Pierce Takes Quincy MLRA Dollars

 For the second time in 2019, Bobby Pierce rolled in to Quincy Raceways and claimed the victory in MLRA action. This time, it was the Scottie 45, a tribute to the founder of Quincy Raceways, Albert Scott in this, the 45th year of operation of the track, now owned by Jason Goble. For this second ever visit by the south Missouri based series, the 45 lap main event paid a cool $5,000, and drew a stout field of twenty one participants.
  The evening began with the drivers requesting time trial qualifying, and Pierce set quick time with a lap of 13.046 seconds around the .29 mile oval, giving him the pole start for the first heat race. He then took a flag to flag win over California driver Jason Papich, local legend Mark Burgtorf, and Matt Shannon, wheeling an Allen Weisser decaled #25W. MLRA points leader Will Vaught, the track qualifying record holder, led the distance in heat two, topping J C Wyman, Dave Eckrich, and Joe Godsey. The final ten lapper went to Mitch McGrath in front of Chad Simpson, Jeremy Grady, and top rookie contender Logan Martin.
  Following intermission, which included a candy dash, it was feature time. Sport mods led off main event action, with all eighteen cars coming to the track for twenty laps. Tyler Burton sat on the pole, and he shot to the early lead with fourth starting Terry Wilson and row three starter Sean Wyatt next in line ahead of a yellow flag as lap one was scored. Wyatt charged to second following the Delaware double file restart. After a lap three caution, Wyatt, Wilson, and row five stater Bobby Six began a back and forth battle for the runner up spot. As Burton approached a slower car on lap eight, he slid off the top of the backstretch, turning the lead over to Wyatt. However, a third caution before the lap was counted turned the top spot back over to Burton. Back under green, Wyatt again grabbed the lead only to have Six drive around him, before Wyatt put a slide job on Six to regain the lead. As the leaders entered turn one, Burton made contact with Six, stacking up several cars, and bringing out the red flag. As track crews sorted things out, a track light caught fire in turn three, resulting in a lengthy delay. Fortunately, the adjoining go kart track has some portable lighting, which was moved over to the big track so racing could resume.The field was now reset single file, with Wyatt and Six up front. Two more cautions on laps ten and thirteen finally put us at the time limit, meaning the next caution would bring out the checkers. Amazingly, ( yeah, right) a couple of spinning cars after that were able to keep going! In the closing laps, the front duo exchanged sliders and crossover moves several times with Six finally able to gain a few car lengths separation, taking the checkered flag. Wyatt settled for second, with Reed Wolfmeier, A J Tournear, and Brandon Symmonds completing the top five.
  While the track was bad fast and high side dominate with a tall cushion in qualifying and during the heats, the sport mods did a good job of widening the surface during their feature. All but one of the late models ( Jeff Roth ) made the feature call. The straight up start saw Pierce and Vaught on row one, and Pierce shot to the lead as Vaught and McGrath fought for second. Pierce caught the back of the pack on lap twelve, allowing Vaught to chip away at his lead, but the only yellow of the race came two laps later when Reid Millard stopped at the top of turn three. Vaught elected the outside for the restart, and when Pierce did not hit full speed, McGrath was able to slide under him, taking over the lead off turn two even as Pierce was forced to check up to avoid more serious contact. Burgtorf had been running an impressive fourth, just behind the lead group, but fell to eighth on the restart. The top three quickly pulled away from the pack, and as slower traffic again became a factor at lap twenty nine, McGrath moved down the track to a more middle line. This opened the top side for Pierce, which is a no no at Quincy, and he returned the favor, pulling a slider on McGrath, who was forced to check up, allowing Vaught to also drive around him. Now it was a two car duel, with Vaught actually taking the lead briefly at lap thirty three. But Pierce was now using all grooves, and he quickly regained the lead. As he stretched his margin in the closing laps, an intense side by side, back and forth three car battle for the fourth position was going on between Papich, Martin, and Simpson. With fourteen cars still on the track as the checkers waved, Pierce had lapped up to the seventh place car, even though he reported in victory lane that he thought he had dropped one or possibly two cylinders about the time he retook the lead. Vaught increased his points lead with the runner up finish, while McGrath came home in third. Papaich won the battle for fourth ahead of Martin and Simpson, with Wyman the last car on the lead lap. Grady edged Burgtorf on the final circuit and Eckrich completed the top ten.
  Only eight sport compacts signed in for the evening, and they now lined up for twelve laps. Craig Bangert powered to a commanding lead on the start, while David Prim and Kimberly Abbott quickly settled into a duel for second. At about the mid point of the caution free race, Bangerts' #99B began to sound under the weather, although he was able to maintain his speed. With just two laps left, however, he began to slow noticeably, allowing Prim and Abbott to hurriedly close the gap. As the trio charged to the line side by side by side, Prim was able to nose in front for his first feature win. Bangert held on for second, with Abbott in third. Dylan Schantz and Jared Heule rounded out the top five.
  The final checkers flew just after 9:30.
   Next up for Quincy Raceways, and likely for me as well is the rescheduled appearance of the Sprint Invaders next Sunday, September 8. In addition, the 4 cylinder special featuring IMCA and UMP type cars with a top prize of $1,000 will be on the card, as well as UMP modifieds. Hot laps about 5:15 with racing to follow. Hope to see you there!