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Colona's Veloz Jr. drives to Weedon win

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By Nate Bloomquist | Monday, May 5, 2008 1:15 PM CDT | () comments

EAST MOLINE, Ill. — Unlike Kyle Busch, Milo Veloz Jr. didn’t need to crash into his opponents to win a trophy nearly as tall as he is.

A day after Busch wrecked Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond, Colona’s Veloz Jr. cleanly won the UMP Modified feature race and a $750 paycheck as part of the third annual Ronnie Weedon Memorial event at Quad-City Raceway.

Veloz led almost wire-to-wire after starting fourth to take home a 4-foot tall trophy. He passed Marty Thompson of Mineral, Ill. to take the lead for good on the first lap after a restart.

“They all pushed up, and I just had a good run on the bottom, and it stuck,” Veloz said. “But you had to be really good on the gas pedal on the bottom, and you couldn’t make a mistake, because if you do, they get you.”

It was the first points race of the season at the track, and the second win in a new car for Veloz in only six starts. He won at La Salle Speedway last weekend and won the Weedon Memorial two years ago at the now defunct Hawkeye Raceway.

“It really means a lot to win this race,” Velez said. “Ronnie was a great icon, and he helped me out a lot when I got started.”

Davenport’s Rob Toland won the 25-lap IMCA Late Model feature with a daring pass almost halfway through the race. On Lap 10, Toland had a fast entrance to Turn 1 and passed Quad-City Raceway Hall of Famer Hershal Roberts on the high side of Turn 2.

“I hated to pass Hershal,” Toland said. “He’s my buddy, but he wouldn’t want to win that way. He’s a competitor, and so am I.”

The changing track conditions allowed Toland to make the move. The smooth track allowed only one groove at the start. As the race wore on and tires wore out, putting rubber down, drivers used a second groove, allowing Toland to pass Roberts, who finished fifth.

Toland said he enjoyed the track conditions and pardoned the dust that sometimes hampered visibility. But he didn’t like the single-file restarts, which are new this season. Those restarts helped him keep the lead for 14 laps.

“Single-file restarts stink,” Toland said. “It stinks for the fans. This is a little track and they need to go back to that double-file — it brings more excitement. That’s what quarter-mile racing is, the bumping and running and racing. I have no idea who came up with that rule, but it’s a bad one.”

The restarts also can make it difficult for cars at the back to gain ground.

The drivers voted to make the change in November and tracks will try the new rule, which involves using an orange cone to block the inside line of the front straightaway.

Tracks will try the new restarts for a month and then vote on the rule again, Q-C Raceway track promoter Brian Stuart said.

“It’s great for everybody up front,” Veloz said. “But it kind of gets you in the back. But I think it’s a really good deal going this track has with UMP Racing. I think that was a good choice for (Brian) to go with UMP, it brings in more drivers.”

Rock Island’s Ron Marks Jr. won the Street Stocks race, and Wade Dahl of Blue Grass, Iowa, won the regular four-cylinder race. Moline’s RJ Gonzales won a makeup four-cylinder race that was postponed two weeks ago.

Contact Nate Bloomquist at (563) 383-2201 or e-mail nbloomquist@qctimes.com.