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Bloomquist wins first race at Port Royal

Sentinel photo by TIM SHUMAKER
Scott Richards, 1, and Scott Bloomquist, race off of turn two Sunday at the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Challenge Series at Port Royal Speedway.

PORT ROYAL — Scott Bloomquist has won late model races across the United States, but never stood on the famous Port Royal Speedway stage until Sunday night.

Bloomquist, of Mooresville, Tenn., dominated the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series event scoring his first ever Port Royal win, but the 595th late model win of his legendary career. He was awarded $10,000 for the win.

“The car was really nice,” Bloomquist said. “I could really carry speed around the high line, but when I needed to go to the bottom, I could, and pass cars. It really is a great race track and we hadn’t had a victory here. I really enjoy running on it. It’s got a lot of character and there are a number of lanes around this place. I think I figured it out pretty good tonight.”

Bloomquist started second and fell behind Tim McCreadie for the first two laps before taking control of the 50-lap main event. He led by 1.785 seconds after only five laps and increased that lead to 2.526 seconds after 15 laps.

The caution flag flew with 17 laps down. Josh Richards passed McCreadie for second on the restart, but couldn’t challenge Bloomquist for the lead.

“On the restarts, the right front cooled off a little bit and I pushed just a little bit and a flirted with the wall a little bit,” Bloomquist said.

With 17 laps to go, another caution slowed the field and McCreadie took second back from Richards as Bloomquist controlled the restart.

A final caution flew with one lap remaining.

Once again, nobody was up to the task of challenging Bloomquist as he won by .976. Richards took second back and Earl Pearson Jr. finished third as McCreadie faded to fourth at the end. Darrell Lanigan completed the top five.

Jonathan Davenport, Bobby Pierce, Hudson O’Neal, Alex Ferree and Mason Zeigler rounded out the top 10. Selinsgrove’s Dylan Yoder was the highest finishing local driver in 16th one spot ahead of three-time speedway champion Mike Lupfer.

Austin Hubbard set fast time over the 43-car field with a lap of 18.179. McCreadie, Richards, Jimmy Owens and Bloomquist won the heat races. O’Neal and Davenport won the B-mains.

Mark Smith of Sunbury won the Ray Tilley Classic for the Sprint cars Sunday night at Selinsgrove Speedway. Smith earned $4,088 for the win.

“This is great,” Smith said in victory lane. “We’ve won the Kramer Cup here quite a few times. This means a lot here. This paycheck is going to help freshen my motor because it’s about worn out. And, it’s got a big hole in the radiator somewhere because it’s pushing all the water out.”

He started fifth and was up one spot when the red flag flew with four laps completed. Steve Buckwalter had been running second, but blew a tire racing into the first turn. Jason Shultz hit Buckwalter after he flipped. They were okay.

Smith shot by Freddie Rahmer and TJ Stutts on the restart moving into second. A lap 10 caution slowed the field again. Smith drove by race-long leader Gerard McIntyre Jr. on the restart. Rahmer and Stutts also passed McIntyre Jr.

“At this place, you really have to be careful with your tires,” Smith said. “I always tell everybody you go as fast as you need to. When I was behind (McIntyre Jr.) I was just riding because this place is hard on left rears. Then we got a caution and I figured I’d make my move and get out in clean air. You can cruise and if you hear somebody, you can pick it up a little bit.”

From there, Smith was never challenged en route to victory over Rahmer, Stutts, Greg Hodnett and Lucas Wolfe. Anthony Macri, McIntyre Jr., Trey Starks, Coleman Gulick and Michael Walter II rounded out the top 10.

Jeremy ohl won the limited late models over Jim Yoder, Brian Shuey, Dillan Stake and Shaun Jones

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