Becerra outduels Burgtorf to grab checkered flag in memorable modified feature race

QUINCY — This may have been Austen Becerra’s signature victory at Adams County Speedway.

The 28-year-old driver from Carthage, who already has two track titles to his credit in the old sport compact class and appears headed toward a third in this year’s loaded modified division, literally brought most of the Sunday night crowd to its feet with a thrilling — and that’s probably an understatement — feature victory over Mark Burgtorf.

Becerra’s win was immediately cast as memorable because of how it came to fruition, who it was against and the overall impact of the accomplishment.

The only laps Becerra led in the 18-circuit main event were the final two, having spent more than half the race trying to reach the legendary Burgtorf., who held the lead for 11 laps. The two then dueled over the final two trips around the .295-mile semi-banked oval before Becerra used a high line to finally pass and eventually reach the checkered just ahead of Burgtorf.

“If (the fans) didn’t like that race, there was no use for them to have been here,” an enthusiastic Becerra said. “That was bad ass!”

For Becerra, who over the past six weeks has climbed to the top of the Muddy River Sports modified rankings, the victory was his third straight and fifth in the last six features.

This victory, however, was arguably the most meaningful, considering who he beat to the finish line. Burgtorf is a 16-time track champ in the late model class and also considered one of the elite modified drivers in the region.

Becerra normally prefers to hug the low line, but on Sunday night that belonged to Burgtorf. So Becerra went upstairs.

“I didn’t think we could run the top. It was a fine line,” Becerra said. “I just went (for it).”

The Becerra-Burgtorf finish led a virtual who’s who of the 19-car mod class to the checkers. Right behind those two were four-time defending Quincy track champ Dave Wietholder, former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace and Mike Harrison. 

Harrison, who made the haul to Quincy from Highland, Ill., is a seven-time UMP modified national champion.

Other Sunday night feature winners were Chase Osterhoff in crate late models, Matthew Mayo in sport mods, Robert Cottom in street stocks and Jeffrey DeLonjay in 4-Cylinders.

Osterhoff collected his second victory of the season at the Broadway Bullring, making the 5-plus hour drive from Kankakee worth his time. Osterhoff, who arrived at the track at around 11 a.m., is chasing UMP national points and Quincy is one of the few tracks in the Midwest that races on Sundays.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again — Quincy is by far my favorite track,” Osterhoff said. “And I’ll be back again.”

Brandon Eskew, Timmy Dick and Denny Woodworth rounded out the top four finishers in a 15-car late model field.

Woodworth continues to roll toward his ninth overall track title (one championship came in the modified class), building his points lead to 630-523 over Sam Halstead. 

Mayo, who hails from Bakersfield, Calif., started from the pole and led all 18 laps of the sport mod feature to turn back Josh Holtmann, A.J. Tournear and Adam Birck.

“Starting up front (in a 22-car field) helped,” Mayo said. “I just tried to make consistent laps and be patient.”

Birck maintains his hold on the series points lead with a 456-426 margin over Tanner Klingele. Klingele lost ground when he finished 16th in the feature.

DeLonjay won his first 4-Cylinder feature since opening the season with three straight victories. He led the final 13 laps to finish ahead of Jimmy Dutlinger, Kim Abbott and Landon Neisen.

DeLonjay moved within one point (479-478) of Dutlinger in the race for the track title, but his post-feature thoughts were already about eight weeks down the road.

“Hopefully, we’ll have something for them on Sept. 16 and 17,” he said.  

The track is hosting a two-day fall spectacular on those dates that will see the 4-Cylinder winner earning more than $4,000.

Cottom stormed to his first street stock feature win since June 5, ending Rudy Zaragoza’s month-long stranglehold on the series. Zaragoza had won four straight features, but ended up fifth Sunday.

Beau Taylor, Jake Powers and Chuck Mitchell finished behind Cottom.

Zaragoza still holds a comfortable points lead (415-369) over Robert Thompson, who finished 12th in the feature.

Dis-N-Data 

• Adams County Speedway is taking a scheduled week off next Sunday so fans can attend the Adams County Fair. Racing resumes Aug. 7, the first of the final four Sundays of points racing. Track champs will be crowned Aug. 28.

• There were a season-high 39 cautions Sunday night, topping the 26 on June 5. 

• Illinois drivers have now won 40 features. Iowa (9), Missouri (7) and California (1) drivers have combined for the remaining 17 victories in the five weekly series.

• There were 97 cars in the pits Sunday, the second-highest figure of the season. There were 103 on July 3.

• Thirteen vintage cars were also on hand, with Chuck Eickelberry of Warrensburg, Mo., winning the feature.