Burgtorf, Becerra, Zaragoza, Birck, and Deford Take Adams County Honors

    Race night number thirty five of the season found yours truly back at Adams County, Illinois Speedway east of Quincy.  The weekly show would be going up against the rescheduled 410 Winged Sprint Car event featured during the Lee County Fair up the road in Donnellson, Iowa which was washed out last Thursday. In a refreshing act of cooperation, Lee County promoter Brian Gaylord contacted Adams County officials and together they worked out a plan to allow both tracks to hopefully offer acceptable car counts in their shared divisions. Lee County would  have IMCA sanctioned modifieds and stock cars, while those classes at Adams County are of the UMP "open rules" type. IMCA sport mods and sport compacts would be at Quincy only, so there would be only a small amount of crossover between the two neighboring tracks. Crate late models would race only at Quincy, as well.

   Seventy five cars came through the pit gate, with all classes except UMP modifieds using a draw to line up their heats. Frankie Wellman topped mod qualifying with a lap of 14.756 seconds.

   With heat races and intermission shenanigans out of the way, the UMP Pro Crate late model feature came first, eleven cars for eighteen laps. Heat winners Darin Weisinger Jr. and Denny Woodworth sat on row one, with Woodworth jumping to the lead. Making his first ever visit to the track, Timmy Dick drove his #122 into the runner up spot on lap two. He then set his sights on Woodworth, pulling alongside on lap five, then leading the next trip past the flag stand. Dick hugged the low line while Woodworth did business around the top of the black, slick track. Increasing his advantage, Dick caught the back of the pack about lap thirteen, and he had to give up his inside line to try and navigate the car of Steve Theivagt. In putting the #36 a lap down, he moved back down a bit too soon, clipping the Theivagt machine, bringing out the yellow flag. For the Delaware style restart, Woodworth elected the inside line behind Dick, giving the top to Mark Burgtorf. The sixteen time track champion found something in that high groove, and quickly closed on the leader. With the scoreboard out of commission, I likely miscounted the laps, but as the white flag waved, Burgtorf made his move, and took the win by the narrowest of margins as the front duo battled to the checkers. It was an excited Burgtorf as he celebrated in victory lane, scoring the win in the Lynn and Karen Richard #15R, his former full time ride. Dick settled for second ahead of Woodworth, Sam Halstead, and Cody Maguire. Jeff Dotzert topped the second five over Derrick Carlson, Colby Eller, Jason Oenning, and Theivagt. Weisinger Jr. was running mid pack when he had an issue on the final lap.

   Nine street stocks lined up for fifteen laps. Heat winners Rudy Zaragoza and Steve Grotz paced the field ahead of a lap one caution. The yellow flew again on lap two before things settled down. Rudy and Steve worked the low line, while Beau Taylor searched one groove higher. Meanwhile seventh starting Jake Powers crept into second place ahead of a caution just before the halfway mark. Following the restart, Taylor found something, charging to the runner up position on lap ten. Zaragoza and Taylor then put distance on the rest, as Beau first tried the middle line, then dropped down hoping to slip inside the #67R. Zaragoza held his line, driving to his fourth consecutive win. Official results show Taylor second, topping Powers, Pete Stodgel, and Sage Martin. 

   The 4 cylinder division had sixteen cars for fifteen circuits. Derrick Deford lined up in row two and took the lead on the first lap ahead of Kimberly Abbott. A lap four caution interrupted a heck of a battle behind those two, as Jimmy Dutlinger and Jeffery Delonjay battled for third. Dutlinger jumped to second on the restart, and the next caution came two laps later as Jaden Delonjay joined the back and forth for second through fifth. While Deford remained out front and collected his fourth win on the season, Abbott and Dutlinger raced side by side in the closing laps, with Kimberly taking the runner up spot by inches. Jeffery Delonjay ran fourth, while rookie Kyle Weisenberger collected a top five.

   Long time B mod racer Mike Bowen, who recently passed away was honored on this night, and in memory of his familiar #60, this special race paid $1,060 to win. In addition, the Bowen family added $160 to a couple of "mystery spots" in the twenty lap feature. All but one of the twenty three entrants took the green flag. Following a false start, Kyler Girard took the lead from outside row one. Fourth starting Logan Cumby moved up to challenge on lap three. After a lap six restart, it was Adam Birck up to do battle with Cumby. A caution around lap nine and  two more at lap fifteen, and Birck was in second and putting pressure on Girard. Kyler stayed committed to the low line, forcing Adam up the track, and they drove side by side under the flag stand with two to go. Birck was out front one lap later, and held on for an emotional victory. Girard made a last ditch move on the final set of turns, got out of shape, and could not get across the finish line.  As a result, Shane Paris took the runner up spot, trailed by fourteenth starting Tanner Klingele, row six starter Josh Holtman, and Brandon Savage.

   Modifieds would round out the show. Shawn Deering had issues with his #16, and wound up sitting out all night, so fifteen cars were scheduled to take the green flag. As the cars circled the track on their parade laps, Brandyn Ryan and Levi Long both ducked to the infield, leaving us with a group of thirteen, including Birck, doing double duty in the Statewide Solar #17. Following the initial yellow for Long, pole sitter Austen Becerra charged to the front ahead of row one mate Kenny Wallace. Another quick caution, and Becerra hugged the low line while Wallace drove one lane higher. A final caution came with eight laps in the books, and back to green Dave Weitholder joined the party up front in a three car breakaway. While Wallace and Weitholder jockeyed for the runner up spot, Becerra slowly increased his lead, driving off to the twenty lap victory. Weitholder won the battle for second over Wallace, while double duty Burgtorf and Wellman filled out the top five.

   With starting times moved one hour later to combat heat and the setting sun, the action wrapped up a bit after 10:00. Thanks to Jim, Tammy, Blake, and crew for their continuing hospitality. Next up for yours truly will be Friday at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the long anticipated visit by the SLMR late model series. Hope to see you there!