June 21, 2004
 

BLOOMQUIST DOMINATES TO SCORE WORLD OF OUTLAWS' LM VICTORY AT FULTON
by Tom Skibinski & Bob Connelly

FULTON, NY.....The World of Outlaws Late Model Series closed out it's maiden voyage through the Empire State and it was five-time national champion Scott Bloomquist extending his record coast-to-coast with a command performance in the 60-lap A-Main held Monday night at Fulton Speedway.

"It's nice to finally get up to this area for a race, there's a lot of good tracks and I think the people around here want to see us put on a show," said Bloomquist, 40, who began his career racing dirt late models in California. 2004 marks his 25th season of full-fender activity. "I'm already looking forward to coming back (to Syracuse) in October."

While Bloomquist led all but two laps in the feature, it was only the text book ending that went as originally planned. Despite steering one of the fastest cars throughout the night, Bloomer first had to repeat his time trial run when his transponder (electronic timing mechanism) fell off the car and then overcome a power outage at the track which delayed the LM program for more than an hour.

"I think we had the best time on the first run but the transponder came off and we had to come back out," noted Bloomquist, who still set the third quickest time in his second attempt behind WoO regulars Steve Francis and Billy Moyer. Francis' only other top time trial was posted in the Series grand-opening at Volusia Speedway Park during the Florida Winter Tour last February.

"We had a really good car the rest of the night. We won our heat and then the dash to get the front row start. After that it was just a matter of keeping it together and staying out of trouble for the distance," Bloomquist said.

With 29 cars signed in, Francis circled the banked 3/8-mile clay oval in a time of 15.832 sec. for an average speed of 85.270 mph. Moyer (15.939) was second fastest followed by Bloomquist (15.968) and WoO LM Rookie of the Year contender and DIRT Modified mainstay Tim McCreadie (15.997) --- the only other cars to clear the 16-second barrier.

Bloomquist returned to dispose of the top-two finishers in the three qualifying heat races as he dominated the preliminary dash to earn the pole-position start for the main event.

Bloomer out-dragged front row partner Moyer when the initial green flag waved although Moyer edged ahead by a bumper as the pair crossed the line to complete lap one. The 'Dirty Dozen' duo swapped the lead the next two circuits before Bloomquist wrestled it away for good using the low lane on lap four.

Just as Bloomquist forged the final lead change, McCreadie's teammate Vic Coffey looped his Sweeteners Plus mount between the first and second turn to incur the initial caution period. With five laps scored it was Bloomer leading Mike Balzano and Moyer with Francis and WoO LM Series points leader Dale McDowell in close pursuit.

Touring stars Dan Schlieper and Chub Frank cracked the top-five with 10 laps logged and settled in behind the leaders when a second yellow flag flew on the 13th circuit to erase Bloomquist's nearly straightaway advantage. Pennsylvanian Robbie Blair and New Yorker Brent Rhebergen were involved in the turn four incident to force the slowdown while Schlieper was forced pitside for the remainder with a bent front end.

After fading to fifth, Francis followed Schlieper's early exit just three laps later as a broken driveshaft ended any chance of victory. A third of the way through Bloomquist maintained a comfortable lead over 11th-place starter Frank, Balzano, Moyer and McCreadie and at the halfway point veteran Rick Aukland had tracked down Bloomquist and Frank, with Moyer and a hard-charging Bart Hartman filling the new top-five.

After bringing out a caution flag for a minor spin on lap 22, Brady Wonderling stopped at the back stretch pit lane exit to send yellow lights flashing around the speedway for the fifth and final time with 18 laps to go. Only 14 cars remained trackside for the lap 43 restart with 10 scored on the lead lap.

Bloomquist wasted little time opening up another sizable margin between the trailing pack although Frank tried to use some late-race traffic to slice into the lead as the laps dwindled. Hartman was also searching for the fastest way around and found the high line to his liking as he took over fourth-place 10 laps from the end.

Yet with Bloomer consistently clinging to the low lane lap after lap, the order remained intact during the final stages. Under the checkers it was the potent no. 0 Miller Bros. Coal-Hawkeye Trucking/Ford Taurus entry besting the 25-car field for a $10,000 paycheck while Frank, Aukland, Hartman and Moyer settled into top point positions 10 car-lengths back.

