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BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY SPRINT CARS
BLOOMINGTON, IN - AUGUST 17, 2007
Bland Captures
Second Straight
Local fan favorite Jeff Bland, Jr. unloaded as the Safety-Kleen sprint
car as the points leader and the feature winner from last week. Jeff
always has a good contingent of fans on the hillside; but their
numbers are increasing every week. He is well on his way to becoming
Bloomington Speedway's second rookie sprint car champion. The only
previous rookie champion was Derek Scheffel of Columbus who went on to
become the first four time sprint car champion.
Daryl Tate has a storied history of making race cars fast; and his
mastery with the wrenches has certainly helped Jeff finish up front
week after week.
Bland's good fortune started early when he pulled the number one pill
which put him on the pole for the first heat. As often happens, Danny
Holtsclaw who was second in points going into tonight's competition
started beside Bland in the heat race through the luck of the draw.
Holtsclaw managed to beat Bland to the finish line followed by Kent
Christian, Arin McIntosh, and Shane Golobic.
In the second heat young Chris Babcock won from the pole while Jon
Sciscoe, Andrew Prather, Brett Burdette, and rookie standout Kenny
Niflis took the other transfers to the feature.
In the final heat Jimmy Light charged from his fifth place starting
position to claim the heat race win followed by Bub Cummings, Kenny
Carmichael, Jr., Miranda Throckmorton, and Lance Grimes.
At the drop of the green flag in the "B" feature, Bobby
Stines charged into the lead from the pole. New Zealander Michael
Pickens started dead last; however, he immediately started working his
way to the front. On the seventh circuit, Pickens passed Tom Busch to
take second place; and, on the white flag lap, he passed Stines for
the win. Stines, Busch, Shawn Krockenberger, and Jared Fox collected
the remaining tickets to the feature.
For the second time last night luck came through for Daryl Tate and
Jeff Bland, Jr. In the redraw to align the first three rows of
feature, Jeff pulled the number one pill followed by Jimmy Light,
Chris Babcock, Danny Holtsclaw, Bub Cummings, and Jon Sciscoe.
When the green flag dropped to start the feature, Bland charged into
the lead; but Jimmy Light was right on his tail. Bland and Light
encountered lapped traffic on the tenth circuit. While Bland was
beginning to put some distance between his mount and Light's, Light
continued to be a major threat. However, as Bland continued to put
more lapped cars behind him, he was building a more comfortable lead.
When the only yellow flag of the race flew on lap 19 there were
several cars between providing Bland with a buffer. The only way that
Bland was likely to lose was to break or make a mistake. He did
neither and Light was forced to settle for second place.
Young Chris Babcock was impressive in a third place run; while Mike
Pickens earned hard charger honors by finishing fourth from his 16th
place starting position. Kent Christian finished fifth followed by
young Kenny Niflis charged from a 14th place starting position. Bland
and Niflis both made their sprint car debut the same night last fall;
and, while Bland seems likely to beat out Kenny for rookie honors,
Kenny would almost certainly be the top rookie any other season.
Brett Burdette, Kenny Carmichael, Jr., Andrew Prather, and Arin
McIntosh rounded out the top ten.
AUTO HEAVEN HEAT #1: 1.(2) Danny Holtsclaw, 2.(1) Jeff Bland Jr.,
3.(6) Kent Christian, 4.(4) Arin McIntosh, 5.(8) Shane Golobic, 6.(5)
Bobby Stines, 7.(7) Tom Busch, 8.(3) Kenny Carmichael
MONROE COUNTY SERVPRO HEAT #2: 1.(1) Chris Babcock, 2.(3) Jon Sciscoe,
3.(4) Andrew Prather, 4.(7) Brett Burdette, 5.(2) Kenny Niflis, 6.(5)
Jared Fox, 7.(8) Shawn Krockenberger, 8.(6) Mike Pickens
WALNUT STREET AUTO SALES/CAMPUS RENTAL HEAT #3: 1.(3) Jimmy Light,
2.(2) Bub Cummings, 3.(1) Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 4.(4) Miranda
Throckmorton, 5.(6) Lance Grimes, 6.(6) Eric Krockenberger
JB SALVAGE/WEST SIDE AUTO PARTS "B" FEATURE: 1.(7) Mike
Pickens, 2.(1) Bobby Stines, 3.(4) Tom Busch, 4.(5) Shawn
Krockenberger, 5.(2) Jared Fox, 6.(6) Kenny Carmichael, 7.(3) Eric
Krockenberger
ROOTS RV FEATURE: 1.(1) 21s Jeff Bland Jr., 2.(2) 23 Jimmy Light,
3.(3) 35 Chris Babcock, 4.(16) 21x Mike Pickens, 5.(7) 1c Kent
Christian, 6.(14) 01 Kenny Niflis, 7.(11) 17b Brett Burdette, 8.(9)
92c Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 9.(8) 16 Andrew Prather, 10.(10) 34m Arin
McIntosh, 11.(5) 19 Bub Cummings, 12.(17) 9 Bobby Stines, 13.(13) 57
Shane Gobolic, 14.(20) 7J Jared Fox, 15.(6) 7 Jon Sciscoe, 16.(18) 4B
Tom Busch, 17.(15) 87 Lance Grimes, 18.(12) 22 Miranda Throckmorton,
19.(4) 3 Danny Holtsclaw, 20.(19) 21k Shawn Krockenberger Lap Leaders:
Jeff Bland, Jr. (1), (3-25), Jimmy Light (2)
Sprint Mart Hard Charger Award: Mike Pickens
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