Short Track Nationals at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, AR
October 28, 29 & 30 2004
Photos Courtesy of Bill Wright
Short Track Nationals Results Courtesy of Bill Wright
| 10/28/04 I-30 Speedway Little Rock, AR Short Track Nationals Night #1 82 cars The Sprint Bandits format was used with heats and qualifiers. In the qualifiers the driver’s with the highest point totals start in the rear. The top twenty in points for the night were put into the A main with no consolations being run. The top two finishers lock themselves into Saturday’s A. Heat one (started): 1. Mike Ward 88 (2) 2. Kevin Ramey 7m (3) 3. AG Rains 3 (1) 4. Wayne Johnson 94J (5) 5. Jerrod Hull 50 (9) 6. Scott Pursell 77p (4) 7. Kelly Kinser 97 (7) 8. Chad Kemenah 20K (10) 9. Toby Brown 61a (11) 10. Mitchell Moore 2d (6) 11. Jerry Kamer 5K (12) DQ – Jan Howard 46 (8) Ward led flag to flag on a track that was still pretty narrow and heavy around the bottom. Kemenah struggled with a tight race car, and Kinser also had a problem moving up with his signature low groove crowded. J. Howard crossed the line fifth, but failed to report to the scales. Heat two (started): 1. Jason Johnson 41 (2) 2. Dale Howard 47 (1) 3. Travis Rilat 29T (6) 4. Terry Gray 10T (3) 5. Marshall Skinner 26K (5) 6. Danny Wood 44 (10) 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (7) 8. Preston Peebles II 11P (11) 9. Josh Baker 33B (12) 10. Tim Montgomery 23x (8) 11. Derek Drown 26 (4) 12. Wesley Hale 27 (9) J. Johnson dominated this one in a new mount with a black scheme. Rilat and Gray provided the entertainment banging on the track under green, caution and afterwards in a battle in which Rilat clearly had the better car. Drown broke his front end after a big wheelie and exited early, as did T. Montgomery. Heat three (started): 1. Joey Montgomery 21c (2) 2. Lewis Jenkins Jr. 1J (5) 3. Pete Butler 29H (8) 4. Gary Wright 9 (9) 5. Chuck Swenson X (4) 6. Clint Garner 40 (11) 7. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (1) 8. Claud Estes III 74E (12) 9. Ronny Howard 44H (3) 10. Donnie Steward 16s (6) 11. Doc Sloan D12 (7) 12. Kenny Adams 4A (10) J. Montgomery led wire to wire from his front row starting spot. A R. Howard spin on lap four collected Steward and a strong running Adams, who exited. Butler was the mover in this one on his home track. Jenkins, also racing at home, pressured J. Montgomery but came up short in the end after a good battle. Heat four (started): 1. Billy Alley 22 (2) 2. Brian Brown 21B (4) 3. Richard Herring 10H (1) 4. DJ Masner D1 (5) 5. Johnny Miller 71J (8) 6. Johnny Anderson 7a (9) 7. Tyler Blank 75 (3) 8. Bennie Chesteen 11T (7) 9. Buster Dickerson 86 (11) 10. Sean McClelland 1x (10) 11. Skip Andrews 5P (6) 12. Andy Goin 77 (12) Alley led early before a lap five McClelland spin. B. Brown was in tow, and had been challenging. Alley left him behind after the restart and went on to a convincing win despite one more stoppage for Goin, who got into the wall after contact Heat five (started): 1. Tim Crawley 87 (5) 2. Bryce Vowan 2m (4) 3. Eric Schrock 86s (10) 4. Greg Wilson 98 (7) 5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 40R (11) 6. Kevin Swindell 1K (9) 7. Kenny Conrad 9c (2) 8. Arlen Stewart 46A (12) 9. Sammy Stuart 36s (3) 10. Steven Tiner 87JR (1) 11. Matt Folstad 1H (6) 12. Jim Bowden 15B (8) Bowden flipped hard into the frontstretch wall before a lap could be completed. He was uninjured, but done for the night. Contact between Wilson and Folstad on the next attempt, resulted in the latter being towed off. Tiner took to the lead from the pole but slowed as contact between a charging Stenhouse and Stuart collided in turn four on lap four. All three restarted at the tail. Conrad led Vowan, Schrock, Crawley and Wilson back to green. Vowan moved to the high side to shoot around Conrad, as Crawley was moving up on the bottom. Crawley’s last lap pass was made possible went Vowan got over the turn two berm. He recovered for second. Heat six (started): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (2) 2. Chad Jones 40x (7) 3. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (1) 4. Robbie Standridge 12x (10) 5. Robert Bell 71 (4) 6. Wade Oliver 0 (5) 7. Danny Martin Jr. 00m (8) 8. Rich Holt 20H (11) 9. Eric Lutz 5 (3) 10. Dusty Zomer 1z (9) 11. Robert Gant 15G (6) Stewart was simply the class of the field from beginning to end. He had built a half a lap lead over an impressive Jones before Zomer stopped with a broken front end while running sixth on lap seven. Behind the pair, Kulhanek, Oliver and Standridge battled for third. Kulhanek, contemplating a move to Knoxville next summer held on to the spot, while Standridge grabbed fourth before a lap nine spin by Lutz. Martin was sent to the tail at the outset for passing the pace car, and struggled up to seventh. Heat seven (started): 1. Roger Crockett 57 (4) 2. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (5) 3. Josh Higday 24 (2) 4. Paul Sides 11J (11) 5. Ricky Logan 7R (8) 6. Joe McCarthy 19 (9) 7. Trevor Lewis 00T (7) 8. Ken Buckley 1* (10) 9. Sammy Swindell 1 (1) 10. Raymond Stull 21R (3) 11. Lee Moore 6 (6) S. Swindell grabbed the early lead before L. Moore got over the turn two berm and retired. Swindell led the next two circuits before McCarthy, who had moved up to fifth, spun. S. Swindell sputtered on the restart, handing the lead to Higday, who led Crockett, Bruce, Sides and Logan. Sammy would take it pitside, unable to find the power hed needed. Crockett made his winning pass on lap six and pulled away from the field. Qualifier one (started): 1. Tiner (3) 2. Kinser (6) 3. Folstad (2) 4. Wright (10) 5. Stewart (11) 6. Bruce (7) 7. Schrock (12) 8. Stuart (4) 9. Herring (9) 10. Logan (8) 11. Holt (5) DNS – Bowden (1) Tiner jumped to the early lead and led flag to flag from his inherited front row spot. Holt took a nasty flip after contact from Stewart on lap three. He was uninjured. Logan spun on the restart. Tiner led Kinser, Folstad, Bruce and Wright back to the green flag. Wright and Stewart were able to get by Bruce and grab top five spots after starting at the rear. Qualifier two (started): 1. Rilat (10) 2. Crockett (12) 3. Martin (5) 4. Hull (9) 5. Alley (11) 6. Swenson (7) 7. R. Howard (4) 8. Andrews (2) 9. Stewart (6) 10. Goin (1) 11. Miller (8) DNS – McClelland (3) Goin led early, but Rilat was on a tear from row five and captured the point on the fourth go-around. Alley had jumped up to sixth by lap six when he spun. On the restart, Rilat led Martin, Swenson, Crockett who started last and Hull. Crockett showed his strength by picking off Swenson and Martin and coming home second. Alley recovered for fifth. Qualifier three (started): 1. Peebles (6) 2. Steward (3) 3. Ramey (10) 4. Skinner (7) 5. Adams (1) 6. Masner (8) 7. Jones (12) 8. Sloan (2) 9. Conrad (5) 10. Butler (11) 11. Dickerson (4) 12. Rains (9) Adams, the pole-sitter appeared to smack an infield tire at the first attempt at green. He appeared to be done as he was towed to the work area, but hard contact between Rains and Jones provided the chance he needed to get back in the race before a lap could be completed. Steward grabbed the lead and looked strong before the caution came out for Jones who had pieces coming off of his damaged wing. Peebles grabbed the point on lap four and held it. Butler flipped hard in turn two on lap five. The incident collected Conrad, and Dickerson, who retired. Ramey moved up nicely, and Adams recovered for fifth, but would have to wait until Friday to race again. Qualifier four (started): 1. Drown (2) 2. T. Montgomery (3) 3. Oliver (6) 4. Jenkins (11) 5. Stenhouse (9) 6. Crawley (12) 7. Vowan (10) 8. Garner (8) 9. Blank (5) 10. Hale (1) 11. Chesteen (4) 12. McCarthy (7) Drown led the distance. Garner spun on lap two. By that time, Drown led T. Montgomery, Hale, Oliver and Chesteen. Stenhouse had aggressively worked his way up to sixth on lap seven but got turned around in turn four on lap seven and came to a stop. H would recover for an impressive fifth, getting around Crawley late. Jenkins also moved up nicely. T. Montgomery challenged at the line but came up short. Qualifier five (started): 1. M. Moore (3) 2. W. Johnson (8) 3. T. Brown (4) 4. Wilson (9) 5. J. Montgomery (11) 6. J. Anderson (7) 7. B. Brown (10) 8. Kamer (2) 9. Estes (6) 10. Schuerenberg (5) DNS – J. Howard (1), Baker (12) When J. Howard failed to start, M. Moore took advantage, leading flag to flag. T. Brown spun before a lap could be completed, but recovered nicely for fourth. J. Montgomery spun also, but recovered for fith. Brown came to a rest on lap five. By that time, M. Moore led Schuerenberg, W. Johnson, Kamer and T. Brown. Fourteen year old, Schuerenberg was running third on lap eight when he hit a tire and slid to the infield. Ignition problems slowed B. Brown. Qualifier six (started): 1. S. Swindell (3) 2. Hafertepe (5) 3. Wood (7) 4. D. Howard (9) 5. Sides (10) 6. Higday (8) 7. Pursell (6) 8. Stull (2) 9. L. Moore (1) DNS – Buckley (4), J. Johnson (11) L. Moore exited after spinning twice. The second time was on lap two. Stull who held the early lead, gave it up with a spin on the lap two restart. S. Swindell with a motor that sounded like popcorn popping, held on to the win, but didn’t have enough points to garner an A main start. Sides move from tenth to fifth combined with his heat race charge gave him enough points for the main event. Qualifier seven (started): 1. Kemenah (5) 2. Zomer (2) 3. Gray (7) 4. Standridge (9) 5. Ward (11) 6. Bruce (10) 7. Lutz (3) 8. Lewis (4) 9. Kulhanek (8) 10. Gant (1) 11. Bell (6) Bell flipped hard down the frontstretch on the initial try at green. He was shaken but not seriously hurt. Zomer grabbed the early lead before a lap two caution for Gant who came to a stop. Zomer led Lewis, Kemenah, Gray and Kulhanek back to green flag racing. Three more laps were in the books before Lewis had something go awry, possibly from contact in the front end. The result was a head on collision with the turn four wall. He was uninjured. Kulhanek shelled his driveshaft and dropped out on lap five as well. Kemenah took advantage of the restart in grabbing the point from Zomer and never looked back. Gray, Standridge and Ward battled tooth and nail for third in some good racing. A feature (started): 1. Jenkins (4) 2. Stewart (8) 3. Crockett (1) 4. W. Johnson (9) 5. Ward (11) 6. Hull (14) 7. D. Howard (15) 8. Ramey (3) 9. Wilson (17) 10. J. Montgomery (10) 11. Sides (12) 12. Stenhouse (20) 13. Bruce (18) 14. Peebles (19) 15. Wright (7) 16. Standridge (13) 17. Alley (6) 18. Schrock (16) 19. Rilat (2) DQ – Crawley (5) DNS – Jones Crockett shot out from his pole position and started pulling away from Alley, who was in tow by lap three. Rilat’s front end let go after contact on lap seven bringing out the race’s first caution. Crockett led Alley, Jenkins, Stewart and Wright back to green flag racing. Only one more lap was in the books before Standridge spun, collecting Schrock, who retired to the pits. Alley, running second got high in turn four on the restart and spun on his own. With only the top two transferring to Saturday’s feature, Billy took it pitside. Jenkins inherited second and set his sights on the leader, Crockett, on the restart. He made his move in turn two and held the point until a lap twelve caution resulting from contact between Wilson, and Stenhouse, who started the event as the first alternate when his teammate, Jones, scratched. Jenkins led Wright and Stewart, who had gotten by Crockett back to the green. The final caution came out on lap sixteen when Standridge made contact with the wall and exited. On the restart, unbelievably, Wright suffered the same fate as Alley, spinning in turn four and surrendering second. He also bowed out at that point. Now Stewart had the final transfer and held on to it, though he couldn’t put any serious pressure on Jenkins over the last nine laps. Crawley crossed fifth but was DQed for not reporting to the scales. |
