Bruening Dominates SLMR East at Dubuque

 It was a rare week night race near the end of September as the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway hosted the Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series on Thursday night, September 23rd as the fast third mile at the Fairgrounds in Dubuque. Thursday night would be the first of three straight nights of SLMR racing in eastern Iowa, topped by the Iowa Governor's Cup event on Saturday night at the Davenport Speedway. 

Along with the Late Models there would be racing in three IMCA divisions, the Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. The Nostalgia Late Models and Jalopies would also be racing on this night and if you were like me, your first thought was that was too many divisions for a Thursday night program with work and school awaiting on Friday am. However, the folks at DRT TRAK Promotions, under the direction of Bob Wegener, knew what they were doing and they produced a very fast paced program that got us all on the road early for those that had to get up early or otherwise had a four and a half hour drive home. 

This would be the first appearance of the SLMR East at Dubuque this year and the first promotion of DRT TRAK Promotions at Dubuque also this year. They would also be in charge of the following two nights of racing. Steve Kosiski was on hand to run things for the SLMR and Wegener's top notch crew took care of the other five classes. 

Thirty Late Models were on hand to perform on this evening, a fine turnout that saw twelve of the top fourteen in East points on hand for the show missing. Surprisingly missing was second in points Todd Cooney who was only twenty two points behind point leader Justin Kay coming into Thursday night's show. No explanation was given for his absence but the other driver missing, Jeff Aikey, was racing his Modified at the big show in Batesville Arkansas this week. Replacing Aikey on this night was Hall of Famer Ray Guss Jr who was also driving a Nostalgia Late Model for Keith Simmons. 

Guss did struggle with the Late Model, not making the show but as "Raymie" explained in victory lane after he won the Nostalgia feature, he hadn't been in a Late Model since 2016 and the cars have changed quite a bit and with just a few practice laps, it was asking a lot of him to jump right in and whip some pretty good competition. 

Also appearing as a replacement driver on this night would be Chad Simpson who was driving the car normally driven by Wisconsin's David Webster. Simpson was having a good top ten finish until he got dumped by another driver and only eleven laps left and ended up near the tail of the field. 

Before the show, I ran into an interesting gentleman in the pits. Galen Muller is from Monticello and along with Tom Muller, they run the big Rod and Custom show in Monticello every year in February. He is very much interested in all forms of racing and was on hand to check out the Late Models. He would like to have a Late Model as a part of his Rod and Custom Car Show to be held on Feb. 26 and 27, 2022 at the Berndes Center in Monticello so if their is any Dubuque area Late Model driver that would like to put their car on display and get some great advertising for their sponsors, contact Muller. 

I also ran into award winning photographer Mike Ruefer in the pits also. He was able to get back from his work assignment early this week and was able to drive up to Dubuque from Davenport where he lives. He tells me that his retirement, planned for this December, is still on track and with no work and travel to worry about starting next year, one can only image how many races he will cover next year which is great news to all the race fans he entertains with his crack photography. 

I also had the chance to talk to promoter Bob Wegener briefly before the show and it is always a pleasure to cover races put on by his group as they understand that a quick show is a good show and they crank off the program with the best of them which is particularly important on a week night. Later, a good crowd would be on hand to see the first green  flag of the night wave.

Shane Davis, voice of the Davenport Speedway and East Moline Speedway, would be calling the action on this night, and the Nostalgia Late Model would give him ample opportunity to fill in many of the fans on the history of racing in the state of Iowa. I only had wished that I had my latest issue of Speedway Illustrated magazine with me that had a great interview with Ed Sanger as the Hall of Famer and most successful Late Model racer of my generation was sitting two rows in front of me in the grandstand, as he frequently does for races at Dubuque. 

Jeff Tharp has one of the more interesting sponsors in the sport on his car as his Late Model is sponsored by the Tri State Cremation Center! No sure how much business his sponsorship generates among the racing crowd but Jeff told me he is also a family friend. 

Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the field for the Late Model thirty lap main event. SLMR uses and interesting variety of formats to set their race lineups. They time trial the cars, then invert six for their heat races and then take the top sixteen in passing points for the main with the rest going into B Features. I'm not sure why they would both qualify and then use passing points as one seems to defeat the purpose of the other. I never am a fan of time trials but they did run them off very quickly and for once, the extra laps didn't seem to hurt the racing surface which was in excellent shape all night and promotes lots of side by side racing from start to finish. 

