Bloomington Speedway 2000-06-30

Bloomington Speedway ran its traditional July 4th program Friday night - AMSA Mini Sprints, O'Neal Wood Products Open Wheel Modifieds, and Tire and Wheel Center Super Stocks plus fireworks. The fireworks were spectacular; but the did not approach the level of excitement to be found on the race track.

The AMSA Winged Mini-Sprints Winged Mini Sprints made their second trip of the season to Bloomington Speedway. These racers enjoy the opportunity to appear before the large, holiday weekend crowd. When the green flag flew to start the feature, Tom Busch jumped into the lead; but trouble developed a little further back in the pack; and four cars wound up in a pile in turn one. When the shunt was worked out, the race resumed with Bush again taking the point. Busch led the feature flag to flag; but he had a lot of pressure from the defending series champion and the feature winner from the small cars' last visit to the famous red clay of Bloomington Speedway - Larry Bland. Bland held on to tally a second place finish; but he could not seriously challenge Busch. Dan Brettnacher came from deep in the field to finish third ahead of Eric Edwards of Bloomington, David Waltman, Tim Ewers, Patrick Haynes, Scott Williams, Terry Ahern, and Bob McCormick.

The mini sprint preliminary heats went to Busch, Bland, and Edwards.

As usual, the Tire & Wheel Center Super Stocks turned out in force for this popular holiday program. Lee Hobbs came into this evening's program with only an eleven point lead over Greg Kendall and only a little more than that over Steven Hunt. This meant that the points lead was within reach of several drivers if things went well. Jeremy Hines Rick Hines, Jack Frye, and Brady Short started their evening off right by winning their heat race and a berth in the Blackwell Trucking Dash for Cash.

The drivers who had trouble in their heat races were relegated to the "C"

Feature, and Danny Harris won the "C" followed by Matt Boknecht, Gary Arthur, and Ryan Thomas - all of whom transferred to the "B".

The June 23rd feature winner, Greg O'Neill, had to make it into tonight's feature through the "B", which he won. J.D. Roberts came home second while Stevin Hunt and Barry Gerkin also transferred to the feature. Steve Hollars received a $25 award from Tom Cherry Muffler for his fifth place finish in the "B".

The Blackwell Trucking Dash for Cash pitted Rick Hines against his son, Jeremy Hines, Brady Short, and Jack Frye. Jeremy won the dash to earn the pole position for feature event.

Jeremy Hines grabbed the lead in the feature and held it until the eighth marker when his father, Rick Hines, took over. Points leader Lee Hobbs started deep in the pack; and it took him the first half of the race to get in a position to challenge for the lead. However, from then to the checkers it was a dogfight between Hobbs and Hines with Hines coming out on top. The lead changed four times in the final three laps. Hobbs held on for second trailed by Perry Bruce Greg O'Neill, Joe Johnson, Troy Dishong, Terry Arthur, Tom Plotz, Chris Hillman, and Brad Cummings.

The O'Neal Wood Products Open Wheel Modified feature was, without question, the best race of the evening. Last week's feature winner, Kerry Norris of Columbus, only managed a third place finish in his heat race. This placed him outside of the fifth row to start the feature. He would certainly have like to have had a better starting position than that; but things got worse for Norris before they got better. He got caught up in a shunt at the start of the race and had to go to the tail. He then showed his fellow modified shoes what thousands of laps of the famous red clay can mean. He commenced to put on a clinic. At the end of the fifth lap, Norris was sixth. On the seventh lap, he took fifth; and, on the ninth lap, he passed Earl Plessinger for fourth. He took third on the 14th circuit. This left only Ray Humphrey and Adam Sasser between Norris and victory; but the first two had stretched out a pretty good lead.

Norris slipped past Sasser on the 17th lap and set sail for Humphrey.

Humphrey was riding the cushion while Norris was running on the pole and gradually reeling in Humphrey. With only a handful of laps to go, Norris passed Humphrey for the lead. Unfortunately for Norris, the yellow flag flew before that lap was complete; and Norris had to drop back behind Humphrey for the restart. In short order Norris got past Humphrey again; and this time it stuck. Norris had pulled out to a little better than half a straightaway by the time that the checkered flag flew. Humphrey was working well on the top but not quite as well as Norris was working on the bottom. The win was Norris' second feature win in a row at Bloomington Speedway. After his performance tonight, there is no question in anybody's mind how Norris pulled out a fifth place finish against the best modified drivers in the country.

The modified heats were won by Anthony Dayhuff, Ray Humphrey, Adam Sasser, and Earl Plessinger.

Gary Trammell took the "C" Feature while Matt Boknecht took the "B". Ray Humprey won the Reed and Sons Construction Dash for Cash followed by Adam Sasser and Anthony Dayhuff.

