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James Essex
TAMPA, Fla. (February 6) - Leading all 50 laps, Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN held off Jimmy Owens of Newport, TN by two car lengths to win Saturday afternoon's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at East Bay Raceway Park. The $10,000 to win race was washed out on Friday and rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader of action during the 34th Annual DART Winternationals. Trailing Bloomquist and Owens to the finish was Eric Jacobsen of Seacliffe Beach, CA; Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR; and Rick Eckert of York, PA.
Bloomquist and Owens started on the front row of the 26 car starting field. Bloomquist quickly opened up a three-car length advantage over Owens, current DART Winternationals point's leader Dennis Erb Jr., Shannon Babb, and Eric Jacobsen. Jacobsen then dueled side-by-side with Babb for two laps before finally clearing the veteran racer to take over the fourth position. Just as Bloomquist was picking up the tail end of the field on the track. The first caution came out for Jimmy Mars, who came to a halt in the middle of backstretch. Mars was pushed off the track, becoming the first car out of the event.
On the restart, Bloomquist held the point as the race went green for a lap until the next caution came out for Tyler Reddick. The third restart still had Bloomquist in front, just ahead of Owens, Erb, Jacobsen and Babb.
The top five remained the same until Jacobsen was able to make a pass on Erb for third on lap 21. Owens was able to chase down Bloomquist as the race for the lead was getting interesting. He pulled even with Bloomquist on a couple of occasions after lap 23. All that seemed to accomplish was wake Bloomquist up as he started to open up some distance between himself and Owens.
On lap 29, the third and final caution flew for Michael Walker who stopped in turn one. The final restart had the field line up single file behind Bloomquist who had led every lap until this point of the race. The trio of Bloomquist, Owens and Jacobsen continued to show their superiority pulling away from the rest of the running order with 20 laps to go.
The distance between the top three was basically even with four-to-five car lengths separating the trio of Bloomquist, Owens and Jacobsen. Behind those three was an excellent battle between several drivers as Erb, Babb, Billy Moyer and Earl Pearson, Jr. were jockeying for a spot in the top five.
With ten laps to go, things were looking good for Bloomquist as he was comfortably out in front of Owens and Jacobsen. With 44 laps down Moyer charged to fourth in front of Erb, but he was running out of time to catch the cars in front of him. With five laps remaining, Owens started to pick up the pace closing the gap on Bloomquist as the fans were anticipating another close finish like the Wednesday and Thursday Night had provided as Owens closed to within four lengths of Bloomquist with two to go.
Owens then reduced the lead to two lengths on the white flag lap as another last lap charge looked imminent, but Bloomquist got into and out of turn four with no problems. He held off Owens by two lengths to record his second victory of the week and his fourth ever at the one-third mile oval.
In the Lucas Oil Victory Lane for 19th time in his Hall of Fame career, the 2009 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion Bloomquist commented that the track was a lot racier than he thought it would be, "for a daytime race it was good, we knew tire selection was going to be critical. I was just hoping we had made the right choice, Jimmy, I figured was right there and I guess Eric ended up third, so that makes us feel good, to win here twice in one week is something we've never done before an it's a great way to get the season started," said the 46-year-old driver who has seven national touring titles to his credit.
"I have to thank Bob and Barb Miller for all their support through the years and my crew did a great job preparing this car we've come awfully close to winning a third time this week so we'll give it a shot tonight and try to end the week on a solid note," said Bloomquist, who drives his own Bloomquist Race Cars Monte Carlo SS powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and sponsored by Miller Brothers Construction, Hawkeye Trucking, Sweet Mfg, Ohlins, VP Racing Fuels, Arizona Sport Shirts, Lane Automotive and Hoosier Racing Tires.
Owens, in the Reece Monument Company/Cornett Racing Engines/Bloomquist Race Cars Ford Fusion finished second followed by Jacobsen in his VP Racing Fuels/Bell Helmets/Bloomquist Race Cars Monte Carlo SS. Completing the top five in the finishing order were 13th starting Billy Moyer in the Henderson Motorsports/Cornett Racing Engines/Moyer Victory Circle M1 Ford Mustang GT and Eckert in the J&K Salvage/Jay Dickens Racing Engines/Bloomquist Race Cars Corvette to give Bloomquist built-cars four of the top five spots.
Completing the top ten were Dennis Erb, Jr. of Carpentersville, IL. Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, IL, Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL, Brady Smith of Solon Springs, WI and Tim McCreadie of Watertown, NY.
