Monday, July 28, 2014

Griffaw Cashes In at Quincy Raceways Modified Special

Quincy, IL (Sunday, July 27, 2014) - Beautiful weather all day Sunday meant that racing would go on as planned at the Quincy Raceways in Quincy, IL. In the spotlight on the night would be the UMP Modifieds battling for a top prize of $1,250 and the IMCA SportMods battling for $500 to win. Also in action on the night was the IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Sport Compacts.

The first feature up on the night was the 18 lap IMCA Stock Cars, with Troy Brierton and Jerry Jansen leading the field to the green flag. Jansen would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Terry Houston, who started 4th, and Brierton. Jansen then held the top spot until lap 6, when Houston slipped past him to grab the lead. While Houston set his own pace out front, the battle for second thru sixth was a good one. As Jansen, Jake Powers, Beau Taylor, who started 6th, Brandon Savage, who started 8th, and Abe Huls, who started 10th, battled side-by-side at times for those spots. But there was nobody stopping Houston on this night, as he went on to lead the final 12 laps of a caution free race to pick up his first win of the season. Taylor won the battle for 2nd, Huls was 3rd, Jansen was 4th, with Savage edging out a fifth place finish.

Up next was the 25 lap IMCA SportMod feature, with Jim Gillenwater and Bob Cowman drawing the front row for the event. Just as the green flag was waved the caution light would come on, as Laine VanZandt came to a stop in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Gillenwater jumped out front on lap 1 over Tony Dunker and Joey Gower, who started 6th. But just after the completion of lap 1 another caution came out, as Adam Birck, who was behind the wheel of Charles VanZandt's #80v machine, spun in turn 2 and collected Craig Brooks to bring out the yellow. Gillenwater moved back out front on the restart, with Dunker and Gower close behind. Another lap complete, lap 2, produced another yellow at first that turned into a red flag condition. New comer Nathan Bringer spun in turn 4 and collected Cowman, Jeff DeLonjay and VanZandt to bring out the yellow. But when the front of DeLonjay's car started to catch fire the yellow turned into a red. Once back to green Gillenwater jumped back out front, with Tanner Klingele, who started 7th, going three wide between Dunker and Gower to move into the runner up spot. Gillenwater then started to pull away from the battle behind him, when Bringer slowed in turn 1 to bring out the yellow on lap 12. On the restart Gillenwater moved back out front, with Gower getting past Klingele for the second spot. The battle up front came to a disastrous stop on lap 13, when Gower got into the back of Gillenwater and spun him in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Klingele inherited the lead for the restart, but when he jumped the restart to bring out the yellow. He was moved back one spot to second, with Dunker inheriting the lead. Klingele then tried to work under Dunker over the next 9 laps, when the final caution of the event appeared on lap 22. A tire was clipped in turn 3 and pushed out onto the track, while debris in turn 4 brought out the yellow. Dunker moved out front on the restart and then held on over the final 3 laps to pick up third win in a row at the track and the $500 top prize to go with it. Klingele settled for 2nd, Gower recovered from his involvement in the lap 13 caution to come back up to finish in 3rd, Bradley Holtmeyer, who started 16th, recovered from his right rear flat under the lap 1 caution to come up to finish in 4th, with Bobby Anders rounding out the top 5.

Rusty Griffaw and Michael Long led the field to the green in the 30 lap UMP Modified feature, with Griffaw grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Long and Steven DeLonjay. Just after the completion of lap 1 Shane Lewis and Charles Baker got together down the front stretch to bring out the yellow. On the restart Griffaw jumped back out front over Long and DeLonjay. Griffaw, who was running the bottom of the track, then worked to hold off Long, who was working the middle and top of the track. Those two would run laps 8 and 9 side-by-side, with Griffaw edging Long at the line on each lap. Griffaw started to enter lapped traffic on lap 19, which allowed Long to close in on him again. But Griffaw would hold on to claim the win and the $1,250 top prize. Long was 2nd, David Wietholder came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Donovan Lodge started 6th and finished in 4th, with Craig Spegal coming from 9th to finish in 5th.

The final feature to take to the track was the 15 lap IMCA Sport Compacts, with Alex Baker and Alex Costigan on the front row. But it was eighth place starter Kimberly Abbott who quickly moved to the front of the field to grab the lead on lap 1 over Adam Scott and Baker. While Abbott started to pull away from the field, Brandon Lambert, who started 7th, Austen Becerra, who started 11th, and Craig Bangert, who started 10th, were working there way towards the front. Abbott looked to be heading to the win, when the first and only caution of the event appeared on lap 14 to set up a one lap dash to the finish. Scott would slow to a stop in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Abbott moved back out front and held on to pick up the win. Becerra settled for 2nd, Brandon Lambert was 3rd, Bangert was 4th, with Casey Lambert coming home in 5th.

Notes from Quincy: Todd Reed started the SportMod feature in 10th and finished in 6th....Nathan Bringer, who started 13th in his first race, recovered from his lap 12 caution to come back up to finish in 8th....Jared Wiemelt started 15th and passed 6 cars to come home in 9th....Bob Cowman recovered from his lap 2 involvement in the crash to come back up to finish in 10th....Nathan Anders lost a driveshaft in his heat that forced him to scratch from the feature......Brian Lynn started the Modified feature in 11th and finished 7th....Chad Evans came from 14th to finish in 8th....Russ Coultas finished 11th after starting in 16th....Ethan Schnapp, who rolled in turn 2 in his heat race, started the feature in 21st. He would pass 7 cars to come home in 14th....Rick Weitekamp came from 19th to finish in 16th....Jared Schlipman had motor troubles in his heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature......Cliff Spencer had troubles in his heat race that forced him to scratch from the Sport Compact feature.

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