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Andy Shouse ends 6-year ASCS drought at Speedarama Raceway

Oklahoma invader Andy Shouse foiled Jason Johnson’s hopes of an American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region Labor Day weekend tripleheader sweep by racing to victory lane in Sunday night’s 25-lap main event at Speedarama Raceway.

The 2004 ASCS Sooner Region champion hailing from Oklahoma City surged past Beau Smith for the lead at the midway point and set the pace the rest of the way for his third career ASCS Regional triumph and the first since a Sooner score at Cowtown Speedway nearly six years ago on September 25, 2004.

“It was getting a little rough in the middle coming off of two, I found a little piece just above it that gave us a really good run off the corner,” Shouse explained in victory lane.

In the process, Shouse denied Johnson a weekend sweep which would have been worth an extra $1,000 from Griffith Trucking for Johnson. Johnson rebounded from an early encounter with Gary Wright to snare third at the line behind Shouse and Channin Tankersley and collected an extra $500 for winning two of three events over the weekend.

After the initial start was waved off for a three-car tangle in turn one, Beau Smith gunned into the lead from the pole position with third-starting Shouse working past Tommy Bryant for second in the opening circuits.

With Smith fending off Shouse, Tankersley and Bryant, Johnson’s hopes of a three-peat were diminished when he and Gary Wright tangled exiting turn two and slid to a stop on the backstretch while battling for sixth on the fifth circuit. Both restarted at the tail.

Shouse went to work on Smith and ultimately raced into the lead on the 13th round, a lap before fourth-running Bryant stopped in turn three with Johnson and Wright back up to seventh and ninth, respectively.

While Shouse cruised out front in the ensuing circuits, Tankersley battled past Smith for second as Johnson and Wright scratched their way forward. The race’s final caution flew just four laps shy of the checkered flag when Smith spun to a stop on the backstretch after contact with Johnson, who was up to fourth as Wright checked his mount into the pit area.

Shouse held off Tankersley over the final four rounds to secure the win aboard the Bishop Racing Components No. 27, while Johnson nipped 15th-starter Skip Wilson at the line for the show position. Wilson was fourth, with Aaron Reutzel rounding out the top five.

Chris Sweeney was sixth, with Travis Elliott, Wes Miller, Jimmy Brooks and Larry Howery completing the top ten.

Scottie McDonald, Bryant, Miller and Johnson topped heat race action for the 32-car field, with Wilson winning the “B” Main.

ASCS Gulf South Results from Speedarama Raceway:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 88-Scottie McDonald, 2. 51s-Beau Smith, 3. 3-Gary Watson, 4. 35-Greg Rilat, 5. 69-Larry Howery, 6. 58-Gary Floyd, 7. 36-John Pate. DNS: 74e-Claud Estes.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 85-Tommy Bryant, 2. 93-Chris Sweeney, 3. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 6. 14-Michael Lang, 7. 8tw-Kent Lewis, Jr., 8. 19-Klint Angelette.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 51w-Wes Miller, 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 27-Andy Shouse, 4. 5c-Chris Coker, 5. 16-Koty Adams, 6. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 7. 30-Brandon Corn, 8. 76-John Ricketts.

Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 71-Channin Tankersley, 3. 9x-Gary Wright, 4. 65-Skip Wilson, 5. 15T-Travis Elliott, 6. 30x-Bean Elliott, 7. 31-Brandon Berryman. DNS: 8-Bruce Crockett.

“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 65-Skip Wilson, 2. 69-Larry Howery, 3. 16-Koty Adams, 4. 15T-Travis Elliott, 5. 74e-Claud Estes, 6. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 7. 31-Brandon Berryman, 8. 76-John Ricketts, 9. 19-Klint Angelette, 10. 58-Gary Floyd, 11. 36-John Pate, 12. 8tw-Kent Lewis, Jr., 13. 14-Michael Lang, 14. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr. DNS: 5c-Chris Coker, 30x-Bean Elliott, 30-Brandon Corn, 8b-Bruce Crockett.

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 27-Andy Shouse, 2. 71-Channin Tankersley, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 65-Skip Wilson, 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 6. 93-Chris Sweeney, 7. 15T-Travis Elliott, 8. 51w-Wes Miller, 9. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 10. 69-Larry Howery, 11. 51s-Beau Smith, 12. 9x-Gary Wright, 13. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 14. 16-Koty Adams, 15. 35-Greg Rilat, 16. 74e-Claud Estes, 17. 85-Tommy Bryant, 18. 3-Gary Watson, 19. 88-Scottie McDonald, 20. 12b-Logan Bledsoe.

ASCS Gulf South Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Ray Allen Kulhanek 2,165, 2. Aaron Reutzel 2,098, 3. Tommy Bryant 2,083, 4. Brandon Berryman 1,986, 5. Travis Elliott 1,911, 6. Chris Sweeney 1,833, 7. Wes Miller 1,770, 8. Beau Smith 1,684, 9. Scottie McDonald 1,679, 10. Logan Bledsoe 1,641.

Photos and story by Lonnie Wheatley

Jason Johnson golden in ASCS Gulf South go at Golden Triangle

Jason Johnson kicked off the American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region Labor Day weekend triple by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s 25-lap main event at Golden Triangle Raceway Park.

Johnson needed just four laps to charge into the lead from the sixth starting position and led the rest of the way for his 12th overall ASCS win of 2010 aboard the JJR Don Ott-powered Haynes No. 41 Maxim and sixth in Gulf South action.

While Skip Wilson jumped into the early lead from the pole position, Johnson raced around the top side of the ¼-mile clay oval into third on the opening circuit behind Wilson and Reutzel.

Johnson disposed of Reutzel for second the next time around and then dove underneath Wilson entering turn three on the fourth circuit to snare a lead he would never relinquish although Reutzel kept pace throughout after taking second from Wilson a lap after Johnson took command.

While Johnson found some breathing room after a lap 13 restart, one final caution with six laps to go put Reutzel on Johnson’s tailtank and in position to challenge for the point in the final circuits. But, Johnson worked the top of one and two and the bottom of turns three and four flawlessly over the final half dozen rounds to secure the win over the defending ASCS Gulf South champion.

Tommy Bryant chased Johnson and Reutzel to the line, with Wilson and Travis Elliott rounding out the top five. Chris Sweeney was sixth, with Wes Miller, current ASCS Gulf South points leader Ray Allen Kulhanek, 17th-starter Andy Shouse and Greg Rilat completing the top ten.

Channin Tankersley, Johnson, Bryant and Wilson topped heat race action for the 27-car field, with Larry Howery making a last-lap pass of Gary Watson to win the 12-lap “B” Main. After starting eighth in the main event, Tankersley was sideline after tagged the turn one wall on the third lap.

ASCS Gulf South Results from Golden Triangle Raceway Park:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 71-Channin Tankersley, 2. 15T-Travis Elliott, 3. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 4. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 5. 69-Larry Howery, 6. 8-Bruce Crockett, 7. 5c-Chris Coker.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 93-Chris Sweeney, 3. 51w-Wes Miller, 4. 27-Andy Shouse, 5. 31-Brandon Berryman, 6. 52-Roger Oakes, 7. 76-John Ricketts.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 85-Tommy Bryant, 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 16-Koty Adams, 4. 3-Gary Watson, 5. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 6. 30x-Bean Elliott, 7. 45k-Kolt Walker.

Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 65-Skip Wilson, 2. 51s-Beau Smith, 3. 35-Greg Rilat, 4. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 5. 7-Michael McNeil, 6. 19-Klint Angelette.

“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 69-Larry Howery, 2. 3-Gary Watson, 3. 27-Andy Shouse, 4. 7-Michael McNeil, 5. 30x-Bean Elliott, 6. 31-Brandon Berryman, 7. 8-Bruce Crockett, 8. 45k-Kolt Walker, 9. 5c-Chris Coker, 10. 76-John Ricketts, 11. 52-Roger Oakes, 12. 19-Klint Angelette, 13. 12b-Logan Bledsoe.

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 85-Tommy Bryant, 4. 65-Skip Wilson, 5. 15T-Travis Elliott, 6. 93-Chris Sweeney, 7. 51w-Wes Miller, 8. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 9. 27-Andy Shouse, 10. 35-Greg Rilat, 11. 16-Koty Adams, 12. 3-Gary Watson, 13. 30x-Bean Elliott, 14. 7-Michael McNeil, 15. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 16. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 17. 51s-Beau Smith, 18. 31-Brandon Berryman, 19. 71-Channin Tankersley, 20. 69-Larry Howery.

