FF: Bloomington resutls 2003-08-08

BLOOMINGTON, IN (August 9, 2003) - Mike Miles and his Bloomington Speedway staff broke new ground last night. Both the USAC Ford Focus midgets and Modified Wolfpack Challenge made their first visit to the Bloomington Speedway red clay last night. The loyal Bloomington Speedway fans who showed up were treated to great wheel to wheel racing all night long in all three classes.

USAC FORD FOCUS MIDGETS -

The major midget racing sanctioning bodies (primarily USAC and NAMARS) have, for some time, been attempting to find a way to make midget racing affordable without killing the highly competitive USAC National midget series. The high dollar national midgets are still very popular; because they have been instrumental in launching drivers like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kenny Irwin, Jr., and Ryan Newman into the big time. This is, of course, the goal; and nobody pretends that it makes any economic sense.

With some help from Ford Motor Company, USAC started the Ford Focus Series on the West Coast last season; and, this season, they expanded it to Indiana. One of the first new teams to jump into this new series was the Martz Racing/Immke Group team with drivers Tate Martz and Derek Crasi. They are third and sixth in the series points.

Larry Martz is an experienced car owner having competed in both the rarified atmosphere of the USAC National midget division with drivers like Tony Stewart, Ricky Shelton, and a host of other big name drivers and the more affordable UMRA TQ midget series with several driver - most recently his son, Tate.

Martz selected a chassis from the Keith Kunz Motorsports shop; and he is glad that he did, He commented, "I can't say enough about how helpful Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby were in helping us get our team up and running. They helped us make the right decisions all the way along the line." In last night's action at Bloomington Speedway, Jim Mills and Derek Crasi won the heat races. Because passing points are awarded to the heat race participants, the two heat race winners lined up fifth and sixth respectively.

When the green flag dropped to start the feature event, Ronnie Wuerdeman of Cincinnati, Ohio took the lead from the pole position and held it for seven circuits while points leader Robbie Ray was working his way to the point. Though there was spirited racing throughout the pack, nobody was able to get past Ray. Rex Norris III came home second trailed by Derek Crasi, Ryan Litt, Jim Mills, Patrick Bruns, A.J. Supan, Jordan Noblitt, J.R. Armstrong, and Mike Palmer.

Patrick Bruns advanced from his 13th place starting position to finish sixth; and J.R. Armstrong charged from 18th to finish ninth.

Jordan Noblitt of Columbus has been competing in the Kenyon midgets for the past couple of years - mostly on pavement. This year, Noblitt's car owner and father, Kevin Noblitt, decided that Jordan should move into the USAC Ford Focus midgets after his 16th birthday in June. Jordan's birthday came and went; but Kevin had been kept so busy keeping up the Kenyon car and running his busy fabrication business that he hadn't got the new car finished. This week, he took a couple of days off of work and skipped the Kenyon program Thursday night to finish the new midget.

Apparently both the car and driver were ready by feature time. Although the car was barely completed in time for last night's show and Jordan dirt midget experience is limited, they started the feature 18th and finished eighth.

O'NEAL WOOD PRODUCTS MODIFIEDS - WOLFPACK CHALLENGE

Like Indiana Sprint Week for sprint cars and Indiana Dirt Late Model Speed Week for late models, the Wolfpack Modified Challenge was started last season to bring the best of these racers together to compete at tracks where they normally compete along with top drivers that normally compete at other tracks. The series was started too late last season to be included in the Bloomington Speedway schedule. This year Mike Miles got the show in his schedule; and the Bloomington Speedway fans were treated to a first class show; and they saw what we already knew - some of the best modified racers compete regularly at Bloomington Speedway. Most of the top ten finishers are regular Bloomington Speedway O'Neal Wood Products competitors.

The modifieds qualified for this special show; and O'Neal Wood Products Modified points leader Shelby Miles had quick time. Jack Taylor, Matt Bex, Richie Lex in Ray Humphrey's 75s, Jesse Cramer, Clint DeMoss, David Daugherty, Dan McCullough, J.P. Karpowicz, and Brady Short rounded out the top ten.

Paul Bumgardner, Matt Boknecht, Jimmy Hayden, Don Kiger, and Dale Hayes won the heat races while Shelby Miles and Clint DeMoss prevailed in the B features.

