In a battle of two home-state Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series rivals, Scott Bloomquist fought off all challenges by Jimmy Owens to win the Toyota Knoxville 50 at Tazewell Speedway on Friday. Bloomquist led every lap; the only exception that his car was not in front of the pack is when Owens made a slide job in turn 2 with 12 laps-to-go to briefly take the lead. Owens could not make his car stick and Bloomquist went back around him to regain the top spot. Trailing Bloomquist and Owens to the checkers were 12th place starter Steve Francis, Dennis Erb Jr., and Don O’Neal. O’Neal rallied after suffering a flat tire while running in fourth early in the race.
Bloomquist went to Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the fifth time this year and extended his all-time series win total to 67 victories. “We were just trying to be careful through traffic and then we went for it. Jimmy [Owens] did a little too much of a slide there and it took him a while to gather his momentum back up. We just turned under him and got back around him,” said the 52-year-old Hall of Famer. “The Sweet-Bloomquist car ran so well, the Andy Durham Engine ran great, and everything was pretty smooth tonight. We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted to. It was too tight. Beating Jimmy was big for us in that heat. We made some adjustments for the feature. Traffic wasn’t too big of a deal tonight because of all of the cautions. The race track was really good tonight. You could race two-wide without any issues.” Bloomquist also closed on point leader Jonathan Davenport, who failed to finish the event as he dropped out of the race with two laps remaining. “I am glad that Mike Reece is here tonight. Thanks to all of our other sponsors, Crop Production Services, Mark Martin Automotive, Dyna-Gro Seed, Base Fuels, Penske Shocks, Lucas Oil, Petroff Towing, Horton Coal, and Sorbera Chiropractic.”
In preliminary action, Jimmy Owens set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time amongst the 25 entrants, with a lap of 11.380 seconds. Scott Bloomquist, Don O’Neal and Jonathan Davenport won their respective heat races.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Toyota Knoxville 50
1. 0 Scott Bloomquist
2. 20 Jimmy Owens
3. 15 Steve Francis
4. 28E Dennis Erb Jr.
5. 5 Don O’Neal
6. 777 Jared Landers
7. 10 Chad Ogle
8. 201 Billy Ogle Jr
9. 5 Brandon Sheppard
10. 7 Donald McIntosh
11. 39 Tim McCreadie
12. 21K Dakotah Knuckles
13. 11B Tommy Bailey
14. 1 Earl Pearson Jr
15. 28W Jeff Wolfenbarger
16. 6 Jonathan Davenport
17. 51 Mack McCarter
18. 75 Colton Flinner
19. 15L Darrell Lanigan
20. 144 Chris Barton
21. 56H Jordon Horton
22. 3 Steve Smith
23. 7B Brian Smith
Don Adams of Lnodon, KY led every lap of the Open Wheel Modified feature to collect the $1,200 top prize and his second Tazewell Speedway victory of the season. Adams took the lead on the first lap as Jody Puckett of Melvin, Ky, Jimmy Dalton of Powell and Wayne James of Newport battled for the second spot. Dalton would take the spot on the second lap. Adams piloted the Lightning Chassis house car with an engine borrowed from famed chassis builder C.J. Rayburn.
Open Wheel Modified
1. 90 Don Adams
2. 2 Jimmy Dalton
3. J3 Jody Puckett
4. 4 Wayne James
5. 36 Billy Palmer
6. 89 Matt Henderson
7. 0 Terry James
After missing part of the season for health issues last year’s Sportsman points champion Clyde Overholt scored his first win of the year. Overholt was fastest among the entries with a lap of 12.459 seconds which placed him on the front of of the feature alongside his teammate Jonathan Miracle, who was looking for his fourth win in a row.
At the drop of the green Overholt stormed into lead as Miracle slid into second. Behind them Andy Ogle of Sevierville and David Clark of Tazewell raced door to door. The duo would pressure Miracle in the early going with Clark eventually taking over third.
While they were battling Overholt set his Overholt Racing & Fabrication, Petty’s Wrecker Service, Noah’s Wholesale, Eagle Race Engine powered Rayburn Race Car on cruise control leading every lap for the win.
Sportsman
1. 4 Clyde Overholt
2. 50 Jonathan Miracle
3. 1 David Clark
4. 68 Andy Ogle
5. 50 Rick Welch
6. K5 Nick Kniat
7. 50 Adam Mitchell
8. 24 Andy Wilder
9. 28 Randy Davis
10. 00 Chris Raines
11. 15 Wade Howerton
12. 41 Richard Bailey
13. 92T Travis Crosby
DNS 21 Bryan Howerton
Kurt Owens of Newport dominated the Super Stock feature for his second Tazewell Speedway win in a row.
Super Stock
1. 14 Kurt Owens
2. 88 Brad Davis
3. 36 Chris Rickett
4. 119 Eddie Stewart
5. 6 Gary Blanken
6. 3 Austin Neely
7. 66 Michael Woods
8. 4 Travis Fultz
9. 83 Cody Thompson
10. P21 Donnie Petty
