Bluegrass Speedway

2221 New Haven Road

Bardstown, Kentucky  40004

                                            

2009 Official Media Release #59 (For Immediate Distribution:  August 30, 2009)  

Contact-Michael Despain (Mdespain7@aol.com and/or dirttrackracing@hotmail.com)

 

Ray Cook Rolls in LOLMDS 9th Annual Bluegrass Classic at Bluegrass Speedway

 

Bardstown, KY-August 29, 2009- The racing superstars of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series made Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY home on Saturday evening and Ray Cook of Brasstown, NC would lead all 60 laps and grab a $10,000 payday in route to winning the 9th Annual Bluegrass Classic in front of the cameras of SPEED TV.  Other feature winners for the evening included Shane Lafollette of Hodgenville, KY in Street Stocks and Robbie Settles of Bardstown, KY in WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman.

 

In front of a packed grandstand of race fans, Chris Wall and Ray Cook would bring the field to green, but the only caution of the event would wave before the front row got to turn one as Tim Tungate, Matt Miller, and Terry Casey would tangle exiting turn four, with all three drivers able to continue.  The second attempted start would be a good one and Cook would jump to the race lead, with Chris Wall, Brandon Kinzer, Dale McDowell, and Mike Jewell giving chase.  Billy Moyer would make his way into the top five by taking the fifth slot from Jewell on lap 2.  Cook would immediately set a rapid pace at the point, while Wall and Kinzer would continue to run second and third, as McDowell would begin to pressure Kinzer for fourth by lap 10.  Cook would start the process of working slower traffic on lap 11 and would grab a bit of breathing room until Wall cleared traffic on lap 13.  McDowell would turn up the pressure on Kinzer for third and would take the spot from Kinzer on lap 15.  By lap 20, Cook had lapped up to what was at the time 21st running John Blankenship and it would be at this point that the racing groove would begin to narrow up a bit.  With Cook having trouble finding his way through traffic, Wall would begin to close in on Cook and as the field received the halfway signal on lap 30, Wall would be only a car length off of Cook’s rear bumper.  By lap 35, Wall would fall back a bit from challenging Cook for the lead, but by lap 42, Wall had once again pull within a car length of Cook for the lead, as Cook continued to ride behind Blankenship.  With passing at a premium, Cook would again pull away a bit from Wall by lap 50 and would go unchallenged the final ten circuits in scoring his first-ever win at Bluegrass Speedway in the D&R Motorsports owned Hicks and Ingle Company General Contracting/A Plus Moving and Storage Company/Performance Rod and Custom/VP Racing Fuels/PPM Racing Products/REAL Racing Wheels/K&N Filters/Integra Shocks/ GW Performance sponsored #53 MasterSbilt Chevy Monte Carlo, with power from a Race Engine Design powerplant.  Wall would claim second, followed by McDowell, Kinzer, and Moyer.  The remainder of the top ten would be Don O’Neal, Brad Neat, Scott James, Mike Marlar, and Jimmy Owens.  In preliminary action, Scott Bloomquist would the top qualifier at 15.363 seconds among 51 entries.  Heat victories were scored by Wall, Jewell, Cook, and Kinzer.  Owens and Casey were B-Main winners, while series provisionals went to Steve Casebolt, Eric Jacobsen, and John Blankenship (emergency), with track provisionals going to David Webb and Jason Keltner.

 

The 12 lap Street Stock feature would see Shane Lafollette and Timmy Glazer battle wheel to wheel up to the midpoint of this feature event, with Lafollette gaining the advantage just past the halfway of the six mile race.  Lafollette would pull away over those final six laps and win his second straight Street Stock main event and third for the season in the David Copley owned Geneva’s Florist and Gifts/K&K Flower Shop/Larue Insurance/Select Design/Wells Trans-Tec/ Henry Miller #1 U.K. Fan sponsored #63 Ford Thunderbird, Brangers Race Engines powered mount.  Glazer would take runner-up honors, while Willie Edelen, Johnny Cecil, and Scott Thompson would complete the top five.  The rest of the running order would be Fred Mercer, Joe Walker, Johnny King, Brad Leake, and Terry Bartley.  Heat winners among the ten entries would be Lafollette and Glazer.