When the green flag waved to begin the feature event, Jesse Cramer jumped into the lead with Clint DeMoss firmly on his tail. However, Richie Lex was headed to the front in Ray Humphrey's potent modified. Lex passed Cramer for the lead on the 14th circuit. Clint DeMoss passed Cramer to take second on the 22nd lap, and Jeff Bland, Jr. moved into third place on the white flag lap. There was wheel to wheel racing for position at the front of the pack on every circuit around the red clay.

Jesse Cramer salvaged a fourth place finish trailed by Matt Boknecht, Brady Short, Jack Taylor, Paul Bumgardner, Dan McCullough, and J.P. Hume. Lex had not raced with us this season until a couple of weeks ago when he showed up to pilot Ray Humphrey's car. It was obvious that he was elated to find himself once again in victory lane at Bloomington Speedway . Bland's charge from his 14th place starting position to his third place finish was nothing less than spectacular. Although Bland is only starting the ninth grade, he has the poised driving style of a veteran. A third place finish against the kind of feature field assembled last night is just more evidence that Bland has a promising future ahead of him.

TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCKS -

In the Tire & Wheel Center super stock division, Ben DuBois came from his inside second row starting position to take the lead from Jack Frye on the eleventh circuit; and he never looked back. However, Frye never gave DuBois any breathing room either. The two drivers waged a spirited battle for the win from flag to flag. Until a month ago Ben had not won a Bloomington Speedway feature. Last night's win was his third.

Jack Frye has been racing at Bloomington Speedway for two decades without finding victory lane. We've all seen Frye turn in spectacular performances; and, if anybody is due for a win, it would have to be Frye. But, it did not come last night. He once again had to settle for second.

Jeremy Hines came from his seventh place starting spot to finish third trailed by Lee Hobbs, Mel Bigham, Chris Hillman, Todd Gilpin, Ralph Groomer, Cale Kern, and Anthony Walker.

In preliminary action, Jack Frye, Danny Harris, Ben DuBois, and Cale Kern won the heat races while Frye prevailed in the dash. Anthony Walker took the B feature.

RESULTS:

USAC FORD FOCUS MIDGETS

Heat Race #1: 1.(1) Jim Mills, 2.(5) Rex Norris III, 3.(2) Ronnie Wuerdeman, 4.(3) Mike Palmer, 5.(9) Robbie Ray, 6.(6) Brice Kenyon, 7.(7) Patrick Bruns, 8.(8) Jeffrey, Mayer, 9.(4) Ethan Tessendorf

Heat Race #2: 1.(2) Derek Crasi, 2.(4) Ryan Litt, 3.(5) Trenton Darland, 4.(3) Tate Martz, 5.(1) Samantha Weakley, 6.(6) A.J. Supan, 7.(7) Alex Coonan, 8.(8) Jordan Noblitt, 9.(9) J.R. Armstrong

USAC Ford Focus Feature: 1.(7) 3 Robbie Ray, 2.(4) 63 Rex Norris III, 3.(6) 21k Derek Crasi, 4.(3) Ryan Litt, 5.(5) 45 Jim Mills, 6.(13) 2 Patrick Bruns, 7.(12) A.J. Supan, 8.(16) 20 Jordan Noblitt, 9.(18) 03 J.R. Armstrong, 10.(8) 66 Mike Palmer, 11.(14) 94 Alex Coonan, 12.(10) 12 Samantha Weakley, 13.(15) 46 Jeffrey Mayer, 14.(11) 61 Brice Kenyon, 15.(2) 9 Trenton Darland, 16.(9) 32 Tate Martz, 17.(1) 33 Ronnie Wuerdeman, 18.(17) 10 Ethan Tessendorf

