Hidden Valley Speedway
Blose breaks through in first ULMS race at AMP
By Terry Whetstone
America's Motorsports Park
Mike Blose (5) goes under Justin Kanouff (10n). (Derek Bobik)
CLEARFIELD, Pa. (Sept. 28) — The first-ever NDRL's ULMS Racing Series event at America’s Motorsports Park produced a first-time series winner with Mike Blose of Dayton, Ohio, earning $3,000 for his first series victory in Saturday’s ninth annual Stephanie Eckl Memorial.
After sharing the front row with Boom Briggs for the start of the race, Blose took command at the drop of green flag and never looked back. He led the entire distance to beat Rob Blair of Centerville, Pa., to the finish. Jason Dupont of Cyclone, Pa., was third while Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., slid back to fourth and Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y., finished fifth.
Blose set a torrid pace through the race’s opening laps until the field was red flagged on lap three when Duane Stiner caught the front stretch wall and bounced into traffic. He collected several cars, but no one was injured.
When the race resumed, it was still more exciting to watch the battle from second on back rather than for the lead. Dupont moved into second and Briggs fell to third as, Knight, Blair, Gabe Shaffer, Rich Gardner and Luke Hoffner all battled for position.
Blose worked lapped traffic after a long run when the caution waved on lap 20 to tighten the field. This allowed for some close racing, as Blair put it in high gear and started to move into the top five by lap 23.
Blose was still setting the pace, but Blair was on the move and took fourth by lap 26. He was second a lap late before muscling his way past Dupont on the final lap. But he couldn’t catch Blose, who cruised to the victory.
Stephanie Eckl Memorial: (1) Mike Blose, (2) Rob Blair, (3) Jason Dupont, (4) Boom Briggs, (5) Mike Knight, (6) Luke Hoffner, (7) Gabe Shaffer, (8) Dwayne Taneyhill, (9) Waylon Wagner, (10) Scott Alvetro, (11) Rich Gardner, (12) Tom Kronenwetter Jr., (13) Josh Jacoby, (14) Justin Kanouff, (15) Shawn Claar, (16) Earl French, (17) Dan Gill, (18) Duane Stiner, (19) Greg Oakes, (20) Tom Decker, Jr. Heat race winners (among 23 cars): Briggs, Claar, Knight, Dupont. Consolation winner: Kanouff.
