Kay Promotions, along with Sixteen Race Promotions, presented the DIRTcar Summer Nationals at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport Iowa on Wednesday night, June 21st. It was the second race in week number two for the Summer National travelers and with the series having a new format this year where a weekly point fund is paid, there is a lot more moving of drivers in and out of the series, depending on the racing location and other events and series that may attract drivers. With this new "wild card", the competitors list will likely be a revolving door from week to week which makes it both interesting and sometimes perhaps a disappointing, depending on your point of view as to who you want to see race.
On this Wednesday night, thirty one drivers were part of a very eclectic field of racers on hand which included drivers from both Australia and New Zealand as well as fourteen states which is quite remarkable. And while it was a very nice opportunity to see a number of drivers race for probably the first time ever, I still had this nagging feeling that somehow the Summer Nationals tour had lost a bit of its "star power." That, however, is a point of conjecture and does not really factor in the racing itself, which proved to be good on a night when producing a good racing surface must have been a very difficult task.
Kay Promotions along with Sixteen Race Promotions probably offer as much variety in different racing series to come to their track as certainly any track in the Midwest as the number of special events and series races that they offer to the race fans of the Quad Cities area is quite remarkable. It seems like they have something special going on most of the Summer and along with their solid weekly Friday night show, certainly have made the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds track one of the action places for racing in the central part of the county.
Along with a full program of UMP Late Models racing on this night, the IMCA Late Models that race weekly here would also be in action plus the IMCA Sport Mods who would also have a full program.
Plenty of national media attention is always focused on the "Hell Tour" and I had the fortune of running into Dirt On Dirt's Managing Editor Todd Turner who is following the series for this week. And it was great to see Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Ed Sanger in the stands watching tonight's action also. It would be interesting to know just what percentage of the fans on hand even know who Ed Sanger is in this changing world of ours.
The DIRTcar Late Models would qualify for their starting positions for the evening's action with the two IMCA classes using the draw/redraw method. Because they fell just one car show of thirty two car threshold that splits the field into four heats, there would be three qualifying groups plus three heats, a B Feature and the forty lap main for the DIRTcar Late Models. Drake Troutman, along with the Simpson brothers, would be the three group quick timers and with the field assembled on this night, The Simpsons to me were the odds on favorites to be the winners this night. That would not quite hold up later due to one other persistent driver that refused to settle for second.
The heat races for the DIRTcar Late Models would produce some excellent racing with several three wide battles for position as even with the difficult weather conditions, the track was holding up well in the early going. With the DIRTcar feature scheduled second of the three mains, a complete redoing of the track was called for and while it did take some time, it probably was the difference between a racy track and one that would rubber up so it was probably worth the wait.
The Simpsons were strong in the early going as after starting side by side to take the green for the forty lapper, it would be Chad that took the early lead. Ashton Winger would be the wild card as after starting sixth he was able to pass Chris Simpson and move into second place by lap ten and he would closely follow Chad Simpson for the next ten laps. Frankie Heckenast and Tyler Clem would hang with the top three during those opening laps.
A spin just at the halfway point of the race slowed the action and set the stage for a lead change as Winger would get a great restart and power under Chad Simpson to take over the lead. Both Simpson's would continue to closely follow Winger with Bob Gardner cracking the top five just at the halfway point.
As is often the case now in dirt track racing, much of the passing takes place directly following yellow flag slowdowns and such was the case again on Wednesday when on lap twenty eight, a Billy Moyer spin slowed the field. On the green, Chris Simpson got a great restart and he powered under Winger to take over the lead. That could have been the end of the story but Winger is not one to settle for second. He searched around on the track for a faster line than Chris Simpson was running and he found one up on the top side, a lane that was largely unused until that point. He found some great speed off turn two with perhaps the hint of rubber being laid down and he got great acceleration. Down the front chute he somehow managed to squeeze between Chris and the outside edge of the track and was able to retake the lead on lap thirty five, with just five to go.
He would then pull away from the pack and drive on to a deserving win over Chris Simpson. The last corner of the race found a charging Jason Feger, who started ninth, squeezing under Chad Simpson with a not so pretty slider to take third ahead of Chad and Heckenast at the line. The race had four yellows, saw fifteen cars finish the race with all on the lead lap out of the rather small feature field of twenty two that the Summer Nationals always starts. Drake Troutman, who figured to be a strong contender until he blew a tire on lap eleven, was able to fight his way back up to eighth at the finish. Troutman, to be kind, has not had a lot of luck with his Hoosier tires so far this week with a blown one on Tuesday night costing him a Summer Nationals win.
The IMCA Late Models produced a good field of twenty four drivers for this special Wednesday night show with twenty two of them starting their twenty five lap main event. This would be a very competitive race also with four lead changes among three different drivers. The IMCA feature would be the first one up and the track for this race saw two grooves develop, right on the inside tires and another lane right around the rim. For the drivers to be successful, it was either pick one or the other and then stay there. This would produce a lot of side by side racing that was entertaining.
Evan Miller would be the early leader after starting on the pole as he battled with Chuck Hanna, Joe Beal and Joel Callahan. A lap six yellow would again produce a lead change as Miller got a bad restart and Hanna would take over the lead as he ran the outside line.
But Beal was on the move and on lap seven Joe would work the inside line and shoot into the lead with Hanna still running the rim as they very nearly ran side by side all the way around the quarter mile. At the halfway point, Callahan was back up to third ahead of Miller and Andy Nezworski would showed in the top five for the first time.
But the second half of the race would produce two more lead changes as the top two jockeyed back and forth. Hanna got another strong run on the cushion and took the lead back with ten to go, but "The Real Deal," Beal would fight back into the top spot with only seven laps to go. Joe would then pull away slightly from the pack as Callahan overhauled Hanna for second but couldn't make a charge at the leader as Beal would drive on for the win. Hanna would settle for third with Justin Kay charging from eleventh to fourth but running out of time to advance any farther with Miller completing the top five. Nineteen of the twenty two starters would still be on the track at the finish.
The Sport Mods would complete the night's entertainment with eighteen of them signing in to race. They would run last in the running order and by the time they saw the track for their main, the racing surface was pretty much used up on this hot and sunny day. But as much as the surface was worn out, what killed this race was that point leader Ben Chapman drew the pole for this race and the point leader was the odds on favorite for the win, a theory that he lived up to.
He took and immediate lead and built it up to nearly a half straightaway advantage as Logan Veloz worked from fourth into second. The lone yellow waved with eight laps complete for a spin and after that Chapman had to be on his guard as Veloz was challenging him hard.
Logan got his nose under Chapman in the corners a couple times but couldn't quite pull off a pass and after that Chapman made sure that he had the bottom lane covered as most of the field was hugging the low side. And while Veloz remained close, Chapman would drive on for a wire to wire win. David Engelkins was one of the few to try the outside and he made it work for a third place finish over Trey Grimm and Rayce Mullen.
The DIRTcar feature was completed just a couple of minutes after 10 pm with the whole show wrapping up perhaps fifteen minutes later. It was a typical quick show that Davenport is well known for and despite the weather conditions, which would have sent most tracks into either a rubbered up mess or a dust bowl, the Davenport Speedway remained racy for most of the evening, thanks to expert track prep.
As always, thanks to all the folks at Davenport for another strong night of racing. I haven't checked the schedule but I assure that I will be back at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds for some more big time racing yet this year, for whatever series is next to appear here.
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