| 10/29/04 I-30 Speedway Little Rock, AR Short-Track Nationals Night #2 84 cars The Sprint Bandits format was used with heats and qualifiers. In the qualifiers the driver’s with the highest point totals start in the rear. The top twenty in points for the night were put into the A main with no consolations being run. The top two finishers lock themselves into Saturday’s A. Heat one (started): 1. Toby Brown 61a (1) 2. Nick Smith 15s (6) 3. Raymond Stull 21R (8) 4. Zach Pringle 8 (4) 5. Terry Gray 10T (9) 6. Mitchell Moore 2D (5) 7. Jerry Kamer 5K (3) 8. Travis Rilat 29T (7) 9. DJ Masner D1 (11) 10. Danny Martin Jr. 00m (2) 11. Billy Alley 22 (12) 12. Doc Sloan D12 (10) T. Brown grabbed the early advantage with Martin in tow. Alley was attempting to move under Rilat on lap five for sixth, when the two made contact, sending Alley spinning. It took two laps for Alley to catch back up to Rilat and punt him over the turn two berm. The move cost both a chance at contention. Lap seven was also costly for Martin, who was running third as he retired with a flat right rear. Stull made some nice moves late to get around Pringle for third. Pringle’s family took exception to the move and after a family altercation in the pits, the Pringles were asked to leave after the heats. Heat two (started): 1. Mike Ward 88 (2) 2. Claud Estes III 74E (3) 3. Kevin Ramey 7m (10) 4. Clint Garner 40 (6) 5. Sammy Swindell 1 (11) 6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) 7. Johnny Anderson 7a (8) 8. Derek Drown 26 (12) 9. Ricky Logan 7R (5) 10. Eric Lutz 5 (1) 11. Lee Moore 6 (9) 12. Robert Gant 15G (7) Ward led in dominating fashion for the entirety. Ramey was the man on the move, showing patience on the bottom on a quickly drying track. S. Swindell also did a nice job moving forward. Heat three (started): 1. Tim Crawley 87 (1) 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 40R (5) 3. Joey Montgomery 21c (9) 4. Kevin Swindell 1K (8) 5. Danny Wood 44 (12) 6. Robbie Standridge 12x (4) 7. Skip Wilson 65 (2) 8. Tyler Blank 75 (11) 9. Andy Goin 77 (3) 10. Jon Corbin 33c (10) 11. Brett Golik 5G (6) 12. Scott Pursell 77P (7) Crawley grabbed the early lead before a lap two Goin spin. Crawley led Standridge, Stenhouse, S. Wilson and a charging J. Montgomery on the restart. Three laps later, Pursell spun, collecting Wood, Golik and Corbin. Pursell spun again on lap seven and retired. Now Crawley’s advantage was over Stenhouse, J. Montgomery, K. Swindell and Standridge. Wood came back at the line to grab fifth, recovering from his misfortune earlier. Heat four (started): 1. Tim Montgomery 23x (1) 2. Steven Tiner 87JR (3) 3. Dusty Zomer 1z (2) 4. Marshall Skinner 26K (8) 5. Preston Peebles II 11P (10) 6. Johnny Miller 71J (7) 7. Eric Schrock 86s (9) 8. Skip Andrews 5P (4) 9. Rick Pringle 38 (12) 10. Sean McClelland 1x (6) 11. Wayne Johnson 94J (5) DNS – Robert Bell 71 (11) T. Montgomery led the distance in a mostly single-file affair. W. Johnson and Zomer came together on the second lap, sending the 94J to the trailer for the night with a broken front end. Heat five (started): 1. Pete Butler 29H (1) 2. Wade Oliver 0 (2) 3. Greg Wilson 98 (8) 4. Chuck Swenson X (3) 5. Ernie Ainsworth 8A (5) 6. Jim Bowden 15B (6) 7. Kelly Kinser 97 (11) 8. Matt Folstad 1H (10) 9. Eddie Gallagher 1N (12) 10. Joe McCarthy 19 (9) 11. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (4) 12. Kenny Adams 4A (7) Butler led flag to flag with Oliver in tow. The lone caution came for a spun Schuerenberg, who collected Adams on lap two. The incident ended Adams night. Adams has been caught up in three tangles this weekend, none of them his fault. Despite a one lane track, Oliver and G. Wilson battled for second, with G. Wilson coming up just short of the spot from eighth. Heat six (started): 1. Brian Brown 21B (3) 2. Gary Wright 9 (8) 3. Ronnie Howard 44C (6) 4. Chad Kemenah 20K (11) 5. Kenny Conrad 9c (1) 6. Lee Sowell 51 (7) 7. Jan Howard 46 (10) 8. Kent Buckley 1* (12) 9. Jody Roland 4R (9) 10. Josh Baker 33B (5) 11. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (4) 12. Donnie Steward 16s (2) B. Brown slid around the front row starters to take the point early. Baker spun on lap two, collecting Steward and J. Howard. Steward went pitside. Wright had moved into third and roared around Conrad to challenge B. Brown. He was on his tail when Steward spun on lap four. B. Brown roared away to lead the final six laps. Kemenah was also on a roll, but couldn’t find room to get by R. Howard, finishing on his nerf bar. Heat seven (started): 1. Jerrod Hull 50 (3) 2. Dale Howard 47 (1) 3. