Sunday night meant close to home racing, as we took our familiar spots atop the stands at Adams County Illinois Speedway in Quincy.
Sixty five teams signed in to race in the five division program. It was another hot, humid night at the track.
Heat race action clicked off in timely fashion ahead of a twenty minute or so intermission, then it was feature time.
Eleven UMP Pro Crate late models lined up first for twenty laps. Heat one winner Braden Bilger took off from the pole position, leading the opening circuit while fourth starting Tommy Elston charged to second. Two more laps and it was Elston moving to the lead. He then began to stretch his lead, pounding the cushion in turns one and two, then ducking low at the other end. Surprisingly, the pack chasing him all ran nose to tail on the inside line. He had nearly a straightaway lead when the yellow flag waved with eleven laps to go for Denny Woodworth, who suddenly slowed his #45DW. Back under green, Tommy again built a lead as Bilger, Darin Weisinger Jr., and Chase Osterhoff battled for second. The caution came a final time with seven laps to go as rookie James Dickerson had issues in turn two. Osterhoff grabbed the runner up spot from Bilger on the Delaware style restart, but there would be no catching Elston. Bilger held on to third in front of Weisinger Jr. and Cody MaGuire. Sam Halstead ran sixth, while Woodworth came from the tail to seventh. Jeff Dotzert, Jason Oenning, and Darren Cawthon, out for the second time in his #74 rounded out the top ten.
Eight street stocks made the fifteen lap feature call. Steve Grotz and Jake Powers would sit on row one after heat two winner Rudy Zaragoza forfeited his front row start for neglecting to cross the scales following his win. Grotz led the first time around ahead of a yellow for a Zaragoza spin. Back to racing, Powers pressured Grotz lap after lap, but the veteran driver kept his #22G out front to the checkers. Zaragoza rebounded to third at the halfway point, but could not catch the leaders, despite Powers running minus the nose piece from his #0. Pete Stodgel and Chad Myers completed the top five.
The UMP modified twenty lapper started out as the type of race that makes one consider changing hobbies. Six yellow flags marred the first six laps of racing, with considerable time spent attaching cars to wreckers and struggling with realignments. Drake Stevenson, a much improved driver at the speedway, captured the first heat then held the top spot in the feature until lap eleven. Rick Conoyer, who earlier in the evening set quick time for the mods, then sneaked into the lead, taking along track points leader Austen Becerra in second as Stevenson was shuffled back several spots. Three laps later, Becerra grabbed the lead, then pulled away from Conoyer on the black slick track. With the cautions out of the way, Austen cruised to his sixth win of the season at ACS. Mark Burgtorf made a late charge on the low line to the runner up spot after starting seventh. Dave Weitholder rebounded from a mid race bobble to third, with Conoyer and Stevenson finishing fourth and fifth.
After the modified marathon we needed a smooth race, and the 4 cylinders delivered. All but one of the fourteen entrants lined up for fifteen laps. With East Moline Speedway rained out, Nick Proehl made the haul south from Milan, Illinois and paced the first two circuits. As lap two was scored, Jeffery Delonjay tried to squeeze under Proehl entering turn one, ran out of room and spun into the tire barrier, bringing out the lone caution of the race. When racing resumed, there was a three wide scrum up front, with Blue Grass, Iowa ace, Cyle Hawkins emerging with the lead. He was able to put some breathing room between himself and some side by side nose to tail racing for second. As the checkers flew, it was Hawkins out front, trailed by Jimmy Dutlinger. Delonjay was able to race back to third, topping Kimberly Abbott and Derrick DeFord.
The final act would be eighteen laps of IMCA sport mod racing. All but one of the seventeen signed in lined up, with Austin Poage and Kyler Girard pacing the field. Poage was strong early, holding off row two starter Logan Cumby. Points leader Adam Birck charged from row five to third by lap five. At the halfway mark, Adam drove under Cumby for second, and on the next lap tried to do the same to the leader. Contact sent Poage spinning bringing out the caution, and track officials sent both Poage and Birck to the tail for the restart. Cumby inherited the top spot, and he maintained the advantage for the final eight circuits. Josh Holtman turned in a strong performance to claim runner up honors. Tanner Klingele was third followed by Kyler and Dakota Girard.
The final checkers came about 9:00P.M. Thanks to Jim, Tammy, and their team for another Sunday night of high speed action!
The high powered MLRA late models have a three night swing through Iowa coming up this week, starting Thursday night at the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction, where yours truly hopes to be next.
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