Bloomquist gets ‘Spring Thaw 100’ victory

Racing veteran earns $10,000 with Bulls Gap win news@theheraldnewspapers.com Over the years Scott Bloomquist has recorded many special event wins at Volunteer Speedway. But his $10,000 victory Saturday night in the “Spring Thaw 100” was hard-earned, as he battled throughout the race with Skip Arp and Jimmy Owens. With a field of 38 Super Late Models present for preliminaries Friday night for the $10,000-to-win Spring Thaw 100, Todd Morrow of Old Fort, Tenn., in his first-ever visit to “The Gap” set fast-time in qualifying with a quick lap of 12.474-seconds. But that only earned the hard-charger the pole for the first of four heat races. Morrow grabbed the early lead in Heat 1 over Vic “The Thrill’ Hill of Morristown, Tenn., the defending and four-time overall track champion. But Morrow slipped high in the fourth turn on lap 4, opening the door on the bottom for Hill to grab the lead. Hill never looked back in winning over Morrow, Anthony White and Brett Miller. Scott Bloomquist held off Steve Smith, Skip Arp and John Blankenship for the victory in Heat 2. Scott Sexton of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., was never seriously challenged en route to winning Heat 3 over Tommy Kerr, Billy Ogle Jr. and Steve Jones. Mike Marlar jumped into the early lead in Heat 4 over Newport, Tenn.’s Jimmy Owens, but after battling for the lead Owens finally moved to the point with a pass racing off turn two on lap 7. Owens captured the victory over Marlar, Kerry Jones and Dale Ball. Mike Smith won the consolation race Saturday evening to lead eight other drivers who transferred into the 100-lap Spring Thaw feature. With the good-sized crowd on their feet for the drop of the green, Scott Bloomquist won the drag race into the first turn to grab the lead over Vic Hill, and back around at the stripe to complete the opening lap, rounding out the top-five in the running order were Jimmy Owens, Scott Sexton and Todd Morrow. The event’s first caution waved as the field was working the second lap, when Mike Marlar spun down low between turns one and two. With Bloomquist riding out front, going back green he had Hill, Owens, Sexton and Morrow in his rearview mirror. The lead trio of Bloomquist, Hill and Owens were setting a blistering pace early on, beginning to lap cars in the back of the field by the ninth lap. Racing off turn two on lap 10, Morrow got under Sexton to move into fourth. After starting from outside of the fifth row, Skip Arp had quickly worked around Anthony White, Tommy Kerr and Steve Smith to settle in the sixth spot by lap 11. Closing to the rear bumper of Sexton, Arp wasted no time in driving past and into fifth-place on lap 12, dropping Sexton back to sixth in the running order. With the leaders working heavy lapped traffic, on lap 14 racing off the second turn Owens drove under Hill to move into the runner-up position. Right behind them, Arp was still on a mission towards the front of the field. Racing off the fourth turn on lap 15, Arp completed the pass under Morrow to take over fourth-place. A quarter of the way into the 100-lapper Bloomquist’s advantage over Owens had shrunk to only a couple of car lengths as they maneuvered their way through lapped traffic. With cars stacked three-wide in front of Bloomquist and Owens entering the first turn on lap 29, Owens chose the high-line and racing off turn two down the backstretch he moved around Bloomquist for the lead. Owens turned the wick up to quickly put some distance between his No. 20 Harrod Farms/Central Painting/AFCO Racing Products/CJ Rayburn Race Cars Pontiac GTO and Bloomquist, Hill and Arp. Arp’s charge forward continued as he overtook Hill for third on lap 32 as they raced off the fourth turn down the front straightaway. Just outside of the top-five, Smith, Sexton, White and Billy Ogle Jr. were lurking. Between laps 38-40, White picked off both Sexton and Smith to move into sixth in the running order, right behind the fifth-running Morrow. Working the low-side of Morrow racing off the corners on both ends of the track, White finally got a strong run off (turn) two on lap 44 to grab the fifth spot. With the leader Owens having a tough time conquering the slower, lapped cars, Bloomquist and Arp closed in once again to make it a three-car battle. Arp brought the fans to their feet with a pass of Bloomquist racing off the second turn on lap 46 to move into second, right behind Owens. A quarter of a straightaway behind, White passed Hill between turns three and four to grab the fourth spot. Arp was pressuring “The Newport Nightmare” Owens for the point, and working lap 53 he nosed ahead for what appeared to be the lead. But after having raced from the early race caution on the first lap when Marlar looped his mount, the race had gone all-green until lap 53 when the yellow flag was unfurled for a stalled car on the bottom between turns one and two. With the field bunched back up for a single-file restart, Owens led Arp, Bloomquist, White and Hill. Back under green, Ogle wasted no time as he dropped low to overtake Hill for fifth as they raced off turn two on lap 54. But all eyes were focused up front on the lead trio of Owens, Arp and Bloomquist as they battled for position. While Owens was running off hard into the corners riding the high-line around the banking, Arp was sticking the nose of his No. 31 Curtis Equipment Pontiac GTO under Owens down low. Taking looks both on the bottom and up top, Bloomquist chose the low-line on lap 59 racing off turn two to pass Arp for the runner-up position. The action slowed on lap 63 when Mike Smith spun in turn two to bring out the caution. Going back green, Owens had a rearview mirror full of Bloomquist, Arp, White andOgle. The battle for the lead between Owens and Bloomquist once again brought many in the stands to their feet, and between turns three and four on lap 65 Bloomquist grabbed a lead he would never relinquish. Owens had all he could handle in trying to hold Arp off, and finally on lap 68 as they raced off turn two Arp took over second in the running order. Just outside of the top-five, the battle was heating up for position between Morrow, Hill, Smith, Sexton and Marlar, who had worked his way back into the top-10 after his early race spin. Marlar worked around Sexton for ninth on lap 72, while Smith and Hill were battling for the seventh spot. But running strong around the top of the track through the corners, “The Winfield Warrior” Marlar worked around both Hill and Sexton to settle into seventh with a charge on lap 79. With the leaders working through lapped traffic, looking for the best lines, Arp was within striking distance only a couple of car lengths behind Bloomquist with 20 laps to go. John Blankenship, who was running in 11th, slowed on the high-side of turns three and four on lap 84 with a deflated tire to bring the caution out. With the laps winding down, the battle was up front between Bloomquist and Arp, as the third-running Owens’ tires were beginning to fade. Bloomquist looked to be headed to the checkers caution-free, but a yellow on lap 96 for debris on the track and also another caution on lap 98 for Kerry Jones in the fourth turn, tightened the field up for late-race restarts. Lined up for the green-white-checkered dash to the finish, Bloomquist, driving the Hawkeye Trucking/Miller Brothers Coal/Allstar Performance/Sweet Mfg. Inc./Ohlins/VP Racing Fuel/Perry County Tire (Hazard, Ky.)/Bloomquist Race Cars/Hoosier by Pup/Hypercoils/Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race/Vic Hill Racing Engines/No. 0 Ford Taurus, held off Arp, Owens, White and Ogle for the $10,000 victory.