Burgtorf Takes Quincy Win

My three race weekend ended at " home " on a hot, muggy Sunday at Quincy Raceways. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the heat, car counts were down in several classes. But the racing was top notch, with a minimum of caution periods moving things along. Oddly enough, it was the normally reliable IMCA stock cars that struggled the most. It began with a rough driving DQ in the first heat, and continued through a time limit feature. In only his second week out, Jeremy Buss jumped to the early lead in the 15 lap finale. On lap six, Terry Houston snared the lead, but it was negated by the caution. On the restart, Brandon Savage vaulted from third to first, and Abe Huls charged from fifth to second, all with the help of the Delaware restart. More caution periods saw Jake Powers and Jimmy Lynch go by the wayside, but Savage had opened a big lead when the yellow waved again on lap 12. Huls reclaimed second from Houston on the restart, but the caution waved again for a tractor tire kicked out on the track. With four laps still to go, we had hit the time limit - the next flag would be the checkers. Again Savage checked out, and when the caution came out with two laps to go, the race was called complete. Savage has put together a string of runner up finishes, but tonight he stood in victory lane. Huls held off Houston for second.
  The UMP modified 25 lapper was next, with 13 cars taking the green. Fast dash winner Steven Delonjay and fastest qualifier Michael Long shared the front row. Delonjay jumped to the lead, with Long in pursuit until he pulled to the infield on lap nine with what proved to be a broken crankshaft. Robbie Reed took up the chase, but Delonjay cruised to the win, lapping up to the sixth place car in a caution free event. Reed held off Dave Weitholder and Jake Griffin at the checkers.
  Next up was the IMCA sport mod event, and the only stoppage in the 15 lapper was what was probably a too quick yellow on lap six. Last weeks winner, Jeff Delonjay could not make the call, leaving eight starters. Joe Bliven led early before Tony Dunker took over for good on lap three. The win was not easy for Dunker, however, as Tanner Klingele powered past Bliven and hounded the # 3 to the end.
 Only nine UMP late models checked in, with outside polesitter Denny Woodworth leading the pack into turn one. The late model lawyer was in pursuit of his first win of 2013, and he had his way for 26 laps. By that time, Mark Burgtorf had overtaken Michael Long, and ran down the # 45DW. Mark spent the next couple trips out of turn four trying to stick his nose under Denny. Then on lap 28, he jumped to the high side and powered around for the lead and the win in another caution free race. Woodworth settled for second ahead of Long, fast qualifier Rickey Frankel, Clint Kirkham, and Bill Genenbacher, the last car on the lead lap.
 The final race on the car was the IMCA sport compact 12 lapper with 11 starters. Austen Becerra took the early lead and looked to be in charge, but Skip Dunker had other ideas. Dunker took over on lap three and held on to give the Dunker brothers a pair of wins. Laine VanZandt has been hot of late, and he moved to the second spot, with Brandon Lambert coming home third.
 The finals checkers waved at exactly 9:00.
  I was surprised not to see Jason Perry in action in the late model event on Saturday in West Burlington, and learned upon arriving at QR last night that the defending track champion is in the hospital. Get well soon, Jason! Another MIA in the late models was Justin Reed, who will be sidelined  for some time with engine woes. The dog days are upon us!
 Congratulations to Shannon Babb, who picked up UMP Summernationals win # 82 Sunday night in Danville,Il, tying Billy Moyer for the all time series lead. The series wraps up next weekend, and hopefully we will get back to seeing a few of the traveling late models at QR.
 As of now I have no specific plans for next weekend other than Sunday night in Quincy, but maybe I will see you Racin' Down the Road.