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From the time the newest addition to Lernerville Speedway's schedule, the Firecracker 100, was announced at the speedway's annual awards banquet in early March, the anticipation has been building. More times than not, however when an something is hyped to the degree that the first annual event was, it is a good bet it will pale in comparison to its expectations. Not so the First annual Firecracker 100; not even a little.
After months of expectation and speculation of what sort of a success the newest addition to DIRT Motorsports World of Outlaws Late Model schedule would be, the long wait ended last Friday and Saturday night.
The format of the weekend lent itself to speculation that this could be something the Lernerville faithful had never seen before. The big names were of course the main draw. A racing card featuring Scott Bloomquist, Chub Frank, Josh Richards, Rick Eckert and a virtual Who's Who of the dirt late model world dictated a large crowd to begin with. Add to that a two day program, on site camping, non-racing activities for the fans as well as an opportunity to mingle with the drivers who, due to the relaxed two day affair didn't have to pack up and head to the next race, all made for an exceptionally enjoyable weekend.
The other unique aspect of the event was the layout of the racing itself. A first ever at Lernerville 100 lap feature event coupled with an unheard of 30 lap, $3000 to win non-qualifiers race guaranteed the near sellout crowd the chance to see what amounted to two quality feature events. The great racing wasn't limited to the features though. The two B-mains on the Saturday portion of the weekend would be a dream for a short track promoter most any day of the season.
The two day format and the couple hundred campsites were something usually reserved for season ending shows like Challenger Raceway's Fall-Fest or Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway's Pittsburgher. The festive atmosphere in the camping area coupled with the gorgeous late June weather simply added to the fact that this is clearly the biggest thing to hit Lernerville Speedway in its nearly four decade history.
The product on the track had some folks a little worried about the condition of the track after a never before seen 100 laps following 80 laps of last chance races. And while the track took a ton of rubber especially in turns three and four, it held together well and simply put the race in the hands of the drivers, many of whom said in post race interviews that they could go little more than half throttle due to the slick conditions of the track surface.
The 100 lap event was dominated by none other than Scott Bloomquist who led wire to wire after pulling pole position in the redraw for starting positions. Bloomquist’s dominance as well as a rundown of the entire race weekend is well documented here on Dirt Track Digest by World of Outlaws Late Model Series Public Relations Director Kevin Kovac as well as Lernerville’s PR director Eric Westendorf. A recap of the live race coverage by DTD’s own Jason Shank is also available on the site.
The inaugural Firecracker 100 has served to put Lernerville Speedway on the map of the Late Model World. Thanks to comments like that of Uncle Sam 30 lap non qualifiers race winner Josh McGuire who said that after racing Eldora Speedway for a number of years, Lernerville is the best track he’s ever raced on, it should stay on that map for good. |
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