CONCORD, NC – Nov. 2, 2007 – Scott Bloomquist made a little more history on Friday night.
 
The legendary driver from Mooresburg, Tenn., added another milestone to his already bulging resume, roaring from the rear of the field after an early pit stop to capture the first 50-lap Late Model A-Main of the inaugural ‘Outlaws World Finals’ at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
 
After completing his memorable rally by passing Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., for the lead on lap 44, Bloomquist established a pair of victory records. He broke a tie with Rick Eckert of York, Pa., to become the winningest driver on the WoO LMS since 2004 (with 16 triumphs), and his fourth career checkered flag at The Dirt Track gave him sole possession of the four-tenths-mile oval’s alltime dirt Late Model feature win mark over Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C.
 
Elliott, who inherited the lead on lap 30 when race-long pacesetter Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., retired with a broke right-rear axle, held on to finish second in Charles Jarvis’s Rocket No. 45. He was 1.885 seconds behind Bloomquist’s homebuilt ‘Team Zero’ mount at the finish line.
 
Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., advanced from the 15th starting spot to finish third in NASCAR star Bobby Labonte’s Lifelong Locks MasterSbilt, followed by 18th-starter Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., in the Valvoline Rocket and ninth-starter Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., in the Seubert Calf Ranches Rocket.
 
With his fourth-place run, Francis set himself up to be officially crowned the 2007 WoO LMS champion during Saturday night’s ‘World Finals’ grand finale. He ended the race with an insurmountable 82-point lead over Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who was hampered by a blown right-rear tire and bent spindle and finished 14th.
 
Bloomquist, who turns 44 on Nov. 14, had some trouble of his own early in the caution-filled event. Unhappy with the performance of his Miller Bros. Coal No. 0, he took the machine pitside for servicing during a lap-six caution period.
 
“When we first took off, the car was a little bit off,” said Bloomquist, who started 19th. “I dropped back, and then I went in and we made a few adjustments real quick.”
 
Bloomquist, who wasn’t afraid to pit because he didn’t face the prospect of giving up many positions, told his chief mechanic, Tommy Hicks, to tweak the shocks on his mount. That slight change was enough to get ‘Bloomer’ back in the game.
 
“It was a really good car, and the track kinda came around to me,” said Bloomquist, who cracked the top five on lap 30 when Miller suddenly pulled up lame in turn two. “I think the tires came in, and everything worked.”
 
Elliott, 42, ultimately fell victim to Bloomquist’s onslaught. A winner of an Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified 100 at The Dirt Track on April 3, 2004, Elliott relinquished his hold on the outside groove on lap 44 in an attempt to pass a lapped car and watched Bloomquist use that top lane to drive into the lead for good.
 
“I just wasn’t gonna leave the top (groove),” lamented Elliott, who started 10th and was one of the event’s handful of drivers who used American Racer tires. “When I got to Ricky (Weeks), I had to come off (to lap him). I went down to pass him, and that gave (Bloomquist) position (high) on me.
 
“By the time I could get moved back up to the top, he had position on me. He out-drove me.
 
“But the guy running second always has the advantage when the track is this fast,” added Elliott, who matched his career-best WoO LMS finish of second, on July 8, 2005, at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway. “The car that’s leading this race is gonna be faster out in clean air. You need a ‘circumstance’ to move (positions) around, because when the car’s out front in clean air and has so much downforce on the nose, it drives better.”
 
Bloomquist was thrilled that he was able to take advantage of that lapped-traffic “circumstance” to register his third WoO LMS victory of the season. He previously won the Circle K Colossal 100 on April 21 at The Dirt Track and the ‘Firecracker 100’ on June 30 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.
 
“The way the track was when the race started, it was hard to really say (if his prospects were strong),” said Bloomquist, whose $10,225 paycheck pushed his earnings in nine WoO LMS A-Main starts this season to $108,888. “But as the groove widened out…I just never say die. We’re gonna keep on it until either it happens, or we’re in the fence.
 
“I love this racetrack when it’s smooth,” added the 2004 WoO LMS champion. “The cushion gave it a little bit of character, made it where you could definitely make a mistake and had to operate on a thin line.
 
