On Wednesday, the Lucas Oil late model series made a stop at the Davenport Speedway on the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa. The historic facility, now strictly a quarter mile venue has the unique distinction of hosting a wide variety of the major late model sanctions racing throughout the mid west. We have already witnessed the SLMR series, as well as a UMP Summernationals event. Both of the following cancelled earlier this season due to weather, the MARS cars are due back on July 26, and the MLRA series on August 12. World of Outlaw late models will stage a three night extravaganza culminating on August 27, and the SLMR will return on September 24. A sudden illness for MARS promoter Tony Izzo, Jr. has put that that series in a temporary holding pattern, so we will see how that develops. All this is in addition to the Kay Promotions folks hosting weekly racing at the speedway, as well, featuring IMCA late models.
As they did during the Summernationals show, those same IMCA late models would be in action on this night along with another weekly class, IMCA sport mods, making for a tidy three division show on a week night.
An outstanding group of thirty seven super late models checked in to compete for the $10,000 top prize along with nineteen IMCA lates and two dozen sport mods. The powers that be at this track are models of efficiency, and showed it by hot lapping as many as twelve cars at a time on the smooth, wide quarter mile.
Qualifying for the Lucas Oil cars came three at a time, with the scoreboard on the front stretch keeping us up to date with times for each car. Brandon Overton , timing in Group A set turned the overall fastest lap at 13.617 seconds, and then it was literally off to the races.
Ten heat races plus a pair of B mains for the supers set the feature fields, and after a short delay for some track grooming, the IMCA late models lined up, nineteen cars for twenty five laps.
Michael Haines and Hall of Famer Gary Webb sat on row one after the redraw, and following his heat race win,Webb wasted no time grabbing the lead. Matt Ryan started in row two and he quickly joined Webb as the two veterans began to put distance on the pack. As the laps clicked off, all eyes were on the driver who has dominated the track over the last few seasons. Justin Kay lined up in the twelfth starting slot, charging to fifth on lap nine. One lap later, Ryan was able to slip around Webb for the lead, and then stretched his advantage as slower traffic came into play. Two more circuits and Kay was fourth, then third with eleven to go. Fifteen down and Kay was in a battle with Webb for second, and when he finally took the spot with seven to go, Ryan had a sizable lead. But we have seen this before, and just as Darryl sitting alongside had predicted, with three laps remaining, Kay pulled even, then around the leader as the scoreboard clicked to two to go adding to his heat race win with another feature victory. The non stop event saw Ryan again the bridesmaid and a strong run for Webb in third. Jacob Waterman and heat two winner Joel Callahan completed the top five, followed by row nine starter Chuck Hanna, Dustin Schram, Hannas' row nine mate Andy Nezworski, and Todd VanTassel.
It was now time for the forty lap headliner, and heat winners made up the first two rows. Overton and Mike Marlar filled row one, with Hudson Oneal and Earl Pearson Jr. next. Hudson grabbed the lead on the first time around, then locked into a three car breakaway with Overton and Marlar. Oneal had obviously set up his #71 to run the inside line, and he never moved off the bottom. Meanwhile Overton elected to run one line higher while Marlar did business on the cushion . All three grooves were working, and positions were swapped almost non stop between those three. It was lap sixteen before the first feature yellow flag, as Ross Robinson stopped on the front stretch, then ducked to the infield for attention from his crew. The timing was unfortunate, as the leaders were just now catching heavy traffic. Back to racing, the top three, clearly dominate, pulled away once again. One lap before the halfway mark, the second and final caution waved as Tyler Erb slowed on the backstretch. Jimmy Owens briefly challenged the top three on the restart, but could not maintain their frantic pace, as Marlar now opened a several car length lead, leaving Oneal and Overton to battle for second. At the same time, we were keeping an eye on Ricky Thornton Jr. Seemingly lacking speed all evening, he had been relegated to a row twelve provisional starting spot, but was now solidly in the top ten. As traffic came into play in the last ten laps, Oneal began to close on Marlar, catching up with seven left, then working inside for the lead one lap later. In what was now constant heavy traffic, Overton was able to find an opening and move to the runner up spot. A jubilant Oneal picked up his second win in two trips to Davenport. Overton followed in second, then it was Marlar, Owens, and Spencer Hughes, who ran quietly all race in the top five. Tim McCreadie claimed sixth ahead of Thornton Jr., seventeenth starting Ryan Gustin, series points leader Brandon Sheppard, and second provisional starter Daulton Wilson.
With the lengthy especially for television interviews of the top five, we headed for the gates ahead of the sport mod finale - there was an early call the next morning for this blogger! Apparently we missed another barn burner, as while Logan Veloz took the win from the pole, Tony Olson came from row eleven to a runner up finish! Brayton Carter jumped eight positions to third, trailed by Ben Chapman and Justin Becker.
It seems like every time I an able to make the two and a half hour trip to this fine facility, the racing is top notch. A quick, efficient show on an absolutely perfectly prepared track, a large crowd in the massive grandstands and a full pit area - I have come to expect nothing less! Thanks as always to Ricky and Brenda for their hospitality.
It is raining by the bucket full as I sit here this morning, so we will see when our next racing adventure will be! Thanks for reading.
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