To say that the dirt late model racing over the weekend lacked some action would be a kind description as the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series opened its season at the Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Georgia, on Friday and Saturday while the North Florida Speedway in Lake City closed out the weekend with a UMP sanctioned event on Sunday.
The biggest news from the Lucas weekend is the announcement of a new rule that has the intent of making sure that Scott Bloomquist starts showing up on time for races. The defending series champion once again arrived late, skipped pre-race tech, hot laps, qualifying and the heat races, ran a couple of hot laps during the B-Main and was then given a series provisional to start the feature. Bloomquist then raced around in the back before playing a major role in the outcome, but more on that later. Apparently the complaints were numerous, including a tweet from Clint Bowyer who owns the cars driven by Don O'Neal and Darrell Lanigan, and enough was enough as series officials immediately adopted a new rule stating that a driver must have gone through pre-race tech in order to be eligible for a provisional.
The comical aspect of this was that earlier in the week while talking with Dirt On Dirt's Michael Rigsby during Late Model Live, Bloomquist stated that his New Year's resolution was to be on time for all of the races in 2017. Heck, my weight loss resolution makes it much longer than this each year!
Now back to how Bloomquist, as a backmarker, played a major role in determining the outcome of Friday night's race. With the track locked down on the bottom race leader Billy Moyer Jr. settled in behind Bloomquist and showed good patience trying to pick his way under the veteran driver. With thirteen laps remaining though, and with Brandon Overton applying some pressure on the leader, Bloomquist appeared to check up just a bit exiting turn two with Moyer hitting him and spinning the lapped car down the back stretch. The contact damaged the radiator on Moyer's car forcing him to retire to the pit area during the caution and what had looked to be young Moyer's first career Lucas Oil series victory now ended in bitter fashion.
Overton went on to secure the win in a race that even the normally vibrant series announcer James Essex gave up on trying to make it seem exciting with the entire field settling in on the bottom. The racing wasn't much different on Saturday night either as Josh Richards won his first main event as the driver of the Best Motorsports car and while the forum jockeys complained about track prep, the drivers seemed to point more to a change in the track configuration from last year as the cause for the one-lane racing at Golden Isles. I am still waiting though for people to realize that the main reason is still the race format because if you start the fast guys up front all night long you don't widen out the track since everybody just settles into the preferred groove during the heats. There is a reason that I usually only go to one Lucas Oil race a year, and that is at Knoxville where, with the invert and the points system, they make them actually "race".
That same format was also used on Sunday night at Lake City where an event record of twenty Late Models also saw a flag-to-flag winner in young Texan Tyler Erb. Brian Shirley was able to pull alongside the leader after Erb bounced through a hole in turn three, but the kid recovered and fought off Shirley to retain the lead and take the win. With Shirley dropping out of the race two laps from the checkers it was Floridian Kyle Bronson taking the runner-up honors.
The Arctic Cat All Stars Circuit of Champions had a three-night run at Bubba Raceway Park where Donny Schatz won the first two nights and Kerry Madsen took the finale. Madsen, now driving the Muddy #2 previously driven by Danny Lasoski, appeared to have the opener in hand as well before his right rear tire blew coming to the white flag. Tim Shaffer was running second at the time, but as Madsen limped around the high side the green light stayed on and Schatz made the pass to steal the win.
The Sunshine State Modified Tour had a thrilling conclusion on Saturday night at East Bay Raceway as Kevin Adams and Jeff Mathews swapped the lead back and forth on the final lap with Mathews from nearby Seffner defending his home turf in the 75-lap finale. Adams who is from Cameron, Wisconsin, did win the Tour point championship for the second time though with his runner-up finish. Iowa's own Mike Van Genderen finished in the third spot in Saturday's grind with Kewanee, Illinois, driver Ray Bollinger in fourth. Two more Iowans were in action last week at East Bay in Burlington's Dugan Thye and Des Moines' Todd Shute who was driving Jessie Hoskins' back up car out of Oklahoma. For detailed reports of the Mod Tour check in with Ed Reichert's "One Fan's Travels" at Positively Racing.
