Blankenship Reaches Mountaintop Of Dirt Late Model Racing With Career-First Victory In DIRTcar UMP-Sanctioned World 100 At Eldora Speedway
West Virginia Driver Charges Forward From 12th Starting Spot For $46,000 Triumph
By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director
ROSSBURG, OH – Sept. 7, 2013 – Welcome to the elite, John Blankenship.
The 32-year-old driver from Williamson, W.Va., reached the mountaintop of dirt Late Model racing on Saturday night, racing forward from the 12th starting spot to capture the 43rd annual DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned World 100 at Eldora Speedway.
Blankenship passed Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., for the lead on lap 53 and never looked back. He secured the biggest win of his decade-long racing career – a star-making triumph worth $46,000 – by reaching the checkered flag 1.757 seconds ahead of Union, Ky.’s Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., whose late bid to finally put the World 100 on his resume fell short.
Three-time World 100 winner Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., advanced from the 22nd starting spot to finish third. Sixteen-year-old Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., who led laps 8-13, placed fourth in his first-ever World 100 start and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., quietly marched forward from the 20th starting spot to finish fifth, cracking the top five with two laps remaining.
Check back soon for more details….
World 100 A-Main Results (Finish/Start/Driver/Lap Completed/Earnings):
1. (12) John Blankenship/100 $46,000
2. (3) Darrell Lanigan/100 $15,000
3. (22) Scott Bloomquist/100 $10,000
4. (2) Bobby Pierce/100 $7,500
5. (20) Josh Richards/100 $6,000
6. (1) Terry Phillips/100 $5,000
7. (8) Earl Pearson Jr./100 $4,000
8. (4) Jonathan Davenport/100 $3,500
9. (16) Jared Landers/100 $3,000
10. (9) Eddie Carrier Jr./100 $2,500
11. (15) Bub McCool/100 $2,475
12. (23) Chris Simpson/100 $2,450
13. (10) Chris Madden/100 $2,425
14. (30) Gregg Satterlee/99 $2,400
15. (27) Brandon Sheppard/98 $2,375
16. (14) Duane Chamberlain/98 $2,350
17. (25) Vic Hill/97 $2,325
18. (5) Brian Shirley/61 $2,300
19. (13) Frankie Heckenast Jr./60 $2,275
20. (11) Jimmy Mars/58 $2,250
21. (19) Jason Feger/49 $2,225
22. (17) Jeff Babcock/48 $2,220
23. (24) Jimmy Owens/43 $2,175
24. (21) Tyler Reddick/41 $2,150
25. (26) Brian Birkhofer/40 $2,125
26. (7) Dale McDowell/39 $2,100
27. (31) Shane Clanton/36 $2,090
28. (6) J.R. Hotovy/32 $2,080
29. (29) Kent Robinson/25 $2,065
30. (32) Jeep VanWormer/21 $2,050
31. (28) Shannon Babb/17 $2,025
32. (18) Jerry Bowersock/15 $2,000
Heat 1 Finish (15 laps – Top 3 Transfer to A-Main/4-11 to B-Main): 1. J.R. Hotovy, 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Frankie Heckenast Jr., 4. Tyler Reddick, 5. Jason Feger, 6. Dustin Neat, 7. Chris Simpson, 8. Chad Ruhlman, 9. Randy Korte, 10. Brian Ruhlman, 11. Steve Kester, 12. Gary Christian, 13. Kevin Weaver, 14. Steve Francis, 15. Matt Irey, 16. Justin Chance, 17. Dennis Erb Jr., 18. Robby Hensley (DNS) Nick Latham
Heat 2 Finish (15 laps – Top 3 Transfer to A-Main/4-11 to B-Main): 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Earl Pearson Jr., 3. Duane Chamberlain, 4. Vic Hill, 5. Randy Weaver, 6. Kent Robinson, 7. Brandon Kinzer, 8. Matt Miller, 9. Chad Smith, 10. Shannon Thornsberry, 11. Ryan Sutter, 12. Mike Marlar, 13. Josh Richards, 14. Dustin Neat (DNS) Jeremy Nichols, Joe Ramey, Jason Riggs, Chad Simpson, Don Hammer