ASCS Gulf South Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Ray Allen Kulhanek 1,996 2. Tommy Bryant 1,895, 3. Aaron Reutzel 1,843, 4. Brandon Berryman 1,811, 5. Travis Elliott 1,692, 6. Chris Sweeney 1,605, 7. Wes Miller 1,564, 8. Beau Smith 1,482, 9. Scottie McDonald 1,462, 10. Logan Bledsoe 1,443.

Photos and story by Lonnie Wheatley

Jason Johnson best at Battleground for another ASCS Gulf South sprint car win

Jason Johnson completed a sweep of the weekend’s American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region action by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap feature at Battleground Speedway.

After starting fourth, Johnson chased down early leader Michael Dupuy on the 15th round en route to his fifth ASCS Gulf South win and eleventh overall ASCS triumph of the season aboard the JJR Don Ott-powered Haynes No. 41 Maxim.

Johnson was chased to the checkered flag by Dupuy, with Channin Tankersley, Ray Allen Kulhanek and Aaron Reutzel rounding out the top five.

Tommy Bryant was sixth, with Logan Bledsoe, Greg Rilat, Brandon Berryman and Gary Watson completing the top ten.

Bledsoe, Watson and Dupuy topped heat race action, with Michael McNeil winning the “B” Main.

ASCS Gulf South Results from Battleground Speedway:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 2. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 3. 8-Bruce Crockett, 4. 69-Larry Howery, 5. 51s-Beau Smith, 6. 15T-Travis Elliott, 7. 7-Michael McNeil, 8. 52-Roger Oakes, 9. 65-Skip Wilson.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3-Gary Watson, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 71-Channin Tankersley, 4. 31-Brandon Berryman, 5. 19-Klint Angelette, 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 7. 30x-Bean Elliott, 8. 36-John Pate, 9. 24-Brandie Jass.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3x-Michael Dupuy, 2. 85-Tommy Bryant, 3. 35-Greg Rilat, 4. 93-Chris Sweeney, 5. 51w-Wes Miller, 6. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 7. 53-Trey Schmidt, 8. 28-James Cooper.

“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 7-Michael McNeil, 2. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 3. 53-Trey Schmidt, 4. 65-Skip Wilson, 5. 36-John Pate, 6. 52-Roger Oakes, 7. 24-Brandie Jass, 8. 28-James Cooper.

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 3x-Michael Dupuy, 3. 71-Channin Tankersley, 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 6. 85-Tommy Bryant, 7. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 8. 35-Greg Rilat, 9. 31-Brandon Berryman, 10. 3-Gary Watson, 11. 19-Klint Angelette, 12. 36-John Pate, 13. 51w-Wes Miller, 14. 69-Larry Howery, 15. 30x-Bean Elliott, 16. 7-Michael McNeil, 17. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 18. 52-Roger Oakes, 19. 53-Trey Schmidt, 20. 15T-Travis Elliott, 21. 51s-Beau Smith, 22. 93-Chris Sweeney, 23. 65-Skip Wilson, 24. 8-Bruce Crockett.

ASCS Gulf South Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Ray Allen Kulhanek 1,880 2. Tommy Bryant 1,760, 3. Brandon Berryman 1,717, 4. Aaron Reutzel 1,701, 5. Travis Elliott 1,567, 6. Chris Sweeney 1,483, 7. Scottie McDonald 1,462, 8. Wes Miller 1,445, 9. Beau Smith 1,386, 10. Logan Bledsoe 1,378.

by Lonnie Wheatley
ASCS Gulf South photo

ASCS Gulf South headed to Golden Triangle and Houston Raceway Park this weekend

After a pair of idle weekends to regroup after a Memorial Day triple, the ASCS Gulf South Region fires back to action with the second of three scheduled Golden Triangle Raceway Park – Houston Raceway Park weekend doubles.

On Friday night, the series makes its third stop of the year at Beaumont’s Golden Triangle Raceway Park before moving on to Baytown’s Houston Raceway Park on Saturday night for a $3,000 to win tilt.

Riding the strength of six top-tens in eight feature runs, including five consecutive top-five finishes, 2005 ASCS Gulf South champion Ray Allen Kulhanek of Montgomery, TX, carries the points lead into the weekend.

The winner of last year’s June event at Houston Raceway Park, Kulhanek holds a 17-point edge over defending series champion Aaron Reutzel of Clute, TX, with two-time Gulf South kingpin Brandon Berryman of Missouri City, TX, just another ten points back in third.

Conroe’s Tommy Bryant enters the weekend ranked fourth, with New Caney’s Scottie McDonald rounding out the current top five.

The balance of the current top ten in ASCS Gulf South points includes Travis Elliott (Alvin), Chris Sweeney (Channelview), Wes Miller (Santa Fe), Greg Rilat (Texas City) and Eric Baldaccini (Keller).

Seven different drivers have cracked ASCS Gulf South victory lane in eight events thus far in 2010, with only Jason Johnson doubling up. Single wins have been claimed by Berryman, Bryant, Gary Wright, Brian Brown, Kent Lewis, Jr., and Chris Morgan. Morgan topped the most recent event at Golden Triangle with a last-corner pass of Skip Wilson, while Jason Johnson won the initial Houston Raceway Park event of 2010.

Friday’s racing action at Golden Triangle Raceway Park goes green at 8:00 p.m., while Saturday’s card at Houston Raceway Park fires off at 7:00 p.m.

Golden Triangle Raceway Park is located 9.5 miles west of I-10 on US 90 near Beaumont, TX. For more information, contact the track at 409-752-7200.

Houston Raceway Park is located east of Houston on I-10 to Exit 798, then three miles south on State Road 146, then 0.8 miles southeast on FM 1405, then 1.5 miles northeast on FM 565. For more information, contact the track at 281-383-7223.

The ASCS Gulf South Region is slated for 27 nights of racing action at ten different tracks throughout Texas in 2010.

In its 19th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing, the American Sprint Car Series brings the best of Sprint Car racing to approximately 100 different tracks throughout 30 states and Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.

Past ASCS Gulf South Region Feature Winners at Golden Triangle Raceway Park:
5/28/10 – Chris Morgan
3/5/10 – Gary Wright
10/2/09 – Channin Tankersley
9/18/09 – Jason Johnson
7/17/09 – Aaron Reutzel
6/19/09 – Travis Rilat
5/16/09 - Gary Wright
5/16/09 - Tommy Bryant (4/24 Makeup Feature)
3/6/09 - Gary Wright
8/15/08 - Channin Tankersley
7/18/08 - Gary Watson
5/9/08 - Channin Tankersley
2/29/08 - Jason Johnson
9/28/07 - Jason Johnson
6/22/07 - Michael Dupuy
5/18/07 - Brandon Berryman
4/6/07 - Jason Johnson
9/29/06 - Kevin Ramey
8/18/06 - Jason Johnson
6/23/06 - Gary Watson
8/19/05 - Ray Allen Kulhanek
6/17/05 - Ray Allen Kulhanek
4/15/05 - Travis Rilat
9/18/04 - Kelly Angelette
7/9/04 - Stephen Chevallier
* 9/28/02 - Michael Dupuy
* 9/27/02 - Tim Crawley
7/5/02 - Buddy Bodden
5/24/02 - Jason Johnson
* 4/5/02 - Zach Chappell

Past ASCS Gulf South Region Feature Winners at Houston Raceway Park:
4/3/10 – Jason Johnson
9/19/09 – Gary Wright
7/18/09 – Kevin Ramey
6/20/09 – Ray Allen Kulhanek
5/16/09 - Eric Baldaccini
9/27/08 - Jason Johnson
6/21/08 - Michael Dupuy
5/10/08 - Brandon Berryman
3/1/08 - Jack Dover
9/29/07 - Brandon Berryman
8/18/07 - Travis Rilat
5/19/07 - Johnny Miller
9/30/06 - Ray Allen Kulhanek
8/19/06 - Brad Best
6/24/06 - Ray Allen Kulhanek
4/8/06 - Travis Rilat
8/20/05 - Lane Whittington
6/18/05 - Ray Allen Kulhanek
7/10/04 - Kevin Ramey

* - Indicates events held in conjunction with ASCS National Tour.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.

by Lonnie Wheatley
TWC photo

Jason Johnson Cashes in with ASCS Gulf South win at Houston Raceway Park

Jason Johnson got a much-needed win by wiring the field in Saturday night’s 25-lap American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region main event to top the Inaugural Lone Star Shootout at Houston Raceway Park.

