Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series: Report and Results from Waycross Motor Speedway
24 February 1998
Waycross, GA - It had been nearly 18 months since Scott Bloomquist, of Mooresburg, TN, visited Victory Lane in a Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series event, but he rectified that Saturday night with a flag-to-flag win at Waycross Motor Speedway in southern Georgia. Earl Pearson Jr, from Jacksonville was second in the 100 lap event with the hottest driver on the series Skip Arp of Georgetown, TN third. Bloomquist used the high side of the track to take the lead from Pole Sitter Wendell Wallace as the cars headed into turn one and was never headed as he streaked to his 57th career Hav-A-Tampa win in his Warrior/Cornett Ford Mustang. "The car was really good all night," Bloomquist stated in Victory Lane. "It was a strong combination out there, the Warrior Chassis and jack Cornett's engine performed flawlessly. We felt like we would be strong here and this team proved it tonight. Waycross has been a good track for us, the track is in the best shape that its ever been in. They have done a real nice job in turning this place into a class facility. We were able to run hard all night long. The Hoosier tires did a good job here tonight and we were able to race hard without having to worry about tire wear." The Waycross win was his first victory in Hav-A-Tampa action since August of 1996 and comes at the site of his first ever series win, nearly five years ago. Bloomquist collected more than $15,000 for his efforts. The race got off to a wild start with five cars involved in a backstretch incident on the first lap. With Wallace and Bloomquist each determined to lead the first lap, both drove deep into turn one, with Wallace spinning in front of the entire field. As cars scattered to avoid him, they came together creating the pile-up. Of the five cars involved, only Billy Moyer was unable to take the green on the restart, as he would lose nine laps making repairs to his car. "Scott and I were both going to take it as deep into the first turn as we could there on the start," Wallace explained afterwards. " Neither one of us were going to lift, and I got a little loose and got into him. We managed to recover and ended up with a pretty good run." Wallace finished the event in fourth place with Dale McDowell taking the fifth spot. Eight more cautions would fly during the race, the most serious of which was when Rodney Comb's Ford Mustang slowed with rear-end trouble, right in front of Moyer and Mark Miner. Both were unable to avoid Combs and all three cars retired to the pits with serious damage to their machines. Earl Pearson Jr was driving for a new team this week, one that had been assembled in midweek. Pearson sustained some minor front end damage in the opening lap melee and suffered overheating problems during the second half of the event, but still was able to hang on and collect third place. Dave Barto and Marvin Harris are the ones who put the team together and Pearson is expected to run the entire series with the team. The next event for the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series will be March 27-28 at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, GA. Hav-A-Tampa Race Result 1. Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg, TN $15,300 2. Earl Pearson Jr Jacksonville, FL 8,650 3. Skip Arp Georgetown, TN 5,300 4. Wendell Wallace Batesville, AR 3,800 5. Dale McDowell Rossville, GA 3,000 6. Rick Eckert York, PA 3,050 7. Jack Pennington Winston, GA 2,500 8. Bart Hartman Zanesville, OH 2,550 9. Kenny Merchant Ruston, LA 2,000 10. Donnie Moran Dresden, OH 2,050 11. Ray Cook Murphy, NC 1,500 12. Jack Boggs Grayson, KY 1,300 13. Clint Smith Griffin, GA 1,200 14. Dan Schlieper Peewaukee, WI 1,400 15. Leland Prewitt Savannah, GA 1,000 16. Freddy Smith Knoxville, TN 1,275 17. Billy Moyer Batesville, AR 1,300 18. Rodney Combs Ft Meyers, FL 925 19. Mark Miner Stockbridge, GA 900 20. Mark Carter Blackshear, GA 900 21. Marshall Green Dalton, GA 900 22. Wade Knowles Tyrone, GA 900 23. Dewayne Johnson Columbus, GA 900 24. Jeff Jacobs Waycross, GA 900 ISKY Racing Cams Fast Gun Award: Wendell Wallace, 16.38 secs/109.89 mph Borla Performance Heat Winners: Wallace, Bloomquist,Arp, Pearson. John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel
