Long First Repeat Winner at Quincy

Sunday was my only race night of the weekend, and it was back at my regular haunt, Quincy Raceways.
Five classes of cars were set to do battle, with 67 entrants on the card. There were two cars in the pits when Keagan and I arrived - Joe Bliven with his # 20JB IMCA sport mod - Joe doubles as a track worker before the show - and the # 57J super late model. Initially I assumed it to be Bub McCool, but found out instead it was Edinburg,Indiana hot shoe Chad Stapleton. When I had seen Chad previously, it was in #32. The team had been the victim of several rainouts, and had wound up in Peoria,Il Saturday night where they picked up the feature win, so they decided to come on to Quincy before heading off to Florence,Ky.
 Qualifying, lead by Michael Long in the UMP mods at 15.225 and Clint Kirkham in late models at 13.737, and the 11 heat races rolled off in short order. Following about a 20 minute break, the IMCA stock car feature came to the track, and the pace of the night slowed dramatically. The normally efficient stock cars actually bumped up against the time limit, although they did manage to run all 15 laps. Michael Larsen had suffered a non racing shoulder injury late in the week, so he recruited former late model driver Kevin Tomlinson to take over the driving chores of the # 48. Kevin and veteran Jim Powell dueled up front early before Brandon Savage took over the top spot on lap three. Brandon stretched out a straightaway lead before the carnage began. The first yellow waved on lap ten, and point leader Jake Powers headed to the hot pit with a flat. The Delaware restart put third running Abe Huls and Tomlinson side by side behind Savage. On the restart, Beau Taylor spun in turn two, and one lap after that restart, defending champion Terry Houston spun, collecting Powers, who stayed on the track with serious front suspension damage. Despite the damage, Powers climbed back to fourth before spinning in turn four. The resulting contact knocked the entire rear end out from under Taylors car, ending the night for both and Darin Lambert, as well. With a green, white, checkers finish set up, Savage continued to lead. Tomlinson eased past Huls, and when Savage changed lines and  left the low line open out of turn four coming to the checkers, Tomlinson stole the lead and the win.
  The UMP modifieds were up next, with 17 of the 20 car field taking the green. Point leader Steven Delonjay and Long shared the front row, and they battled side by side with Long holding the advantage when the yellow waved on lap four. Again, yellows create yellows, but after a false start, the battle resumed. By lap 15, Delonjay had the advantage as he and Long began lapping cars. Steven dove under Danny Lake in turns three and four, and Lake went up the track, collecting Long. Track officials charged Delonjay with the caution and as Long has spun, both went to the back of the pack, turning the lead over to Dave Weitholder. When the caution flew again on lap 19, The two had advanced to 7th and 8th, but one lap later, Delonjay went to the infield with a flat tire. As the yellow came out on lap 22, Long was back to fifth, and a lap 24 caution set up another green, white, checkers run. Contact with a lapped car at this time took out second running Robbie Reed. On the final shootout, Long charged to second, but Weitholder held on for his first feature win of 2013 at QR. It was his second win of the week, as he captured the Hell Tour mod feature Wednesday in Jacksonville,Il., then blew an engine earlier in the weekend!
 After the King of the Bullring Challenge on Tuesday at QR, the IMCA sport mod count was down, with only 11 cars and only nine took the feature green. Greg Uppinghouse took the early lead, but slowed on lap two, turning it over to Tanner Klingele. The caution waved on lap six, and again it took a couple tries to get back to racing. Jeff Delonjay rode the top side to the front on lap eight, and two laps later point leader Tony Dunker took over second. Dunker worked the high side, but could not get around Delonjay, who picked up his second win of the season.
  All 15 UMP super late models came to staging, but a pile up on the start pared the field. there were several different opinions on exactly what happened, but as the field came to the green,the middle of the pack took off faster than the leaders, and as a result, Stapleton found himself doing a complete rollover. Complaining of back pain, he was transported to the local hospital, but has since been released and the team is headed to Kentucky. Jared Schlipman was also knocked out of competition in the mishap. Polesitter Jerry Lierly was charged with the caution and sent to the back of the pack, soon retiring to the trailer. Double duty Michael Long got the jump at the green, and never looked back. Eighth starting Denny Woodworth charged through the pack and was hot on his heels for the early part of the race before fourth starting point leader Mark Burgtorf, who had fallen back early used the high side to take the runnerup spot. The event went caution free after lap one, and Michael became the first two time late model feature winner of the year. Following Burgtorf and Woodworth was Rickey Frankel, Kirkham, Robbie Warner, and Jason Perry, the only cars still running at the checkers.
 The IMCA sport compacts finished off the night, with ten starters. Again, a first lap yellow slowed the action, but Laine VanZandt took off from the green, and although Pat " Skip " Dunker pressured him throughout the 12 laps, Laine held on for I believe his second checkers of 2013. Austen Becerra took a trip to the hot pit during a mid race caution as his # 22 did not seem to be running at full power. He came back to edge out point leader Kimberly Abbott for third.
 Don't forget the UMP Summernationals stop this Saturday at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, the point race for the tour is heating up, and the car counts are holding up as well as I can remember. This should be a " can't miss " show. Hope to see you Racin' Down the Road.