The traveling troop of the MLRA headed down Interstate 80 East bound from Stuart on Thursday as they all headed to the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport for round three of this challenging five night year opening swing to kick off the 2021 season.
Once again it was a cool day and evening for mid April in Iowa, a fact that certainly has stunted the crowd size at all three venues so far this week but perhaps sent pay-per-view sales through the roof. It would be another cold one on Thursday night but the saving grace was that the wind would finally lay down after three days of howling gusts and the expansive closed grandstand at Davenport, on this night cleverly placed so what wind there was came from out backs, all helped to make this the most tolerable night of the swing so far. I even got so bold as to leave the long handles in the suitcase and brave the conditions like a man!
As the series gets closer to the weekend and closer to the hotbed of open motor Late Model racing in Illinois and the purses also go, the car count has increased. On Thursday it rose to forty Late Models all fighting to get into the main event with seven Illinois and four Iowa drivers new to the swing on this night and with those new drivers including such names as Pierce, Shirley, Babb, Erb, Feger and Breuning, obviously the level of competition has stepped up greatly.
Much of the pre race talk still centered around the post race disqualification of Ryan Gustin after he had made a fine drive using the top side of the Stuart bullring to take what was an apparent win on Wednesday night. The Gustin crew made no bones about hiding what was the offending part. Ryan's team was one of the first ones parked in the pits where everyone had to walk by his spot to move farther down the line, and jammed into the dirt right in front of his pit was the bent four bar rod that was the offending part.
It was definitely bent and the bend didn't appear to be jagged or irregular such as might be caused by getting hit in a wreck or something of that sort but instead appeared to be smooth as if it was done on purpose by someone. I am told that all the major sanctioning bodies have a rule that both four bar rods must be straight and not bent as that gives a traction advantage if it is curved. So it appears that the DQ was legitimate if also disappointing. However, it still feels to me like a "nit picky" thing and with all the things that major league dirt Late Model racing has to worry about and all the likely illegal activities going on with tires that are missed, wouldn't it be just easier to let everyone bend these rods and then there would be one less thing to worry about?
Frankly, I was mildly surprised that Gustin was still around to race as I figured he might be disgusted with the whole situation and needed some space but he told a friend of mine that he is not a quitter but a fighter and he wasn't about to lay over following this deal.
It however, would not be a good night for redemption for Gustin as after qualifying for the outside pole for a heat, he slid over the banking and lot a lot of positions in that race and finally pulled off and would fail to return to the track and attempt to qualify through a B Feature.
Speaking of qualifying, it would be the third straight night of drama involving the whole time trial process. In the case of Friday night, the scoring and timing loop buried under the track at Davenport was damaged and wouldn't allow electronic timing to take place. So an emergency driver's meeting was held and the drivers were given the option of either using passing points or being hand timed. Based on the drivers' vote, we would later get the thrill of again seeing time trials, this time with only a car at a time under the hand scoring of MLRA's Ernie L. Clearly, drivers' wishes and fan desires are two streets that are never going to meet at an intersection.
The two quickest group qualifiers were Jason Papich and Billy Moyer and ironically, these two would provide the show in the forty lap main event with five grand on the line to the winner.
Feature time would find two distinct fast lanes around the track and drivers would quickly pick whether or not they wanted to run the inside line or ride the cushion up against the berm. Drivers would also execute well as we would see seventy five laps of main event action between the three classes on hand and the yellow would only wave two times in total.
Sport Mods would go nonstop for their main and Tyler Soppe would find a fine hole on the first lap as he went from the number five starting spot to the lead after one. After that it would be up to Tony Olson to find a way past him. Soppe would hug the bottom for fifteen laps with Olson trying both high and low to get past but he just couldn't get the run he needed to make a pass. Soppe had the field covered and despite Olson's attempts, it would be Tyler from start to finish with Shane Paris coming from ninth to finish third.
The MLRA would then take to the track for forty laps and we would be witness to a great two car battle for the lead from start to finish. Jason Papich would start on the inside pole and that would be the lane he would run through the race. Billy Moyer would start on the outside and despite the fact that Moyer generally works the low side of the track, he opted for the cushion for this race.
The leaders would trade the top spot back and forth several times with Papich scored the leader on at least three different occasions and when he would falter, it would be Moyer that would ease past and take over the top spot. Papich would be scored the leader when the final(of two) yellows would wave with twenty two laps recorded.
On that final green, Moyer would again take the lead and this time, despite Papich's best efforts, Moyer would gradually ease away until he had opened up a small lead. Moyer would impress with the fact that he would balance the tight rope along the top side of the track and maintain his best speed without slipping over the edge a some of his competitors did. Moyer would take the win as the Hall of Famer proved he can still race with the best. Papich would finish a solid second and Brian Shirley would follow both home.
The Mods would wrap up the evening with a nonstop twenty lap finale. Spencer Diercks, who didn't have things go his way with his Late Model(he finished one spot shy of making the main) made up for it somewhat with a start to finish win in the open wheel cars. He used the outside pole to take the early lead and he hammered the cushion for twenty laps with no one getting anywhere close to a challenge. Tim Ward and Bone Larson tried hard but they would have to settle with finishing behind Diercks.
This was a well run program on a week night and they made sure that they got everyone on the road home before 10 pm. Thanks to everyone at DTR TRAK Racing Inc and especially Carrie at the pit gate for her help.
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