"We race at so many tracks its just a matter of watching how they change from practice until the dash to decide on a feature set-up," said Bloomquist, as he explained his pre-race strategy in victory lane following his third tour win of the season. "The tracks are usually so different from start to finish and with so many tire compounds we just try to take the best guess and hope the track turns out like we figured. Tonight was one we had in our favor from the start."

The third straight day of full-fender competition continued to showcase the World of Outlaws LM Series 'Dirty Dozen' as Fulton's main event featured all 12 drivers on the starting grid. The top-five finishers were among that elite group as were McDowell (7th), Balzano (8th), Darrell Lanigan (9th), Rick Eckert (10th), Clint Smith (14th), Francis (16th) and Schlieper (22nd).

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series continues its trek across the Northeast with Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio hosting the all-star traveling show on Saturday, June 26. Check out the rest of 2004 WoO LM Series schedule and points standings posted on the world wide web by clicking www.worldofoutlawslatemodelseries.com for the most up-to-date information.

WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES
SUMMARY EVENT NO. 18
MONDAY JUNE 21

FEATURE(60-LAPS): 0-SCOTT BLOOMQUIST ($10,000), *1-Chub Frank, 12-Rick Aukland, 75-Bart Hartman, 21-Billy Moyer, 39-Tim McCreadie, 17m-Dale McDowell, e1-Mike Balzano, 29-Darrell Lanigan, 24-Rick Eckert, w11-Robbie Blair, 1r-Josh Richards, 91-Billy Decker, 44-Clint Smith, 11-Brady Wonderling, 15-Steve Francis, 23-John Blankenship, 6-Kerry Jones, 32c-Vic Coffey, z1-Mike Wonderling, 24m-Jeremy Miller, s9-Dan Schlieper, 07r-Brent Rhebergen, 7ny-Alan Sagi, 66m-Mike Christopher.

TIME TRIALS: STEVE FRANCIS (15.832 sec./85.270 mph), Billy Moyer (15.939), Scott Bloomquist (15.968), Tim McCreadie (15.997), Robbie Blair (16.089), Rick Eckert (16.104), Vic Coffey (16.107), Bart Hartman (16.126), Billy Decker (16.169), Jeremy Miller (16.203), Chub Frank (16.266), Mike Balzano (16.296), Dale McDowell (16.387), Clint Smith (16.429), Brent Rhebergen (16.512), Dan Schlieper (16.527), Josh Richards (16.533), John Blankenship (16.544), Mike Christopher (16.595), Rick Aukland (16.642), Brady Wonderling (16.674), Darrell Lanigan (16.681), Kerry Jones (16.727), Ed Carley (16.798), Mike Wonderling (16.874), Alan Sagi (16.963), Lou Johnson (17.171), Dave Zona (17.325), John Ritter (18.529).

HEAT 1: Francis, McDowell, McCreadie, Schlieper, M.Wonderling, Christopher.

HEAT 2: Moyer, Hartman, Blair, Frank, Jones, Aukland.

HEAT 3: Bloomquist, Balzano, Eckert, Rhebergen, Blankenship, B.Wonderling.

LAST CHANCE: Lanigan, Decker, Smith, Miller, Richards.

DASH: Bloomquist, Moyer, Francis, Balzano, Hartman, McDowell.

PROVISIONALS: Sagi, Coffey.

DIRT SPORTSMAN CHAMPIONSHIP FEATURE FINISH---Bob Henry Jr., Eric Richardson, Mark Yorker, Jessica Zemken, Shane Donath, Chad Phelps, Ryan Richardson, Scott Schrader, Brian Sage, Russ Hefti, Mike Button, Kevin Bates, Greg Doust, Kenny Stafford, Donnie Wetmore Jr., Mike Conrow, Matt Janczuk, Boyd McTavish, Daryl Hagen, Tom Juhl, Mike Teachout, Jim Livingston, Chuck DeMott, Shawn Donath, Jeremy Pitcher, Mike Bowman.