Sticking to adage ‘patience is a virtue’ allows Cumby to work way to front of sport mod pack

QUINCY — Above all else, Logan Cumby was able to remain patient.

Cumby sat tantalizingly close to the lead in the sport mod feature Sunday night at Adams County Speedway, but instead of trying to be proactive he chose to be reactive.

That was a wise decision.

He sensed there would be trouble between race leaders Austin Poage and Adam Birck, and his intuition proved to be accurate.

So he just waited. Turn after Turn. Lap after lap.

With Poage and Birck trading paint down low going into turn four midway through the 18-lap finale, the two eventually took each other out of contention with a crash while trying to maneuver their way through turn four.

Enter Cumby.

Sitting in third place at the time of the Poage-Birck collision and far enough away from the two combatants to avoid being part of any collateral damage, Cumby zipped into the lead and never looked back.

“I had been watching them, just biding my time on the outside,” said Cumby, who is now tied for the sport mod lead in feature wins with three after collecting his first checkered flag since May 22.

The 26-year-old Cumby, who currently sits third in points (455) behind leader Birck (489) and Tanner Klingele (464), still has a mathematical shot at his first track championship. More importantly, however, are the overall success and continued improvement he’s demonstrated this season.

“I grew up in those bleachers,” said Cumby, pointing to the more than 4,000 seats that rest on the north side of the .29-mile dirt track at 8000 Broadway. “To win three features here is like a dream come true. This is only my second full season of racing … I’m just tickled to death.”

Cumby said he and those who help him spend as much time on his sport mod — in the evenings and late into the night — as they do at their actual jobs during the day.

“We easily spend 40 hours a week working on the car,” he said. “It takes an army.”

Josh Holtman wound up second, Klingele third and Kyler Girard fourth behind Cumby.

Other feature winners included Austen Becerra in modifieds, Steve Grotz in street stocks, Tommy Elston in crate late models and Cyle Hawkins in 4-Cylinders. 

Becerra took a familiar path to his sixth victory in his last seven modified features when he started relatively slow, but finished with an exclamation point. Becerra systematically worked his way through a 15-car lineup before taking command of the race on lap 12 and was never challenged.

The modified feature was plagued by six yellow flags, all during the first 10 laps of the 20-circuit finale. 

“I couldn’t get my rhythm early because of all of the cautions,” Becerra said.

Rounding out the top four finishers were Mark Burgtorf, Dave Wietholder and Rick Conoyer.

Becerra increased his points lead to 831-784 over Wietholder. Those are the only two drivers with a shot at the series championship. There are three weeks of points racing remaining.

Elston’s crate late model victory was his second of the season, easily outdistancing Chase Osterhoff, Braden Bilger and Darin Weisinger Jr. Elston led 18 of 20 laps, and at one time enjoyed nearly a half-track advantage.

“We had a pretty good weekend,” Elston said. “We also won at Lee County (in Donnellson, Iowa).”

Elston praised the condition of the speedway, despite the dry and humid weather over much of the week leading up to Sunday night.

“The track was beautiful, nice and racy,” he said. “I would not even be here, though, without the crew I have. We’ve (either raced or worked on the car) for 11 straight nights. I wouldn’t even think about trying to do this on my own.”

Late model points leader Denny Woodworth struggled through mechanical woes to a seventh-place finish but remains in command of the title chase. Woodworth (678) has a healthy advantage over Sam Halstead (573) and Weisinger (557).

Hawkins, who makes the trek from Blue Grass, Iowa, won his first Quincy feature of the season, outdueling 4-Cylinder points leaders Jimmy Dutlinger, Jeffrey DeLonjay and Kim Abbott.

“This was awesome, man!” Hawkins said. “It gets better and better each time I come here. I just wish I was closer than 2 1/2 hours.”

Dutlinger (518), DeLonjay (516) and Abbott (506) all remain in the running for the championship.

Grotz’s victory in the street stock feature was a flag-to-flag effort, the only one of the evening. Grotz also won his sixth heat race of the summer, which ties him with Cumby, 4-Cylinder driver Michael Grossman and Wietholder for the overall track lead.

Jake Powers, points leader Rudy Zaragoza and Pete Stodgel filled out the top four feature finishers. Zaragoza (454), Robert Thompson (401) , Powers (399) and Brandon Boden (393) are pacing the points.

Dis-N-Data

Conoyer’s 14.191-second modified qualifying time was the fastest of the season and came “that close” to the track record of 14.153 (73.763 mph), established by Michael long in August 2010 … There were 15 cautions Sunday night, which matched the season low. Those 15 stoppages were also a far cry from the season high of 39 on July 24. There was no scheduled racing at the track July 31 … Feature winners by state after Sunday night: Illinois 45, Iowa 11, Missouri 6, California 1, North Carolina 1.