The Ragin’ Cajun’s 23rd career ASCS Gulf South triumph and 73rd overall ASCS victory was the first for the newly-formed Jason Johnson Racing team in just its second night of competition after debuting in the recent Lucas Oil ASCS National opener.

While Johnson paced the field all the way aboard the Don Ott-powered Haynes/Pope Transportation No. 41 Maxim, he withstood mid-race pressure from Travis Rilat and then a late charge from Gary Wright to secure the $3,000 triumph.

“The first win, this is huge,” an ecstatic Johnson relayed from victory lane.

While Rilat led the feature field to the green flag, it was Johnson gunning into the lead at the outset from the front row outside.

Reeling in the tail of the field in just a handful of laps, a pair of cautions in the opening ten circuits gave Johnson clear track just as traffic was about to factor into the proceedings on a pair of occasions.

But after California’s Kyle Hirst coasted to a stop on the ninth lap, Rilat had an opportunity when Johnson began working through traffic at the midway point.

Rilat closed to Johnson’s tailtank on the 15th round, only to have Johnson make a timely move around a lapped car to slip away by several car lengths. Very soon after, Rilat coasted to a stop on the frontstretch with terminal engine woes, setting up a seven-lap dash to the checkered flag with “The Texan” now in the role of chaser.

A pair of lapped cars between the leader and Wright was just the cushion Johnson needed though. Reaching traffic once again with two rounds to go, Wright rapidly closed the gap on Johnson. But when Johnson made a nimble move through a pair of cars entering turn one on the final circuit, the race was all but over.

Johnson flashed under the checkered flag to take the win and become the third different winner in as many 2010 ASCS Gulf South feature events, with Wright settling for runner-up honors.

After starting eighth, Missouri’s Brian Brown was on the move following the lap nine caution and climbed to third by race’s end with defending ASCS Gulf South champion Aaron Reutzel and 14th-starter Michael Dupuy rounding out the top five.

Brady Bacon charged from 19th to sixth, with Tony Bruce, Jr., 15th-starter Tommy Bryant, Eric Baldaccini and Channin Tankersley completing the top ten.

Kyle Hirst, Bruce, Jr., Baldaccini and Johnson topped heat race action for Saturday night’s 36-car field, with Bacon making a lap 10 move around Chris Sweeney to win the 12-lap “B” Main.

American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region Results from Houston Raceway Park:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 6-Kyle Hirst, 2. 35-Greg Rilat, 3. 71-Channin Tankersley, 4. 51w-Wes Miller, 5. 93-Chris Sweeney, 6. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 7. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 8. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 9. 70-Anthony Reaves.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 4. 10-Ricky Logan, 5. 00-Michael Dupuy, 6. 52-Roger Oakes, 7. 51s-Beau Smith, 8. 99-Brady Bacon, 9. 1g-Cody Gardner.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 2. 21-Brian Brown, 3. 85-Tommy Bryant, 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 61-Travis Knighton, 6. 30x-Bean Elliott, 7. 8z-Zach Pringle, 8. 3T-Tyler King, 9. 19-Klint Angelette.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 4. 31-Brandon Berryman, 5. 88-Scottie McDonald, 6. 87x-Billy Melton, 7. 28-James Cooper, 8. 3-Gary Watson, 9. 5-Jack Spencer.

“B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 93-Chris Sweeney, 3. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 4. 87x-Billy Melton, 5. 61-Travis Knighton, 6. 30x-Bean Elliott, 7. 51s-Beau Smith, 8. 19-Klint Angelette, 9. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 10. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 11. 52-Roger Oakes, 12. 5-Jack Spencer, 13. 28-James Cooper, 14. 3T-Tyler King, 15. 8z-Zach Pringle, 16. 3-Gary Watson, 17. 70-Anthony Reaves. DNS: 1g-Cody Gardner.

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 21-Brian Brown, 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 5. 00-Michael Dupuy, 6. 99-Brady Bacon, 7. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 8. 85-Tommy Bryant, 9. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 10. 71-Channin Tankersley, 11. 31-Brandon Berryman, 12. 51w-Wes Miller, 13. 88-Scottie McDonald, 14. 87x-Billy Melton, 15. 93-Chris Sweeney, 16. 12b-Logan Bledsoe, 17. 61-Travis Knighton, 18. 30x-Bean Elliott, 19. 29-Travis Rilat, 20. 10-Ricky Logan, 21. 6-Kyle Hirst, 22. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 23. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 24. 35-Greg Rilat.

ASCS Gulf South Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Brian Brown 404, 2. Brady Bacon 379, 3. Tony Bruce, Jr. 374, 4. Travis Rilat 359, 5. Gary Wright 357, 6. Ricky Logan 341, 7. (tie) Tommy Bryant and Aaron Reutzel 336, 9. Brandon Berryman 324, 10. Wes Miller 321.

By Lonnie Wheatley

Sammy Swindell opens ASCS Season with Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals win

Sammy Swindell kicked off his pursuit of the 2010 Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Sere presented by K&N Filters $60,000 championship by winning Friday night’s 37th Annual Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals 30-lap main event.

The winningest driver in Devil’s Bowl Speedway history, Swindell stormed into the lead on the sixth round aboard the J&D Motorsports/Swindell Motorsports No. 10 Maxim and never looked back en route to the $6,000 triumph.

Originally slated as a two-day event, encroaching foul weather forced the early cancellation of the Saturday portion, ratcheting up Friday’s event to the standard Lucas Oil ASCS National one-day purse.

And when all the final checkered flag flew, the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars opened the 2010 season the same way 2009 finished out; with Tennessee’s Swindell in victory lane.

Swindell, who closed out the 2009 campaign with a Western World Championships score at USA Raceway, gridded Friday’s feature outside the second row as pole starter Sean McClelland outgunned Brodix Rookie of the Year contender Channin Tankersley for the early lead.

Swindell chased the lead duo for several rounds before racing by Tankersley for second on the fifth round and then disposing of McClelland for the lead on the low side of turns one and two on a lap six restart.

“I was searching around and finally found a good spot to get off the bottom of turn two,” Swindell explained after his fifth career ASCS National triumph.

While Swindell paced the field, fifth-starter Brady Bacon surged past both Tankersley and McClelland for second on the eighth round and set his sights on Swindell.

Bacon reeled in the veteran ace a time or two, only to have a caution slow the pace. Swindell proved much too strong on the restarts and raced to Will Hale’s checkered flag virtually unchallenged.

“I’m still learning these ASCS cars, I was actually getting a little too tight toward the end,” Swindell explained. “That might have been a problem if we’d got into a lot of traffic, but with the yellows we didn’t really run into that.”

Picking up a night in Joe Zierolf’s No. c41, Wayne Johnson rallied from the 18th starting position to fifth in the opening seven circuits. After trading some wild sliders with Danny Wood, Johnson ultimately battled past Bacon for the runner-up slot on the 21st lap and held the position to the line.

Bacon matched his career-best Lucas Oil Sprint Car finish by taking the show position aboard the Wesmar-powered Tel-Star Communications No. 99 Triple-X, with Wood fourth in the H&H Enterprises No. 94.

Tony Bruce, Jr., rounded out the top five in the Bruce Racing No. 18 Maxim, with defending series champion Shane Stewart charging from 23rd to sixth after utilizing a provisional to start the main event.

Jesse Hockett was seventh, with Ricky Logan, Zach Chappell and Travis Rilat completing the top ten. Austen Wheatley ran among the top ten most of the way until a right rear vibration that resulted from some frontstretch wall contact dropped him to eleventh.

Debuting with his own race team, 2008 series champion Jason Johnson finished 12th after a lap 12 spin in turn one.

Tankersley held down the third position in the main event until a lost muffler prompted the black flag and a race-ending trip to the pit area after seven laps.

Chappell, Bruce, Tankersley, McClelland, Swindell, Derek Hagar and Danny Jennings topped heat race action for the 62-car field, with Jason Johnson, Wayne Johnson and Jack Dover winning the “B” Mains.

The Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters return to action on Friday night, April 9, at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, TX, before moving on to Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway the following night, April 10.

Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters
37th Annual Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals Results:

Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to 3 “B” Mains):

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. 65-Skip Wilson, 3. 14-Michael Lang, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 45-Martin Edwards, 6. 91x-Taylor Milton, 7. 15-Bud Goodwin, 8. 30-Brandon Corn, 9. 03-Joe Wood, Jr.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 10a-Ricky Logan, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. C41-Wayne Johnson, 5. 57-Shane Stewart, 6. 95-Matt Covington, 7. 5-Brent Swift, 8. 14e-Todd Evans, 9. 74x-Joshua Hodges.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 71-Channin Tankersley, 2. 21L-Trevor Lewis, 3. 5h-Justyn Cox, 4. 24-Justin Carver, 5. 6-Kyle Hirst, 6. 27-Andy Shouse, 7. 97b-Aaron Berryhill, 8. 6s-Justin Spoerl, 9. 3g-Darren Long.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland, 2. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 3. 00-Michael Dupuy, 4. 75x-Don Young, 5. 35-Matt Sherrell, 6. 72-Sherman Davis, 7. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 8. 86-Josh Fisher. DNS: 5m-Glenn Martin.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 10-Sammy Swindell, 2. 22-Koby Barksdale, 3. 31-Matt Clevenger, 4. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 5. 93-Dustin Morgan, 6. 53-Jack Dover, 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 8. 9x-Gary Wright, 9. 88-Tim Crawley.

Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 9h-Derek Hagar, 2. 2-Kenneth Walker, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 94-Danny Wood, 5. 98-Joe Ramaker, 6. 9-Brian Parker, 7. 8w-Jordan Whitehead, 8. 87x-Billy Melton. DNS: 22k-Kevin Barksdale.

Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings, 2. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 5. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 6. 2w-Whit Gastineau, 7. 21-Brian Brown, 8. 14x-Jody Rosenboom.

“B” Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Main):

First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 3. 57-Shane Stewart, 4. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 2-Kenneth Walker, 6. 75x-Don Young, 7. 72-Sherman Davis, 8. 6-Kyle Hirst, 9. 30-Brandon Corn, 10. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 11. 8w-Jordan Whitehead, 12. 27-Andy Shouse, 13. 9-Brian Parker. DNS: 14x-Jody Rosenboom, 14e-Todd Evans, 5m-Glenn Martin.

Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. C41-Wayne Johnson, 2. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 3. 5h-Justyn Cox, 4. 93-Dustin Morgan, 5. 65-Skip Wilson, 6. 95-Matt Covington, 7. 97b-Aaron Berryhill, 8. 6s-Justin Spoerl, 9. 2k-Whit Gastineau, 10. 35-Matt Sherrell, 11. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 12. 15-Bud Goodwin, 13. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 14. 3g-Darren Long. DNS: 21-Brian Brown.

Third “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 3. 45-Martin Edwards, 4. 91x-Taylor Milton, 5. 98-Joe Ramaker, 6. 88-Tim Crawley, 7. 87x-Billy Melton, 8. 31-Matt Clevenger, 9. 24-Justin Carver, 10. 9x-Gary Wright, 11. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12. 00-Michael Dupuy, 13. 5-Brent Swift, 14. 22k-Koby Barksdale. DNS: 86-Josh Fisher.

37th Annual Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals “A” Main Event:

“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 10-Sammy Swindell, 2. C41-Wayne Johnson, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 94-Danny Wood, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 57-Shane Stewart, 7. 75-Jesse Hockett, 8. 10a-Ricky Logan, 9. 50z-Zach Chappell, 10. 29-Travis Rilat, 11. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 12. 41-Jason Johnson, 13. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 14. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 15. 1-Sean McClelland, 16. 53-Jack Dover, 17. 1J-Danny Jennings, 18. 9x-Gary Wright, 19. 9h-Derek Hagar, 20. 14-Michael Lang, 21. 71-Channin Tankersley, 22. 21L-Trevor Lewis, 23. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 24. 22-Koby Barksdale.

Lap Leaders: Sean McClelland 1-5, Sammy Swindell 6-30.

Note: Shane Stewart and Gary Wright utilized provisionals based on 2009 points to start the “A” Main.

Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Points (Top 15): 1. Sammy Swindell 150, 2. Wayne Johnson 142, 3. Brady Bacon 135, 4. Danny Wood 130, 5. Tony Bruce, Jr. 125, 6. Shane Stewart 122, 7. Jesse Hockett 119, 8. Ricky Logan 116, 9. Zach Chappell 113, 10. Travis Rilat 110, 11. Austen Wheatley 108, 12. Jason Johnson 106, 13. Kevin Ramey 104, 14. Johnny Herrera 102, 15. Sean McClelland 100.

by Lonnie Wheatley
Photo Lonnie Wheatley

Joey Saldana wins World of Outlaws WoOFest at Lone Star Speedway

Not that Joey Saldana really needed a good luck charm with how strong he has been running this season, but just in case, he had one for the inaugural WoO Fest at Lone Star Speedway as his son Reece, who was on fall break from school, made the trip south from Indiana. Saldana won earlier this season at the half-mile located in Kilgore, Texas and also was victorious in Texas at Houston Raceway Park, both of which races his son was his in attendance for.

Saldana made it three-for-three in the state of Texas after wiring the field on Saturday night at Lone Star Speedway to score his series leading 19th A-Feature win of the season with the World of Outlaws and his career-high 20th overall victory with the series.

Saldana earned $12,000 for the win, which was the 58th of his World of Outlaw career as he continues to close in on Stevie Smith who is eighth on the all-time win list with 67 triumphs. For the native of Brownsburg, Indiana it was his fourth win of the season on a half-mile track aboard the Budweiser Maxim.

“This is another great win,” said Saldana. “I can’t thank Willie (Kahne), Kolten (Gouse) and Kale (Kahne) enough. They work really hard. Our shop is based out of Charlotte and they have to do a lot of extra driving to get this car to the race track. It was a great effort by this whole Budweiser team. We qualified in the Top-Five as well, so thanks to Speedway Engines.”

Saldana won the Crane Cams Dash to start on the pole for the 30-lapper with Sam Hafertepe Jr. getting the jump at the start and leading the field into turn one with Saldana moving in front in turn two. Hafertepe kept pace with him throughout the race in lapped traffic and closed to within a few cars lengths a couple of times when Saldana was not able to get around a lapped car. The only caution of the night flew on the 23rd lap, putting the leaders back in open track.

“The clear track definitely helped with how the track was, but my car was really good,” noted Saldana in Victory Lane. “The lapped cars were tough and the track was really fast and I didn’t want to do anything stupid. A couple of times I had to lift and just let the lap car go and get him back in the next corner. It was a great race and our car was great all night.”

The victory was Saldana’s third consecutive in the state of Texas and was the fifth win of his career in the Lone Star State. He has finished ninth or better in 10 of his last 11 starts in Texas and was quick to credit the vast number of starts he has in the state over the years to his success there the last few seasons.

“It’s a lot of time behind the wheels of one of these cars,” explained Saldana when asked what makes his so good in Texas as of late. “The pill draw definitely helped tonight, but you have to be fast all 30 laps. We just made the right adjustments on our car It was another great effort by my team.”

Hafertepe wound up second for the second time this season with the World of Outlaws as he continues to close in on his first career win with the series. He used a strong start to keep pace with Saldana early in the contest and then after Saldana opened a big lead, he was able to reel him back in in lapped traffic aboard the G. H. Plumbing J&J.

“Once we changed our program up around the middle of the year, we’ve been one of the cars to beat every night,” said Hafertepe. “I definitely wanted to win tonight, but Joey (Saldana) is a class act and there is nobody I would rather see beat me than him. He’s doing a lot for the sport and has already had 19 wins this year, so to finish second behind him, I’m not too mad about it. We made some nice moves in lapped traffic and made it interesting for the fans.”

Hafertepe was hoping that the race would go green to checker without any cautions and that nearly was the case, with just the single yellow flag with seven laps remaining. He tried everything he could to keep up with Saldana on the restart, but in open track was just not able to get close enough to him to make a move.

“I knew we had a good car and behind Joey, though he was so good in clean air that we really couldn’t do anything with him,” shared Hafertepe, whose parents Sam Sr. and Lisa own and operate Lone Star Speedway. “I didn’t like to see the caution because he got back in clean air, but that’s the way racing goes. We’ll take our second here tonight and go to Lowe’s (Motor Speedway) and see if we can’t win up there.”

Steve Kinser got around Jason Sides on the opening lap and then recovered after getting completely sideways in turn two on the lap-23 restart to finish third in the Quaker State Maxim.

Jason Meyers worked his way up to finish fourth in the GLR Investments KPC after winning the first heat to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, with Jason Sides fifth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim.

Donny Schatz, the current series point leader, came home sixth in the Armor All J&J, and was able to gain one point on Meyers in the championship standings, after earning five bonus points for setting fast time in qualifying. The difference between the two is now 19 markers with just the two feature events at the third annual World Finals remaining, as they continue the closest title fight in the 30-plus year history of the World of Outlaws.

