It was nearly perfect weather Sunday afternoon as the cars and stars of the MARS Late Model and Modified tours as well as the Pure Cool Hart Limited Modified competitors rolled in to Adams County, Il. Speedway east of Quincy. The final tally for the three class program came in at eighty five entries plus the #14 Late Model of Reid Millard which eventually became a back up car in the feature for Kyle Hammer. In fact, drivers were on hand from eight states and one foreign country!
Promoters Jim and Tammy Lieurence were expecting a large turnout on both the pit and grandstand side, and that seemed to be the case, with neighboring Scotties Fun Spot offering up their parking areas for the somewhat late arriving throng.
There were a lot of laps put down on the .29 mile oval before actual racing began, with late model hot laps and qualifying - Tyler Erb topped the leader board as the only driver to break thirteen seconds at 12.907, modified hot lap, time trial combo - Josh Harris at 13.716 - and Limited Mod hot laps.
It took ten heat races and a pair of B Mains to set the feature fields, and those events moved along quickly ahead of about a twenty five minute intermission.
Late Models would roll out first in the feature lineup, with all twenty four drivers making the call as Hammer tagged the tail after issues in qualifying with his #26H. Forty laps would be the distance with a $5,000 check dangling on the line. Second and third heat winners Jason Feger and Ryan Unzicker would top the six car redraw and start in row one, while first heat winner Tyler Erb would start outside row three. Feger would be ahead by a nose as lap one was scored, but it would be Unzicker out front for the remaining thirty nine. Erb joined the party on lap three following Feger around the bottom of the slickened track while Unzicker operated higher on the semi banked oval. Slower traffic came into play about lap twelve - what happened to the scoreboard? - forcing the leaders to alter their lines. Three circuits later, Doug Tye looped his ride in turn four. and with the yellow light on but no where to go Erb made contact with both cars stopping on the track. Per MARS rules, both drivers were sent to the tail, much to the disappointment of the Texan in the #1 machine. One more stoppage came two laps later for Jonathon Huston, then the final twenty three laps clicked off quickly. It was now a two car battle between Unzicker and Feger, both having turned many laps here over the years. Traffic again became a factor about lap thirty one, and a couple of times Feger was able to sneak a peek inside the #24, but was unable to make a pass. Unzicker cruised to the win, with Feger unchallenged in second. The 2022 winner of this event, Tommy Sheppard Jr. rolled home third followed by Rodney Melvin and Lowell, Indiana pilot Rich Dawson. Sixth through tenth went to Jake Little, former Quincy regular Justin Reed, series rookie of the year leader Mike Harrison, Trevor Gundaker, and Quincy Raceways legend Mark Burgtorf. The MARS points leader coming in to the hight, Unzicker was able to stretch his advantage.
With the TV festivities complete, Modifieds rolled out for thirty laps and a shot at the $2,000 prize. Seven cars had been eliminated to give us a twenty two car starting grid. Heat winners Kyle Steffens and "The Kentuckian" Josh Harris sat on the front row while heat two winner and former track champion Michael Long lined up fourth beside Zeke McKenzie. Steffens shot to the early lead, opening a sizable advantage ahead of a yellow flag for Jacob Rexing, the opening night feature winner here in Quincy. Fifth starting Tyler Nicely used the Delaware style restart to move to the runner up spot before Harris reclaimed it one lap later. Steffens again pulled well ahead before slower traffic reared its ugly head about six laps from the checkers. Nicely was able to work back into second, then close quickly on the leader. The top three came to the checkers in tight formation with Nicely pulling alongside Steffens at the end. But it would be a flag to flag win for Steffens, the driver from St. Charles, Mo. The Kentucky duo of Nicely and Harris followed, while Long and Trevor Neville rounded out the top five. Peoria ace Allen Weisser was sixth,besting Rick Conoyer, defending track champ Austen Becerra, McKenzie, and Logan Veloz.
With the field whittled to twenty four from the thirty two signed in, Hart Limited Mods would line up for twenty laps. Running on the black slick track with the smaller tires would prove to be a daunting task, and I stopped counting caution flags when the red one waved for a multi car pile up in turn one with about four laps to go. Second generation driver Damien Kiefer looked strong in winning his heat but his pole start went for naught as his #0 quit just a pair of laps in to the action. Third starting Becerra, doing double duty in the Logan Cumby #8 then took over, and as long as he did not run out of fuel, he looked good to go! This race truly was a battle of attrition, but having come through the limited mod ranks, Becerra was up to the challenge, claiming the win. Local racer Reed Wolfmeyer was strong in second topping Matthew Edler and Chris Spalding. Proving that you are never out of a race in this division especially, Quincy racer Tanner Klingele was sent to the tail early after getting caught up in a caution, but worked his way back to fifth at the finish. Shad Prescott, James Hileman, weekly competitor Dakota Girard, T.J. Jackson, and Joe Rudy also turned in top ten runs.
Thanks to Jim and Tammy for always allowing me access to their fine facility, and to Matt Curl and his MARS staff along with Dewain Hulett and the Hart folks for a fun Sunday night of racing.
As of now, we are looking at perhaps a mid week night of racing, so stay tuned and we will hopefully see you somewhere as we continue Racin' Down the Road!
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