Post by LMR on 09/07/13 at 8:48pm
43rd Annual World 100
Eldora Speedway
September 7, 2013
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Blankenship Reaches Mountaintop Of Dirt Late Model Racing With Career-First Victory In World 100 At Eldora Speedway
West Virginia Driver Charges Forward From 12th Starting Spot For $46,000 Triumph
by Kevin Kovac
ROSSBURG, OH (September 7) – Welcome to the elite, John Blankenship.
The 32-year-old driver from Williamson, W.Va., reached the mountaintop of dirt Late Model racing on Saturday night, racing forward from the 12th starting spot to capture the 43rd annual DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned World 100 at Eldora Speedway.
September 7 Event Photos by Mike Ruefer
September 7 Event Photos by Jim Denhamer
Blankenship passed Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., for the lead on lap 53 and never looked back. He secured the biggest win of his decade-long racing career – a star-making triumph worth $46,000 – by reaching the checkered flag 1.757 seconds ahead of Union, Ky.'s Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., whose late bid to finally put the World 100 on his resume fell short.
A low-key racer who has come of age as a championship contender this season on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Blankenship kept an even keel during his Victory Lane celebration with his father/car owner Don and crew. He had a hard time grasping the significance of what he had accomplished in front of a massive crowd that ranked as one of the largest in the history of the historic high-banked, half-mile oval.
"It's unbelievable," Blankenship said with reverence after becoming the 27th driver – and first from the state of West Virginia – to win dirt Late Model racing's most prestigious event. "I can't describe being up here (on the winner's stage).
"I'm not a real emotional type of guy. I've been let down so many times by expectations being so high (at Eldora), when it finally happens it's almost just surreal. It'll soak in about Wednesday and then I'll be really elated and probably go party some."
As Blankenship cruised out front and Lanigan vainly attempted to run him down, the most compelling late-race battle was for third place. Three-time World 100 winner Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., came out on top of the three-car tussle, grabbing third from Phillips on lap 94 and then turning back a furious outside assault from 16-year-old Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., to register his 16th top-five finish in 24 career World 100 starts.
Pierce, who started from the outside pole and led laps 8-13, settled for a fourth-place finish in his spectacular first-ever World 100 appearance. The rising young star drew some of the loudest cheers from the crowd as he went toe-to-toe with veteran drivers throughout the race.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series points leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., completed the top five, reaching fifth with two laps remaining to conclude a steady march forward from the 20th starting spot.
Phillips, who started from the pole position and led laps 1-7 and 15-52, slipped to a sixth-place finish in his eighth career World 100 start but first since 2006.
No one broke through traffic in the 100-lapper quicker that Blankenship. He was only ninth when the race's first caution flag flew on lap 21 for a flat right-rear tire on the car driven by Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., but he reached fifth on lap 36, took third from Pierce on lap 44, passed Lanigan for second on lap 48 and sailed into the lead with a smooth slide underneath Phillips on lap 53.
"We've had a good car here all week and hit on a little something last night," Blankenship said of his Rocket machine. "I felt real good about a long (green-flag) run, so I was real surprised I took the lead as early as I did."
With the race running without interruption following a second and final caution flag on lap 56 for the slowing car of Chatham, Ill.'s Brian Shirley, Blankenship set a torrid pace. He built a near straightaway advantage by lap 70, giving him more than enough cushion to absorb Lanigan's late-race charge.
Lanigan, 43, wrestled second place from Phillips on lap 77 and managed to cut Blankenship's nearly two-second lead in half within 10 circuits. But Blankenship found the rhythm he needed to keep Lanigan from drawing any closer.
"I was really nervous about the whole race," said Blankenship, whose three previous World 100 A-Main starts resulted in progressively better finishes of 21st (2009), 11th ('10) and fifth ('11). "I thought they were breathing down my neck the whole time, so I was driving pretty hard and didn't know how long my stuff was gonna stay under me.
"Evey time I tried to be a little more patient I would get a push and I couldn't even run down the lapped cars. I decided to just start driving it in like I was when I was trying to catch the leader and actually the car handled a lot better."
Lanigan had a perfect view of Blankenship's impeccable mount while chasing the leader late in the distance. Try as he might, the alltime winningest WoO LMS driver couldn't catch Blankenship.
