The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series ran four races on four consecutive nights surrounding the Independence Day holiday and Tennesseans Jimmy Owens and Scott Bloomquist won three of those four events. As a result of those finishes, the two drivers are now second and third respectively in the series standings behind Indiana’s Don O’Neal.
On Wednesday night at the Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Penn., Newport’s Owens passed Mooresburg’s Bloomquist on the last lap to take second at the checkered flag behind winner Earl Pearson, Jr. It would be the only LOLMDS race of the weekend that one of the two Volunteer State crusaders did not win.
Jimmy Owens scored two wins and two second places over the weekend.
Owens scored his first victory of the weekend on Thursday night when he beat out Rick Eckert and Don O’Neal at the Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio. He passed O’Neal on lap 18 of 50 and went on to lead the rest of the way and collect $10,000 for his efforts.
“It feels great to be back in victory lane,” Owens told LOLMDS announcer James Essex after the race. “We have had some tough luck lately. We had a good finish last night, but before that, we didn’t have the finishes we wanted for a few weeks. The crew did a great job getting the car ready tonight. I could run anywhere on the track tonight, high, low, in the middle, it didn’t matter.”
Bloomquist finished 23rd at Muskingum after having to roll out a backup car early in the evening.
Scott Bloomquist picked up a win in Portsmouth, Ohio on July 4th.
On Friday night it was Bloomquist’s turn to earn a checkered flag when he scored the victory at Portsmouth Raceway Park in Ohio. The ‘Dirttrax Dominator’ led all 50 laps on his way to a $10,000 payday. He bested Owens and Jackie Boggs for the win.
“I was worried we had gone too soft on tires for the feature,” Bloomquist said in his post-race interview with Essex. “There were other cars that went harder on tires for 50 laps. I think if it had been longer than 50 laps we would have still been OK.
“After the night we had last night, my crew worked their tails off last night and this morning getting this car ready. Our car fired off really well after those early restarts. Traffic wasn’t too much of a problem. I didn’t know how close the other guys were.”
The four race string ended on Saturday night with Owens scoring a pulse pounding triumph at the 201 Speedway in Sitka, Kentucky to earn another check for $10,000.
The ‘Newport Nightmare’ started back in the 17th spot and battled Don O’Neal and Eddie Carrier, Jr. to gain his fifth LOLMDS win of the 2014 season.
“I messed up qualifying,” Owens declared after the race. “We came out of the B-main and felt a whole lot better. Starting where we did, we gambled on tires. The track came to us. We started picking off cars every lap and I thought I was going to have to settle for third behind Eddie and O’Neal. Then after that last caution, we went into turn one and were three wide and I was fortunate to come out ahead.”
With his strong weekend efforts, Owens closed to within 10 points of O’Neal in the LOLMDS standings.
