10/23/03
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals – Night #1
40 cars
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Josh Howard 45 (1*) 2. Nick Smith 15s (3*) 3. Gregg Bakker 11x (2*) 4. Ronny Howard 44 (6*) 5. Scott Bolden 18 (7) 6. Greg Merritt 12m (5) 7. Eric Schrock 86s (8) 8. John Carney II 81 (4)
Ten lap heats were lined up by passing points, with the top 14 point getters in the five heats qualifying for the feature. Josh Howard shot out to an early lead. He held it until Carney bicycled and flipped on his own in turn two on lap four. Josh Howard led Bakker, Smith, Ronny Howard and Merritt back to green and held the point the distance. Smith worked past Bakker after a good battle for second. Schrock languished in the back, unable to get by Merritt on a track not yet conducive to passing.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (4*) 2. Paul Sides 11J (1*) 3. Mike Ward 88 (6*) 4. Jesse Hockett 75 (8) 5. Garry Bell 32 (7) 6. Kenny Coke 24w (5) 7. Sonny Sayre 24 (2) 8. Corey Bailey 28 (3)
Hockett was scheduled to start outside row one, but suffered mechanical woes, had to make repairs and restarted at the rear. He made a worthy charge, but it was not enough to salvage a spot in the A. Lap one saw Sides take a slight lead. As he approached turn four, Stewart slid under him hard, sending him to the depths of the corner to take the lead away. Stewart would dominate the rest of the heat. Bailey retired on lap seven while running fourth.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Tim Montgomery 4 (4*) 2. Marshall Skinner 26 (2*) 3. Claud Estes III 74E (8*) 4. Richard Herring 10h (1) 5. Christi Passmore 1A (6) 6. Ryan Jamison 51J (5) 7. Zach Pringle 8z (3) 8. Clint Garner 40 (7)
Skinner shot out to the early lead before Estes spun on lap three. T. Montgomery was challenging for the lead at the time, and was followed by Herring, and Pringle and Jamison who were vying for fourth. T. Montgomery took the lead when the green dropped again. Garner surged through the field from the back, but on lap eight got too hot into turn three while trying to pass Skinner for second, and made contact. He spun and was done. T. Montgomery led the last two laps over Skinner, and Estes, who came back through the pack to earn an A main transfer. Passmore was making her first sprint start of the year after finishing eighth in the ARCA series.
Heat four (started, I*qualified for feature): 1. Cody Branchcomb 94 (3*) 2. Micah Schliemann 9m (1*) 3. Raymond Stull 21 (2) 4. Joe Young 12T (5) 5. Greg Rilat 35 (8) 6. Chuck Swenson X (6) 7. Travis Rilat 29 (4) / DNS – Jerrod Hull 50 (7)
Hull suffered motor problems in hot laps and was done after that. Schliemann took the lead early, but Branchcomb hunted him down and passed him on lap three. Rilat followed the two the distance, before spinning on the final circuit. He would not return. Branchcomb used the bottom of the track to win in convincing fashion.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jan Howard 46 (1*) 2. Joey Montgomery 21c (5*) 3. Jason Martin 36 (6) 4. AG Rains 3 (2) 5. Jerry Kamer 5K (3) 6. Justin Sturch 4T (7) 7. Don Droud Jr. 91x (8) 8. Joe Bustillos 37 (4)
Jan Howard led flag to flag despite two cautions. Before a lap could be completed, Bustillos spun, collecting Droud, who suffered a flat right rear. Both would restart, but Bustillos would quickly exit. Sturch spun on lap two when Jan led Kamer, J. Montgomery, Raines and a charging Droud. The restart saw Droud spin again. It seemed like his car was handling like the pig in a greased pig contest and he couldn’t find the handle. When Sturch spun again, Jan led J. Montgomery, Martin, Kamer and Raines to a lap five restart. He would finish on top and second and third would stay the same despite a swap in positions with two to go.
B main one (started): 1. Stull (1) 2. Sturch (5) 3. Herring (4) / 4. Jamison (7) 5. Martin (8) 6. Droud (9) 7. Young (2) 8. Garner (12) 9. Pringle (10) 10. Merritt (6) 11. Carney (11) 12. Kamer (13) 13. Hockett (3)
Stull led every lap of the twelve lapper. Hockett launched himself over an infield tire and broke his front end on the first circuit. He retired. Garner would charge but spin out on lap three. At the time Stull’s advantage was over Sturch, Herring, Droud who was coming hard, and Young. Lap five saw the same order when Carney and Kamer came together and retired. Pringle would spin on lap seven. Droud would falter, while Jamison was coming on. He briefly took the third and final transfer from Herring, but seemed to slow due to mechanical problems in the final circuit.
B main two (started): 1. Bell (3) 2. Swenson (7) 3. G. Rilat (4) / 4. Raines (1) 5. Schrock (8) 6. Passmore (5) 7. Coke (9) 8. Bailey (11) 9. Bolden (2) 10. Sayre (6) 11. Bustillos (10) DNS – T. Rilat, Hull
Raines led early until a lap two Bolden spin collected both Sayre and Bustillos. Raines led Bell, G. Rilat, Passmore and Swenson back to green. Just two laps later, Raines would perform a 360 spin, losing several positions. Bell assumed the lead. On lap six, Schrock came to a stop with handling problems. Passmore was running third at the time, but surrendered the spot to G. Rilat with two to go.
A main (started): 1. Stewart (1) 2. T. Montgomery (2) 3. Branchcomb (3) 4. Smith (8) 5. Bell (16) 6. Ward (9) 7. Swenson (18) 8. Skinner (11) 9. J. Montgomery (5) 10. G. Rilat (20) 11. Schliemann (12) 12. Bakker (13) 13. Josh Howard (6) 14. Sides (9) 15. Estes (4) 16. Jan Howard (7) 17. Ronny Howard (14) 18. Herring (19) 19. Sturch (17) DNS – Stull (15)
Bell and Sturch made contact on the initial try at green. Sides and Estes also came together and restarted at the tail. Stewart shot out quickly, but action was slowed on lap four when Sturch hammered the turn one tires head on. Front end damage sidelined him. Lap seven saw Ronny Howard and Herring make contact, ending the night for both. The restart saw Stewart leading Branchcomb, who had slid under T. Montgomery in the preceding lap, J. Montgomery and Jan Howard. The thirty lapper went green thirteen more laps before Sides, who could not get out of his own way, made contact with fourth place Jan Howard who was putting him a lap down. Also affected was Ward who was running a strong fifth on the cushion and was forced to slide into the infield and restart at the tail on lap 20. Stewart led T. Montgomery and Branchcomb who were battling hard, Smith and Skinner. Three more laps passed before Bell went over the berm and Estes came to a rest. Estes went pitside. A lap later, Sides flipped hard in turn two. He was uninjured. Stewart was able to fend off the late cushion riding challenges of T. Montgomery. The two earned spots in Saturday night’s dash to determine the start of the STN finale. The rest of the spots are meaningless, as all other drivers will have to redraw for a brand new show on Saturday. The other half of the competitors will qualify Friday. Swenson and G. Bell were the hard-chargers in moving forward eleven spots.