Jeff Bland Jr. of Bedford captured the Tom White & Company Real Estate Non-wing Sprint Car Championship at Bloomington Speedway by only five points over Jordan Kinser, also of Bedford.
Each of the rainouts the track experienced this year was on a Friday, when the non-wing machines were scheduled to race, reducing the schedule to just eight nights. Of those, neither of the two USAC events counted toward points, so only six events are included in the totals.
In earning his second Bloomington sprint car crown, Bland put the Waltz 18w, sponsored by Tom White & Company, into Victory Lane in early May, and added three other top-five finishes. In what turned out to be a critical result, Bland notched a strong third-place finish during the IU Surplus Doubler, capturing valuable doubled points.
Trailing by only five points, Kinser score two wins, the first in mid-June, and followed that up with a fireworks Independence Day event victory two weeks later. It was a rear-end failure in his Hurst Brothers 70 machine during his heat race at the Josh Burton Memorial that kept him from running the feature, which gave him one less point-paying event than Bland. A second-place run on opening night put him in a strong position early, but his eighth-place finish in the Doubler hurt, in what turned out to be the final point event of the season.
Third place turned out to be a tie in points, with Jasonville’s Brandon Morin and Troy, Ohio’s Lee Underwood both scoring 340 points. Improving rapidly with each year he has competed at Bloomington, Morin notched one top-five finish and only two runs outside the top-10. With a strong car each time he pushed off, Underwood’s record was similar, with a single top-five finish. Bland, Morin and Underwood were the only drivers to compete in all six sprint car features.
Fifth place in points was also a tie, with Daylan Chambers and Josh Cunningham matching totals. Kyle Cummins’ pair of victories is also notable, the first coming on opening night and the second in the Doubler.
Final Bloomington Speedway sprint car points standings: 1. Jeff Bland Jr. 378; 2. Jordan Kinser 373 3. (tie) Brandon Morin and Lee Underwood 340; 5. (tie) Daylan Chambers and Josh Cunningham 286; 7. Kyle Cummins 261; 8. Kevin Chambers 253; 9. Jaden Rogers 227; 10. Hunter O’Neal 176.
Bloomington UMP Modified veteran Jeff Deckard proved that being consistent and competitive can lead to a champion’s crown. The AJ Bowlen Realtor ReMax Acclaimed Properties-sponsored UMP Modified
division competed nine times on Friday nights in 2018, and only two drivers started all of the main events. Deckard notched four top-five finishes and claimed the title by just 15 points over Jay Humphrey Jr. of Bloomington. Humphrey raced hard and fought through some equipment issues, but still managed six top-10 runs in the nine races. Other than missing Opening Night, Sam Wray of Bloomington made every feature and tallied five top-10 results for third in the point standings.
Jordan Wever of Bloomington didn’t run a modified feature until early May, but between May 11 and June 8, he tallied a second, a fourth and a second. With a third-place run in the final race, he solidified fourth in the final points. Both Ryan Thomas of Brownstown and Josh Harris scored three feature wins in 2018, and with six feature race starts, Thomas finished just four points behind Wever. Thomas notched victories at both the Josh Burton Memorial and the Fourth of July Fireworks Night, and other than a 17th-place run in the final race for the mods, his worst feature finish was third. Among Harris’ wins was the prestigious JB Robinson Memorial American Modified Series feature in May. Kenny Carmichael took sixth in the points with a second and fourth place among his six feature starts.
Jacoby Hines scored a win in April but fell out later in the year and took seventh in the points. Tyler Nicely took the Opening Night victory.
Final A.J. Bowlen Realtor ReMax Acclaimed Properties UMP Modifieds: 1. Jeff Deckard 440; 2. Jay Humphrey Jr. 425; 3. Sam Wray 377; 4. Jordan Wever 360; 5. Ryan Thomas 356; 6. Kenny Carmichael 341; 7. Jacoby Hines 285; 8. John Clippinger 279; 9. Jason Clark 277; 10. Chad Combs 248.
Jason Hehman of Brownstown captured the super stock crown at Bloomington with the strength of six wins in 11 events, catapulting him to the championship. Hehman had nine top-fives to go with 10 top-10 finishes to capture the championship over Bloomington drivers Steve Hollars, Jack Frye, Steve Hawkins and Chip Slagle of Westfield.
Hollars and Frye won one feature apiece, with Divine grabbing three victories during the season.
Final Super Stock Points Standings: 1. Jason Hehman 684; 2. Steve Hollars; 637 3. Jack Frye 624; 4. Steve Hawkins 618; 5. Chip Slagle 561; 6. Zach Sasser 517; 7. Sam Arthur 497; 8. Tony Arthur 375; 9. Josh Divine 332; 10. Jim Turner 296.
Ethan Barrow of Unionville edged out Jeff Wimmenauer of New Whiteland by five points to win the RaceSaver sprint car championship. Barrow scored one victory during the 9-race season to accumulate 761 points, compared to Wimmenauer 756. Andy Bradley of Bloomington was third in points, followed by Anton Hernandez of Arlington, Texas, and John Paynter Jr. of Bloomington.
Final 305 RaceSaver Sprint Car Points Standings: 1. Ethan Barrow 761; 2. Jeff Wimmenauer 756; 3. Andy Bradley 732; 4. Anton Hernandez 678; 5. John Paynter Jr. 662; 6. Luke Bland 630; 7. Patrick Kren 575; 8. A. J. Carlson 566; 9. Coleman Chasteen 491; 10. Rod Henning 443.
Jeremy Smith of Bloomington took the top honors in the hornet division by taking the 2018 title in the class by 10 points over Chad Taylor of Unionville. Tom Houston of Terre Haute, A.J. Hobbs of Bloomington and Leroy Sherfield of Spencer completed the top-five drivers.
Final Hornet Points Standings: 1. Jeremy Smith 334; 2. Chad Taylor 324; 3. Tom Houston 318; 4. A.J. Hobbs 308; 5. Leroy Sherfield 305; 6. Larry Babbs 264; 7. Dale Hobbs; 8. Andy Brown 236.
