Captain Kirk: Missouri hotshoe takes checkered flag in first trip to Adams County Speedway

QUINCY — Finding any fault with Colson Kirk’s assessment of the night would have been difficult.

“It was a tough start,” he said, pausing to take a deep breath, “but it all worked out.”

Yes it did.

And it was not so much that Kirk, who made the 4-hour haul from Urbana, Mo., won Friday evening’s sport mod feature, it was how he won it on the opening night of this weekend’s two-day Chad McCoy Memorial event at Adams County Speedway.

Relegated to the “C” Main after some problems in a heat race, the 29-year-old Kirk won that event, then finished second in the “B” Main to qualify for the 24-car big dance.

Kirk punctuated his first-ever trip to Quincy by not only winning the feature, but doing so after starting 19th. He led the final 10 laps of the 30-lap finale, holding off Bobby Anders of Quincy, Austen Becerra of Carthage, Clint Young of Ava, Ill., and Dan Wheeler of Savage, Minn. 

Kirk took the checkered flag at 12:17 a.m. Saturday, ending a long and grueling night of racing at the .29-mile track that featured 29 caution flags.

Kirk will try and win back-to-back main events Saturday at the Broadway Bullring.

“That’s what we came here for,” he said.

The good, the bad and the ugly of dirt-track racing is nothing new for Kirk, who despite his relatively tender age, is already a seasoned veteran.

“I’ve been racing since I was 15,” he said.

As a youngster, Kirk helped his family’s dirt-track enterprise. It was inevitable he would have a team of his own some day.

“I was kind of born into it,” said Kirk, who collected $1,500 first-place money.

Kirk enjoyed the wide range of cars he ran into on opening night at 8000 Broadway.

“I race USRA, but this weekend there are are IMCA and UMP cars, too,” he said. “It’s nice to see a mix like this.”

Drivers from 11 states are gathered this weekend, racing for a total purse of more than $62,000. There were 122 cars in the pits (and overflow area) Friday night, with more on the way Saturday.

Modifieds, sport mods and 4-Cylinder cars all competed in the first night of what is being referred to as the Quincy Nationals. States represented on the first night were Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee and Ohio.

Winning Friday night’s other main event was Tyler Nicely of Owensboro, Ky., who overtook Dave Wietholder of Liberty during the second half of a 25-lap modified feature. Nicely is one of the nation’s elite modified talents, who like Kirk enjoyed his first trip to Adams County. The slick, black track was to his liking.

“This place is just awesome,” said Nicely, who led the final 10 laps of the feature to win $1,100. “I’m really glad I had the chance to come here.”

Rounding out the top finishers in a loaded modified lineup that sent 26 cars to the starting grid for a 25-lap feature were Michael Long of Fowler in third, Rick Stevenson of O’Fallon, Mo., in fourth, Steve Picou of High Ridge, Mo., in fifth, Becerra in sixth and Mark Burgtorf of Quincy in seventh.

Speedway track regular Derrick DeFord of Canton, Ill., won one of the 4-Cylinder qualifying heats Friday and should be among the favorites for Saturday’s main run. Getting to that checkered flag, however, was not an easy task.

“I’ll tell you, it was some kind of day,” DeFord said,. “We had our struggles just getting here. We had to have some parts overnighted for the car.”

Those parts didn’t arrive until around noon.

“For us just to get here … was just wow!” DeFord said.

Other 4-Cylinder heat winners were Jake Benischek of Durant, Iowa, Cyle Hawkins of Blue Grass, Iowa, Michael Grossman of Keokuk, Iowa, and Kyle Dearing of Pekin, Ill. Benischek entered the weekend as the reigning Boone (Iowa) Nationals sport compact champion.

Modified heat winners were Nicely, Wietholder and Long. 

B “main” sport mod feature winners were Josh Holtman of Quincy and Dakota Girard of Moberly, Mo. Heat winners were Adam Birck of Canton, Mo., Becerra, Clint Young of Ava, Ill., Austin Seels of Brighton, Ill., and Wietholder.

Saturday’s marquee competitions are a $4,545-to-win modified feature, $2,500-to-win HART (Hartland Auto Racing Tour) sport mod feature and a $4,545-to-win 4-Cylinder main event. There is also a $500-to-win non-qualifier feature for the 4-Cylinder cars.

Qualfying record shattered

No fewer than five modified drivers better what had been the track record during qualifying. Nicely’s 13.794-second clocking is the new track standard, erasing the 14.038 turned in by John Rexing of Brighton, Ill., earlier this month. Rexing had broken Long’s longstanding record of 14.153, established in 2010.

Other drivers to crack the 14-second mark were Wietholder, Long, Stevenson and Picou.

In 4-Cylinder qualifying, DeFord (16.730) edged Benischek (16.732) for top honors.

Plethora of Saturday activities at track

Racing resumes Saturday at 7 p.m., preceded by a day full of events:

• “Breakfast at the Bullring” will be served 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

• A bags tournament is scheduled for 11 a.m.

• Lunch will be available 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• A kids area will be featured noon to 4 p.m. and will include a bounce house, variety of games, face painting and other activities.

• A pit crew challenge is scheduled for 2 p.m.

• An autograph session will be held at 5:30 p.m. in front of the grandstands for those 12 and under.

• Other spotlighted events are a silent auction and beer garden.

Admission is $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, $10 for kids 6 to 17 and free for those 5-under.

Pit passes are $35 for adults, $20 for kids 3 to 13 and free for those 2-under.