Ron Weedon, the defending champion, won the mid-season championship for
late models at Davenport. Promoter Homer Melton makes the trophy presentation,
and starter Gus Heinrichs holds the checkers. – Roger Meier Photo
Davenport, Iowa (July 24, 1970) – Ron Weedon and Dean Montgomery played bumper tag for some 40 laps before Weedon, the track’s point leader, slowly pulled away to claim the late model mid-season championship at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds on Friday night.
The Pleasant Valley driving ace, in capturing the 50-lap contest on the quarter-mile, not only carted home another trophy to his collection, but pocketed $500 first-place money.
In the sportsman division, Duane Steffe of Moline, Ill., was the winner of the 30-lap mid-season title race, beating point leader Gary Kerres of Aledo, Ill., for the championship.
Although Weedon had the pole position for the feature, it was Al Terrell of Peoria, Ill., who jumped to the early lead with Weedon and Montgomery close behind.
On the fifth lap, Weedon charged into first place and there was no budging him from that spot although Montgomery never strayed far from his rear bumper for the next 40 circuits.
With no mishaps in the race, the pair kept the largest crowd of the season - 7,000, - right on the edge of their seats with tight driving.
With five laps remaining, Montgomery seem to momentarily “fish-tail” on the backstretch and that was all Weedon needed to open up an eight to ten-car-length lead. From there, Weedon guided his blue ’69 Ford across the finish line with room to spare.
Results –
Heat #1 – Gerry Reeder, Peoria, Ill.
Heat #2 – Herb Shannon, Peoria, Ill.
Semi-main – Dean Montgomery, Milan, Ill.
Feature –
1. Ron Weedon, Pleasant Valley
2. Dean Montgomery
3. Herb Shannon
4. Jerry Reinhart, Moline, Ill.
5. Jim Gerber, Long Grove
No comments:
Post a Comment