Terry McCarl came home seventh on Saturday night in the Big Game Treestands Maxim, with Jac Haudenschild eighth piloting the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim. Lucas Wolfe was ninth in the Allebach Racing Maxim, with Kraig Kinser rounding out the Top-10 in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Thursday, November 5 with qualifying for the third annual World Finals at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, which runs November 5-7.

WOO FEST AT LONE STAR SPEEDWAY NOTES

•FAST QUALIFIER: Donny Schatz paced the 18 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked half-mile oval at 14.191 seconds at 126.841 mph. For his qualifying effort, Schatz earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Joey Saldana (4), Kraig Kinser (3), Terry McCarl (2) and Jac Haudenschild (1).
• LONE STAR SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Meyers, Brad Sweet and Steve Kinser won heat races. Joey Saldana won the Crane Cams Dash.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There has been 63 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway-twice, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway–twice, Houston Raceway Park, The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park-twice, U.S. 36 Raceway, 34 Raceway, I-55 Raceway, Castrol Raceway-twice, Skagit Speedway and Deer Creek Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, Lawrenceburg Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Eldora Speedway, K-C Raceway and Dacotah Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway, Paducah International Raceway, I-96 Speedway, Red River Valley Speedway, Ohsweken Speedway, Skagit Speedway, Cottage Grove Speedway and Clay County Fair Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Eagle Raceway, Charter Raceway Park and Lernerville Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lebanon Valley Speedway, I-55 Raceway and River Cities Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-three times), Steve Kinser (Tri-State Speedway and Limaland Motorsports Park), Terry McCarl (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Jason Sides (Ohsweken Speedway and Eldora Speedway), Dale Blaney (Attica Raceway Park), Cody Darrah (Williams Grove Speedway), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway), Tim Kaeding (Riverside International Speedway),Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway), Tim Shaffer (Rolling Wheels Raceway Park) and Stevie Smith (Lernerville Speedway).
• PRELIMINARY FEATURE WINNERS: There has been two World of Outlaws preliminary features this season. The winners include: Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway) and Joey Saldana (Silver Dollar Speedway).
• HALF-MILE WINNERS: Lone Star Speedway is a high-banked half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has raced 21 times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Lone Star Speedway- twice and Virginia Motor Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway-three times), Terry McCarl (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Jason Meyers (I-96 Speedway and Red River Valley Speedway), Cody Darrah (Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway),Danny Lasoski (Delaware International Speedway) and Jason Sides (Eldora Speedway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; WoO Fest at Lone Star Speedway; Kilgore, TX; October 24, 2009

Qualifying
1) 15-Donny Schatz 14.191
2) 9-Joey Saldana 14.208
3) 20-Kraig Kinser 14.271
4) 24-Terry McCarl 14.350
5) R19-Jac Haudenschild 14.387
6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 14.417
7) 14-Jason Meyers 14.447
19-Brad Sweet 14.465
9) 7S-Jason Sides 14.486
10) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 14.494
11) 6-Danny Lasoski 14.590
12) 11-Steve Kinser 14.648
13) 41-Jason Johnson 14.650
14) 22-Brian Ellenberger 14.685
15) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 14.755
16) 51-Fred Rahmer 14.757
17) 51W-Wes Miller 15.018
18) 4-Eric Baldaccini 15.136
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 14-Jason Meyers
2) 15-Donny Schatz
3) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
4) 41-Jason Johnson
5) 51-Fred Rahmer
6) 24-Terry McCarl
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 19-Brad Sweet
2) 9-Joey Saldana
3) 6-Danny Lasoski
4) R19-Jac Haudenschild
5) 22-Brian Ellenberger
6) 51W-Wes Miller
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 11-Steve Kinser
2) 7S-Jason Sides
3) 20-Kraig Kinser
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
5) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
6) 4-Eric Baldaccini
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 9-Joey Saldana
2) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
3) 7S-Jason Sides
4) 11-Steve Kinser
5) R19-Jac Haudenschild
6) 15-Donny Schatz
7) 14-Jason Meyers
20-Kraig Kinser
9) 24-Terry McCarl
10) 19-Brad Sweet
A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 9-Joey Saldana[1] [$12,000]
2) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[2] [$5,700]
3) 11-Steve Kinser[4] [$3,500]
4) 14-Jason Meyers[7] [$3,000]
5) 7S-Jason Sides[3] [$2,600]
6) 15-Donny Schatz[6] [$2,400]
7) 24-Terry McCarl[9] [$2,300]
R19-Jac Haudenschild[5] [$2,200]
9) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[11] [$2,150]
10) 20-Kraig Kinser[8] [$2,100]
11) 19-Brad Sweet[10] [$1,600]
12) 41-Jason Johnson[13] [$1,350]
13) 6-Danny Lasoski[12] [$1,300]
14) 51-Fred Rahmer[16] [$1,200]
15) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[15] [$1,100]
16) 22-Brian Ellenberger[14] [$1,000]
17) 4-Eric Baldaccini[18] [$900]
18) 51W-Wes Miller[17] [$850]

Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1-30
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Jason Meyers
Penske Power Position Award: Steve Kinser
KSE Hard Charger Award: Jason Meyers

by Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director

Kevin Ramey rules Devil’s Bowl ASCS Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series Winter Nationals for First Lucas Oil Sprint Car Win of 2009

Fort Worth’s Kevin Ramey has enjoyed a fair amount of success at Devil’s Bowl Speedway over the years, including several track championships along with Spring and Summer Nationals triumphs. But, one thing that was missing from the résumé was a Winter Nationals score.

The newly-crowned ASCS Lone Star Region champion took care of that on Sunday afternoon by reeling in his first Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters triumph of the season to put the caps on the 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals, picking up a hefty $6,000 winner’s share in the process.

“Even Regional guys can win these things!” an enthused Ramey exclaimed after besting a weekend field of 61 Lucas Oil Sprint Car Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals competitors and joining Fred Brownfield Memorial preliminary winner Roger Crockett as just the second Regional racer to top a Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series feature event thus far in 2009.

After starting on the front row outside and slipping back to third in the early going, Ramey drove the Williams Motorsports Wells-powered City Vending No. 7m Maxim into the lead on the fifth circuit and survived some tense final rounds in the 30-lapper to secure his ninth career ASCS National triumph in front of early leader Gary Wright, with series point leader Shane Stewart, Johnny Herrera and 22nd-starter Sammy Swindell rounding out the top five.

“We’ve won a few of these before but it’s been a while, this one is the sweetest,” Ramey commented in victory lane. “We’ve won a Spring Nationals and a Summer Nationals before, now we’ve got a Winter Nationals to go along with it!”

Ramey, who topped both a weather-delayed Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals and then Summer Nationals on the same night in June of 2006, gridded Sunday’s feature outside the front row only to have Saturday night preliminary winner Gary Wright gun into the lead after the initial pair of starts were waved off for incidents, including a Darren Long flip in turn two.

With third-starter Eric Baldaccini the first to discover just how effective the high line was on the reworked ½-mile clay oval as the sun settled beyond the turn three tree-line, Ramey slipped to third momentarily as Baldaccini edged ahead of Wright to lead the fourth circuit.

The 2008 Brodix Rookie of the Year’s stint in the lead was a short-lived one however, as he slipped just a bit too high exiting turn two and fell back to sixth as Ramey took quick advantage of the slightest of hesitations by Wright to race into the lead.

Sticking primarily to the high line after the Baldaccini tip, Ramey led Wright and fourth-starter Sam Hafertepe, Jr., as Baldaccini worked his way back up to fourth by the eighth circuit.

With the leaders into traffic by the eleventh round, the man on the move was 12th-starter Jack Dover. The 19-year-old Nebraska shoe battled past Brian Brown and Shane Stewart to crack the top five by the 12th circuit and then took fourth away from Baldaccini on the 16th round.

Dover immediately moved in on Hafertepe for third, only to perilously spin to a seemingly harmless stop along the backstretch and into the turn three entry after contact with 18 laps in the books. Dover rejoined the fray at the tail, only to succumb to suspected rear end woes two laps later.

Back up to fourth after Dover’s slide down the backstretch, Baldaccini fell to the tail of the field when he slipped off turn two on the lap 19 restart and soon shredded a left rear tire to precipitate another caution on the 25th lap.

Ramey had to survive another pair of interruptions in the final pair of laps, with top-five runners Hafertepe and Brian Brown both coming to a stop on separate occasions.

Ramey was not to be deterred, adding his sixth overall ASCS feature win of the season and the first in National competition since July of 2006.

