Friday was the opening night for the circle track season ending "King of the Bullring" at Quincy Raceways. The two day extravaganza is a showcase event for 4 Cylinders and Crown Vics. The 4 bangers will work towards a $4,000 to win Saturday finale, while outside contributions have swelled the Crown Vic Saturday feature to a first place payout of $3,333!
But in order to reach the finals, Friday was qualifying night, with qualifying and heat races for the two headline classes, while Late Models contested a full show for a $1,000 to win and B Mods did the same for a $1,050 top prize.
The race weekend was originally scheduled one week prior, but wet conditions forced the reschedule. And this week produced perfect early fall conditions for both racers and fans eager for one more helping of action.
Entries ranged from as far away as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, but I imagine the folks in charge might have been a bit disappointed in the total car counts in the two featured divisions. Twenty one 4 Cylinders and an even two dozen Crown Vics signed in for night number one. A solid field of twenty two B Modifieds and a dozen Late Models rounded out the seventy nine car gathering.
It was interesting to have time trial qualifying in the classes where lap times are usually not paid much attention. Verona, Kentucky racer Brandon Gibson Jr. topped the 4 Cylinders with a lap of 16.168 seconds on the immaculately prepared .29 mile oval, while Dubuque, Iowa visitor Derrick Dean was the only Vic driver to break the 18 second mark with a lap of 17.981 seconds. By contrast, the fastest lap in competition for the B Mods came in heat one, 15.341 by Chris Spalding. The top Late Model lap was by Curtis Glover, a 13.842 in heat one.
Only two features were contested on this opening night, with eighteen of the twenty two B Mods still around to go at it for twenty laps. Good, close racing was unfortunately interrupted by seven yellow flags, which eliminated a few top contenders. Austen Becerra, driving the Bobby Six #6 and Patrick Phillips sat in row one, with Becerra jumping to the early lead. He was quickly followed by row two starters Tanner Klingele, Kahne Groves, and sixth starting Spalding in a four car breakaway ahead of a lap six caution for a spinning Dakota Girard. Following a lap eight caution for Jake Etter, Olivia Hoffman made hard contact with the turn one wall, ending her night with apparent heavy damage. Spalding with then bring out the yellow flag, contact up front ending his run, and on the restart Alec Cain joined the party as Groves was shuffled back to fifth. Now Becerra and Klingele would pull away from the pack ahead of a final stoppage twelve laps in as Josh Dietrich pounded the turn two concrete. On this final restart, Becerra pulled away, cruising to the win. Klingele held off Cain for second in front of Groves, and row seven starter Brandon Lennox. Chri Burke, Phillips, A. J. Tournear, hard charger Spencer Coats, and Shannon Schmidt completed the top ten.
Jackson Frankel blew his engine in Late Model heat two, which also saw visiting Don Pataska limp to a stop, leaving ten cars for the 25 lap feature. Sam Halstead, and another first timer, third generation hot shoe Cruz Birkhofer filled out row one. "Superman" Sam powered to the lead with third starting Tommy Elston in pursuit. Elston would move to the lead on lap two, quickly pulling away as Glover moved in to challenge Halstead for second. As the race stayed green, Elston caught the back of the pack with eight laps to go, but they would present no problems. Seventh starting Jake Griffin found the top lane to his liking in the second half of the race, charging to the runner up spot with just five laps to go. A nearly full straightaway lead for Elston was wiped out when the lone yellow flag came with three laps remaining. The field was reset single file, but there would be no catching the IMCA national points runner up, as Elston drove to the win. Griffin settled for second while Halstead won his race long battle with Glover for third. Birkhofer rounded out the top five. Sixth through tenth went to Jamie Wilson in the Krigbaum #11D, Denny Woodworth, Jason Oenning, Ryan Aden Jr., and Cody Washburne.
Those two features were then followed by the qualifying heats for the 4 Cylinders and Crown Vics. Those two classes then each ran a Grudge Match to round out the action, apparently with some prize money offered. Cincinnati, Ohio traveler Jason Todd topped the 4 Cylinders while Derrick Dean took Crown Vic honors.
Action resumes on Saturday night with any newcomers starting in the back of B mains for 4 Cylinders and Vics ahead of their main events. A full show for Late Models, A Mods, and B Mods are also on the card, as Quincy Raceways wraps up their 2026 season.
Thanks to all the folks involved at QR for their season long hospitality.
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