Monmouth, IL (Friday, September 23, 2016) - It's hard to believe that the 2016 racing season is about to come to a close. Most all the racks in the Midwest have already crowned their 2016 track champions, but that doesn't mean the season has come to a close. As the end of September and all of October is filled with many fall specials, more on those coming up.
My September kicked off on Sunday the 4th at the Quincy Raceways in Quincy, IL, as I worked for the track and the Sprint Invaders on the night. Chris Martin, who started 9th, worked his way to the front to grab the win in the 25 lap non-stop Sprint Invaders feature. Also picking up wins were Dave Wietholder in the UMP Modifieds, Abe Huls in the IMCA Stock Cars, Brandon Lennox in the IMCA SportMods, and Austen Becerra in the IMCA Sport Compacts. Quincy Raceways will close out their 2016 season this Sunday, September 25th, as they crown their 2016 champions.
Following Quincy I made the trip to the Boone Speedway in Boone, IA to spend a week (September 5th - 10th) enjoying the IMCA Super Nationals. A record 906 cars completed the entire week, which included 33 Southern SportMods, 84 Sport Compacts, 181 Northern SportMods, 124 Hobby Stocks, 33 Late Models, 191 Stock Cars, and 260 Modifieds. Eighteen year old high school senior Jeffrey Abbey from Comanche, Texas became the first ever Southern SportMod feature winner on Monday, as they made there debut at this years Super Nationals. On Tuesday, one of Southeast Iowa's local drivers Josh Barnes from Keokuk, IA scored his first ever win at the Super Nationals. By wining in a caution free 25 lap Sport Compact feature. Kimberly Abbott from Quincy, IL crossed the line in third.
Mother nature would play havoc the remainder of the week, as Wednesday's program was rained out after the SportMods and Hobby Stocks finished there last qualifying features. This meant that Thursday would be a double program, with the action kicking off at 9:30 AM and going until 6 AM Friday morning. During Thursday nights program Jeff Aikey scored his fourth consecutive and sixth overall Super Nationals win in the Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models. More rains moved in on Friday during the mid afternoon, which forced them to just run the Stock Car portion in the early morning hours of Saturday. The Modified portion would be run on Saturday morning, and setting up for the finals on Saturday night. Finishing off the IMCA Super Nationals with wins on Saturday night were Ricky Thornton Jr. in the Modifieds, Elijah Zevenbergen in the Stock Cars, Doug Smith in the SportMods, and Andrew Burg in the Hobby Stocks.
This past weekend was a change up for me going from watching the dirt to watching some asphalt racing, as our group went to the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL for the NASCAR weekend. Chase Briscoe dominated the ARCA race on Thursday. Kyle Busch topped Friday nights Camping World Truck Series, in what I thought was the best Truck race we have seen since going to Chicago. Maybe it was perhaps this was the final race for the drivers to qualify for the chase grid. Then on Saturday Eric Jones came away with the win in the Xfinity Series. Martin Truex Jr. over came tire troubles to come back to win the Sprint Cup race on Sunday to kick off the chase.
Last night (Thursday, September 22nd) kicked off two big weekends of racing for the Modifieds. The first being at the Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, IL, where the 12th Annual Mod Mania began. Last nights winner took home $3,000, with Friday nights winner claiming $4,000, and Saturday being topped off with a $5,000 top prize. Also joining the card is the UMP Late Models with last nights winner taking home $2,000, with Friday nights winner claiming $2,500, and Saturday being topped off with a $3,000 top prize. Two young guns, both leading the UMP National Points, ended up in victory lane last night, as Micheal Long was the best of the 74 cars signed in for the Modifieds. While Bobby Pierce topped the field of 45 UMP Late Models.
The other big Modified event that kicked off last night was the 18th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN. Thursday nights race would put an end to the 2016 United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS), as 79 cars signed in for night one. Going into the night Jason Hughes held a 10 point advantage over Cade Dillard in the chase to claim the $25,000 check. Hughes got the best start of the two drivers by starting the 42 lap feature on the outside of the front row, while Dillard had to start 12th. While Hughes and R.C. Whitwell swapped the lead a few times in the first 10 laps, Dillard was working his way towards the front. Following a caution on lap 10 Dillard would pass Chris Brown and Josh Angst to pull into the third spot. Then three laps later he would pull even with Hughes to grab the runner up spot. Dillard then chased down Whitwell to take the top spot on lap 22. If the finish stayed the same for the remaining 20 laps Dillard would have secured his first USMTS title. But a late race caution on lap 36 changed the outcome, as Dillard would go on to score the win and the $5,000 top prize to go with it. Hughes would move into the runner up spot to claim the title by a mere 3 points over Dillard. For Hughes it was his second USMTS title in a row and third overall in his career. Friday nights action will feature the USRA Modifieds going for another $5,000 to win, with Saturday nights finale worth $10,000 to win. Also joining the Modifieds were the USRA B-Mods, with Trevor Fecht of Allison, IA topping the 67 other B-Mods to win the $600 top prize last night. Friday they will race for $750 to win, with Saturday's winner taking home $1,000.
A few other tracks racing in the area this weekend include the Eldon Raceway in Eldon, IA, the home of the super 1/2 mile. The Modifieds, which I believe haven't raced at Eldon for a few years, will be racing for $500 to win, the Stock Cars are going for $400 to win, the SportMods for $350 to win, the Hobby Stocks are $300 to win, and the Sport Compacts are $250 to win. All classes will be following IMCA rules, with no entry fee. Hot laps are set for 7 PM tonight...The West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, IA is set for the season finale for the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models. Going into the final night Tyler Bruening leads Jeff Aikey by 1 point in the chase for the title. Also racing on Friday and Saturday will be the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA SportMods, and IMCA Sport Compacts...Finishing off the weekend of racing will be the Bloomfield Speedway in Bloomfield, IA. Action will be held in the Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks, and Sport Compacts on Saturday night.
Other events coming up that I will highlight as they get closer include the following:
Bottom Heavy Nationals - September 30th & October 1st at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, MO
Rumble on the River - September 30th & October 1st at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds in Dubuque, IA
Darkside Fall Bash - October 6th - 8th at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton, IA
MUSCO Lighting Fall Challenge - October 7th & 8th at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA
Fall Extravaganza - October 14th & 15th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA
MOWA Sprint Finale - October 14th & 15th at the Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, IL
Memphis Fall Nationals - October 21st & 22nd at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, MO
Shiverfest - October 29th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA
As you can see there is still plenty of races to catch before the winter months hit us. So please get out and support as many of these events that you can to help keep this sport strong for years to come. My plan is to head over to the Eldon Raceway tonight to take in the action, with Saturday still up in the air. Hope to see you at Eldon tonight!!!
As of right now the "Liberty 100" at the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, IA is still on as scheduled for tonight. But for any reason they can't race tonight, then tonight's program will be ran at 1 PM tomorrow. So make sure you check their website, Facebook page, or call before you head over there tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment