I also hope this puts to rest all the rumors and talk about tension between us and Pace Chassis, we couldnt be more happy to carry the PACE Banner in our shop and Scott and Holly are some of the closest friends we have and cant thank them and every one at Pace for everything they do for us!

VERNON,NY (July 29, 2010) – Defending series champion, Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN withstood a one-lap shootout with Ray cook of Brasstown, NC to win his sixth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of the season. The win took place on Thursday Night at Utica-Rome Speedway. Bloomquist earned $10,000 for the 492^nd win of his illustrious career. Cook, last year’s series winner at the track, finished second after starting in ninth. Eighteenth starting Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, GA finished third, followed by Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL and John Blankenship of Williamson, WV.

“Here tonight, the car was about as perfect as it gets,” exclaimed the 46-year-old driver, “last year, after the American Racer tires beat us, Hoosier went to work and had a great tire for us tonight. I wasn’t really nervous on that last restart, because I knew Ray would run me clean. It would have been a shame to lose the race on the last lap after the night we had”.

Bloomquist dominated the field for a majority of the race. He already held nearly a half-a-lap lead over Cook when the caution came out with seven laps to go. Bloomquist then had to be patient through two more cautions in the final two circuits, setting up a one-lap dash to the finish. As Cook tried valiantly to steal the win from Bloomquist, he was able to outrun the #53 into turn one on the final lap. He went on to score the win and extend his series points lead over Jimmy Owens. The engine erupted in flames after the fuel line came off on lap ten while Owens was running second, ending his night.

“I have to thank Bob and Barb Miller, Miller Brothers Construction, Hawkeye Trucking, of course the Roush-Yates Engine ran superb, and all the crew, Tommy (Hicks) and everybody else,” said the winner. “They [crew] do a great job, and with the tough competition on this series you have to be on top of your game night in and night out to stay up front. We gained a lot of points tonight on Jimmy and we look forward to coming back up here. This is a very good race track and the fans treated us just super”.

Cook in the D&R Racing owned MasterSbilt captured the win at Utica-Rome a year ago, but could not quite overcome his ninth starting spot as he crossed the line behind Bloomquist. McDowell in the Clint Bowyer Racing, Dollar General sponsored Warrior Impala SS salvaged a credible night after the battery lost power in his car during the heat race. He was relegated to an outside ninth-row starting spot and came home third followed by Pearson in the Bobby Labonte Racing; Lucas Oil Products sponsored MasterSbilt Dodge Charger. Blankenship, in the Don Blankenship, Coal America’s Energy Rocket was fifth.

Completing the top ten were Billy Decker of Unadilla, NY; Steve Casebolt of Richmond, IN; Don O’Neal of Martinsville, IN; Tyler Reddick of Corning, CA; and Tim Isenberg of Marshfield, WI.

In preliminary action, Bloomquist was the fastest qualifier among the 26 entrants in the Red Buck Cigars Time Trials. Heat race winners were Bloomquist, Pearson, and Blankenship. Dan Schlieper took the B-Main win.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be back in action this Saturday Night, July 31^st at Frank Plessinger’s Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, MD. The event will pay $10,000 to win. For more information, go to www.hagerstownspeedway.com.

For the latest breaking news on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, log on to www.lucasdirt.com or call the series office at (951) 532-2503 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (951) 532-2503 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Matthew Green competed at Tampa Bay Quarter Midget Track in Tampa, Florida this weekend and  brought home another feature win in the Light X160 & Lt World Formula class. Matthew is currently the Points Leader in both classes for the 2010 Points Season at Tampa Bay.

Dan Mazy gave his mom an added Birthday present as he won his second
Crate-1 Sportsman feature of the season. Bob Burgess posted his best
finish ever at NES finishing second. Brian Papiez finished third for
the second race in a row, followed by point leader Kyle Borror and
Chris Allen Jr.

Drummondville, QUE — July 20, 2010 – By Tom Skibinski, Super DIRTcar Series PR Director
*Sylvain Buisson Photo

Brett Hearn was looking for the sweep while Dale Planck was trying to lead the distance. Matt Sheppard and Jimmy Phelps had plans to retain their stronghold on the Big-Block Modified win chart while Billy Decker was hoping to regain his winning form.