Tyler Bruening was home on break from the World of Outlaws Late Model tour and he would dominate the later half of the feature to get the win after having a good dog fight early on with Andy Eckrich. Erkrich would lead the first four laps of the race before Bruening would pass him on the high side and then a classic side by side battle, Eckrich low and Bruening pounding the cushion would last through lap sixteen with them exchanging the lead three times before Bruening would claim it for good. 

Luke Goedert seemed to be a real challenger but he would be the victim twice on restarts that would hamper his charge. Following a lap seventeen spin, on the restart Goedert seemed to have a good run on the leader until he got squeezed up into the wall and lost time and two laps later, on the only other restart of the race, he would get wacked again on the green and have to regroup with him still finishing fifth. This was the restart triggered when Simpson got dumped in turn one by heavy traffic. 

Bruening would experiment with the low side briefly but his car worked better on the cushion and with the final eleven laps green to checkered, he would get his momentum going and would pull away for the win. Eckrich would run a strong second and Spencer Diercks would come from eighth to finish third. Jason Rauen would get up to second for a bit but then he would fade back to finish behind Diercks with Goedert holding on to complete the top five. 

The support classes had just the right number of cars for their classes, just as DRT TRAK had predicted as they had a couple of heats and their main events. Their classes didn't exactly provide a great deal of drama as all three were runaways with two of them going smoothly and the third a debacle. 

The Hobby Stocks would go green to checkered and after an early battle that saw Jimmy Doescher and Kodey Miles exchange the lead on the opening two laps, Doeschner would buckle down, take the top spot and proceed to run away from the field for a dominating win. He would finish far ahead of Miles with Scott Wetter third. 

The Modified feature would produce an even more dominating run as after Tyler Madigan would lead the first four laps, Matt Gansen would get up on the banking and blast into the lead and once in front, he was gone. The last seventeen laps of this race would go nonstop and Gansen would dominate with his only trouble be in fighting through all the lapped traffic he would come up on. 

He had three lapped cars between himself and Madigan when the checkered flew as he had the better half of a full straightaway over the field. Mike Burbridge would best Bill Roberts Jr and Mark Schulte in a good battle for third.

The Sport Mods had one of those nights where they all couldn't get their act together and it seemed like they took turns spinning out, maddening to the crowd and also the track officials. Tony Olson had started on the pole and had a big lead anyway as it seemed that no one would touch him for the win but it would have been nice to see a few more green flag laps strung together. 

The only driver that seemed a threat, Tyler Soppe, did a good job moving up from the eleventh starting spot into second as he used every one of the copious number of yellows to gain positions. 

Finally they put out the word that the next yellow would end the race and they couldn't even make it to turn one before a couple more cars turned turtle and the checkered flag flew. Olson was ruled the winner over Soppe and Kyle Hoffmann as they did get around eleven laps in before the track officials stuck a fork in the proceedings. 

With the Jalopies yet to run and it being an early evening, I did a rare early exit with the long highway home awaiting me. With the road pretty much to myself except for a couple "loonies", I rolled into my driveway at 1:59 am. 

Thanks to Bob Wegener, Carrie and all the staff at DRT TRAK Promotions for an excellent night of racing and as we all know, midweek shows are just a special bonus at this time of the year. Hopefully I will be back in the Hawkeye State a time or two more before the snows fly. 

Kay Nips Ryan As 300 Raceway Concludes Regular Season

 It was championship night on Wednesday night, September 1st at the 300 Raceway very near Farley Iowa. On the eve of their historic and famous Yankee Dirt Track Classic, the folks at 300 had reset championship night to this night after having had their planned regular season opener a couple of weeks ago weathered out. 

Point titles would be decided in all four classes that race on a regular basis at 300 and that would be the IMCA sanctioned Sport Mods and Mods, Stock Cars and the Late Models. All four point races were close with only the Modifieds showing a double digit lead going into the finale. However, that statistic is slightly skewed due to the smaller car counts that generally race here which makes it tougher for one driver to separate himself enough from another competitor to gain a significant number of points. 

Again on this night, as it has been the two other times I have been here this year for Wednesday night racing, the field of race cars was quite small with only two small heats in each class except for the Stock Cars who could only muster a single heat. 

However, I could think right off hand of a couple of reasons why the count might be smaller for this event. Number one, it is a rain dated event and often there are just some drivers that have conflicts for rescheduled races. Also, and perhaps more telling, with the Yankee coming up this weekend and all four classes that are racing on Wednesday a part of that event, unless you are right in the midst of a point fight, many would opt to save their equipment for the weekend when the stakes are much higher that they were on Wednesday. 

