Bloomington results 2004-05-07

BLOOMINGTON, IN (May 8, 2004) -- Late model fans finally got their night at Bloomington Speedway last night. With the three great regular classes that run just about every week at Bloomington Speedway, it's tough to find a place in the schedule to run something different. However, when the Indiana Dirt Late Model Speedweek was being planned, Mike Miles decided that the series was needed and that we owed it to the late model fans in the area to give them a night on the red clay. The fans showed up in force to enjoy the show; and the competitors didn't disappoint them.

Korte Takes Indiana Dirt Late Model Speedweek Feature --

Brian Shirley got his evening off to a great start when he set quick time. Since many of those on hand had never raced on the Bloomington Speedway red clay, none of their drivers really had a a book on what kind of setup they would need. This probably made qualifying time less of an indication of how fast a driver would be at the end of the night than usual.

In the first heat, Jim Curry came from his inside second row starting position to win.followed by Wes Steidinger, Jerry Bowersox, Shannon Reed, Kevin Claycomb, Rohn Moon, Shawn Negandgard, and Shirley.

In the second heat race, Randy Korte took the lead and drove to a very convincing win ahead of Steve Sheppard, Dennis Erb, and Frankie Coomer. Former Bloominton Speedway Tire & Wheel Center Super Stock standout Zach Carney could only manage a sixth place finish in his heat.

Mike Jewell won the third heat race ahead of Brad Erwin, John Gill, and perennial Northern Allstar champion Steve Barnett.

Rohn Moon led the B feature flag to flag while Jamie Wilson came from the middle of the pack to finish second. Zach Carney finished third to take the final transfer spot.

When Rusty Nunn dropped the green flag to start the feature, Mike Jewell charged into the lead with Randy Korte on his tail. A lap three yellow flag sent Steve Barnett and Rohn Moon to the work area. On the restart, another tangle took out Jerry Bowersox and fan favorite John Gill.

Before the fourth lap was in the books Randy Korte had taken the point; and it would be Jewell's turn to chase Korte. Lap after lap Korte and Jewell dueled for the lead. Jewell finally took the lead back on the ninth circuit only to lose it to Korte on the following lap. Korte would then hold the lead until the checkered flags signaled the end of the combat.

Fast qualifier Brian Shirley earned hard charger honors as he work his way from his 19th place starting position to finish fifth.

Northern Allstars Dirt Late Model Speedweek will conclude tonight with the series finale at Brownstown Speedway.

Ray Humphrey Wins O'Neal Wood Products Modified Feature --

Ray Humphrey is always a good bet to find victory lane when the O'Neal Wood Products modifieds battle. However, he and his brother Jay have been sorting out a new Franklin Chassis car. It looked like they might be ready for victory last week when Ray won his heat race. However, his mount was sidelined by mechanical failure in the dash. This week everything came together for the Humphrey team. Ray came from his third place starting position to win his heat race.

When the cars took to the track for the O'Neal Wood Products modified feature, Richie Lex took the lead and staked his claim on the high groove with Ray Humphrey on his tail. Defending modified champion, Shelby Miles chose the shorter way around the red clay oval. With Lex in the lead, Humphrey and Miles traded second back and forth lap after lap with neither driver having more than a few feet of advantage over the other. On the 14th lap, Miles got past Lex to take the lead; and it looked like Miles might well be headed for his first feature win of the season. However, the fortunes of competition failed to smile on Miles this night. A flat right front tire sent him to the work area for replacement rubber and to the tail of the field for the restart. Just prior to Miles' misfortune Humphrey passed Lex to take second; and, with Miles gone to the tail, Humphrey inherited the lead. He was able to hold off Lex for the remaining laps.

Gary Barrow, Matt Boknecht, Clint DeMoss, Jesse Cramer, Lee Hobbs, Ryan Thomas, Miles, and Brady Short rounded out the top ten.

Jeff Bland, Jr. has his 15 year old eyes aimed at the O'Neal Wood Products modified championship; and he certainly seems capable of reaching that goal. His and his teams performance last night displayed the kind of determination that it takes to win a Bloomington Speedway championship. When they arrived at the track and were preparing for hot laps, they found a break in the frame. They went home and picked up the backup car. The backup car was damaged in the heat race; and they were forced to perform extensive repairs to prepare to start the "B" feature -- on the tail. Bland managed to work his way from the tail to a third place finish in the "B" to earn a ticket to the feature event. And, he only had six laps to earn the transfer as the balance of the "B" feature fell victim to the time limit. He wound up with a 14th place finish in the feature event.

In preliminary action, Richie Lex, Gary Barrow, Ray Humphrey, and Shelby Miles won the heat races while Lex won the dash. Lonnie Cassity prevailed in the "B" feature.