“All in all, what a great race – and what a great racetrack.”
 
Bloomquist’s victory, which came in front of a near capacity crowd on hand to see the WoO Late Models and Sprint Cars running on the same program for the first time in the history of the series, had him feeling confident about his chances for a sweep of the ‘World Finals’ A-Mains.
 
“I wouldn’t bet on somebody else,” Bloomquist said with a sly smile when asked for a Saturday-night prediction.
 
Pearson, meanwhile, climbed as high as second, on a lap-30 restart. But he lost the position to Bloomquist on another restart one circuit later and had to settle for show money.
 
“We gambled on tires,” said the 35-year-old Pearson, who used soft rubber. “That’s the only choice we had starting so far back. We were a little bit worried about the Sprint Cars blowing the mud off the bottom, but luckily they left enough down there that we could run around the bottom and pass cars to get close to the front.
 
“But around lap 40, I knew we were done. The bottom kinda slowed down and top got faster.”
 
Francis, 40, was slowed throughout the race’s second half by an engine problem, but he persevered to finish a solid fourth.
 
“We ran on six cylinders from lap (22) on,” said Francis. “It broke a push rod and a rocker arm. I guess it broke a push rod on one cylinder and flipped over and hit the other one, so the one and three cylinders were dead.
 
“The car was just unbelievable tonight. I really think had we not been on six (cylinders), we could’ve had something for ‘em. We just couldn’t go fast enough on the straightaways.”
 
When Francis learned that his 82-point lead over Frank was enough to assure himself of a first-ever WoO LMS championship celebration on Saturday night, he was all smiles.
 
“It’s just a lot of relief now,” said Francis, who finished second in the WoO LMS standings in 2004 and 2005. “We’ll change the motor tomorrow. We’re having some fun tonight!”
 
Frank, 45, needed to finish at least five spots ahead of Francis to keep his hopes for the title alive in Saturday night’s A-Main, but he fell short. He started 12th and never was a factor.
 
“The right-rear tire just blew out (on lap six),” said Frank. “Then we got wrecked when we were in the back and got the spindle bent, so it was towed-out pretty good. It was just a bad night all around.”
 
Frank conceded the marathon title chase to Francis after the race.
 
“I congratulated him,” Frank said of Francis. “He deserved it (the title). He ran hard all year and did what he had to do.”
 
The 19-year-old Richards managed to finish fifth despite struggling throughout the A-Main to handle a car that was “way too loose,” and Eckert, who is winless on the ’07 tour and used a provisional to start 24th in Friday’s 50-lapper, placed sixth in a car that sputtered constantly due to a spark-plug wire that popped off at the start of the event.
 
Finishing in positions 7-10 was Matt Miller of Waterville, Ohio; Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., who started 22nd and was the race’s highest-finishing Rookie of the Year contender; Eric Jacobsen of Sea Cliffs Beach, Calif., who raced as high as third in his new Bloomquist Chassis but lost spots when he hopped the cushion on at least three occasions; and Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.
 
Ten caution flags slowed the event, but there were no serious accidents.
 
The National Interstate Insurance Hard Luck Award (worth $50) was presented to Jeremy Miller, who led laps 1-30 after starting from the outside pole in Charles Buckler’s Rocket No. 24M.
 
“It was the same bad luck we had at VMS (Virginia Motor Speedway on July 20) and Sharon (Speedway on July 28),” said a disappointed Miller, who continues to seek his first career WoO LMS victory. “This could’ve been three of ‘em in the win column for us, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
 
Winners of Friday night’s heat race, which were aligned by the results of Thursday night’s first-round time trials, included Jacobsen, Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, Matt Miller, Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., Jeremy Miller and Madden, who finished 12th in the A-Main but was running second on lap 17 when an ignition malfunction forced him to bring out a caution flag and then switch to his secondary ignition.
 
The B-Mains were captured by Bloomquist and Jeep VanWormer of Pinconning, Mich., and Tim Tungate of Campbellsville, Ky., topped the C-Main.
 
