OT: ITs Racing Season WooHoo

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OK weekend round up if you want to see some racing this weekend is a good weekend to see it especially if you are into dirt late model racing.

Thursday Night the Nascar Gander Mountain Truck Series will be at Eldora Speedway for the Dirt Derby and it will be televised on FS1 starting at 6:00 PM EST

Friday night Carolina Speedway Gastonia NC will be hosting the USCS Sprint Car Series plus River Wars which is a race that is split between Cherokee Lancaster and Carolina. The river wars portion at Carolina was rained out back a couple of weeks ago and has been rescheduled to this coming Friday. Lavonia Speedway in Lavonia GA will host the Ultimate Super Late Model Series for the Buck Simmons Memorial race paying 4,141 dollars and it will be a 41 lap main event. Buck Simmons is a legend around the southeast as he has raced almost everywhere around here and won a lot of races. Tocoa GA native Casey Roberts will be on hand to run with the Ultimate series as well as the rest of the regional touring regulars such as Zach Mitchell who is the points leader for more info go to http://www.ultimatesupers.com.

Saturday night August 3rd the Ultimate Series will be at Modoc Speedway for a 4K to win show. Cherokee Speedway here in Gaffney will be putting on the Stick Elliot Memorial race this weekend Saturday nights portion of the race will include 604 Crate Late Model, Limited Sportsman, Renegade, Stock 4,Extreme 4, Young Guns, Thunder Bomber, and a Demolition Derby. Gates will open at 4:30 PM with drivers meeting at 7:00 PM and racing to follow. The Sunday portion will feature the Carolina Clash series paying 4K to win and also include 602Crate Late Model, Crate Sportsman, Thunder Bomber(Non Winner Race), 602 Open Wheel Modified, and Pro4 (Carolina Rules). Gates will open at 4 on Saturday and Sunday.

On the national scene Friday and Saturday night the World of Outlaws and the rest of the big names will be in Cedar Lake Wisconsin at the Cedar Lake Speedway for the 50K to win USA Nationals

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The truck race at Eldora tonight was pretty good. I liked the format where they ran heat races to qualify for the feature instead of like they normally do on the regular series races. This race is fun to watch for me just to see these nascar rich kids and pretty boys get dirty lol. I will post an update on that tomorrow once I get a chance to actually sit down and watch it from start to finish

[racincowboy02]

Friday night the lights are shining bright and the whole dirt racing community has its eyes toward Cedar Lake Wisconsin and the Cedar Lake Speedway. The USA Nationals are this weekend and paying 50K to win and all the big names have converged on the track to see who can carry the title of USA Nationals champion. The night started off with qualifying and saw Tyler Bruening capture the fast time award with a 13.41.

Heat races would be the next time the late models would touch the track and they would take the top 4 out of each of the 4 heats to transfer into the feature of the evening. Heat 1 would see Tyler Bruening get the win followed by Brandon Sheppard, Dale McDowell and Shannon Babb. Heat 2 would be up next and it would see Superman Jonathan Davenport get the win followed by Boom Briggs The Voo Doo Child Scott Bloomquist and Frank Heckenast Jr. Heat 3 would see Brian Birkhoffer take the checkers followed by Chris Simpson Terbo Tyler Erb and Cade Dillard. Heat 4 would see TMac Tim McCreadie get the win followed by Darrel Lanigan The Ice Man Jimmy Mars and Mr Smooth Billy Moyer. That would conclude heat race action for the evening and set half the field for the feature later on in the night.

The last chance qualifiers would have some cars in them that you hardly ever see in the LCQ's. The drivers that are in the LCQ's that you hardly ever see are The Hurrican Earl Pearson Jr The Newport Nightmare Jimmy Owens Chris Smokey Madden Chase Junghans The Georgia Bulldog Shane Clanton Dennis Erb Jr Brandon Overton and Bobby Pierce.

The LCQ number 1 is first up for the late models and the win went to The Hurricane Earl Pearson Jr followed by The Newport Nightmare Jimmy Owens and The Ice Man Jimmy Mars. LCQ number 2 went to Shane Clanton followed by Shane Clanton and Dennis Erb. So most of the drivers that you wouldn't expect to go to the LCQ made it out and the ones that didn't seemed to struggle all night with the car either it be set up or something mechanical just not right with the car.

