The first big Late Model event in eastern Iowa unfolded on Thursday night, April 13th at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport Iowa. On the first night of three consecutive nights of open Late Model racing in the Hawkeye State, the MLRA Late Models would take on the quarter mile at the Davenport Speedway with IMCA Late Models and IMCA Sport Mods as the support classes.
It was most appropriate that the first big race would be held at Davenport, as Ricky and Brenda Kay have scheduled a whole series of rich paying Late Model specials this year as their scheduling remains among the most aggressive of anyone in the Midwest. I believe that Tony Izzo Jr. is also involved in this event as he was trolling the pits on his four wheeler while Ricky as usual spent most of his time riding one of the monster tractors that was being used to help prep the track for racing.
The spectacular weather of this week that has blessed most of the entire Midwest continued and it was almost unreal just how nice it was for mid April with shorts being fashioned by many and hardly a coat needed all night.
A power packed field of MLRA Late Models would sign in for Thursday night's forty lap main event with the local Iowa area along with their neighbors across the river in Illinois supplying a number of regional entrants who along with the MLRA regulars, boosted the field to forty five open Late Models. Along with that, seventeen IMCA Late Models and nineteen Sport Mods would also be on hand to race. I would say that there were no huge surprises in the drivers entered but it was noted that Andy Eckrich would be taking his first ride in the Curless #99 car, replacing Bone Larson who was away for a wedding and there were several of the normally running IMCA drivers that opted to run with the MLRA on this night, mostly with second cars in their fleet.
As usual with MLRA, the night would begin with qualifying and Shannon Babb and Brandon Sheppard would top their respective flights of drivers with Babb quickest overall at 13.852 seconds. Thus the Illinois drivers would win the first round in their rivalry with the Iowa drivers. Heads up heat races would see all four winners come from the front row but in a major development, Ryan Unzicker, who had looked like a prime candidate to challenge for the win later, would fail the "droop rule" and be disqualified and despite a valiant effort in a B Feature, would come up just short of making the main through that event and not holding a "free pass" from MLRA, would not race the main.
The feature race for the MLRA cars would start twenty six cars going forty laps and the attrition rate would be very high as only nine drivers would be running to see the checkered flag. The stats would show that there were five different leaders during the forty laps and the lead was exchanged seven times, but it truly didn't seem that many and while those stats would indicate an outstanding race, to my mind it really wasn't that good and I would describe it most as odd than outstanding.
The opening laps would however, produce some tight racing as Chad Simpson would take the early lead but only hold the top spot for two laps before Chad Halladay would drive under him for the lead. Simpson would get back up on the wheel however, and retake the top spot just two laps later. Babb, Sheppard, and Chris Simpson would all remain in the top five as the first half of he race was marked by three yellow flag slowdowns.
Most of the drivers were hugging the inside line during the feature, odd since most of the racing was right around the rim during the heat races. Several would take a shot at the top but not seem to have much luck there and then migrate back to the bottom. Sheppard was starting to look racy and when the race was slowed at the halfway point he found himself on the top side for a double file restart. He took a shot running right through the middle of the track and it worked as he drove past Chad Simpson after a brief battle and then started to pull away.
The race looked like it belonged to Sheppard and it probably would have except for his bad luck as when another yellow slowed the action with twenty nine laps done, he slowed with a flat right rear tire and would pit and call it a night. This gave Babb the lead as he had gotten past Chad Simpson just laps before but when racing resumed, Babb couldn't hold off Simpson who took the lead back for the third in this scrambled race.
There would be one more charge yet however, as Ryan Gustin, who has started on the outside pole but had drifted back in the field, reasserted himself and took a shot on that uneven cushion but this time he made it work. He was running on the very edge but he moved up beside Chad Simpson and with a determined action, took over the lead with only five laps to go. Simpson fought back but Gustin held on, dancing with the cushion lap after lap.
However, disaster would strike with only two laps to go when Gustin would jump the cushion in turn one, go flying over the banking and then call it a night as he headed back to the pits. Chad Simpson would once again inherit the lead but this time it was his younger brother Chris he would have to fight off and he succeeded in doing so, driving home for the win by several car lengths. Babb would get third and Jake Timm would shoulder Halladay out of the way on the final lap to get fourth. It was certainly and eventful feature race for many with most mentioning how the track was quite different than normal here and drivers struggled all night to find the fast line around it.
The twenty five lap IMCA Late Model feature would see Nick Marolf start right on the pole and he threatened to run off and hide in the early going with only Brian Harris able to stay with him. However, Fred Remley, who started fourth would gradually get himself into contention and the track seemed to work in his favor as he was right right on the bottom and started to gain ground on Marolf after he passed Harris for second.
Andy Nezworski started ninth and he too started to move up, racing up to third by the halfway point of the race. The last sixteen laps of the race would go nonstop and just after the halfway point, Marolf, who started sliding up off the bottom, opened the door and Remley drove under him to take over the lead and once in front, he pulled away comfortably as Marolf couldn't maintain contact with him. Nezworski continued to charge but he had started just too far back and ended up third with Harris and Jaden Fryer completing the top five.
The Sport Mods would be the first class on board for their main event with all nineteen cars answering the bell for their event. Trey Grimm would start on the outside pole and take the early lead but it was Ben Chapman who was on the move, racing up from seventh starting spot to challenge for the lead in just a few laps.
With the field running the bottom, getting off the corners low was key and Chapman was doing just that as he powered under Grimm to take over the lead. Ben would lead the rest of the contest to take the win.
However, several times Todd Dykema would move in to challenge him, getting to within a couple car lengths of the leader but then, each time it seemed like Chapman would pull away again. There was a late yellow with just two laps to go but Chapman negotiated the final two circuits and would drive home for the win over Dykema, Jarrett Franzen, Kevin Goben and Mitch Strayer. Only two minor spins would slow this contest.
With time trials as usual slowing down the actual start of racing and the first green flag not dropping until 7:37 pm, I feared that the curfew would be a problem. But a smooth show the rest of the way would see the final checkered flag wave just at 10 pm which should have satisfied the local authorities. There was a good crowd on hand but I've seen bigger ones at Davenport and quite frankly, with the beautiful weather I would have thought that perhaps just a bigger crowd would be on hand. However, it was a Thursday night and that can be a problem for some people with school still in session.
As usual, thanks go out to the Kay's for their hospitality and without doubt, I will be returning later this year for some of the other events on their powerhouse schedule.
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