Tuesday night found us at Davenport Speedway as the MARS cars and stars rolled in to town for a $10,000 to win night of racing. The race was originally scheduled to fall between the final Silver Dollar Nationals last weekend at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska, and the Prairie Dirt Classic coming up this weekend in Fairbury, Illinois. When the World of Outlaw late model show in Boone, Iowa was moved to last night, July 25, it added another stepping stone in the march from the Lincoln area to near Chicago. This gave several of the traveling race teams a reason to stay on the road rather than make a quick trip back to the shop, and helped to swell the car count to a healthy mid week number. To make sure the show moved along quickly on a work night, only two additional classes were added to the card, IMCA modifieds and street stocks, both of which race weekly on the fairgrounds quarter mile.
A quality field of twenty eight late models along with nineteen modifieds and seventeen street stocks turned out on a beautiful evening in front of a very strong week night crowd. The size of the street stock field came as a bit of a surprise, but a handful of IMCA legal stock cars added to the count.
With hot laps in the books, it was time for late model qualifying which quickly became a highlight of the evening. With the racing surface in lightning fast condition, twenty drivers eclipsed the fourteen second mark. In group A, Hudson Oneal set a new track record with a lap of 13.350 seconds, much to the delight of the crowd. His high mark was short lived, however, as Devin Moran rolled out in group B and blistered the oval in 13.333 ticks of the clock!
A pair of modified heat races saw Illinois hot shoes Matt Werner and Travis Denning pick up wins, then the late models contested four ten lap qualifiers. In typical " straight up by fast times" lineups, all four winners came from the front row. In fact, the pole position produced each one, including including Oneal, Mike Marlar, Moran, and Gordy Gundaker. The top four from each ten lapper would make up rows one through eight for the fifty lap feature. Rick Hixson and Jeff Struck, Jr. topped the street stock heats, then there was a short break for a bit of track prep ahead of the late model B main.
The racing in the twelve lap consy was intense, with only four of the dozen starters slated to move on, and a pair of MARS series provisional points qualifiers would then be added to make the twenty two car starting grid for the main event. Nick Hoffman, wheeling what appeared to be a team car to Mason Zeigler, took the win.
IMCA modifieds would kick off the feature action, with all nineteen cars lining up for twenty laps. Ryan Duhme took the early lead while being pressured by Denning, who was out front as lap two was scored. The first yellow flag of the race came with five laps in the books, and back under green, eighth starting Werner powered to the runner up spot. Denning had opened a commanding lead when a final caution brought him back to the pack one lap before the half way mark. On the restart, Werner used the inside line to drive around the leader and those two then checked out on the remainder of the field. With four laps showing on the scoreboard, Denning slid around Werner, but the #93 fought back, holding on for victory after an intense battle. Following Werner and Denning to the checkers it was Duhme, Chris Zogg, and Charlie Mohr.
Officials then made a change in the running order, bringing the street stocks to the track next, seventeen strong for twenty laps. Struck had pulled the number one spot for the redraw, and he took off in front, quickly stretching his lead. The leaders soon gravitated to the inside line around the oval except for seventh starting Justin Kay, who was trying to advance through the field using a higher groove. On this night Kay had brought along his IMCA stock car as well as his late model. The lone yellow flag came with nine laps in the books, and back to racing a side by side scrum for second place developed between Rob Henry, and another IMCA car, #71 of David Brandies, a battle soon won by Brandies. Henry fell to fourth behind Jesse Owen, but with the leaders again running nose to tail on the bottom, he soon jumped up one lane, eventually climbing all the way back to the second spot. Owen made a late charge to ease around Brandies, and as the checkers flew it was Struck with a flag to flag win over Henry and Owen, all three regular competitors at the track. The IMCA stock cars of Brandies and Kay completed the top five.
A few more minutes of track work and it was time for the headliner, the Hoker Trucking 50. Peering into the staging area brought some confusion until it was announced the in addition to the twenty two MARS qualifiers, track promoter Ricky Kay had generously decided he would start the entire field, making a surprise payday for the six drivers who were on the outside looking in! Of that group, only Jay Johnson was unable to make the call, giving us a whopping twenty seven car field! The field would be aligned straight up by heat race finishes, and after the first attempt at a start was called back, Oneal jumped to the front. Initially he was running a top groove in turns one and two, then diving to the bottom at the other end. Second running Marlar started out matching him, then began to move around the track in search of a way to the lead. Now here came rim riding Bobby Pierce, who lined up in row three before quickly moving to the third spot about lap seven. With the high number of cars on the track, traffic came into play by lap eight. Two more laps and Pierce drove to second using an inside move in turns three and four. By now Oneal had built a bit of a lead, but Pierce went back up top and was closing fast when the first caution came thirteen laps in. With Hudson committed to the low line, Bobby again went to the top ahead of a second yellow three laps later. Two more cautions slowed the action before the final twenty eight circuits went non stop. The high groove appeared to lose some of its luster as both Moran and Max Blair drove around Pierce on the bottom, but with fifteen laps to go Pierce had the heat back on his tires and charged back to second. Ryan Unzicker was also on the move, coming from row seven to sixth. As Pierce again began to close on the leader, Oneal may have got the sign from his crew or simply observed slower traffic ahead, but he now moved up the track to match Pierce. Pierce attempted a couple of sliders around the leader with ten, then seven laps to go, but Oneal was able to fight off the challenges. With Moran suddenly within a car length of Pierce, the front three lined up single file on the top side behind the cars of the Gundaker brothers and rode out the closing laps. As the checkers waved, it was the second victory this month for Oneal at the quick quarter mile. Pierce settled for runner up honors, with Moran completing the podium. Blair and Marlar also scored top fives. Unzicker paced the second five, trailed by Kay, who started in twentieth. Chris Simpson, Jeff Larson, and Jason Feger, the series point leader coming into the night, rounded out the top ten.
Always a quick show, the Davenport crew outdid themselves on this night, with the final checkers flying several minutes before 10:00 P.M.! Thanks as always Ricky, Brenda, and their team for their hospitality. We still have a few more trips planned this season to the historic fairgrounds track, which will now take a break as the Mississippi Valley Fair kicks off this weekend. Next up for us is a Friday visit to the Cedar County Fairgrounds Speedway in Tipton, Iowa for the Gary Reinhart Memorial modified special combined with a Lee County Speedway remote Drive for Five late model event. Hope to see you there!
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