Moving west the United States Modified Touring Series kicked off another busy schedule this past weekend with a tripleheader from the Cotton Bowl Speedway in Paige, Texas, and the weekend saw three different winners in Ryan Gustin, Jason Hughes and Chris Brown. Hughes leads the Southern Region point standings as the Mod stars now move over to the Shady Oaks Speedway in Goliad, Texas, for another triple bill this coming weekend.
Sioux City's Bob Moore held off Missouri's Hunter Marriott to win the opener of the Arizona Modified Tour at the Cocopah Speedway on Friday night. There was a huge field of 85 IMCA Modifieds on hand for the event. Kansas City driver Mike Tanner was the Sport Mod winner.
The race track in Flora, Illinois, that most recently operated as the Route 45 Speedway has, at least on Facebook, gone back to its old name of the Clay County Speedway and I noticed today that they are advertising for a new promoter. How bad do they want to get back to racing? The ad read "PROMOTER WANTED, the Lease is FREE", serious inquiries only.
Waiting to hear more on the reopening of the Lake Ozark Speedway in Missouri. Sounds like a gentleman from Marshall, Missouri, has purchased the facility.
The Knoxville Raceway and the entire Sprint Car racing family in Iowa lost another pillar of its history today with the passing of Gil Sonner. My colleague Bill Wright posted this tribute.
The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series now moves down to one of my favorite tracks, the East Bay Raceway. This is one place that can more often than not overcome the "I'm Fast, Start Me Up Front" format and provide muli-grooved action. We will see if that is the case this year.
| The "Back Stretch" | ||||
| Dirt Late Model Points | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Bobby Pierce | Oakwood IL | 14 |
| 2 | . | Brandon Overton | Appling GA | 14 |
| 3 | . | Chris Simpson | Marion IA | 11 |
| 4 | . | Josh Richards | Shinnston WV | 7 |
| 5 | . | Billy Moyer | Batesville AR | 6 |
| 6 | . | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg TN | 5 |
| 7 | . | Tim McCreadie | Watertown NY | 5 |
| 8 | . | Jimmy Owens | Newport TN | 4 |
| 9 | . | Jonathan Davenport | Blairsville GA | 4 |
| 10 | . | Michael Page | Douglasville GA | 4 |
| 11 | . | Tyler Erb | Magnolia TX | 4 |
| 12 | . | Brandon Sheppard | New Berlin IL | 3 |
| 13 | . | Brian Shirley | Chatham IL | 3 |
| 14 | . | Donald McIntosh | Dawsonville GA | 3 |
| 15 | . | Garrett Lloyd | 3 | |
| 16 | . | Jimmy Mars | Elk Mound WI | 3 |
| 17 | . | Kyle Bronson | Brandon FL | 3 |
| 18 | . | Ray Cook | Brasstown NC | 3 |
| 19 | . | Scott Johnson | Brunswick GA | 3 |
| 20 | . | Shanon Buckingham | Morristown TN | 3 |
| 21 | . | Billy Ogle Jr. | Knoxville TN | 2 |
| 22 | . | Frank Heckenast Jr. | Orland Park IL | 2 |
| 23 | . | Jason Hiett | Lincoln AL | 2 |
| 24 | . | Mike Marlar | Winfield TN | 2 |
| 25 | . | Ruben Mayfield | 2 | |
| 26 | . | Austin Hubbard | Seaford DE | 1 |
| 27 | . | Brian Smith | Barbourville KY | 1 |
| 28 | . | Cole Exum | Valdosta GA | 1 |
| 29 | . | Doug Drown | Wooster OH | 1 |
| 30 | . | Garrett Alberson | Las Cruces NM | 1 |
| 31 | . | Jake O'Neil | Tucson AZ | 1 |
| 32 | . | Jason Cardwell | Knoxville TN | 1 |
| 33 | . | Joseph Brown | Columbus GA | 1 |
| 34 | . | Justin Litchford | 1 | |
| 35 | . | Ricky Thornton Jr. | Chandler AZ | 1 |
| 36 | . | Tod Hernandez | Chattanooga TN | 1 |
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