Wright settled for runner-up honors in Scott Brown’s ASI-powered Lubbock Wrecker Service/Richwood Construction No. 9x Maxim, with Shane Stewart making a late move into the show position aboard Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered ProBilt Construction No. 57 A.R.T. to extend his lead in the $60,000 championship points chase to 24 markers over tenth-place finisher Jason Johnson, with Wright 40 points out of the lead entering the 22nd Annual Short Track Nationals at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway on October 29-31.

New Mexico’s Johnny Herrera worked forward from 13th to snare fourth at the line in the No. 45x entry, with Sammy Swindell making a late burst to round out the top five in the Rolfe No. 10 after starting 22nd.

Paul McMahan crossed the stripe in sixth, with 19th-starter Wayne Johnson, 16th-starter Travis Rilat, Brady Bacon and 18th-starter Jason Johnson completing the top ten.

Danny Jennings, Dover, Bacon, McMahan, Kenneth Walker and John Carney II won Sunday afternoon’s heat races, with Dustin Morgan, Jason Johnson and Wayne Johnson winning the “B” Mains. Morgan was forced pitside with mechanical issues two laps into the feature, while Carney flipped without injury entering turn three on the ensuing restart.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters
36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals Championship Finale Results
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, TX

Locked in from Saturday Night’s Preliminary Feature:

9x-Gary Wright, 57-Shane Stewart, 7m-Kevin Ramey, 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr.

Heat Races (Top 12 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to 3 “B” Mains):

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1j-Danny Jennings, 2. 22j-John Gaston, 3. 91-Jonathan Allard, 4. 10-Sammy Swindell, 5. 22b-Ben Gregg, 6. 88-Tim Crawley, 7. 99d-Rickey Hood, 8. 45k-Kolt Walker, 9. 87x-Billy Melton.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 10a-Ricky Logan, 6. 29L-Larry Long, 7. 81au-Gavin Punch, 8. 76-John Ricketts, 9. 165-Haley Arnold.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 3. 94-Danny Wood, 4. 6-Justin Spoerl, 5. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 6. 8m-Kyle McCutcheon, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 9-Brian Parker, 9. 87a-Andrew Marshala.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 3d-Paul McMahan, 2. 9T-Gary Taylor, 3. 7-Darren Long, 4. 1-Sean McClelland, 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 6. 24-David Gailley, 7. 11-Chad Corken, 8. 45-Martin Edwards. DNS: 69-Larry Howery.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 2-Kenneth Walker, 2. 23-Seth Bergman, 3. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 4. 93-Dustin Morgan, 5. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 6. 4m-Randi Miller, 7. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 8. 3-Mark Shirshekan. DNS: e85-Zach Chappell.

Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 3s-John Carney II, 2. 21-Brian Brown, 3. 27-Andy Shouse, 4. 13-Jesse Hockett, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 65-Skip Wilson, 7. 35-Greg Rilat, 8. 22-Koby Barksdale, 9. 75-Don Young.

“B” Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Main):

First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan, 2. 91-Jonathan Allard, 3. 88-Tim Crawley, 4. 9T-Gary Taylor, 5. 10a-Ricky Logan, 6. 99d-Rickey Hood, 7. 29L-Larry Long, 8. 24-David Gailley, 9. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 10. 23-Seth Bergman, 11. 76-John Ricketts, 12. 03-Joe Wood, Jr. DNS: 45k-Kolt Walker, 75-Don Young.

Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 3. 13-Jesse Hockett, 4. 4m-Randi Miller, 5. 27-Andy Shouse, 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 7. 35-Greg Rilat, 8. 81au-Gavin Punch, 9. 22-Koby Barksdale, 10. 9-Brian Parker, 11. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 12. 1-Sean McClelland, 13. 12w-Dale Wester. DNS: e85-Zach Chappell.

Third “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 2. 10-Sammy Swindell, 3. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 4. 22b-Ben Gregg, 5. 22j-John Gaston, 6. 11-Chad Corken, 7. 45-Martin Edwards, 8. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 9. 87x-Billy Melton, 10. 65-Skip Wilson, 11. 165-Haley Arnold. DNS: 6-Justin Spoerl, 8m-Kyle McCutcheon, 69-Larry Howery.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals Main Event:

“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 57-Shane Stewart, 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 5. 10-Sammy Swindell, 6. 3d-Paul McMahan, 7. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 8. 29-Travis Rilat, 9. 99-Brady Bacon, 10 41-Jason Johnson, 11. 13-Jesse Hockett, 12. 94-Danny Wood, 13. 1j-Danny Jennings, 14. 2-Kenneth Walker, 15. 21-Brian Brown, 16. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 17. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 18. 53-Jack Dover, 19. 91-Jonathan Allard, 20. 88-Tim Crawley, 21. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 22. 3s-John Carney II, 23. 93-Dustin Morgan, 24. 7-Darren Long.

Lap Leaders: Gary Wright 1-3, Eric Baldaccini 4, Kevin Ramey 5-30.

Note: Tim Crawley and Jesse Hockett utilized Lucas Oil Sprint Car provisionals to start the “A” Main.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Presented by K&N Filters Points (Top Twenty): 1. Shane Stewart 2,278, 2. Jason Johnson 2,254, 3. Gary Wright 2,238, 4. Travis Rilat 2,117, 5. Paul McMahan 2,066, 6. Tim Crawley 2,043, 7. Danny Wood 2,020, 8. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,982, 9. Jack Dover 1,963, 10. Jesse Hockett 1,961, 11. Sean McClelland 1,694, 12. Kenneth Walker 1,628, 13. Darren Long 1,519, 14. Chad Corken 1,487, 15. Gary Taylor 1,471, 16. Seth Bergman 1,397, 17. Gavin Punch 1,344, 18. Brady Bacon 1,215, 19. Wayne Johnson 1,118, 20. Ricky Logan 974.

by Lonnie Wheatley

“The Texan” Triumphs in Devil’s Bowl “Winter Nationals” Prelim

“The Texan” Gary Wright continued his winning ways atop the fabled ½-mile Devil’s Bowl Speedway clay oval by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters preliminary feature event at the 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals.

Wright raced past Aaron Reutzel on the fifth round and then held off the advances of Shane Stewart over the latter circuits to secure his 126th career ASCS National win and the 20th in series competition at ‘Da Bowl.

“The way the track was, I knew I was just gonna stay on the bottom,” Wright explained in victory lane. “If Shane (Stewart) could drive by me on the high side, then he could have it.”

While Stewart couldn’t successfully pull off the race-winning move, he struck a much bigger blow in big-picture terms by overtaking Jason Johnson for the series points lead. With the $60,000 Lucas Oil Sprint Car championship hanging in the balance over the season’s final sequence of events, Stewart’s runner-up showing coupled with Johnson’s 18th-place run put the Oklahoma racer ten points ahead of “The Ragin’ Cajun”. And, to keep things even more interesting, Wright’s title chances stayed alive as he exited the night just 42 points off of Stewart’s lead pace.

Another pair of Texans, Fort Worth’s Kevin Ramey and Sunnyvale’s Sam Hafertepe, Jr., joined Wright and Stewart as Saturday’s top four finishers to lock into Sunday afternoon’s Winter Nationals finale, which fires off at 2:00 p.m.

After Mother Nature pushed back the running of the weekend’s 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals by one day, Wright landed on the pole of Saturday night’s preliminary main event.

However, it was 19-year-old ASCS Gulf South champion Aaron Reutzel gunning into the lead at the drop of the green flag and pacing the opening circuits.

Wright didn’t allow the youngster to get too comfortable with the top spot though, muscling by for the point on the fifth round with third-starter Stewart following suit to take second a lap later.

Into traffic by the seventh circuit, Stewart kept the pressure on and moved in to challenge on several occasions. But, one bobble in turn two and then another one in turn four several laps later as the leaders tried to put a lap on a struggling Jason Johnson were enough to prevent a move to the front by Stewart.

Wright found clear track once again when the race’s only caution flew after 21 rounds for Darren Long’s turn two spin. Clear sailing was all Wright needed to safely put the win away aboard Scott Brown’s ASI-powered Lubbock Wrecker Service/Richwood Construction No. 9x Maxim.

Stewart held strong for second in Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered ProBilt Construction/Palmero Properties No. 57 A.R.T.

Newly crowned ASCS Lone Star champion Kevin Ramey worked past Reutzel for third on the eighth circuit and held the show position the rest of the way in the Williams Motorsports Wells-powered City Vending No. 7m Maxim.

