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Sprints: Kelly Kinser Sustains Win Streak at Bloomington

23 August 1998

O'NEILL AND NORRIS EARN HARDWARE

BLOOMINGTON, IN - Bloomington's Kelly Kinser ability to slice smoothly through lapped traffic was the key to his winged sprint car victory at Bloomington Speedway on Friday. After assuming command on the sixth lap, when race leader Jeremy Minton found a slick spot on a restart and spun in turn four, Kinser used slower cars to outrun Tim Engler. It was Kinser's second consecutive win in the annual Tribute to Dizz Wilson, and third straight winged sprint triumph on the fast quarter-mile oval.

Kinser scored a clean sweep in the Pennzoil Cup event, setting fast time and winning the first heat race in his Franklin Power Products Stealth. Starting sixth in the feature, he quickly moved up to challenge early race leader, Minton. Although he grabbed the lead in the first turn on lap 6, a yellow flag allowed Minton back in front for the restart. As the field accelerated through the turn, Minton's back end came around and Kinser ran over his nose-piece as he squeezed by on the bottom of the turn.

When the race restarted, Kinser was concerned about his right rear tire going flat after the contact. But when everything is going your way, flat tires don't happen. Engler challenged Kinser until they encountered slower cars, when Kinser was able to methodically put distance between himself and the second place car. While Kelly was opening a half straightaway lead, Randy Kinser closed in on Engler, who had begun to struggle. On lap 22, Randy took second position, and began to cut the distance to Kelly who suddenly ran into a brake problem. But there weren't enough laps left for Randy to mount an effective charge, and Kelly took the checkered flag by five car lengths. Engler held on for third, and Derek Scheffel and Dan Brettnacher completed the top five.

Greg O'Neill won his second consecutive WalMart Tire & Lube Express Indiana Street Stock feature at Bloomington, after twenty-five laps of wheel-to-wheel conflict. Starting from the pole, O'Neill lead the early laps while Steve Hunt, Terry Arthur and Joe Lucas battled for second. After Arthur spun, and several laps later Hunt also looped, Perry Bruce charged into battle with Lucas and O'Neill. Bruce used the high lane to grab the point on lap 20, but a spin brought out the yellow and O'Neill was returned up front for the restart. Bruce quickly closed in at the green flag, and for the last five laps, the two fought for the win. They traded lanes and they traded the lead on each circuit. O'Neill took the white flag in the lead, and was able to hold off one last charge by Bruce for the victory. Lucas was a close third, followed by Al Flick and J.D. Francis.

Coming from the tail of the 25-lap open wheel modified main event, Grammer, Indiana's Kerry Norris earned his victory the hard way. It took three tries to get the race started properly. On the second green flag, Norris was knocked into the infield when two cars tangled ahead of him on the backstretch. Norris had to take the third start at the back of the field.

Ray Humphrey ran strong in the lead, while John Davis, John DeMoss and Matt Tiller fought for second, and Norris was working his way through the field. With yellow flags preventing Humphrey from running away with the race, Norris hunted down the leaders one at a time. When he caught Humphrey, they ran two laps side-by-side, with Norris taking the lead on lap 18. Following a caution flag on lap 20, Humphrey slipped over the top rim of the track and lost several car lengths that he was not able to recover. Following the race, Humphrey was disqualified for a technical infraction. DeMoss was scored second, followed by Tiller, Brian Campbell and Albert Webb.

Bloomington Speedway Summary
August 21, 1998
Tribute to Dizz Wilson/Pennzoil Cup Winged Sprint Cars Fast Qualifier: Kelly Kinser, 10.172

Heat 1: Kelly Kinser, Nick Naber, Eric Smith, Randy Kinser, Eric Davis

Heat 2: Jeremy Minton, Jason Knoke, Bryan Ruble, Dan Brettnacher, Derek Scheffel

Heat 3: Boston Reid, Tim Engler, Dickie Gaines, Brenda Buster, Jeff Clark

Semi-Main: Bob Burkle, Pete Abel, Todd Kelley, Wayne Newlin, Lennie Waltz

Feature: K. Kinser, R. Kinser, Engler, Scheffel, Brettnacher, Abel, Gaines, Knoke, Ruble, Kelley, Smith, Waltz, Newlin, Buster, Davis, Naber, Minton, Reid, Burkle, Clark

WalMart Tire & Lube Express Indiana Street Stocks
Heat 1: Perry Bruce, Don Parson, Jeff Taylor, Tom Plotz
Heat 2: Terry Arthur, Greg O'Neill, Bob Bex, Jack Frye
Heat 3: Joe Lucas, Al Flick, Cory Brown, Steve Gilbert
Heat 4: Steve Hunt, Steve Hawkins, Mike Beatty, J.D. Francis
Semi-Main: Roy Bruce Jr., Mike Phillips, Danny Harris, Mel Bigham
Feature: O'Neill, Bruce, Lucas, Flick, Francis, Bex, Brown, Harris, Phillips, Beatty, Hunt, Bigham, Bruce, Plotz, Hawkins, Frye, Gilbert, Arthur, Taylor, Parson

Open Wheel Modifieds
Heat 1: Matt Tiller, Bret Barr, Rick Hines, Bill Rinnert, Brian Campbell
Heat 2: Kerry Norris, John DeMoss, Ray Humphrey, John Davis, Richie Lex
Heat 3: Billy Peeden, Brent Londeree, Terry Trammell, Andrew Davis, Roy Bruce Jr.
Semi-Main: Albert Webb, Rodney Harris Jr. Dan Lewellen, Brian Sullivan, Sonny Richardson
Feature: Norris, DeMoss, Tiller, Campbell, Webb, Trammell, Londeree, Harris, Mike Bowersox, Lewellen, Sullivan, J. Davis, Peeden, Richardson, Lex, Barr, A. Davis, Rinnert, Hines (Humphrey - DQ)