Dan Schlieper of Sullivan, Wis., and Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., rode out wild barrel-rolls in separate turn-one incidents during heat action. Both drivers had their cars bicycle and then flip on restarts.
 
Schlieper wasn’t injured, but O’Neal, who drove the No. 16 normally campaigned by Kentucky’s Justin Rattliff, complained of neck and back pain and was transported to a local hospital for testing. O’Neal was released when no problems were found and returned to the track shortly after Friday’s program was completed.
 
The ‘Outlaws World Finals’ continues on Saturday (Nov. 3) with the second and final night of WoO Late Model and Sprint Car programs.
 
Saturday’s competition will be televised live by the SPEED cable network from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
 
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
 
Results of WoO Late Model Series ‘World Finals’ (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
 
1. (19) Scott Bloomquist/50 $10,225
2. (10) Ricky Elliott/50 $5,625
3. (15) Earl Pearson Jr./50 $3,000
4. (18) Steve Francis/50 $2,500
5. (9) Josh Richards/50 $2,000
6. (24) Rick Eckert/50 $1,700
7. (6) Matt Miller/50 $1,400
8. (22) Brian Shirley/50 $1,550
9. (5) Eric Jacobsen/50 $1,200
10. (8) Shane Clanton/50 $1,100
11. (11) Darrell Lanigan/50 $1,050
12. (3) Chris Madden/50 $1,000
13. (16) Austin Dillon/50 $950
14. (12) Chub Frank/50 $900
15. (17) Eddie Carrier Jr./50 $850
16. (13) Ricky Weeks/49 $800
17. (25) Junior Pearce/45 $770
18. (26) Ben Adkins/34 $750
19. (2) Jeremy Miller/30 $780
20. (7) Steve Shaver/24 $800
21. (1) Jonathan Davenport/22 $700
22. (14) Randy Korte/22 $700
23. (4) Donnie Moran/16 $700
24. (20) Jeep VanWormer/14 $700
25. (21) Michael England/9 $700
26. (23) Clint Smith/2 $700
 
Time of Race: 43 Mins., 18.839 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.885 ecs.
Yellow Flags: 10 (Laps 3, 6, 9, 16, 17, 22, 23, 30, 32, 47)
Lap Leaders: J. Miller (1-30); Elliott (31-43); Bloomquist (44-50)
Provisional Starters: C. Smith, Eckert (WoO); Pearce, Adkins (track)
Rookie of the Race: Shirley ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Elliott ($500)
National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award: Steve Shaver ($100)
National Interstate Insurance Hard Luck Award: J. Miller ($50)
Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race ($100): Tommy Hicks (Scott Bloomquist)
 
Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Eric Jacobsen, 2. Steve Shaver, 3. Ricky Weeks, 4. Jeff Rine, 5. Randy Weaver, 6. Tim Tungate, 7. Steve Blackburn, 8. Doug Dodd, 9. Jay Smith, 10. Josh McGuire, 11. Jeff Smith, 12. Shannon Babb, 13. Dan Schlieper
 
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Donnie Moran, 2. Shane Clanton, 3. Randy Korte, 4. Michael England, 5. Tommy Kerr, 6. Scott James, 7. Rick Eckert, 8. Ben Adkins, 9. Jared Hawkins, 10. Tim Allen, 11. Jayme Zidar, 12. Chad Ruhlman
 
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Matt Miller, 2. Josh Richards, 3. Earl Pearson Jr., 4. Scott Bloomquist, 5. Ray Cook, 6. Brian Barber, 7. Chuck Harper, 8. David Scott, 9. Matt Lux, 10. Wayne Chinn, 11. Don O’Neal, 12. Anthony Huber
 
Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Ricky Elliott, 3. Austin Dillon, 4. Clint Smith, 5. Tim Dohm, 6. Dan Stone, 7. Tim Fuller, 8. Jason Dunn, 9. John Lewellyn, 10. Walker Arthur, 11. Chris Combs, 12. Eric Wells
 