A reoccurring theme that I heard in the pits on this night and hadn't considered before was that some drivers are staying away from this track  because it is too high speed and they never lift which puts a strain on the motors and in order to save their equipment, they aren't racing here. I guess I can't speak to that other than to say that it indeed is a fast track for its size and they really do fly around it and on the other two times I have been here it has been rather heavy and "hammer down" but I guess you would have to poll the drivers to get a feeling whether that sentiment trends strongly or not. 

Seven qualifying heats would set the running order for the four main events to follow and to the credit of management, they took just a very short break before moving into the main events after the heats were completed. Some would fell compelled to stretch things out a bit to make up for the lack of races but the 300 staff moved quickly into their features. 

With Kevin Miller scratching from the pole after slamming the wall in his heat race and Ron Klein never finding the track after reported truck trouble on the highway, only eight cars would take the green for the main in the Late Models but their feature would be the most entertaining and closely fought of all four. 

Bryan Moreland would be the early leader but he had Eric Pollard all over him trying to get by and take over the lead. Behind them, Matt Ryan and Justin Kay were moving into third and fourth and closed to make it a four car race. Pollard would attempt lap after lap to get by Moreland on the inside but he just couldn't quite get it done with Moreland leading past the halfway point. 

Then Pollard tried the outside and that helped him pick up speed. He was just ready to pass Moreland down the front chute on lap fourteen when his motor went up in a cloud of smoke and steam. This provided the only yellow of the race and on the green, Ryan would drive past Moreland and take over the lead. 

Kay would quickly follow and it became a two car race with Kay looking lap after lap to the inside of Ryan who appeared to be struggling just a bit as the low side of the track began to dry out and blacken up. Kay nearly got by with five to go but Ryan fought him off. 

Kay then backed up a bit and made one more late run, getting close as the white flag waved. He stuck his nose under Ryan in turn three as they approached a lapped car and Kay was able to squeeze past coming off turn four in what was a tight but clean move. At the line, Kay won by just under a car length in what was a thrilling finish to the evening. However, because Ryan finished only one position behind Kay, Ryan would take the point title by the narrow margin of two points. 

Jeff Aikey would just into Joel Callahan's car for the feature race, start in the back and come home third. This is interesting because in my area, drivers are not allowed to be switched once the racing is started but apparently it is perfectly fine in IMCA as Aikey was left without a car after motor problems with his Modified in the heat race. 

Earlier, Tom Schmitt won a tight battle with Johnny Spaw to take the Stock Car feature. They went three wide for the lead on the opening lap with Chase Zaruba getting the lead but the three wide battle saw him get turned sideways and by lap two, Schmitt had moved into the lead. 

Spaw was on the move as he squeezed into second with Zaruba catching a piece of the wall and eventually dropping out. The battle was then on between Schmitt and Spaw and the last half of the race saw Spaw try a multitude of moves to get past Schmitt but Tom hung tough on each one and continued to hold a very small lead. 

Spaw would try one last time on the final lap but Schmitt held his ground and Spaw, to his credit, raced him clean and did not try a nasty slider or try to move him up the track and Schmitt would cross the line for the win with Phil Holtz third. Spaw would be point champion by nine points. 

The Sport Mod feature was another two car battle that boiled down to a battle between Justin Becker and "King Kong" Bauer. Becker had a great opening lap as he moved to the tall side of the track and swept from the outside of row two into the lead before one lap could be completed. Bauer had to come from the fourth row but would eventually move to second in the nonstop main and then zero in on Becker. 

Justin was running the higher side of the track and Bauer would have to drive under him for the lead and it took him several laps as he gained inch after inch with each lap completed as he worked to Becker's inside and gradually would move under him, finally clearing him on lap ten for the lead. 

Becker tried to move even higher on the track to get a run on Bauer and it almost worked as he caught back up but it was too tricky up there and Bauer was just a bit too strong as he would drive on for the win and also take the track title by thirteen points. Becker would settle for second with Jason Roth third. 

With Aikey out after heat race problems, there would be twelve to start the Modified feature race and Tyler Madigan would lead the first twelve laps of this event. He started on the pole and set a fast pace with Eric Pollard staying with him and setting up a very interesting battle as they raced side by side for a number of laps. Pollard tried his best to get by but Madigan was just quick enough to hold him off. 

Meanwhile, on the move from farther back in the pack were Timmy Current and Bone Larson . Current was really flying and on lap ten he was able to drive under Madigan and take over the lead. Just after that, the only yellow of the race would fly from Doug Haack when Jamie Pfeiffer slowed on the track. 

The last seven laps saw a shootout with Larson trying his best to get under Current but Timmy was too strong and would drive home for the win with Larson a close second. Bone would also earn the point title by thirteen with Mark Schulte coming home third in the feature. 