The field is set for the feature of the Friday portion of the USA Nationals and it was a pretty decent race Superman Jonathan Davenport would get the lead early and pull away from the field Tyler Bruening was on the pole for the feature and was looking for the perfect night but his attempt was denied by Davenport and he would end up 3rd. The hard charger of the race was Terbo Tyler Erb and he started 12th and got up to 6th place.

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Friday night was the double passing points heat race night for the USA Nationals. Lots of races that would determine where you would start Saturday night in the feature or would you go to the B main and have to race your way into the feature. After the 2 rounds of heat races the points were accumulated and the top 8 were put into a redraw for a dash to see who would be on the pole. Tyler Erb drew the pole position of the dash and would start the feature on Saturday night from the pole.

Saturday night would get started with 2 different hot lap sessions. The first session would be for the cars that would have to start in the B main and then there was a hot lap for the cars that were locked into the feature. There would be two B mains on the evening to start the show off taking the top 3 into the main event and a chance at 50K to win. B main number one would see Shane Clanton take the checkered followed by Brian Birkhoffer and Scott Bloomquist. B main number two would see Brandon Overton get the win followed by Kyle Bronson and Jimmy Mars.

The field is set and it is time for the feature. Starting on the pole would be Tyrler Erb and along side him would be rookie of the year contender Cade Dillard. Brandon Sheppard would take the lead from Erb and would hold the lead for most of the night until Chris Madden could get by Tyler Erb for second and then the march against Sheppard was mounted. Sheppard and Madden would battle side by side and for the lead for the majority the night and then with 6 to go Madden would make his move coming out of turn 2 and down the backstretch Madden would get a super run on Sheppard then coming out of 1 Madden would slide up in front of Sheppard and hold on to win the USA Nationals and the 50K in only his 2nd start in his new chassis

[racincowboy02]

After this weekend the points for the World of Outlaws looks like this

1 1 Brandon Sheppard 3842 0 15 26 27 29 28 $256,475.00
2 7 Ricky Weiss *R 3612 -230 0 11 22 29 28 $90,910.00
3 25 Shane Clanton 3586 -256 3 8 24 29 28 $101,950.00
4 18 Chase Junghans 3584 -258 1 11 21 29 28 $84,770.00
5 29 Darrell Lanigan 3574 -268 0 13 21 29 28 $83,850.00
6 28 Dennis Erb Jr 3480 -362 0 7 16 29 28 $62,740.00
7 97 Cade Dillard *R 3254 -588 0 3 8 29 25 $45,085.00
8 99B Boom Briggs 3202 -640 0 0 4 29 26 $38,015.00
9 B1 Brent Larson 3178 -664 0 1 5 29 28 $42,830.00
10 6 Blake Spencer *R 2817 -1025

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Now we are halfway through the big money/crown jewel events of the year and it has been an awesome ride so far. The teams are all back at the shop working hard on the cars getting them ready for another weekend of big money. This weekend the stars of both touring series will be headed to Florence Kentucky and the Florence Speedway for the North/South 100 paying 10K on Thursday night in a full racing program. Friday night they will have 2 rounds of heat races and award passing points to the drivers and after Friday night to lock in the B main and the A main. Passing points means that however many cars you pass you get points for and also where you finish in your heat you get points for as well.

