BLOOMBERG SENDS BACK MASCS TRAVELERS

Topics:  Jeremy Bloomberg

Matt Panure
Mid American Stock Car Series
May 21, 2010

MORRIS, Ill. (May 21, 2010) – On a day when the rains fell mercilessly during the mid-afternoon, Jeremy Bloomberg wasn’t about to let a first-timer steal his thunder. The 2007 Grundy County Speedway Mid-American champion stole the show from the Mid-American Stock Car Series travelers in Friday’s running of Morris MAY-hem.

Bloomberg passed Lyle Nowak using the outside line on lap 27 and held off the charges of Brian Back, who made his first ever trip to Grundy County Speedway. Back had several chances to close the gap in the final ten laps, but was unable to rattle Bloomberg.

“I tried not to look behind me,” Bloomberg said. “I just tried to look at the track and hit my marks every time and be consistent. It seemed to pay off.”

It was that consistency that spoiled any chance of Back adding a feature win to his fast time from earlier in the evening. Back is now two for two in quick times in 2010.

“He was going to need to make a mistake for me to get by him,” said Back. “I stayed as close as I could hoping he might make a mistake and he never did. I give him a lot of credit.”

After 19 laps of Lyle Nowak towing Bobby Gutknecht and Jeremy Spoonmore around the third-mile, the top five was thrown into a frenzy when Gutknecht and Spoonmore spun into the infield. After the caution, Bloomberg re-aligned behind Nowak.

When the field resumed racing, Bloomberg edged out Grundy regular Ron Vandermeir for the second spot and set his sights on the leader. Jaunting to the outside several times, Bloomberg battled hard to find the right line around Nowak.

“He didn’t seem to give anything up,” Bloomberg said. “I got outside him coming out of the turn. At the time (Vandermeir) got underneath me. It was either go to the lead or go to the back, so I didn’t really have a choice. I was lucky it worked.”

As Bloomberg made his move to the outside, Back and James Swan were making their moves into the top five by lap 25. Back followed in Bloomberg’s tire tracks and swung to the outside, charging from fifth to third on lap 29. One lap later the caution flew when Tyler Bauknecht backed his machine into the turn-three wall. On that same lap, Swan exited the track with mechanical issues on his Monte Carlo.

Back said by that point, it was too late to overtake Bloomberg. “I was looking for the right places to make the passes when I needed to, and I got to the outside,” he said. “The 45 car was able to get to past those cars before I got alongside of him, and that was the difference in the race.”

Nowak settled for third after a five-lap scrum with Vandermeir. Jacob Finney was fifth across the line, but was too light at the scales. Ryan Finley was awarded the position after post-race inspection.

Throughout the evening, MASCS point-leader and Rockford winner Mark Pluer struggled. Pluer posted the second slowest lap fighting an ill-handling machine through his timed trips. He was able to stay out of trouble during the 40-lap feature and posted a 12th place finish.

With fast time and a second place finish, Back unofficially catapulted into the MASCS points lead. He leads by six markers over Bill Prietzel who recovered from an early spin and flat tire to finish seventh.

“We figured this might determine how our whole season might go,” said Back. It was the only unknown in our whole schedule.”

The next race for Mid-American favors the newest MASCS point leader. Mid-American visits Dells Raceway Park next Saturday, May 29 for Dells Duel Part One.

In three trips last season Back won a feature, set fast time twice, and shattered the track record. He also won the Hankscraft Inc., Dash for the Duel presented by Wintergreen Resort and Conference Center, which pitted the best of the Dells finishers against each other in a ten-lap shootout.

Dells Raceway Park is located on Smith Road just outside of Wisconsin Dells, Wis. For more information visit www.dellsracewaypark.com.

For more information about the Mid-American Stock Car Series, including the full 2010 schedule, results, standings and driver information visit www.midamericanracing.com.