Of course it would have been better to have a few more cars on hand and make the feature races just a bit bigger. However, all four feature races were good, close contests with passes for the win coming late in most and they were entertaining and not plagued by a bunch of yellow flags. Management did a good job of moving things along and the final checkered waved just around 9 pm with quite frankly, is not a bad thing on a week night with a long holiday weekend ahead. 

I enjoyed the show and the crowd seemed satisfied in the racing that they saw. No doubt both the crowd and the car count will be substantially bigger for this weekend's Yankee events at this long standing racing tradition. 

Thanks to the folks at 300 for allowing me to be on hand on this beautiful Wednesday night. 

Happy B-Day to Kay; Dubuque Title and Feature Winner

 A rather lengthy stay, by my standards anyway, in the state of Iowa was wrapped up on a beautiful Sunday evening with a visit to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway on Season Championship night at the northeast Iowa facility. 

Four IMCA sanctioned divisions, the Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks would all be racing a full program along with the unsanctioned Four Cylinders for the last regular season program at the fairgrounds track. 

It would turn out to be a nice way to wrap up the weekend and also celebrate his thirty third birthday for Justin Kay as he would highlight the evening by winning both the twenty five lap Late Model feature and guaranteeing the track title at the same time. Other winners on the night would include Matt Gansen, Ryan Schilling, Brandon White and Josh Starr. 

A nice field of eighty seven cars would sign in to race on Sunday plus the AIRS cars were also a part of the program. Interestingly, the last time I was here they were having trouble getting Hobby Stocks and Four Cylinder cars to race and on Sunday those were the two biggest fields with over twenty a piece in each one. Last time there was a nice field of Modifieds but tonight they had by far the lowest car count so there is no way to predict just what might happen from week to week with earlier action this weekend and upcoming events, of which there are some big ones in eastern Iowa over the Labor Day weekend, likely playing a role in who raced and who didn't. 

Another interesting factoid that I noted was that of the eighty seven cars in the pits, thirty of them were from the great state of Wisconsin, a whopping nearly 35% of the field that had crossed the Mississippi River bridge and forged up the hill to race at the fairgrounds and in all five classes that race at the track. To me this high number is quite remarkable given the fact that there is only one race track in all of southwestern Wisconsin to produce interest and cars and such a different situation from just a few years ago when at Dubuque a car from the "Cheesehead state" was a rare sighting indeed with maybe Darren Mish and David McClain often being the only ones. 

Dubuque is one of those tracks that don't have season championships as such and instead just add up the track points and crown their champions that way on the final regular season night. Sometimes that works out great but on this year at Dubuque, things were rather anticlimactic as four of the point leaders had large leads and would only need to start their respective main events in order to claim titles. 

The only one where there was a remote chance of a change was in the Sport Mods where Scott Busch held a nice sized lead over Tyler Soppe and strange things would have to happen for Soppe to overtake Busch but it was technically possible. However, that remote chance went away when Soppe was involved in a late race crash and would be a DNF for the feature. 

Jacob Welter had such a huge lead in the Four Cylinders that after he hit the wall in his heat and went off on the hook with much damage, he celebrated his title from the back of his trailer as he did not even run the main event. Along with Busch and Welter, other winners of titles would be Kay, Timmy Current and Jimmy Doescher. 

It would be a night of contrasts in the main events and also a night to test the patience of track officals and fans alike. While on one end of the spectrum, the Four Cylinders and Late Models would get through thirty seven laps of feature race action with only three yellows and all three were pinned on the Late Models,  the other three classes would produce a mind numbing eighteen yellow flags in fifty laps of racing action, topped by the Hobby Stocks that wore out starter Doug Haack's left and right arm(there were so many yellows I think he had to switch arms midway through their event) with eight yellows that was only one more than the Sport Mods would produce themselves. 

The Late Model feature was one of dominance by Kay after a dandy early race battle between Ron Klein and Nick Marolf. Klein would lead the first four laps after starting on the pole before Marolf would pass him for one lap, only to see Klein return the favor and take the top spot back. 

Meanwhile, Kay, who started tenth, was moving forward with a surgeon's precision, passing cars both high and low as the situation warranted, and by lap nine he moved past Marolf to take over the lead. NIck stayed close for a lap or two but then Justin moved to the low groove and would then gradually pull away with the last fourteen laps of the race running off nonstop. 

Kay would be an easy winner over Marolf and Luke Merfeld who raced his way up from twelfth to finish thrd. 

