East Moline Speedway
Guss wins Quad City race honoring late car owner
EAST MOLINE, Ill. (July 20) – Ray Guss Jr. of Milan, Ill., won one for the team Wednesday night at Quad City Speedway. Guss chased down long-time leader Mike Murphy Jr. of Silvis, Ill., then held off Nate Beuseling of Colona, Ill, to capture the Hershel Roberts Memorial Deery Brothers Summer Series feature.
The $2,000 IMCA Late Model tour win was the first of the season for Guss and came on the night when fans at East Moline honored his late friend and car owner.
Beuseling, Murphy, Charlie McKenna of Clear Lake, Iowa, and Terry Neal of Ely, Iowa, completed the top five. Andy Eckrich of Iowa City, Iowa, finished 10th and now leads Neal by two points and Guss by four in the updated standings.
Already into lapped traffic 10 circuits into the 40-lapper, Murphy settled into the high line and had McKenna in pursuit when the first caution came out on lap 13.
Both Neal and Guss passed McKenna on the ensuing restart and Guss followed the inside groove to second by midway.
The frontrunners were running with lapped cars before cautions on laps 26 and 28. A three-car battle between Murphy, Guss and Beuseling followed, with Guss finally catching and passing Murphy with six laps left.
A five-car tangle brought out the final yellow the next time around. Guss stuck to the bottom for his 22nd career Deery win. Beuseling took over the runner-up spot in the late going.
Roberts, a long-time driver and Quad City Speedway Hall of Fame inductee, died this spring at the age of 68. He and his son Ken fielded the car Guss drove to IMCA national, series, state and three local track titles in 2010.
The next event in the silver anniversary tour takes Deery drivers to Knoxville Raceway for their Harris Clash show on July 26.
Hershel Roberts Memorial: (1) Ray Guss Jr., (2) Nate Beuseling, (3) Mike Murphy Jr., (4) Charlie McKenna, (5) Terry Neal, (6) Justin Reed, (7) Shawn Mulvany, (8) Tom Darbyshire, (9) Mike Zemo Jr., (10) Andy Eckrich, (11) Matt Ryan, (12) Matt Strassheim, (13) Jay Johnson, (14) Tyler Bruening, (15) Darrel DeFrance, (16) Todd Malmstrom, (17) T.J. Criss, (18) Sam Halstead, (19) Colby Springsteen, (20) Eric Sanders, (21) Gary Webb, (22) Jon Passick, (23) Mike Cothron, (24) Mike Garland. Heat race winners (among 24 cars): Cothron, Garland, Springsteen.