O'NEAL WOOD PRODUCTS MODIFIEDS - WOLFPACK CHALLENGE

Qualifications: 1. Shelby Miles, 76, 13.881; 2. Jack Taylor, 30, 14.013; 3. Matt Bex, 31, 14.079; 4. Richie Lex, 75s, 14.109; 5. Jesse Cramer, 12T, 14.223; 6. Clint DeMoss, 78c, 14.282; 7. David Daughtery, 00D, 14.323; 8. Dan McCullough, 18, 14.333; 9. J.P. Karpowicz, 33, 14.364; 10. Brady Short, 36, 14.387; 11. Josh Ferguson, 2F, 14.400; 12. Matt Boknecht, 22D, 14.510; 13. Brent Payne, 5P, 14.546; 14. J.D. Roberts, 90, 14.553; 15. Bill Wagner, 15, 14.569; 16. J.P. Hume, 5H, 14.609; 17. Jeff Bland, Jr., 38, 14.695; 18. Chris Hillman, 06, 14.725; 19. Rodney Harris, Jr., 9H, 14.735; 20. Joe Gilbert, 10G, 14.752; 21. Paul Bumgardner, 54x, 14.781, 22. Jason Knight, 92, 14.792; 23. Al Flick, 24F, 14.794; 24. Don Kiger, 01, 14.802; 25. Dale Hayes, 02, 14.814; 26. Tim DeMoss, 66T, 14.832; 27. Gary Barrow, 14, 14.911; 28. Jimmy Hayden, 15J, 14.925; 29. Brad Heady, 89H, 14.940; 30. Jim Moore, K4, 14.957; 31. Donnie Parson, 7P, 14.972; 32. Justin Hillenburg, 57H, 15.003; 33. Curtis Knieriem, 4, 15.006; 34. Denny Schwartz, 21s, 15.019; 35. Dale DuBois, 46, 15.130, 36. John DeMoss, 79D, 15.215, 37. J.J. Hume, 54, 15.375, 38. Nathan Voorhies, 4T, 15.389, 39. Gary Hayden, 24H, 15.585, 40. Jerry Davis, 22, 15.804, 41. Wendell Wisley, 56, 16.118, 42. Larry Banks, 37, 16.291, 43. Lee Hobbs, 0, 16.482, 44. Darin Beaner, 26, 99.990, 45. Deron Freeman, 89, NT

COLOR TYME HEAT 1: 1.(2) Paul Bumgardner, 2.(4) Josh Ferguson, 3.(3) J.P. Hume, 4.(5) Clint DeMoss, 5.(8) John DeMoss, 6.(1) Tim DeMoss, 7.(7) Donnie Parson, 8.(9) Wendell Wisley, 9.(6) Shelby Miles

EXTREME PERFORMANCE HEAT 2: 1.(4) Matt Boknecht, 2.(3) Jeff Bland, Jr., 3.(6) Jack Taylor, 4.(1) Gary Barrow, 5.(5) David Daughtery, 6.(7) Justin Hillenburg, 7.(2) Jason Knight 8.(8) J.J. Hume, 9.(9) Larry Banks

CURRY GMC TRUCK HEAT 3: 1.(1) Jimmy Hayden, 2.(6) Matt Bex, 3.(2) Al Flick, 4.(9) Lee Hobbs, 5.(5) Dan McCullough, 6.(7) Curtis Knieriem, 7.(4) Brent Payne, 8.(8) Nathan Voorhies, 9.(3) Chris Hillman.

HEAT 4: 1.(2) Don Kiger, 2.(6) Richie Lex, 3.(3) Rodney Harris, Jr., 4.(1) Brad Heady, 5.(5) J.P. Karpowicz, 6.(8) Gary Hayden, 7.(4) J.D. Roberts, 8.(7) Denny Schwartz, 9.(9) Darin Beaner (DNS)

HEAT 5: 1.(2) Dale Hayes, 2.(6) Jesse Cramer, 3.(5) Brady Short, 4.(3) Joe Gilbert, 5.(8) Jerry Davis, 6.(7) Dale DuBois, 7.(1) Jim Moore (DNS), 8.(4) Bill Wagner (DNS)

BELL'S EXHAUST SHOPS "B" Feature #1: 1.(1) Shelby Miles, 2.(2) David Daughtery, 3.(11) John DeMoss, 4.(4) J.D. Roberts, 5.(9) Justin Hillenburg, 6.(5) Chris Hillman, 7.(8) Jim Moore, 8.(13) Jerry Davis, 9.(12) Nathan Voorhies, 10.(14) Larry Banks, 11.(3) J.P. Karpowicz, 12.(6) Jason Knight

BELL'S EXHAUST SHOPS "B" Feature #2: 1.(1) Clint DeMoss, 2.(2) Dan McCullought, 3.(3) Brent Payne, 4,(7) Brad Heady, 5.(13) Wendell Wisley, 6.(6) Tim DeMoss, 7.(14) Lee Hobbs, 8.(9) Curtis Knieriem, 9.(12) Gary Hayden, 10.(11) J.J. Hume, 11.(5) Joe Gilbert, 12.(4) Bill Wagner, 13.(8) Donnie Parson, 14.(10) Dale Dubois

