Delaware Speedway July 18th
APC Summer Showdown
July 18th racing at Delaware Speedway featured the APC Summer Showdown with NASCAR superstars Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip and Travis Pastrana. The night saw some fantastic racing and some hard crashes in front of a packed house of cheering race fans! Congratulations to the driver of the #44 Siskinds, Tilco Electric car - Jonathan Urlin on his victory!
Mark Watson #3 was fastest in practice with Michael Waltrip second fastest and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top three third fastest. After practice - before the night even got under way Michael Waltrip was in the grandstand signing autographs - very class act. Waltrip also took a walk down pit road signing drivers cars and meeting the Delaware speedway stars.
Heat race #1
Clint Bowyer took the win with the #9 of Watson finishing second after starting on the pole. The #8 of Marc Jacobs, last weeks feature race winner, finished in the final transfer spot rounding out the top three. Good job by the young gun #1 of Jacobs giving it his all to pass Waltrip! He was not successful in his attempts but it was still good to watch.
Heat race #2
Matt Pritiko #21 taook the win with #22 of Jamie Cox in second and Steve Robblee edging Kennedy at the line for the final transfer spot! It was a Very good race between Robblee and Kennedy! The night was looking like a good one with such awesome racing in the heat races.
Heat race #3
The #3 of Watson passed Urlin off of the start for the lead taking off right away. The first caution of the night flew on lap 1 for the #38 of Hendricks going around off of Doug Stewart's front bumper - Doug Stewart was sent to the back for his involvement in the incident. The restart saw a jump start on the #81 and was quickly called off. it seemed as though the track had fixed the restart issues that plagued the Canada Day Sifton 100. The #3 of mark Watson took the win with the #81 of Andrew Gresel taking home second and the #4 of Urlin taking home the final transfer position with his third place finish.
Heat race #4
The heat race turned interesting very quickly with Travis Pastrana going for a crazy spin down the back straightaway. It was an amazing job by Travis Pastrana to keep the car off the wall after getting spun out on the back straightaway on lap 1! It looked as though Pastrana tried to split the middle and got turned in his efforts and was lucky to still have his car for the feature. Steven Mathews in the #15x finished the heat race in the first position with one of the points leaders Kirk hooker in his #38H finishing second and David Elliot #37 picking up the final transfer spot. Pastrana managed to work his way back up to fourth after his lap 1 incident.
25 lap "B Main"
Starting on the pole position for the 25 lap B main was the #10 of Kennedy in his Cameron Cranes Chevrolet. Starting on his high side was the #27 of Matt Box. 15 cars were in the race all fighting to get into the 60 lap main event. After a very smooth start the first caution of the B main came out on lap 13 for the #51 going for a self spin in turn one. The #1 of Jacobs was all over the #27 of box for second spot but was not able to complete the pass. The 14 year old rookie has shown that he is more than capable of racing with the big boys in the late model series. A very orderly B main saw the #10 of Kennedy take the win with the #27 of Box second and the strong rookie of Jacobs finished third in his #1 Arctic Cat, Rocky’s Dodge Charger.
Up next was the big 60 lap main event - the APC Summer Showdown!
A main - the 2012 APC Summer Showdown
Starting on the pole after the 11 car inversion was the #44 of Jon Urlin with "Show Time" Steve Robblee starting on his high side in P2. The most famous words in motor sports were delivered by none other then Two time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip while sitting inside of his race car getting ready to race. He started by saying he was "60 laps away from a Molson Canadian" and finished with “Gentlemen start your engines” as the roar and smell of the late models came alive!
Steve Robblee took the lead on lap 14 after passing Urlin’s #4 on the front straightaway. Clint Bowyer was on a huge tear off the start of the race moving forward very fast passing cars on the inside and outside. He looked very focused and determined to win the 2012 APC Summer Showdown. the first caution of the race came out on lap 17 for the #1 of Jacobs stopping in turn 1. His car would have to be towed away before the race resumed. Urlin got a good restart passing Robblee and regaining the lead on lap 17.