Past winners of the event are

1983 Pat Patrick
1984 Pat Patrick
1985 John Mason
1986 Jack Boggs
1987 Jeff Purvis
1988 Scott Bloomquist
1989 Jeff Purvis
1990 Mike Head
1991 Rodney Combs
1992 Jack Boggs
1993 John Gill
1994 Jack Boggs
1995 John Gill
1996 Donnie Moran
1997 Rick Aukland
1998 Donnie Moran
1999 Bob Pierce
2000 Scott Bloomquist
2001 Rained Out
2002 Chub Frank
2003 Dan Schlieper
2004 Steve Shaver
2005 Bart Hartman
2006 Steve Shaver
2007 Jimmy Owens
2008 Darren Miller
2009 Jimmy Mars
2010 Jimmy Owens
2011 Jimmy Owens
2012 Don O’Neal
2013 Don O’Neal
2014 Eddie Carrier Jr.
2015 Jonathan Davenport
2016 Bobby Pierce
2017 Tim McCreadie
2018 Ricky Weiss

[racincowboy02]

The teams are making the final preparations and have either already left headed to Kentucky or are loading up and heading out Thursday morning early to make it there before the gates open. This is shaping up to be a heck of a show will the Rocket 1 car with driver Brandon Sheppard dominate it or will Superman Jonathan Davenport make a come back after a disappointing outing last weekend. Can Smokey Chris Madden make it 2 for 2 and win the another 50K

[racincowboy02]

I have mentioned the word crown jewel here a couple of times over the last couple of weeks and I feel like I might need to explain what that means. A crown jewel race in the dirt racing world is one of the races that ever driver in the pits wants to win so badly that they would kill to win it. A crown jewel event a prestigious race and means the world to a driver if they won it. The crown jewel events usually have pretty cool trophies attached to them as well. I will leave a link to better describe what I am talking about here https://insidedirtracing.com/what-goes- ... own-jewel/


Ok so I know I have mentioned the trophies and how cool they look and we will dive into that in just a second but lets look at the list of crown jewel races that Lucas has listed on their website as crown jewels as they have a points list that is called the crown jewel cup. and those races are

May 25 - 27th Annual Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 - Lucas Oil Speedway
June 1 - Clash at the Mag - Magnolia Motor Speedway
June 15 - Big Daddy 60 - Smoky Mountain Speedway
July 20 - 9th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals - I-80 Speedway
Aug. 10 - 37th Annual Sunoco North South 100 - Florence Speedway
Aug. 17 - 27th Annual COMP Cams Topless 100 - Batesville Motor Speedway
Aug. 24 - 2nd Annual Dirt Million - Mansfield Motor Speedway
Sept. 1 - 51st Annual Hillbilly Hundred - Tyler County Speedway
Sept. 14 - 16th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals - Knoxville Raceway
Sept. 21 - 40th Annual Jackson 100 - Brownstown Speedway
Oct. 5 - 31st Annual Pittsburgher 100 - Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway
Oct. 19 - 39th Annual Rhino Ag Dirt Track World Championship - Portsmouth Raceway Park

Those are listed on the Lucas website but there is also several others that are not listed and they are the Dream 100 and the World 100 and those are at the mecca of dirt track racing the Eldora Speedway located in Rossburg, Ohio. The place that Earl Baltes built out of a corn field and boy when I tell you that place is bad ass I mean it that place is bad ass. It is a 1/2 mile high backed dirt oval that will knock your socks off the minute you see it. The next crown jewel event that isn't listed here is the Firecracker 100 at the Lernerville Speedway in Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania. I haven't been to Lernerville yet but it is on my bucket list. The Illini 100 is also considered by some to be a crown jewel. The PDC in Fairbury is a crown jewel and that is where the summer season of crown jewels gets really started. USA Nationals that they just run at Cedar Lake is also a crown jewel.

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It is time for another crown jewel event and this time all eyes are on Union Kentucky and Florence Speedway. Looking at the sign in sheet there are 52 late models that are signed in for tonights event. Hot laps started the night off to get the drivers and cars warmed up for tonights events. Qualifying would take to the track next and it would see Chris Smokey Madden take the fast time award with a time of 15.471 that would be fast time of the night and also fast time in group A group B fast time would be Devin Gilpin with a time of 16.8651.

Next up for the Lucas Oil Series would be 6 heat races to set the starting field for tonights B main and A main races for tonight. Heat 1 is on the track and Chris Smokey Madden would get the win followed by Kent Robinson and Kyle The High Side Tickler Strickler. There would be a pause in the action for about 30-45 minutes due to a medical emergency in the infield and per the sanctioning body and track rules there can not be any on track activity when there is a medical emergency due to the ambulance crews having to attend to the spectator, crew member and or driver. The speedway also has a rule in place that the track must have 2 ems units there at all times.

