Night number three of the Gateway Nationals at The Dome at America's Center was the money night and while the Late Models raced for some good change on Friday night's twin feature events, it paled by comparison to what both classes would be racing for in Saturday night's two main events.
Twelve Last Chance races, evenly divided between the two classes would qualify the last cars for the main events and each of these races were like mini features, both in the number of entrants in each race and the quality of the cars that would be knocking heads with only two in each to move on to the mains.
The action started off with the track pretty wet once again, although not as heavy as it was to start things off on Friday night. They were all lined up and ready to race but the first Late Model drivers out nixed the track conditions and several more minutes of hot laps and packing were called for before the "thumbs up" sign from pole sitter Brandon Sheppard signaled that all was ready for a start. This did delay the dropping of the first green flag until about twenty minutes after the posted starting time, the only time all weekend that the first green flag did not drop within a scant few minutes of the advertised time. Overall, the entire show was run under a much tighter leash this year which allowed all three nights to be completed at a much earlier time.
As you might guess, the action in the Last Chance races was wild and woolly with everyone giving it their best shot to make the main. The "chrome horn" became a valuable asset for many of the drivers and the banging and bashing was considerable, even though they warned at the driver's meeting that they were going to be more aggressive against rough driving, although I didn't really see much evidence of that. Interestingly, while all six of the Late Model Last Chance races were won right off the pole, only half the Modified races saw this same thing take place as my observation was that overall the Modifieds raced much better side by side all weekend than the Late Models did for whatever reason.
If there was a perseverance award it should go to Late Model driver Derek Fetter. He took a hard flip on the front chute during Friday night's show yet was back on Saturday after putting in some long hours to get his car race worthy. He started in the back of the first Last Chance and that's where he finished but at least he gave it the "old college try," not wanting to end his season with the distaste of a wreck to fester all Winter.
Some of the best racing of the entire weekend took place in the final Last Chance for the Late Models where Tim Dohm and Mike Spatola carried on a great battle for the last qualifying position in that event. They took turns "dive bombing" each other and swapping lanes on the track throughout much of the event until Dohm prevailed at the end.
There were not a large number of drivers entered in both classes but as qualifying concluded, there were two drivers that made both mains which is quite an accomplishment, given the size and quality of the fields. They were Bobby Pierce(no surprise) and Allen Weisser(at least a mild surprise, particularly in the Late Model).
The only significant break of the entire weekend was then presented between the finish of the Last Chance races and the opening ceremonies. The official opening was scheduled for 8 p.m. and that can probably be moved up by a significant amount next year as they really didn't need as much time as was allocated for the Last Chance races.
The official opening ceremonies produced much "fire and ice" as the pyrotechnics were spectacular, as promised and certainly one of the things that this facility can provide that is unique for this event. The "talking heads" continued to remind us about the extra "buzz" of this race, as if we in the audience couldn't sense this ourselves as there's no question that the "pomp and circumstance" of this race is very cool and one of the things that makes this event different and unique. I wonder if Todd Staley got a kick back from the promoters here as they "stole" his Lee Greenwood song that highlights USMTS events to open up Saturday's show.
The introductions for the Late Model feature drivers are always a highlight of this event and Jason Welshan clearly was the winner as he brought down the house as when he was introduced he held up a sign that said, "Scott Who!" to many hoots from the crowd. Bloomquist tried the "crotch chop" but I'm afraid that it is now old news and he'll have to come up with a new gimmick
There were two significant moments in the Late Model feature race which was run off first. The initial one was when Bobby Pierce drew the outside pole, a perfect spot for him, particularly early in the race when the top side still had some moisture. The other key moment was on lap twenty nine when Brandon Sheppard pulled up lame with a flat tire, triggering a yellow that saved Pierce's hide as he was stuck on the outside and just about to be passed.
Pierce had taken the initial lead and was running the cushion. Billy Moyer looked good early until he spun and it was Tyler Carpenter and Tanner English that were applying the most pressure to Pierce. Pierce caught the lapped car of Gordy Gundaker and that's when things started to get interesting. On a short track like this, much of the action is generated when the leaders have to fight their way through lapped cars, and for perhaps the first time in three nights, a long green flag period between laps twelve and twenty nine allowed this to take place.
