Friday we made our first visit since 2019 to the Jacksonville, Il. Speedway. It would be the only appearance of the season for Super Late Models, with the MARS stars and cars rolling in to town as part of the highly anticipated Francis "Wild Man" Kelly Memorial. "Wild Man" was a racing legend throughout western Illinois from the 1950's through the 1970's, and sales of the 9th annual event T shirts alone are a testament to his enduring popularity among friends, family, and those who may have merely heard the stories of his dominance. In addition to Late Models, UMP Modifieds, UMP Street Stocks, and 305 Sprint Cars would be on hand to entertain the crowd. Additionally, this would be the first visit to the Morgan County Fairgrounds quarter mile oval for the MARS Late Models, a track where Sprint Cars are king, particularly those of the 410 C.I. variety.
Twenty three Late Models would headline the fifty nine total cars on hand, and surprise entrant Drake "The Kid" Troutman would establish a new track record for the full fendered division with a lap of 11.796 seconds in qualifying. Hometown driver Ryan Blakeman would top the Modifieds at 13.387 ticks of the clock. Unfortunately the racing surface began to deteriorate during hot laps, and despite efforts by the track crew, it would remain challenging throughout the night. No doubt this was partially due to activities during the recently completed county fair, but the result was quite a few yellow flags and race cars indeed of maintenance before the series rolls into I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. on Saturday night.
In the first Late Model heat the caution waved for a lap one spin with Jason Feger having to restart deep in the field. On the restart second running Blaze Burwell got crossed up in turn four of the tight quarter mile stacking up the on coming pack with contact resulting in him getting upside down. Before racing resumed, Burwell, Rusty Griffaw, and Tucker Finch all headed to the pits. This proved crucial to the final outcome, as Feger now restarted in second, chased Troutman to the checkers and became part of the six car redraw for the feature. Heat number two saw a great back and forth battle between Jake Little and Late Model rookie Mike Harrison, with Harrison flying around Little as the pair exited turn four coming to the checkers. Heat three had far less drama, as pole sitter Ryan Unzicker outlasted Tony Jackson Jr. for the win.
Two heat races in each of the other three classes set the feature fields and the track crew then went to work in a partially successful attempt at improving the racing surface.
305s kicked off the feature events, with all twelve entrants lining up for twenty laps of racing. Heat two winner and his runner up John Barnard and Joe Jiannoni brought the field to green and paced lap one. Patrick Ryan then moved to the second as Joey Moughan began to work his way forward from his row three start. As he began to close on the leader, Moughan bobbled in turn three, falling to third. With the race staying green, Barnard caught the back of the pack on lap twelve, and was soon in the middle of cars fighting for position. As a result, he was forced to abandon his route around the tire barrier and use multiple grooves to try and weave through the slower cars. Ryan used the opportunity to close the margin and was soon alongside the leader even as Moughan recovered to make it a three car scrum. Those top three were able to drive to a clear track and as they powered out of turn four on lap eighteen, Moughan made a dandy move to charge from third to first. He then held on for a very popular win in the non stop event. Ryan would clear Barnard for second, with heat one winner Kyle Barker and Jiannoni completing the top five.
It was still daylight when the Late Models came to the track for the forty lap $5,000 to win headliner. Despite the heat race carnage, only California driver Cody Laney was absent from the lineup. There were, however, a handful of drivers who did basically a start and park, with a $500 incentive to turn a few laps. Although it seemed like more, my notes show five yellow flags slowing the event. The results will also show that after redrawing the outside pole position, Jason Feger led the full forty laps. Both of those statements would however not do justice to what was a very entertaining and interesting race. Pole sitter Little would chase Feger early on, but as he ran third behind the leader and third starting Harrison in lapped traffic contact on lap ten sent him head on towards the turn two wall, effectively ending his chances. Unzicker used the Delaware restart to claim second before a Doug Tye miscue collected Austin Howes to bring another yellow one lap later. The next stoppage was at lap fifteen for Rich Dawson, and back under green Harrison pulled a slider to take back the runner up spot. Mike then pulled alongside Feger and looked poised to grab the lead when the caution waved for Clayton Stuckey. The final yellow flag came at the halfway mark as a jam up on the restart saw Justin White get out of shape. Now there were only eleven cars left to battle for the final twenty laps, and they would click off caution free. Feger again shot ahead as Unzicker and Harrison dueled for second. With Unzicker finally securing the spot he move in to challenge for the lead. Feger was searching for the fast way around the oval and was dominate in turns one and two while Unzicker would pull alongside in three and four. Harrison was also not giving up and as the laps wound down he was able to mount one final challenge for second. This allowed Feger to open the smallest of cushions and he increased his series points lead with the win. Unzicker held on over Harrison in the battle for second, while Jackson Jr. and twelfth starting Bob Gardner rounded out the top five. Kye Blight flirted with a top five before coming home in sixth,followed by sixteenth starting Burwell, and eighteenth starting Brian Diveley. But it was twenty first starting Joseph Hughs who picked up the $200 hard charger bonus even though he was last in the running order. White was credited with tenth.
Following the lengthy post race festivities, UMP Modifieds lined up for twenty laps. Although we had not yet hit the 9:30 hour, we were pleased with what we had seen, so at the next caution flag we headed for the parking lot. Apparently we missed a battle for the win, as Tim Luttrell came from row three to top heat two winner Cody Zobrist, Blakeman, heat one winner Zach Taylor, and Audrey Gerberding for top honors. The Zobrist and Taylor names (and numbers) look quite familiar so I can only assume there is another generation to carry on great family traditions!
Megan Irwin bested the Street Stock field in front of heat winners Rudy Zaragoza and Terry Reed, with Jake Powers Jarret Duff also scoring top fives.
Thanks to former Quincy Raceways and current Jacksonville Speedway promoter Kenny Dobson and his staff for their hospitality.
The rest of the weekend will find us in familiar territory for more special events. Tonight, Lee County Speedway in Donnellson will stage a rare Saturday night mid summer event with another IMCA Late Model Drive for Five $1,000 to win headlining a seven class program including the unique American Iron Racing Series. And on Sunday, Adams County,Il. Speedway in Quincy will feature the MARS Modified series with a $2,000 to win main event along with Crate Late Models, IMCA Sport Mods, Street Stocks and 4 Cylinder Compacts. We hope to see you at one or both of these shows!
No comments:
Post a Comment