I think all of us would agree that the month of April has been one of the craziest and perhaps most frustrating Spring months in many a year. While we aren't fighting flooding conditions like they are in North Dakota and other places, the lack of sun, cool weather and oh that darned wind have made for a miserable month.
Now, as we turn the corner into the month of May, we hope for better things but the first race night of the new month brought plenty of struggles for the folks at the Adams County Speedway in Quincy Illinois. However, they prevailed when the wind actually became their friend on Saturday and played a big part in the drying process that allowed them to race on Sunday.
According to Race Director Blake Dotson, who was at the track until evening on Saturday, he was skeptical that racing would actually take place on Sunday but some help from the wind in drying things out plus some tireless efforts by the crew on the heavy equipment working the pits and track made all the difference, overcoming the inch of rain that the track received. Their new project for the week in getting their regular entrance to the pits up and running worked out but they had plenty of work to do before that became a reality but everything worked out and much of the congestion of opening night was eliminated.
You talk about crazy. Who could have predicted that after not having been at Quincy for a number of years, I would end up there on back to back Sundays to start the season, even though it is eight hours from home? But that's how strange this Spring has been.
Things continued on an upward trend for the second night of the season here at Adams County with a nice car count of eighty five drivers on hand in the five classes offered. Car counts were very strong in both the Four Cylinders and Sport Mods. The Modified count built to a nice full pair of heat races with the Streets and Late Models edging upward too. The good thing is that they are moving in the right direction and with another good night of racing, done promptly and completed at an early hour, likely even more drivers will appear in the coming weeks as the word gets out.
A surprise entrant on this night was Josh Holtman who after his very violent flip last week in the Sport Mod feature, seemed more likely to be sidelined for weeks but to the contrary, he was back at it tonight for week two. However, two more drivers were added to the flip list when Bill Roberts in his Modified and Dyllan Bonk in the Four Cylinder class both took tough flips from which both were unhurt.
After qualifying for the Mods, which UMP is insistent on, racing started right at 6 pm and thirteen qualifying events went off like clockwork, aided by the one spin rule that Adams County is using for their heat race action.
They took a short break to water the track and then it was right into the five main events. Despite a big car count in a couple of the classes, no B Features were held and everyone got to start the main event. And drivers in the Four Cylinder and Sport Mods did a great job as each class had only a single yellow flag during their mains, despite starting twenty eight and twenty four cars respectively on the "Broadway Bullring."
The Late Models would start off the mains and with a field that was still a bit small but nearly double of what they had on opening night, the class seems to be moving in the correct direction. However, after letting one split away last week, Denny Woodworth was not about to let that happen twice as he dominating the race, leading by nearly a full straightaway over Sam Halstead in a main that went green to checkered. Ray Raker would finish third.
One of the most dominant drivers so far this year has been Street Stock driver Robert Cottom and that would hold again on week two. Despite starting in the second row, he would make a powerful outside move on lap one of the feature, driving past both Austin Riggs and Leremy Jackson and he would have the lead by the completion of the first lap. Despite three yellows to bunch the field, there would be no stopping Cottom and he would win by a full straightaway over Rudy Zaragoza and Robert Thompson. It was Cottom's second in a row and he has yet to be challenged.
Everyone's eyes got big in the crowd when all twenty eight Four Cylinder cars rolled on to the track for their main event on the quarter mile and several people quickly scrambled to the rest room to prepare, just in case this would be an extended length event. However, the drivers surprised us all with an extremely smooth contest that was stopped just the one time when Bonk got tangled up with heavy traffic and took a quick and hard roll. Fortunately, he was OK.
This race saw Jeffery Delonjay and Michael Grossman battle it out with Grossman holding the lead briefly twice, only to see Jeffery drive by him on both occasions. Grossman, who was leading last week when his oil filter caught fire and produced quite a spectacular display, led lap one before Delonjay drove past him for the lead.
And later, after the red flag for the Bonk flip, Grossman would again steal the lead for one lap, only to have Delonjay drive past him again and this time Jeffery would not relinquish the top spot as he would pull out the win for the second straight week. Grossman would hold on for second over Cyle Hawkins with twenty three cars still on the track at the finish.
Kenny Wallace would pay the track a visit on Sunday night and later would drive back to St. Louis with an extra $900 for the win, enhanced by some nice bonuses from area businesses. Wallace would lead all the way but things got tight a couple of times with his buddy Dave Wietholder giving him plenty of grief.
At one point, Wietholder, who was working the top side of the slick track, would edge past Wallace for the lead, but the yellow flew for a spin, thus saving Kenny's "bacon." Austen Becerra, battling for the lead too, would catch just as big a break when he spun while making an all out move for the lead but a tail end car spun at the same time and was judged to be the caution producer, not Becerra who got his spot back and would finish up third.
Wietholder would try the outside again and again but he just couldn't quite make it work and Wallace, who did not make any other mistakes, would drive home for the win and not surprisingly, have plenty to say in victory lane, as is his nature.
Twenty four Sport Mods would wrap up the evening and while this one had all the makings of another lengthy affair, the drivers did a great job with only one yellow for a minor spin. A.J. Tournear would lead lap one before he was overtaken by Logan Cumby. Cumby would move out to a nice sized lead and would never be seriously challenged the rest of the race.
However, there was plenty going on behind him as several drivers made a big charge to the front. This class, under IMCA sanctioning, is the only one using true point average inverts and for that reason, the most successful cars were starting far back in the field, not right in front like the other classes based on their heat race success.
For that reason, we got to see Shane Paris, who won last week, charge up from the ninth starting spot while Logan Anderson, who wasn't here last week, charged up from twelfth. They both put on quite the show as they tore through the field, making clean but aggressive passes as they sought to get to the front.
In the closing laps, Anderson got to second and Paris third but they ran out of time and Cumby can be thankful that there wasn't a late race yellow or things could have gotten quite sticky for him. As it was, it make for an entertaining race.
Things seem to be really coming together nicely here for the folks at Adams County. With the final checkered right at 9 pm, this was a three hour program that allowed folks to get on their way home early and get ready for work or school on Monday. The racing has been quite good and the track in decent shape, especially with our difficult Spring. The scoreboard was working this week which was very helpful at keeping track of laps and another nice sized crowd was on hand on a night when it still got plenty cool before the final checkered waved. Thanks again to Jimmy and Blake and all the folks at Adams County for a good and quick night of racing.
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