The season finale at Bloomfield Speedway was held on Friday night and, despite repeated threats from Mother Nature, the season came to a successful close. Derrick Kirkland, Dennis Elliott, Mike Fisher, Tyler McClure and Jason McDaniel etched their names in the record books as the final victors of the season.
The A Mods kicked off feature action with Mike Kaller taking the lead from his pole position start. Running the low side, Elliott quickly made his way into second place after his second row start as the leaders distanced themselves from the pack early.
Nearly a straightaway ahead of the field by the completion of the fourth lap, Elliott worked the low side past Kaller at the start-finish line one lap later to take charge. Elliott encountered lapped traffic three laps later, but navigated with ease through the backmarkers. By the time both leaders made their way through the lapped cars, Elliott maintained a straightaway lead over Kaller with only a couple of laps to go.
Elliott charged to the checkers with Kaller in second. Beau Taylor took third, a straightaway behind Kaller. Troy Alexander finished fourth.
Clayton Crump took the early lead in the 14-lap Hobby Stock feature. He quickly extended a lead that disappeared when the yellow flag waved on lap five. Kirkland powered from his fourth starting spot on the restart to sweep around his competitors and into second just one lap later.
Kirkland dropped to the low side and into a challenge for the lead, taking over the top spot one lap later. Kirkland then survived a pair of late race cautions to take the win ahead of a hard-charging Donovan Nunnikhoven, who started the event outside of row six. Tony Teninty, Crump and Nick Ulin rounded out the top five.
Fisher led wire-to-wire in the 13-car 4-cylinder feature. Fisher, Kevin Kirkpatrick and David Probasco made it a three-car breakaway out front early in that 10-lapper. As Fisher held a narrow advantage, Probasco worked the low side of Kirkpatrick in an exciting battle for second. Fisher pulled away late for the win as Probasco made the late race pass for second to finish ahead of Kirkpatrick.
Tyler McClure took the early lead in the Stock Car main. He settled into the top spot from his outside front row starting spot when the green flag waved. As McClure led, Mike Robinson was racing through traffic from his third row start and into the second after just two laps.
The leaders started to pull away from the field and engaged in an entertaining battle out front. Robinson worked the high side of McClure a handful of laps into the event and briefly took the lead before dropping back into second. Robinson then made a strong challenge on the low side before mechanical problems sidelined him on the 10th of 14 laps.
McClure proceeded to dominate the rest of the event to score the win ahead of Mike Harward and Miles McClure. Sam McClure and Greg Harsch ran fourth and fifth, respectively.
Jason McDaniel motored into the lead at the drop of the green in the B Mod feature. He made quick work of the field, pulling away to victory by more than a straightaway in that caution-free event. Mike Shelton, Scott Vanbuskirk and Jim Walker completed the top four.
It was a good night of racing at Bloomfield. While the car count was a little lower than normal at 67, fans were provided with great racing on an excellent surface. The extreme heat and threat of severe weather were both working against the program as the crowd in the stands was also a bit light... The format on the night, as it had been all year, was a draw-redraw format. Since there were no point standings, the program was run the same as all previous race nights... After six years of running the track, Ron and Jerry Potts announced in the drivers meeting that this was their last race at the helm of the speedway... Similar to many fairgrounds speedways, once the county fair has come and gone and the new school year and family vacations approach, the crowds start to dwindle at Bloomfield. That appeared to have led to the decision for the shorter season in 2010... Stock Car driver Miles McClure enjoyed a strong second place run. According to track announcer Tony Paris, McClure suffered heart damage when receiving radiation and chemotherapy for cancer, which forced him to have a heart transplant this past spring... Despite the late start due to the light shower after check-in time and the late arrivals, the show ended right at the 10 p.m. hour.
I was ready to head back north today for the races at Independence, but got word from Cam Granger this morning that the heavy rains from the past week continued overnight. Those rains caused record flooding in the area, thus forcing the cancellation of tonight's program. I'll stick around the southeast Iowa area and hope the weather holds off so I can take in the weekly show at 34 Raceway in Burlington. It's Christmas in July at the speedway tonight and, as much as I don't care for snow, it sure would be nice to have a little to cool things off a bit!
Tomorrow I'm going to head back north to the Great Jones County Fair in Monticello to announce the mid-day stock car races and the evening demolition derby. If you need something to do on your Sunday, make a day of it and join us at the fair!
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