On Friday we followed the MLRA Late Models as they began their two night "Corn State Nationals" on the quarter mile at the famed Davenport Speedway. This opening night event would match the $5,000 prize from the night before. Also on the Friday card were IMCA Late Models and IMCA Modifieds, both competing for a $1,000 to win plus Outlaw Street Stocks racing for a $500 top prize.
The addition of several competitors swelled the Super Late Model count to thirty four, backed by nineteen IMCA Late Models, twenty five IMCA Sport Mods and nine Outlaw Street Stocks. The time trial format on this night saw two cars at a time trip the clock, and qualifying went smoothly with Las Cruses, New Mexico driver Garrett Alberson pacing the field with a lap of 13.780 seconds. Alberson, who wheels the Quad City based Roberts Motorsports #58 would later make a clean sweep of the evenings' events, but unlike Tyler Erb the night previous, his pathway there was not an easy one.
Four ten lap heat races would set the first eight rows of the feature line up for the MLRA stars, with Alberson, Dillon McCowan, surprise entrant Dennis Erb Jr. and Frank Heckenast Jr. all collecting wins from the pole position. A pair of B mains added to the field, with Chris Simpson rebounding from heat race woes and Arizona racer Steve Stultz both victorious from outside row one. Two series provisionals would round out the twenty four car field.
As we had seen previously, there seemed to be some glitches in the MLRA procedures, but with all preliminary action in the books, the track crew went to work prepping the surface for feature racing. A generous helping of H2O required quite a bit of track packing before the Sport Mods could line up for fifteen laps, and by now it was "check your watch time" with the ever present city curfew looming.
Fortunately the full field of twenty five were on their best behavior. Jason Roth would shoot to the early lead ahead of Todd Dykema, with fifth starting Logan Veloz taking up the chase on lap two. Along with Tony Olson, those four would soon separate from the pack, catching slower traffic on lap six. As Dykema slipped back a bit, Veloz grabbed the lead just past the halfway mark. A pair of yellow flags came with ten laps scored, and following the Delaware Style restart Olson climbed to second while twelfth starting Brayton Carter threw his hat in the ring in fourth. Veloz would then race to the checkers first, followed by Olson, Roth, Carter and Rayce Mullen.
With the time crunch in evidence, post race festivities were postponed until all racing was completed, and the two dozen high powered Late Models came to the track for thirty laps. The first attempt at a start was called off when young Kayden Clatt spun in turn one. As luck would have it, that would be the only caution period of the race. Alberson powered to the lead only to be overtaken by Erb Jr. on lap two. Off like a shot, Erb Jr. quickly opened a commanding lead, catching the tail of the field on lap eight. Flying around the top of the speedway, the leader worked the lapped cars to perfection, with the best battle going on between Heckenast Jr. and Dustin Sorensen for third. But as the lap counter clicked past twenty and to the surprise of the gathered onlookers, Alberson began to quickly reel in the front runner. With five circuits remaining, he was in a position to challenge for the top spot, and on lap twenty seven he executed a successful slide job to clear Erb Jr. for the lead. Garrett would then drive on to the win in front of Erb Jr., Heckenast Jr., series points leader Chad Simpson and Sorensen. Tyler Erb would gain five spots to finish sixth, topping McCowan, Hilsabeck, Tony Jackson Jr., and Wisconsin visitor Chad Mahder.
Again, to the surprise ( and relief, I would think), of all, the post race hoopla was postponed as the Street Stocks came to the track for fifteen scheduled laps. Jesse Owen led Cary Brown ahead of a caution flag with one lap in the books. Back under green it was Allen Provenzano coming from his row four start to the front, taking along Landen Chrestensen in second. Chrestensen would soon move to the lead and as the front duo raced hard, apparent contact sent the leader for a 360 degree spin, bringing out a yellow flag with five laps to go. I am not exactly sure what then transpired, but suddenly all the cars headed for the pits and the race was called complete and the two front runners disqualified. This would give the victory to Brown over Blake Woodruff and Owen.
Only the IMCA Late Model event remained, with all but Matt Ryan lining up for twenty five laps. Pole sitter Jay Johnson charged ahead of his row one mate, Bryce Garnhart. The first caution came on lap three, and back to racing Johnson maintained his lead in front of a four car scrum for second involving Garnhart, Cruz Birkhofer, Nebraska visitor Cory Dumpert and row seven starter Travis Denning. Seven laps in Dumpert finally cleared that group for second with Denning taking command of third. By lap ten the top three were nose to tail and side by side, with Denning moving to the runner up position. He continued his charge, clearing Johnson for the lead one lap later. Dumpert would soon move to second, but by then Denning had stretched out to a considerable advantage. As the laps wound down tenth starting Jesse Bodin began to make his presence felt, and with only a pair of laps remaining he cleared Dumpert for second just ahead of a late caution. One more lap was scored before the yellow flag waved a final time, but despite Denning again brought back to the field, he remained out front for the green, white, checkers finish. Dumpert would regain the runner up spot at the checkers trailed by Bodin, Evan Miller and Joe Beal. Birkhofer finished where he started in sixth, besting Mitch Morris, fifteenth starting Chris Lawrence, Anthony Guss and Johnson.
Again, major kudos to the track staff for managing to complete the program in fine fashion against the ticking clock. Thanks to SR Promotions for their hospitality, with a special shout out to the very friendly and helpful lady at the pit shack! Tonight we will head back to Davenport for night two of the Corn State Nationals, and night three of four of our planned "racing staycation."
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