BLACK LUMBER MODIFIED FEATURE: 1.(3) 75s Richie Lex, 2.(1) 78c Clint DeMoss, 3.(14) 38 Jeff Bland, Jr., 4.(2) 12T Jesse Cramer, 5.(11) 22D Matt Boknecht, 6.(9) 36 Brady Short, 7.(5) 30 Jack Taylor, 8.(16) 54x Paul Bumgardner, 9.(8) 18 Dan McCullough, 10.(13) 5H J.P. Hume, 11.(19) 02 Dale Hayes, 12.(10) 2F Josh Ferguson, 13.(18) 01 Don Kiger, 14.(17) 24F Al; Flick, 15.(21) 79D, John DeMoss, 16.(7) 00D David Daughtery, 17.(15) 9H Rodney Harris, Jr., 18.(12) 5P Brent Payne, 19.(20) 15J Jimmy Hayden. 20.(4) 31 Matt Bex, 21.(6) 76 Shelby Miles

TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCKS:

MCCAMMON TREE SERVICE HEAT 1: 1.(3) Jack Frye, 2.(5) Troy Clark, 3.(6) Joe Lucas, 4.(9) Brad Cummings, 5.(2) Anthony Walker, 6.(1) Danny Carmichael, 7.(8) Doug Arnold, 8.(7) Jeremy Pennington, 9.(4) David Lawson

RAINTREE MUFFLER HEAT 2: 1.(1) Danny Harris, 2.(2) Tom Ault, 3.(6) Randy Howe, 4.(8) Mel Bigham, 5.(3) Chris Hillman, 6.(9) Kevin Arthur, 7.(4) Ron Roe; 8.(5) Terry Arthur, 9.(7) Mike Stigdon (DNS)

WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED HEAT 3: 1.(3) Ben DuBois, 2.(5) Jeremy Hines, 3.(1) Greg Amick, 4.(8) Todd Gilpin, 5.(6) C.J. Allen, 6.(4) Tom Plotz, 7.(9) Danny Whitaker, 8.(7) Steve Bowlen, 9.(2) Jason Clark

HEAT 4: 1.(2) Cale Kern, 2.(4) Lee Hobbs, 3.(3) Chris Deweese, 4.(8) Greg Kendall, 5.(6) Mike Jones, 6.(1) Rick Wolsifer, 7.(7) Ralph Groomer, 8.(5) Steve Hollars

Dash for Cash: 1.(1) Jack Frye, 2.(4) Cale Kern, 3.(3) Ben DuBois, 4.(2) Danny Harris

TOM CHERRY MUFFLER B Feature: 1.(1) Anthony Walker, 2.(2) Chris Hillman, 3.(3) C.J. Allen, 4.(4) Mike Jones, 5.(12) Ralph Groomer, 6.(7) Tom Plotz, 7.(15) Steve Bowlen, 8.(16) Steve Hollars, 9.(5) Danny Carmichael, 10.(9) Doug Arnold, 11.(10) Ron Roe, 12.(11) Danny Whitaker, 13.(6) Kevin Arthur, 14.(19) Jason Clark, 15.(8) Rick Wolsifer, 16.(17) David Lawson, 17.(13) Jeremy Pennington

TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCK FEATURE: 1.(3) 55 Ben DuBois, 2.(1) 2 Jack Frye, 3.(7) 5H Jeremy Hines, 4.(8) H0 Lee Hobbs, 5.(14) 49B Mel Bigham, 6.(18) 11 Chris Hillman, 7.(15) 27 Todd Gilpin, 8.(20) 48 Ralph Groomer, 9.(2) 0x Cale Kern, 10.(17) 56x Anthony Walker, 11.(11) 27A Greg Amick, 12.(19) 9CJ C.J. Allen, 13.(18) 70 Mike Jones, 14.(4) 19 Danny Harris, 15.(16) 44 Greg Kendall, 16.(13) 51T Brad Cummings, 17.(5) 13c Troy Clark, 18.(6) 1A Tom Ault, 19.(9) 3J Joe Lucas, 20.(10) 43 Randy Howe