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (5) 4. Darren Stewart 91 (7) 5. Jason Johnson 41 (2) 6. Josh Higday 24 (4) 7. Dex Eaton 59 (8) 8. AG Rains 3 (6) 9. Kenny Coke 24w (11) 10. Justin Sturch 4T (10) 11. Arlen Stewart 46A 12. Wesley Hale 27 (9) Hull split D. Howard and J. Johnson to take the early lead. As rubber developed on the bottom of the turns, Hull hugged it and rode home first in one of the few non-stop affairs you’ll see at the STN. Qualifier one (started): 1. Martin (4) 2. Wood (10) 3. Kemenah (11) 4. J. Montgomery (12) 5. D. Howard (9) 6. McClelland (3) 7. S. Wilson (5) 8. M. Moore (8) 9. Buckley (6) DNS – Hale (1), W. Johnson (2), J. Howard (7) Following a brief rain delay, McClelland took advantage of inheriting the pole for the early lead. A lap three M. Moore spin slowed things. McClelland led Martin, S. Wilson, Wood and Kemenah back to green flag racing. On lap six, young Martin made his winning move. Wood and Kemenah completed fine runs from the back, followed by J. Montgomery. Qualifier two (started): 1. Corbin (3) 2. Coke (4) 3. G. Wilson (11) 4. Oliver (9) 5. Smith (12) 6. Swenson (8) 7. Estes (10) 8. Steward (1) 9. Rilat (5) 10. Bowden (6) 11. Sowell (7) DNS – Golik (2) Corbin took the early lead and won in convincing fashion. Before a lap could be completed, however, his front row mate, Steward spun in front of the field and collected Rilat and Sowell, ending their nights. G. Wilson was impressive again, and grabbed third with two to go. Qualifier three (started): 1. Schrock (6) 2. Rains (4) 3. Zomer (8) 4. Skinner (9) 5. Gray (10) 6. Lutz (3) 7. Ramey (12) 8. Stenhouse (11) 9. Eaton (5) 10. Miller (7) DNS – Schuerenberg (1), L. Moore (2) Lutz grabbed the early lead, but Schrock ran him down on the third lap. Zomer ran a steady race, picking his way to third, while Skinner also showed well, using all parts of the track to come home fourth after a last lap pass of Gray. Qualifier four (started): 1. J. Johnson (7) 2. K. Swindell (9) 3. Standridge (6) 4. Wright (12) 5. Ward (11) 6. Blank (5) 7. Garner (8) 8. Sloan (2) 9. Butler (10) DNS – Pursell (1), Baker (3), R. Pringle (4) The pole-sitter Sloan, was slow out of the chute, and touched wheels with a charging Ward on the backstretch. Butler was cruising along and shot over Sloan’s left rear and suffered a ground pounder in a series of flips in a scary incident. He was uninjured. Standridge took the lead after the track was cleared. J. Johnson was trailing him and took the point on lap six. K. Swindell showed the moves of a veteran using the high side for the first time in the weekend to move by Standridge and come home a solid second. Wright was himself at I-30, assuring himself of an A main spot. Qualifier five (started): 1. S. Swindell (9) 2. Anderson (5) 3. T. Montgomery (10) 4. Stull (11) 5. D. Stewart (8) 6. Goin (3) 7. Stewart (12) 8. Drown (6) 9. Conrad (7) DNS – Gant (1), Sturch (2), Andrews (4) Before a lap could be completed, Drown and Conrad came together in turn four, with Conrad retiring from the event. S. Swindell narrowly avoided the fray with a quick move over the berm. Anderson led early, but had S. Swindell on his tail when Goin went over the turn four berm on lap six. The Iowan held off the veteran in a great drive, but succumbed on the final lap. Qualifier six (started): 1. Logan (3) 2. Hull (11) 3. Bruce (1) 4. Crawley (10) 5. Gallagher (4) 6. Peebles (8) 7. Kinser (7) 8. Roland (2) 9. Masner (5) 10. R. Howard (9) DNS – Hafertepe (6) Roland took the early lead. Logan returning to his hometown, took the point on lap two. R. Howard and Masner came together on lap four bringing out the yellow. Logan led Bruce, Roland, a charging Hull and Gallagher back to green flag racing. Hull continued his assault, but came short of getting by Logan. Crawley used some late moves to secure fourth. Qualifier seven (started): 1. McCarthy (2) 2. Ainsworth (7) 3. Kamer (6) 4. B. Brown (11) 5. T. Brown (10) 6. Kulhanek (8) 7. Tiner (9) 8. Alley (3) DNS – Adams (1), Folstad (4), Higday (5) Alley inherited a front row starting spot and led the first three circuits before getting too high in turn four and