Hot, muggy conditions greeted the racing faithful Sunday night at Adams County, Il. Speedway. Sixty seven hearty competitors signed in, with shady pit spots at a premium! UMP Modifieds had the night off, replaced with a visit by the traveling 360C.I. Sprint Invaders, seventeen strong.
Drawing for starting positions, the open wheel gladiators staged a pair of heat races, a Shake Up Dash, and finished off with a twenty five lap high speed feature.
Before that action, however, the Crate Late Models time trial qualified for the second time since dropping the draw format. Tommy Elston topped the fourteen signed in with a lap of 13.510 seconds, earning him the pole position in the first heat race, in which he was victorious., along with second fastest qualifier and heat two pole sitter Jason Perry.
Also in preliminary action, Tasker Phillips picked up a weekend ride in the #IE Sprint and advanced four positions to win heat one while Colton Fisher drove off from the pole to take heat two. Tyler Burton and Quinton Shelton were IMCA Northern Sport Mod heat winners. Robert Cottom was a familiar winner in Street Stock heat one, while the second eight lapper went to a Modified regular, Jacob Rexing, who showed up with a #59R wrapped identically to his UMP Mod. Only nine Dirtcar 4 Cylinders signed in, with Jaden Delonjay grabbing the checkers. The Shake Up Dash consisted of the heat winners plus the next highest four in passing points. Phillips used a pole start to nab the win, then pulled a five for the feature invert, placing him in row three.
Following intermission while some extra water was added to what was an almost perfect track - kudos to Steve Grotz and his crew for a splendid racing surface! - Sport Mods lined up for their eighteen lap feature. As the green flag waved, Shelton spun in turn two collecting multiple cars and creating a lengthy delay to sort things out. When racing resumed, only twelve of the fifteen starters were still in action. Josh Holtman grabbed the lead ahead of Logan Cumby. With five laps complete, Burton spun in turn two and with no way to avoid the #51, Pete Stodgel drove over Burtons' car, eliminating both from the race. On the Delaware restart, Austin Howes, out for the first time this season in a Sport Mod charged from third to first, while Tanner Klingele jumped from fifth to second. Tanner had originally lined up in row five, but was relegated to the back after getting caught up in an earlier mix up. The two front runners battled side by side for several laps with Klingele holding a slight advantage when Austin McClean brought out the caution with six laps remaining. The time limit was now up meaning the next yellow flag would set up a green, white, checkers finish, so of course the final laps went caution free! Adam Birck drove around Howes for second, but there would be no catching a fired up Klingele. Howes held third in front of Reed Wolfmeyer and A.J. Tournear.
It was now time for the Sprinters to shine. As it turned out, the Shake Up Dash had little effect, as sixth starting Paul Nienhiser - a Quincy favorite, it seems - blasted from outside row three to the front on the opening lap ahead of second starting Fisher. Series points leader Ryan Bunton moved to second on lap three, but Nienhiser was quickly headed for another Zip Code. Two more trips around the .29 mile semi banked oval brought the first caution as a visibly upset Cody Wehrle rolled to a stop at the end of the front stretch after contact from another car. Fisher moved back to second on the restart, but again Nienhiser checked out on the field. One more caution came with nine in the books as top contender Joey Moughan came to a stop. About lap fourteen Nienhiser caught slower traffic and had to occasionally switch from his cushion pounding line, but it made no difference as he easily negotiated the lapped traffic. Only once, with about six to go did he seem to nearly lose his grip on the lightning fast track, but he stayed under control and crossed the finish line nearly a half track ahead of the second place car. That spot went to Fisher, with Bunton in third. Chase Porter started and finished fourth, likewise for fifth place Phillips. Sixth through tenth went to Luke Verardi, Steven Russell, Tyler Lee, veteran Randy Martin, and Bret Tripplett.
Many of the Sprint car followers stayed around as the Late Models lined up for twenty laps of racing. Perry and Elston shared row one, with Tommy taking the initial lead. Jason moved to the front on lap two as that duo put distance on the field. Elston continued to move around the racing surface looking for a way around the leader. Finally, with six laps remaining they came upon a slower car and while Perry appeared to hesitate just a bit, Elston dove to the inside and exited turn four with the lead. From that point he was able to separate himself from the #27, taking the win by several car lengths in the non stop event. It was the fourth win for the Keokuk, Iowa veteran at the Bullring this season. Following Perry across the line it was Denny Woodworth, Braden Bilger, and Keith Pratt again subbing for Derek Hollenstine in the #21. Jamie Wilson started and finished sixth, topping rookie Christian Miles, Darin Weisinger Jr - still in his back up #11 - Jason Oenning, and Cody Maguire.
Ten Street Stocks battled for fifteen laps. Cottom and Rexing filled out row one, and for the first four circuits they ran side by side in a nearly dead head! But as they raced out of turn four to complete lap five, Rexing rolled to a stop, his strong run over. Back to green, Cottom now pulled well in front of an intense duel for second between Rudy Zaragoza and Sage Martin. A second yellow came with eight laps scored, then back to racing contact between Rickey Frankel III and Ryan Aden sent Aden cross ways on the track where he was hit hard by Dustin Smith, fracturing the radiator on the Aden #53 and necessitating a red flag for clean up. As the leaders headed to the white flag, the caution came one more time, setting up a one lap dash. The delay did nothing to slow Cottom, who cruised to the win ahead of Zaragoza, Martin, Jake Powers tonight driving the Kale Foster #11, and Frankel III.
4 Cylinders would race the finale, nine competitors for fifteen laps. Jaden Delonjay and Spencer Coats filled out row one, and they battled side by side with first Jaden, then Spencer crossing the line in front. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Delonjay and Landon Neisen looked for a way around the front pair. Soon it was the Delonjay brothers locked in a side by side duel behind Coats. Just after the halfway mark,it was three wide down the front chute. Jaden then nosed ahead only to be overtaken by Jeffrey with five to go. Jeffrey picked up I believe his ninth win in a row at the track! Jaden came home second, chased by Coats, Neisen, and Dyllan Bonk.
The final checkers waved about 9:55, capping a long but exciting night of action. Thanks to Jim, Tammy, and the gang for giving us Sunday night racing, heat be darned!
After three nights in a row and two in the oppressive heat and humidity, it is time for a break! Next up looks like a Friday visit to Lee County Speedway which should be headlined by the Drive for Five finale with a possible $5,000 on the line for the Late Model winner! Hope to see you there!
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