Sunday found us back at Adams County, Il. Speedway east of Quincy for another installment of the King of the Crates Late Model Special paying a cool $1,000 to the feature winner. In addition, UMP Modifieds, IMCA Northern Sport Mods, and non sanctioned Street Stocks and 4 Cylinder Compacts would fill out the line up.
Despite a less than encouraging forecast, the rain moved south, the skies cleared, and it was a beautiful evening to be at the track. Both car counts and attendance may have been affected by that same forecast, but still a solid count of seventy race teams signed in topped by nineteen UMP Modifieds.
Several of those Modifieds cracked the fourteen second mark in time trials, with Dave Weitholder leading the way with a quick lap of 13.830 seconds. A combination of draw and point invert for Sport Mods would set the heat race lineups for the remaining classes, and those eleven qualifying events clicked off in good time, marred by a three DQs in the Compact division.
Following a lengthy intermission during which the track was regroomed it was the Street Stocks coming to the track to kick off feature action. Four drivers were racing for the first time in 2023, giving us eleven competitors battling for fifteen laps. Sage Martin and traveler Ryan Arnett sat on row one, with Arnett leading the way early. Following a lap two caution, defending track champion Rudy Zaragoza moved to second, then he pounded the cushion to the lead on lap five. Rudy narrowly avoided disaster twelve laps in when Wes Mayfield, out for the first time this year, lost the handle on his #21M as the leader attempted to put him a lap down. Despite solid contact, Zaragoza kept his car rolling to maintain the lead even as the yellow flag wiped out his big advantage. Zaragoza took off as racing resumed, cruising to the win. Arnett rebounded to nip Jake Powers at the line for second while Martin and Brandon Boden completed the top five.
Late Models would be next, all fourteen entrants going for twenty laps. Tommy Elston and Denny Woodworth paced the field with Elston using the inside line to pull away from second running Jason Perry. Elston held a comfortable lead until he came upon three cars racing for position further back in the field. As he patiently picked his way around that trio, Perry was able to close the gap considerably. Finally Elston cleared the #42 of Patrick Shumaker and with no cautions to slow the action, he held a several car length margin as he drove to the win for the second time in two weeks. Perry was strong in second with Jamie Wilson third. Rookie Christian Miles gained five positions for a career best fourth followed by Woodworth. Braden Bilger led the second five, topping Sam Halstead, first time visitor Shaun Horstmann, Shumaker, and Jason Oenning.
Weitholder and Rick Conoyer led eighteen Modifieds to the green for eighteen laps. Austen Becerra chased those two, moving to third on lap four, then clearing Conoyer for second two laps later. Weitholder had opened a sizable lead, but a lap eight caution brought him back to the pack. A turn four jam up on the restart brought another yellow, then a red flag as two cars were hooked together. After a considerable delay as the cars were separated the race would stay green the rest of the way. Weitholder was committed to the high line while Becerra drove around the inside tire barrier, and the two top contenders ran side by side lap after lap. With twelve in the books Becerra finally nosed ahead out of turn four then slowly added to his lead all the way to the checkers. Meanwhile Mike Vanderiet Jr. and Conoyer staged their own side by side battle for third, with Vanderiet claiming the spot. Siloam Springs, Arkansas visitor Willie Gammill rounded out the top five.
It was another caution plagued Sport Mod feature, with six stoppages during the eighteen laps resulting first in a single file restart, then the time limit invoked. Amazingly, once the drivers were told over the raceceivers that time had expired, the final five laps went caution free. Patrick Phillips was the early leader, with first Josh Holtman, then Logan Cumby in pursuit. At the halfway mark Cumby was able to muscle inside Philips to the lead in turn four just ahead of three quick yellows. Reed Wolfmeyer advanced from row four to second during those three restarts before losing the spot to high flying Adam Birck in the closing laps. Ninth starting Tanner Klingele and Holtman also scored top five finishes.
Compacts would round out the action, with only eight cars left to battle for fifteen circuits. With Jeffery Delonjay lining up outside row one, the only battles for position would occur behind him. Fellow front row starter Landon Neisen chased Delonjay early before Dyllan Bonk powered to second on lap four. With Bonk solidly in second and the laps winding down, the power plant in his #2B apparently gave up with just two laps to go , a cloud of smoke billowing behind his ride. Neisen then crossed the line in second in front of Kimberly Abbott, Jeremy Carroll, and Jimmy Dutlinger.
The final checkers waved just ahead of 9:30.
Next Sunday night the MARS Modified Series will roll into the Bullring, with a $2,000 to win event. along with Crate Late Models, Street Stocks, Sport Mods, and 4 Cylinders.
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