 

The WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman feature would see a wild finish as Barry Chesser, Rick King, and Robbie Settles would go third wide for the win down the backchute and as the trio entered turn three, Chesser and King would begin to make contact and the pair would tangle on the frontchute at the exit of turn four, allowing Settles to grab his second straight win in the 15 lap main event in the Bobby and Trey Settles owned BDM Collision Center/Wooden Duck Entertainment/Ice’s Produce/Flash Wrecker Service/First South Credit/Toddy Liquors/Hillyard’s/ B&B Motorsports/Mattingly Transmissions/PC Doc/T-Shirt Shop sponsored #58 Chevy Monte Carlo, Dale Meers Race Engines powered machine.  Pat Hagan would finish only a half-car length behind the winner, with Bartley Grant about that much back of Hagan for third.  King would slide across the finish line in fourth, with Avral Thompson fifth.  The rest of the top ten would be Chesser, Rob Jones, Jimmy Bryan, Sam Mull, and Elton Martin.  Heat wins would go to Chesser and King.

 

SUMMARY-Bluegrass Speedway-Bardstown, KY-August 29, 2009

 

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (51 entries)

Top Qualifier- Scott Bloomquist 15.363

1st Heat- Chris Wall, Dale McDowell, Scott Bloomquist, Scott James, Josh McGuire, Shon Flanary, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Dustin Linville, Steve Casebolt, Shannon Thornsberry, David Webb, Jarryd Holshouser, Michael Chilton

2nd Heat- Mike Jewell, Brad Neat, Don O’Neal, Eric Wells, Jimmy Owens, Terry English, Justin Rattliff, Johnny Wheeler, Freddy Smith, Dustin Neat, Michael England, John Blankenship, Jeff Watson

3rd Heat- Ray Cook, Whitney McQueary, Jeep Van Wormer, Mike Marlar, Terry Casey, Eric Jacobsen, John Mason, D.J. Wells, Daniel Hatcher, Ed Behn, Rob Starkey, Joe Armes, Jason Keltner

4th Heat- Brandon Kinzer, Billy Moyer, Tim Tungate, Matt Miller, Dan Schlieper, Earl Pearson, Jr., Shannon Babb, Skip Arp, Joe Janowski, Lee Devasier, Jimmy Crabtree, Kevin Colston

1st B-Main- Jimmy Owens, Josh McGuire, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Terry English, Justin Rattliff, Shon Flanary, Dustin Neat, David Webb, John Blankenship, Dustin Linville, Shannon Thornsberry, Freddy Smith, Johnny Wheeler, Michael Chilton, Jarryd Holshouser, Steve Casebolt, Jeff Watson

2nd B-Main- Terry Casey, Shannon Babb, Earl Pearson, Jr., Skip Arp, Eric Jacobsen, Dan Schlieper, Daniel Hatcher, John Mason, Lee Devasier, Jimmy Crabtree, Ed Behn, Kevin Colston, Jason Keltner, D.J. Wells, Rob Starkey

Provisionals- Steve Casebolt (series), Eric Jacobsen (series), John Blankenship (emergency series), David Webb (track), Jason Keltner (track)

9th Annual Bluegrass Classic- Ray Cook, Chris Wall, Dale McDowell, Brandon Kinzer, Billy Moyer, Don O’Neal, Brad Neat, Scott James, Mike Marlar, Jimmy Owens, Jeep Van Wormer, Eric Wells, Whitney McQueary, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Terry Casey, Shannon Babb, Scott Bloomquist, Earl Pearson, Jr., John Blankenship, Josh McGuire, Eric Jacobsen, Tim Tungate, David Webb, Matt Miller, Jason Keltner, Mike Jewell

 

Street Stocks (10 entries)

1st Heat- Shane Lafollette, Willie Edelen, Joe Walker, Fred Mercer

2nd Heat- Timmy Glazer, Brad Leake, Scott Thompson, Johnny Cecil

Feature- Shane Lafollette, Timmy Glazer, Willie Edelen, Johnny Cecil, Scott Thompson, Fred Mercer, Joe Walker, Johnny King, Brad Leake, Terry Bartley

 

WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman (11 entries)

1st Heat- Barry Chesser, Robbie Settles, Pat Hagan, Avral Thompson

2nd Heat- Rick King, Bartley Grant, Rob Jones, Jimmy Bryan

Feature- Robbie Settles, Pat Hagan, Bartley Grant, Rick King, Avral Thompson, Barry Chesser, Rob Jones, Jimmy Bryan, Sam Mull, Elton Martin (DNS- Tim Cummings)