Blum edges Neal by one point, grabs IMCA crown
By Bill Martin
IMCA
Kevin Blum
A single point made Kevin Blum of Colona, Ill., the overall champion in IMCA’s J&J Steel-sponsored Late Model division. Blum edged Terry Neal of Ely, Iowa, for the title by an 814-813 margin to earn a $5,500 share of the $21,500 point fund to be paid out to drivers in top 20 standings. | 2009 track champions
Ray Guss Jr. of Milan, Ill., repeated his third-place finish from last season, just three points off the championship pace. Todd Cooney of Des Moines, Iowa, got the tiebreaking edge over Mark Burgtorf of Quincy, Ill., for fourth.
Blum led all drivers in the division with 16 feature wins, including two the final points weekend of the season, while Neal finished with 15. Both drivers got 18 bonus points for track championships, Blum at Quad City Raceway in East Moline, Ill., and Neal at Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa, Iowa.
Also runner-up in 2007 when a tiebreaker tipped the title to Darrel DeFrance, Neal collected a second title for leading the combined points at two other Iowa tracks, Dubuque and Farley.
Guss won six features and raked in 25 bonus points along with the Davenport (Iowa) Speedway title.
Cooney and Burgtorf both won 11 times. Cooney paced the points at Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, Iowa, and at his hometown Iowa State Fairgrounds Speedway. Cooney now leads all drivers in division history with 14 local track championships. Burgtorf reigned at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa, winning his 11th career track title and 100th career feature in the class this season.
Lonnie Bailey was track champion at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, and at Quincy Raceway. Darren Ackerman was first in points at Independence (Iowa) Motor Speedway and Josh Most topped the standings at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa.
IMCA's rookie of the year is Ryan Giles, tied for 32nd overall in the national standings.
National standings are based on drivers’ best 20 finishes out of their first 55 starts. Bonus points, equal to the average weekly car count at tracks holding a minimum of eight sanctioned events, are awarded to track champions.
The higher average is used to award bonuses when drivers won more than one track title; pro-rated bonuses are given at tracks where fewer than eight weekly events were held.