With the loss, Lanigan surpassed Freddy Smith as the driver who has made the most career World 100 A-Main starts (20) without reaching Victory Lane. He recorded his second runner-up finish and eighth overall top-five run in the event, but that was little consolation to the hyper-competitive racer.
"It's just disappointing to come up here and be that close," said Lanigan, whose previous second-place finish came in 1999. "I already got a couple ideas of what we should've done, but it's too late now. We were just a little bit off.
"(Blankenship) kind of surprised me to be that good down there in the middle. He could run that middle to the bottom. I tried it and felt good there, but he was just a little bit better. I reeled him in and got within six, seven car lengths, but then I couldn't close up no more."
Lanigan could only look on from afar – or, more precisely, the post-race inspection area in the pit area – as Blankenship celebrated on the winner's stage.
"We've had an up-and-down season and really slipped the last four or five weeks," said Blankenship, who briefly led the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points standings in the middle of the summer before falling back. "This is just a really big booster to us.
"You definitely have doubts," he continued, "especially when you come out here (to Eldora) and can't even run last in a B-Main – that's happened before too. It's just a really competitive sport, and that's actually why I love it so much. You can be the fastest car one week and the slowest car the next. It makes wins like this even more special."
Finishing in positions 7-10 were Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., who ran as high as fourth for a short period after the lap-56 restart; Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga.; Jared Landers of Batesville, Ark.; and Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va.
Winners of Saturday night's six 15-lap heats were J.R. Hotovy of Hartford, Mich., Shirley, Davenport, Lanigan, Pierce and Phillips. The 20-lap B-Mains were captured by teenager Tyler Reddick of DuQuoin, Ill., and Bloomquist.
Two five-lap 'Scrambles' for drivers failing to earn transfer positions in the B-Mains were also contested, with Randy Weaver of Crossville, Tenn., and Morgan Bagley of Longview, Texas, earning $1,000 each for their victories.
For more information on DIRTcar Racing, visit www.dirtcar.com.
