Welcome to Heartland Motorsports.com                                                                                                                           Welcome to Heartland Motorsports.com

Bloomquist has no weak links in front of record crowd at La Salle Speedway
By: Betty Glynn 

LA SALLE, IL (May 22) – Scott Bloomquist is undeniably one of the most successful veterans in dirt track racing. When his famous number 0 machine arrives sporting his mantra “No Weak Links” it is without a doubt that the crowd will be filled with cheers and jeers for one of the most successful dirt track racers ever. Saturday night the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series Spring Shootout at La Salle Speedway was no different. As soon as the nose of his racecar rolled onto the high banks from the pit area, the record breaking crowd turned up the volume for the forty-six year old Tennessean. 

Forty eight drivers signed in for the 50 lapper that topped the venue but only one winner would take home the larger than life trophy and the $10,000 payday. That winner would turn out to be none other than one driving his self manufactured chassis who had to deny his own teammate a fourth straight victory.  

Bloomquist started the A Main on the outside of pole sitter Mark Burgtorf. He wasted little time after the green was thrown to set the pace for the field of 25 of the best racers in the country. Doug Drown and Mike Marler were in row two ahead of defending track champion Mike Provenzano and Ray Cook.  

Third place starter, Drown worked the low side until passing Burgtorf after a side by side battle during the ninth circuit. Two laps later, Bloomquist was already deep in lapped traffic leaving Drown to dodge them with him if he wanted to keep him in his sights. During Lap 18, Drown made his way up to the door of Bloomquist but didn’t have enough in his power plant to pass him. 

The first caution came at the half way marker for Dale McDowell whose ride was facing the wall. For the restart, it was Bloomquist out front of the double file cars of Drown and Owens. The restart gave Owens the opportunity he needed to seek out the leader. By Lap 28, Bloomquist was outdistancing the competition but it didn’t take long for Owens to close the gap. 

During Lap 32, Owens brought some major excitement when he hunted high and low to challenge his teammate. Three laps later he put his nose under the leader but unfortunately caution stole the “O Show”.  

Owens was his worst nightmare as he moved from a seventh place start up to the drivers door of Bloomquist’s ride for numerous laps. With a mere six laps unscored, trouble in turn four shut him out again. Bloomquist is a master at his game not only when the green is flying but all the time. 

“Under caution I drove around slow enough to keep the tires warm because I knew he (Owens) had a little harder tire on the left rear,” Bloomquist told during an interview at victory circle. 

Bloomquist tamed the high banks with his victory and replaced Owens as the current series points leader. 

Eleventh starting Earl Pearson Jr. was up and coming and positioned third for the final restart. He worked and worked until taking Owens on the final lap from the inside trek. 

Matt Miller was fast and furious working his way up the pack from eighteenth to a fourth place finish in front of Drown, Dennis Erb Jr who started sixteenth, Don O’Neal, Cook, Tim Isenberg, John Blankenship, Jason Feger, Bub McCool, Burgtorf, Brad Neet, Chris Wall, Dan Schlieper, McDowell, Steve Casebolt, Eric Well and Marlar. Drivers Ryan Unzicker, Kevin Weaver, Jason Hughes, Mark Voigt and Provenzano did not finish. 

As Bloomquist strolled through the pit area post race with his dog leading the way he was still sporting a smile from ear to ear. No sign of a hard fought battle from one of the best in the business.  

“Pretty intense, wasn’t it,” he was quick to add before being asked about the victory. “I knew he was there because I saw his nose a couple of times.”  

With the record breaking crowds and high car counts the evening was extended a little longer than track officials had hoped but one thing for certain the crowd got their moneys worth with great racing all night long. 

“We want to thank Scott Bloomquist and Lucas Oil. We hope you enjoyed the 48 absolutely great Late Models here tonight,” track owner Kerry Izzo told the crowd. She repeated what her daughter Kerrianne had just proclaimed over the loud speaker. “We want to thank you all for coming.” 