getting over the berm. He decided to park it back at the trailer. Veteran McCarthy inherited the lead, ahead of Kamer, Ainsworth, B. Brown and Tiner. The track was again rubber down on the bottom with mostly single-file action. Tiner bumped Kulhanek on lap six, ending both of their bids for the A. McCarthy held on, while B. Brown was the biggest mover. A main (started): 1. S. Swindell (4) 2. Hull (1) / 3. Wright (3) 4. Kemenah (6) 5. Ward (15) 6. Gray (19) 7. Smith (8) 8. K. Swindell (9) 9. T. Montgomery (10) 10. Ramey (20) 11. Stull (12) 12. B. Brown (11) 13. Zomer (16) 14. J. Johnson (18) 15. G. Wilson (2) 16. Oliver (14) 17. J. Montgomery (7) 18. Wood (5) 19. Skinner (17) 20. Crawley (13) This one promised to be follow the leader around the bottom. Hull shot out from his pole position and led the procession the first nine laps. Skinner was struggling and got sideways on lap nine in front of the leaders. Skinner recovered without causing a caution, but Hull checked up to avoid him, opening the door for S. Swindell to sneak under him for the winning pass. Hull nailed down second and a transfer to Saturday night’s finale. There was little movement forward in the event, save veterans Ward and Gray who found some mistakes by those running in front of them. When competitors tried to enter the turns wide, Ward or Gray would stick their nose in and claim another spot. The race was slowed twice, once when Wood lost his driveshaft on lap ten, and for a lap 15 J. Montgomery spin. |
| 10/30/04 I-30 Speedway Little Rock Arkansas Short Track Nationals Finale 90 cars The night’s program was run under ASCS rules with the top ten in points advancing to the A. The remaining cars were lined head’s up in three B’s and three C’s transferring the top two to the next race. The four cars locked in from Thursday and Friday made for a twenty car, forty lap feature. Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Brian Brown 21B (2*) 2. Josh Baker 33B (1) 3. Danny Wood 44 (6) 4. Kevin Swindell 1K (8) 5. Johnny Anderson 7a (4) 6. Rick Pringle 38 (5) 7. Robert Gant 15G (7) 8. Claud Estes III 74E (9) DQ – Jim Bowden 15B (3) B. Brown led flag to flag in dominating fashion. Before a lap was in the books Estes tipped over after contact with Gant. He was uninjured, but done. K. Swindell appeared to have something wrong with the car and came to a stop on lap three. He managed to recover from the rear to take fourth. Wood made a bid for third at the line on the tacky surface, but came up short. Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Jody Roland 4R (1*) 2. Terry Gray 10T (6*) 3. Andy Goin 77 (2) 4. Sammy Stuart 36s (4) 5. Clint Garner 40 (3) 6. Jan Howard 46 (8) 7. Travis Rilat 29T (7) 8. Mike Ward 88 (5) 9. Eric Lutz 5 (9) Roland led the distance. The only real passing on the extremely fast track was done by Gray who went from sixth to second on the first circuit and earned himself a way into the main event. Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Darren Stewart 91 (2*) 2. Chad Kemenah 20K (1) 3. Paul Sides 11J (4) 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 40R (6) 5. Wayne Johnson 94J (5) 6. Steven Tiner 87JR (8) 7. Matt Folstad 1H (9) 8. Brett Golik 5G (7) 9. Arlen Stewart 46A (3) D. Stewart led throughout as he got the jump on Kemenah. The best racing in the non-stop affair was between Sides and Stenhouse. There was a bit of bumping and slicing and dicing, with Sides taking command the last three laps. Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Ernie Ainsworth 8A (1*) 2. Tim Crawley 87 (2) 3. Roger Crockett 57 (4) 4. Eric Schrock 86s (3) 5. Jason Johnson 41 (5) 6. DJ Masner D1 (8) 7. Ronnie Howard 44c (6) 8. Toby Brown 61a (9) 9. Kent Buckley 1* (7) Ainsworth led the distance in the mostly single-file affair. Crawley did stick his nose under Ainsworth a couple of times, but it was all for naught. Heat five (started, *qualified for A): 1. Kenny Coke 24w (1*) 2. Kelly Kinser 97 (4*) 3. Nick Smith 15s (7*) 4. