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BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY SPRINT CARS
BLOOMINGTON, IN - AUGUST 10, 2007
Bland Earns Big HARF Night
Victory
Among the thirty-seven sprint cars unloading were Billy Boat and his son Chad, returning from Arizona with a new Roomstore Maxim. Californians Tony Everhart and Jesse Mack, who were on their way to the Tourin' Topless series, stopped for their first visit. Everhart said that he really liked the oval, but was still working on getting his stagger right for the track. Bill Rose brought Mike Murgoitio, a pavement specialist in just his fifth start on the dirt. Rose, who has been running with a wing the past couple seasons, said that he'd rather be at Knoxville this weekend, but didn't have his motor ready in time.
Boat inaugurated his new machine with a victory in the first Safety - Kleen sprint car heat, Brady Short, Jon Sciscoe and Jimmy Light clamed the other three heats. There was good racing throughout as in the second heat, Dickie Gaines hustled from seventh to second and young Ricky Williams took the fourth transfer ticket from ninth. Blake Fitzpatrick prevailed in a hard battle for second in the last heat, while Bobby Stines raced from last to third. Several drivers had problems during the heats including Jared Fox in a second Sciscoe Dalex machine, who stopped with smoke pouring out from under the car.
With two B-mains, only two drivers transferred from each. Kent Christian took the first from the pole, while Kevin Studley finished second from tenth. Kevin Thomas Jr. and Mike Murgoitio earned transfers from the front row of the second race. The evening's most serious incident occurred during the first "B", when Todd Kimmell took exception to being passed for second by Ty Deckard and drove hard into Deckard's machine as they entered the third turn, sending both into a series of flips. Although neither driver was injured, both cars appeared to have extensive damage.
Jeff Bland Jr. earned his second 25-lap feature win at Bloomington, starting from the pole. It took several attempts to complete the first lap as the scrap to get through the first turn was intense. Several drivers suffered flat tires, but found that they had time to pit and change the tire, miss the next start attempt, and still return to the tail of the field before the first lap was finally completed, including Dickie Gaines, Danny Holtsclaw and Kenny
Niflis.
Bland had opened a straightaway-length advantage by the midway point, as no one was able to keep up with him. Brady Short was unchallenged for second in the family car and the highlight of the show was the strong run by Arin McIntosh. After lining up 15th, McIntosh used the inside groove to hustle past Jimmy Light, Fitzpatrick and Bub Cummings for third spot, and didn't give Russ Gamester an opening to take the bottom away. This clearly earned the Sprint Mart hard charger honors for the young lady.
AUTO HEAVEN HEAT #1: 1.(2) Chad Boat, 2.(5) Jeff Bland Jr., 3.(1) Kenny Carmichael Jr., 4.(8) Danny Holtsclaw, 5.(6) Kent Christian, 6.(10) AJ Martin, 7.(4) Ty Deckard, 8.(7) John Memmer, 9.(3) Eric Smith, 10.(9) Kevin Studley
MONROE COUNTY SERVPRO HEAT #2: 1.(3) Brady Short, 2.(7) Dickie Gaines, 3.(2) Russ Gamester, 4.(9) Ricky Williams, 5.(8) Todd Kimmell, 6.(4) Mike Weber, 7.(6) Tony Everhart, 8.(5) Jared Fox, DNS:(1) Lance Grimes
WALNUT STREET AUTO SALES/CAMPUS RENTAL HEAT #3: 1.(5) Jon Sciscoe 2.(2) Kenny Niflis, 3.(1) Bub Cummings, 4.(3) Arin McIntosh, 5.(4) Mike Murgoitio, 6.(8) Jesse Mack, 7.(6) Miranda Throckmorton, 8.(7) Casey Shuman, 9.(9) JT Stapp
CRYSTAL PURE HEAT #4: 1.(1) Jimmy Light, 2.(4) Blake Fitzpatrick, 3.(9) Bobby Stines, 4.(5) Lee Stark, 5.(7) Kevin Thomas Jr., 6.(6) Chris Babcock, 7.(2) Joe Gilbert, 8.(3) Shane Golobic, 9.(8) Andrew Prather
JB SALVAGE/WEST SIDE AUTO PARTS "B" FEATURE #1: 1.(1) Kent Christian., 2.(10) Kevin Studley, 3.(11) Lance Grimes, 4.(4) Mike Weber, 5.(6) Tony Everhart, 6.(2) Todd Kimmell, 7.(5) Ty Deckard, 8.(3) AJ Martin, 9.(8) Jared Fox, DNS: (7) John Memmer, (9) Eric Smith
JB SALVAGE/WEST SIDE AUTO PARTS "B" FEATURE #2: 1.(2) Kevin Thomas Jr., 2.(1) Mike Murgoitio, 3.(10) Andrew Prather, 4.(8) Shane Golobic, 5.(3) Jesse Mack, 6.(5) Miranda Throckmorton, 7.(7) Casey Shuman, 8.(4) Chris Babcock, 9.(6) Joe Gilbert, DNS: (9) JT Stapp
ROOTS RV FEATURE: 1.(1) 21s Jeff Bland Jr., 2.(5) 36 Brady Short, 3.(15) 34 Arin McIntosh, 4.(10) 46 Russ Gamester, 5.(6) 23 Jimmy Light, 6.(12) 9 Bobby Stines, 7.(17) 1c Kent Christian, 8.(7) 7 Jon Sciscoe, 9.(11) 19 Bub Cummings, 10.(14) 11w Ricky Williams, 11.(13) 3 Danny Holtsclaw, 12.(2) 11p Dickie Gaines, 13.(3) 01 Kenny Niflis, 14.(4) 10f Blake Fitzpatrick, 15.(18) 9k Kevin Thomas Jr., 16.(19) 57 Kevin Studley, 17.(20) 6 Mike Murgoitio, 18.(8) 30 Chad Boat, 19.(16) 16 Lee Stark, 20.(9) 92c Kenny Carmichael Jr.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Jeff Bland Jr.. (1-25)
Sprint Mart Hard Charger Award: Arin McIntosh
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