Hafertepe outdueled Jesse Hockett over the final portion of the race to snare the fourth and final lock-in position to Sunday’s Winter Nationals championship finale, while Hockett settled for fifth in the VKCC Motorsports/Tom Buch No. 13.

Reutzel crossed the stripe sixth in just his second career Lucas Oil Sprint Car feature start, with Danny Wood making a last-lap move around 13th-starter Eric Baldaccini to snare seventh.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car rookie contender Chad Corken posted his top run of the year by finishing ninth, with Aaron Berryhill climbing from 16th to complete the top ten.

Wood, Stewart, Ramey, Hafertepe, Danny Jennings, Ricky Logan and Wright topped heat race action for Saturday night’s 60-car field, with Kenneth Walker, Tim Crawley and Don Young winning the “B” Mains.

The red flag flew only once over the course of the night for a wild double tumble that brought an early end to the night for the Missouri duo of Mark Shirshekan and Brian Brown while chasing Ricky Logan into turn one on the second lap of the night’s sixth heat race. There were no injuries.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters
36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals Preliminary Results
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, TX

Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to 3 “B” Mains):

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 94-Danny Wood, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 75-Don Young, 4. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 10-Sammy Swindell, 6. 53-Jack Dover, 7. 4m-Randi Miller, 8. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 9. 03-Joe Wood, Jr.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 81au-Gavin Punch, 4. 91-Jonathan Allard, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 9T-Gary Taylor, 7. 23-Seth Bergman, 8. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 9. 69-Larry Howery.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 2. 13-Jesse Hockett, 3. e85-Zach Chappell, 4. 87x-Billy Melton, 5. 22-Koby Barksdale, 6. 3s-John Carney II, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 45-Martin Edwards, 9. 87a-Andrew Marshala.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2. 7-Darren Long, 3. 11-Chad Corken, 4. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 5. 14-Michael Lang, 6. 22a-Dan Adkins, 7. 65-Skip Wilson, 8. 165-Haley Arnold, 9. 29L-Larry Long.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings, 2. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 1-Sean McClelland, 5. 22J-John Gaston, 6. 35-Greg Rilat, 7. 22b-Ben Gregg, 8. 93-Dustin Morgan.

Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 10a-Ricky Logan, 2. 27-Andy Shouse, 3. 99d-Rickey Hood, 4. 2-Kenneth Walker, 5. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 6. 21-Brian Brown, 7. 3d-Paul McMahan, 8. 99j-Jake Ossenfort.

Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 9x-Gary Wright, 2. 8m-Kyle McCutcheon, 3. 45k-Kolt Walker, 4. 88-Tim Crawley, 5. 6-Justin Spoerl, 6. 24-David Gailley, 7. 21s-Russell Shoulders, 8. 9-Brian Parker.

“B” Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Main):

First “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2-Kenneth Walker, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 4. 10-Sammy Swindell, 5. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 6. 3d-Paul McMahan, 7. 23-Seth Bergman, 8. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 9. 93-Dustin Morgan, 10. 22J-John Gaston, 11. 9-Brian Parker, 12. 87x-Billy Melton, 13. 6-Justin Spoerl, 14. 65-Skip Wilson. DNS: 21s-Russell Shoulders.

Second “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. e85-Zach Chappell, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 99-Brady Bacon, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 22-Koby Barksdale, 9. 22a-Dan Adkins, 10. 69-Larry Howery, 11. 22b-Ben Gregg, 12. 165-Haley Arnold, 13. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 14. 45k-Kolt Walker. DNS: 3-Mark Shirshekan.

Third “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 75-Don Young, 2. 7-Darren Long, 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 4. 81au-Gavin Punch, 5. 3s-John Carney II, 6. 9T-Gary Taylor, 7. 4m-Randi Miller, 8. 35-Greg Rilat, 9. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 10. 45-Martin Edwards, 11. 29L-Larry Long, 12. 24-David Gailley, 13. 14-Michael Lang. DNS: 21-Brian Brown.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals Preliminary Main Event:

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9x-Gary Wright, 2. 57-Shane Stewart, 3. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 4. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 5. 13-Jesse Hockett, 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 7. 94-Danny Wood, 8. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 9. 11-Chad Corken, 10. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 11. 1j-Danny Jennings, 12. 99d-Rickey Hood, 13. 2-Kenneth Walker, 14. 29-Travis Rilat, 15. 10a-Ricky Logan, 16. 27-Andy Shouse, 17. 3d-Paul McMahan, 18. 41-Jason Johnson, 19. 91-Jonathan Allard, 20. 88-Tim Crawley, 21. 75-Don Young, 22. 7-Darren Long, 23. 8m-Kyle McCutcheon, 24. 53-Jack Dover.

Lap Leaders: Aaron Reutzel 1-4, Gary Wright 5-25.

Note: Paul McMahan and Jack Dover utilized Lucas Oil provisionals to start the “A” Main,

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Presented by K&N Filters Points (Top Twenty): 1. Shane Stewart 2,134, 2. Jason Johnson 2,124, 3. Gary Wright 2,092, 4. Travis Rilat 1,983, 5. Tim Crawley 1,933, 6. Paul McMahan 1,928, 7. Danny Wood 1,894, 8. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,874, 9. Jack Dover 1,849, 10. Jesse Hockett 1,833, 11. Sean McClelland 1,619, 12. Kenneth Walker 1,506, 13. Darren Long 1,417, 14. Chad Corken 1,412, 15. Gary Taylor 1,396, 16. Seth Bergman 1,322, 17. Gavin Punch 1,269, 18. Brady Bacon 1,083, 19. Wayne Johnson 982, 20. Ricky Logan 899.

ASCS Lucas Oil Sprint Cars on for Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals this weekend

Race fans in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex will have one last opportunity to catch the nation’s most intensely competitive Sprint Car series in action this weekend when the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters take to the famed Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, TX.

Revisiting the same venue that launched a new era of Sprint Car racing earlier this year in March, the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars tackle the famed half-mile clay oval just east of Dallas Friday and Saturday, October 16-17, for the 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals.

The Lucas Oil Sprint Cars opened what has been a wildly competitive 2009 campaign with 67 competitors from 17 different states taking in the Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals in March, with Jason Johnson ultimately making his car wide enough down the backstretch to fend off Tony Bruce, Jr., for top honors. To add insult to injury, Bruce’s No. 18 entry weighed in just below the required 1,475 lb. minimum afterwards and he was credited with 24th rather than second.

While reigning series champion Johnson won the Spring Nationals finale, it was Oklahoma native Shane Stewart winning the Spring Nationals prelim.

That weekend proved to be a harbinger of things to come, as “The Ragin’ Cajun” and “Sugar Shane” have locked horns for the $60,000 series championship, with defending Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals champion Gary Wright in the title mix much of the way as well.

Stewart matched Johnson in the win column with his third triumph of the year in the series most recent outing, a wild night of racing action at Wheatland, Missouri’s Lucas Oil Speedway on September 26, to whittle Johnson’s advantage to just 22 points with only I-30 Speedway’s Short Track Nationals and USA Raceway’s Western World Championships remaining after the Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals.

A Northwest journey gone awry dimmed Wright’s championship hopes, as “The Texan” has fallen 68 points off of Johnson’s lead pace in his bid for a fifth series title.

While Johnson, Stewart and Wright have risen to the top of the point charts, a stellar group of 17 teams have taken in the entire Lucas Oil Sprint Car slate or missed just one event, with another handful of teams taking in the vast majority of the events.

Just behind the lead trio in current points, which will award a total of $250,000 to the final top 15, is 2003 series champion Travis Rilat, with three-time series king Tim Crawley rounding out the current top five.

Leading Brodix Rookie of the Year contender Paul McMahan is currently sixth, with Tony Bruce, Jr., three-time series runner-up Danny Wood, 19-year-old rookie shoe Jack Dover and Jesse Hockett completing the current top ten.

Tulsa racer Sean McClelland is just outside the top ten in eleventh, one spot ahead of fellow Tulsa-area racer Kenneth Walker. Other top Lucas Oil rookie contenders include Ohio’s Darren Long, Colorado’s Chad Corken, Washington’s Seth Bergman and Gavin Punch.

Still ranked 13th after missing the series Lucas Oil Speedway event, Washington native Gary Taylor will reportedly team with Dallas-area contender Brian Parker for the Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals with California’s Jonathan Allard taking the wheel of the Bobby Sparks No. 91 entry.

The 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals weekend of activities kicks off with the Third Annual Steve King Foundation Golf Tournament at the Buffalo Creek Golf Club in Rockwall, TX, on Thursday, October 15. More information regarding the Golf Tournament is available at http://www.smileysracing.com/steve-king-golf.php.

