The My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150, presented by Hoker Trucking LLC, opened up at the Davenport Speedway on Thursday night, August 24th. This would be the first of three nights for the World of Outlaws Late Models at the Davenport track(and no, once again they are NOT using the half mile), which would culminate in a thirty thousand dollar to win event on Saturday night. On Friday and Saturday night, the Late Models wold be joined by the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series who will have a full show on both nights.
Of course, one of the biggest topics going into this three night series was the weather and more specifically the extreme heat which is currently plaguing the entire Midwest and beyond. I was checking often this week because I thought there might be a possibility that the event would get either postponed or cancelled but I guess there was too much riding on this event and probably way too much money spent on promotions and other things to change the date at this late time. They did decide to delay the start of the races on Thursday by one hour which while it didn't help much with the temperature factor, did allow the sun to set sooner as the crews worked and the fans baked. At race time, the temperature was ninety three degrees and the "feels like" was one hundred and eight and it was still eighty seven degrees when the final checkered flag waved. It was tough but it seemed like everyone took precautions and got through it. Friday promises to be just a bit cooler before things start to settle back down for the weekend.
Track prep is always a concern when conditions are so extreme but Dr. Al and Ricky Kay had that under control on Thursday night. It was reported that they put over 27,000 gallons of water on the track for this night and while that might seem like a lot, a track I know for one of the dry and hot weeks recently put on over 50,000 gallons of water. Actually, even when it is so hot, if it is humid to the extreme that it was on Thursday, it's actually easier to keep moisture in the track despite the temperature. Many of the most "hammer down" nights of racing are seen when it is very humid, hot or not. And such was the case on Thursday, where the track raced heavy all night and the low side was dominant for most of the drivers. In fact, there was plenty of complaining amongst the drivers about it being so "hammer down" but I didn't seen any of them volunteering to help prep the track themselves. I must admit, however, that a heavy track does not always produce the best racing.It was refreshing, however, to not see a water truck on the track at all once the racing began. Mostly they spent a little extra time trying to pack in the cushion and roll the extreme lower groove.
Thirty five cars signed in to race on Thursday night, a nice number of cars but certainly nothing overwhelming. The top sixteen in Outlaw points were all on hand but after that, with lots of other series having events this weekend, there weren't too many "bonus" drivers on hand for this show. Thirty thousand to win is certainly not "chump change" but with there being so many big races across the country, this event is just another in a long series of races over the course of the Summer. And quite frankly, the varied and expansive schedule of races that Davenport provides over the course of the year brings virtually every driver on hand to this track previously during the year so there are no "must see" drivers for this race that haven't already been on this track already this year. No doubt, though, the crowds will pick up as we move into the weekend.
Qualifying would be split into two groups that would set up the four heat races where four would make the show. A pair of B Features would then set the final order for the main with the provisional starters in the back. Points for all events, including time trial from the first two nights would set the running order for the Saturday night heat races so it was important if possible, to produce a consistent night and certainly one that involved making the main.
Bobby Pierce would set the bar high right from the start as he would be overall quickest qualifier at 13.380 seconds with Chad Simpson topping the first group but not as quick overall. Interspersed with three sets of practice sessions for the Midgets, the Late Models would then run off four heats and their B Features. Problems in the first heat would see three different drivers slide off the end of turn one including Ryan Gustin which would eventually mire him in the back of the main after taking one of those provisionals. The next five events, however, would see the yellow flag only used one time.
Twenty five drivers would take the green flag for the Late Model main after Dustin Walker scratched out of the main event. Dennis Erb Jr and Shane Clanton would go at it on the opening lap with Erb leading lap one before Clanton passed him to lead lap two.
Pierce had started on the inside of row two and would quickly move into position to attempt a passing move. On lap six, he would drive past Clanton on the high side of the track to take over the lead and truly, after that he was never challenged for the lead.
Pierce is really on his game right now with a highly functioning race car and he also seems particularly sharp, making all the right moves in traffic and also reading the track perfectly. He used a variety of lines on the track on this night, moving both high and low as needed and seemingly settling on a high side run in turns three and four while hugging the bottom in turns one and two. However, he was not afraid to alter that plan if he needed to when in traffic and that is a good sign of a great working race car.
At the halfway point of the race, Piece had a comfortable lead over Erb, Nick Hoffman, Brandon Sheppard and Clanton. And while Pierce was just cruising up front, he needed to stay sharp with traffic as there was much of that. In fact, there were only twelve cars on the lead lap at the finish with another ten still running but all a lap behind.
There were some good battles for position behind Pierce that kept the race from being a stinker. Erb was pretty comfortable in second but Sheppard, Hoffman, Kyle Bronson, Brian Shirley, Chris Madden and Cade Dillard all were fighting it out with some fading near the end while others surged. It kept the event interesting despite the fact that Pierce dominated. And on this hot and steamy night, the drivers managed to go thirty five laps nonstop without a single yellow flag slowdown which must have been a strain on the powerplants pulling so hard on the heavy surface.
Friday night everyone comes back to do it again and everyone will be trying to figure out a formula to slow down Pierce. Along with a full show for the World Of Outlaw Late Models, the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets will be running a full show also.
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