Kiefer Swoops In For The Win

Last month Dewayne Kiefer made his first ever visit to Quincy Raceways to compete in the UMP super late model division. While he was plenty fast, there was a guy named Dennis Erb Jr. who was just a little bit faster. Last night, as the
St Genevieve, Mo. driver made his second trip north to QR, there was no one standing in his way. The # 0 car lined up outside row one in the first heat and blasted to the win. With Mark Burgtorf, back in the # 7B this week, doing the same in heat two, the veteran pilots started side by side in the dash. This time Kiefer came from the inside to take the top spot and earn the pole for the 30 lap feature, with Burgtorf to his outside. Mark took the early advantage , but Kiefer soon powered around for the lead. The 14 time QR track champion then headed for the trailer, and Kiefer headed for victory lane. The only caution came on lap four for Rickey Frankel, who also soon called it a night. Justin Reed took up the chase, and made things interesting as the leaders encountered lapped traffic, but Kiefer remained in control for the $1,000 top prize. Jason Perry took over the track points lead by coming from row four to grab third, and the tracks most improved driver, Clint Kirkham advanced six spots to claim fourth. Young Jake Griffin came from row six to nab fifth, one spot below  his finish in the UMP modified feature earlier. Matt Bailey edged out UMP national points leader Jim Moon for sixth. The only multiple feature winner in the late model class is Dustin Griffin, with three, but he was sidelined after losing an engine Friday night at Tri City Speedway. The eginning of the Summernationals Tour surely affected the car count, which was a season low 13. However, that was higher than last seasons weekly average!
  The track was super fast for the features, after being rough and choppy at the start of the night. The area had some fairly hard rain showers Friday and Saturday night, and the track did not come around at the start. In the third UMP modified heat, rookie Scott Cale flipped his ride a couple times in turn three. The ambulance crew transported him to the hospital with neck pain, and during the wait for another ambulance, track crews reworked the surface, and the track suddenly was lightning fast. In fact, Kiefer turned the fastest feature lap yet this season.
  The UMP mod field was 24 strong, and Steven Delonjay, Dave Weitholder, Michael Long, and Shawn Deering waged war up front until Long jumped the cushion and spun in turn two. He then retired to the pits, while Deering left at the same time with suspension damage. The two car battle then went to Weitholder, who is in the midst of his finest season. Delonjay held second over Derrick Carlson, griffin and visiting Terry James.
  Abe Huls picked up his sixth IMCA stock car win over Terry Houston and Dallas Center, Iowas Ty Hill.
  The IMCA Sport Mods were a bit short on cars, but the quality of racing was indeed much better. Only two caution periods slowed the event, with Joe Bliven holding off Tony Dunker and Jim Gillenwater in the best sport mod feature yet at QR.
   The fussin' and fuedin' is escalating in the IMCA Sport Compact class, and what used to be a bathroom break class at the Bullring has become a popular attraction.
There was a ton of back and forth in the 12 laps, and when the checkers waved, it was for Robert Thompson. Defending class champ Seith Woodruff had issues in hot laps and his heat, but picked his way through the feature for second, with third going to Chuck Fullenkamp, who came from the back of the 16 car field
in the final four laps.
The hobby stocks closed out the night with more action. Brian Hoener and Jake Powers were dueling up front when contact sent Hoener spinning. It was the end of the night for the # 5, while Powers found himself at the back of the pack. When the checkers flew, he was back to second, but Tanner Klingele took the top spot, with Brandon Symmonds third.
  Since going to the later summer start, QR has had issues during the night, and the final flag waved about 10:30 last night. Still the racing was good, and hopefully the hour delays have run their course.
  On July 1 the late models will get the night off as the MOWA 410 sprint series comes in, the Friday July 6 the UMP Summernational Hell Tour makes a stop for a $7,500 to win event.
  Sunday was my only night of racing this past week, and things don't look a lot better for this weekend, but you never know! See you at the track.