Bloomington Speedway -- September 15, 2006 Results

!!! GAINES WINS #3 !!!

!!! HUMPHREY WINS BLOOMINGTON WOLFPACK CHALLENGE STOP !!!

!!! KEVIN ARTHUR WINS #2 !!!

BLOOMINGTON, IN (September 16, 2006) - Last night we had the second near perfect night for racing in a row at Bloomington Speedway. The weather was pleasant; and the pits were full. The Monroe County Republicans were on hand with their candidates for election this fall. Whether or not you happen to agree with the Republicans and their plans for governing Monroe County, you have to like their apparent understanding that race fans vote. Politicians haven't always been "racer friendly"; and it is certainly pleasant to see what might be a part of a new trend. Of course, the politicians were handing out balloons and other trinkets to the children on hand; and that too added to the festive flavor of the evening.

SPRINT CARS -

We had 37 sprint cars on hand last night. This kind of car count for the last night of the season for the class speaks well for our sprint car competitors. Kevin Briscoe had already clinched his fifth championship when they rolled the #5 off of the trailer; but he was trying to win another feature on the red clay.

Two of the top teams brought a little something extra for the fans last night. Danny Roberts was, of course, on hand with Dickie Gaines in the 21x; but he also rolled out the 21R. Some fans probably thought that he was going to be starting Kevin "Pup" Huntley as well. However, that wasn't the case. The 21R cockpit was occupied by modified ace Jeff Bland, Jr. The second newcomer was even more of a surprise. Brady Short's backup car was being wheeled by Bedford North Lawrence High School freshman Kenny Niflis, the 14 year old son of former Tire & Wheel Center super stock ace Trent Niflis. Niflis has been racing 600 micros; and he and his dad wanted to see how he would like a larger, more powerful car.

Mitch Cunningham started on the pole in the first heat race and drove to a strong heat race win. In the second heat; Hunter Schuerenberg also won from the pole; and Brady Short drove from his starting spot on the tail to take the final transfer to the feature. Dickie Gaines won the third heat from the outside of the front row. However, Cole Whitt drove to a second place finish from his seventh place starting position. Kenny Niflis got some laps and kept his nose clean. Of course he didn't prove anything; but he wasn't running to prove anything. He was there to get the feel of a sprint car; and he almost certainly did that.

With the final heat race things got a little more exciting. Veteran Jared Fox was starting on the pole; and Jeff Bland, Jr. was starting on the outside of the second row. As the leaders charged into the second turn, Bland ran over Fox's rear wheel and flipped wildly into the backstretch fence. Bland was uninjured; and he probably learned that he might want to be a little more patient the next itime.

Because of the strong car count, we had to run two "B" features. Kenny Carmichael and Dakoda Armstrong won them; and John Memmer and Kolt Walker took the final two tickets to the feature event.

The redraw put Bobby Stines and Jason Holt on the front row. However, when Rusty Nunn waved the green flag to start the feature Cole Whitt charged from the outside of the second row into the lead. Dickie Gaines had won his heat race; but he had pulled the #8 pill giving him the worst possible starting position. By the end of the third lap Gaines was running sixth. On the 11th circuit he passed Chris Windom to take fifth; but, on the following lap, Windom took the position back.

On the 16th circuit, Gaines passed Windom and Jared Fox to take fourth place. On the 17th lap, Bobby Stines car began to slow; and Gaines, Fox, and Windom all streaked past him. Gaines continued to ride in third place until lap 22 when he passed Hunter Schuerenberg to take second place.

Gaines then began to stalk Whitt in earnest. He pulled alongside of Whitt a few times to show him the nose of the 21x. After taking the white flag, Gaines strategy paid off. Whitt made a small bobble in turn to; and that was all of the opportunity that Gaines needed. He streaked into the lead that he would hold until after the checkered flags had waved.

Although Whitt narrowly missed his first feature win on the red clay, it is clear that the distance remaining to his first feature win is short indeed. It is interesting to note that Chuck Gurney, Jr., son of the famous USAC Silver Crown ace, was turning the wrenches on Whitt's mount. Windom Schuerenberg, and Briscoe rounded out the top five.

RAY HUMPHREY WINS MODIFIED WOLFPACK CHALLENGE FEATURE -

After being rained out on August 18, Mike Miles decided to give the Modified Wolfpack Challenge a second chance; and last night we managed to get the show in. A total of 40 modifieds showed up take on the top O'Neal Wood Product modifieds in the state and some from out of state.

