| Youth Movement Mixes With Seasoned Racers At Bloomington Speedway, IN | BY CHUCK WELSH
-KARNAC.com
Youth is beginning to be the norm at the Bloomington Speedway. At age fourteen and a freshman in high school, Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, IN showed the ole boys how to get around the ¼ mile red clay track in 11.812 seconds.
Bryan Clauson(left) chatting with Chuck Welsh(right)
Fifteen year old Jeff Bland, Jr. in the UMP Modifieds finished second in his feature, and in the Indiana Super Stocks it was young Kevin Arthur as a first time feature winner in only his second year of racing.
After a few days of rain, the track was still in great shape thanks to the hard work of Mike Miles, promoter of the speedway. With a tacky and heavy track the word from the pits was “Boss, I need MORE POWER to be able to get around this track.”
The sprint feature was won by Eric Shively who qualified 6th to put him on the pole for the feature and he led all 25 laps. Now you know why they all said “MORE POWER.” Finishing second was the crafty and past Bloomington track champion Kevin Briscoe, who is now leading in the sprint points for 2004.
The UMP Modified feature winner was Dan Hamstra from Delphi, IN. Dan, a nationally known modified driver, took young Jeff Bland, Jr. who was on the pole to school about racing modifieds. Dan never got a very big lead at any time after about the 3rd lap over Jr. If there had been just one little slip-up, Jeff would have him in his back pocket in a flash. Finishing third was Gary Barrow, and fourth went to Clint DeMoss.
For the Indiana Super Stock fans, the family name of Arthur is a big tradition in Bloomington starting with Terry, Tony, and now a young man named Kevin. We don’t qualify the Super Stocks and Kevin drew a great number. He won his heat race and the Dash for Cash, letting let him start on the pole for the feature.
At the start, there were two drivers in the front row who have never won a feature and that was Kevin and Mike Jones. For a couple of laps it was a good battle with Arthur and Jones, and then Greg Kendall and Lee Hobbs, two past track champions passed Jones and starting closing the gap on Arthur, but the only time they could get close to him was on the yellow. After the green dropped, Kevin was long gone, running smooth and hitting all his marks like he had been taught by his dad Terry.
Again this week, Bloomington Speedway Victory Lane was filled with cheers and tears as it should have been for Kevin with his friends and family. Finishing behind Kevin was two past track champions--Greg Kendall and Lee Hobbs.
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