Crawley Conquers Short Track Nationals Friday Field!

[rebelracewriter]

Crawley Conquers Short Track Nationals Friday Field!

 

 

Lonnie Wheatley, LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 24, 2008) – Tim Crawley has enjoyed a substantial amount of success at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway over the course of his career. However, Lady Luck has frowned upon him in recent renditions of the Short Track Nationals.

 

 

 

The Benton, AR, driver made a forceful move to reverse that trend by turning in a dominant performance en route to winning Friday night's 25-lap preliminary feature at I-30 Speedway's 21st Annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires.

 

 

 

Starting from the pole position, the 1998 Short Track Nationals champion gunned into the lead from the outset and was never challenged as he raced to his 17th overall feature win of the year aboard Mike Ward's Boater Sports No. 88 Maxim.

 

 

 

"It seems like we've been snakebit in this race the past four or five years, maybe we've got the monkey off our back now and can get it done tomorrow night," Crawley commented after his 37th career O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series feature win and first since the ASCS Speedweek finale on June 11, 2005.

 

 

 

While Crawley took top honors, Brian Brown claimed the second spot as Danny Lasoski made a late move into the third and final lock-in position to Saturday night's $15,000-to-win STN championship feature event.

 

 

 

Crawley earned the pole position for the feature event by winning the night's opening heat race from the pole position and then charging from seventh to finish second in his qualifying race behind Brad Welborn.

 

 

 

And after outgunning fellow front row starter Brian Brown for the lead at the drop of the green, Crawley proved to be in a league of his own the rest of the way.

 

 

 

Reaching lapped traffic by the eighth round, the three-time ASCS National champion held a full half-lap lead over his closest rivals when the first of two cautions flew after 16 laps. Along the way, Crawley had also put a half dozen lapped cars between himself and second-running Garry Lee Maier.

 

 

 

Crawley withstood one more caution three laps later before cruising to the checkered flag unabated.

 

 

 

While Crawley cruised out front, the battle for position behind him was intense.

 

 

 

Maier took second away from Brown in the early stages, and then Eagle Raceway champion Mike Boston rode a perilous cushion around Brown for that crucial third position before slipping too high at the midway point and falling back in the pack.

 

 

 

Mired behind a half-dozen lapped cars after the lap 16 caution, Maier suddenly had his hands full with the likes of Brown, Jack Dover and Lasoski. Dover, the reigning 18-year-old champion of the ASCS Midwest Region, surged past Brown briefly only to bring out the caution with six laps remaining when he slipped off the top of turn two while challenging for second.

 

 

 

Brown made his way around Maier after the restart to claim runner-up honors in the Super Clean No. 21 Maxim, with Missouri kin Lasoski's white-flag maneuver into third aboard Donnie Cooper's No. 1 locking him into his first STN finale since 1989.

 

 

 

Surging forward from 14th, Dale Blaney settled for fourth with Maier rounding out the top five.

 

 

 

Tim Shaffer climbed from 11th to finish sixth, with Brad Welborn, wingless ace Brady Bacon, Ernie Ainsworth and Boston completing the top ten.

 

 

 

Crawley, Kevin Ramey, Lee Sowell, Jason Johnson, Matt Covington, Dover and Chris Morgan topped heat race action, with Welborn, Shaffer, Blaney and Chad Pitts winning the qualifying races.

 

 

 

Crawley, Brown and Lasoski join Friday night's top three finishers (Gary Wright, Tony Bruce, Jr., Wayne Johnson) in Saturday night's Pack's Dash for Cash to determine the alignment of the first three rows of the 40-lap STN championship main event. The front row starters will also have the opportunity to take the COMP Cams Gamblers Challenge, which could push the winner's possible take to $20,000.

 

 

 

The balance of the 95-car field will battle through a full card of heat races, last chance races and qualifiers to fill out Saturday night's championship feature starting grid, with racing action getting under way at 7:00 p.m.

 

 

 

21st Annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires Friday Night Results:

 

 

 

Heat Races:

 

 

 

First Heat (10 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 40-Ernie Ainsworth, 3. 6T-Tim Sites, 4. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 5. 6b-Dale Blaney, 6. 44-Ronny Howard, 7. 12-Jeff Swindell (failed to report to scales after finishing fourth).

