Terbo Outlasts Marlar at Tri City

 Thursday night the Lucas Oil late models began a four night swing through the mid west by making up the Hoker 50 at Tri City Speedway in Granite City, Il. The event, originally scheduled and rained out in April will be followed tonight by another 50 lap, $12,000 to win points race at Kevin and Tammy Gundakers' 3/8 mile speed plant before the series moves to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. for a pair of $15,000 to win battles.
  Thirty one super late models checked in, accompanied by twenty five Summit Racing Equipment modifieds looking for a $2,000 top prize.
  Following late model hot laps, the modifieds hot lapped/qualified together, four cars at a time, with Michael Long topping the card at 16.160 seconds. Derrick Black, driving his dads' #10X saw his night end with mechanical issues at this point, and late arrival Mark Enk did not take qualifying laps.
  The late models timed next, divided into four groups, one, two, or three at a time. Tyler Erb wound up atop the leader board at 14.543 seconds. Rickey Frankel, who lost an engine while finishing eighth in the Hell Tour race Sunday at Quincy Raceways, failed to qualify after hurting his back up power plant in hot laps.
  As is so often the case with shows that use time trial qualifying and straight up starts, the heat race winners generally come from row one. In modified action, Long in heat one and Trey Harris in heat three took wins from a pole start, while Tyler Nicely came from row two to best pole sitter Rick Conoyer in the middle eight lapper.
  Erb led the ten lap distance from the pole to take the first late model heat over Chris Simpson, Stormy Scott, and Scott Bloomquist, who began his second attempt to return behind the wheel after suffering serious injuries in a motorcycle accident earlier this year.
  Mike Marlar started on the pole of heat two and was out ahead of a jam up in turns one and two that scrambled the field. At the checkers, seventh starting Kyle Bronson ran second to Marlar, followed by Devin Moran and Billy Moyer Jr.
  Jimmy Owens captured heat three from the pole, besting Tim McCreadie, Michael Norris, who is subbing for the injured Don Oneal, and Rick Eckert who is piloting the Allen Murray #2 this weekend.
 In the final qualifier, Earl Pearson Jr. was victorious from the inside row one ahead of Josh Richards, Hudson Oneal, and Shannon Buckingham.
  With heat race action complete, an intermission that stretched well over thirty minutes included an autograph session in the commons area behind the grandstands for the sixteen late model drivers already qualified.
  With twenty two modifieds still running, their B main was scrapped, as a pair of late model consys ran next. The first twelve lapper featured eight cars, with the top three moving to the main event. Series points leader Jonathon Davenport, who had timed poorly and started seventh in his heat, came from row three to take the win, overtaking Tim Manville, who held the lead until turn four of the final lap. Shannon Babb also made the cut.
  With the Frankel scratch, only six cars lined up for the final qualifier. Gordy Gundaker led the distance in front of Jesse Stovall  and Austin Rettig, who ran down and passed Rusty Griffaw on the final circuit to claim the final spot.
  Provisional starting spots went to the top two in time trials not already in the show, with Billy Moyer and Daryn Klein taking those spots, and defending track champion Michael Kloos getting the Tri City provisional.
  Another lengthy delay preceded the late model headliner coming to the track. During this time those of us in the crowd were apparently supposed to be entertained by the audio portion of the television broadcast of the event to those nestled comfortably at home in their recliners.
  During parade laps, the gremlins continued for Davenport, who ducked to the infield work area with mechanical issues, rejoining the field at the tail. As the green flag waved, Owens charged to the lead from outside row one. The first caution came at lap two, as Manville slowed with front end damage, tagging the tail after a trip to the work area. The Delaware restart saw Marlar grab the second spot from Erb, while sixth starting McCreadie slipped around Pearson for fourth. Owens began to open a lead, hugging the low groove, while Marlar also separated himself from the battle for third. By lap thirteen, Marlar was closing the gap, and two more circuits found Owens catching slower traffic. The second yellow waved at lap seventeen for a slowing Richards, who restarted at the tail. The next stoppage came when Norris smacked the wall twenty laps in. At this point, Davenport lined up eighth for the restart, even as he looked to have damage to his rear spoiler. Now Erb took the runner up spot, charging around the top of the track.  Erb and Owens then began a back and forth duel, with Erb scored ahead on lap twenty three. Beginning on lap twenty seven until the leaders again caught slower traffic ten laps later, Owens and Erb swapped the point numerous times, with Erb now leading. Marlar had continued to lurk in third, and at lap thirty seven he powered to second. Lap forty saw him claim the runner up spot, just ahead of a yellow for Davenport, who smacked the front stretch wall, ending his night. With less than ten laps remaining, the field was lined up single file. As Owens began to fade, a two car battle was shaping up, with Erb still running the high line and Marlar working down low. A final caution came with five laps left, as Bronson was forced to give up a top ten run. The two leaders resumed their duel, and although Erb flirted with the wall, he did not falter, taking the win. Marlar led McCreadie, Owens, and Pearson in the top five. Moran came home sixth in front of Simpson, Oneal, Bloomquist, and Scott.
  As the television interviews took us past the 10:30 mark, the modifieds lined up for thirty laps. Nicely took off from outside row one in front of Long before a lap two caution. The track was now becoming quite slick in the turns, and when the caution waved again at lap six, we regretfully made the decision to head for the car. Mike Harrison was up to fourth at this point after starting eighth,  and reports this morning show that he took the win ahead of Trent Young,  tenth starting Kenny Wallace, Conoyer, and row six starter Dean Hoffman.
  If it sounds as if I am a bit irritated, that would indeed be the case. Television or not, a two class show on a week night with fifty six cars should not take four hours plus. That being said, the five of us will once again head south tonight for round two of the four race swing. The UMP Pro Crate late models have been added to the card tonight, and it is Friday, so we shall see...
  Thanks for reading!