DirtonDirt.com Dispatches
Dispatches: Burdick knocks off rust at Cedar Lake
Kevin Burdick in victory lane. (MW Motorsports Photography)
Among latest notes and quotes from April 25-28 Dirt Late Model special and sanctioned events, including an IMCA special in South Dakota, weekly action in Ohio and Wisconsin and other events:
First Cedar Lake win
With a single start under his belt heading into Saturday’s Late Model action at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., Kevin Burdick of Proctor, Minn. didn’t feel like his was quite up to speed early in the season.
“I was still trying to knock the rust off,” Burdick said. “I mean, I had (Hall of Fame driver) Jimmy Mars helping me earlier, and I told him I still felt rusty. He’s like, ‘You better knock the damn rust off!’ We did after the first 10 laps or so and started getting a little better.”
It got a lot better in the closing laps as Burdick won a back-and-forth duel with race-long leader and polesitter Jake Redetzke, leading the final three circuits for his first Cedar Lake victory in the division.
“That was a pretty awesome race. I didn’t think I had a chance,” said the 36-year-old Burdick, an eight-race winner last season with track championships at Grand Rapids (Minn.) Speedway and his hometown Halvor Lines Speedway. “I definitely gotta thank the (Cedar Lake) track crew. It was pretty good. It felt pretty racy. The top was definitely fast, but you could definitely go through the field pretty good.”
Schlenk rules Attica
Rusty Schlenk of McClure, Ohio, had to get past reigning track champion Devin Shiels to capture Friday’s DIRTcar-sanctioned weekly 25-lapper at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park.
Schlenk, whose first victory of the season came April 13 at Highland (Ill.) Speedway, notched his second of the season at Attica in earning the lion's share of the $6,800 total purse.
“That was a heck of a race. That was quite the battle. I knew I had to be patient,” the 37-year-old Schlenk said. “Devin was really good. I didn’t think I could pass him in the open so I had to be patient and save my stuff and hope to God we would get into lapped traffic and that’s exactly how it worked out. I got lucky and picked through lapped traffic a little better than he did.”
Clint Coffman led the first lap before the fourth-starting Shiels took control. A lap-three caution slowed the action before Schlenk chased down Shiels and notched his 39th career victory at the third-mile oval. Shiels settled for second followed by Doug Drown, whose personal two-race winning streak came to an end. Nathon Loney and Mike Bores rounded out the top five.
“It doesn’t seem like that long I ago I got my first win here,” Schlenk said. “I love this place. It always turns out you can race all over this place.” — Brian Liskai
Triumphant return
Fans at Park Jefferson Speedway in Jefferson, S.D., got to see one of their own in victory lane when IMCA Sunoco Late Models made their triumphant return to South Dakota. Sioux Falls native and now Silvis, Ill., racer Evan Miller overtook Jesse Sobbing and then Keegan Nordquist late in Thursday night’s 25-lapper to earn the $1,000 Titan Clash payday.
The checkers came in the first IMCA Late Model event held in South Dakota since 2007, the summer before Miller started second grade.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said Miller, who’d taken the day off work to make the almost 400-mile tow and became IMCA’s overall points leader. “We’d started thinking about making this race right after Park Jefferson posted about it and we really wanted to come back and race in front of family and sponsors we have here.”
The victory came in his fourth start of the season. Miller had made 19 starts with one feature victory and eight top-five finishes at seven tracks as a rookie in 2023.
“Park Jefferson was definitely different than any track I raced at last year. There’s definitely more banking,” he said. “I got from sixth to second in a couple laps in my heat so I knew I had a good car. The track came to me in the feature and I was able to get under Jesse and Keegan for the lead.”
Sobbing, Keegan and Zach Zeitner were next across the stripe as drivers from different states — Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska — completed the top four.
“The last time I raced and won in South Dakota was in the outlaw street stocks at I-90 Speedway in 2021,” Miller said. “Being able to come back and win means a lot to us and to do it all in front of family and friends was icing on the cake. It was pretty special for sure.”
IMCA Late Models are also on race night cards May 16, May 23, June 6, Aug. 15 and Aug. 29. Miller is planning to make it back to Park Jeff for at least one more of those shows. — Bill Martin
Titans face off again?
Spectators of a certain age have likely seen scores, if not hundreds, of Dirt Late Model feature races with two of the all-time greats, Scott Bloomquist and Billy Moyer, facing off. But with the Hall of Famers in the twilight — or even sunset? — of their careers, head-to-head showdowns aren’t nearly as common.
If you’d like to see them in the same feature race one more time, Saturday’s Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series debut at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., may give you the opportunity as both drivers are on the tentative entry list. The race pays $15,000-to-win and other standouts expected include Brandon Overton, Dale McDowell, Shane Clanton, Ricky Weiss, Chris Ferguson and Cory Hedgecock.
The last time Bloomquist and Moyer were on the same track in the same feature event? Nov. 13, 2021, at the dirt track at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway when Bobby Pierce collected a $50,000 windfall.
The 60-year-old Bloomquist, whose starts have been limited in recent seasons by a variety of health issues, has been a frequent competitor at the Roger Sellers-owned track that’s not far from Bloomquist’s home in Mooresburg, Tenn. His last victory at Smoky Mountain came on May 7, 2016, in a World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series victory when he took the lead from Casey Roberts on the 16th of 50 laps. Bloomquist’s last feature start at Smoky Mountain came June 18, 2022, when he finished 14th in a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event that saw Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., collect $50,000.
The 66-year-old Moyer is expected to make his debut in a part-time role with Iowa-based Cooney Motorsports (the team’s primary driver, Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, is also slated to compete). Unlike Bloomquist, Moyer is an infrequent competitor at Smoky Mountain Speedway, making just three feature starts there over the last 20 seasons.
Moyer’s most recent visit to Smoky Mountain came in 2014 during his National Dirt Racing League championship campaign. In March 7-8 events, Moyer was forced to take a provisional for both features and tallied a pair of 25th-place finishes. His first trip to Smoky Mountain before the NDRL action came on April 30, 2004, in the first modern-era season with the World of Outlaws. In a race won by Rick Eckert of York, Pa., Moyer ran among the top five but retired with 10 laps remaining and finished 19th. — Todd Turner
