After a rain out at Quincy Raceways, the UMP DirtCar Summer Nationals Tour fired back up Thursday with their first ever visit to Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. In addition, the UMP Summit Modified Tour was back in action, as well as non sanctioned Stock Cars and Sport Mods. While area fans such as I were disappointed with the cancellation at Quincy, several of the traveling Late Model teams took advantage of the unscheduled day off to catch up on car maintenance, at least one team got to spend some time regrouping at home, and another found a quality laundromat in Davenport! Promoter Neil Kohlmorgan and his team had the three eighths mile fairgrounds facility in prime condition, with the Wednesday night through Thursday rains only a distant memory. One unfortunate consequence of the off day was that a few of the long distance competitors who had struggled early in the week made the decision to head home and possibly regroup to rejoin the tour at a later time. The decision a few years ago to make each week a separate points race with an end of the week payout has increased participation throughout the grueling month long marathon, but it does afford teams the chance to call it quits mid week, then come back strong later on. Of course hanging on for the entire schedule still offers the most reward at the end!
Still there were more than enough "new" cars in the pits to make up the difference, with thirty five high powered Late Models signing in to race in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic fans. Twenty of the open Modifieds checked in, while sixteen Sport Mods/B Mods but only eight Stock Cars filled out the seventy nine car field.
The regular tour format was in place for the premier class, with hot laps, two lap time trial qualifying, four eight lap heats, a gigantic ten lap "Last Chance" race, various provisional starters followed by a thirty lap main event. For the Modifieds, it was combined hot lap/qualifying, a pair of loaded heats and a twenty five lap feature. A single Stock Car heat was followed by a pair for the limited Mods completed the preliminary events.
Young Edina, Missouri racer Kayden Clatt made his first tour appearance of the year and walked off with the best time trial performance for the Late Models, a lap of 15.485 seconds, while Mod hot shoe Trevor Neville topped the leader board at 16.672. Only Late Model racer David Payne failed to take a time trial lap after showing smoke in hot laps.
The usual result of the "fast cars on the front" for the Late Model heats was in effect, with front row starters Dillon McCowan, Chris Simpson, Ryan Gustin and Christian Hanger picking up wins, but there was plenty of slicing and dicing for position going on behind them on the very fast racing surface.
The same held true for the Mods, with Neville and double duty Drake Troutman in the winners' circle.
Missouri drivers swept the other heats as Derrick Agee picked up the Stock Car win while Adam Birck and Brandon Lennox topped the limited Mods. Although there was a lot of movement during the nineteen car Last Chance, front row starters Derrick Stewart and Carson Brownsecured transfer spots.
Track crews tickled the surface during intermission, as the cushion was already pushed almost to the guardrail at both ends of the speedway.
In keeping with the Summer Nationals formula, the Late Model feature would be up first. The heat race winner redraw put Hanger and McCowan on row one, and they crossed under starter Kevin Egglestons' flag stand to complete lap one in that order. Gustin would then claim the runner up spot the next time around before McCowan suffered spoiler damge after clipping the guardrail on lap three. On the move was New Waverly, Texas driver Tyler Erb, who lined up in position six, and charged to third on lap six. Blasting around the top of the oval, Erb then moved in to challenge Gustin for second even as they tried to run down the leader with Simpson and eighth starting Mark Whitener in tow as well. As the race stayed green the front runners caught the back of the pack about lap thirteen with three wide action behind Hanger. At the half way mark Erb drove to second followed by Simpson and Whitener while Gustin faded to fifth. Slower traffic continued to be an issue while Erb powered to the front out of turn four around lap nineteen. Continuing to run the top line around the track, Erb began to pull away while Whitener and Simpson swapped the second position, dropping Hanger to fourth. The checkers waved in the caution free race with 2024 tour champion Erb collecting his first series win of the year . Simpson won the battle for runner up honors the first time out in his brand new machine. Middleburg, Florida racer Whitener finished third ahead Hanger and Gustin. Jake Timm led the second five in front of Joseph Joiner, McCowan, Kyle Bronson and Ethan Dotson. Eleventh finishing Ashton Winger was the hard charger, taking advantage of his provisional twentieth starting slot. The win was worth $5,000 to Erb.
Summit Tour Modifieds then lined up for twenty five laps. The yellow flag waved on the start as Brian Reed stopped in turn two, and following a full restart minus Reed, it was twenty five non stop laps. Neville got the jump on Troutman, Michael Long and Chase Holland as lap one went in the books. On lap four Troutman used a successful slide job out of turn four to grab the lead. With Holland now in third the leaders raced in tight formation, but it was twelfth starting Austen Becerra moving up through the pack. He entered the top five on lap six, soon beginning an entertaining battle with Long for fourth. After banking off the guardrail several times, he was finally able to clear the #18L about lap fifteen. By this time Troutman was in command, but slower cars became a factor as the laps wound down, allowing Neville to close the gap. However the Hyndman, Pa. driver moved effortlessly through the traffic, cruising to the victory. Neville settled for second, trailed by Holland, Becerra and Long. Dave Weitholder started and finished in sixth, followed by Rick Conoyer, Steve Meyer Jr., Austin Holcombe and Bill Roberts Jr.
Twenty laps would be the distance for the $750 to win Stock Car feature. Derrick Agee and Beau Taylor crossed the line to complete lap one with Agee in front by inches. The leaders operated in the low line in turns one and two while pounding the treacherous cushion at the other end. Modified standout Logan Anderson took a ride this night in the Trenton Witt #33, moving around Taylor for second racing low exiting turn four with five laps scored. Jared Miller moved to third one lap later. Agee continued to lead but Anderson closed the gap continuing to use a low line out of turn four. With eight laps remaining, the front pair raced side by side, with Anderson edging ahead. But Agee rebounded, driving underneath the low running Anderson to regain the top spot with fifteen laps scored. Agee then drove on to the win, besting Anderson, Miller, Jadin Fuller in the Kohlmorgan #17 and Taylor. Again we had a caution free event.
Sport Mods/ B Mods would round out the action, sixteen strong for fifteen laps and a $750 top prize. Adam Birck came from row two to lead lap one ahead of pole sitter Kyler Girard. The second trip around Girard moved to the front, and on lap five third starting Logan Cumby drove to second. Cumby was closing on the leader, but on lap eight he suddenly looped his #8C in turn two. Cody Agee took advantage of the Delaware Style restart to charge to second with eighth starting Colton Livezey taking over third. Livezey then powered to the runner up spot with six circuits left, but this race belonged to Girard, who would collect his first ever feature win. Livezey scored second, Birck was third chased by Agee and ninth starting A.J. Tournear who won a tight battle with Jim Gillenwater for fifth.
The well run week night program ended just about 10:30 with much of the large crowd still on hand.
Thanks to Neal and his crew for working hard to get the grounds in good shape after the mid week rains. Family plans will keep me away from the track this weekend, but there is lots of good racing to be had, including a great Sprint Invaders triple header, so take in some racing and we will be back soon!
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