As the crowd dispersed the chattered turned back to “Bloomer” as so many have nicknamed him. Love him or not he knows how to the get the job done and proved it at LaSalle. 

Burgtorf traveled the fastest qualifying lap with a time of 13.243.  He also went on to win the first heat contest without a challenge. Finishing second was local talent Mike Provenzano, Hughes, and Unzicker. Drown won the second heat from the pole beating out Owens, Pearson, and Voigt. The third heat contest didn’t get off to such a great start for Jeep Van Wormer. Before a lap could be scored he found his ride on its lid off of the second turn. The heat winner was Bloomquist from the pole uncontested over Cook, Isenberg, and Blankenship. The final heat winner was Marlar in front of Feger, McDowell, and Erb. The A Consi was won by McCool over Wall and Weaver. The B Consi winner was Miller in front of O’Neal and Neat. 

Winnings: Bloomquist $10,000, Pearson $5,000, Owens, $3,000, Miller $2,500, Drown $2,000, Erb $1,500, O’Neal $1,400, Cook $1,300, Isenberg $1,200, Blankenship $1,100, Feger $1,000, McCool $950, Burgtorf $900, Neat $875, Wall $850, Schlieper $825, McDowell $800, Casebolt $775, Wells $750, Marlar $700. 

Twenty nine UMP Modifieds signed up for action with a field of twenty one for the main event. Former track champion Vince Cooper started the main as the pole sitter next to Nathan Balensiefen ahead of Milo Veloz and Jeff Larson. 

Cooper turned up the speed and shot off to a fast lead over Veloz until Lap 6. Veloz run ended when something broke in the front end stopping his ride in the path of Joe Adam. The contact ended their chance at a finish. 

Larson moved into the runner up position and a quest for the lead. By Lap 10, only twelve cars were still in action. Larson was digging hard looking for the point. Six laps later he made his way to the helm. 

Cooper finished second over Mike Spatola, Phil Line, Brad Stewart, Steven Brooks, Charlie Harmon, Travis Kohler, Dale Lueth, AJ Dixon, Brock Baughmon and Nathan Balensiefen. 

Cooper, Balensiefen, Veloz and Larson each won their heat contests. 

Brandon Maciejewski continued his winning ways claiming the UMP Street Stock victory. Roger Rickels took a strong second in front of Steve Lewis, Randy Lucas, and Mike Hughes. Only five of the thirteen rides were still in the race at the checkers. 

Real men drive pink in the UMP Hornet division. Racer JR Brown won the feature in his pink ride over Phil Burdette, #0, Asa Robart, Jerry Legner, Matt McCarty, Rickey Kay, Shannon Mudro and Freddie Thatcher.

La Salle Speedway Scoreboard Results

Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series Spring Shootout – 48 Cars

Heat #1: 1) Mark Burgtorf  2) Mike Porvenzano 3) Jason Hughes 4) Ryan Unzicker 5) Jason McBride 6) Kevin Weaver 7) Allen Christy 8) Michael Walker 9) Kerry Hanson 10) Randy Manos Jr 11) Will Vaught 12) Dan Schlieper
Heat #2: 1) Doug Drown 2) Jimmy Owens 3) Earl Pearson Jr. 4) Mark Voigt 5) Bub McCool 6) Rich Bell 7) Chris Wall 8) Bret Sievert 9) Gary Hunt 10) Gary Schalmo 11) John Murphy 12) John Provenzano
Heat #3: 1) Scott Bloomquist 2) Ray Cook 3) Tim Isenbberg 4) John Blakenship 5) Matt Miller 6) Brad Neat 7) Don O’Neal 8) Steve Casebolt 9) Frank Heckanast Jr. 10) Jeff Larson 11) Brian Birkhofer 12) Jeep VanWormer

