Scott Bloomquist led all 45 laps of the Cowboy Classic
Many of the top Dirt Late Model racers in the country converged on the small town of Wheatland, Missouri for a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned event known as the Cowboy Classic. The $6,000-to-win Thursday night non-points race is meant to serve as a preliminary for Saturday night’s Show-me 100 crown jewel affair. At the end of the night, it was Scott Bloomquist who beat back a late challenge from Chad Simpson to come away from the world class facility with the victory and the accolades.
Jared Landers set the pace in Group A qualifying by turning a lap in 15.637 seconds to beat out Austin Siebert, Kyle Bronson, Shannon Babb and Jonathan Davenport.
Scott Bloomquist led the way in Group B time-trials with a lap of 16.006 seconds to top Jimmy Owens, Mason Zeigler, Bobby Pierce and Mike Marlar.
Tim McCreadie earned the pole for the main event by winning the first heat race of the night ahead of Jared Landers and Payton Looney while Jonathan Davenport held off a hard charging Austin Rettig for the win in the second heat of the evening with Austin Siebert coming home third.
It was Hudson O’Neal who took the win in the third preliminary race of the night over B.J. Robinson and Kyle Bronson.
Scott Bloomquist secured the outside front row starting position by winning the fourth heat ahead of Bobby Pierce and Chris Simpson.
Jimmy Owens won the fifth heat over Chad Simpson and Mike Marlar just before Mason Zeigler won the final heat ahead of Jimmy Mars and Brian Shirley.
Will Vaught, Brandon Sheppard and Shanon Buckingham won the three B-main races.
At the start of the 45-lap feature it was Bloomquist who bolted to the early lead with McCreadie, Owens and O’Neal trailing. But Owens wasted little time in moving forward as he took the runner-up spot from McCreadie just after the completion of the first lap. Zeigler also began to move forward as he passed by O’Neal on the second lap to take fourth.
A caution for a spin by defending Show-me 100 winner Pierce slowed the action on lap 3. On the ensuing restart it was O’Neal making a move as he passed by Zeigler to grab third. Meanwhile, Davenport and Chad Simpson fought over the fifth spot just a bit further back.
By lap 7, Bloomquist began to flex his muscle as he pulled out to a relatively comfortable lead. The real fight was back in third as O’Neal and Zeigler traded slide jobs for a couple of laps until O’Neal established himself as the third place car on lap 11.
As the race approached its halfway mark Owens tracked Bloomquist down in traffic and began applying pressure in an attempt to capture the race lead. At the same time, Chad Simpson began to move forward as he passed by Zeigler to take the fourth position on lap 25.
A spin by Davenport on lap 26 bunched the field once more and provided a chance for the challengers to make a move on Bloomquist. However, the No. 0 machine broke free soon after the green flag set the field back in motion. Just behind, O’Neal took second away from Owens with Simpson moving up to also challenge the No. 20 car.
For several laps it was O’Neal, Simpson and Owens running in tight formation as they battled for second behind Bloomquist.
Payton Looney slowed on lap 38 to bring out a caution. On the restart, Simpson moved into second and immediately began an assault on Bloomquist for the top spot. The No. 25 looked under and on the outside of Bloomquist over the closing laps but was never able to draw alongside.
Bloomquist took the checkered flag to pick up feature win No. 596 of his career.
Feature Finish: 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Chad Simpson, 3. Hudson O’Neal, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Brian Shirley, 6. Jimmy Owens, 7. Mason Zeigler, 8. Jimmy Mars, 9. Tim McCreadie, 10. Shanon Buckingham, 11. Austin Rettig, 12. Chris Simpson, 13. BJ Robinson, 14. Brandon Sheppard, 15. Kyle Bronson, 16. Bobby Pierce, 17. Will Vaught, 18. Frank Heckenast, Jr., 19. Jonathan Davenport, 20. Jared Landers, 21. Cade Dillard, 22. Austin Siebert, 23. Chase Junghans, 24. Payton Looney