The Four Cylinders would start nineteen cars in their main event and to everyone's surprise and shock(at least mine), they would run off their main event nonstop from green to checkered. This race appeared as if two classes were running together, the Four Cylinders and the Super Four Cylinders, as Starr and Joe Zrostlik were so much faster than the rest of the field as to be quite ridiculous. They were nearly a half lap in front of the rest of the field as they three wheeled their way around the track, lifting their left rear tires as a dog does when he is looking for a fire hydrant. 

Starr got to the front first and Zrostlik couldn't catch him as they finished first and second. Is it coincidental that Starr has raced Modifieds and Zrostlik Late Models? I think not. Noah Krahenbuhl would finish first in class and third overall. This race, while not having a yellow flag, did finish under the checkered/yellow when John W. Campbell slammed the back stretch wall on the final tour. He would be OK but not so much his car. 

Eight mind numbing yellows would slow the Hobby Stock feature with Brandon White, who took the lead on lap two, taking the win. He had to show great patience as with all the yellows, one slip up on a restart could have ended his chance for victory. David Crimmins was his main challenger as he took second on lap four and would chase White on every restart. 

Doescher would first appear in the top five on lap eleven but would then advance quickly as he passed a couple of cars and a couple in the top five managed to take each other out, elevating the others. A two lap sprint to the checkers saw things get exciting but White would hold off Doescher and Crimmins to get the hard fought win. Fortunately, White's car was faster than it looked as to all appearances it was the plainest looking car on the grounds but it was indeed fast enough to drive home for the win. 

A two car collision on lap one would set the pattern for the Sport Mods, who came up just one yellow shy of matching the Hobby Stock futility. Grant Manthe would be the early leader of this race with Schilling closely following until lap eight when Grant would make the pass for the lead. There would be one burst of green flag racing before four yellows in the last five laps would bog things down again. 

Busch would start eleventh but with patience and the lack of same by some of the competition, he would find himself up to second with a pass on Manthe with two laps to go. The pressure was on Schilling at the end but he responded with a couple of solid laps and would come home the winner ahead of Busch and Manthe. 

After starting off with a collision on the opening lap, the Modifieds would respond with fifteen clean laps before a couple of slowdowns near the end. After Tyler Kleiner led a couple of laps, it would be Matt Gansen who would drive into the lead after starting seventh. He would then build up a big lead over the field as "Darkside's" Duhme and Current would move into the top three. 

The late race yellows made for nervous time for Gansen but he got away good on both late restarts and would earn the win over the Darkside duo. 

The track seemed to be in fine shape for racing so I'm not just sure what the problems were that caused all the restarts other than over driving but people like Kay showed that there were plenty of grooves to race on and make passes without ending them by spinning donuts. Despite all the yellows, the whole program was completed before 10 pm. 

Thanks to everyone at Dubuque for a fine season of racing but it isn't over quite yet though. Despite the regular season coming to a close, they still have some big events on the schedule. On September 23rd, a Thursday night, the SLMR Late Models will be having a big show at the track and then on October 14-16, Darkside Promotions will be having a three night event at the Fairgrounds featuring Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts racing at some point over the weekend. Check their face book page for more information on that event. 

Moran Dominates The Last Seventy of the Quad Cities 150; Thirty Thousand Dollars Heads to Ohio

 The final night of the first annual Quad Cities 150, held at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport Iowa, was held on Saturday night, August 28th and Devin Moran would take his second win of the weekend. Leading all but one lap, Moran would earn a tidy check for $30,000 for his efforts to go along with the ten thousand dollars he won for the opening night victory on Thursday night. 

IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods would also have their third straight full program of the weekend with their biggest checks of the weekend on the line also and the winners would be Jeff Aikey in the Modifieds and Tyler Soppe in the Sport Mods. 

It was another explosively hot and humid day in the Heartland and the late afternoon provided a scare when a renegade pop up thundershower would build just to the West of the track, getting everyone just a bit nervous. However, after depositing about fifty drops of rain on the fairgrounds, it dissipated just as fast as it built up, the sun came burning back out and the steam bath returned. This area had been walking on a weather tightrope all weekend with large doses of rain falling to the North but the eastern Iowa region was spared any threat of this gigantic weekend of racing being threatened. 

Having lost a couple more Late Models on Friday night to blown motors, a field of thirty one would fight it out for twenty four qualifying spots and a minimum of a grand to start the Late Model feature. Big fields of thirty eight Mods and thirty one Sport Mods would fight it out to get into their respective fields too with two thousand and fifteen hundred bucks to the winners coming for those two races. 