After the delay heat 2 was on the track and Frankie Heckenast Jr got the win followed by Mike Benedum and James Lay. Heat 3 was up next and that saw Jimmy Owens get the win followed by Brandon Overton and Scott James. Heat 4 would be next and the win would go to Zach Dohm followed by Stormy Scott and Bobby Pierce. Heat 5 would hit the track next and that would give the win to Mike Norris followed by Green and Devin Moran. The final heat race of the evening would be up next and the winner of heat 6 would be Tim McCreadie followed by Jonathan Davenport and Dale McDowell.

After the heat races were complete there was a brief shower that would hit the track and that would make the racing even better. B main number 1 would be up next after the rain shower and they would take the top 2 from each of the 2 B mains. I'm going to assume that they ran the B mains but I can't find any information on who won. I do know that they issued 4 provisionals for the feature and they went to Tyler Erb and Earl Pearson Jr as regular provisionals and then they gave Kyle Bronson and Hudson Oneal the emergency provisionals. The Lucas series finally posted a run down from last night just about 5 minutes ago and they did run 2 B mains last night that took the top 2 from each and the top 2 in B main #1 was Ricky Weiss and Josh Richards and B Main #2 was Victor Lee and Shannon Buckingham.


Now the field is set and it is time for the feature of the evening with the winner taking home 10K. Madden and Zach Dohm would start on the front row at the drop of the green flag. They would battle for the lead for a couple of laps when Dohm would take control of the race and would have the lead until caution would fly on lap 10. Several cars would go to the hot pit area to make some adjustments on their cars and would make it back out and we would be back under green where it would be Dohm leading over Madden until the caution would wave again just 1 lap later. The race would be red flagged after a major crach on the front straight with Lay Alsip and James all being collected. All drivers would be ok but the cars not so much. Green flag would go back in the air and Dohm would grab the lead again but the caution flag would fly again on lap 12 for Heckenast JR with a flat left rear tire. He would get it changed and make it back out and the green flag would fly with Dohm taking the lead until lap 16 and Jimmy Owens would take the lead until lap 25 where the caution would again wave as Bobby Pierce would slow as the rear end would lock up on his ride and he would be done for the night. Green flag would again be in the air until lap 29 when the caution would fly again this time for Devin Moran would come to a halt on the back stretch with a broken right front shock. Green flag would again fly as Owens brings them down the front stretch and would set sail until lap 43 where the caution would fly again and this time it would be for the leader as Owens loops it around all by himself as he misjudged the turn 3 trying to get around a lapped car. Chris Madden would inherit the lead and would set sail and lead the final 7 laps and claim the 10K win followed by McCreadie Dohm Stormy Scott and Kevin Robinson.

All the updates I have posted tonight came from the lucas oil twitter page

[racincowboy02]

Friday night’s portion of the Sunoco Race Fuels North/South – Presented by Lucas Oil kicked off with 53 of the nation’s top dirt late model drivers battling in twelve heat races of passing points.

In the first round, heat one was won by Mike Marlar. He led all the way to pick up the victory. Marlar stayed in front of a fantastic battle for second that lasted for the entire distance. Ultimately, he was followed to the line by Michael Norris and Ricky Weiss.

In the second heat, Zak Blackwood led all the way to win. Dale McDowell charged from the fourth starting position to take the runner-up spot. Scott Bloomquist took the third spot.

In heat three, Frank Heckenast Jr. passed Billy Moyer Jr. on the white flag lap to win an exciting battle between the two. Moyer Jr. would cross the line in second over seventh-starting Stormy Scott.

Hudson O’Neal made a daring move early in heat four as the 18-year-old went on to win the heat after starting in eighth, collecting the most passing points in round one with his winning effort. Duane Chamberlain would finish in second followed by Florence first-timer Chris Garnes.

The fifth heat race saw a torrid battle between the top three finishers. Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport and Bobby Pierce ran away from the rest of the field over the last half of the race. Jonathan Davenport, who started seventh and Bobby Pierce, who started eighth rocketed through the field to finish second and third.

