High Temps and Hot Cars

It did not look like a good racing weekend when I rolled out of bed Saturday morning, as the rain was coming down pretty good here in northeast Missouri. A quick look at the maps on line offered some hope, so I made a call to Bob Litton in Iowa City, who told me it was sunny and hot there. As the missus and I headed out to snag some groceries, I phoned Fred and Darryl to assure them that our planned trip to West Liberty Raceway was still a go. As Keagan had other things going on, I also phoned old friend Gary Lupardus, and he filled the open spot in the Sonata as we headed north. With 34 Raceway and Jackson County Speedway not running late models, we were hoping a few extra might wander in to " Lib." Still we were surprised to see Mendon, Il hotshoe Keith Pratt roll through the gate. Keith is a regular at 34 as well as Quincy Raceways, and had never even been to the big fairgrounds half mile. He was sitting home Saturday with an urge to race, and so he did! He struggled a bit in his heat race, started 16th in the main event, but moved up to a respectable eighth place finish. He told me later he loved the track, but wished he had put on new tires for the feature. He said he stayed with old ones because of his starting spot, not expecting to advance through the tough field. We had plenty of time to watch Keith, because all the racing was in the middle of the pack. That's because former Liberty standout Ray Guss Jr. qualified for the pole position in the 25 lapper, and turned the race for first into a rout. Outside pole sitter Jeff Guengerich stayed close until a lap eleven caution for Sam Halstead who stopped in turn four. On the restart, ninth starting Kevin Kile bolted from fifth to the runner up slot. One lap later, Fred Remley spun in turn two, bringing out the only other caution of the race. From that point, Guss took off, cruising to the win. The younger Kile held off twelfth starting Andy Eckrich for second, with Mike Klinkhammer and Guengerich completing the top five. Sixteen cars took the green flag, with Jay Chenoweth and visiting Dave Schitker unable to make the call. Both drivers saw there mounts go up in smoke in heat race action.
The IMCA modifieds had started off the feature action, with 13 cars taking the green. Bub Irwin led lap one before Larry Herring charged to the front. Herring paced the field until Todd Hansen made a last lap pass for the win. Visiting Bob Dominacki took third. Hansen had been racing a late model throughout the week for the Kile Motorsports team in the Corn Belt Clash series.
Tyler Whalen, Mike Morrow and Nate Chandler staged an entertaining battle in the Sport Compact feature, with Chandler getting the win Whalen second, and Morrow third.
Although short on cars, the stock car feature was a real shootout. Cody Harris was the early leader, but by lap six, Harris, David Brandies, and visiting Andrew Burk were running three wide. Coming to the white flag, Burk looped his # 20B, bringing out the yellow. On the restart, as the field again took the white, Burk made contact with Marcus Ostofi, sending the # 17m into the inside wall. the race was called complete, with Brandies getting the win over Rod Statts and Harris.
The open modified feature may have been the pick race of the night, with 14 of the 16 cars taking the green. Larry Herring, one of several double duty mod racers, blew his engine in his heat, and Nick Hixson was loaded and gone by feature time. Scott dickey jumped to the early lead before a lap three yellow. Double duty Hansen retired then with lost oil pressure. By lap nine, Noah Coppes was challenging for the lead, but one lap later, tenth starting Ryan Dolan moved to second. The next ten laps were edge of your seat ones, as Dickey ran the middle groove, and Dolan tried both the top and bottom lines. Dolan finally found the high side in one and two and the low line in three and four to his liking, and the two second generation racers came to the white flag side by side. Ryan led his only lap at the end, Mike Schulte trailed Dickey in third, with Coppes fourth.
Although the heat races were slowed by several cautions, the show ended before 10:00, a real bonus for us weary travelers.
Sunday night found us back at Quincy Raceways for weekly racing, with Jeff Broeg joining us in the grandstands.
The PCRA crate late models were added to the Sunday card, racing for $1,000 to win, as they wrapped up a four night mini tour. Though short on cars, the crates were plenty long on talent. Bobby Dauderman led throughout, but not without a stiff challenge from Nick Lyons in the black # 8 ball sometimes driven by Scott Weber. The top two were chased across the line by Mark Oller, Tim Rataczyk, and Dustin Griffin. The crate lates have another date in Quincy in September.
The 16 car UMP modified field started the features off, but once again the yellow flag was the featured attraction. Nine times, the caution flew, eliminating half the field, including defending track champion Jared Schlipman and top contenders Dave Weitholder and Shawn Deering. Shawn was wheeling the # 00 of Ben Huff, as his # 16 is in the repair shop, but he could not take advantage of a front row start. Meanwhile, IMCA driver Brandon Savage continued to set the opace early, until losing a wheel on one of several lap eight restarts. At the same time, Steven Delonjay ducked to the hot pit area to change a flat tire, rejoining the tail of the field after challenging Savage. This turned the lead over to newlywed Vance Wilson. Wilsons ride was beat and battered, and he soon gave up the top spot to Robbie Reed. Meanwhile, Delonjay worked his way back to the front, taking over the lead on lap 18, and going on to his sixth straight win, tying Michael Longs track record in the mods. Reed took second, with Jake Griffin, Wilson, Ryan Meyer in tow.
Nine IMCA stock cars took the green flag, with Andrew Griffin and Abe Huls dueling for the lead. Abe picked up the win, with Terry Houston getting around Griffin for second. Beau Taylor and Jerry Jansen also had top five runs.
Thirteen IMCA late models checked in, although Justin Jennings lost his drive shaft in his heat race, ending his night. Darin Weisinger took off from the pole in search of his first win as the field jockeyed behind him. Denny Woodworth worked both the top and bottom grooves to move to the front, but Justin Reed got his # 1st hooked up on the high side, grabbing the lead and the win after a lap 21 caution. Woodworth took second ahead of Matt Bailey, Joey Gower, and Weisinger.
The hobby stock saw the return of early season sensation Bobby Anders, now wheeling Wes Mayfields # 21. Bobby was back in his familiar top spot, when he went pitside on lap eight, turning the lead over to steady Brandon Symmonds. The Keokuk, Iowa driver held off allcomers, collecting his first win over Tanner Klingele, point leader Steve Carlin, and Nathan Anders.
The 4 cylinder Wild Things brought the curtain down with a 12 lap finale. Seth Woodruff overtook point leader Casey Kendrick on lap nine for his first feature win. Craig Bangert, Kimberly Abbott and Robert Thompson rounded out the first five.
A couple of weeks back, I congratulated Kimberly Abbott on being the first lady racer to pick up a QR win since 1993. Inexplicably, I overlooked the colorful career of high schooler Sarah Woodhurst, who was a standout racer during the 4 cylinder Hornet days at QR. Not only did Sarah pick up five feature wins in that class, she also picked up a hobby stock checkers before ' retiring " to attend college at Mizzou. My apologies to a talented and young lady!
It is already August - the season is slippim=ng away, so get out to the races this weekend. See you there!