Erb and Dillard Win "The Davenport Deal" Openers

 Monday night, July 22nd, "The Davenport Deal" produced and directed by XR for their Super Series Late Models and ONUM Dirt Modifieds, raced for their first of three consecutive nights at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport Iowa. For the Late Models, it was their first of two consecutive nights of racing here with each night seeing the Late Models racing for a top prize of fifteen grand. For the Modifieds, it was their first night of racing also, but they will be running here through Wednesday when they race their big finale that will bring the winner a big prize of twenty thousand dollar.s 

Monday night's racing would be action packed from start to finish in both classes with lots of spectacular racing that led to Tyler Erb claiming the Late Model win while Cade Dillard, who raced in both classes, came out of top of the Modified thirty lap feature race. 

It was a hot and steamy night in mid America with only a spotty chance of seeing a pop up thunderstorm. However, that slight chance materialized right over the fairgrounds in the late afternoon  hours. Things got very ominous looking nearly right overhead and off to the East and race teams and fans alike were stopping in their tracks and looking to the skies. The racers were trying to decide whether to load up their cars and beat the rain and fans deciding whether they should buy a ticket or wait to see what would happen. 

It was a very near miss with rain reported a very short distance away but nothing fell at the track and slowly those clouds drifted off to the East, producing quite the rainbow. Later, however, just as hot laps wrapped up and with the sun now shining again, a small cloud drifted over the track and it then did rain for a few minutes, backing up the program as the track crew reworked the track once the shower stopped minutes later. It was a hindrance but nothing like the main event we just missed that surely would have ended the night of racing. 

Thirty five XR Late Models signed in to race on Monday night with this number much exceeding the expectations that I had as along with the number of cars, the quality of the competition was also very high and we would be seeing many of the top drivers in the country right now in action on the Davenport quarter mile. 

The track would be lightning fast on this night with the track crew having gotten plenty of moisture into the track prior to it raining and with the humidity high to keep that moisture in the surface, the track would produce high speeds while also being a handful for the drivers. The field was split into two groups with Erb being the quickest in group one and Mike Marlar quickest overall at 13.772 seconds. 

There was quite a bit of drama early as Iowa favorite Ryan Gustin had to borrow the car of Carey Umbarger when his own ride developed problems during qualifying and Chris Simpson, Gustin, Garrett Alberson, Curt Stewart, Tim McCreadie and Bobby Pierce all had to run B Features after they either had car problems in the heats or just didn't run well enough. 

There was plenty of wild goings on during the feature race with drivers charging and then fading and lots of shuffling throughout the pack but the one constant was Tyler Erb.

Erb started on the pole for the forty lap feature race and he would be scored the leader for all forty laps. The race, however, was not boring as that statistic would indicate.  Erb received several challenges over the course of the event with Mike Marlar early, Max Blair and Hudson O'Neal late, but each time he would repel their advance, leading up to some hard feelings at the end of the race between himself and Blair. And the track was such that one misstep in a corner and the win could easily have been out the window.

The race got off to a rocky start with a big pileup in turn one on the opening lap that eliminated Matt Cosner, Daulton Wilson, Matt Ryan and Trey Mills. Erb then grabbed the lead but he had Marlar and Cade Dillard close behind and challenging him along with a charging Logan Seavey who was looking good and Max Blair who was also moving up. 

They raced seventeen green flag laps until Dillard slipped over the cushion in turn two and triggered a yellow flag. The top side was the fast line around the track but with a big lip and a jagged line of clay on that top side, it was very easy to either jump that cushion or get hung up in it which was just as bad. 

Marlar would later learn that as he got bogged down twice off turn two and he finally called it a night after losing many spots. After Marlar's bad luck just past the halfway point, Blair and O'Neal would become the chief challengers for Erb with Blair especially putting on the heat. Late yellows for Pierce's problems and a spin by Seavey set up a five lap dash for the win. 

But there would be one last burst of fireworks and Blair went for it, trying to pass Erb on the high side off turn two. Whether or not Blair got too high, Erb moved up and blocked his line or a combination of the above, but Blair ran out of racing room and slipped over the cushion and off the track. He, however, kept moving and the race continued with Erb holding off a late charge from O'Neal to take the win with Piece coming back for his troubles to drive through the reduced field for third ahead of Nick Hoffman and Cody Overton. Fourteen starters were still on the track at the end with all on the lead lap. There should be plenty of incentive for some of the drivers to be extra fired up for Tuesday night's show, if you know what I mean. 

And just as exciting and eventual as the Late Model program was the Modified portion of the event. This class saw the entered field split into two groups with half qualifying tonight and the other half on Tuesday although some of the Tuesday night drivers were already on hand to hot lap. Thirty one drivers were entered in the Monday night portion of the program with eight not showing and Drake Troutman added to the list, so there were twenty three that raced on Monday. 

They would draw for their starting positions and then run double heat races with passing and finishing points determining their lineup for their two grand to win, thirty lap qualifying feature race. Feature points were also given with everyone trying to earn enough points so that they automatically moved into Wednesday night's main directly without having to race the dreaded step ladder. 

Many very strong teams were on hand here for this Modified show with no doubt a number of highly regarded drivers that had probably never been seen before racing here at Davenport. It was like a USMTS show with also a sprinkling of some of UMP's best stars too. The ONUM rules allow each to race with each other but the comparison is one to watch as the week progresses. 

The number of cars was such that no B Feature was needed so all twenty three started the main event. This race was also a wild one with lots happening and three different leaders during its thirty laps. 

Eventual winner Dillard started in the sixth row so that means he made quite a charge which he started almost immediately, passing at least four cars on the high side of the track in the first two laps before the yellow flew when Tyler Nicely went flying off the track. 

Will Krup had taken the early lead over Brian Ruhlman and Austin Holcombe with Dan Ebert and Troutman close behind. Ruhlman was all over Krup in the early going but there was much changing of position directly behind them. 

Holcombe would bow out with mechanical difficulties, shuffling things but on lap twelve, things got even wilder when leader Krup went into turn one, spun and then a wheel came flying off the car. Whether the loose wheel caused the spin or was a by product of the spin, either way Krup was done for the event with Troutman inheriting the lead. And also by this time, Dillard had driven up to second. 

The green was dropped again and Dillard drove right past Troutman to take over the lead and that was it as he led the final eighteen laps for the win. Granted, it was not easy as he still had some strong challengers and the yellow flew twice more to slow the action and bunch the field, but Dillard was up to the challenge and would retain the lead each time. 

Ruhlman drove a consistent race, always lurking in the top five and he drove home for the second place finish. Troutman lost much ground when he clobbered a corner marker tire and bashed in his front end as Jim Chisholm came home third ahead of Austen Becerra and Rodney Sanders. The score for opening night was USMTS three and UMP two in the top five. Just over half the starting field was on the track at the end as attrition was high on the demanding track.

After the rain delay, the program was run through at a very speedy pace and all racing was done by 11 pm, even with the lengthy delay for rain and repacking. It was a very spirted program put on by both classes and the coming days should see more of the same.