Friday night of the North/South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, KY saw a lot of heat action. Sixty-seven cars entered to run in 12 heat races, which each driver running two heat each.

When the dirt settled Scott Bloomquist and Jimmy Owens claimed the front row for Saturday night’s 100-lap feature. Sixteen cars locked themselves into the feature via passing points; the remaining 51 cars will be separated into three B-mains to transfer. The final two spots will be Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series provisionals.

There were no repeat winners in any of the heats, proving that if you run a race 12 times in one night, you’ll end up with 12 different winners.

Round 1

The first round of heats went to Eddie Carrier Jr., Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, Josh Richards, Bobby Pierce, and Don O’Neal.

Carrier, who won the 2014 running of the race, started on the pole and led the entire way to claim the victory. Victor Lee crossed second, Dale McDowell finished third, and Michael Page was fourth. Shannon Buckingham, who would find success later in the night finished mid-pack in fifth.

The second heat went to Bloomquist who struggled in Thursday’s preliminary shootout only advancing into the A through a provisional spot. Zach Dohm finished second and Jimmy Owens made his way from the back of the pack up into the third position.

A third past winner won heat three. Jonathan Davenport, who won the 2015 North/South 100, made a last lap pass for the lead on Steven Landrum—a six-time Florence Speedway track champion. He had to settle for second. Davenport is clearly reclaiming his place since switching teams and chassis last week [https://www.floracing.com/article/60039-jonathan-davenport-switches-teams-and-rolls-into-victory-lane]. Brian Shirley moved up from sixth to claim the final podium position.

Kid Rocket, Josh Richards rocketed to win the fourth heat of round one. Richards is the current LOLMDS points’ leader and had no trouble securing this win. Billy Moyer Jr. crossed the line second and RJ Conley started in eighth and was superior on the top line. He passed five cars and claim third.

Defending North/South 100 winner, Bobby Pierce won the fifth heat of the night, after starting in the fifth position. Pierce stole the win from Kyle Bronson who led the majority of the race. Darrell Lanigan also moved up five positions to finish third in his first heat attempt of the night.

The final heat of round one went to Don O’Neal, a two-time North/South 100 winner. He took the lead early and pulled away from challengers. Kent Robinson came up short after being passed by O’Neal and settled for second. Steve Francis, after bringing out an early caution and restarting at the back of the pack, found his way to third.

Round 2

The field was shuffled and reset for the second set of heats. Again, there were no repeat winners. Wins went to Jimmy Owens, Shanon Buckingham, Tim McCreadie, Mike Marlar, Earl Peterson Jr, and Brandon Overton.

The first heat was won by Owens, who beat Jason Jameson and Lanigan for the win. Round 1, heat 4 winner Josh Richards finished fourth.

Shanon Buckingham, who finished fifth in his first heat, battled hard against Scott James to claim the win in the second heat of round two. Jason Miller followed this battle across the line in third. There were no round one winners competing in this heat.

Tim McCreadie won the third heat of round two by a wide margin, beating out round one, heat two winner Bloomquist and heat five winner Pierce to do so. Bloomquist finished second after starting on the back row, Pierce just missed the last podium spot which instead went to Adam Bowman.

The fourth heat of round two had a major battle for the win as Mike Marlar and Michael Chilton both worked to secure it. Marlar was in the lead when the checkered flag flew and Chilton followed in second. Steven Casebolt crossed third and Brian Shirley fourth.  Round one heat six winner, Don O’Neal rounded out the top five.

Earl Peterson Jr., who was subpar in his first heat in seventh, dominated his second heat to win. Hudson O’Neal chased him into second and Chris Ferguson finished third. Carrier, who won the first heat of the night, finished eighth in his second try.

The final heat of the night went to Overton after a hard battle with Gregg Satterlee for the lead. Satterlee led the majority of the race before Overton made his way by. Devin Moran finished in the third position and round one heat three winner Davenport finished seventh.

North/South 100 Coverage

Owens Draws 1st Blood In North/South Weekend 
Live Updates, North/South Night 1 
Davenport’s Switch Precipitates New Fight 
Fixing The Late Model Hall Of Fame