Friday night, August 27th, it was night two of the Quad Cities 150 for the World of Outlaws Late Models plus IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods, all three again racing a full program. It was another blazing hot Iowa day with humidity to match the heat and both combined to make it a mighty uncomfortable day and evening. However, that didn't seem to phase the fans on hand from near and far as for the second straight night a bug crowd would pack the huge old classic grandstand that is as much of the Davenport Speedway scene as perhaps anything on the grounds.
Not surprisingly, with the format established for this event, there would be no new Late Models in attendance as with the two night points accumulation setting up the heats on Saturday(thankfully one night without qualifying), not being on hand for the first night's points would render anyone without a possible chance to make the Saturday night main.
However, with this being the regular night for racing at Davenport, there were nearly twenty new cars on hand in the other two classes as a number of weekly competitors that normally race here but couldn't make it for the Thursday night show were on hand Friday. The fact that they are running full shows each of the three nights makes each night a new experience with new cars on hand for each race.
The Late Models would actually be down two cars from Thursday night with Chad Simpson's documented motor issues sending him home while Vic Benedetto headed back across the river after a poor outing on Thursday night, likely to find a track closer to home and with a slightly less powerhouse field in attendance, where ever that might be. Two more would be lost during the evening on Friday as both Brian Harris and Daniel Hilsabeck appeared to explode motors.
The exact same format would again be the order of the night for the Late Models with Chris Madden being quickest overall at 13.784 seconds. Four heats and a pair of Last Chance Showdowns would set the twenty four car starting field for the forty lap main event that would be the last point earning race to set the lineups for Saturday night's feature, scheduled for seventy laps.
It would not be a stretch to admit that probably every one on the grounds, including those in the pits and in the grandstands, would be disappointed in what transpired in the Late Model feature. One thing that I, in my rare visits here, along with the many regulars that attend this track weekly, have found is that Davenport is generally a wide track with many racing grooves that even the finicky ways of the Late Models can make work to allow side by side racing and much passing.
Sadly, that was not the case on Friday night as the track quickly took rubber on the top lane and everyone lined up and played follow the leader for the course of the event.
Brandon Sheppard would get the jump and would quickly move to the top where he stayed for forty laps. Bobby Pierce would also move to that groove quickly and would pull into second after passing Feger and Madden. The best race was for third as Jason Feger had that spot and Devin Moran wanted it in the worst way, pulling slide job after slide job on Feger until he was finally able to squeeze by in turn four.
Jimmy Mars was the sacrificial lamb on this night as he decided to run the bottom lane and while he nearly got up to third early, eventually he would get hung out to dry and would have to blend back in and by that time he had to slide up behind fellow MB racer Cade Dillard.
After a first lap yellow when Richie Gustin tangled with Dennis Erb, the last thirty nine laps of the race would go green to checkered. Sheppard would continue to lead with Pierce following closely and everyone else lining up behind them. By the halfway point, the top ten had been established and in a worst cast scenario, not a single position in the top ten was exchanged in the second half of the race. Cars were strung out all the way around the track and all were running in exactly the same groove where the rubber was and no one ventured out of that line.
The only tricky part was for Sheppard who had to keep Pierce behind him without running up the tail pipe of the slower cars that he had reached. I thought that Pierce would try to pin Sheppard behind a slower car and then try to slide under him and for thirty grand he might have, but on this night he was content to ride along in second and harvest points for Saturday night.
With only a couple of laps to go, Sheppard caught a break when Justin Kay, who was at the back of the pack and the car Sheppard was running up on, pulled off and that gave Sheppard enough room that he could accelerate enough to keep Pierce behind him. Twenty of the twenty four starters were still running at the finish with all on the lead lap as the train was a long one.
With their skinnier tires, the Modifieds were able to use a little more of the track with most running right in the ditch but some ventured out on to the rubber stripe left by the Late Models. It was a long way around up there though, and not too many were comfortable racing up that high on the track.
And one of those that just couldn't seem to decide where he wanted to run was Tom Berry Jr. Berry had taken the lead from the pole but things then slowed down with three yellows in the first five laps including a multi car crash in turn one that saw Jon Werner shoved over on his side.
When things got straightened out, they than ran the last fifteen laps nonstop. Berry Jr continued to lead but Mike McKinney was pushing him hard. Berry appeared to not be comfortable running the bottom and he then shot up to the top side of the track where he ran a couple of laps. But then McKinney started to pass him so he dived back to the bottom, trying to cut off McKinney at the pass.
However, Berry Jr couldn't get his car to turn on the bottom and he slide to the middle of the track, no man's land, and McKinney drove under him for the lead on lap twelve. McKinney would then drive on for the win and while Berry Jr then moved back to the top, it wasn't a fast enough lane to keep Denny Eckrich from passing him for second. Chris Simpson and Brad Dierks would complete the top five in the fine, thirty six car field.
The Sport Mods would complete the evening and they were all right in the ditch, digging and trying to slide under each other right on the bottom as they tried to gain positions. This led to a rather tedious race with five yellows in the first ten laps as with all cars allowed to start the main and with twenty seven of them answering the call, there was some nonsense going on in the back of the pack.
Up front, pole sitter Ryan Reed would lead all fifteen laps with Ben Chapman trying and trying some more to get past him. Several times Chapman would get up along side but couldn't get a good enough run off the corners and would have to settle back in line.
Late in the race, Reed would really smooth out his line and start to put distance on the field as his line was effective if extremely boring to watch as he "cat fished" just to the right side of the ute tires in the corners.
Reed would take the checkered flag and celebrate with a post race interview as this would be the first win of his five year career. But wait a moment! Post race analysis, as provided by My Race Pass would indicate that Reed was disqualified for some unnamed transgression and Chapman would be the winner with Brandon Jewell second and Thursday night winner Logan Velez third. Of all the cars, Velez was the only one able to make ground on the top side of the track as he moved up from eleventh to third.
Overall, the Friday night show was lacking compared to Thursday night and while I was surprised that nothing was done to the track before the Late Model feature, I can't see that happening again on Saturday. The management of this facility carries too much pride in the great racing conditions that this track rightly brags about and they will do whatever is necessary to provide a top notch surface for Saturday, I believe.
A late development finds that the state of Wisconsin is under water and no racing will be taking place there on this Saturday so it looks like I will be on hand for night three of the Quad Cities 150.
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