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Casebolt Lives Out His Biggest Dream at Eldora
ROSSBURG, OH (June 8 & 9) -- For Steve Casebolt, Saturday night’s race at Eldora Speedway - the Dirt Late Model Dream - could not have been entitled any more appropriately. The 28 year old Richmond, IN veteran drove the race of his life to capture $100,000 in front of the largest Dream crowd to date.
Casebolt’s dream nearly turned into a nightmare; however.
After taking over the lead from Scott James on lap 20 and looking to be invincible, a yellow flag two laps from the finish had pulled defending champion, and four-time Dream winner, Scott Bloomquist on his rear bumper. That set up a two lap, one mile, race to the finish that had the near capacity crowd on their feet.
Coming down for the final green flag, Casebolt, methodically smashed the accelerator just in front of the starter’s stand and effectively blocked Bloomquist’s expected deep approach into turn one. Bloomquist is a master of the famed Eldora ‘slide job’, but Casebolt stopped it. That effectively stalled Bloomquist’s momentum and Casebolt easily outdistanced him to the finish as the crowd enthusiastically roared their approval.
Polesitter James pulled into the early lead, with second place starter Casebolt dropping to second. Brian Shirley, Chub Frank and Garrett Durrett rounded out the top five for the early stages of the event.
Eldora’s format for lining up the Dream certainly meets the fan’s approval, but for the driver’s it can cause headaches.
Such was the case for Bloomquist. A disappointing finish in his heat race found him lining up 15th on the grid, while the event’s quickest time trialer, Tim McCreadie, dropped out of his qualifying heat race and had to start 19th.
James instantly opened a huge lead of the field, but the torrid pace may have taken it’s toll, as the track began to take rubber.
By lap 12 Casebolt began to reel in James and the approaching lapped traffic aided his cause. Heavy lapped traffic on the 18th circuit proved to be James’ downfall, as it moved Casebolt to within inches of him and two laps later, the pass was made.
At this point, Bloomquist was still mired deep in the field, in 11th, with McCreading three spots behind him.
A caution flag period on lap 27 created some anxious moments, as several drivers dropped to the pits in hopes of changing tires, including Josh Richards, Steve Francis and Matt Miller. A quick clean up by the efficient Eldora crew found only Miller returning to the surface in time to take the green. Richards and Francis went down two laps, which were unable to be made up.
The resulting bunching up of the field didn’t faze Casebolt. He again jolted into a huge lead, but it gave Bloomquist the momentum he was seeking. By lap 35, he was up to 7th and had his game face on. Darrell Lanigan was also on the move, as the crowd began to sense another exciting Eldora finish.
With caution flags at a minimum, the pace was quick and lapped traffic heavy. By the mid-point, Casebolt had used that lapped traffic as a buffer zone. Frank had gotten by James for second, while Lanigan and Bloomquist had moved into fourth and fifth.
Bloomquist disposed of Lanigan on lap 53, but it was 17 laps later before he could do the same with James. The left only Frank between himself and the leader. On lap 78 he got by Frank and the stage was set. Casebolt’s huge lead began to dwindle and with the ‘five to go’ signal, let Casebolt know that he was there. Just as he was setting up his pass for the lead, a spin by Durrett in turn two negated the move.
And, with the blocked slide on the restart, Casebolt fulfilled one of the biggest dreams of his career, a healthy victory at one of Eldora Speedway’s premier events.
Following them across the line were Frank, Lanigan and James.