To find out more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, log on to www.lucasdirt.com or call the series office at (951) 532-2503.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Saturday Day, February 6th, 2010
"34th Annual DART Winternationals"
East Bay Raceway Park - Tampa, FL
Red Buck Cigars Fast Time: Steve Francis / 14.403 seconds
Wiles Driveshafts First Heat (10 Laps-Top 4 Advance): Scott Bloomquist, Dennis Erb, Jr., Steve Francis, Billy Moyer, Jimmy Mars, Ray Cook, Travis Varnadore, Jason McBride, Tim Isenberg, Jordan Bland, Leon Henderson, Danny Mitchell, Brandon Thirlby
AFCO Racing Products Second Heat (10 Laps-Top 4 Advance): Shannon Babb, Rick Eckert, Jason Feger, Justin Rattliff, Tim fuller, Tyler Reddick, Russ King, Dillan White, Brad Neat, Mark Andersen, James O'Hara, Chad Hollenbeck
Allstar Performance Third Heat (10 Laps-Top 4 Advance): Jimmy Owens, Eric Jacobsen, Don O'Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., Brady Smith, Mike Marlar, Daniel Stone, Dale McDowell, Steve Casebolt, Lee Thomason, Tim Dohm, DNS Mike Collins
Wrisco Aluminum Fourth Heat (10 Laps-Top 4 Advance): Dan Schlieper, Austin Hubbard, Tim McCreadie, Chris Wall, John Blankenship, Eric Wells, Matt Miller, Tommy Kerr, Kyle Berck, Bub McCool, Shan Smith, Michael Walker
Hawk Brake First B-Main (12 Laps- Top 3 Transfers): Tim Fuller, Jimmy Mars, Tyler Reddick, Ray Cook, Tim Isenberg, Dillan White, Russ King, Jordan Bland, Danny Mitchell, Brad Neat, Travis Varnadore, Leon Henderson, Mark Andersen, James O'Hara, DNS Jason McBride, Chad Hollenbeck, Brandon Thirlby
Performance Rod and Custom (PRC) Second B-Main (12 Laps- Top 3 Transfers): John Blankenship, Brady Smith, Mike Marlar, Daniel Stone, Eric Wells, Matt Miller, Tim Dohm, Bub McCool, Steve Casebolt, Tommy Kerr, Michael Walker, Lee Thomason, Shan Smith, Kyle Berck, DNS Dale McDowell, Ricky Weiss, Mike Collins
PRC Strawberry Dash (NO DASH- Random Draw): Michael Walker
34th Annual DART Winternationals Saturday (Day) Feature Finish (50 Laps): Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Eric Jacobsen, Billy Moyer, Rick Eckert, Dennis Erb Jr., Shannon Babb, Earl Pearson Jr., Brady Smith, Tim McCreadie, Chris Wall, Dan Schlieper, Steve Francis, Don O'Neal, John Blankenship, Ray Cook, Justin Rattliff, Austin Hubbard, Jason Feger, Dillan White, Dale McDowell, Michael Walker, Mike Marlar, Tyler Reddick, Tim Fuller, Jimmy Mars
Finish (Start) Car Number Driver Name - Hometown
1. (1) 0 Scott Bloomquist - Mooresburg, TN
2. (2) 20 Jimmy Owens - Newport, TN
3. (6) 5 Eric Jacobsen - Seacliffe Beach, CA
4. (13) 21 Billy Moyer - Batesville, AR
5. (7) 24 Rick Eckert - York, PA
6. (5) 28e Dennis Erb Jr. - Carpentersville, IL
7. (3) 18 Shannon Babb - Moweaqua, IL
8. (14) 44 Earl Pearson Jr. - Jacksonville, FL
9. (20) 2 Brady Smith - Solon Springs, WI
10. (12) 39 Tim McCreadie - Watertown, NY
11. (16) 71w Chris Wall - Holden, LA
12. (4) s9 Dan Schlieper - Sullivan, WI
13. (9) 15 Steve Francis - Ashland, KY
14 (10) 71 Don O'Neal - Martinsville, IN
15. (18) 23 John Blankenship - Williamson, WV
16. (24) 53 Ray Cook - Brasstown, NC
17. (15) 16 Justin Rattliff - Campbellsville, KY
18. (8) 11 Austin Hubbard - Laurel, DE
19. (11) 25f Jason Feger - Bloomington, IL
20. (25) 54w Dillan White - Crofton, KY
21. (23) 71m Dale McDowell - Chickamauga - GA
22. (26) 64 Michael Walker, Franklin, TN
23. (22) 34 Mike Marlar - Winfield, TN
24. (21) 11t Tyler Reddick - Corning, CA
25. (17) 19t Tim Fuller - Watertown, NY
26. (19) 25 Jimmy Mars - Menomonie, WI
Race Statistics
Entrants: 50
Lap Leaders: 1-50 Scott Bloomquist
Caution Flags: (Lap 9) Jimmy Mars; (Lap 10) Tyler Reddick; (Lap 29) Michael Walker
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Dale McDowell, Ray Cook
DART Fast Pass Provisional: Dillan White
PBM/Erson Cams Hard Charger of the Race: Brady Smith (Started 20th; Finished 9th; Advanced 11 positions)
Ohlins Shocks Performer of the Race: Eric Jacobsen
K&N Filters Clean Pass of the Race: Billy Moyer
Quarter Master Rookie of the Race: None
Comp Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Vic Hill Racing Engines
Dominator Race Products Hard Luck Award: Brandon Thirlby
DirtonDirt.com Crew Chief of the Race: Tommy Hicks (Scott Bloomquist)
Time of Race: 25 minutes, 22 seconds
34th Annual DART Winternationals Championship Points:
1. 28e Dennis Erb, Jr. 995
2. 71 Don O'Neal 905
3. 7 Matt Miller 900
4. 18 Shannon Babb 885
5. 21 Billy Moyer 880
6. 53 Ray Cook 860
7. 5 Eric Jacobsen 855
8. 39 Tim McCreadie 805
9. 71w Chris Wall 800
10. 0 Scott Bloomquist 790
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