Volunteer Speedway
Blankenship dominates, wins $10,000 at The Gap
By Joshua Joiner
DirtonDirt.com staff writer
John Blankenship gets up to speed at Volunteer Speedway. (Chad Wells)
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (March 16) — After getting outgunned by Scott Bloomquist on the start of Saturday’s Spring Thaw feature, polesitter John Blankenship was already preparing himself to settle for a runner-up finish in the 60-lap Spring Nationals-sanctioned event.
Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va., had no reason to believe his car was capable of passing Bloomquist after he struggled to maneuver around Volunteer Speedway’s high-banked oval all through the Spring Thaw doubleheader weekend. | Slideshow
But Saturday’s main event was different, and Blankenship soon realized he had a car fast enough to overtake Bloomquist and so much more.
After pressuring Bloomquist through the race’s first 10 laps, the low-running Blankenship grabbed the lead on lap 13 and never looked back, opening nearly a half-track advantage on his way to earning a $10,000 victory in the caution-free race.
“I was wanting to jump him so bad and he ended up beating me into the first corner,” said Blankenship, who recorded his first victory of the season and first-ever at Volunteer Speedway. “Right then I was thinking ‘well, I’m just gonna have to settle in here for second.’ But after about five laps I could tell I was staying with him pretty easy and I started to think I might be able to do something with him.”
Blankenship’s official margin of victory was just under 4.933 seconds over eighth-starting Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Ind. Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., was just behind Casebolt in third while Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville, Tenn., advanced from sixth to fourth and Bloomquist slid back to fifth at the finish.
Blankenship’s only challenge after taking the lead was negotiating slower traffic. He had little trouble overtaking the slower cars for most of the race, but as the track became single-laned late in the going, the task proved more challenging. That wouldn’t have mattered, but Blankenship wasn’t aware that he had built such a massive lead.
“The track really took rubber there late in the race and it was really tough to get around the lapped cars at that point,” Blankenship said. “I had no idea how far ahead I was, so anytime I saw an opportunity to get by a lapped car, I’d dive-bomb them a little bit just to try to get one or two in between me and whoever was behind me.”
Blankenship put plenty of cars between himself and those chasing him, lapping all but the top nine finishers in one his most-dominating performances of his career.
“I can’t think of a race where the car’s been better than that,” said Blankenship, a regular on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series who has four-career wins on the national tour. “Usually you have to work a little harder than I did tonight. It was kinda like driving an asphalt car, just easing into the corner and easing back into the gas. It was great.”
As Blankenship ran away from the field, Casebolt and Madden battled hard for the second spot through the race’s middle stages. Casebolt finally took the spot for good on lap 45 after the two drivers traded multiple slidejobs. He closed the gap slightly on Blankenship in the closing laps but couldn’t reel in the leader.
Casebolt’s run toward the front continued his solid weekend at Volunteer, giving him a pair of top-three finishes in the two events.
“I’m thrilled. Everybody wants to come down and win, but I’m happy with a second and third for the weekend,” said Casebolt, who has now finished among the top five in four of his five starts this season. ”The first few laps, I knew we had a good car, I just figured passing would be a premium. It really got one-laned there at the end, but up until lap 45 or so, I could run top, bottom or the middle. Being able to move around like that definitely helped us move up there.”
Madden appeared to have a car capable of challenging Blankenship when he moved by Bloomquist for second on lap 24, but he couldn’t close the gap without a caution. He faded in the second half of the race, giving up the second spot to Casebolt.
“We had a good car. Our tires gave up late there and when Casebolt got to me I was hanging on just trying to survive,” said Madden, who notched his second top-five of the weekend after finishing fourth in Friday’s race. “I think if we got a caution and could let our tires cool off some, we could’ve held Casebolt off and got second, but I don’t know about running with Blankenship. That cat was out of here.”
Notes: Blankenship's Rocket Chassis is powered by a Jay Dickens Racing Engine and sponsored by Coal World’s Energy, Todd Case Trucking, Fast Lane, VP Race Fuels, Bear Cove Village and Integra Racing Shocks. ... The race was completed in roughly 15 minutes. ... Blankenship finished third in Friday’s Spring Thaw opener, a race in which Dale McDowell claimed a $4,000 victory. ... The doubleheader weekend were the first two events for Ray Cook’s 10-race Spring Nationals tour. The remaining seven events are spread over three weekends with the finale set for May 11. ... The series next competes in a doubleheader weekend April 12-13 at Tri-County Racetrack in Brasstown, N.C., and Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn.
Spring Thaw: (1) John Blankenship, (2) Steve Casebolt, (3) Chris Madden, (4) Billy Ogle Jr., (5) Scott Bloomquist, (6) Jimmy Owens, (7) Ty Dillon, (8) Eric Jacobsen, (9) Dale McDowell, (10) Mark Vineyard, (11) Tommy Kerr, (12) Steve Francis, (13) Eric Wells, (14) Michael Chilton, (15) David Payne, (16) Tyler Millwood, (17) Jared Landers, (18) Josh Collins, (19) Vic Hill, (20) Casey Roberts, (21) Skip Arp, (22) Mark Douglas, (23) Stacy Boles. Fast qualifier (among 31 cars): Blankenship, 13.413 seconds. Heat race winners: Blankenship, Madden, Bloomquist, Jacobsen. Consolation winners: Douglas, Landers. Last chance winner: Boles.
Correction: Fixes that Blankenship used a Jay Dickens engine.
