Scott Bloomquist Bags the Jackson 100 at Brownstown
Story and Photo By: LUCAS OIL DIRT LATE MODEL SERIES MEDIA
BROWNSTOWN, IN- September 25, 2016- Scott Bloomquist led 97 of the 100 laps on Saturday Night at Brownstown Speedway, winning his sixth career Jackson 100. He earned $20,000 for winning the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event. Bloomquist passed Dennis Erb Jr. for the lead early in the race and was briefly challenged by Darrell Lanigan and Jimmy Owens.
Bloomquist’s Crop Production Services, Reece Monument Company, Mark Martin Automotive, Durham Racing Engines, Sweet-Bloomquist Chassis outran Owens, Lanigan, Tim McCreadie, and Chris Simpson for the win.
“The first few times we came here, we didn’t make the race, but gradually over time we got better. It’s completely different dirt than what we were winning on in the South at that time. The crowd has always been supportive of us up here and it’s a track you have to be smooth to drive on,” said the winner afterwards in Lucas Oil Victory Lane.
“The car was very good all night long; in the heat race it would handle anywhere on the track. When they went out and worked on the track before the main event, I am sure it helped us. Our car was able to maneuver the entire 100 laps without any difficulty. When we got into traffic late, it was still race-able.”
Bloomquist was challenged only on restarts by Lanigan and then by Owens as they were able to stay close to the 52-year-old Hall-of-Famer, seeking his third career LOLMDS title. As the race wore on with several long green flag runs, Bloomquist proved his dominance.
Owens was pleased with his runner-up finish. “We had a good car at Knoxville last week, but didn’t get the result we wanted to. This track has always been fun to race on and with the crowd on hand that they had tonight, it makes it ever better. I thought I had a good chance to stay with Scott; and we did for several laps; but a couple of times I skated up the track and that hurt our chances.”
Lanigan had one of his best finishes ever at Brownstown and felt that he had a strong car for the entire race. “We keep working on this piece and it just seems to get better and better. To come to Brownstown and run third with these guys tells us how far we have come. I’d like to give a big thanks to everybody at Clint Bowyer Racing and Georgia Boot for their support.”
Completing the Top Ten were: Dennis Erb Jr., Don O’Neal, Dustin Linville, Cody Mahoney, and Hudson O’Neal.
In preliminary action, Steve Francis set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time (Group A) amongst the 42 entrants, with a lap of 13.219 seconds. Cody Mahoney set the fastest time in Group B with a time of 13.535 seconds. Dennis Erb Jr., Don O’Neal, Darrell Lanigan, and Scott Bloomquist won their respective heat races. Devin Gilpin and Michael Chilton won their respective B-Mains.
