Weekend Recap will be a regular feature throughout the 2017 season on InsideDirtRacing.com. Here, a brief summary of the various national and regional touring series that impact the east Tennessee area will provide a quick review of what happened over the past weekend.
Co-sanctioning seemed to be the theme of this weekend as a couple of the events described below offered points in two different series at the same time. And once again, weather managed to interfere in some of the planned activities around the region.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series: This national touring series had planned to make three stops throughout the upper Midwest during this past weekend but one of those races(Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota) was ultimately rained out.
The weekend began early for the Lucas Oil competitors as they hit the track at Illinois’ LaSalle Speedway on Thursday night for a $10,000-to-win affair.
Although the race at LaSalle actually took place in Illinois, it had a definite east Tennessee flavor to it as Mooresburg’s Scott Bloomquist beat out Winfield’s Mike Marlar to get the win. This occurred, however, after race leading Josh Richards spun with just five laps remaining in the feature.
Bloomquist crossed the finish line ahead of Marlar, Dennis Erb, Jr., Don O’Neal and Tim McCreadie. Bloomquist entered the race as the series points leader and padded that cushion over his closest pursuers.
Click here for a full rundown and the complete race story.
Scott Bloomquist
On Friday evening the series moved to Luxemburg Speedway in Wisconsin for another $10,000-to-win feature event. It was the first visit by the LOLMDS to that track.
Shannon Babb started from the pole and went on to lead the 50-lap race from flag-to-flag in collecting the win. Josh Richards chased the eventual winner throughout while series points leader Scott Bloomquist could only manage a 17th place result.
Babb beat out Richards, Darrell Lanigan, Gregg Satterlee and Tim McCreadie in the race to the checkered flag.
Click here for a complete rundown and the full race story.
Shannon Babb
Scott Bloomquist leads Tim McCreadie, Josh Richards, Don O’Neal and Jimmy Owens in the current Lucas Oil standings.
Spring Nationals: It seems as if this Ray Cook-promoted mini-series has the worst luck of all with weather so the competitors were no doubt glad to get their race in on Friday night at the Crossville Speedway in Tennessee.
Brandon Overton, driving for hometown hero Randy Weaver, started from the outside of the front row and charged to the lead at the drop of the green flag. The No. 116 machine controlled the race virtually all the way and appeared as if he would cruise to certain victory. However, his car faltered on the final lap with the checkered flag literally in sight allowing Canadian Ricky Weiss to flash under the checkered flag first.
Weiss collected $4,000 for his win after beating out Overton, Shanon Buckingham, David Payne and Michael Chilton.
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Ricky Weiss and crew chief Shawn Gage celebrate their victory
Southern Nationals Bonus/Iron-Man Series: The Richmond(KY) Raceway hosted a $10,000-to-win event on Saturday night co-sanctioned by the Southern Nationals Bonus Series and the Iron-Man Series.
Tyler Carpenter started from the pole and went to the lead right away when the green flag waved over the 50-lap feature. The West Virginia native would go on to lead all the way while having to fight off a late race threat from Zack Dohm.
Carpenter beat Dohm, Chase Junghans, Justin Ratliff and Brandon Overton to the finish.
Click here for a full rundown and the complete race story.
David Payne is the current leader in Southern Nationals Bonus Series points while young Carder Miller leads the way in the Iron-Man standings.
Ultimate Super Late Model Series/Carolina Clash: The Carolina Speedway hosted a race co-sanctioned by these two regional series on Friday night as part of what was supposed to be a double weekend for the two sanctioning bodies. However, the Saturday night event scheduled for Lavonia(GA) Speedway had to be rescheduled for July 28 due to rain.
Jonathan Davenport started from the pole and led early on before surrendering the top spot and ultimately tangling with a slower car. Jeff Smith took control of the feature race with 15 laps remaining and drove on to win the $4,000 first prize ahead of Brett Hamm, Michael Brown, Tyler Millwood and Ben Watkins.
Jeff Smith
United Crate Racing Alliance: The competitors in the UCRA raced each other, the high banks of the Tazewell Speedway and the rain on Saturday night. Eventually, the rain would win but not before the race had seen more than half of its laps completed to make the event official.
Anthony White scored the victory in the rain-shortened race. The final caution flag of the night flew on lap 27 when top-5 runners Philip Thompson and Jason Trammell tangled. Thompson would maintain his spot while Trammell did not.
White was declared the winner when the weather set in with Thompson coming home second and Jimmy Elliott, Josh Henry and Jordon Horton rounding out the top-5.
Anthony White