The Series:

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters

When & Where:

Thursday, October 15 at 12:00 p.m. noon – 3rd Annual Steve King Foundation Golf Tournament
Friday night, October 16 at 8:00 p.m. – 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals prelim
Saturday night, October 17 at 8:00 p.m. – 36th Annual Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals finale

Track Information:

Devil’s Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX) – ½-mile, high-banked clay oval located six miles east of Dallas’ I-635 on US 80, then three miles south on Lawson Road. Track phone: 972-222-2421.

Lucas Oil ASCS Devil’s Bowl History:

Devil’s Bowl Speedway has been hosting the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series since 1994, with 20 different drivers scoring at least one victory in 58 feature events. Gary Wright has claimed 19 of his 125 career ASCS National wins at Devil’s Bowl, including Winter Nationals triumphs in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

Wright and Jason Johnson have had somewhat of a stranglehold on victory lane at Devil’s Bowl over the past couple of seasons, combining to win ten of the last twelve features atop the storied clay oval. Only Tony Bruce, Jr. (a Spring Nationals preliminary winner in 2008) and Shane Stewart (a Spring Nationals preliminary winner this year), have interrupted the Wright-Johnson reign of terror at Da’ Bowl.

While Wright topped last year’s Winter Nationals to go along with previous victories in 2005 and 2003, Jason Johnson gave car owner Lanny Row his first Winter Nationals triumph in 2007, Travis Rilat topped the event in 2006 and Shane Stewart won the event in 2004.

Devil’s Bowl Lucas Oil ASCS winners include: Gary Wright 19, Jason Johnson 7, Wayne Johnson 4, Danny Jennings 3, Kevin Ramey 3, Shane Carson 2, Terry Gray 2, Garry Lee Maier 2, Mike Peters 2, Travis Rilat 2, Shane Stewart 2, Sammy Swindell 2, Tony Bruce, Jr. 1, Tim Crawley 1, Edd French 1, Johnny Herrera 1, Larry Neighbors 1, Alan Payne 1, Jake Peters 1, Mike Ward 1.

Devil’s Bowl Lucas Oil ASCS Race-by-race Winners: Shane Carson (6/21/94), Alan Payne (5/12/95), Mike Ward (7/23/95), Mike Peters (9/1/95), Sammy Swindell (9/2/95), Sammy Swindell (9/3/95), Wayne Johnson (6/18/96), Terry Gray (7/6/96), Terry Gray (11/1/96), Johnny Herrera (11/2/96), Shane Carson (4/5/97), Wayne Johnson (6/18/97), Edd French (10/31/97), Mike Peters (11/1/97), Gary Wright (6/19/98), Gary Wright (10/3/98), Garry Lee Maier (10/4/98), Gary Wright (7/8/99), Garry Lee Maier (7/30/99), Gary Wright (10/1/99), Gary Wright (10/2/99), Gary Wright (7/21/00), Gary Wright (10/6/00), Larry Neighbors (4/20/01), Gary Wright (7/20/01), Gary Wright (10/6/01), Travis Rilat (4/19/02), Jason Johnson (6/7/02), Wayne Johnson (10/4/02), Gary Wright (10/5/02), Kevin Ramey (4/18/03), Tim Crawley (10/17/03), Gary Wright (10/18/03), Shane Stewart (10/23/04), Danny Jennings (3/18/05), Danny Jennings (3/19/05), Danny Jennings (6/9/05), Gary Wright (10/21/05), Gary Wright (10/22/05), Kevin Ramey (6/24/06 – Spring Nationals makeup feature), Kevin Ramey (6/24/06 – Summer Nationals), Gary Wright (7/13/06), Jason Johnson (10/13/06), Travis Rilat (10/14/06), Wayne Johnson (3/16/07), Jake Peters (3/17/07), Gary Wright (5/12/07), Gary Wright (7/19/07), Jason Johnson (10/12/07), Jason Johnson (10/13/07), Tony Bruce, Jr. (3/14/08), Gary Wright (3/15/08), Jason Johnson (5/10/08), Gary Wright (7/17/08), Jason Johnson (10/17/08), Gary Wright (10/18/08), Shane Stewart (3/20/09), Jason Johnson (3/21/09).

Current Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters Points:

Top Twenty: 1. Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA) 2,010, 2. Shane Stewart (Bixby, OK) 1,988, 3. Gary Wright (Hooks, TX) 1,942, 4. Travis Rilat (Forney, TX) 1,861, 5. Tim Crawley (Benton, AR) 1,823, 6. Paul McMahan (Hendersonville, TN) 1,812, 7. Tony Bruce, Jr. (Liberal, KS) 1,799, 8. Danny Wood (Norman, OK) 1,758, 9. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE) 1,747, 10. Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO) 1,693, 11. Sean McClelland (Tulsa, OK) 1,544, 12. Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK) 1,382, 13. Gary Taylor (Snohomish, WA) 1,321, 14. Darren Long (Elida, OH) 1,311, 15. Chad Corken (Highlands Ranch, CO) 1,280, 16. Seth Bergman (Snohomish, WA) 1,247, 17. Gavin Punch (Collinsville, OK) 1,194, 18. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, OK) 1,008, 19. Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK) 907, 20. Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK) 870.

Brodix Rookie of the Year Points (Top Five): 1. Paul McMahan (Hendersonville, TN) 1,812, 2. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE) 1,747, 3. Darren Long (Elida, OH) 1,311, 4. Chad Corken (Highlands Ranch, CO) 1,280, 5. Seth Bergman (Snohomish, WA) 1,247.

2009 Lucas Oil Sprint Car Feature Winners:

Jason Johnson 3, Shane Stewart 3, Tim Crawley 2, Terry McCarl 2, Travis Rilat 2, Roger Crockett 1, Jack Dover 1, Wayne Johnson 1, Gary Wright 1. Speedweek winners; Tony Bruce, Jr., Zach Chappell, Tim Crawley, Nick Smith and Gary Wright.

Lucas Oil Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters – A Look Ahead:

October 29-31 – 22nd Annual Short Track Nationals – I-30 Speedway (Little Rock, AR)
November 19-21 – 42nd Annual Western World Championships – USA Raceway (Tucson, AZ)
November 22 18th Annual ASCS Awards Banquet presented by Brodix – Old Tucson Studios

Lucas Oil Sprint Cars on the Web:

Those unable to catch all the action in person can listen to every Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters live at www.racinboys.com.

Also, the Lucas Oil ASCS Show airs on www.racinboys.com each Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET, recapping the previous week’s events while also previewing upcoming action.

Official results, championship point updates, photos and race notes will be available at www.ascsracing.com.

Lucas Oil Sprint Cars on TV:

The Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters will be featured in ten one-hour shows broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on the VERSUS Network

Events to be aired on VERSUS include the following:

Event Date – Track (Location) – Air Date & Re-Air Date (All Times Eastern)
Mar. 20 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX) – 5/2/09 @ 5:00 p.m. & 5/7/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
Mar. 21 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, TX) – 5/23/09 @ 4:00 p.m. & 5/27/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
May 23 – Jetmore Motorplex (Jetmore, KS) – 8/8/09 @ 5:00 p.m. & 8/13/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
May 24 – Jetmore Motorplex (Jetmore, KS) – 8/15/09 @ 5:00 p.m. & 8/20/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
July 3 – Riverside Speedway (W. Memphis, AR) – 9/13/09 @ 4:00 p.m. & 9/17/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
July 4 – Riverside Speedway (W. Memphis, AR) – 9/20/09 @ 4:00 p.m. & 9/24/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
Aug. 6 – Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, IA) – 10/18/09 @ 6:00 p.m. & 10/22/09 @ 5:00 p.m.
Aug. 7 – Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, IA) – 11/1/09 @ 5:00 p.m. & 11/5/09 @ 6:00 p.m.
Aug. 8 – Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, IA) – 11/22/09 @ 6:00 p.m. & 11/25/09 @ 6:00 p.m.
Sept. 26 – Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, MO) – 11/29/09 @ 6:00 p.m. & 12/3/09 @ 5:00 p.m.

The Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters is currently slated for approximately 30 nights of racing action at 16 different tracks throughout the nation, with the country’s top Sprint Car drivers set to battle it out for their share of the $250,000 points fund.

The American Sprint Car Series, in its 18th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing events, brings the best of Sprint Car racing to nearly 100 different tracks throughout 25 states and Canada in 2009. Anchored by the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of a dozen different Regions throughout the nation.

Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.

by Lonnie Wheatley

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