Heat 3 Finish (15 laps – Top 3 Transfer to A-Main/4-11 to B-Main): 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Eddie Carrier Jr., 3. Bub McCool, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Ray Guss Jr., 6. Wayne Chinn, 7. Tim Isenberg, 8. Billy Moyer, 9. Doug Drown, 10. Tim Rivers, 11. Don Gordon, 12. Jason Montgomery, 13. John Mason, 14. Jeep VanWormer, 15. R.J. Conley, 16. Jeff Watson, 17. John Mayes Jr. (DNS) Scott James, Doug Zartler
Heat 4 Finish (15 laps – Top 3 Transfer to A-Main/4-11 to B-Main): 1. Darrell Lanigan, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Jared Landers, 4. Shannon Babb, 5. Scott Bloomquist, 6. Michael Asberry, 7. Brett Wyatt, 8. Jody Knowles, 9. Steve Lance Jr., 10. Justin Rattliff, 11. Jason Riggs, 12. Phil Ausra, 13. Jason Smith, 14. Shane Unger, 15. Michael Chilton, 16. Mason Zeigler, 17. Don O’Neal, 18. Shane Clanton, 19. Devin Moran
Heat 5 Finish (15 laps – Top 3 Transfer to A-Main/4-11 to B-Main): 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Jimmy Mars, 3. Jeff Babcock, 4. Jimmy Owens, 5. Jon Henry, 6. Donnie Moran, 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Gregg Satterlee, 9. Greg Johnson, 10. Chub Frank, 11. Ryan VanderVeen, 12. Mike Spatola, 13. Casey Noonan, 14. Jay Brunson, 15. Jim Gingery, 16. Mason Combs, 17. Brian Gray, 18. Jeff Sloan, 19. Ky Harper
Heat 6 Finish (15 laps – Top 3 Transfer to A-Main/4-11 to B-Main): 1. Terry Phillips, 2. John Blankenship, 3. Jerry Bowersock, 4. Morgan Bagley, 5. Dustin Linville, 6. Brian Birkhofer, 7. Andrew Reaume, 8. Casey Roberts, 9. Brian Diveley, 10. Brad Dyer, 11. Jacob Hawkins, 12. Tim Manville, 13. Tim Lance, 14. Jeff Wolfenbarger, 15. Scott Clifford, 16. Jay Johnson (DQ – light) Weiss (DNS) Henry Cooper
B-Main 1 Finish (20 laps – Top 5 Transfer to A-Main): 1. Tyler Reddick, 2. Chris Simpson, 3. Vic Hill, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Kent Robinson, 6. Randy Weaver, 7. Tim Isenberg, 8. Brandon Kinzer, 9. Brad Neat, 10. Randy Korte, 11. Gary Christian, 12. Chad Ruhlman, 13. Ray Guss Jr., 14. Chad Smith, 15. Steve Kester, 16. Billy Moyer, 17. Doug Drown, 18. Brian Ruhlman, 19. Ryan Sutter, 20. Tim Rivers, 21. Don Gordon, 22. Matt Miller, 23. Dustin Neat, 24. Wayne Chinn (Scratched) Shannon Thornsberry
B-Main Scramble 1 Finish (5 laps): 1. Randy Weaver, 2. Brad Neat, 3. Brandon Kinzer, 4. Tim Isenberg, 5. Ray Guss Jr., 6. Billy Moyer, 7. Chad Ruhlman, 8. Gary Christian, 9. Brian Ruhlman, 10. Randy Korte, 11. Doug Drown, 12. Steven Kester, 13. Tim Rivers, 14. Chad Smith, 15. Ryan Sutter, 16. Don Gordon
B-Main 2 Finish (20 laps – Top 5 Transfer to A-Main): 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Brian Birkhofer, 4. Shannon Babb, 5. Gregg Satterlee, 6. Morgan Bagley, 7. Greg Johnson, 8. Andrew Reaume, 9. Dustin Linville, 10. Mike Spatola, 11. Tim McCreadie, 12. Casey Roberts, 13. Justin Ratttliff, 14. Steve Lance Jr., 15. Jason Riggs, 16. Jody Knowles, 17. Brad Dyer, 18. Jon Henry, 19. Chub Frank, 20. Michael Asberry, 21. Ryan VanderVeen, 22. Donnie Moran, 23. Brett Wyatt, 24. Brian Diveley (Scratched) Jacob Hawkins
B-Main Scramble 2 Finish (5 laps): 1. Morgan Bagley, 2. Greg Johnson, 3. Andrew Reaume, 4. Dustin Linville, 5. Mike Spatola, 6. Tim McCreadie, 7. Justin Rattliff, 8. Steve Lance Jr., 9. Jason Riggs, 10. Jody Knowles, 11. Brad Dyer