Heat No. 5 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Jeremy Miller, 2. Darrell Lanigan, 3. Eddie Carrier Jr., 4. Mike Balzano, 5. Junior Pearce, 6. Jackie Boggs, 7. Ken Schrader, 8. Alex Ferree, 9. Rodney Combs, 10. Jeff Cooke, 11. Kerry Jones, 12. Jordan Bland
 
Heat No. 6 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Chris Madden, 2. Chub Frank, 3. Steve Francis, 4. Brian Shirley, 5. Jeep VanWormer, 6. Tony Knowles, 7. Freddy Smith, 8. Jerry Bowersock, 9. Johnny Cloer Jr., 10. Ronnie DeHaven Jr., 11. Austin Hubbard, 12. Larry Blankenship
 
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Michael England, 3. Rick Eckert, 4. Jeff Rine, 5. Tommy Kerr, 6. Scott James, 7. Randy Weaver, 8. David Scott, 9. Tim Tungate, 10. Jared Hawkins, 11. Brian Barber, 12. Doug Dodd, 13. Ben Adkins, 14. Jay Smith, 15. Chuck Harper, 16. Matt Lux, 17. Ray Cook (DNS) Steve Blackburn
 
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Jeep VanWormer, 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Mike Balzano, 4. Freddy Smith, 5. Dan Stone, 6. Jerry Bowersock, 7. Junior Pearce, 8. Tony Knowles, 9. Tim Dohm, 10. Jackie Boggs, 11. John Lewellyn, 12. Clint Smith, 13. Johnny Cloer Jr., 14. Tim Fuller, 15. Jason Dunn (DNS) Ken Schrader, Alex Ferree, Rodney Combs
 
C-Main (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer to Heats): 1. Tim Tungate, 2. Jayme Zidar, 3. Wayne Chinn, 4. Eric Wells, 5. Kerry Jones, 6. Larry Blankenship, 7. Bob Gordon, 8. Ronald Hammond, 9. Damon Kotke, 10. Troy Erickson, 11. Brian Ledbetter, 12. Steve Lucas, 13. Tre Martin (DNS) Damon Eller, Ron Davies
 
2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Nov. 2 - 43 features completed (rank/driver/wins/top-5s/top-10s/earnings/points/deficit to leader):
 
1. Steve Francis 4-26-39-$138,450-5,830 (-0)
2. Chub Frank 6-19-34-$129,080-5,748 (-82)
3. Clint Smith 4-17-30-$120,325-5,674 (-156)
4. Shane Clanton 2-13-29-$90,847-5,626 (-204)
5. Rick Eckert 0-12-27-$80,810-5,618 (-212)
6. Josh Richards 4-12-26-$104,657-5,612 (-218)
7. Darrell Lanigan 2-10-27-$87,155-5,334 (-496)
8. Tim Fuller 1-10-15-$70,815-4,334 (-1496)
9. Brian Shirley 1-5-14-$63,304-4,204 (-1626)
10. Shannon Babb 5-13-17-$100,995-3,807 (-2023)
11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 0-2-5-$26,770-2,874 (-2956)
12. Chris Madden 2-8-12-$91,015-2,580 (-3250)
13. Roy Mitchell 0-0-0-$13,290-2,458 (-3372)
14. Billy Moyer 1-9-12-$42,575-2,448 (-3382)
15. Brian Birkhofer 0-1-8-$24,810-2,079 (-3751)
16. Jimmy Mars 0-5-7-$27,930-1,773 (-4057)
17. John Blankenship 0-0-0-$10,830-1,738 (-4092)
18. Dan Stone 1-1-3-$18,445-1,715 (-4115)
19. Jeremy Miller 0-2-3-$19,115-1,452 (-4378)
20. Brady Smith 0-2-5-$14,450-1,434 (-4396)
 
LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series live on DIRTvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.
 
To listen to the free audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.
 
Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail [email protected].
 
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including National Interstate Insurance Company and contingency sponsors Wrisco Industries, Crane Cams, Ohlins Shocks, Quarter-Master, Hawk Brake, MSD Ignitions, Eibach Springs and Integra Shocks.