When the checkered finally flew Tuesday night at Autodrome Drummond, it was open-wheel veteran Danny Johnson fulfilling his own destiny as the Rochester, N.Y. native laid claim to the Super DIRTcar Series ‘Solution Ticket 100’ to close out the annual Canadian Tour in the province of Quebec.

“Its been awhile but this team has been awesome for me, its great to be back,” remarked Johnson, now 50, who has been racking up DIRTcar Modified wins since 1979 and his latest elevated his series count to 67, which keeps him second all-time behind only Hearn. “I’m just a lucky individual to be here. I know I’m fortunate to be here so I’m just going to enjoy it while I’m here.”

“It’s great getting back to victory lane, definitely a confidence builder. The team has been working really hard getting the car better each time out. As long as we stick together we’ll continue to grow and get better I believe,” said Johnson, whose last Series triumph came at Orange County Fair Speedway teamed with Mike Petruska and his no. 66 Atlas Paving/TEO Pro Car in the 2008 Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Eastern States 200 in Middletown.

Johnson was back aboard a familiar orange no. 27J ride in his latest victory march, this year owned by Mike Payne and carrying sponsorship from Honeoye Auto Parts, Currier Plastics and Waste Management on the potent Bicknell machine. Following in his tire tracks at the end of the century grind were hard-charging Phelps, Planck, Hearn, Sheppard, Decker and top French finisher Marin Roy, who claimed guaranteed starting status during Super DIRT Week in Syracuse for both Big-Block and 358-Modified main events held Oct. 9-10.

Pole-sitter Planck and Johnson shared front row starting assignments to lead off the 100-lap finale which was caution-stricken on the opening lap. Racing track promoter Yan Bussiere, who earlier in the night set Bilstein Shocks Fast Time, got caught up high and wound up parked on the turn three wall, a precarious position that required 10 minutes to alleviate.

Planck retained his edge on the ensuing lap nine restart, with Johnson, French favorite David Hebert, Hearn and Billy Dunn locked in pursuit. It took the ‘Natural’ just eight more circuits to catch the tail end of the pack as he sped around the fast 4/10-miler steering Carey Terrance’s back-up RezX Racing no. 66xx Twin Leaf Express(Ft. Covington)/Bicknell entry.

Only two more yellow flags slowed the action by the midway point with Planck holding a commanding lead in what had been a rather uneventful race up to that point. When Francois Bernier idled down the front chute on lap 49, Planck and Johnson still ran two with Hearn improving to third ahead of Hebert, Sheppard, Decker and Phelps.

Hearn was quickly drop-kicked to fifth when the green flag once again unfurled on the lap 55 restart as Sheppard bolted into third. Ryan Phelps suffered a flat right-rear Hoosier eight circuits later, with his cousin Jimmy holding down fourth-place in what has become a customary move to the front in the latter stages.

The biggest incident of the night forced a red flag situation with 75 laps complete when turn three contact tangled up the cars of tour regulars Billy Dunn and Tom Sears Jr. as well as Gino Clair, Bernier and Bussiere, who was scored some 30 laps down to the leaders at the time. Green lights flashed on once more as 13 racers remained on the lead lap all looking to take their best shot at reaching the winner’s circle.

In tracking down Planck prior to the field coming to a stop, Johnson continued to shadow the race-long leader until finally ducking underneath for good as the lead pair swung out of turn four. After Decker’s Gypsum Express teammate Larry Wight spun rounding turn one to force out the seventh and final caution flag on lap 83, Johnson faced a clear path ahead as did his closest rivals in search of the $6,000 top prize.

With just 10 laps to go, Planck and Phelps zeroed in on Johnson as they mirrored every move made by DIRTcar Northeast’s only five-time Driver-of-the-Year. Just as 97 clicked on the lap counter Phelps grabbed second from Planck and set his sights on Johnson with time running out. Phelps was able to snuggle up to Johnson’s rear bumper on the white flag lap, and when the checkers came out he nearly pushed him across the stripe as the 50-minute main event brought the final curtain down.

