Quincy Raceways Beats the Rain on Sunday

 For only the sixth time in 2019 Quincy Raceways came alive on Sunday night. Fans, drivers, and officials for just a few hours were able to forget the seemingly every Sunday wet weather that has consistently plagued the .29 mile oval in this first full season of ownership by Jason Goble. However, before the night was over, Mother Nature was up to her old tricks, threatening completion of the program as strong winds accompanied by persistent sprinkles rolled in from the north.
  Sixty three cars in six divisions competed on what began as a scorching hot summer evening. Following qualifying for the UMP modifieds, eleven heat races and intermission, it was feature time. The IMCA sport mods were up first, with all seventeen cars taking the green flag for eighteen scheduled laps. Reed Wolfmeyer powered from the pole position to lead lap one before the carnage began. Following a caution after lap one was scored, sixth starting Austen Becerra grabbed the lead, with point leader and ninth starting Adam Birck moving to third behind Wolfmeyer. Good battles developed throughout the field on the by now smooth, slick track, but unfortunately there are simply too many in this class that cannot handle these optimal racing conditions. A total of seven caution periods, including one red flag situation in the first ten laps finally brought the action to the time limit and a green, white, checkers conclusion. Becerra picked up the win, with Birck in second. Wolfmeyer turned in a solid performance in third ahead of A J Tournear and Brandon Lambert.
 The UMP Pro Crate late model class was short on cars, but they picked up the action with just a single caution during the twenty laps. Defending track champion Denny Woodworth shot to the lead from outside row one over heat race winner Chuck Mitchell. Although Woodworth led all twenty laps running the cushion, Mitchell stayed on his bumper by making his #75C work on the bottom groove. Laine Vanzandt had a nice run to come home third ahead of Darin Weisinger Jr., Melvin Linder, and Cliff Powell.
  The IMCA sport compacts were scheduled next ahead of the UMP modifieds, and a strong wind began to blow and the sky darkened as eight cars came to the grid. Dylan Schantz paced the opening lap before Jeffrey Delonjay took over. Next it was Dakota Girard becoming  the third leader in three laps. A pair of cautions came on lap five, with the leader Girard spinning and having to restart at the tail. But by the eleventh circuit, Girard regained the top spot, taking the win over Jeffrey Delonjay, point leader Barry Taft, Jaden Delonjay, and Kimberly Abbott.
  The modifieds had a nice field of sixteen, with a handful of drivers making the trip north to gain some practice ahead of next weeks UMP Summernationals event. Front row starter Rick Conoyer took off at the drop of the green, with Rick Stevenson in pursuit. But Kevin Blackburn was on the move in the Mike Begley #B4, as he took second on lap three after starting fifth. Conoyer was running the high line around the speedway, while Blackburn worked the bottom. As lap eight was scored, they ran side by side, and Blackburn was ahead by a nose on lap nine. With no cautions, the leaders caught slower traffic on lap fourteen, and Stevenson closed in on Conoyer for second. Conoyer was stubborn on the cushion, and Stevenson made the pass for second on lap fifteen. Stevenson then closed the gap to first, but Blackburn held on to score the win. Conoyer followed Stevenson to the checkers, point leader Dave Weitholder was fourth, and Jacob Rexing ran fifth in his first trip to QR.
  The stands began to clear as ten of the twelve outlaw stock cars lined up for eighteen laps. Michael Larsen started outside row one, and charged to the lead. The sprinkles continued to fall through a lap two caution, but the cars stayed on the track and kept the surface in racing shape. Larsen led the distance for the win, besting Steve Dieckmann, Rudy Zaragoza, Dean Kratzer, and Dakota Girard, who did double duty on the night. Point leader Beau Taylor debuted his new ride, but scratched from the feature event along with Brandon Savage.
  With four two person cruisers in staging, I headed for the car, driving out of the light rain almost before leaving the grounds.
   Next Sunday will be the biggest night of the season at QR as the UMP Summernationals come to town, featuring a $5,000 top prize for the late models and $1,000 for the touring Summit modifieds. The sport mods will also be on the card and former racer Pat Dunker is leading the effort to add sponsors to increase the sport mod purse. It was also announced that the rained out visit by the wingless Iowa Sprint League cars will be made up on Saturday, August 3, with support classes to be determined.
  There are lots of choices for racing on this holiday weekend, and there also appears to be chances of rain in most locations, so where we show up will likely be determined by that angry Mother Nature!
  Racin' Down the Road wants to offer condolences to the family and friends of racer Jason Russell, who lost his life in a boating accident Saturday at Lake of the Ozarks. Jason and his #2J were a fixture at central Missouri speedways, and he will be missed both on and off the track.