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Bland Jr. continues win streak with a win at Lincoln Park Speedway
By CAREY FOX
Times Sports Editor
PUTNAMVILLE-- While the car count may have been smaller than usual, Lincoln Park Speedway provided an electric surface for the drivers on hand Saturday night.
Jeff Bland Jr. has had a stunning two-week run with several wins over the last month. On Saturday night, he garnered yet another victory for the Burton Family as he rocketed to another win at Lincoln Park Speedway ahead of Chase Briscoe, Casey Shuman and Jerry Coons Jr. The win was Bland's fourth since May 24 and second at LPS.
Though the field numbers were thin, the talented group on hand provided plenty of challenges for the redhot driver of the No. 04 Burton Masonry machine.
Carson Short suffered the misfortune of a flip on the opening circuit after starting on the pole.
Rain began to sprinkle down on the field as officials hustled to get the entire show in ahead of Thursday's Indiana Midget Week date.
Ahead of the stoppage, Briscoe was working on another top-5 run after his evening at Bloomington on Friday. However, as the field went green, Carson Short's mount raised up off turn four and he flipped into turn one. Brady Short's No. 11p was also gathered up in the crash on the opening lap.
When the field went green, Jerry Coons Jr. held the lead early, before Bland made his rocket trip on the cushion stick on lap eight. Once he found his way to the point, Bland mostly checked out on the rest of the field. The leaders routinely broke 13 seconds with Bland rolling the top to the tune of better than 90 miles per hour at 12.2 seconds per lap.
Midway through the A-main, Bland had the top spot locked down with Shuman and Briscoe rolling side-by-side in the top-3.
With 10 laps remaining, Bland had the field wired as Briscoe attempted to close the gap. Shuman held down third ahead of a wheel-to-wheel battle between Coons Jr. and AJ Hopkins.
As Bland continued to dominate up front with five laps remaining, there was a final caution flag that re-set the field and gave Briscoe another shot at the lead.
However, Bland left little doubt on the restart, who would claim the win as rain continued to fall on the LPS oval.
Briscoe, Shuman, Coons and Hopkins wrapped up the top-5.
Moments after the checkered flag fell on the sprint car A-main, the UMP Modifieds took the green flag and Randy Shuman battled his way to the lead past Wes McClara at the midway point and pulled way to the victory.
Shuman managed to open up a solid advantage after McClara led the first half of the feature.
Once he got past in traffic, Shuman cruised to the win ahead of McClara, Dan Lewellen, Chad Combs and Duane Lee.
The UMP Super Stock field was stacked with multiple competitors representing the top positions amongst the national leaderboard.
Despite the increasing frequency of the falling rain, Aaron Fields held off a group that included Tyler Cain over the final circuits.
Greencastle's Josh Boller held fast over the late laps despite a strong run from Jake Leitzman, Dan McCullough and Doug McCullough.
The final feature of the evening was the Midseason bomber race with the $500 top prize claimed by Terre Haute's C.J. Bryan, who fought his way through the early leaders to take the victory.
The feature proved to be a war of attrition as 24 cars started and less than a third finished the 25-lap A-main.
Bryan and James Walters were door-to-door over the first half of the race as Carlos Bumgardner moved into fourth just under the midway point.
Tim Wright had rolled from 20th to fifth at that point of the feature, but had his hands full with Walters.
Up front, Bryan remained on point with seven laps left and was able to hold off challenges from Carlos Bumgardner and Walters. David Bumgardner advanced into the fray after an early spin had sent him to the back.
On this evening, Bryan picked up the win ahead of Carlos Bumgardner's chase as Walters, David Bumgardner and Lenny Krupa III battled to the wire.
Thursday evening brings USAC Midgets for their Indiana Midget Week date as well as sprint cars and modifeds for Dixie Chopper Night at Lincoln Park Speedway.
Lincoln Park Speedway
Sprint car feature
1.Jeff Bland Jr., 2. Chase Briscoe, 3. Casey Shuman, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. AJ Hopkins, 6. Kent Christian, 7. Brian Karraker, 8. Jason Robbins, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Lukas Smith, 11. Matt McDonald, 12. Troy Link, 13. Chris Babcock, 14. Carson Short, 15. Brady Short
Heat winners: Coons Jr., Bland Jr.
UMP Modifed feature
1.Randy Shuman, 2. Wes McClara, 3. Dan Lewellen, 4. Chad Combs, 5. Duane Lee, 6. Gary Hayden, 7. Jake Humphrey, 8. Jake Byers, 9. Kenny Carmichael Sr., 10. Jimmy Hayden, 11. Donald Kiger, 12. Randy Milburn, 13. Brent Hudson, 14. Carlos Bumgardner Sr., 15. Sam Wray, 16. Tyler Loughmiller, 17. Wayne Newlin, 18. Josh Edmondson, 19. Gary Ricketts, 20. Chad Nolte
B-main winner: Kiger
Heat winners: Lewellen, Byers, McClara
UMP Super Stock feature
1.Aaron Fields, 2. Tyler Cain, 3. Josh Boller, 4. Jake Leitzman, 5. Dan McCullough, 6. Doug McCullough, 7. Josh Fagg, 8. James Pfeiffer Sr., 9. Kenny Fields, 10. Gene Barnett, 11. Paul Wright, 12. Cullen Sandusky, 13. Larry Babbs, 14. Josh McDaniel, 15. Kris Starks, 16. Kenny Carmichael Sr., 17. Chris Campbell, 18. JR Waktins, 19. Travis Heramb
Heat winners: Leitzman, Boller
Bomber midseason championship feature
1.C.J. Bryan, 2. Carlos Bumgardner Sr., 3. James Walters, 4. David Bumgardner, 5. Lenny Kruppa III, 6. Kyle Krupa, 7. Megan Cavaness, 8. RJ Pruitt, 9. Chucky Walden, 10. Tim Wright, 11. Mike Fisher Jr., 12. Kevin Kemp, 13. Jordan Almanza, 14. Cody Wright, 15. Ron Smith, 16. Dustin Colvin, 17. David Wallen, 18. Michael Williams, 19. Bob Farris, 20. Donald Smiley, 21. Mark Dickerson, 22. Eric Miller, 23. Jason Thornburg, 24. Scott Tidwell
B-main winner: Tim Wright
Heat winners: Kemp, Lenny Krupa, Smith