“We had a really good car all day, just that the other guys had pretty good cars, too,” figured Johnson, following his second Big-Block win of 2010 which pushes his career count to 299 on the DIRTcar NE circuit. “With so many good cars and drivers in one place, anything can happen so you have to feel fortunate any time you can pick up a win.”

“Dale took off and was gone from the start, but we were able to reel him in later on and I thought things were going good. Then the caution came out, double-file restarts aren’t for me. But like I said, that’s why I’m lucky, those restarts happened the way they did and I was able to do what I did and be here in victory lane,” added Johnson, whose only other SDS race led (7 laps) this year was the Hagerstown Speedway opener in March.
Already finding his way to the front in seven of the first 12 Series shows in 2010, Phelps fell a fraction shy of tacking on his fourth win of the season and was forced to settle for his third runner-up tally in the previous five shows.

“We really had a good car, if we could’ve broke free early we could’ve probably dome something,” assessed Phelps, 35, who moved into a tie for second-place with Billy Decker on the Super DIRTcar Series points chart now 59 behind Sheppard. The Baldwinsville, N.Y. pilot remains in search of his first overall Mr. DIRTcar crown after placing among the front-four each of the past three years. “Still feel fortunate to get what we got out here today.”

“Once the track rubbered up early on you just had to wait for somebody to screw up in front to get by them, so starting 15th we’re real happy with second. We were really good late, yet in the beginning we just tried to hang on. Even if we started closer to the front who’s to say we wouldn’t have backed up, so its hard to say if we would’ve won with a better starting spot.”

“The bottom line is that we got up in the mix again and we’re close. Don’t know if I could’ve got Danny without some traffic or maybe him making a mistake, who knows. Regardless, we had the car that we needed and we’re happy with that,” stated Phelps, already an 11-time race winner in ’10, just one checkered flag shy of Sheppard.

Fresh off leading 36 laps in the headline Series special Monday night at Autodrome Granby, Planck more than doubled his progress at Drummond as the second-generation standout from Cortland, N.Y. paced the pack for the initial 78 circuits on Tuesday.

“We went with a soft tire on the left-rear and it just didn’t hold up for us towards the end,” lamented a disappointed Planck in the post-race interview. “The track just went away, the bottom (lane) took rubber within a lap after that restart and Dan was down there. I was coming down out of turn four trying to catch the rubber but it just locked right down and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“This car seems a little better though, definitely a lot better than last night at Granby. We’re going back to the shop and get the #77x fixed back up and try it all over again this weekend,” Planck added.

Super DIRTcar Series travelers get two weeks off before hauling back across the border for round 10 on Monday, August 2 when Merrittville Speedway hosts the Bob St. Amand Sr. Memorial 100 presented by L. St. Amand Enterprises.