The sixth and final heat race of round one saw Kyle Bronson use his outside front-row starting spot to take the win as a hotly contested battle for second took place, with Nick Hoffman finally edging Brandon Overton for the second spot.

In the second round, heat one turned out to have a battle of number 8 cars as Mike Benedum took the lead at the start and stretched it out from the other number 8, Kyle Stickler. Strickler trailed at the line in second position, and eighth-place starter Devin Gilpin finished in third.

The second heat went to outside front row starter Bobby Pierce as he had to contend with youngster Billy Green for the first half of the race. Robby Hensley, the two-time Florence Speedway track champion finished in third.

Earl Pearson Jr. fought off the field for the win in the third heat, followed to the checkers by Ricky Weiss and Jonathan Davenport.

The fourth heat saw Scott Bloomquist come from the seventh starting spot to take the win. Devin Moran edged out Donald McIntosh at the stripe for second.

The fifth heat in round two saw Stormy Scott take the victory over Chris Madden and Tim McCreadie.

The sixth and final heat saw Jimmy Owens advance from the sixth starting position to take the win. With the victory, he earns the pole position for tomorrow night’s Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100. Zack Dohm came from the same row as Owens to finish in second. Tyler Erb was third.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Friday, August 9, 2019
37th annual Sunoco North/South 100 – Presented by Lucas Oil
Florence Speedway – Union, Ky.

Round 1:
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish: Mike Marlar, Michael Norris, Ricky Weiss, Tyler Erb ®, Kyle Strickler, Kevin Weaver, Robby Hensley, Paul Stubber, Victor Lee-DNS

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish: Zak Blackwood, Dale McDowell, Scott Bloomquist, Jason Jameson ®, Donald McIntosh, Tim McCreadie, Josh Rice, Johnny Scott, Todd Brennan

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish: Frank Heckenast, Jr., Billy Moyer, Jr., Stormy Scott, Greg Johnson, Kody Evans, Earl Pearson, Jr., Scott James , Jeff Alsip, Roger Williams

Lucas Oil Products Penetrating Oil Heat Race #4 Finish: Hudson O'Neal, Duane Chamberlain, Chris Garnes, Chris Madden, Devin Moran ®, Zack Dohm, Jason Miller, Billy Green, Jesse Lay

Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #5 Finish: Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport, Bobby Pierce, Trevor Landrum, Kent Robinson, Shanon Buckingham, Mike Benedum, Joey Moriarty, Austin Rettig

Arizona Sport Shirts Heat Race #6 Finish: Kyle Bronson, Nick Hoffman, Brandon Overton, Devin Gilpin, Josh Richards, David Webb, Mike Provenzano, Austin Burns

Round 2:
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish: Mike Benedum, Kyle Strickler, Devin Gilpin, Josh Richards, Mike Marlar, Joey Moriarty, Johnny Scott, Chris Garnes, Kody Evans

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish: Bobby Pierce, Billy Green, Robby Hensley, Shanon Buckingham, Jason Jameson ®, Scott James , David Webb, Jesse Lay

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish: Earl Pearson, Jr., Ricky Weiss, Jonathan Davenport, Hudson O'Neal, Brandon Overton, Dale McDowell, Greg Johnson, Trevor Landrum, Duane Chamberlain

Lucas Oil Products Penetrating Oil Heat Race #4 Finish: Scott Bloomquist, Devin Moran ®, Donald McIntosh, Austin Rettig, Jason Miller, Jeff Alsip, Paul Stubber, Austin Burns, Billy Moyer, Jr.

Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #5 Finish: Stormy Scott, Chris Madden, Tim McCreadie, Kent Robinson, Nick Hoffman, Michael Norris, Frank Heckenast, Jr., Todd Brennan

Arizona Sport Shirts Heat Race #6 Finish: Jimmy Owens, Zack Dohm, Tyler Erb ®, Kyle Bronson, Josh Rice, Zak Blackwood, Mike Provenzano, Roger Williams, Kevin Weaver