Thursday, April 16, 2015

Reed, Long, Lynch, Klingele, and Abbott Top Quincy Raceways Openers

Quincy, IL (Sunday, April 12, 2015) - Sunday night Quincy Raceways held there 2015 season opener, despite mother natures attempts to rain the night out. Showers all around the area early morning looked to put a damper on the event, but the track was spared when the showers split and went north and south of the place. As a result Justin Reed (UMP Late Models), Michael Long (UMP Modifieds), Jim Lynch (IMCA Stock Cars), Tanner Klingele (IMCA SportMods), and Kimberly Abbott (IMCA Sport Compacts) found there way into victory lane.

The first feature to take to the track on the night was the 18 lap IMCA SportMods, with Austin Howes and Nathan Bringer drawing the front row. Bringer would take advantage of his front row starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Howes and Tony Dunker. The action up front was slowed on lap 8, when Jon Lear spun in turn 4 to bring out the caution. On the restart Bringer moved back out front, with Brandon Dale and Brandon Lennox, who started 10th, close behind. Just as Dale would take the top spot away from Bringer off turn 4 on lap 9, another caution appeared to give the lead back to Bringer. Debris in turn 2 would cause the yellow light to come on. On the restart Tanner Klingele, who started 14th, Lennox, Dale, and Bringer went 4 wide off turn 2 to battle for the lead. Bringer would come out of turn 2 as the leader of lap 9 and then held off the charges of Lennox until lap 12. Bringer would drift over the track in turn 4, which allowed lennox to slip by for the top spot. After the completion of lap 12 Gower would push off the bottom of the track in turn 4, which forced Howes, who was running 7th, into the front stretch wall and caused Cody Henderson and Bringer to spin to bring out the caution. On the restart Lennox moved back out front, with Klingele and Dunker battling for second. Two laps later, lap 14, Lear would spin in turn 4 to bring out his second solo caution to end his night. Lennox once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Klingele glued to his back bumper. Lennox, who was running the top of the track, and Klingele, who was running the bottom, ran the final 4 laps side-by-side. Coming out of turn 4 for the checkered flag both drivers would drag race to the finish, with Lennox edging out Klingele at the line to win by .011 seconds. But after post race inspection Lennox was found to have to short of a panarch bar according to IMCA rules and was disqualified, giving the win to Klingele. Dunker was moved to 2nd, Adam Birck started 9th and was moved to 3rd, Dale was moved to 4th, with Gower moving up to finish 5th.

Up next was the 18 lap IMCA Stock Car feature, with Jim Lynch and William Dahl drawing the front row. Lynch would use his front row starting spot to jump out front on lap 1 over Beau Taylor, who started 5th, and Abe Huls. Just as Lynch started to pull away from the field the first caution brought the field back to his back bumper. Trevor Hagerbaumer would spin in turn 2 on lap 7 to bring out the caution. On the restart Lynch moved back out front, with Huls over taking Taylor for second. Huls then tried to work under Lynch over the next 5 laps, when he drifted over the track in turns 1 and 2 and fell all the way to 8th. This would allow Lynch to pull away and on his way to an easy win, that was until a caution on lap 17 that set up a 1 lap dash to the finish. Troy Brierton who spun in turn 1 brought out the caution. On the restart Lynch grabbed the lead and then held off Huls off of turn 4 to pick up the win. Huls settled for 2nd, Taylor was 3rd, Jerry Jansen came from 7th to finish in 4th, with Hagerbaumer recovering from his lap 7 spin to come back up to finish in 5th.

Denny Woodworth and Dustin Griffin led the field to the green flag in the 25 lap UMP Late Model feature, with Woodworth grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Griffin and Justin Reed, who started 5th. Woodworth used the bottom of the track to set a fast pace out front, until the first caution appeared on lap 5. John Ketterer would come to a stop in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Reed went to the top of the track to over take Woodworth for the top spot. Just like Woodworth, Reed set a fast pace out front and started to put some distance on the battle behind him. But a caution on lap 19 would bring the field back to his back bumper. This time rookie driver John Hauler spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Reed once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Mark Burgtorf over taking Woodworth for second. Burgtorf followed Reed in his his tracks, but wasn't able to make the pass over the final 6 laps as Reed held on to pick up the win. Burgtorf was 2nd, Woodworth was 3rd, Griffin was 4th, with Brian Diveley coming home in 5th.

Up next was the 25 lap UMP Modified feature, with Shawn Deering and David Wietholder making up the front row. Deering would take advantage of his front row starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Michael Long and Wietholder. Long used the bottom of the track to slip under Deering to grab the top spot away on lap 2, with NASCAR TV analyst Kenny Wallace, who started 6th, following him into second. The action up front was slowed for the first and only time on lap 10, when Spencer Havermale spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Long moved back out front, with Wietholder over taking Wallace for second. Wallace would slip under Wietholder a few laps later and then went to work on Long for the lead. But Long was able to hold on to pick up the win. Wallace settled for 2nd, Rick Conoyer was 3rd, Wietholder held on for 4th, with Deering rounding out the top 5.

The final feature to take to the track was the 15 lap IMCA Sport Compacts, with Barry Taft and Brandon Lambert drawing the front row. Taft would use his front row starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Lambert and Kimberly Abbott, who started 6th. Just after the completion of lap 1 the first and only caution of the race appeared, as Kyle Hamelton spun in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Abbott would over take Taft for the top spot, with Trent Orwig, who started 10th, battling Taft for second. Orwig would over take second from Taft on lap 5 and then went to work on Abbott for the lead. But Abbott was able to hold back all of Orwig's challenges to pick up the win. Orwig settled for 2nd, Seith Woodruff came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Taft was 4th, with Lambert finishing in 5th.

Notes from Quincy: Nathan Bringer recovered from his involvement on the lap 12 caution in the SportMod feature, to come back up to finish in 6th....Todd Reed started 13th and finished 8th......Jake Powers had troubles on the parade lap of the Stock Car feature and was pushed back to the pits to end his night early......Todd Frank started the Late Model feature in 9th and finished 6th....Terry Wilson started 11th and finished 8th....John Hauler, who started 13th, recovered from his spin on lap 19 to come back up to finish in 10th....Jamie Wilson, who was running 3rd after starting in 7th, pulled off under the lap 19 caution with troubles to end his night in 11th....Keith Pratt returned to the late Model class, after spending 2014 in a UMP Modified. He was running 7th when he pulled off with troubles under the lap 19 caution to end his night in 12th......Steven DeLonjay started the UMP Modified feature in 8th and finished 6th....Russ Coultas came from 10th to finish in 7th....Steven Grotz started 13th and finished 8th....Robbie Reed arrived to the track late and started the feature in 16th. He would pass 6 cars to finish in 10th....Shane Lewis came from 15th to finish in 11th......Mike Hornung Jr. had troubles on the parade lap of the Sport Compact feature and was forced to scratch from taking the green flag.

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