Super DIRTcar Series Race #13 – Autodrome Drummond, July 20, 2010 ‘Solution Ticket 100’ Big-Block Modified Event Summary
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER
1 2 27j Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY ($6,000)
2 15 98h Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville,NY
3 1 66xx Dale Planck/Cortland,NY
4 4 20 Brett Hearn/Sussex,NJ
5 9 9s Matt Sheppard/Waterloo,NY
6 6 91 Billy Decker/Unadilla,NY
7 18 90 Martin Roy/Napierville,QUE
8 19 54 Steve Bernard/St Paul Abbotsford,QUE
9 12 63 Dominic Dufault/Ste-Victoire,QUE
10 3 1 David Hebert/St. Damase,QUE
11 8 7x Steve Paine/Waterloo,NY
12 22 66x Carey Terrance/Akwesasne,NY
13 30 7 Patrice Demers/Drummondville,QUE
14 20 99 Ryan Phelps/Fulton,NY
15 26 27 Michel Dusseault/Victoriaville,QUE
16 29 3 Claude Brouillard/Tracy,QUE
17 28 8 Rich Scagliotta/Bound Brook,NJ
18 16 39 Clement Therrien/Victoriaville,QUE
19 27 22j Gino Clair/St-Germain,QUE
20 17 44 Sebastien Gougeon/Drummondville,QUE
21 24 61 Jean Boissonneault/Granby,QUE
22 10 22c Mario Clair/St-Edmond,QUE
23 25 09 Alex Fortier/Princeville,QUE
24 13 99L Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY
25 21 46 Kayle Robidoux/St-Constant,QUE
26 7 62s Tom Sears Jr./Clay,NY
27 5 49d Billy Dunn/Watertown,NY
28 11 49 Francois Bernier/St-Hyacinthe,QUE
29 23 23 Dany Bilodeau/Victoriaville,QUE
30 14 21 Yan Bussiere/Drummondville,QUE
31 32 *1f Stewart Friesen/Niagara-o-t-Lake,ONT
32 31 9ss Michael Storms/Wantage,NJ
GATER RACING NEWS LAP LEADERS: Planck (1-78), Johnson (79-100).
CAUTIONS: 7 for 29 laps.
HEAT WINNERS: Dufault, Hearn, Clair, Johnson.
CONSI WINNERS: Robidoux, Terrance.
BICKNELL RACING PRODUCTS WINNER AWARD: Danny Johnson.
MSD IGNITION WINNER AWARD: Danny Johnson.
SYRACUSE 200 QUALIFIER: Martin Roy.
SYRACUSE 358-MODIFIED QUALIFIER: Martin Roy.
HALFWAY LEADER: Dale Planck.
BERT/KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Patrice Demers.
XTREME LUBRICANTS SLICK MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Jimmy Phelps.
PENSKE POWER POSITION AWARD (16th): Claude Brouillard.
MSD IGNITION FINAL PLACEMENT AWARD: Michael Storms.
BILSTEIN SHOCKS FAST TIME AWARD: Yan Bussiere (17.463sec/82.460mph).
TOTAL PURSE: $28,350.
CARS ENTERED: 42.
NEXT EVENT: Merrittville Speedway - August 2, 2010.
DID NOT QUALIFY(10)
16w-Lance Willix II/Theresa,NY
17-Eric Bessette/St-Marc Richelieu,QUE
22-Eric Gauvreau/Chelsea,QUE
35-Francois Bellemare/Trois-Rivieres,QUE
37-Paul St.Sauveur/St-Hyacinthe,QUE
61g-Martin Gagne/Granby,QUE
72-Denis Gauvreau/Alymer,QUE
75-Sebastien Benoit/St-Eugene,QUE
81-Eric Landry/Trois-Rivieres,QUE
97-Michel Chicoine/Ste-Cecile de Milton,QUE

Dalton tries for 2 in a row at Delta Speedway.

Saturday July 17, I returned to Delta Speedway in Stockton, CA to try for 2 in a row. When we arrived, I was surprised to hear that they were calling all 600’s to the track for wheel packing. They usually don’t do that here. They track was very wet and heavy. When I came off the track we removed almost 30 pounds of mud from the car so my crew made some adjustments for our hot lap session. The car felt really good. When I came off the track I asked that they don’t change anything.

I drew a pretty good pill & when they posted the lineups I was on the pole of heat #1. They dropped the green flag, I pulled ahead of the outside car and went high. He tried to pull a cross over hooking my rear bumper and causing the car behind him to spin. Since we hadn’t completed a lap they restarted the race, giving that car its spot back. On the restart I got on the gas a little earlier and was able to pull ahead enough to not worry about him hooking my bumper. My car rolled the corner beautifully & I led flag to flag and picked up another heat race win.

The track was holding up very well. It appeared to be getting rough but it still had a lot of tack. We made some minor adjustments to the car for heat #2. I was starting dead last in the 8 hole. On the start I laid back a bit and when the green came out I pulled the car to the bottom & passed 3 cars before we even came out of 4 and was sitting in 5th when we hit turn 1. When we came around to complete lap 1, I was in 4th. The 3rd place car was very difficult to pass. I knew I was faster but his driving line was a bit erratic, making it hard for me to set him up for a clean pass. With just 2 laps to go, I stuck my nose in & got under him, giving him just a little nudge to let him know I coming by. The lead 2 cars were already a half a lap ahead and I had no hopes of catching them. I finished a solid 3rd.

The lineups were posted & I was starting 2nd in the feature. They annouced that they were going to take a 30 minute intermission to work the track. I had mixed emotions on this. The track was rough but it was still vey racy. We watched as all they did was roll the top in and scrape off the marbles. It still appeared to have some moisture left on top. As I was sitting on the pad getting ready to roll out, my crew ran over and began changing the car again. It always makes me nervous when they do that, but I knew it would be for the better. They said the track was starting to go away & they just tightened her up some more.