Four heat races and a pair of B Features would set the the starting grid for the twenty four car World of Outlaw main event. In a refreshing change, there would be no time trials for the Late Models on this night as points accumulated in the first two nights of racing would set the  grids for the heat races. However, there was a last minute development in the lineups when several drivers skipped the required autograph session earlier and their penalty was to go to the rear of their respective heat races. The most significant change saw Garrett Alberson not make the feature through his heat and have to run a B Feature but much later he might have been sorry that he made the main after he nosed into the berm in turn one and cart wheeled off the banking on lap ten of the feature. He would be unhurt and would get the award for tallest somersault of the weekend. 

After two nights of some struggles with the racing surface to make it like it has been most of the year here at Davenport, they picked the right night to hit things correctly as Ricky Kay prepared a surface that allowed the drivers to race all over the track for seventy laps and also gave them a berm to race off of. After either not taking the time earlier in the week or not being allowed the time to hit the track one last time before feature racing, depending on who's telling the story, everything fell into place and the drivers were given the kind of track that they were looking for. 

Moran was clearly the dominant driver, leading all but lap five when Brandon Sheppard was able to slip to his outside and lead one lap before Moran got past him but while Devin controlled most of the race, there were still some periods when his lead was under the gun and also much going on behind him. 

Sheppard followed him for much of the early race with Bobby Pierce moving into third while Jimmy Mars, Boom Briggs, Ryan Gustin, Chris Madden and several others all fought a spirited battle behind them as they jockeyed for position. By the halfway point Mars had moved to fourth with Briggs and Gustin close behind. 

Following a yellow when Shannon Babb slipped off the end of the track, Pierce got past Sheppard for second and put the pressure on Moran. Twice Pierce threw nasty sliders at the leader, taking the lead on one end of the track, only to see Moran return the favor and be scored the leader of that lap also. 

Almost unnoticed was Brian Shirley who was slowly but methodically working his way to the front and after being scored eighth at the halfway point, he really started advancing as he used the low side of the track. 

With Moran still in control, things got very testy for the second spot and on lap sixty five, Pierce and Madden, fighting for that spot, got together with it appearing the Pierce got the back of Madden and turned him on the back chute. The yellow flew and while Madden kept moving, he was forced to use the "blend in" rule of the Outlaws and he fell to sixth in the running order while Pierce was able to retain second, much to the majority of the crowd's displeasure. 

The last ten laps saw Moran pull away again but many were pleased when Shirley drove under Pierce and took away the second spot. Those two also had several close misses on the back chute as they battled for second. Moran would drive on to take the win uncontested with Shirley second while Pierce jumped over the banking on the last corner in an effort to retake second and would lose two spots as Briggs and Sheppard would get past him in the last corner. 

After the race, Madden and Pierce would exchange pleasantries while being careful not to touch each other which would have resulted in disqualifications. I suspect we have not heard the last between these two following this "dust up" and while he has some very loyal followers, Pierce seems to be fitting in very nicely as the Midwest "Bad Boy."

However, Moran was clearly the best in this race and he maintained that edge throughout the seventy laps of the feature, which went by very fast on this quarter mile. 

Special mention should be made of the great run by Briggs who was very much a factor throughout the race while finishing a strong third and I must also mention the job that Mike Fryer did too. After racing two nights and being low in points, David Webster turned the seat of his #44w Late Model over to Mike Fryer who had driven the car previously and was on hand to race his Modified. Fryer then did the unthinkable as he came from the back in his heat to qualify for the feature race and though he dropped out early with a smoking engine, just the fact that he was able to qualify was quite remarkable. In fact, while he made the Late Model feature, he was edged out on the last corner of making the Modified feature in a B. 

The top twenty four Modifieds would start their twenty lap main event and with a tremendous opening lap charge, Jeff Aikey would come from the outside of row two to take the lead on the opening lap. He would surrender that lead for one lap to Mitch Morris on lap five but then pick up the pace and retake the top spot just a lap later. He would then lead the rest of the way, gradually pulling away in what would be a nonstop main event. 

Shane Devolder and Morris would battle for much of the race for second before Devolder would yield his position to the hard charges of Ethan Braaksma and Cayden Carter who would come up from the fourth and fifth rows respectively. 

Aikey, who has been known to gamble on starts and restarts, using them to gain an edge with the often being positive and once in a while being set back when he misjudged those starts, seemed to get a great one on this night that allowed him to shoot into the lead on the first lap. However, Jim Sandusky, who was starting in front of Aikey in row one didn't seem to agree, and following the checkered he rammed into the front end of Aikey's car, breaking the right front suspension so that Aikey had to limp to victory lane. 

