Lucas Oil Series:
Bloomquist Bck On Top With Independence Weekend Win at Portsmouth
James Essex
PORTSMOUTH, Oh. July 2. Scott Bloomquist returned to Lucas Oil Victory lane tonight at the Independence 50.
Shaking off a month of frustrating finishes on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series tour, two-time series
champion Bloomquist, of Mooresburg, Tenn., dominated all 50-laps at Portsmouth Raceway Park in front of the
largest crowd of spectators recorded at the famed speed plant.
Bloomquist sped away from series points’ leader, Jimmy Owens in a four-lap dash to the finish after a late race
caution. Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL finished third followed by Tim Dohm of Cross Lanes, WV and John
Blankenship of Williamson, WV.
“It sure feels good to get back to victory lane! W have torn up more stuff in the last month than I think I
have in the last five years,” said the 47-year-old Hall of Famer, whose victory was his sixth of the season on
the series tour, but his first since late April.
“I saw Jimmy’s number on the scoreboard running in second before that last restart, I knew I had a better car
than him tonight, he’s been pretty strong here lately, but our car was solid here tonight. We’ve always liked
coming here to Portsmouth to race, and to win in front of this giant crowd is very satisfying.” Said Bloomquist
who still trails Owens in the championship point’s standings.
Bloomquist grabbed the lead from the drop of the green and built a sizable lead up until the first caution of
the race on lap ten. On the restart Bloomquist led Pearson and Owens as Pearson stayed close to Bloomquist for
a couple of circuits until Bloomquist pulled away.
Bloomquist was in control of the race until a caution with four laps to go allowed Owens and Pearson to take a
shot at beating Bloomquist. Owens had regained the second spot from Pearson a lap before the caution flag. In
the end, Bloomquist bolted away from Owens to pick up the $10,000 victory.
Bloomqsuit was behind the wheel of his Base Racing Fuels, Ohlins Shocks, Miller Brothers Construction,
Roush-Yates, Bloomquist Race Cars Ford. It was his 32nd Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win,
which is first all-time.
Owens took second in the Mike Reece,Reece Monument Company, Bloomquist Ford, followed by Pearson in the Bobby
Labonte, Lucas Oil, Longhorn Dodge.
A great battle for fourth had Tim Dohm taking the spot in his Dohm Cycle Sales, Rocket Chevrolet, who just
edged out John Blankenship in the Coal: Amerca’s Energy, Rocket Chevrolet.
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Big Gains for Hubbard, Pearson, Ogle - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-15-12
Scott James battles #13 Barry Doss in heat race action at Florence (Ky.) Speedway, but in the $2,000-to-win feature, the only thing anyone saw was the tail end of James' #81 car. (Roy Walker)
After plenty of trash-talking via the electronic media between Jeff Matthews and Ivedent Lloyd last week, it was #21 Lloyd who got the final word as he reeled in #33 Matthews to win Friday's LM feature at Oclala, Fla.'s Bubba Raceway Park. (R.E. Wing)
Fans at Markleysburg, Pa.'s Roaring Knob Motorsports Comlex were treated to dual LM features Saturday - one a makeup from a May 5th rainout. (Above) Tim Senic challenges eventual regular feature winner Chuck Harper, while Jared Hawkins (below) claimed the makeup race. (Tommy Micheals)
Henley, Missouri's Jason Russell leads the way to Victory Lane in the ULMS Late Model feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Saturday. (Chris Bork)
Some fierce racing action at Lucas Oil speedway. (Chris Bork)
Dalton, Ga.'s Craig Reece returned to Dixie Speedway Saturday and led all the way to win the Crate LM victory. (Steve Hixson)
Ray Guss Jr. races last week's Quad City Speedway winner, Mike Murphy, Jr. This time, it was advantage Guss. (Chris Damitz)
With a strong motor back into his mount, Veteran Lamar Scoggins claimed last Friday's Crate LM victory at Boyd's Speedway. (Steve Hixson)
Veteran racer Lance Matthees navigates Spring Lake, Minnesota's Deer Creek Speedway before taking Saturday's WISSOTA Late Model checkers. (Jason Durst)
Racing hard at mid-pack, it's the dueling 55s of Cory Mahder (inside) and Greg Nippoldt at Deer Creek. (Jason Durst)
Ryan King (above and below) swept both the Ltd. Late Model and Crate Late Model features Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
Still riding his wave in Iowa, Mike Murphy, Jr. in early action before taking the main event win at Davenport last Friday. (Chris Damitz)
Jason Jameson ran a gauntlet to finally capture another win Friday night at Moler
Raceway Park (see main page). (Roy
Walker)
After holding back a charge from Alex Ferree, Chub Frank drove home with a Friday night win at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (John Stivason)
Bobby Pierce, Brett Sievert, and Mike Glynn race in a tight pack in Kankakee (Ill.) Speedway's "Crosstown Cup", but (below) it was ultimately Shawn Toczek (42) here racing the high side of Mike Provenzano, who sailed to the win. (Dan Simpson)
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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