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.