Even though Sandusky got lapped in the twenty lap feature, he apparently thought the initial start was his downfall, not the eighteen positions he lost during the race and the after event contact cost him a disqualification from the event. 

The Sport Mods got off to the same rocky start that they have had the last couple of nights with two yellow flags in the first four laps but then they settled down and ran the rest of the race green to checkered. I'm not sure just exactly how many laps they did run as it was announced that there would be a deduction in laps for every yellow that was thrown in this race, as the previous night's mains for this class had their "moments". 

Apparently Tyler Soppe showed Aikey how to get to the front quickly as he too came from the second row outside to lead before one lap was completed and then would lead the rest of the way in the Sport Mod feature. While he didn't get rammed following the race, his route to victory was much like the one that Aikey would later take. 

Cole Suckow would chase Soppe all the way after moving up from the third row and Ben Chapman would come all the way up from the fifth row to get third as for the third straight night the /Sport Mods all raced right in the "ditch" with no one having any success at trying a higher line. 

It turned out to be a great three days for this initial event. There were large crowds on hand all three nights and from my perspective it was a very successful event. The crowds seemed enthusiastic and excited to see the Late Models particularly and there were certainly a lot of out of town and out of state fans that drove in to watch this event. Just as a suggestion for the next year, I think they could have gotten by nicely with just one support class which would have allowed them the time to do some extra things and also more time for track prep if needed. The Late Models really needed just one class for a break and it seemed like the whole program was just a bit rushed with the three classes to try and get done before curfew. The Mods put on a good show and they are pretty dependable at racing without a lot of yellows while the Sport Mods struggled all week in that regard. Otherwise, the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds is a great facility for such an event and I see this race as just getting bigger each year. 

Thanks to the folks from the Outlaws and K Promotions for allowing me to be a part of this race. 

Sheppard Tops Night Two at Davenport

 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. 

Moran Tops Quad Cities 150 Opener

 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. 

Point Titles Decided During the Last Beaver

 I have been trying to get to "The Beaver " all Summer and it's a good thing I didn't wait any longer as Wednesday night, August 25th, was the last race of the 2021 season at the Buena Vista Speedway, or the BVR or even better, the "Beaver." It seemed like either the schedules didn't work out or the weather didn't cooperate, including one Wednesday I made it as far as Storm Lake before they canceled and that was a long and miserable night killing time at the hotel. 

But the final Wednesday night was a good one and even though it was another Iowa steam bath, it was worth it to finally make the long trip pay off. On this final night, the five IMCA sanctioned classes that routinely race at BVR would be in action along with a "King of the Hill" event for the Hobby Stocks last on the card. 

This would also be the last night for track points and incredibly, three of the divisions had a tie for the lead going into the last night of racing while the other two classes had a five point margin in one and eighteen in the other, all five of which would be decided as there was not a large enough margin to ensure the title without racing. 

Sixty two cars signed in to race in the five classes on the final night. Included were one of the larger Hobby Stock fields of the year with twenty of them and the Modifieds had enough cars for two heats on this night, something that often doesn't happen. Only the Stock Cars and Sport Compact lagged on this night. 

Promoter Trent Chinn is an incredibly busy guy at this track as it seems that he is in charge of everything here and he meets himself coming and going from time to time. However, I was able to steal just a minute or two away from him to ask a couple of questions. He informed that he definitely would be returning as the promoter at Spencer next year as they had a really great season, as just about everyone knows. They still have two more races on their agenda during the Clay County Fair in September that will include Late Models, 410 Sprints and all the classes that race at Spencer routinely. 

BVR is still up in the air at this point. Trent will need to talk to the Fair Board after the season is over before making any decisions about 2022 as his contract was for just one season and talks must take place before anything is decided for next year. Trent will still have some track prep assignments on his plate besides Spencer as he has been traveling to Texas weekly with MVG to do the track prep at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track and Trent will also be involved with track prep for Vegas in November and Bristol next Spring again. He sound just about as busy as MVG and that takes some doing. 

Although I must confess that I don't know as many of the racers down here as I do up North, I did take a moment to talk to one this night. Jackson Mulder was making his first ever start in the Modified class at the BVR on Wednesday. His story is an interesting one as his closest race track is Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids where he races a B Mod under USRA rules and actually, he took one of his B Mods and converted it into an IMCA Mod which he was racing on this night. There aren't too many racers that run regularly under different sanctioning bodies but Jackson is one that does. On this night, something happened to his car during his heat and he failed to start the main event. 

When they dropped the first green flag I made a discovery and that was another in a long line of track scoreboards that aren't operating this year. I'm not sure if repair parts for scoreboards are as scarce as racing tires, but there sure seem to be a lot of scoreboards that just aren't lighting up the night this year. 