Ray Humphrey drove from his outside front row starting position to win the first modified heat. John DeMoss, Don Shoulders, and Jeff Bland, Jr. won the remaining three tickets to the feature event.

Jesse Cramer won the second heat race trailed by Ryan Thomas, J.P. Hume, and A.J. Bowlen. Kevin McCarty raced from his sixth place starting position to win the third heat race ahead of Bobby Davis, Mike Phillips, and Jared Bailey.

In the final modified heat points leader Kent Robinson drove from his seventh place starting position Carlos Bumgardner, Chris Streeval, and Al Illig took the final four transfers.

Josh Eads and Matt Boknecht won the two O'Neal Wood Products modified "B" features while Rodney Harris, Jr. and Matt Bex took the final two transfers.

Kent Robinson and John DeMoss pulled the first two pills to earn the right to start on the fist row of the feature while Ray Humphrey started third. The ran in that order until the 14th lap when Humphrey passed DeMoss to take second place. And, on the 17th circuit, Humphrey passed DeMoss to take the lead. He held onto the lead until checkered flags flew. On the white flag lap Ryan Thomas passed John DeMoss to take second place. John DeMoss, Jeff Bland, Jr., and Carlos Bumgardner rounded out the top five. division the redraw put Bradley Sterrett and Jeff Bland, Jr. When Rusty Nunn dropped the green flag to start the feature, Bland charged into the lead; and Jared Bailey who had started fourth quickly moved into second place. Ray Humphrey started fifth; and, on the third lap, he moved into third place. On the eighth lap Ray took second. It looked very much like it could come down to a duel between Bland and Humphrey.

On the tenth lap Matt Boknecht moved into third place and started putting pressure on Humphrey and Bland. On the 11th lap he passed Humphrey; and the following lap he passed Bland to take the lead. However, Boknecht had no time to become comfortable on the point.

Defending O'Neal Wood Products modified champion Jesse Cramer had had to make his way into the feature via the "B" feature. He won the "B"; but that still meant that he had to start 16th. In 15 laps Cramer charged from 16th to second. He then started dueling with Boknecht for the win. He kept the pressure on; but Boknecht would not be denied. Cramer had to settle for second and "hard charger" honors.

Humphrey finished third, John DeMoss came form 11th to finish fourth. Kent Robinson brought home a fifth place finish after starting 14th.

In preliminary action, Matt Boknecht, Ray Humphrey, and Jeff Bland, Jr. won the heat races while Jess Cramer won the "B" feature.

Tire & Wheel Center Super Stocks:

Tire & Wheel Center super stock competition got underway with heat race wins by Kevin Arthur and Tyler Cain. Jack Frye drove from his eighth place starting position to win the third heat race. Jeremy Hines drove to a strong win in the "B" feature.

Chris Hillman and Kevin Arthur started side by side on the front row of the Tire & Wheel Center super stock feature. Chris Hillman, Kevin Arthur, and Tyler Cain started in that order in the front of the feature; and they ran that way until the 12th circuit when everyone seemed to start spinning at once. Hillman, Arthur, and Cain all kept running; but Cain was sent to the pits for rough driving. A couple of laps later Hillman's car gave up the ghost; and Arthur inherited the lead. He was followed by Joe Lucas and Marty Cooper. On the 20th lap Cooper passed Lucas to take second and went after Arthur. However, Arthur held on to win his second feature of the season. Cooper, Lucas, Ben DuBois, and Winston Howe rounded out the top five.

COMING EVENTS -

September 22 Indiana Super Stock and UMP Modified Nationals -- $13,000 Purse -- $1250 to win for each division with proper decals -- $100 to start -- $25 Car Entry Fee - General Admission $12 - Pit Admission $25 November 4 Bloomington Speedway Awards Banquet at Bloomington Convention Center at 302 South College Ave, Bloomington, Ind. - Track Championship and Top Ten Points Awards for sprint cars, Tire & Wheel Center Super Stock and O'Neal Wood Products modifieds - 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM Social Hour - 7:00 PM buffet dinner followed by Awards and Disk Jockey The Dance Machine - Tickets may be purchased from the track for $22 (No tickets will be sold the day of the event.)

