HomeDirt Late Model NewsWeekend Travels with Don Martin of STLRacing.com - O-Show Me Again !!

Weekend Travels with Don Martin of STLRacing.com – O-Show Me Again !!

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stlracing-logo-2012-xen 6/3/2016

To say Jimmy Owens has struggled this season would be an understatement. The RW Motorsports team switched from Club 29 Race Cars to Barry Wrights for the 2016 season. The team is barely in the top ten in the Lucas points and Jimmy has not won a Lucas Race for over a year. This past weekend the team was able to find the right combination in his Red line Oil Custom Race Engine machine to conquer the tough clay surface at Lucas Oil Raceway to win the 24th Annual Show-Me 100. Owens is no stranger to victory lane in Wheatland, Missouri as it was his 4th Show-Me 100 Title. The win was worth $30,000 to the Newport, Tennessee driver.

It was not an easy night for Owens as he had to battle the reigning and defending Lucas Oil and Show Me winner Jonathan Davenport and the best driver that has ever stepped into a late model Scott Bloomquist and a 19 year old phenom Bobby Pierce the son of a legend.

Jimmy Owens and Jonathan Davenport started on the front row of the 100 lap feature event. Both drivers accumulated the most points over the previous two nights of preliminary action to earn the front row. Before the feature took the green it should be mentioned what a firework display before the capacity crowd on hand. Davenport looked strong early on as he would lead the first forty laps. Jared Landers was making some noise of his own. The Arkansas driver started the race in the 5th position and was coming off winning the Friday Preliminary feature which was in Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson the former West Plains Motor Speedway owners and founders of the Show-Me 100. Jared would take the lead from Davenport before the halfway mark. It was clear something was going on with Davenport’s Longhorn, he had some shock and brake issues in his preliminary nights and looked like those gremlins were back. It should be noted Davenport won the first preliminary night the Cowboy Classic 45 Lap affair. Unfortunately for Landers the youngster would give up the lead and retire from the event after a short battle with his teammate Scott Bloomquist. Landers would get a little too high on the track in turn two jump the cushion and suffer a broken radiator. Bloomer than would inherit the lead and look to get his 5th Show Me title and the first one since 2010. Black Sunshine would look to be strong meanwhile Jimmy Owens was starting to reel in his hero while this youngster Bobby Pierce was on the move as well. Pierce failed to make the race thru his consolation race and had to win the Midwest Custom Sheet Metal Non-Qualifier race to get the chance to start on the grid for the Show-Me 100. Pierce did exactly that, after the team hurt a motor on his first night, they struggled on Friday and then battled back all night Saturday never giving up and winning the Non-Qualifier and then start in the 15th row, and the kid was running 4th with just 25 laps to go. All eyes and everyone seemed to be cheering for Pierce. Owens would take the lead from Bloomquist with 20 laps or so remaining in the contest, only to be passed again by Bloomer who stormed his way past Owens after momentarily losing second to Pierce. Bloomer would take the lead and Pierce would pass Owens for second and close on Zero immediately. Most were standing and others were on the edge of their seats. It was short lived for Bloomer, he would suffer a broken wheel. This would give the lead to Pierce, unfortunately for him under the yellow for Bloomquist, Pierce now had a flat right rear tire. Talk about a turn of events and heartbreak , after losing the battles with Bloomer and Pierce, Owens would now inherit the lead with just over a handful of laps remaining. Bloomer and Pierce both pitted for fresh rubber and would take their spots moving ahead of the lapped cars starting 5th and 6th on the grid. Pierce would not take off but Yang ran right to the front. He passed the MARS Champion Tony Jackson Jr. and MLRA standout Jesse Stovall to get the runner-up spot at the checkers. Jesse Stovall was another one who started deep in the field and to get a podium finish was incredible after a not so good first couple of nights. Davenport still finished 4th despite a poor handling race car. Tony Jackson Jr. was very solid and earned a top five while the Bobby Pierce finished sixth. Steve Francis finished 7th, he had solid weekend. Tim McCreadie was not too happy with his 8th place finish after finishing third Friday night. Tim mentioned his car could not run through the holes like it needed too, and he has to get better in those conditions. Dennis Erb Jr. and Texan Chris Brown rounded out the top ten.

In closing Tim McCreadie turned the fastest lap of the weekend turning a lap of 14.927 on the lightning fast 3/8 mile oval. It was also great to see Will Vaught back after not racing since last year’s Show-Me. This year’s Show-Me drew 57 cars from over twenty states, not bad considering the weather forecast Dan Robinson had to deal with. With ideal weather conditions I am sure there would have been between 75-80 cars. The ones that did not come shame on you because if there is one place that can deal with Mother Nature it is Wheatland with its concrete pit area. I take my hat off to Dan and his team and the Lucas Oil Dirt Organization, getting both preliminary nights in was incredible. Also giving the drivers a purse of nearly $200,000 great job to Lucas Oil Speedway. Yes the track conditions were not the best and the weather for sure was the biggest factor, but it was probably one of the wildest races I have ever witnessed and like others will be talking about for a long time.

Next weekend I am off to support my local race track Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach , Illinois for a special Late Model and Modified race before heading to Eldora for all 3 nights of the Dream.

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