I was able to get a good start and we were 3 wide in turns 1 & 2. I was up high and was able to carry the speed to put in front coming down the back straight away. I was only able to hold on to the lead for just a few laps before I was passed. I was able to stay on the leader’s tail. We ran this way for about 5 more laps when we caught up to the rear of the field. A slower car was running low. The leader & I both went high. She was able to get by him, but as soon she did he slid up into my front end. I hit the brakes to keep from wrecking. I kept the car under control & pulled it down to make the pass., but lost another position with leader now several car lengths ahead. In just a few laps the 2nd place car & I caught up to the leader as we worked our way through traffic. With about 10 laps to go the caution was out. I thought I would have a good shot now, but they put a lap car between the leader & 2nd place. On the restart the lapper was running in the middle, 2nd place went high & I went low. I got by him ok but lost some speed doing so. A couple of laps later I was up on the cushion in turn 2 went out of know where I was hit in the side by someone trying to give me a slide job. I lost the spot to him and was a little upset with him. With only a few laps to go I knew I had to get up on the wheel. Bad thing was I over drove turn 1 the very next lap & gave the car a bad push coming out of turn 2. I almost hit the wall. I was able to recover but I fell back to 5th. I was able to hold on to 5th when the checkers waived.

The track had gone away quicker than we thought & I started to over drive the car in the end. That wasn’t a good combination. However, it was still a good night. We rolled the car in the trailer in 1 piece and the crew & I learned a bit more this week. We will be back at Delta again next Saturday, July 24th to go for it again.

Thank you for all your support,

Dalton Hill #81

BRIDGEPORT, NJ (July 18, 2010) – On Hospital Worker Night at Bridgeport Speedway, Wade Hendrickson claimed the $2600 top prize for winning the Big Block Modified feature. In the Crate Modified class, Travis Hill was the victor. John Wyers took the checkered flag in the Tri-State RaceSaver Sprint Car race with Pat Conaway scoring the victory in the Proformance Cuts Outlaw Stock Car feature. The winner of the Rookie race was Matt Budd.

In the 25-lap Big Block Modified feature, Scott Irwin hopped out to the early lead with Bob Sarkisian, Matt Harrell, Ryan Watt and Mike Franz in tow. Harrell, using a borrowed motor, maneuvered around Sarkisian to take second place on lap 2. With Harrell quickly on the move, Irwin’s lead began to dwindle and Harrell took over the top spot on lap 6. On the next tour of the fast 5/8th mile oval, Watt advanced to the runner-up spot. A little further back in the pack, Wade Hendrickson was dicing his way forward and motored into third place on lap 8. With the top three in close quarters and using different grooves on the track, Watt and Hendrickson became locked into a multi-lap battle for the second spot. On lap 12, Hendrickson gained the position just prior to the yellow flag being displayed for a spin by Brett Ballard. When the green flag waved again, Hendrickson used an explosive run to claim the lead from Harrell with Richie Pratt, Jr. and Watt in ursuit. By lap 14, Pratt, Jr. had strolled up into second place. When flagman Kenny Golden gave the signal for five laps remaining in the race, Hendrickson had stretched out his advantage over the field by nearly a full straightaway. On lap 22, Hendrickson’s large lead was eliminated as the caution lights were illuminated due to a tangle between Dave Howard and Ballard. Racing resumed for only one more lap as Ballard spun once again in turn three due to an apparent mechanical issue. Following the final restart, Hendrickson kept the lead for the final two laps as he claimed his eighth win of the year. With thirty one Big Block Modifieds entered, the victory was worth $2600 for the defending champion. For his career at Bridgeport, Hendrickson now has fifty wins in the Big Block Modified division. Richie Pratt, Jr. followed Hendrickson cross the finish line. Third place went to Jimmy Chester with Sarkisian and Watt completing the top five. Bob Sarkisian, Brian Kressley and Wade Hendrickson won the Big Block Modified heat races. Sarkisian was the Ciconte’s Pizza driver of the night. Mike Iles took the checkered flag in the consolation event.