Holiday Racing Far and Near

We started off the hot holiday racing weekend with a trip to Federated Auto Parts
I-55 Raceway in Pevely,Mo. The MOWA sprint car series was making their first ever visit to Ken Schrader and Mike Marlers 1/3 mile oval, and having never seen sprints on the super fast St Louis area oval, I was looking forward to the show. Plus the UMP late models were racing for $2,000 to win, UMP modifieds for $1,200 and AARA sportsman cars for $400. The allure of a four class show made this a can't miss event. It was an especially good deal for buddy Fred, as all past and present military were admitted free. Although I am not a veteran, I am very proud of the track owners for doing this!
  There were 33 sprinters signed in, with a couple of heat race scratches. The open wheel hotshoes drew for starting positions, but the track had their new scoreboard in operation, with hot lap times being shown. The fastest lap i saw flash up was a 10.2 second circuit, well over 100 MPH!
  I-55 normally does not use time trial qualifying, but for this show, they decided to use group qualifying during hot laps for late models and mods, putting 3-5 cars on the track at a time. Combined with a late start as they tried to get enough water on the track to counter the high heat and bright sun, it was 7:56 before heats began, an hour later than we have come to expect at Pevely. I don't know what the status is of long time announcer Mike Meuer, but there was a different person sharing the mic with support class announcer Paul Aubachon. While he was well informed and easy to understand, MOWA had their own PA person who spoke much too softly, so as a sprint car novice, I was not always sure who I was watching. None the less, it was entertaining to watch Jerrod Hull start at the back of his heat race and come to the front for the win, then earn ther feature pole with a victory in the dash. Bret Triplett wound up on his side in the dash with suspension damage, but was able to make it back out for the 25 lap finale. Ben Wagoner was running seventh in the eight car dash when the yellow came out, but he found something on the bottom of the high banked oval and advanced to third. With the 25 late models, 26 mods and 24 sportsmen having completed their heats, intermission came late at 9:56. But track personnel used the time to rework the slick surface. The sprint feature ran first, and it was obvious Hull was the man to beat. Behind him, Jimmy Hurley was running a strong second, while eighth starting Triplett advanced to third. Following the first caution on lap seven for a smoking Paul May, Triplett seemed to lose his edge. The leaders hit traffic by lap 13, meanwhile Corey Weyent came from row seven to the runnerup spot. With Hull with a straightaway advantage, the second and final yellow waved for a smoking Hurley, who was running fourth. Still no one had an answer for Hull, who took the win over Weyent, Jim Moughan, Mike Hess, and Geoff Dodge.
  All 25 late models took the green flag, with Brian Shirley and local favorite Randy Korte making up the front row by virtue of heat wins. Heat three winner Jason Crump, and defending national champion Ryan Unzicker filled row two. Korte took the early lead, with a caution on lap four for a spinning Randy Estes. On the restart, Korte ran the high side, with Unzicker applying pressure in the low groove. While Shirley ran third, Dewayne Kiefer and Bobby Pierce were battling behind the leaders on the very bottom of the track. Veteran Ken Schrader powered past both cars on the top, and on lap nine, Pierce gave Kiefer a nudge that sent the # 0 spinning. With a trip to the back on tap, Pierce retired to the pits, while Kiefer went to the tail of the field. Following the restart, Unzicker gained the advantage, and worked traffic well as he caught the tail cars on lap 19. Former UMP crate racer Caleb Ashby moved from a row seven start to fifth, before the final caution flew for what reason I am not sure on lap 23,with three laps remaining. Unzicker held on for the win, followed by Korte,Shirley, Jason McBride, with Schrader regaining fifth. Ashby, Jason Feger, Rickey Frankel, Andrew Johns, and Dave Jumper completed the second five. It was fun to see legendary Ed Dixon back on the track in his trademark # 50, although he did not have a strong run on Saturday.
