Perry Cashes In At Quincy

Sunday night was the next to last night at Quincy Raceways for the 2013 season. 66 cars signed in on a pleasant evening in the five divisions. Steven Delonjay set quick time in the UMP modifieds at 15.903 seconds, then rolled a " 2 " to set the dash invert. As qualifying went along, the track improved dramatically, and UMP national late model point leader Brandon Sheppard blistered the .29 mile oval at 13.487 seconds. He rolled a " 3 "to set the late model dash lineup. Following heat race and dash action, the track crew took some time to knock down the cushion, and the feature track was plenty fast.
 The IMCA stock cars ran first, and after a false start, Brandon Savage charged to the early lead, building a big advantage. There was a great four car battle for the second spot between Jake Powers, Terry Houston, point leader Abe Huls, and Beau Taylor. Taylor was back after missing several weeks while he repaired his # 2T. A caution on lap ten brought Savage back to the pack, and on the Delaware restart, Huls jumped to second. But the night belonged to Savage, who again opened up a nice lead, taking his third win of the year on his first wedding anniversary. Huls, Houston, Taylor, and Jerry Jansen filled out the top five spots.
 All but one of the 20 UMP mods took the green flag, with Delonjay jumping to the early lead. With Dave Weitholder hot on his bumper, the front two pulled away, hitting slower traffic by lap seven. The first caution came on lap 11, as Adam Birck, and visiting David Baldwin from Perrysville, In. got together while lapping slower cars. On the restart, Justin Reed kept the front two in his sights, while Milo Veloz in the # 242 car out of Peoria, and Jake Griffin began a charge towards the front. The yellow flew again two laps later, and on that restart, Danny Lake powered into fourth. Veloz and Russ Coultas swapped the fifth spot on laps 17 and 19, but on lap 22 Veloz headed pitside, as Griffin took over the fifth spot. Delonjay lead flag to flag, but Weitholder pushed him all the way. Reed claimed third ahead of Lake, and Griffin came from row seven to take fifth running the high side of the track. It was win number 12 of the year for Delonjay.
  The UMP late models ran next, 11 strong. Baldwin came to town with both a mod and late model, but he was having engine issues in his late model, so he skipped qualifying and his heat race, tagging the tail for the 30 lap feature. Outside pole sitter Denny Woodworth jumped to the early lead, locked in a duel with dash winner Mark Burgtorf. Jason Perry soon joined the fray, and by lap eight he had moved to second as Sheppard made it a four car battle. On lap 11 Sheppard took third, four circuits later Perry muscled past Woodworth for the lead. On lap 16 Sheppard appeared to get in the back of Woodworth, and he then slowed and headed for the pits as the caution came out. On the restart, Jared Schlipman and Bill Genenbacher got mixed up, ending Genebachers run. Michael Long also retired at this time. From there the race stayed green until the end. Perry, the 2012 track champion took his first win of 2013, followed by Burgtorf and Woodworth. Schlipman and John Beck put on a show as they battled for fourth, with Jared taking the spot. Ron Elbe ran sixth, and Baldwin and his sick power plant was seventh, as Rickey Frankel dropped out on lap 19.
  The program took a dramatic slowdown as the 14 IMCA sport mods attempted a 20 lap feature.
Cautions too numerous to count dominated the action, with Tony Dunker prevailing for yet another win over Tanner Klingele, Todd Reed, Brad Holtmeyer, and Bob Cowman.
  The IMCA sport compacts closed out the night, with Alex Baker leading lap one. Brandon Lambert then took over on lap three but could not hold off the charge of Austen Becerra, who took over for good three laps later. Lambert stayed close to the checkers, with Spencer Coats, Kim Abbott and Alex Baker completing the top five.
 Next Sunday will bring the 2013 season to a close at Quincy Raceways, with the new promoters in place for 2014 already. There is still a months worth of racing in the area, so take in as much as you can. I know I will!