Pierce Invades MARS

  After watching the weather forecasts throughout the week, Saturday we headed south for our first visit of 2019 to Ray Marler and Ken Schraders' Federated Auto Parts I-55 Raceway near Pevely, Missouri. Spring flooding of the nearby stream lasted well into summer, leaving a mess behind, and as a result, it was mid July before any racing took place at the 1/3 mile high banked facility. Having been forced to cancel several high profile shows, Saturday would be the first late model " special " of the season, as the cars and starts of the MARS series stopped by for night number two of a three night swing which began with a Friday stop at nearby Tri City Speedway near Granite City,Illinois and is scheduled to finish off with Sunday racing at the Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, Illinois.
  The Saturday card featured a $3,000 winners check for the late models. Joining them on the card were four regular weekly classes, the UMP modifieds, UMP Pro Mods, UMP/AARA Sportsman, and UMP/AARA Pro 4 Stocks. A strong total of 108 cars checked in on a hot and humid Saturday night.
  Following hot laps, the action began with time trial qualifying for the late models. Although still over 1/2 second off the track record, surprise entrant Bobby Pierce set a blistering pace of 12.648 seconds on a tacky track that stayed fast and mostly smooth all night long. The appearance by Pierce in the twenty two car field was unexpected, as he had announced on social media that he would be taking the weekend off. With preparations mostly done for next weeks race in Mansfield, Ohio, the team made a last minute decision to load the back up car and head to Pevely.
  Setting quick time put Pierce on the pole for heat one, and although his row one mate Rickey Frankel shot to the early lead, Pierce used one of his familiar slide jobs to take the lead and the win over Frankel, Brian Shirley, and series regular David Siebers.
Friday night winner Daryn Klein rolled off from the pole in heat two, leading all ten laps ahead of Spencer Diercks, Michael Kloos, and Dean Carpenter. California driver Jason Papich led the distance in heat three, topping Jason Riggs, Jeff Herzog, and Brent McKinnon.
  The fifteen heat races, plus a B main for the Pro Mods clicked off in timely fashion with a total of only four yellow flags and one red flag event.
  Feature action started with a twelve lapper for the Pro 4's. All but two of the twenty two competitors took the green flag. Four caution flags slowed the action, with the final one at the lap nine mark resulting in the field being realigned single file. Outside row one starter Anthony Sunshine - what a great name! - grabbed the early lead over pole sitter Joshua Hawkins. While there was plenty of slicing and dicing behind him, Sunshine held on to the top spot throughout to pick up the win. Sixth starting Andrew Dudash, known as " Young Money " came on strong in the closing laps, but settled for second. Hawkins took third, with Morgan Greene in fourth. Fourth starting Aaron Garcia charged to the runner up spot before falling to fifth after a lap eight restart.
  All twenty two late models then lined up for thirty laps of racing. With the straight up starting order, Frankel was set to roll off fourth, but he quickly fell to the tail with obvious issues . His car had been trailing a bit of smoke in the closing laps of his heat race, as his nightmare season continued. As the cars formed up for their four wide parade lap, Scott Henseler had a wheel come off his #3 machine. The cars continued to circle the oval until he could make his return. As the green flag waved, Pierce powered to the lead with Klein on his heels. The front pair gained separation from the pack before encountering slower traffic by lap five. As they worked lapped traffic, Klein appeared to make contact with Paul Roider, nearly losing control. Pierce was able to open a commanding lead until the first caution came one lap past halfway, as third running Shirley slowed on the track, his night over. One more lap was scored before Riggs, who was running in seventh slowed to bring out the caution, his run also over. With clean air ahead, Pierce pulled away to a big lead, catching slower traffic by lap twenty one. However the yellow waved again, as fourth running Rusty Griffaw slowed, the victim of a broken crankshaft. With ten laps to go, Pierce again opened a sizable lead, while Klein maintained a healthy distance over the pack in second. As Pierce continued to run up against the concrete wall, perhaps even making light contact at one point, the white flag flew and the checkers was displayed. It appeared the race was over, as even one of the photographers jumped over the wall onto the track. However it was determined that the caution had come out ahead of the checkers, and the field was formed from the last fully completed lap, leaving us with a green, white, checkers finish. Controversy was avoided as Pierce clicked off the final pair of laps for a dominant wire to wire win. Klein continued his strong weekend with runner up honors, while Papich claimed third in front of Diercks and Kloos. Track regulars Kenny Rumble, Herzog, and Tim Ratajcyyk ( pronounced Ratacheck) were next, with MLRA regular Joe Gorby in ninth and MARS regular Carpenter completing the top ten.
  It was now south of 10:00 PM, so we reluctantly headed for the car and the three hour drive home as the Pro Mods waited on the track for the post race interviews to end. Checking results, I see that first heat winner and pole sitter Tim Hancock Sr. captured the event. Rick Conoyer came from row two to top an outstanding field of modifieds, while Chris Soutiea ( pronounced Sooshay ) also started fourth and was the Sportsman victor.
  It was an outstanding night of racing at I-55, and although there was some delay between races, due mainly to the placement of the scales in the infield, the large number of cars simply made for a long night of action.
  It looks as though the weatherman may play nice today after all, so I will soon be heading for Quincy Raceways where the IMCA Deery Brothers late models will make a long awaited return, supported by outlaw stock cars and IMCA sport compacts. Hope to see you there!