  Mark Miner started on the pole of the mostly used up oval for the modified 20 lapper, and he stayed glued to the bottom groove for a flag to flag win. With Rusty Griffaw shadowing Miner waiting for a bobble, Michael Long elected to try and fins something on the top of the track. Slowed by a handful of cautions, Michael finally gathered enough momentum to overtake Griffaw for second before running out of laps. we checked out at 11:30 as the sportsman cars prepared to run the last race of the evening. Although I do not always have a lot of patience for the time it takes to run a sprint show, seeing them on the fast 1/3 mile was indeed worth the trip. I-55 remains one of my favorite tracks, even being 2 3/4 hours from home.
  Sunday night it was back to Quincy Raceways for weekly UMP and IMCA racing. With a $10,000 to win UMP show in Pontoon Beach,Il, 2 1/2 hours down the road, we expected to be down a car or two, but still their was a good field of 16 UMP super late models on hand. We even had one first time vistior for 2012, as Cuba, Il ace Steve Lance Jr. checked in. Steve had collected the main event at the just reopened 1/4 mile facility in New Florence, Mo. formerly know as Montgomery County Speedway. Steve finished third behind Mark Burgtorf in the # 7B, and Jason Perry in heat one, and was qualified for the position dash, but found a broken valve spring in his engine, ending his night. UMP national point leader Jim Moon scored the heat tow win over Justin Reed and Denny Woodworth. After coming up short a couple times this season, Burgtorf was not to be denied this week, capturing the dash, and  aflag to flag win in the 30 lap finale. By the time the only yellow flew on lap 23, Maek had lapped up to the tenth place car, and even though Woodworth restarted alongside, he took off on the bottom groove and cruised to his first win of the season at his home track. The victory followed a win on Friday night in the # 7B UMP car at Pontoon Beach and a third place run in the Richard Realty # 15R IMCA machine Saturday at 34 Raceway. Mark tells me that car owner Lynn Richard is adding a Pierce chassis to his stable out of Mt Pleasant, Iowa, so Mark will now have three cars at his disposal. Woodworth, Perry, Moon and two time winner Dustin Griffin trailer Burgtorf to the checkers.
 The IMCA stock car count of eight was less that hoped for, but again the racing was good. While Darin Weisinger was strong in a heat race win, Terry Houston went pitside with a flat tire. In the main event, Terry got in a tangle early, and found himself a straightaway behind the pack. To his credit, he kept rolling, running down the leaders before a collision between the damaged car of Michael Larsen and Gabe Harrison brought him to the pack. it was the only stppage of the feature. Still Abe Huls was the man to be, as he led the entire 15 laps for the win ahead of Jerry Jansen, Weisinger, and Houston.
 Ten hobby stocks took the green flag, with Brandon Symmonds taking a flag to flag win in the fifteen lap caution free event over point leader Jake Powers and Tanner Klingele.
  A season high 18 IMCA sport compacts had some bumpin' and bangin' in an entertaining 12 lap finale. Chuck Fullenkamp came from Fort Madison, Iowa to grab the win over a persistent Casey Lambert, and Andrew Davis.
  Diminishing an otherwise quality show, the two modified classes suffered through caution periods too numerous to count. The IMCA sport mod class actully hit the time limit of one minute per lap plus five minutes after six of 20 laps, the ran the final 14 with no stops. Modified rookie Bobby Anders slid up the track mid race, and veteran Tony Dunker took advantage to pick up his fourth win in six weeks at QR. Another veteran, Vance Wilson finished third in his second week in the class.
 The UMP mod feature ran first, and if they did not hit the time limit, they came close! Former track champ Jared Schlipman collected his first main event win of 2012. A mid race altercation involving Steven Delonjay and Dave Weitholder ended Weitholders night, but Delonjay survived to nab second over Shawn Deering, Robbie Reed and Jake Griffin.
 Beginning next Sunday, June 3, Quincy will move their starting times back one hour for the summer months, with hot laps at 5:45 and racing at 6:30.
 See you at the races!