All right, let's get into those five point battles that will settle track titles. The heat races spun off at record speed with nine qualifying events being completed in thirty nine minutes. We then took some time to give some bikes away and give the kids rides in the race cars. Then it was time for feature racing. About the only thing significant during the heats was that the Stock Car racing brothers of David and Devin Smith both had trouble in the heat with a flat for one and a yellow causing tap in the bumper for the other but since both with near the back in a small Stock Car feature, it wasn't as devastating as it could have been. 

Kaytee Devries and Caine Mahlberg were tied in points heading into the last Sport Compact feature of the night. She would start in row two of the feature while Mahlberg had a bad heat and would start in row four. Colton Ransom would lead the first lap of the nonstop feature race before Corey Namanny would pass him and take over the lead. Devries was right behind Namanny  and would challenge him several times for the lead. 

However, Namanny would not give up control and he would go on for the win. Devries would finish a strong second and after Mahlberg had yet another bad race, finishing eighth, Kaytee would be track champion by five points. 

After three smooth Hobby Stock heats, their feature race was absolute craziness. There were so many spins and other forms of accidents including cars flying off the ends of the track and crackups, I almost lost count. 

Going into this race, Mike Smith had the biggest lead of any of the five point leaders as he was eighteen points in front of James Johnson and seemed pretty comfortable. That is, until they dropped the green flag and because Smith didn't have a good heat, we was starting fifteenth on the grid. One of the back markers spun right in front of him, clipped him and tore the rear end of his car loose. He was done almost before he got started and was scored twentieth in the field. Now, it was a question of whether or not Johnson could gain enough spots to make up the difference after he started tenth. All the yellows helped him and he advanced to the fourth position. 

Meanwhile, a great battle saw Drew Barglof holding off Dillon Magnussen for the lead with Magnussen throwing big sliders at Barglof who managed to hold him off through five yellows. Unfortunately, yellow number six was for Barglof himself as he broke just as Magnussen passed him for the top spot. 

With this being the sixth yellow, they pulled the pin on this event two laps early and threw the checkered with Magnussen the winner over Dylan Fitzpatrick and Johnson. However, Johnson came up just short on the points and Smith hung on by the narrow margin of two points to be the champion. 

The Sport Mods saw Tim Rupp leading Rusty Montague by five points as they rolled off for the last feature of the year. Rupp would lead the opening laps as he wanted to end up with a bang. However, Jake Sachau had plenty to say too. 

He put heavy pressure on Rupp as they exchanged slide jobs in a very entertaining battle. Finally, Sachau was able to change up and attack low on the track and he was able to slip into the lead down the back chute. Once in front, he was able to pull away slightly while Rupp and Zech Norgaard had another great battle, this time for second. Norgaard took the spot but late in the contest, Rupp was able to take it back and he would finish second behind Sachau while Norgaard would settle for third. With Rupp finishing second and Montague settling for seventh, it was Rupp the champ by ten points. 

There was tension in the Smith family as brothers David and Devin were flat out tied as they dropped the green flag for the last feature of the season. However, David made a great move right off the bat as he came from the fourth row and quickly worked his way into second behind Brian Blessington. While those two put on a heck of a battle for the lead, they managed to also pull away from the pack where Devin was stuck in traffic. 

The race for the lead was a dandy with David getting to the inside of Blessington but Brian simply refused to yield. David took the lead for one lap but Brian then fought back and took over the point once again and in the last few laps, put some distance on David as he drove on for a very satisfying win. David would settle for second but with Devin stuck in sixth, David would take the title by four points. 

The battle in the Modifieds was essentially settled before the green flag even flew. Going into the race, Jesse Rogotzke and Chris Abelsen were the third pair to be tied in the points. However, with both scheduled to start in the third row of the feature race, it looked like a real war would develop. 

However, everything changed when the car scheduled to start on the outside pole opted to go to the tail and Abelsen was able to advance one row ahead of Rogotzke. That would be all he would need as he got ahead of Rogotzke right at the start and then battled with Doug Smith for the win. Rogotzke got mired in the pack and couldn't fight his way up into the top five. Abelsen tried hard, but found Smith just too tough on this night as Doug would drive on for his first ever Modified feature win at BVR. Abelsen would settle for the track title by four points. 

The evening would conclude with a King of the Hill event for the Hobby Stocks with Brandon Nielsen earning two hundred bucks for topping Johnson in the finale. . 

Thanks to Trent Chinn and everyone at "The Beaver" for a good night of racing and with a nice crowd in the stands, a good way to conclude their season.