Greg Kendall Scores Tire & Wheel Center Super Stock Win --

The battle for the Tire & Wheel Center super stock championship may very have been showcased in the opening laps of tonight's super stock feature. Greg Kendall and Ben DuBois each won their heat race; and they then finished first and second in the dash. When the green flag fell to start the feature Kendall and DuBois raced first and second much of the time side by side until a flat tire sidelined DuBois on the 17th lap. DuBois pulled off of the track leaving Kendall much more comfortably in the lead. Danny Harris was left to challenge Kendall for the lead; but, this night, Kendall would not be denied. Harris had to settle for second.

Chris Deweese turned in a sparkling performance in moving from his 15th place starting position in the feature to his third place finish. Deweese obviously is a very talented racer with very good equipment. His chances of winning the championship remain alive and well. Defending champion Jack Frye, Mel Bigham, Mike Jones, Steve Hollars, Gerald Todd, Kent Robinson, and Troy Clark made up the balance of the top ten.

There are, of course, lots of races and lots of cut tires, blown engines, and other racing things left in the season; however, DuBois and Kendall have to be two of the most likely candidates for the championship. Who finally wins the championship may well be determined by just the kind of battles that we saw this evening.

In preliminary super stock action, Greg Kendall, Ben DuBois, Mel Bigham, and Troy Clark won the heat races while Kendall won the dash. Jack Frye took the "B" feature.

RESULTS:

NORTHERN ALLSTARS -- INDIANA DIRT LATE MODEL SPEEDWEEK
Fast Qualifier: Brian Shirley

HEAT 1: 1.(3) Jim Curry, 2.(1) Wes Steidinger, 3.(6) Jerry Bowersox, 4.(8) Shannon Reed, 5.(7) Kevin Claycamp, 6.(5) Rohn Moon, 7.(2) Shawn Negangard, 8.(4) Brian Shirley

HEAT 2: 1.(3) Randy Korte, 2.(5) Steve Sheppard, 3.(4) Dennis Erb, 4.(6) Frankie Coomer, 5.(7) Brad Barrow, 6.(1) Zach Carney, 7.(2) Jamie Wilson, 8.(8) Tim Prince

HEAT 3: 1.(2) Mike Jewell, 2.(1) Brad Erwin, 3.(4) John Gill, 4.(6) Steve Barnett, 5.(8) Mike Matagras, 6.(5) Justin Blackwell, 7.(7) Steve Godsey.. 8.(3) Mark Voigt

B FEATURE: 1.(1) Rohn Moon, 2.(5) Jamie Wilson, 3.(2) Zach Carney, 4.(9) Mark Voigt, 5.(7) Shawn Negangard, 6.(6) Steve Godsey, 7.(8) Tim Prince, 8.(4) Brian Shirley

INDIANA DIRT LATE MODEL SPEEDWEEK FEATURE: 1.(3) 00 Randy Korte, 2.(1) 9 Mike Jewell, 3.(8) 28 Dennis Erb, 4.(13) 28c Kevin Claycomb, 5.(19) 3s Brian Shirley, 6.(2) 7c Jim Curry, 7.(18) 56c Zach Carney, 8.(16) 56 Rohn Moon, 9.(14) 57 Brad Barrow, 10.(15) 1M Mike Matagras, 11.(20) P1 Tim Prince, 12.(17) 61 Jamie Wilson, 13.(11) 49 Frankie Coomer, 14.(10) 21R Shannon Reed, 15.(4) 1s Wes Steindinger, 16.(5) 5s Steve Sheppard, 17.(6) 18 Brad Erwin, 18.(12) 89 Steve Barnett, 19.(7) 4 Jerry Bowersox, 20.(9) IND1 John Gill Lap Leaders: Mike Jewell (1-3, 11), Randy Korte (4-10, 12-30)

O'NEAL WOOD PRODUCTS MODIFIEDS

SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION HEAT 1: 1.(2) Richie Lex, 2.(8) Clint DeMoss, 3.(5) Ryan Thomas, 4.(1) Nathan Voorhies, 5.(6) Lonnie Cassity, 6.(7) Wendell Wisley, 7.(4) Justin Hillenburg, 8.(3) Jeremy Ingram

COLOR TYME HEAT 2: 1.(7) Gary Barrow, 2.(2) Rodney Harris, Jr., 3.(5) Ralph Groomert, 4.(8) A.J. Bowlen, 5.(3) Jason Thomas, 6.(4) Daniel Bohall, 7.(1) Jeff Bland, Jr., 8.(6) Greg Sloan

CURRY GMC TRUCK CENTER HEAT 3: 1.(3) Ray Humphrey, 2.(5) Matt Boknecht, 3.(1) Lee Hobbs, 4.(4) Jesse Cramer, 5.(2) Broc Burton, 6.(7) J.P. Hume, 7.(6) Joe Gilbert

HEAT 4: 1.(3) Shelby Miles, 2.(6) Joe Godsey, 3.(5) Brady Short, 4.(7) Chris Hillman, 5.(2) Michael Sterrett, 6.(1) John Phillips, DNS.(4) Don Parson

