Blessington Stays Perfect

ONAWA, IA  (May 19, 2006) – Brian Blessington remained prefect making it four for four in the IMCA Stock Car division. Starting deep in the field Blessington needed the first ten laps to maneuver into position to challenge Tony Ritterbush for the lead. Ritterbush would not relinquish the lead without a battle, with two to go Blessington would slip past Ritterbush and hold on for the win. Ritterbush had to settle for second with Hans Houfek, Tom Clapper and Dave Plowman finishing third through fifth respectively.

The CasinOmaha Late Model feature saw seventy something Glenn Robey jump out to an early lead with Heath Clausen close behind. Robey would showcase his fifty plus years of experience over the next nine laps before a caution would bring the field back together. On the restart Mark Henery snared the lead hold off the challenges of Robey and Clausen. Mean while Travis Roth and Bob Moore were picking off the traffic and eventually moved within striking distance. Roth and Henery would swap the lead for several laps, with Roth pulling to the front with just a few laps remaining and holding off Henery for the win. Moore, Clausen and Chad Jensen would complete the top five.

The IMCA Modified feature would see a familiar face in the winners circle but not without a fight. Dirk Kirk and Jeff James would put on an early exhibition with both having their moments. A caution would create the perfect opportunity for last week’s winner Jay Noteboom. On the restart it was the Kirk, Noteboom show, every lap would see Kirk in front coming out of turns one and two and down the back stretch while Noteboom would have the advantage through three and four and were it counted the front stretch and at the checkered flag, garnering his third win of the season by a half car length over Kirk, Mike Hansen, Chevy Haden and Matt Bonine rounded out the top five.

The 360 Sportmod division win was awarded to Kevin Bruck by default. Chris Abelson the first to the checkers did not accept a claim. By refusing the claim Abelson surrender the win. Bruck and Abelson exchanged the lead for several laps with Jeff Brunssen applying pressure. The win would be Brucks first with Brunssen second, Greg Hamman, Mike Kramer and Nick Lakes filling out the top five.

Craig Clift jumped out to an early lead in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Several early cautions kept the field tight, with Clift holding off the challenges until Kent Husted and Jay Divis coming from their fourth and fifth row starting positions moved in behind Craig. Husted pulled to the point and win with Divis following his lead for the runner-up position. Clift would have to settle for third with Heath Harrison and last weeks winner Bill Woehler fourth and fifth respectively.

The Lil Enjun feature appeared to be a repeat of last week with Randy Cass leading most of the race with Don Watterson in tow. Coming out of turn four on the final lap Watterson made his move for the lead and the win. Cass claimed second place with Noah Ludwig, Vince Trometer and Joelle Gustin complete the top five.

Official Results

CasinOmaha Late Model
1. 60 Travis Roth, 2. 97 Mark Henery, 3. 48 Bob Moore, 4. Heath Clausen, 5. 73 Chad Jensen, 6. 8ball Glenn Robey, 7. 99t Travis Mahaney, 8. 71 Mike Benson, 9. 77 Jay Smith, 10. 18 Don Smith, 11. 12m Matt McAtee, 12. 56 Jason Renz, 13. 17p Tim Plowman, 14. 99 Curtis Lammers, 15. 74 Alan Schmitt

IMCA Modified
1. 7n Jay Noteboom, 2. 86jr Dirk Kirk, 3. 12h Mike Hansen, 4. 4 Chevy Haden, 5. 14 Matt Bonine, 6. 25 Ricky Stephan. 7. 83 Jesse Cowles, 8. 88 Brad Smith, 9. 71j Jeff James, 10. 27 Clint Homan, 11. 9x Travis Loecker, 12. 27a Randy Brands, 13. 88x Sean Barragan, 14. 7m Mitch Dowhower, 15. z98 Denny Johnson. 16. 57 Roger VanBeek, 17. 34 Jay Goosmann, 18. 95r Lucas Robinson

IMCA Stock Car
1. 92b Brian Blessington, 2. 02 Tony Ritterbush, 3. 59 Hans Houfek, 4. 42 Tom Clapper, 5. p42 Dave Plowman, 6. 1sw Todd Mabbit, 7. 2b Les Lundquist, 8. 34h Heath VandenBosch, 9. 24 Don Mohr, 10. 7 Rich Pederson, 11. 71 Dave Wichman

360 Sportmod
1. 01 Kevin Bruck, 2. 00x Jeff Brunssen, 3. 29j Greg Hamman, 4. 53k Mike Kramer, 5. 17L Nick Lakes, 6. 44x Jason Schneiders, 7. 11m Jake McClure, 8. 2 Keith Sanders, 9. 42 Jeremie Gibbs, 10. 03k Kenny Layton, 11. 30 Shawn Bearce, 12. 33 Mark Utesch, 13. 16 Tim Pritchett, 14. 27 Jason Kohl, 15. 54r Rod Bronson, 16. 55jr Greg Taylor, 17. 29g Mark Godfredson, 18. 00 Scott Hanner, 19. 07 Brandon Jessen

IMCA Hobby Stock
1. 01 Kent Husted, 2. 4d Jay Divis, 3. 77 Craig Clift, 4. v53 Heath Harrison, 5. 2b Bill Woehler, 6. 84 Josh Ruschmann, 7. 5m Chad Murry, 8. 7w Tim Wilcox, 9. 27 Jim Johnson, 10. 22 Steve “Turbo” Wright, 11. 10 Calvin Ashlock, 12. D1 Derek Anderson, 13. 3j Jeff Modahl, 14. 35j Jonah Chinn, 15. 28b Rick Bradley, 16. 38 Lucas Morton, 17. 28 Ashton Lee, 18. 2 Ed McClure, 19. 41 Jason Ward, 20. 31 Hershel Roach

Lil Enjun
1. 5 Don Watterson, 2. 33 Randy Cass, 3. 76 Noah Ludwig, 4. 37 Vince Trometer, 5. 53 Joelle Gustin, 6. 44 Mark Dorcey, 7. 77 Don Tank, 8. 32 Tracy Erlandson, 9. 32n Neal Reynolds, 10. 13 Austin Spaulding, 11. 73 Matt Marquardt

Racing action resumes this Friday at 7:30pm with the grandstand and pit gates opening at 5:30pm. Hot laps are at 6:45pm. Grandstand admission prices are: Adults $9; and children 12 and under are FREE.

Hosting weekly racing events from April through September, Blackbird Bend Speedway is located off I-29 at exit 112 next to CasinOmaha. For more information call (712) 423-3700 or check us out at www.blackbirdbendspeedway.com .