Bloomquist cruised to the win in Tazewell
The Southern Nationals headed for its traditional ending point on Saturday night when the two-week series contested its finale on the high banks of the Tazewell(TN) Speedway. The Ray Cook promoted tour was looking to crown its 2016 champion as well as hand out its biggest payday of the fortnight. Scott Bloomquist would be the driver who would cash in by claiming the $10,000 race payout while Devin Gilpin earned the honors of being named as the overall series champion.
Bloomquist set the tone early on in the night when he posted a lap of 10.983 seconds around the third-mile oval to earn fast time honors in Group A and overall while Australian Craig Vosbergen proved to be quickest in Group B time-trials after completing a lap in 11.285 seconds.
Bloomquist earned the pole position for the feature by winning the first heat race of the night over David Payne, Stacy Boles and Tommy Bailey. Canadian Ricky Weiss won the second preliminary race as he beat out Vic Hill, Robby Moses and Dakotah Knuckles.
Vosbergen received the outside front row starting spot for the feature race when he won the third heat over Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., Chad Ogle and Shanon Buckingham while Gilpin won the fourth and final heat ahead of Jeff Wolfenbarger, Donald McIntosh and Brian Smith.
Bloomquist immediately seized control of the 53-lap feature race at the start by out running Vosbergen to the first turn to grab the lead. Weiss, Gilpin and Payne attempted to pursue the race leader during the initial laps of the race by the driver known as ‘Black Sunshine’ drove away from the pack by as much a half straightaway by the end of the fourth lap.
Ricky Weiss(7) attempts to take second away from Craig Vosbergen
Payne began to move forward early as he took the fourth position away from Gilpin on lap 2 then set his sights on Weiss and Vosbergen just ahead.
The race would be slowed by two caution flags, lap 13 for the slowing car of Lloyd and on lap 19 when third running Weiss experienced mechanical troubles. All the while, Bloomquist continued to dominate on a track that offered few opportunities for passing.
Over the course of the race’s second half, Bloomquist cruised with the only real obstacles he faced were those posed by slower traffic. However, the veteran driver only added to his lead as he sliced through the slower machines. The No. 0 car would eventually win by a margin of a half-track to collect his second $10,000 payday of the year in Tazewell.
Feature Finish: 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Craig Vosbergen, 3. Devin Gilpin, 4. Vic Hill, 5. Jeff Wolfenbarger, 6. Donald McIntosh, 7. Chad Ogle, 8. Shanon Buckingham
Southern Nationals champ Devin Gilpin and team
