After a state quarterfinal victory last Saturday in Moberly,Mo., the Canton Tiger high school boys basketball team was indeed poised for their first ever Final Four appearance. So, leaving work early on Thursday, we made the two hour plus drive to the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo.. After leading from early in the first quarter on, we fell victim to a fourth quarter rally, losing by one point on a buzzer beating put back to Iberia,Mo. Loss number two on the season set up a third place match on Friday at Mizzou Arena. Again, it was an early out from work, back to Columbia, where the boys went out with a win and a third place trophy by topping the squad from Thayer,Mo. While Keagan and the boys were stunned on Thursday, they bounced back and celebrated a magical 28-2 season. Of course, it just happened to be my Saturday morning to work, so common sense would dictate that I use the remaining weekend to catch up on my rest. Yeah, right. Leaving the office around 11:00, I did a quick walk through of the Quincy Raceways car show at the mall. Although the count was down a bit, there was still some sharp looking new rides, including a new Lazer late model # 1ST, as Justin Reed moves back to the headline class.
 As the temperatures climbed, I made my way home to change clothes - at 1:30 I met up with buddy Fred and we headed back across Highway 19 again, this time en route to opening night at Montgomery Motor Sports Park, where buddy Darryl met us on his way back from a trip to Columbia. 72 degree weather and an amazingly dry facility greeted us at the reopened high banked dirt oval, promoted this season by UMP late model driver Jim Moon. With the unusually hard winter weather, we had no idea what to expect as far as car count, and on the surface, the numbers look disappointing. But the racing surface was well prepared, and the track stayed smooth, although the upper lines never really came in. Hop laps were advertised for 4:15but with opening night  - afternoon? -  and a new promotion team, we expected some delay. But the combination hot lap, qualifying sessions began by 4:45, with four classes of racing kicking off by 5:30. The early start times apparently fooled a lot of folks, many of whom showed up around feature time. By the end of the evening, the stands held one of the larger crowds I have seen at the facility. Moon has indicated he will keep the late afternoon start times every Saturday through the month of April.
The UMP street stocks ran first on the card all night, and with 8 cars in the pits, they ran an 8 lap heat and a 20 lap feature. Moon had stated, and the announcers repeated often, that each race, heats and feature would be allowed one caution flag for every five laps, plus one " freebie." Apparently the drivers took this to heart, as any spinning car was given as much time as possible to get moving again, and those that could, did. The SS feature went non stop green to checkers, with Tony Walker leading the distance over Mike Goodwin and Trev Jacoby. After staring on the outside pole, the third generation racer Jacoby fell back, then charged to second, But he looped his # 82J in turn four of the final lap trying a last ditch pass for the lead before recovering for third.
Next up was the UMP B-mods. The 11 car field covered 20 laps around the 3/8 (?) mile with only two stoppages. David Melloway took the checkers, with Jim Lafferty Jr, grabbing the runnerup spot from Gary Oliver on the white flag lap.
While the pair of announcers were lax at giving lineups and names in these  two classes, they stepped up their performance for the headline classes.
Third on the card were the UMP A mods, the largest class, with 18 entries. They were set for 30 laps of  feature action following two heat races. It had been announced that one lucky program holder held a special program that would allow them to pick a feature invert number for all classes. Apparently no one claimed the honor, so the features lined up straight up by heat finishes. This put former late model driver Corey Daughtery and the " Festus Flash " Rusty Griffaw on row one for the main. Griffaw jumped to the front, but a first lap caution set up a complete restart. When the green waved for the second time, Daughtery held the advantage. The only other caution came on lap 12, and on lap 13 Griffaw found a line around Daughtery down low to claim the lead. For the next 17 circuits, he opened a sizable lead, while Daughtery did the same over third place Jeff Asher.
The final race of the night was the 30 lap UMP late model finale. Only six cars had checked in to race, and veteran Mike Hammerle was unable to answer the bell in the heat or feature, even though the push vehicle tried hard to help the # 16H fire for the finale. Heat winner Michael Kloos and runner up Scott Schmitt, both Illinois hot shoes, sat on the front row.Schmitt took the early lead, holding the spot for the first 19 laps, as Kloos applied heavy pressure. As the top two came up on the slower car of Alan Westling on lap 20, Schmitt went high to make the pass, but Kloos found a line on the inside, passing both cars to take the lead. With the # 6K now in charge, the second running Schmitt brought out the only caution as he slowed with a flat tire on lap 23. He then retired for the evening, turning second over to Dewayne Kiefer. Although he had been trailing the leaders by a good distance, the St Genevieve,Mo. pilot found new life, putting pressure on the leader for the final seven laps. Kloos held on to claim the $1000 top prize ahead of Kiefer, with Greg Kimmons and Westling next, both one lap down to the leaders.
 The top three in all four main events did quick interviews in victory lane, which those in attendance seemed to enjoy. The final checkers waved at about 7:50, with a huge fireworks display beginning on the white flag lap of the late model main.
 Although the car count was light, the racing was good, and the new promoter kept the show moving along. I hope to make it back to MMSP soon.
  The temperature dropped dramatically on the drive home, and we  drove to church Sunday morning on snow covered roads, so our next racing trip may be who knows when? The NDRL show at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway for the final weekend in March has already been postponed, knocking one potential show from our schedule. Heres hoping for more days like Saturday, and more dirt track action . Hopefully we will meet again soon, Racin' Down the Road.