Gundaker would not get off the bottom and Pierce was running up his behind on every lap with English nearly sneaking by him on several occasions. Finally Pierce made the decision that he needed to get around Gundaker since Gordy was just not going to move over, no matter how much he was warned by the flagman and bumped in the rear end.
However, once Pierce got up on the high side, he discovered how much it had slowed down and he knew he was in trouble as English again challenged him. In fact, Tanner briefly took the lead one lap before Sheppard showed but Pierce was fortunate to have edged back into the lead barely when the yellow flew.
With lapped traffic now not a problem, Pierce hugged the low groove on the green and pulled away. Shannon Babb was trying to put on a show as he hammered the cushion and worked his way into the top five but he punted English on the restart and sent him to the back. Babb then found the cushion to just be too choppy and after tearing off the right side of his car, he dropped back to the inside and salvaged seventh at the finish.
Carpenter had a great run for second and Darrell Lanigan drove a steady race to come from fourteenth to finish third, although I think he had nothing for the top two cars.
English pulled a real "boo boo" when he came storming out of the pits just as the victory lane celebration was ready to commence and confronted promoter Cody Sommer, who was trying to enjoy the "fruits of his labors" with the winners. English and his drew were rewarded by getting an "escort" back to the pit area. Sure he got "dumped" by Babb, but quite frankly, that same kind of thing had been going on unpunished all weekend and he was mistaken if he thought he was going to get a call against a local hero at that point of the race.
For Pierce and his many fans, it was a great way to wrap up his season before he makes the big move to his new racing home for 2018. And who knows, as unpredictable as this racing game is, I wouldn't be surprised to see somewhere down the line Bobby back in the family ride, if only for some special local races.
The Modified feature saw a good battle between Brent Mullins and Ray Bollinger for a number of laps before Bollinger made the bottom work to his advantage. Mullins came from the second row to take the lead running the high side, but it gradually started to go away and Bollinger, who was "married" to the bottom groove and clearly wasn't going to move off of it, gradually pulled up beside Mullins and then eased past him. Mike Harrison and Kenny Wallace challenged as Harrison tried both high and low in an effort to move up.
Wallace was right in the hunt until he spun out and a couple of late yellows kept the field bunched. On both the late race restarts, both Mullins and Harrison tried to drive around Bollinger but there just wasn't anything to be grabbed on the top and this allowed Bollinger, smooth as silk on the inside, to hold on for the win. I think that the difference between this year's show and that of 2016 was that the outside line was never quite as good this year, no matter what they tried to do to "speed it up." Whether this had to do wit the soil itself or the shape of the track, I can't say but the lack of "rim riders" was somewhat disappointing this year.
Tanner Mullins drove a steady race for fourth and Pierce worked his way up to fifth at the finish. For a few brief seconds it looked like it might be possible for him to pull off a double win, as he was pounding the cushion, but it just didn't have enough speed for him to advance any farther forward.
So, overall it was an interesting three days of racing. The overall program was run off much better than last year with things going off much quicker and smoother. We can always "nit pick" about certain things but quite frankly, overall, the colossal nature of this event is quite mind boggling and the amount or work necessary to pull of this endeavor seems almost impossible to imagine. It would be an achievement of the highest order to be carried out at any track in the country but when you consider that they literally build the track in a couple of weeks, run the event and then tear everything back down again within the space of a few days, it's almost "mind blowing."
It was announced that record crowds attended on both Friday and Saturday nights and the good news was that they already announced dates for 2018. Next year the event will be several weeks earlier as Nov. 29,30 and December 1 will be the dates for the race. And for greedy fans like myself that always used to enjoy going to the Knepper Midget show at DuQuoin that is also held this weekend, perhaps next year I'll be able to attend both. And Sommers has also got open wheel people wondering also after the very successful test run of both Midgets and Sprint Cars earlier here this week. Could there be something to that test as in a "teaser" for next year? We shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment