Monday would be the opening night of a three race visit to Davenport Speedway by the XR Super Series dubbed the "Davenport Deal." The traveling Super Late Models, fresh off a Sunday stop in Spencer, Iowa, would be competing for $15,000 to win. Meanwhile the Modified pre entered competitors would be split into two groups with half racing each of Monday and Tuesday for a $2,000 check ahead of the Wednesday finale paying $20,000 to the winner.
A solid field of thirty five Super Late Models came through the pit gate, however only twenty three of the thirty one pre entered Modifieds would turn out.
The closer we came to the Quad Cities the more threatening the skies became, and as we stood in line at the ticket window a light sprinkle began to fall. We made our way to our seats in the massive covered grandstands just as the Late Models began their hot laps. After two flights had completed their warm ups the next group did not come out and a quick look towards turn one made it obvious why not, as a steady rain had begun to fall. Although it never rained particularly hard, I would guess we were a few short minutes away from "losing" the track. It seems we were doubly lucky, as not only did it stop raining in the nick of time, but reports had it coming down much harder just a short distance away from the speedway.
Reworking the track then packing it in with plenty of help from the fifty eight race teams had us up and running about an hour after the posted hot lap time of 6:30. With the fairgrounds facility operating under a rather strict city enforced curfew, this would put race officials under the gun to get the show completed on time, but with cooperation from the drivers, they did just that!
Late Models would time trial qualify, two cars at a time for two laps with the field split into groups A and B. Tyler Erb would top the first group with a lap of 13.857 around the banked quarter mile. Rather than slowing down as is often the case, the racing surface continued to get faster, and Mike Marlar would lead group B with the overall fastest lap of 13.772 seconds.
The rain had left us with a track that was both fast and had a bit of "character," a blame free racing term meaning "choppy." But the drivers in both classes did an excellent job of negotiating the tricky surface, with turns one and two particularly challenging. As a result there was plenty of action and lots of swapping of positions as several drivers took unplanned tours over the top side of the turns!
The Modifieds would use two sets of heat races and I assume passing points to determine their feature lineup, with lineups for round two in reverse order of the round one finish.
For Late Models, four heat races would line up straight up by time trial finishes with the top four going to the feature. A pair of B mains qualifying three cars each and a pair of series provisionals would round out the twenty four car starting grid.
Following a short intermission all twenty three Modifieds came to the track for thirty laps of action. Minnesota driver Dan Ebert and North Carolina traveler Austin Holcombe filled out row one, but it would be red hot Illinois hot shoe Will Krup charging from row two to the front ahead of Holcombe as lap one went in the books. With Krup quickly opening a lead, Brian Ruhlman claimed second ahead of the first yellow flag with two laps scored. The XR series utilizes side by side restarts with the leader choosing his preferred lane, but Krup continued to run out front ahead of another caution one lap later. Drake Troutman would take up the chase following this restart, and soon eleventh starting Cade Dillard was on the move, advancing to third. With eleven laps scored Krup went off the top of turns one and two, then came spinning back on the track minus a rear wheel, his run over. Now it was Troutman and Dillard lined up side by side with Dillard taking command. Austen Becerra had struggled in both his heat races putting him fifteenth on the starting grid. But come feature time he had his #22 on point, and he entered the top five on lap twenty seven. Two late yellows with three laps to go would bring Dillard back to the field, but he remained in control, taking the opening night win. Ruhlman would charge back to second at the checkers, while Jim Chisholm would give up third to Becerra before rebounding in the closing laps for a podium finish. Happy, Texas driver Rodney Sanders would complete the top five.
Late Models would be going at it for forty laps and the $15,000 payday. Erb and Marlar both picked up heat race wins, and they would have row one while Devin Moran and double duty Dillard also parlayed heat victories in to row two starts. Brian Shirley and Cody Laney both took the green flag well behind the field, apparently planning to make an early exit. However a major pile up in turn one of the opening lap saw four cars quickly eliminated while others suffered damage, changing the dynamic of the race as well as the lineup. Following a rather lengthy delay for clean up, the restart found Bobby Pierce, originally twenty second on the grid now outside row six! Back to racing it was Erb in front, trailed first by Marlar, then Dillard, then Marlar again as they battled for second. As they slugged it out Erb was able to open a sizable lead and now the front cars found a home circling the high line around the oval. The second yellow flag came with eighteen laps scored and Dillard retired to the infield, his night ended. Hudson Oneal had been involved in the first lap melee but he was now moving through the field, entering the top five on the restart. As Erb again pulled away, Max Blair powered to second taking along Oneal in third as Marlar seemed to encounter problems, fading back in the pack. The caution came with eleven to go as Oneal and Blair battled for second. A final stoppage at lap thirty five ended a solid run for Logan Seavey and back under green disaster struck Blair as he slipped off the top of the track. In the closing laps Oneal made a run at the leader, but Erb was not to be denied. At the same time, it was now Pierce stealing the show. After racing mostly outside the top ten, he used the lap twenty nine caution to duck to the infield for a tire change as the field was now down to fifteen or so. Back on the track he had a rocket ship, and he quickly picked off car after car, closing to third at the checkers. Nick Hoffman advanced nine positions to claim fourth while Cody Overton ran fifth. Tim McCreadie started in twentieth and came home sixth, besting Carson Ferguson, twenty fourth starting Derrick Stewart, Blair, and Moran.
Even with the delay, the final wave of the checkers came around 10:30, putting a cap on a very entertaining night of action at the always racy quarter mile.
Tempting as it is to return for night two, I think I need some recovery time from my "racin' vacation!" But we will be back at it next weekend, and I hope you will follow our lead, get out and enjoy these special summer nights at a dirt track near you!
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