Blonde goes Gold in HOSS Kalamazoo 50 Lapper



Jason Blonde of Litchfield, Michigan pushed the Carman Farms owned Glasstree sponsored number 61 to the front of the field Saturday night and never looked back to win the Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series 50 lap feature event at the Kalamazoo Speedway. Second went to 2004 HOSS champ Greg Wheeler, with Dorman Snyder ahead of early leader Jimmy McCune and Michael Tarlton fifth.
A beautiful Saturday afternoon for racing at the Kalamazoo Speedway greeted the racers and fans for an action packed evening of high speed thrills and excitement. The action started early as HOSS hot laps showed many cars within a half second of the track record.
Qualifying got underway just after 6pm and the early predictions of speed nearly came to pass as Jason Blonde charged to a 10.952 second clocking, just a tenth over the track record. Second fastest qualifier Jason Fuller timed in at 10.992 seconds in an impressive effort.
The first HOSS heat paired the veteran Hank Lower with rookie Jeff Kaiser on the front row as Ron Koehler and Ike Beasley took up the second row. Greg Wheeler and fast qualifier Jason Blonde were in the third row with Martin, Michigan's Eric Curry out back. The field jostled at the start and series flagman Keith Ousley scuttled the attempt in favor of a cleaner send off. The second try was well behaved and Hank Lower and Jeff Kaiser battled for the early lead. Fast qualifier Blonde quickly entered the fray and set off into the evening breeze to claim the ten lap heat race win.
The second heat lined Chris Jagger beside rookie Reggie Jacobs in Ed Kenens' red number 35 car. The 40 of Tim Cox (owned by B&D Racing) and the 3A of Mike Astrauskas configured row two with Jimmy McCune in the 19 and the 40 of Jason Fuller (owned by Tim Cox) in the third row with 06 Rodney Ziemek and 77b Steve Burch rounding out the field. At the green Jagger and Jacobs wrestled for the lead before Tim Cox bettered the pair and went on to the win. Jacobs finished an impressive second ahead of McCune, with Jagger winding up fourth.
The third heat saw the 75c of Jerry Caryer and the 6 of Sondi Eden pacing the field. Scott Seaton made his return to HOSS action lining up beside the red 26 of Jeff Bloom with Michael Tarlton and Dorman Snyder in the third row. Sondi Eden charged deep into turn one and emerged with the lead. She was never seriously challenged although Seaton gained serious ground in the closing laps to finish second ahead of Dorman Snyder and Michael Tarlton. Jerry Caryer, Jeff Bloom and Patrick Stewart rounded out the field.
The feature was pushed off and after a tribute lap the field aligned for fifty laps of winged warfare. Polesitter Michael Tarlton and Jimmy McCune raced into turn one with McCune gaining the advantage off of turn two. McCune began building his lead over the field before a lap twelve caution flew for Eden's powerless machine in turn one. The restart placed McCune directly ahead of Jason Blonde, Michael Tarlton, Dorman Snyder, and Greg Wheeler. McCune and Blonde blasted into the night jousting for the lead until lap 24 when Blonde moved to the point. Lap 35 brought another caution as Ike Beasley's sprinter broke the driveshaft coming off of turn four. A brief oil fire erupted as Ike brought the car to a stop near turn one. Beasley emerged from the car a fell to the ground as help arrived. Shaken but not stirred, Beasley later signed autographs and talked many fans after the event. After the red flag the field restarted with fifteen laps remaining. Blonde again packed the evening breeze between himself and the rest of the field en route to the win. McCune's valiant run soured late as the right rear tire began giving out. Falling from second to fifth McCune soldiered on as the battered finally folded at the checkered flag.
"I can't thank these guys enough" said an ecstatic Jason Blonde in victory lane. "Last night we poked a hole in the oil pan and they changed it to come here tonight." Blonde continued, "The car was on a rail. I could go anywhere out there tonight. Fifty laps is a long race for us but when the car is as good as it was tonight, it makes it fun!"
The Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series returns to action June 11 at the Salem Speedway. Be sure to catch all of the excitement at www.hossracing.com and find out more about the Salem Speedway at www.salemspeedway.com

Feature Finish 1-61 Jason Blonde, 2-7 Greg Wheeler, 3-99 Dorman Snyder, 4-19 Jimmy McCune, 5-9Michael Tarlton, 6-37 Hank Lower, 7-3A Mike Astrauskas, 8- 1 Scott Seaton, 9-71K Geoff Kaiser, 10-75C Jerry Caryer, 11-27 Chris Jagger, 12-40 Jason Fuller, 13-81Ike Beasley, 14-62 Eric Curry, 15-06 Rodney Ziemek, 16-35 Richie Jacobs, 17-90 Patrick Stewart, 18-10 Ron Koehler, 19-6 Sondie Eden, 20-40 Tim Cox, 21-77B Steve Burch, 22-26 Jeff Bloom
Qualifying 1-61 Blonde 10.952, 2-40 Fuller, 3-99 Snyder, 4-7 Wheeler, 5-19 McCune, 6-9 Tarlton, 7-81 Beasley, 8-3A Astrauskas, 9-26 Bloom, 10-10 Koehler, 11-40 Cox, 12-1 Seaton, 13-37 Lower, 14-35 Jacobs, 15-6 Eden, 16-71K Kaiser, 17-27 Jagger, 18-75C Caryer, 19-46 Wood, 20-06Ziemek, 21-90 Stewart, 22-62 Curry, 23-77B Burch, 24-11 Paterson
Heat One 1-61 Blonde, 2-37 Lower, 3-71K Kaiser, 3-71K Kaiser, 4-7 Wheeler, 5-10 Koehler, 6-81 Beasley, 7-62 Curry, 8-46 Wood,
Heat Two 1-40 Cox, 2-35 Jacobs, 3-19 McCune, 4-27 Jagger, 5-40 Fuller, 6-3A Astrauskas, 7-06 Ziemek, 8-77B Burch
Heat Three 1-6 Eden, 2-1 Seaton, 3-99 Snyder, 4-9 Tarlton, 5-75C Caryer, 6-26 Bloom, 7-90 Stewart