Toledo Speedway

TOLEDO, OH: (6-12-09): Toledo Speedway's Fastest Short Track Show in the World jumped up a notch in notoriety Friday evening, as Jason Blonde steamed his way to an incredible lap of 12:744, the new all-time quickest lap at the Glass City oval. He topped Chris Perley, who earlier erased Cameron Dodson's record with a lap of 12:893. A large crowd enjoyed a great night for racing as Russ Wood topped the ISMA Super Modified portion of the event and Jeff Bloom sailed to victory in the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper Super Sprint (AVSS) feature. The event, sponsored by All American Coach and Qualite Sports Lighting, lived up to its billing as drama and excitement filled the day right from the start of practice.

To set the stage, the ISMA group only qualifies against the clock once a year-and it's at Toledo.  The low-slung Super Modifieds were first up, and out of the gate came Chris Perley, ISMA's champ and leader.  Chris already had the Toledo ISMA record of 13:116 set in 2007, but the "Rowley Rocket" from Rowley, MA had something on his mind from the start of Friday's activities.  Right out of the box, Chris ripped off a lap of 12:893, the first ISMA car ever in the 12 second bracket at Toledo, and in turn nipped Dodson's old track mark, set in an AVSS Sprinter, of 12:902, set in 2006.

A good crowd filed in early to watch qualifying, which has made a name for itself over the years of this event.  With the AVSS Winged Sprinters up, Ryan Litt, who had been extremely fast in practice, took the green. As he barreled into turn 2, something broke on his machine, sending him into a wild spin and slamming the car into the wall, destroying the machine.  Ryan climbed from his car and walked away from the incident.  With the possibility of AVSS losing the bragging rights for Who has the Fastest race machine on the planet, Jason Blonde took to the track.  Blonde never lifted, and, as he told the crowd later in an interview, "I held my breath for 2 laps."  Lap 2 was the one everyone in attendance will not forget.  Blonde stopped the clocks at a blistering 12:744, stunning everyone on the grounds. 

And now to the racing!  The 50 lap ISMA Super Modified feature was filled with story lines and drama, and just when you expected Perley and then Dave Shullick Jr. to grab victory, it was snatched from their grasp.  Russ Wood, running in the top 5 for most of the race, inherited the lead with just 2 laps to go and grabbed the victory after Shullick's car quit coming to the lap 48 restart.  Mike Lichty took off on the green flag and set a torrid pace as fast qualifier Perley was locked into race and lapped traffic.  Perley, starting 10^th, even fell back a ways before he made his move.  As Lichty sailed along, Shullick grabbed second spot on lap 23 from Trent Stevens, with Perley now up to third.  Just 6 laps later, Shullick got by Lichty in heavy lapped traffic, with Perley hot on his heels, but still in third.  A yellow on lap 40 tightened things up again as the lead trio had a great battle in traffic, with all 3 looking for a way to the front.  With 2 to go, Bobby Bond spun in turn 4 and slammed the wall hard, bringing out the yellow.  Perley darted down pit road with a flat tire, and things looked good for Shullick.  Coming to the green, Dave's car quit, scattering the field.  Shullick never made it down pit road and had to be pushed, ending his promising night.  Wood, in the right place at the right time, took charge and sailed to the victory.  Mike Ordway Jr. was second, Perley came back to take third, Stevens was fourth and Lichty fifth, followed by Randy Burch, Mark Sammut, Rich Reid, Shullick Jr. and Ben Seitz.  A total of 27 ISMA cars made the trip to Toledo.  Heat race winners were Ordway Jr. Jeff Holbrook and Stevens.

59 year old Jeff Bloom showed the way as he zipped to the win in the 30 lap AVSS Sprint feature race.  Slowed by just 2 yellow flags, Bloom set sail from his pole starting spot and built up a sizable lead over the rest of the pack.  Chad Goff, who had been getting quicker as the laps wore down, got his chance with the yellow flag with 4 to go.  Bloom took off again on the restart, but Goff reeled in the leader.  As the lead duo entered turn 1, Goff stayed on the throttle and set up for the pass for the lead.  Out of turn 4, Chad darted low, Bloom held his line and the pair finished wheel to wheel, with Bloom notching the win by 2 feet.  Third was Kyle Flint, fourth went to Ryan Davis and fifth was Blonde.  71 year old Hank Lower was sixth, with Jimmy McCune, Derek Snyder, Travis Miniea and Jim Swain rounding out the top 10.  Goff, Jeff Banyas and hometown favorite McCune captured the heat wins.  Davis was the last-chance race winner.  25 Sprinters were on hand.

 

Friday, June 19 Speedway Tire and Auto presents the return of the Late Models!  The ARCA Hantz Group/Allegiant Air Gold Cup Series Late Models will compete in a 75 lap main event, with $2000 going to the winner.  A field of 25 cars is expected for round number 2 of the 5 race series.  The ARCA Speedway Tire and Auto Factory Stocks and the ARCA 4 Cylinders will also be in action.  The gates will open at 4:30 and racing begins at 7:30 p.m.