A huge 7 car pileup in turn one on lap 18 involving the #51, #15, #27 and more slowed the field of late models. There was lots of damage for lots of cars ending many cars nights of racing on the back of the Whitworth towtruck. The red flag was deployed immediately as the whole track was blocked by cars. After about 5 minutes the track was cleared and the cars rolled on. The lap 18 restart saw a huge incident with the #22 of Cox climbing over Steve Robblee's car and staying that way as they drove through the turn all the way to the back straightaway! It appeared as though Cox’s front tire was stuck in Robblee’s driver side window as they drove. A small crash on the back straightaway with a few cars getting collected brought out the caution - not the incident with Cox and Robblee. there was lots of damage to Robblee's car but he stayed in second spot and continued in the race! Another caution on lap 19 for the #9 of Watson stopping in turn 4, it appeared he wanted the caution so stayed out on the track after being slow - driving right past the pits. It was later determined that he was having brake issues and that put him out of the race. On lap 22 something very strange happened. Bowyer was spun in the middle of the front pack and was hit in the driver side door by the #72 of Thompson. Clint Bowyer then went down pit road very fast, the wrong way and got out. Bailing on the race and disappointing everyone. He asked "are we halfway" and was told no, then went on to say "I'm done". Apparently he had had enough and did not care about all the people that paid their money to come watch him.
A Caution on lap 25 for Travis Pastrana, Mark Watson and Matt Pritiko getting together, All drivers continued in the race. A huge pileup on the front straightaway on lap 26 with Michael Waltrip getting wrecked along with about 10 other cars including the #38H of Hooker, the #72 of Thompson, and #6 of Quarrie. It all started when the #28 of Robblee blew a tire coming off of turn 4 and slowed while everyone else piled in to the massive crash. Michael Waltrip described it as "a Talladega Crash in Canada". Robblee was forced down pit road to change his flat tire surrendering his great track position after the red flag was lifted. Another caution on lap 28 for a two car spin on the front straightaway slowed the drivers. Yet another caution on lap 40 for the #81 of Gresel slow off of turn 2. During the green flag run Urlin in the #44 was checking out on the field.
A caution on lap 47 for the #10 of Kennedy and the #99 of Pastrana getting together off of turn 2. Both drivers saved it and continued on although the #10 of Kennedy was sent to the back and deemed as an accident car. The caution flag was thrown very quickly at that time and didn’t appear as though it was needed. Yet another amazing save by the #99 of Pastrana kept him in the hunt for the race. The #44 of Urlin held on winning the 2012 APC Summer Showdown with the #28 of Robblee rallying back for a second place finish and the #99 of Travis Pastrana rounding out the top three.
The night saw some great racing with a few too many cautions and some big pileups that hurt a few championship contenders. It was disappointing to see Clint Bowyer bail on the race, his fans, and his competitors. Michael Waltrip was taken out earlier in the race which was disappointing also. All in all a great night of racing and as mentioned a few times, can't express the disappointment with Clint Bowyer. Congratulations to the driver of the #44 Siskinds, Tilco electric car - Jonathan Urlin!
Story by www.upperedgeracing.com
I'm guessing Clint Boyer had about as much interest in being here as he did in getting a root canal done, and without knowing the full details of what, why and when, I can't say I am at all surprised to read that he bailed. Even if the racing sounds like it might have been a little too rough for his liking; I guess maybe he must have got to the highest level having never raced short track, beatin and bangin lol. Having said that, if I am out to lunch that's ok too, wouldn't be the first or last time I ever shot my mouth without knowing full well.
Being that I was unable to attend, I spent most of the day gathering what little info I could from Twitter, and the Delaware homepage camera, did Boyer not show up until later in the afternoon? Did he at least make the VIP meet and greet lunch?
All in all, outside of what sounds like alot of cautions, sounded like overall it was a pretty good show, and one I desperately wanted to attend, however in my 23 years in the Army it wasn't the first, or last time soldiering got or will get in the way lol.
Thanks for the detailed, and quick posted race report Ryan Fan!
The Fan! 🙂
In bowyers defence his plane broke down on the runway and he got a rental as quickly as possible. I believe he retired because he was sick of the donkeys racing around him. Just a quote I heard from someone in the pits. The race was a disaster. Waltrip said it was Dega in Canada. Cars were flying into wrecks and the lack of regard for other racers went out the window on lap 7 it was the white flag every lap after that.
Was nice to see the bf make an appearance last night. Drivers who deserved it got it.
However I'm a little confused on what is deemed incident cars, as the 28 and 22 were on top of one another checking up the field and the 28 was damaged, however kept his spot.
The caution didn't come out for the 22 and 28. It came out for the wreck that came after it because they didn't throw the caution.
agree totaly shifty when you have a the whole corner of your car smashed in like the 28 its not hard to figure out who was involved and yes that was the caution a total lack of respect bye drivers wrecking half the field before halfway should be ashamed and embarrassed.