Bloomington Speedway Results 1999-07-30

BLOOMINGTON, IN (July 30, 1999) - With fast qualifying time, wins in his heat race and the dash, and victory in the 40-lap feature race, you could say that Joey Saldana swept the All Stars Circuit of Champions program at Bloomington Speedway, Friday night. But the third Tribute to Dizz Wilson produced a memorable sprint car shootout with Saldana narrowly outrunning Kelly Kinser in rush hour traffic.

"I don't know if I made the high side work, I just stuck with it" Saldana said in victory lane. "I don't know if it was any better, but I figured once I got my momentum going I might be a little better because on the bottom he had to stop pretty much. You know, you come out here to run two grooves for the fans, and they definitely saw a race tonight. That's what we're trying to do."

Kinser's race nearly came to an early conclusion when Jim Carter looped in front of him in the first turn. When the Franklin Power Products Stealth was shoved across an infield marker tire, Kelly kept it rolling while the yellow light came on. Carter collected Boston Reed, Jason Statler, and Brian Ellenberger. Only Carter was not able to return for the restart.

Byron Reed led the first three circuits from the pole, but Saldana was moving up quickly. He passed Danny Smith and Paul McMahan on successive laps, and drove around Reed in turn four, taking the lead on lap six. On the next lap, Boston Reid spun in turn two, directly in front of the leader, but was able to keep the car rolling, and returned to racing without a caution.

While Saldana built an eight car length advantage, Kinser slipped between lapped cars and grabbed second from Reed. Two laps later, Kinser looked under Saldana in the third turn, and they raced wheel-to-wheel past the flagstand, with Kinser ahead. For the next ten circuits, Kinser and Saldana raced side-by-side.

Officially, they traded the lead six times at the flagstand, but the lead sawed back and forth several times each lap. Finally, Kinser was able to work 10 car lengths ahead of Saldana. But when he caught up with lapped traffic, the Mox Motorsports Stealth reeled him back in. Again they were side-by-side, with Saldana riding the rim, and Kinser hugging the inside lane, and a pack of cars ahead of them.

Kinser had difficulty lapping the 51 of Jerrod Hull, and Saldana edged ahead. Kinser fought back, and now both leaders were frustrated by the traffic. Kinser moved to the top of the track ahead of Saldana, for a lap, and then dropped back to the bottom. On lap 39, he tried the top again. But coming off turn 2, Saldana went higher than anyone else, got a wheel over the lip, and racing 4-wide into three surged back into the lead. Surrounded by slower cars, Kinser fought back, but was still a car length behind at the checkered flag. Byron Reed held on to third, with McMahan and Danny Smith completing the top five.

"I knew Kelly was in trouble" Saldana noted after the race. "Because you don't see Kelly run the top, especially a cushion like this. His car is basically built and set up for the bottom. So when I saw him searching around there, I knew he was in trouble."

Bloomington Speedway Summary

July 30, 1999 - The All Stars Circuit of Champions

Qualifying: 1. Joey Saldana, 17, 9.900; 2. Frankie Kerr, 23s, 10.143, 3. Kenny Jacobs, 6, 10.149; 4. Danny Smith 10.169; 5. Paul McMahan, U2, 10.221; 6. Byron Reed, 5R, 10.232; 7. Kasey Kahne, 23k, 10.251; 8. Randy Kinser, 14, 10.322; 9, Jim Carter, 14c, 10.341; 10. Bob Burkle, 21B, 10.347; 11. Kevin Briscoe, 5, 10.384; 12. Kelly Kinser, 4k, 10.397; 13. Jason Statler, 00, 10.426; 14. Jeremy Minton, 7m, 10.438; 15. Brian Ellenberger, 20, 10.459; 16. Dean Jacobs, 8, 10.467; 17. Gary Hayhurst, 20H, 10.489; 18. Greg Wilson, 63, 10.511; 19. Boston Reid, 9R, 10.511; 20. Tim Engler, 73, 10.519; 21. Derek Scheffel, 21s, 10.531; 22. Troy Leonard, 91, 10.592; 23. Dick Gaines Jr., 11G, 10.610; 24. Donnie Goeden, 27G, 10.617; 25. Levi Jones, 73x, 10.617; 26. Paul May, 71m, 10.663; 27. Brian Carlson, 18, 10.719; 28. Jonathan Vennard, 54, 10.763; 29. Lennie Waltz, 22w, 10.778; 30. Eric Davis, 96, 10.852; 31. Todd Kelley, 21k, 10.859; 32. Justin Marvel, 47, 10.920; 33. Jerrod Hull, 51, 10.942; 34. Brenda Buster, 31, 11.105; 35. Kenny Carmichael, 9d, 11.146; 36. Chris Borgman, 6c, 11.185

Heat 1: Saldana, McMahan, Statler, Scheffel, Hull, Carter, Jones, Waltz, Hayhurst

Heat 2: Wilson, Burkle, Kerr, Leonard, Reed, Davis, Buster, Minton, May

Heat 3: Briscoe, Ellenberger, Reid, K. Jacobs, Gaines, Kahne, Kelley, Carlson, Carmichael

Heat 4: K. Kinser, Goeden, R. Kinser, Smith, D. Jacobs, Engler, Vennard, Marvel, Borgman

Dash: Saldana, Kerr, Smith, K. Jacobs, Reed, McMahan

B-Main: Kahne, Engler, Carlson, Carter, May, Waltz, Marvel, Carmichael, Borgman, Minton, Buster, Kelley, Jones, Vennard, Davis

Feature: Saldana, K. Kinser, Reed, McMahan, Smith, Kerr, K. Jacobs, Statler, Hull, D. Jacobs, Wilson, Briscoe, Burkle, Kahne, Goeden, R. Kinser, Engler, Gaines, Carlson, Reid, Ellenberger, Leonard, Scheffel, Carter