World 100
A-Main
1 12 23 John Blankenship $46,000
2 3 29 Darrell Lanigan
3 22 0 Scott Bloomquist
4 2 32P Bobby Pierce
5 20 1 Josh Richards
6 1 75P Terry Phillips
7 8 44 Earl Pearson, Jr
8 4 49D Jonathan Davenport
9 16 5 Jared Landers
10 9 28C Eddie Carrier Jr
11 15 57J Bub McCool
12 23 32 Chris Simpson
13 10 44M Chris Madden
14 30 22S Gregg Satterlee
15 27 B5 Brandon Sheppard
16 14 20C Duane Chamberlain
17 25 1V Vic Hill
18 5 3S Brian Shirley
19 13 99JR Frank Heckenast Jr
20 11 28M Jimmy Mars
21 19 25F Jason Feger
22 17 1J Jeff Babcock
23 26 15B Brian Birkhofer
24 24 20 Jimmy Owens
25 21 11 Tyler Reddick
26 7 17M Dale McDowell
27 31 25C Shane Clanton
28 6 13 JR Hotovy
29 29 7R Kent Robinson
30 32 55 Jeep Vanwormer
31 18 95J Jerry Bowersock
32 28 18 Shannon Babb
20 Lap B-Mains
Top 5 transfer to A-Main
B-Main #1
1 11 Tyler Reddick
2 32 Chris Simpson
3 B5 Brandon Sheppard
4 7R Kent Robinson
5 116 Randy Weaver
6 9T Tim Isenberg
7 18K Brandon Kinzer
8 11N Brad Neat
9 81 Randy Korte
10 58X Gary Christian
11 48 Chad Ruhlman
12 58 Ray Guss Jr
13 19 Chad Smith
14 77K Steve Kester
15 21 Billy Moyer
16 1DJ Doug Drown
17 49 Brian Ruhlman
18 11S Ryan Sutter
19 1V Vic Hill
20 46 Tim Rivers
21 33 Don Gordon
22 3 Matt Miller
23 6 Dustin Neat
24 1WC Wayne Chinn
B-Scramble #1
1 Randy Weaver
2 Brad Neat
3 Brandon Kinzer
4 Tim Isenberg
5 Ray Guss Jr.
6 Billy Moyer
7 Chad Ruhlman
8 Gary Christian
9 Brian Ruhlman
10 Randy Korte
11 Doug Drown
12 Steven Kester
13 Tim Rivers
14 Chad Smith
15 Ryan Sutter
16 Don Gordon
B-Main #2
1 0 Scott Bloomquist
2 20 Jimmy Owens
3 15B Brian Birkhofer
4 18 Shannon Babb
5 22S Gregg Satterlee
6 14M Morgan Bagley
7 15J Greg Johnson
8 88 Andrew Reaume
9 D8 Dustin Linville
10 89 Mike Spatola
11 39 Tim McCreadie
12 101 Casey Roberts
13 16R Justin Ratliff
14 48X Steve Lance Jr
15 81JR Jason Riggs
16 66 Jody Knowles
17 0D Brad Dyer
18 15H Jon Henry
19 1* Chub Frank
20 360 Michael Asberry
21 23V Ryan VanderVeen
22 99 Donnie Moran
23 17W Brett Wyatt
24 11D Brian Diveley
B-Main Scramble #2
1 Morgan Bagley
2 Greg Johnson
3 Andrew Reaume
4 Dustin Linville
5 Mike Spatola
6 Tim McCreadie
7 Justin Rattliff
8 Steve Lance Jr.
9 Jason Riggs
10 Jody Knowles
11 Brad Dyer
15 Lap Heat Races
1-3 transfer to A-Main
4-11 transfer to B-Main
Heat #1
1. J.R. Hotovy
2. Dale McDowell
3. Frankie Heckenast Jr.
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Jason Feger
6. Dustin Neat
7. Chris Simpson
8. Chad Ruhlman
9. Randy Korte
10. Brian Ruhlman
11. Steve Kester
12. Gary Christian
13. Kevin Weaver
14. Steve Francis
15. Matt Irey
16. Justin Chance
17. Dennis Erb Jr.
18. Robby Hensley
(DNS) Nick Latham
Heat #2
1. Brian Shirley
2. Earl Pearson Jr.
3. Duane Chamberlain
4. Vic Hill
5. Randy Weaver
6. Kent Robinson
7. Brandon Kinzer
8. Matt Miller
9. Chad Smith
10. Shannon Thornsberry
11. Ryan Sutter
12. Mike Marlar
13. Josh Richards
14. Dustin Neat
(DNS) Jeremy Nichols, Joe Ramey, Jason Riggs,
Chad Simpson, Don Hammer
Heat #3
1. Jonathan Davenport
2. Eddie Carrier Jr.
3. Bub McCool
4. Brandon Sheppard
5. Ray Guss Jr.
6. Wayne Chinn
7. Tim Isenberg
8. Billy Moyer
9. Doug Drown
10. Tim Rivers
11. Don Gordon
12. Jason Montgomery
13. John Mason
14. Jeep VanWormer
15. R.J. Conley
16. Jeff Watson
17. John Mayes Jr.
(DNS) Scott James, Doug Zartler
Heat #4
1. Darrell Lanigan
2. Chris Madden
3. Jared Landers
4. Shannon Babb
5. Scott Bloomquist
6. Michael Asberry
7. Brett Wyatt
8. Jody Knowles
9. Steve Lance Jr.
10. Justin Rattliff
11. Jason Riggs
12. Phil Ausra
13. Jason Smith
14. Shane Unger
15. Michael Chilton
16. Mason Zeigler
17. Don O'Neal
18. Shane Clanton
19. Devin Moran
Heat #5
1. Bobby Pierce
2. Jimmy Mars
3. Jeff Babcock
4. Jimmy Owens
5. Jon Henry
6. Donnie Moran
7. Tim McCreadie
8. Gregg Satterlee
9. Greg Johnson
10. Chub Frank
11. Ryan VanderVeen
12. Mike Spatola
13. Casey Noonan
14. Jay Brunson
15. Jim Gingery
16. Mason Combs
17. Brian Gray
18. Jeff Sloan
19. Ky Harper
Heat #6
1. Terry Phillips
2. John Blankenship
3. Jerry Bowersock
4. Ricky Weiss
5. Morgan Bagley
6. Dustin Linville
7. Brian Birkhofer
8. Andrew Reaume
9. Casey Roberts
10. Brian Diveley
11. Brad Dyer
12. Jacob Hawkins
13. Tim Manville
14. Tim Lance
15. Jeff Wolfenbarger
16. Scott Clifford
17. Jay Johnson
(DNS) Henry Cooper