BTI CRUSHED STONE SALES DASH FOR CASH: 1.(1) Richie Lex, 2.(4) Shelby Milers, 3.(2) Gary Barrow, 4.(3) Ray Humphrey

BELL'S EXHAUST SHOPS "B" Feature: 1.(1) Lonnie Cassity, 2.(3) Broc Burton, 3.(10) Jeff Bland, Jr., 4.(7) J.P Humer, 5.(12) Jeremy Ingram, 6.(9) Justin Hillenburg, 7.(4) Michael Sterrett, 8.(11) Joe Gilbert, 9.(6) Daniel Bohall, 10.(8) John Phillips, 11.(2) Jason Thomas, 12.(5) Wendell Wisley

BLACK LUMBER FEATURE: 1.(4) 1H Ray Humphrey, 2.(1) 4s Richie Lex, 3.(3) 14 Gary Barrow, 4.(7) 22 Matt Boknecht, 5.(5) 78c Clint DeMoss, 6.(15) 12T Jesse Cramer., 7.(11) 0 Clint DeMoss, 8.(9) T9 Ryan Thomas, 9.(2) 76 Shelby Miles, 10.(12) 36 Brady Short, 11.(17) 1 Lonnie Cassity, 12.(20) 5H J.P. Hume, 13.(16) 11 Chris Hillman, 14.(19) 38 Jeff Bland, Jr., 15.(13) 4 Nathan Voorhies, 16.(6) 9H Rodney Harris, Jr. 17.(10) 48 Ralph Groomer, 18.(8) B1 Joe Godsey, 19.(14) 6 A.J. Bowlen, 20.(18) Broc Burton Lap Leaders: Richie Lex. (1-13), Shelby Miles (14-18), Ray Humphrey (19-25)

TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCKS:

MCCAMMON TREE SERVICE HEAT 1: 1.(4) Greg Kendall, 2.(7) Terry Arthur, 3.(5) Joe Lucas, 4.(8) Gerald Todd, 5.(6) Jason Combs, 6.(3) Joe Jeffries, 7.(2) Deb Friesner, 8.(1) Travis Todd, DNS.(9) Kevin Arthur

PATRIOT CHASSIS HEAT 2: 1.(1) Ben DuBois, 2.(6) Anthony Walker, 3.(3) Mickey Hines, 4.(4) Mike Jones, 5.(7) Tom Plotz, 6.(5) Steve Bowlen, 7.(8) Jason Clark, DNS.(2) Winston Howe

WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED HEAT 3: 1.(5) Mel Bigham, 2.(4) Danny Harris, 3.(6) Mike Cawood, 4.(8) Chris Deweese, 5.(2) Steve Hollars, 6.(7) David Larson, 7.(1) Kurt Dion, 8.(3) Michael Purtlebaugh

Heat 4: 1.(5) Troy Clark, 2.(3) Jeremy Pennington, 3.(1) Greg Amick, 4.(2) Marty Cooper, 5.(6) Jack Frye, 6.(4) Kent Robinson, 7.(7) Trent Niflis, 8.(8) Randy Howe.

SEARS & SONS TRASH REMOVAL DASH FOR CASH: 1.(1) Greg Kendall, 2.(2) Ben DuBois, 3.(3) Mel Bigham, 4.(4) Troy Clark

TOM CHERRY MUFFLE B FEATURE: 1.(4) Jack Frye, 2.(8) Kent Robinson, 3.(3) Steve Hollars, 4.(12) Trent Niflis, 5.(1) Jason Combs, 6.(15) Michael Purtlebaugh, 7.(17) Kevin Arthur, 8.(11) Kent Dion, 9.(7) David Lawson, 10.(9) Deb Friesner, 11.(6) Steve Bowlen, 12.(5) Joe Jeffries

AMVETS POST 2000 SUPER STOCK FEATURE: 1.(1) 44 Greg Kendall, 2.(3) 19 Danny Harris, 3.(15) 21 Chris Deweese, 4.(17) 2 Jack Frye, 5.(3) 49B Mel Bigham., 6.(14) 70 Mike Jones, 7.(19) 18 Steve Hollars, 8.(13) 51T Gerald Todd, 9.(18) 7 Kent Robinson, 10.(4) 13c Troy Clark, 11.(5) 5 Terrry Arthur, 12.(12) 27A Greg Amick, 13.(20) 23A Trent Niflis, 14.(20) 22 Jason Combs, 15.(6) 56 Anthony Walker, 16.(2) 55 Ben DuBois, 17.(9) 3J Joe Lucas, 18.(8) 20 Jeremy Pennington, 19.(10) 43 Mickey Hines, 20.(11) 12 Mike Cawood Lap Leaders: Ben DuBois (1-12), Greg Kendall

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