For those, like myself, that had been "grousing" that we spent a long day and night at the races on Thursday yet saw only a handful of races, they more than made up for it on Friday night. When a long day on Friday settling into the early overnight hours, we had seen a mind boggling thirty two races plus Midget qualifying that left us all limp and ready for a break.
Along with the Midget qualifying, we saw heats, B Features and twin Feature races for the Late Models and Midgets along with the B Features plus double features for the Modifieds. Not having been able to keep up with the schedule from early on yesterday, they continued on that path as everything seemed to take longer than was bargained for in the very optimistic schedule for the weekend and the Late Model features, which were last on the agenda, dragged on into the first hour of the new month. Of the huge number of races, only four all night didn't have at least one yellow flag and some had a multitude.
Track conditions started out OK but they quickly deteriorated and no matter what the track crew did, the moguls quickly returned and made racing a real challenge. The amount of torn up equipment was astronomical and just repair and replacement on front bumpers alone could have been a "gold mine" for some entrepreneur
The qualifying showed that, not surprisingly, the Midgets would be the quickest of all three classes but this track is far more suited to them than to the other two classes, even though this race was not conceived for them.
It was announced that the Thursday night crowd was the largest yet for the opening night and with the huge throng of people that were on hand Friday night, it would not be surprising to hear that the same thing held true for the second night of racing.
All the qualifying pared the fields down to twin twenty lap feature races with only the top four finishers in each one locked into Saturday night's finales. Everyone else, apparently, gets one more shot to make the main events and that could lead to another long afternoon of banging and rooting as everyone wants to get introduced under the bright lights on Saturday night.
The twin Modified features went first and these were the longest and slowest paced of the six features. They just didn't seem capable of making more than a lap or two without either spinning or crashing into each other. And of course, with the UMP rules in effect, if you don't stop during a wreck you get your spot back so when a crash is inevitable, many drivers just "gas up" their cars so they hit hard enough that they can keep on moving, no matter the cost!
Josh Harris led the distance to win the first Modified feature with Ray Bollinger, Mike McKinney and Chad Sellars also making the grade and moving on. Brent Mullins made a strong charge from seventeenth to get into the top four but then he got a bit too bold and went for more and got himself hung on the outside and he couldn't get back in line quick enough and missed the cut.
Kenny Wallace also led all the way to win the second Mod main. Dean Hoffman drove a very smart race and moved up as others fouled up and came from fourteenth to second. Nick Hoffman was next in line and in a real body slamming battle for fourth, Gary Bentley got the spot. Local and area drivers seem to have the advantage in this class with their experience racing on some of the tiny ovals that populate the St. Louis and across the river into Illinois scene.
Both the Midgets and Late Models raced much better than the Modifieds on this night, for whatever reason. The Midgets had very little trouble with the conditions and they were able to move to the top side of the track and avoid many of the bumps that seemed to dominate the low side of the track. Christopher Bell and Zack Daum had a good early battle in the first Midget main before Bell took control and after that he checked out on the field. Logan Seavey and Shane Golobic were also locked in. Ricky Stenhouse Jr was making a great run toward the front until he pushed corner number four too hard and went for a tough tumble, which resulted in no injury to himself. Somewhat surprisingly, this would be the only flip of the night.
The second Midget feature saw Tyler Courtney and Kyle Larson have a very nice battle for the top spot as they traded the lead several times before Courtney locked in and took over the top side groove and then was able to stretch out his lead to the finish. Tanner Thorson and Jason McDougal also made the show through this race. I think non Midget fans were probably pleasantly surprised how smooth their part of the program went but truly, the drivers on hand for this event are the best around in these little cars.
The Late Models wrapped up the night with the majority of the crowd sticking around in the wee hours to see their feature races, as after all, wasn't this first organized as a showcase for the Late Model class and don't the Midgets have their special indoor event next month? But I digress.
Brandon Sheppard dominated the first feature, leading from wire to wire while a good battle for position played out behind him. Tim McCreadie ran a solid second and after some shuffling, it was Jason Welshan and Billy Moyer that also made the show. Jonathan Davenport was battling for that last spot for quite some time but came up short. The only yellow of this race was when Billy Moyer Jr. ran over his nose piece and hammered the turn three wall.
Bobby Pierce won the finale of the evening as again, Illinois drivers with tons of experience on these little bullrings once again shined. Don O'Neal provided a good challenge before settling for second while local drivers Jason Zobrist and Jeff Herzog provided the spark for the local fans with both also making the show. This race saw a late event pileup that shook up the finishing positions and allowed Herzog to slip into the top five.
Everyone piled out of the building at this point, only to discover that it was raining hard on the outside. Certainly this is one advantage of racing indoors as no matter what the conditions are like outside, as long as the fans and drivers can make it to the building, racing will take place. Crazy as it sounds, the forecast for Saturday is for temperatures in the sixties and sun.
I suspect that they can not continue on each year with shows that run this late at night and something has got to give. Whether it be to eliminate a class or perhaps make the Late Model field an invitation only class too, I will be waiting to see if some kind of announcement is forthcoming for the fourth annual edition of this race.
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