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146 cars
Fast Time: Tim McCreadie 17.575
Non-Qualifier Race:
Mark Banal, Brett Wyatt, Mike Benedem, David Hilliker, Chad Hina, Scott Bell, Zack Forster, Hillard Miller, Ryan VanderVeen, Jon Horner, Michael Stiltner, Greg Ruckel, Eric Midkiff, Mike Walker, Dale Gross, Jr., Steve Kester, Ryan Mitchell, Ky Harper, Shaun Smith
Heat 1:
Chub Frank, Brian Birkhofer, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Rick Eckert, R.J. Conley, Justin Ratliff, Mike Johnson, Audie McWilliams, Brent Kreke, Scott Edmisten, Mike Walker, Steve Kester, Brian Ruhlman, Michael England, Tim McCreadie, Josh McGuire, Mike Marlar, Greg Oliver, Frank Heckenhast, Jerry Bowesock
Heat 2:
Steve Casebolt, Josh Richards, Jimmy Owens, Shawn Toczek, Jimmy Mars, Brandon Kinzer, Jason Keltner, Darren Miller, Jesse Lay, Freddy Smith, Dutch Davies, Casey Noonan, Michael Balzano, Ron Davies, Jon Horner, Delmas Conley, Mark Douglas, Duane Chamberlain, John Gill, Frank Ingram
Heat 3:
Bart Hartman, Garrett Durret, Scott Bloomquist, Matt Miller, Shane Clanton, Shannon Babb, Dennis Erb, Doug Drown, Donnie Moran, John Mason, Damon Eller, Aaron Scott, Robbie Hensley, Nick Marolf, Corey Conley, Shawn Holliday, Petey Ivey, Scott Fisk, Rick Aukland, Shanon Buckingham
Heat 4:
Brian Shirley, Steve Francis, Darrell Lanigan, Randy Korte, Don O’Neal, Terry Phillips, Brad Neat, Jerry Rice, Jordan Bland, Chad Ruhlman, Rod Conley, Ben Adkins, Tony Knowles, Mike Mataragas, Tim Manville, Casey Vitale, Chad Hina, J. R. Hotovy, Bodine Massengill, Steve Landrum
Heat 5:
Clint Smith, Brady Smith, Earl Pearson, Jr., Steve Shaver, Todd Morrow, Dale McDowell, Kellen Chadwick, Eric Jacobson, Jason Montgomery, Shannon Thornsberry, Brad Looney, Randy Woodling, John Anderson, Brian Rickman, Josh Williams, Clint Jamison, Kris Patterson, Rodney Combs, Tim Sabo, Roy Mitchell
Heat 6:
Scott James, Jeep VanWormer, Wendell Wallace, Chris Madden, John Blankenship, Jackie Boggs, Bobby Kitchens, Tim Dohm, Billy Moyer, Dan Schlieper, Ashley Anderson, Jeff Beyers, Wayne Chinn, Josh Williams, Kevin Weaver, Rick Rickman, Bill Williams, Bill Hahn, Curtis Roberts
C-Main:
Neat, Keltner, Drown, D. Miller, Moran, Dohm, Lay, Rice, McWilliams, Mason, Moyer, Chadwick, Kreke, F. Smith, M. Johnson, Anderson, Eller, Edmisten, Montgomery, Thornsberry, Bland, C. Ruhlman, Schlieper
B-Main:
Shaver, Mars, Madden, Clanton, Korte, Morrow, Eckert, Babb, Erb, Boggs, R. J. Conley, D. Miller, Blankenship, Dohm, Phillips, Wyatt, Kinzer, Moran, Drown, Ratliff, McDowell, Toczek, Neat
DIRT LATE MODEL DREAM:
1) Steve Casebolt 2)Scott Bloomquist 3)Chub Frank 4)Darrell Lanigan 5)Scott James 6)Bart Hartman 7)Brady Smith 8)Clint Smith 9)Tim McCreadie 10)Earl Pearson, Jr 11)Jimmy Mars 12)Jimmy Owens 13)Jeep VanWormer 14)Eddie Carrier, Jr. 15)Garrett Durrett 16)Josh Richards 17)Shane Clanton 18)Chris Madden 19)Steve Shaver 20)Brian Shirley 21)Steve Francis 22)Matt Miller 23)Brian Birkhofer 24)Wendell Wallace
lap leaders: Scott James 1-20, Steve Casebolt 21-100
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