen 4 cylinders had us ready for feature racing. The UMP modifieds had the night off with Spoon River Speedway hosting their $2,064 to win Gary Cook Memorial race a couple hours up the road.
A rather lengthy intermission came next, which included a candy dash, and then the sport mods lined up for eighteen laps of action. After a lap one incident brought the first yellow flag, Dakota Girard paced the opening lap, with his row one mate Justin Bartz close behind. As lap two was scored, Adam Birck had charged from row five to fourth and the caution flag waved for a second time. Birck then used the Delaware style restart to jump to third, but lap four saw Reed Wolfmeyer put his #2W out front. Birck followed in second one lap later, but Reed was hooked up in the very bottom groove, and was able to maintain about a five car length advantage over Adam as the laps clicked off. With four laps remaining the yellow waved again, and now the restart would be single file. Last weeks' winner Tanner Klingele had started inside Birck in row five, and he was now in third and looked like the fastest car on the track. One more lap was scored, and the caution came again. Following this restart, Klingele jumped to the cushion, powering around both front runners to the lead. At the same time, Birck was able to slip inside Wolfmeyer for second. A fifth and final caution set up a one lap dash to the checkers, but Klingele remained in control to pick up the win. Birck held the runner up spot, with Wolfmeyer, Logan Cumby, and A.J. Tournear completing the top five.
Eighteen laps would be the distance for the street stocks, and pole sitter Jake Powers would lead Robert Cottom ahead of a yellow flag as lap one was scored. The restart saw four cars come together in turn one, with the red light on while the mess was cleared. When racing resumed, only seven of the thirteen starters remained on the track. Two more yellows slowed the action, but on each restart Powers stayed glued to the bottom of the track, forcing Cottom up one lane higher where he could not get traction off the corners. While the front duo ran off and hid, an entertaining five car scrum developed behind them. One final caution came with four laps to go, and with Powers still rolling flawlessly around the bottom, Cottom jumped to the cushion, found some moisture and took the lead on the final lap. The finish was still in doubt as the leaders exited turn four, but Cottom had the momentum, picking up his fourth win of the season to remain undefeated at the track. Rudy Zaragoza won the battle for third over newcomer Chad Meyers, Steve Grotz, and Pete Stodgel.
As Cottom received his victory lane honors, the lights went out in turns three and four, an issue that has plagued the track on occasion in previous years. Repairs were made after a cool down, and the late models lined up for twenty laps. Elston and Halstead sat on row one taking off as the green flag waved. Six laps in Elston was stretching his lead over Halstead and Woodworth when the caution came for a spinning car in turn two. Before action could resume, the lights again went out and announcer Doug Mealy delivered the bad news - no further repairs could be made on the spot and the remainder of the program would need to be made up at a later date, including the late models and 4 cylinders.
According to my preseason schedule, the A mods will be back in action next week with the late models having the week off. Then there will be no racing on Sunday June 12, as I believe that is the big karting weekend in Quincy. I am sure the track will post info regarding make up dates on their Facebook page. As for us, we are watching the weather forecast before planning our next racing adventure!
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