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (5) 5. Josh Higday 24 (6) 6. Kenny Conrad 9c (2) 7. Billy Alley 22 (8) 8. Robert Bell 71 (3) DNS – Wesley Hale 27 (9) Coke led flag to flag with Kinser, who earned an A main spot trailing him. The event was slowed on lap four when Bell struggled to get off the track. Higday was running a strong third, with Alley chasing on lap seven. Alley attempted a bonzai maneuver in turn four that sent himself packing, and an upset Higday to the tail. Smith was the beneficiary of the incident, grabbing a transfer to the A by moving up four spots. Heat six (started, *qualified for A): 1. Gary Wright 9 (1) 2. Derek Drown 26 (4) 3. Wade Oliver 0 (2) 4. Dusty Zomer 1z (3) 5. Raymond Stull 21R (5) 6. Kevin Ramey 7m (7) 7. Skip Wilson 65 (8) 8. Bennie Chesteen 11T (9) 9. Scott Pursell 77P (6) Wright dominated, but it wasn’t enough to earn a transfer after starting on the pole. Zomer and Stull put on a good show dicing for fourth. Pursell took an extremely tight race car pitside on lap two. Heat seven (started, *qualified for A): 1. Tim Montgomery 23 (4*) 2. Chuck Swenson X (1) 3. Josh Howard 45 (6) 4. Lee Sowell 51 (2) 5. Johnny Miller 71J (3) 6. Justin Sturch 4T (8) 7. Preston Peebles II 11P (5) 8. Jon Corbin 33c (7) T. Montgomery took advantage of a widening track by moving by early leader Sowell on a lap six restart for the win. Swenson grabbed second from Sowell with two to go, and J. Howard followed him into third getting a bite off of turn four coming to the checkers. Heat eight (started, *qualified for A): 1. Joey Montgomery 21c (7*) 2. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (1) 3. AG Rains 3 (5) 4. Chad Jones 40x (4) 5. Robbie Standridge 12x (6) 6. Mitchell Moore 2D (3) 7. Bryce Vowan 2m (8) 8. Doc Sloan D12 (2) Kulhanek grabbed the early advantage, looking strong on the bottom. J. Montgomery put on the show of the night from the rear, however, and grabbed the point in dramatic fashion on the last go-around, earning himself the top point position coming out of the heats. Heat nine (started, *qualified for A): 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (1) 2. Danny Martin Jr. 00m (2) 3. Dale Howard 47 (6) 4. Buster Dickerson 86 (5) 5. Zach Pringle 8 (4) 6. Dex Eaton 59 (8) 7. Joe McCarthy 19 (7) 8. Jerry Kamer 5K (3) Hafertepe and Martin went at it for the lead. At times the two youngsters battled side by side, but a lap seven spin by McCarthy slowed the action. Hafertepe pulled away from that point, but no one earned enough points to transfer to the A. Heat ten (started, *qualified for A): 1. Marshall Skinner 26K (1) 2. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (2) 3. Ricky Logan 7R (3) 4. Eddie Gallagher 1N (5) 5. Kenny Adams 4A (4) 6. Richard Herring 10H (8) 7. Mark Harrison 96 (7) 8. Skip Andrews 5P (6) Skinner led the distance in another single-file affair on the lightning fast surface. Again, no one could pass enough cars to put themselves in the A. C main one (started): 1. J. Johnson (1) 2. S. Wilson (6) / 3. Herring (4) 4. McCarthy (8) 5. T. Brown (9) 6. Bowden (12) 7. R. Howard (7) 8. Buckley (13) 9. Sloan (11) 10. Miller (2) 11. Folstad (5) 12. Z. Pringle (3) DNS – Bell (10) J. Johnson was clearly the class of this one, leading the distance. Folstad was running fourth on lap four when he got upside down over the top of turn four. He was uninjured, but done. J. Johnson led Herring and S. Wilson back to the green flag. S. Wilson quickly moved around Herring to claim the final transfer to the back of the B. C main two (started): 1. Masner (1) 2. Ramey (4) / 3. Eaton (3) 4. Sturch (2) 5. Peebles (7) 6. Ward (9) 7. Gant (6) 8. Conrad (5) 9. Harrison (8) 10. Kamer (11) 11. Chesteen (10) 12. Hale (13) 13. Lutz (12) Sturch led Masner at the outset. Ward had moved up to sixth when he spun on lap two, collecting Lutz. Masner took advantage of the restart by taking the lead when the green fell again. Ramey also benefited by grabbing second and a transfer from Sturch. C main three (started): 1. Rilat (6) 2. Vowan (7) / 3. R. Pringle (4) 4. Corbin (10) 5. M. Moore (5) 6. Pursell (13) 7. A. Stewart (12) 8. Stull (1) 9. Adams (3) 10. Standridge (2) 11. Estes (8) 12. Andrews (11) DNS – Golik (9) Standridge jumped out to an early lead. Adams, who started in row two, used the low side to drive