Heat #4: 1) Mike Marlar 2) Jason Feger 3) Dale McDowell 4) Dennis Erb Jr. 5) Mike Collins 6) Brian Shirley 7) Tyler Reddick 8) Jimmy Mars 9) Jason Jaggers 10) Eric Wells 11) Shanon Babb
A Consi: 1) Bub McCool 2) Chris Wall 3) Kevin Weaver 4) Rich Bell 5) Jason McBride 6) Mike Murphy 7)Randy Manos
B Consi: 1) Matt Miller 2) Don O’Neal 3) Brad Neat 4) Steve Casebolt 5) Mike Collins 6) Brian Shirley 7) Eric Wells 8) Tyler Reddick 9) Jeff Larson 10) Jason Jaggers 11) Frank Heckenast Jr 12) Shannon Babb
Spring Shootout – 50 Laps $10,000

1) Scott Bloomquist 2) Earl Pearson Jr 3)  Jimmy Owens  4) Matt Miller  5) Doug Drown 6) Dennis Erb Jr  7) Don O'Neal 8) Ray Cook 9) Tim Isenberg 10) John Blankenship 11) Jason Feger 12) Bub McCool 13) Mark Burgtorf 14) Brad Neat 15) Chris Wall 16) Dan Schlieper 17) Dale Mc Dowell 18) Steve Casebolt 19) Eric Wells 20) Mike Marlar 21) Ryan Unzicker 22) Kevin Weaver 23) Jason Hughes 24) Mark Voigt 25) Mike Provenzano

UMP Modifieds – 29 Cars

Heat #1: 1) Vince Cooper 2) Brad Stewart 3) Travis Kohler 4) Jeramie Johnson

Heat #2: 1) Nathan Balensiefen 2) Mike Spatola 3) Shawn Scripter 4) Matt Gremminger

Heat #3: 1) Milo Veloz 2) Phil Line 3) Matt Goulden 4) Steven Brooks

Heat #4: 1) Jeff Larson 2) Justin McCoy 3) Brock Baughman 4) Allen Line

Semi Feature: 1) Joe Adam 2) Tim Loomis 3) Dale Lueth 4) Charlie Harmon 5) AJ Dixon 6) Tom Knippenberg 7) Ryan Kortge

Feature: 1) Jeff Larson 2) Vince Cooper 3) Mike Spatola 4) Phil Line 5) Brad Stewart 6) Steve Brooks 7) Charlie Harmon 8) Travis Kohler 9) Dale Lueth 10) AJ Dixon 11) Brock Baughman 12) Nathan Balensiefen 13) Allen Line 14) Matt Gremminger 15) Milo Veloz 16) Joe Adam 17) Justin McCoy 18) Tim Loomis 19) Matt Goulden 20) Shawn Scripter 21) Jereamie Johnson

UMP Street Stocks – 17 Cars

Heat #1: 1) Kevin Snowberger 2) Rick Koltveit 3) Nick Sell 4) Randy Lucas

Heat #2: 1) Jamie Balensiefen 2) Brandon Maciejewski 3) Mike Hughes 4) Roger Rickels

Feature: 1) Brandon Maciejewski 2) Roger Rickels 3) Steve Lewis 4) Randy Lucas 5) Mike Hughes 6) Nick Sell 7) Jamie Balensiefen 8) Mike McKinney 9) Rick Koltveit 10) Kevin Snowberger 11) Jake Miller 12) John Hogue 13) Tony Provenzano Jr.

UMP Hornets – 17 Cars

Heat #1: 1) JR Brown 2) #0 3) Phil Burdette 4) John Provenzano

Heat #2: 1) Rickey Kay 2) Shannon Mudro 3) Josh Larson 4) Andrew Sharwarko

Feature: 1) JR Brown 2) Phil Burdette 3) #0 4) Asa Robart 5) Jerry Legner 6) Matt McCarty 7) Rickey Kay 8) Shannon Mudro 9) Freddie Thatcher 10) John Provenzano 11) Harold Reiter 12) Andrew Sharwarski 13) Josh Larson 14) Rick Wagner