 

 

 

Second Heat (10 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 2. 15s-Nick Smith, 3. 3d-Rickey Hood, 4. 50z-Zach Chappell, 5. 1x-Chad Pitts, 6. 24w-Kenny Coke. DNS: 8-Jeff Wingate.

 

 

 

Third Heat (10 Laps): 1. 51s-Lee Sowell, 2. 51b-Mike Boston, 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 4. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 5. k9-Troy Manteufel, 6. 3a-A.G. Rains, 7. 67-Joey Boyd (disqualified after losing muffler).

 

 

 

Fourth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 41J-Jason Johnson, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 17w-Brad Welborn, 4. 91-Tim Montgomery, 5. 29h-Lyle Howey III, 6. 41x-Eric Sandage, 7. 85-Jerry Bell.

 

 

 

Fifth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 2. 21b-Brian Brown, 3. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 4. 48-Shawn Sander, 5. 01-Jeremy Newkirk, 6. 87b-Brian McClelland, 8. 5-Eric Lutz.

 

 

 

Sixth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 45k-Kolt Walker, 3. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 4. 1-Danny Lasoski, 5. d12-Tim Shaffer, 6. 20w-Greg Wilson, 7. 38-Rick Pringle.

 

 

 

Seventh Heat (10 Laps): 1. 0-Chris Morgan, 2. 58-Wade Oliver, 3. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 4. 39-Marvin Lough, 5. 7w-Wade Human, 6. 69h-Larry Howery, 7. 17b-Ryan Bickett.

 

 

 

Qualifying Races – Winner from Each Qualifier Locked into "A" Main; Balance of 20-car Feature Field comprised of Top 16 Overall Points Accumulated Through Heats & Qualifiers (Feature Lined up according to total points)

 

 

First Qualifier (12 Laps): 1. 17w-Brad Welborn, 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 1-Danny Lasoski, 4. w20-Greg Wilson, 5. 01-Jeremy Newkirk, 6. 51s-Lee Sowell, 7. 15s-Nick Smith, 8. 58-Wade Oliver, 9. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 10. 38-Rick Pringle, 11. k9-Troy Manteufel. DNS: 3a-A.G. Rains, 8-Jeff Wingate.

 

 

 

Second Qualifier (12 Laps): 1. d12-Tim Shaffer, 2. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 51b-Mike Boston, 4. 6T-Tim Sites, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 39-Marvin Lough, 7. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 8. 29h-Lyle Howey III, 9. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 10. 69h-Larry Howery, 11. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 12. 24w-Kenny Coke.

 

 

 

Third Qualifier (12 Laps): 1. 6b-Dale Blaney, 2. 21b-Brian Brown, 3. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 4. 91-Tim Montgomery, 5. 3d-Rickey Hood, 6. 95-Matt Covington, 7. 41J-Jason Johnson, 8. 12-Jeff Swindell, 9. 7w-Wade Human, 10. 45k-Kolt Walker, 11. 85-Jerry Bell. DNS: 41x-Eric Sandage.

 

 

 

Fourth Qualifier (12 Laps): 1 1x-Chadd Pitts, 2. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 40-Ernie Ainsworth, 5. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 6. 87b-Brian McClelland, 7. 0-Chris Morgan, 8. 5-Eric Lutz, 9. 67-Joey Boyd, 10. 44-Ronny Howard, 11. 50z-Zach Chappell, 12. 48-Shawn Sander.

 

 

 

“A” Feature – Top 3 Finishers Locked into Saturday night’s $15,000 to win STN Finale.

 

 

 

A Feature (25 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 88-Tim Crawley (1), 2. 21B-Brian Brown (2), 3. 1-Danny Lasoski (9), 4. 6b-Dale Blaney (14), 5. 11x-Garry Lee Maier (4), 6. d12-Tim Shaffer (11), 7. 17w-Brad Welborn (5), 8. 99-Brady Bacon (7), 9. 40-Ernie Ainsworth (8), 10. 51b-Mike Boston (6), 11. 53-Jack Dover (3), 12. 91-Tim Montgomery (18), 13. 14k-Kyle Bellm (19), 14. 87a-Aaron Reutzel (13), 15. 0-Chris Morgan (20), 16. 6T-Tim Sites (17), 17. 1x-Chad Pitts (15), 18. 95-Matt Covington (12), 19. 51s-Lee Sowell (10), 20. w20-Greg Wilson (16).