under the leader on lap three. Stull, who got a slow start from his pole position, tracked down Adams by lap five. Two laps later, Standridge spun. Now Stull led Adams, Rilat, R. Pringle and Vowan. Rilat worked under Adams for second, and a lap later, Adams found himself spun out. Adams retired from the event. Rilat took advantage of the restart to get by Stull and pull away. Stull slowed on the white flag lap, surrendering his transfer spot to Vowan, who moved up from seventh. Dash (started): 1. Sammy Swindell 1 (2) 2. Shane Stewart 4m (4) 3. Jerrod Hull 50 (1) 4. Lewis Jenkins Jr. 1J (3) S. Swindell pocketed $500 and the pole in the five lap event by leading the distance. B main one (started): 1. Wright (1) 2. Kemenah (4) / 3. D. Howard (3) 4. J. Johnson (13) 5. Zomer (10) 6. Skinner (2) 7. Ja. Howard (12) 8. Kulhanek (5) 9. S. Wilson (14) 10. Logan (8) 11. Sides (6) 12. Higday (11) 13. Goin (7) DNS – Gallagher (9) Wright was never challenged in taking the win. The lone stoppage came on lap two when Logan came to a rest. Higday spun over the turn four berm on the restart, while Sides spun in turn two. The restart of the 15 lapper saw Wright leading Kemenah, D. Howard and Skinner. That’s the way they would finish other than a fine run by J. Johnson who came from the tail to grab fourth. B main two (started): 1. Drown (1) 2. Wood (2) / 3. Stenhouse (7) 4. Martin (5) 5. Crawley (4) 6. Crockett (6) 7. Ramey (14) 8. Stuart (9) 9. Masner (13) 10. W. Johnson (12) 11. Schuerenberg (8) 12. Baker (3) DNS – Anderson (11), Sowell (10) Baker spun and retired before a lap was in the books. Once underway the race went non-stop and Drown led the duration with Wood in tow. The battle for third was heated, with Stenhouse, Martin and Crawley putting on a show. W. Johnson retired on lap eight. B main three (started): 1. Hafertepe (1) 2. K. Swindell (3) / 3. Jo. Howard (2) 4. Jones (10) 5. Tiner (12) 6. Rains (6) 7. Swenson (4) 8. Garner (11) 9. Vowan (14) 10. Dickerson (8) 11. Bruce (5) 12. Schrock (9) 13. Oliver (7) 14. Rilat (13) Hafertepe mimicked his heat by leading the distance. Rilat who got by four cars on the first lap, came to a rest on the second and went pitside. K. Swindell showed that he will have to be reckoned with for years to come, by showing the moves of a veteran, running both high and low in a great battle with an impressive Jones. He also worked by Jo. Howard to seal the final transfer and join dad in the A. A main (started): 1. Wright (15) 2. Hull (3) 3. Wood (19) 4. B. Brown (8) 5. Ainsworth (11) 6. Jenkins (4) 7. Kinser (13) 7. Smith (14) 8. Drown (16) 9. Ainsworth (11) 10. Hafertepe (17) 11. Roland (10) 12. K. Swindell (20) 13. S. Swindell (1) 14. S. Stewart (2) 15. T. Montgomery (6) 16. Gray (7) 17. D. Stewart (9) 18. Kemenah (18) 19. Coke (12) 20. J. Montgomery (5) With three nights of heavy contact between competitors, amazingly, the first 25 laps of the main event went non-stop with S. Swindell cruising through lapped traffic on a racy track yielding great racing top to bottom.Only ten cars remained on the lead lap when D. Stewart came to rest in turn four. At the time, the only driver close to Sammy was S. Stewart. They were followed by Hull and T. Montgomery. Wright had moved up to sixth. Five more laps were in the books when B. Brown got off the backstretch and came to a stop. The top three remained the same, but now Wright was lurking in fourth. S. Stewart began to challenge for the lead and passed S. Swindell coming out of turn four on lap 32. His lead lasted half a lap as he got over the turn one cushion and flipped over turn two. Meanwhile, Wright had nipped Hull at the line for what was now second. S. Swindell led Wright, Hull and a charging Wood back to green flag racing. Wright appeared to be gaining on the leader, when Sammy slowed on lap 37, came to a rest and retired from the event. Wright coasted to the win ahead of a steady Hull. Wood was the hard-charger in the show position, up from 19th. B. Brown recovered for fourth, while Ainsworth was impressive in rounding out the top five. Wright’s win was worth $15,000. |
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