The MLRA season comes to a close this weekend at Tri City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Il. Two separate shows will be held, with the late models battling for $5,000 win on Friday. UMP modifieds would round out the Friday night card. Saturday would see the late models racing for a $7,000 to win finale, mods and B mods also in action. For the most part, the late model drivers could put their focus on the money, as Chad Simpson had pretty much wrapped up the points championship, while Kolby Vandenbergh would be crowned Rookie of the Year.
The late model field on Friday measured thirty three strong, while the mod turnout was a surprisingly light nineteen. With late model hot laps out of the way, the modifieds ran their combined hot lap/qualifying session. Owensboro, Kentucky driver Cole Falloway topped the chart with a quick circuit of 16.429 seconds. Late models followed, and the future was foretold, as nineteen year old Trevor Gundaker wheeled a borrowed car to a pace setting lap of 15.047 seconds. Trevor was practicing at his family owned Tri City track on Thursday when he broke a rocker arm in the engine of his familiar #11. So he placed a call to sponsor and fellow racer Reid Millard, who brought two of his #14 machines to the track for Friday racing. Millard even loaned his primary car to Gundaker and competed in his back up car.
Heat racing kicked off at 7:30, and in typical "start the fast cars up front" fashion, all three mod heats were won from the outside pole by Dean Hoffman, Rick Conoyer, and Timmy Hill. The late models were not far behind, as three of the four eight lappers were captured from the same starting spot - heat three won from inside row one by Gordy Gundaker. Heat one went to Moody, Missouri racer Austin Vincent, heat two topped by modified legend, late model rookie Mike Harrison, and the final heat by unretired Billy Moyer Sr., he of the 840 plus feature wins. This final heat produced a bit of drama, as pole sitter Tony Jackson Jr., winner of four of the previous six MLRA features, spun on lap two, restarted eighth, and raced his way back to the fourth and final transfer position.
A brief intermission followed, then a pair of late model B mains were run to fill rows nine through eleven of the feature grid. Track regular Jeff Herzog topped the first of those, coming from row two, while Ricky Frankel lined up outside row one and led the distance in B main number two.
A longer and seemingly unnecessary second intermission came next, but all was forgiven when twenty four late models lined up to run the first feature, set for thirty laps. Vincent and Harrison would fill row one. After Vincent paced the opening lap, Harrison then took over. Running the middle of the three eighths mile banked track, he stretched his lead as a gaggle of chasers ran nose to tail around the bottom. Trevor Gundaker had started in the fifth spot, and worked his way to second using an inside move around Vincent with ten laps scored. Two more trips around brought the first caution, as Kaeden Cornell saw his run end when his #50 went up in smoke, dropping a trail of liquid down the backstretch. This may have been a big break for Harrison, who was preparing to enter slower traffic. On the restart, Harrison held serve over Gundaker while Vincent lost the groove, falling to tenth. As the race hit the halfway point, Trevor powered to the lead, still running a low line, while Harrison tried to fight back working the top of the oval. Gordy Gundaker soon followed little brother into second with nineteen down, and Logan Martin joined the leaders in fourth. As Gordy grabbed the runner up spot, the yellow flag flew again as Rusty Schlenk slowed, his run over. Back under green, Trevor began to pull away, while Martin drove inside the still rim riding Harrison for third one lap ahead of a final caution with six laps remaining. For this final Delaware style restart, Gordy took the inside position forcing Martin to the outside. Nevertheless, Martin charged to second, then became a wall scraper as he tried to move to the front. Although he made it close at the checkers, it was Trevor Gundaker with the emotional win. Martin crossed the line in second ahead of Gordy. Brian Shirley lined up eleventh and raced to fourth, while Jason Feger was the hard charger, advancing eight positions to complete the top five. Harrison ran sixth ahead of Mark Burgtorf, Vandenbergh, Simpson, and fifteenth starting Justin Reed.
With post race festivities complete, all nineteen mods came trackside for twenty five laps. Disaster struck as the green flag waved, with outside row one starter Conoyer spinning in front of the field in turn two. A major pile up ensued, eliminating several contenders including Conoyer, Danny Ems, and Kenny Schrader. As racing resumed, Hoffman was out front, followed by Steve Meyer Jr., Michael Long, the damaged car of Dave Wietholder, and double duty Harrison. Long and Harrison advanced one position on lap four, and it was two more circuits scored when Long powered to the lead. With eight in the books, Harrison ducked to the infield, his night ended. Long was cruising with a big lead when the caution flag flew on lap later. Long was again well ahead when a second stoppage came five laps later. On this Delaware style restart, Wietholder came to life, driving from fifth to third. However the rim riding Long was again putting distance on the race behind him. A final caution came eight laps from the finish, and back under green, Wietholder moved to second using the middle line around the track. Hoffman fought back, and as he and Wietholder battled for second, Long again checked out for an impressive victory after starting in sixth, picking up $2,000 for his efforts. Wietholder won the battle for second, advancing six spots. Hoffman settled for third, while Hill and hard charger, fifteenth starting Jake Trebilcock, rounded out the top five.
By 10:15 we were in the car, much appreciated on a night when the temps were in the forties and the wind was again starting to howl.
MLRA will put a cap on things tonight, while I check out the baseball playoffs in the warmth of my living room!
Though the season is quickly winding down, there are still several options, check back next weekend as we will let the weatherman help guide us to the races!
No comments:
Post a Comment