RESULTS

AMSA Mini Sprints

Feature: Tom Busch, Larry Bland, Dan Brettnacher, Eric Edwards, David Waltman, Tim Ewers, Patrick Haynes, Scott Williams, Terry Ahern, Bob McCormick, David Eichenberger, Boyd Wolff, Kenny Collins, Steve Noel, Steven Batchfield, Chris Isenhower, Mark Bush, Eddie Lake, David Gibson, Kevin Rice, Brandon Watson, Jeremy Mericle, Ron Brettnacher, Josh Walker, and Josh Slone

Heat 1: Tom Busch, Kevin Rice, David Waltman, Josh Slone, Bob McCormick, Steve Noel, Chris Isenhower, Terry Ahern, Boyd Wolff, and Mike Neher

Heat 2: Larry Bland, Scott Williams, Tim Ewers, Patrick Haynes, David Eichenberger, Kenny Collins, Ron Brettnacher, David Gibson, Roger McIntosh, and Brandon Watson

Heat 3: Eric Edwards, Dan Brettnacher, Josh Walker, Mark Bush, Steven Batchfield, Jeremy Mericle, David Adkins, Curt Trainer, Eddie Lake, and Mark Newman

Tire & Wheel Center Super Stocks

Feature: Rick Hines, Lee Hobbs, Perry Bruce, Greg O'Neill, Joe Johnson, Troy Dishong, Terry Arthur, Tom Plotz, Chris Hillman, Brad Cummings, Jeremy Hines, Steven Hunt, Barry Gerkin, Trent Niflis, Brady Short, Jack Frye, J.D. Roberts, Greg Kendall, Brandon Short, and Michael Purtlebaugh

Heat 1: Jeremy Hines, Brad Cummings, Greg Kendall, Joe Johnson, Gerald Todd, Travis Todd, Mel Bigham, Marty Cooper, Tony Laughman, and Matt Boknecht

Heat 2: Rick Hines, Troy Dishong, Brandon Short, Terry Arthur, Greg O'Neill, Aaron Zellers, Steven Hunt, Mike Jones, Dennis Renoll, and Bill Brown

Heat 3: Jack Frye, Trent Niflis, Chris Hillman, Michael Purtlebaugh, Michael Vest, Dan McCullough, Steve Hollars, Bryan Freeman, Gary Arthur, Kevin Massey, and Geoff Strange

Heat 4: Brady Short, Perry Bruce, Lee Hobbs, Tom Plotz, J.D. Roberts, Barry Gerkin, Dianne Grubb, Bob Griffitts, and Danny Harris

"C" Feature: Danny Harris, Matt Boknecht, Gary Arthur, Ryan Thomas, Kevin Massey, Bill Brown, Geoff Strange, and Aaron Southern

"B" Feature: Greg O'Neill, J.D. Roberts, Steven Hunt, Barry Gerkin, Steve Hollars, Gerald Todd, Mel Bigham, Mike Jones, Ryan Thomas, Dan McCullough, Dennis Renoll, Bryan Freeman, Bob Griffitts, Michael Vest, Aaron Zellers, Danny Harris, Travis Todd, Dianne Grubb, and Marty Cooper

Blackwell Trucking Dash for Cash: Jeremy Hines, Rick Hines, Brady Short, and Jack Frye

O'Neal Wood Products Open Wheel Modifieds

Feature: Kerry Norris, Ray Humphrey, Adam Sasser, John DeMoss, John Davis, Levi Godsey, Matt Boknecht, Roy Bruce, Jr., Richie Lex, Paul Bumgardner, Ryan Blevins, Rob Brickert, Clint DeMoss, Jay Scott, Joe Godsey, Earl Plessinger, Tim Prince, Anthony Dayhuff, Carlos Bumgardner, and Jack Taylor

Heat 1: Anthony Dayhuff, Roy Bruce, Jr., Carlos Bumgardner, Jay Scott, John Davis, Rob Brickert, Beau Hendrich, Roy Ritter, Justin Hillenburg, John Phillips, and Tommy Welin

Heat 2: Ray Humphrey, John DeMoss, Kerry Norris, Richie Lex, Matt Boknecht, John Gurley, Levi Godsey, Mike Tuell, Allen Adams, Warren Hopkins, and Mike Hicks

Heat 3: Adam Sasser, Ryan Blevins, Joe Godsey, Paul Bumgardner, Brian Sullivan, Brian Campbell, Brad Brown, Lee Hobbs, Troy Jarvis, and Matt Tiller

Heat 4: Earl Plessinger, Tim Prince, Jack Taylor, Clint DeMoss, Albert Webb, Rodney Harris, Jr., Richard Biggs, Donnie Parson, Gary Trammell, and Brent Payne

"C" Feature: Gary Trammell, Mike Hicks, Tommy Welin, John Phillips, Justin Hillenburg, Troy Jarvis, and Brent Payne

"B" Feature: Matt Boknecht, John Davis, Rob Brickert, Levi Godsey, Brian Campbell, Richard Biggs, Gary Trammell, Roy Ritter, Mike Tuell, Mike Hicks, John Phillips, Rodney Harris, Jr., Albert Webb, Brad Brown, Tommy Wellin, Brian Sullivan, Lee Hobbs, and Beau Hendrich

Reed & Sons Construction Dash for Cash: Ray Humphrey, Adam Sasser, and Anthony Dayhuff

<pre> POINTS PRIOR TO TONIGHT'S RACING

SPRINTS: MODIFIEDS: SUPER STOCKS:

1 Kevin Briscoe 1 Lee Hobbs 1 Lee Hobbs 2 Chris LaFollette 2 Adam Sasser 2 Greg Kendall 3 Derek Scheffel 3 Ray Humphrey 3 Steven Hunt 4 Jared Fox 4 Gary Trammell 4 Brad Cummings 5 Justin Marvel 5 John DeMoss 5 Brandon Short 6 Josh Cunningham 6 Joe Godsey 6 Michael Purtlebaugh 7 Dave Peperak 7 Matt Tiller 7 Gerald Todd 8 Danny Holtsclaw 8 Richie Lex 8 Greg O'Neill 9 Brad Fox 9 Clint DeMosseee 9 Steve Hollars 10 Jason Knoke 10 Bian Campbell 10 Brady Short