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Ballou Wins Sprint Cars
Daryl Tate unloaded Jeff Bland, Jr.'s sprinter with a 41 point lead over Danny Holtsclaw in the Safety - Kleen sprint car points race. Both Jeff and Danny are seeking their first Bloomington Speedway championship and probably their first championship anywhere. From a championship standpoint they had much different agendas. If Bland finished close to Holtsclaw, he would unload next week with a pretty comfortable lead. However, if he were to miss the feature and if Holtsclaw were to win it, it would probably be anybody's championship next Friday night.
However, neither Tate nor Bland really wanted to risk that. Consequently they entered Danny Roberts' 21x car with Kenny Carmichael as the driver. Should some misfortune befall the 21s, Carmichael would turn the 21x over to Bland. And, Carmichael could be expected to put the Tate wrenched sprinter safely in the show.
In the first sprint car heat, Devin Priddy and Cole Whitt started side by side on the front row. Whitt charged into the lead and held it. Dickie Gaines had started on the outside of the second row; and he drove to a strong second place finish. Brady Short, Bobby Stines, and Lance Grimes picked up the rest of the tickets to the feature.
Danny Holtsclaw caught a good draw and started on the pole. He then went on to win his heat followed by Jeff Bland, Jr., Jon Sciscoe, Kenny Niflis, and Kenny Carmichael. Holtsclaw picked up a point or two with his heat race finish; but he was going to have to do better than that in the feature if he was going to improve his position in points race.
Robert Ballou started sixth in the final heat race; and drove to an impressive win followed by Kenny Carmichael, Jr., Derek Franks, A.J. Martin, and Dave Scott.
When the green flag dropped to start the "B" Feature, 13 year old Dylan Burge tangled with Chris Babcock and John Dick. All of them were able to restart; but Burge spun again and fell victim to the two spin rule and a rookie chief mechanic, his stepfather, Brian Climer. Dylan also spun at the start of his heat race; however, on restarting, he drove a pretty smooth race. This was there first visit to Bloomington Speedway; and they will certainly do better the next time.
Bub Cummings started 5th in the "B" feature; and, by the time that the first lap went into the books, Bub was in the lead. However, Kent Christian who had started 7th was running second. But, on the second lap, young Arin McIntosh had taken over second place and Christian fell back to third. On the 8th circuit Christian took second back; and the next lap he took the lead. On the white flag lap McIntosh moved back into second followed by Cummins, Eric Smith, and Chris Babcock.
When the feature got underway Ballou and Holtsclaw started side by side on first row; but, before the first lap was in the books, the race had already become a duel between Ballou and Kenny Carmichael, Jr. Ballou almost certainly had the better car. However, while he was rim-riding and thrilling the assembled fans, Carmichael was down on the "huggy pole" taking the short way around. He got past Ballou on lap five and led until lap 13 when Ballou edged ahead. The duel continued; and either of them could have won until the final laps when Ballou finally put a little distance between his mount and Carmichael's. Jon Sciscoe came home third with Brady Short and Kenny Niflis rounding out the top five. Many of the fans raved about Carmichael's splendid performance. And, Carmichael deserved every word.
RESULTS:
SAFETY - KLEEN SPRINT CARS -- 24
AUTO HEAVEN HEAT #1: 1.(2) Cole Whitt, 2.(4) Dickie Gaines, 3.(3) Brady Short, 4.(7) Bobby Stines, 5.(5) Lance Grimes, 6.(8) Dylan Burge, 7.(1) Devin Priddy, 8.(6) Kent Christian
MONROE COUNTY SERVPRO HEAT #2: 1.(1) Danny Holtsclaw, 2.(7) Jeff Bland, Jr., 3.(2) Jon Sciscoe, 4.(3) Kenny Niflis, 5.(8) Kenny Carmichael, 6.(6) Chris Babcock, 7.(5) Bub Cummings, 8.(4) Eric Smith
WALNUT STREET AUTO SALES/CAMPUS RENTAL HEAT #3: 1.(6) Robert
Ballou, 2.(3) Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 3.(2) Derek Franks, 4.(7) A.J. Martin, 5.(8) Dave Scott, 6.(5) John Dick, 7.(1) Arin McIntosh, DNS Joe Gilbert
JB SALVAGE/WEST SIDE AUTO PARTS "B" FEATURE: 1.(7) Kent Christian, 2.(9) Arin McIntosh, 3.(5) Bub Cummings, 4.(8) Eric Smith, 5.(2) Chris Babcock, 6.(6) Joe Gilbert, 7.(3) John Dick, 8.(1) Dylan Burge
ROOTS RV FEATURE: 1.(1) 81 Robert
Ballou, 2.(3) 92c Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 3.(7) 7J Jon Sciscoe, 4.(6) 36 Brady Short, 5.(11) 01 Kenny Niflis, 6.(5) 11p Dickie Gaines, 7.(17) 34M Arin McIntosh, 8.(10) 21s Jeff Bland, Jr., 9.(2) 3 Danny Holtsclaw, 10.(12) 21x Kenny Carmichael, 11.(9) 9 Bobby Stines, 12.(19) 14 Eric Smith, 13.(4) 29w Cole Whitt, 14.(16) 1c Kent Christian, 15.(13) 87 Lance Grimes, 16.(14) 70 A.J. Martin, 17.(20) 35 Chris Babcock, 18.(18) 19 Bub Cummings, 19.(8) 77 Derek Franks, 20.(15) 7 Dave Scott Lap Leaders: Robert Ballou (1-4), (13-25), Kenny Carmichael, Jr. (5-12)
Sprint Mart Hard Charger Award: Arin McIntosh
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