RESULTS:

SPRINT CARS

AUTO HEAVEN AUTO PARTS HEAT 1: 1.(1) Mitch Cunningham, 2.(3) Jason Holt, 3.(2) Tim Spindler, 4.(6) Kevin Briscoe, 5.(5) Chris Babcock, 6.(9) D.J. Ott. 7.(7) Eric Edwards, 8.(8) Jim Mills, 9.(4) Robert Ballou, 10.(10) Jon Sciscoe

PAUL D. BAUGH LAW OFFICE HEAT 2: 1.(1) Hunter Schuerenberg, 2.(2) Bobby Stines, 3.(6) Chris Windom, 4.(9) Brady Short, 5.(4) Kenny Carmichael, 6.(5) John Memmer, 7.(7) Arin McIntosh, 8.(8) Kevin Studley, 9.(3) Curt Elderidge

WALNUT STREET AUTO SALES/CAMPUS RENTAL HEAT 3: 1.(2) Dickie Gaines, 2.(7) Cole Whitt, 3.(4) Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 4.(5) Danny Holtsclaw, 5.(8) Dakoda Armstrong, 6.(1) Casey Shuman, 7.(6) Kenny Biro, 8.(9) Kenny Niflis, 9.(3) Scott Hampton

CRYSTAL PURE WATER HEAT 4: 1.(1) Jared Fox, 2.(6) Jimmy Light, 3.(5) Kent Christian, 4.(3) Ty Deckard, 5.(8) Kolt Walker, 6.(9) A.J. Clark, 7.(7) Joe Gilbert, 8.(4) Jeff Bland, Jr.

J.B. Salvage "B" Feature #1: 1.(2) Kenny Carmichael, 2.(4) John Memmer, 3.(1) Chris Babcock, 4.(6) Arin McIntosh, 5.(3) D.J. Ott, 6.(8) Kevin Studley, 7.(5) Eric Edwards, 8.(7) Jim Mills

J.B. Salvage "B" Feature #2: 1.(1) Dakoda Armstrong, 2.(2) Kolt Walker, 3.(3) Casey Shuman, 4.(9) Aric Gentry, 5.(7) Kenny Niflis, 6.(5) Kenny Biro, 7.(6) Joe Gilbert, 8.(8) Scott Hampton

ROOTS RV FEATURE: 1.(8) 21x Dickie Gaines, 2.(4) 29w Cole Whitt, 3.(10) 17 Chris Windom, 4.(6) 35s Hunter Schuerenberg, 5.(13) 5 Kevin Briscoe, 6.(14) 36 Brady Short, 7.(12) 1c Kent Christian, 8.(15) 3H Danny Holtsclaw, 9.(5) 23 Jimmy Light, 10.(17) 92 Kenny Carmichael, 11.(16) 48 Ty Deckard, 12.(11) 92c Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 13.(1) 88 Bobby Stines, 14.(18) 7A Dakoda Armstrong, 15.(19) 4M John Memmer, 16.(7) 11F Mitch Cunningham, 17.(20) 71P Kolt Walker, 18.(3) 56 Jared Fox, 19.(9) 2c Tim Spindler, 20.(2) 99 Jason Holt

O'NEAL WOOD PRODUCTS MODIFIEDS

SERVPRO OF MONROE COUNTY 1: 1.(2) Ray Humphrey, 2.(6) John DeMoss, 3.(4) Don Shoulders, 4.(8) Jeff Bland, Jr., 5.(5) Brian Lake, 6.(7) Rodney Harris, Jr., 7.(10) Greg Deckard, 8.(3) David Lawson, 9.(1) Mike Harrison, 10.(9) Bobby McIntosh

SOUTHSIDE STORAGE HEAT 2: 1.(1) Jess Cramer, 2.(3) Ryan Thomas, 3.(2) J.P. Hume, 4.(7) A.J. Bowlen, 5.(9) Josh Eads, 6.(10) Nathan Voorhies, 7.(8) Jacob Webber, 8.(4) Regis Scaggs, 9.(5) Matt Hamilton, 10.(6) Kenny Streeval

MONROE COUNTY PIZZA DEPT. HEAT 3: 1.(6) Kevin McCarty, 2.(4) Bobby Davis, 3.(1) Mike Phillips, 4.(3) Jared Bailey, 5.(9) Chad Combs, 6.(5) Derek Groomer, 7.(10) J.D. Roberts, 8.(8) Charlie Belden, Jr., 9. (7) Ralph Groomer. 10.(2) Troy Clark

SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION HEAT 4: 1.(7) Kent Robinson, 2.(4) Carlos Bumgardner, 3.(8) Chris Streeval, 4.(2) Al Illg, 5. (10) Matt Boknecht, 6.(3) Don Parsons, 7.(6) Matt Bex, 8.(5) Brent Payne, 9.(1) Kyle Woolard, 10.(9) Bradley Sterrett

BELL;'S EXHAUST "B" FEATURE #1: 1.(2) Josh Eads, 2.(3) Rodney Harris, Jr., 3.(1) Brian Lake, 4.(7) David Lawson, 5.(6) Jacob Webber, 6.(10) Matt Hamilton, 7.(4) Nathan Voorhies, 8.(5) Greg Deckard, 9.(8) Regis Scaggs

BELL;'S EXHAUST "B" FEATURE #2: 1.(2) Matt Boknecht, 2.(6) Matt Bex, 3.(1) Chad Combs, 4.(8) Brent Payne, 5.(5) J.D. Roberts, 6.(4) Don Parsons, 7.(11) Bradley Sterrett, 8.(7) Charlie Belden, Jr., 9.(9) Ralph Groomer, 10.(3) Derek Groomer

BLACK LUMBER MODIFIED FEATURE: 1.(3) 1H Ray Humphrey, 2.(5) T9 Ryan Thomas, 3.(2) 79d John DeMoss, 4.(13) 38s Jeff Bland, Jr., 5.(6) 34 Carlos Bumgardner, 6.(17) 46 Josh Eads, 7.(4) 17 Kevin McCarty, 8.(18) 22 Matt Boknecht, 9.(8) 12T Jesse Cramer, 10.(20) 31 Matt Bex, 11.(9) 65 Don Shoulders, 12.(7) 32 Bobby Davis, 13.(11) 11 Mike Phillips, 14.(12) 30 Chris Streeval, 15.(19) 9H Rodney Harris, Jr., 16.(10) 16 J.P. Hume, 17.(16) 114 Al Illg, 18.(1) 7R Kent Robinson, 19.(14) 6 A.J. Bowlen, 20.(15) 24x Jared Bailey, 21.(21) 24 Mike Harrison

TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCKS:

TREE EXPERT TREE SERVICE HEAT 1: 1.(3) Kevin Arthur, 2.(1) Joe Lucas, 3.(4) Travis Todd, 4.(9) Mike Vest, 5.(7) Chris Deweese, 6.(8) Bobby Griffiths, 7.(2) Travis Howe, 8.(5) Greg Kendall, 9.(6) Troy Clark

PERFORMANCE CONCRETE PUMPING HEAT 2: 1.(1) Tyler Cain, 2.(2) Chris Hillman, 3.(4) Mike Jones, 4.(5) Winston Howe, 5.(9) Josh Burton, 6.(8) Jeremy Hines, 7.(6) Danny Harris, 8.(3) Greg Amick, 9.(7) Randy Howe

AVERS PIZZA HEAT 3: 1.(8) Jack Frye, 2.(5) Marty Cooper, 3.(9) Ben DuBois, 4.(4) Steve Hollars, 5.(3) Doug Arnold, 6.(1) Danny Carmichael, 7.(1) Kerie Fleenor, 8.(7) Rick Sowders, 9.(2) Jason Clark

"B" FEATURE: 1.(2) Jeremy Hines, 2.(5) Danny Harris, 3.(4) Travis Howe, 4.(10) Troy Clark, 5.(8) Greg Amick, 6.(9) Rick Sowders, 7.(6) Kerie Fleenor, 8.(1) Bobby Griffiths, 9.(3) Danny Carmichael

K & S ROLLOFF SUPER STOCK FEATURE: 1.(2) 74 Kevin Arthur, 2.(4) Z28 Marty Cooper, 3.(5) 3J Joe Lucas, 4.(9) 55 Ben DuBois, 5.(11) 81 Winston Howe, 6.(8) 70 Mike Jones, 7.(20) 27A Greg Amick, 8.(19) 12 Troy Clark, 9.(10) 22k Mike Vest, 10.(17) 19 Danny Harris, 11.(12) 18 Steve Hollars, 12.(16) 5H Jeremy Hines, 13.(13) 99A Chris Deweese, 14.(7) T15 Travis Todd, 15.(14) 04 Josh Burton, 16.(1) 11H Chris Hillman, 17.(3) 5c Tyler Cain, 18.(6) 2 Jack Frye, 19.(20) 62 Rick Sowders, 20.(18) 0 Travis Howe