Ryan Gustin and the #19r Gressel Racing team invaded the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Tuesday night for the “Clash of the Titans” event with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. A fourth-place finish in his heat race put 'The Reaper' in the 14th starting spot for the 50-lap, $10,000-to-win main event. After a fight to get to the front, Gustin ended up eighth on the final score sheets. The team now heads to the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., this Friday and Saturday, July 18-29, for the 4th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals ... and a little unfinished business.
Owens gives competition a nightmare Wednesday night at Lakeside Speedway
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Wednesdaynight, Jimmy Owens showed why he is the three-time and defending Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Champion. Owens dominated the "Clash of the Titans" on Tuesday Night at Lakeside Speedway. Owens took the lead on lap 19 from Scott Bloomquist and ran off from the field in winning by over eight seconds.
Terry Phillips charged from ninth to finish second, and was faster in the closing laps than Owens, but was still nearly a half-a-lap behind, with two laps remaining. The race went caution-free, which enabled Owens to open up a huge advantage over his nearest competitors. Bloomquist finished third, followed by Brandon Overton, and Don O'Neal.
"What a car we had tonight! We could drive it anywhere. On these hard tires, it takes a while for them to get going. We had a heck of a race with Scott. The handling on his car started to go away enough that I could pull alongside him coming off of turn number four when we took over the lead. Traffic wasn't that much of a problem. I have to thank Mike Reece, who is here again tonight. He is my good luck charm."
Bloomquist made his first-ever appearance at the track tonight and was looking for a clean-sweep of the night's activities. He set fast time, easily won his heat race, and started on the pole of the 50-lap main event. Bloomquist held on to the lead as long as he could before Owens, who started third charged by him on the outside off of turn four.
"It's only our second time here," said the winner, who notched his seventh series win of the year and now has 51 career victories with the series. "We learned a lot last year, but of course this year we had the Club 29 Race Car and I don't think it looked as easy as it appeared out there. I didn't know how big of a lead I had. To run like this with this caliber of competition here tonight is just unbelievable. I have to thank Reece Monument Company, Midwest Sheet Metal, Sunoco, Keyser, Ohlins, C&C Trucking, Edge Services, FORD, and Cornett Racing Engines."
Phillips had just finished second in the modified feature then jumped into his late model and motored to another second-place finish in tonight's main event. "I don't know if running the modified feature helped; it's a completely different ballgame with these guys. I may have learned that line around the top was the way to go. I should have gotten up there earlier. I wasn't going to run Jimmy down, even with a caution flag, he was in another time zone tonight. I have to thank Andy's Frozen Custard, Don Babb Motorsports, Midwest Sheet Metal, and Rocket Chassis, the car was really strong tonight and this is definitely one of my favorite tracks to run on."
Bloomquist maintained his third place position in the series point standings, and said something went amiss in his car. "We had some kind of part failure underneath the car. I am not exactly sure what it was. We will look tomorrow. The car was a handful. There were tacky spots and then slick spots out there. I was up on the wheel for most of the race, just to hang on for third. I want to thank Ole Smoky Moonshine, Penske Shocks, Base Race Fuels, and everybody else with this race team. We will go to I-80 and shoot for the win."
Completing the top ten were Eddie Carrier Jr., Jason Feger, Ryan Gustin, Jared Landers and Rodney Sanders, who won the modified feature earlier.
In preliminary action, Scott Bloomquist set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time (Group A) amongst the 31 entrants, with a lap of 16.870 seconds. Eddie Carrier Jr. set the fastest time in Group B with a time of 17.245 seconds. Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Eddie Carrier Jr., and Jared Landers won their respective heat races. Billy Moyer and Earl Pearson Jr. won their respective B-Mains.
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Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Tuesday Night, July 15th, 2014
Lakeside Speedway - Kansas City, KS
Miller Welders Fast Time Group A: Scott Bloomquist/ 16.870 seconds
Miller Welders Fast Time Group B: Eddie Carrier Jr. / 17.245 seconds
Fast Shafts Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Scott Bloomquist, Don O'Neal, Terry Phillips, Tommy Weder, Billy Moyer, Tony Jackson, Jr., Austin Siebert, Jason Bodenhamer
Eibach Springs Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jimmy Owens, Jesse Stovall, Jason Feger, Jason Hughes, Will Vaught, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jason Papich, Craig Vosbergen
Simpson Performance Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Eddie Carrier, Jr., Brandon Overton, Chris Simpson, Ryan Gustin, Earl Pearson, Jr., Jack Sullivan, John Anderson, Bryan Rowland
FK Rod Ends Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jared Landers, Rodney Sanders, Steve Francis, Jeremy Payne, John Blankenship, Bill Koons, Mark Dotson
JRi Shocks B-Main #1 (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer) Finish: Billy Moyer, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jason Papich, Tony Jackson, Jr., Austin Siebert, Craig Vosbergen, Will Vaught, Jason Bodenhamer-DNS
CV Products B-Main #2 (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer) Finish: Earl Pearson, Jr., John Blankenship, Jack Sullivan, John Anderson, Bryan Rowland, Bill Koons, Mark Dotson-DNS
Feature Finish (50 Laps):
FINISH START CAR # DRIVER NAME HOMETOWN
1 3 20 Jimmy Owens Newport, TN
2 9 75 Terry Phillips Springfield, MO
4 6 5e Brandon Overton Appling, GA
3 1 0 Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg, TN
5 5 5 Don O'Neal Martinsville, IN
6 2 28 Eddie Carrier, Jr. Salt Rock, WV
7 11 25F Jason Feger Bloomington, IL
8 14 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA
9 4 777 Jared Landers Batesville, AR
10 8 20x Rodney Sanders Happy, TX
11 7 00s Jesse Stovall Billing, MO
12 12 15 Steve Francis Ashland, KY
13 17 21 Billy Moyer Batesville, AR
14 20 23 John Blankenship Williamson, WV
15 10 32x Chris Simpson Oxford, IA
16 19 28e Dennis Erb, Jr. Carpentersville, IL
17 18 44 Earl Pearson, Jr. Jacksonville, FL
18 15 12 Jason Hughes Watts, OK
19 13 02 Tommy Weder Woodward, OK
20 21 91p Jason Papich Nipomo, CA
21 16 186 Jeremy Payne Springfield, MO
22 22 18x Jack Sullivan Greenbrier, AR
23 23 1V Will Vaught Crane, MO
24 24 29 Bill Koons Blair, NE
Race Statistics
Entrants: 31
Lap Leaders: Scott Bloomquist (Laps 1 - 18); Jimmy Owens (Laps 20 - 50)
Cautions: none
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: n/a
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Miller Welders Fast Time Provisionals: Will Vaught, Bill Koons
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jimmy Owens
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Terry Phillips (Started: 9th; Finished: 2nd; Advanced 7 Positions)
Keyser Mfg Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jimmy Owens
Allstar Performer of the Race: Terry Phillips
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
Dunn Benson Ford Rookie of the Race: Jason Hughes
Midwest Sheet Metal Highest Finishing Rookie: Jason Hughes
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Ohlins Shocks Chassis Builder of the Race: Club 29 Race Cars
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Chris Fox
HAWK Performance Fastest Lap of the Race: Scott Bloomquist (Lap #2 - 17.820 seconds)
Time of Race: 16 minutes 14 seconds
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