23 Sprints entered the gates at the red clay on Friday. The 3 groups in qualifying were led by Brayden Fox(12.896), Brandon Spencer(11.990) and Davey Ray(11.720). The heat races were intense with none of the 3 fast qualifiers getting the wins in their heats. The 3 heats were won by Brent Beauchamp, Brandon Morin and Sterling Cling. All 23 were transferred to the A so the invert of 5 gave the Australian Todd Hobson the pole with Geoff Ensign on the outside of the front row. Another intense 25 lap battle on the red clay was led early by Hobson over the 04 as they were all split about half on the bottom and the rest on the cushion which was just edges from over the hill. The cushion on the edge got some of the drivers during the 25 laps ending their good runs once they go over the red bank down the hill. By lap 8 Brent Beauchamp had came from 5th to battle for the top spot. Sure enough the 11 of Beauchamp took the top spot on the low groove of turn 4 and built a big lead for the win!! Congrats to Brent for his first win of the season over Geoff Ensign, Davey Ray, Harley Burns and Todd Hobson.
The Indiana Late Model Series brought 18 entries to the red clay Friday night. This is an outstanding group of Late Models. Based out of Brownstown Speedway it is awesome that they do a traveling series also at many tracks in Indiana. The heat races were won by Steve Peeden, Josh Boller and Josh Dietz. The feature would be a great battle with the P3 really strong on the bottom grove of the red clay like he did for multiple years in the UMP Super Stock. He would hold on for the win but with just 5 laps to go Josh Boller was getting the cushion to really work well and on the final lap Josh pulled within a car length and heading into turn 3 and 4 had a shot. At the line it was Steve Peeden who held on for the win which almost turned into a side by side photo finish. Don’t forget June 4th this series will be back with us at the Lincoln Park Speedway for a travel night at the Capitol of the Cushion!!
The Open Bomber division had 14 entries and it is always a great battle between the Pure Stocks from the South versus the LPS style Bombers. The 2 fast times in their groups were Jordan Almanza(15.087) and Megan Cavaness (14.925). This setup the 2 heats that were won by Josh Litton and David Bumgardner. The Invert for the feature was a 2 which put the heat race winners on the front row. This was a fantastic race and the top 4 were running side by side for multiple laps. At the checkers after 15 laps it was the Pure Stock of Keaton Streeval that took the win over LPS Bombers style Josh Litton and David Bumgardner 2nd and 3rd. Josh Turner and Andrew Pollock rounded out the top 5. As always thanks to the Bomber teams for putting on an awesome show all night.
The Hornet Division had 20 entries. The heat races for the makeup show were won by Brian Pollitt, Chad Taylor and Alex Wilson. The invert was 1 so the heat winners would be put in the top 3 spots to start the A. Alex Wilson would win the makeup A main over Daniel Harden, Brian Pollitt, Davey Waggoner and Michael Brewer. The regular night heat races were won by Andrew Deavers, Michael Brewer and Jeremy Shemwell. The invert for this A main was a 5 which put Daniel Harden and Dale Hobbs on the front row. This would be another intense battle with Michael Brewer holding off Daniel Harden, Andrew Deavers, Dale Hobbs and Jeremy Shemwell at the checkers.
The IMCA Hoosier Mod LItes brought 7 entries to the red clay for their first time. Josh Hutchinson from Carterville, Illinois won the heat. The feature was won by Andy Tragesser from Tipton, Indiana. Following him at the finish were Tad Canada, Jeff Cast, Joe Boyll and Josh Hutchinson.
Don’t forget this coming Friday night is the biggest payout of the year at Bloomington Speedway. The Josh Burton Memorial is a huge event and you won’t want to miss the MSCS sprint show honoring one of our favorites Josh Burton. Thanks goes to the Burtons and so many others that always put on an outstanding night where we will always remember the good times with Josh and the O4 forever. Also on the card is a huge fireworks event with UMP Mods, UMP Super Stocks, UMP Hornets and the MMSA mini sprints. See you Friday night and don’t forget to paint your tires Orange and if you have some Orange and Green Socks Josh sure would appreciate them being worn also!! See you at the Red Clay for my favorite race of the year at Bloomington Speedway!!!
- Jill Spiker on May 23, 2022
- Article Date: 5/23/2022 by Kenny Clark