Round two of the 2025 FLORacing Night in America Series moved about a hour and a half Southwest of LaSalle on Wednesday night, May 7th to the Spoon River Speedway near Banner Illinois. The sensational weather of the week continued as the excitement level was high to see all the stars of Late Model racing roll into the pits for a hard night of racing on Spoon River's high banks. Joining the FLO Late Models once again on Wednesday were the UMP Modifieds, also running a special as their week of racing continued too.
All the elements were in play to provide another sterling night of racing on Wednesday as a fast and wide race track, a large crowd of eager fans and a spectacularly strong field of drivers in both classes would make for another great night of racing.
The Late Model field numbered forty eight drivers and with the addition of Hudson O'Neal to the entry list on Wednesday, the top ten point drivers in both the World of Outlaws and Lucas Oil Series were in the pits and I'm guessing that doesn't happen too often over the course of the racing year. And when it does, boy does that make the racing even wilder and the drivers trying even harder to do well.
With the numbers on hand Wednesday, that would be the highest number of entries allowed under the four heat race format which meant that we would see four heats of twelve drivers with only four making the main event. Likewise, about sixteen drivers would be in each B Feature and again, only four would make the main. Half the entries would be left in the pits come feature time and just like on Tuesday, some big name drivers didn't make the cut for the main event like Tyler Erb, Ethan Dotson, both Gundakers and Tim McCreadie.
An interesting addition to the field and a driver that will run select events this Summer was Michigan driver Jeep VanWormer out in a new Longhorn chassis. Jeep typically runs all the races at Eldora but it has been quite some time since I last saw him racing.
Shannon Babb thrilled the Illinois crowd by turning the quickest time of the night at 13.139 seconds while another Illinois driver, Dennis Erb Jr. was fastest of group B. These types of tracks are what the Illinois drivers grew up at and they always shine on these fast bullrings.
The heat races provided some spectacular racing action with everyone driving very hard and taking no prisoners, there were several upset drivers after the preliminary action was completed. This was not a night for timid racing however, and small holes sometimes had to be widened out to make passing moves.
With no provisional starters yet in play for the feature event, just the twenty four fastest and most resourceful would start the fifty lap main event. The Illinois drivers seemed to be in a good position to do well on Wednesday but as it turned out, it would be Georgia driver Jonathan Davenport that would dominate the show.
Davenport started on the outside of row one, broke to an early lead and then was never headed as he drove on for the victory. O'Neal moved into second and gradually seemed to be closing up on Davenport as the race ran a long stretch of thirty two laps before the first and only slow down of the event when Drake Troutman stopped with a flat tire. Just before the yellow waved, O'Neal had made his strongest effort at getting past Davenport, nearly ducking under him in turn one before Davenport dropped low to block him.
However, after the restart, Davenport seemed to move back up the track where he was running his quickest laps and he then again pulled away from O'Neal who really had nothing more to offer. Davenport edged away again and then drove unchallenged to the win. O'Neal finished second, kind of running by himself.
Bobby Pierce had an eventful night, first not qualifying to his standards and then spinning on the opening lap of his heat race. However, come feature time and he gradually moved up after starting seventh. While he did not challenge for the win, he did get to third late after a door banging incident with Erb. Brian Shirley was spectacular all night as he was married to the cushion, come Hell or high water and he made some ground at times and lost at others but in the end, he snuck past Erb for fourth right on the closing lap. The track stayed excellent all night and the Late Model drivers were able to work all over the track and move around and despite all the tight action, only five drivers didn't see the checkers.
All twenty five Modified drivers on hand started their thirty lap main event and much like the Late Model feature, one driver dominated with Cole Falloway starting on the pole and wiring the field. Earlier he had outqualified his group in time trials but Troutman was the quickest overall at 14.391.
Troutman started third in the feature race and quickly moved into second. A lone yellow with seven laps completed bunched the field but the rest of the race ran off nonstop and while Troutman tried to stay with Falloway, there would be no catching him on this night.
Troutman did get a bit closer in the late laps as Falloway had some trouble with lapped traffic but he maintained his cool and waited for the correct time to go and then put a couple of slower cars between himself and Troutman at the end. Blake Brown finished a strong third with David Stremme getting past Lucas Lee right at the end for fourth. And only two cars failed to cross the checkers as despite the very hard racing, both features were run off very smoothly.
In an effort to shorten up the show just a bit from Tuesday night, the Modifieds would hot lap/qualify and this sped things up with the first green flag flying at 7:16 pm and the final checkered just over two hours later. I'm telling you, these two division, quickly run shows during the midweek are absolutely the way to go and the fans respond in big numbers, knowing that they will be able to get on the road early. And that knowledge can't be overstated.
Very special thanks go out to Spoon River promoter Tim Neidig. These was a mess up in my request for this race, likely my fault but he was nice enough to take time out of his hectic schedule to track me down and get things put in order. It was something that not everyone would do on race night and I appreciate his help. By the way, it has been a number of years since I was last at "The Spoon", but it certainly looked good tonight with everything in order and looking sharp. The extra four portable lights certainly were helpful for both the fans and I would assume, the drivers also.
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