Thursday night, August 26th found me at the Davenport Speedway at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport Iowa for night one of the Quad Cities 150, a huge three night show for the World of Outlaws Late Models plus three full shows for the IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods as the support classes.
The first two nights would be qualifying nights for the Late Models but unlike most qualifying nights, both would be at the regular pay for a WoO event, meaning that while everyone was earning points for Saturday night's big finale, they would also be racing for ten grand to win both on Thursday and again on Friday. The support classes would be racing for a very nice purse also along with national points on the first two nights but unsanctioned on Saturday due to other tracks in the area racing on that night.
It was another scorcher, as it seems to have been for most of the past month and even folks down here, more used to hot temperatures at the end of August than folks like myself, who are already tuning up our snow blowers and lining up our shovels, are complaining. But the big issue on this night was the considerable number of heavy thunderstorms that were blanketing the state of Iowa. Except the Davenport area, it seems. Central Iowa got rocked and also extreme southern Iowa but everything seemed to split as it approached the Quad Cities and never did it even look threatening the whole night. Score one for the good guys. I don't mind sweating as long as I don't have to dodge hailstones.
With this much money on the line at one place, it was not surprising to have a strong field of race cars sign in to race on Thursday. Thirty eight Late Models would be racing on this night along with well over twenty Sport Mods and thirty IMCA Modifieds. The top nine in WoO points as well as the best from the state of Iowa along with regional stars and the inevitable strong field from across the border in Illinois all made this a very strong field of racers on hand. For this event, the Late Models all got to pit on blacktop in the parking lot just off turn four that according to local racing guru Mike Ruefer, was last used for Late Models way back in the early 2000's. Sport Mods and Mods pitted behind the back straightaway of the half mile amidst all the campers back there.
For area race fans, the biggest bit of news involving their favorites was that Chad Simpson was debuting a brand new Black Diamond chassis with all new colors. Sadly, unless you were in attendance on Thursday night, you won't get to see that car the rest of the weekend as he blew a motor and with I guess no other powerplants available to him, the car was parked for the rest of the weekend.
Brandon Sheppard, the first car out for qualifying, set a new track record as he hustled around the quarter mile to the tune of 13.588 seconds. This would be the highlight of Sheppard's night as during the feature race he was just another racer on this night.
Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the twenty three car starting field as after Simpson qualified in his heat and then scratched out, for some reason they didn't add another starter so thus the odd number for the green flag.
The forty lap feature would be a showcase for Devin Moran, who would lead thirty nine of the forty laps, only getting passed once on the second lap. He would take the lead from the outside pole, lose the lead for one lap to Chris Madden, and then fight his way back into the top spot.
Moran started by working the outside line but quickly migrated to the low groove, as did most of the field. Madden chose to stay out on the high side and it would cost him as he went straight backward, barely holding on to a top ten finish. It would seem that the moisture hung around right on the tires on the bottom of the track and that was where everyone needed to be for success.
After Madden faded, the main challenger to Moran was Bobby Pierce who was up to second by lap six when the first yellow appeared when Ryan Gustin went flying off the track. Pierce would then dog Moran the rest of the way, sometimes very close and sometimes falling a few car lengths behind, depending on how both caught the corners.
After a yellow on lap twelve, the last twenty eight laps would spin off nonstop and with about a dozen laps to go, Pierce would make his strongest charge, nearly getting a nose under Moran off turn two. Both were trying to fight their way past Jason Feger who they were lapping and the lapped cars were running the same line and things got dicey.
Pierce shot to the top, hoping that Feger would block Moran and he could sneak by but at that same time the doors opened and Moran would shoot under Feger and then have clear sailing. Pierce was not able to mount any kind of charge in the remaining laps and would settle for second as Moran would drive home for the win.
A battle of Illinois drivers saw Frankie Heckenast outduel Shannon Babb to get the third spot and Nick Hoffman had a fine run in the Bloomquist car to complete the top five as only three drivers would not complete the full race and only two were a lap down. Point leader Sheppard would settle for seventh as he spent too much time trying to make the high side work and it never really came in at all.
Three big heats and a B Feature would set the field for the Modified feature with twenty four cars going twenty laps. And it would be Jordan Hicks who would start on the pole and would lead all twenty laps in a strong performance that would net his a grand. As in the Late Models, most of the field was running the low side and bumping around the hub with them bouncing around as they sought and grabbed traction.
Hicks would get a strong challenge early from Timmy Current and Mitch Morris but he would not make a mistake and would continue to hold them off. The race would go thirteen laps before the first yellow waved and then, in total, there were only two yellows during the contest. Morris would become the primary challenger for the second half of the race with Tim Ward recovering after a bad start to also move back into a challenging role.
The last yellow set up a three lap sprint to the finish and Ward decided to try the high side and made a late rush, getting by Morris for second and closing the gap on the leader but Hicks would drive home for the win. UMP Modified star Mike McKinney would come home fourth with Brad Dierks one to pound the cushion to fifth. I believe that McKinney was driving the car of Ryan Duhme that had been reskinned in McKinney trim and numbers and sporting sponsorship from event sponsor Hoker Trucking.
A big disappointment was when Kenny Schrader, on hand to race his Modified, had some sort of problems and scratched out of the whole night of racing.
Logan Veloz was "the man" in the Sport Mods as he took the lead on lap six and would lead the rest of the way in a strong performance to win the Sport Mod feature, which would start all twenty two cars that were running for their fifteen lap main. Veloz would earn $750 for his win.
The first five laps were led by northern Iowa invader Jimmy Broszeit, driving a car that I last saw with Cole Suckow behind the wheel. He would start on the pole and lead early but Veloz would waste little time in challenging him for the top spot and would burst past and take over the point.
Once in front, there was not touching him and with the race going green the last nine laps, no one would catch the break they needed with a bunched up field. Suckow would hold on for second after a good battle with Brandon Jewell while Todd Dykema and Ben Chapman would complete the top five. Top contender Tyler Soppe was a no show for the feature after breaking in his heat race and Chuck Fox did also not run the main after rolling in his heat after flying off the banking in turn one. He was uninjured in his wreck.
To be perfectly honest, the racing was not quite up to par with what I had seen here before this year as while their were instances when drivers were running side by side and using the whole track, all three divisions just didn't seem capable on this night of making the high side work and most were running the "ditch" exclusively. However, I expect that to change as racing continues on Friday night. There were seats available last night, so if you're interested in seeing some of the finest Late Model drivers in the country, the green flag flies at 7 pm both on Friday and Saturday.
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