Three-wide ASCS Salute at Lake Ozark Speedway (Video Highlight from Racinboys.com)
8/30/19
Lake Ozark Speedway
Eldon, MO
LOS 360 Nationals
47 ASCS Sprints
24 POWRi Midgets
ASCS
Heat one (started): 1. Brandon Hanks 84 (1) 2. Miles Paulus 21 (2) 3. Matt Covington 95 (3) 4. Blake Hahn 52 (8) 5. Forrest Sutherland 85 (4) 6. Lanny Carpenter 24c (7) 7. Christian Bowman 15 (6) 8. Terry McCarl 4x (5)
8-lap heats saw the top 30 in passing points slot into three Qualifiers. Heavy Friday rains made for tacky, rough and “Cowboy Up” conditions. In turns one and two, contact with Bowman sent McCarl upside down in two. He was taken in for observation and released. Hanks led the 8-lap distance over Paulus and Covington. Hahn was fourth by lap three, but Sutherland got back by him. Hahn would ride the high side around Sutherland to grab the spot back on the last lap.
Heat two (started): 1. Austin Alumbaugh 33 (2) 2. Danny Sams III 24D (4) 3. Jay Russell 76 (3) 4. Kyle Bellm 14K (8) 5. Austin O’Neal 11A (7) 6. Tyler Utz 3V (6) 7. Nathan Ryun 18x (1) 8. Cody Baker 38 (5)
Alumbaugh led Sams and Russell wire to wire. Ryun bicycled up turn two to start the race and was shuffled back. Bellm was fourth from the tail by lap three, when Baker hooked a rut. Baker exited on lap five. Ryun brought the caution seven laps in.
Heat three (started): 1. Garet Williamson 24 (2) 2. Matthew Howard 37H (6) 3. Paul Nienhiser 9x (7) 4. Taylor Walton 93 (1) 5. Ben Brown 7B (4) 6. Chris Morgan 81A (3) 7. Timmy Smith 86T (8) 8. Scott Bogucki 28 (5)
Williamson led Walton and Howard from sixth early. Howard took second from Walton on lap two. Bogucki did a 360 spin to bring the caution two laps in. Nienhiser used the restart to move up to fourth, then took third from Walton on lap four in a good charge.
Heat four (started): 1. Tucker Doughty 2x (1) 2. Nate Mills 24N (2) 3. Jonathan Cornell 35M (4) 4. Jordon Mallett 14 (5) 5. Tanner Carrick 47 (3) 6. Tucker Klaasmeyer 27 (7) 7. Randy Martin 14M (6) 8. Evan Martin 4 (8)
Doughty led wire to wire in a mostly single-file affair.
Heat five (started): 1. Seth Bergman 23 (4) 2. Robbie Price 21P (6) 3. Kaley Gharst 78 (2) 4. Tim Crawley 1x (1) 5. Bryan Grimes 6 (5) 6. Dustin Barks 22 (3) 7. Tyler Blank 75 (7) 8. Kory Bales 5 (8)
Crawley was penalized for jumping from the pole, putting Barks up front. Gharst led early over Bergman, Price and Crawley. Bergman shot into the lead on lap three and never looked back. Price wrestled second from Gharst on lap five.
Heat six (started): 1. Harli White 17w (2) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (3) 3. John Carney II J2 (1) 4. Ayrton Gennetten 3 (4) 5. Tony Bruce Jr. 86 (6) 6. Roger Crockett 11 (7) 7. Alex Hill 77x (5)
White led throughout. Crockett spun over the turn one infield berm one lap in. Hafertepe used the restart to get by Carney for second.
Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Hafertepe (2*) 2. Cornell (1*) 3. White (4*) 4. Nienhiser (5*) 5. Doughty (3*) 6. Bergman (6*) 7. Gharst (7) 8. Sutherland (10) 9. Walton (9) 10. O’Neal (8)
8-lap Qualifiers accumulated passing points that were added to heat points. The top 16 qualified for the feature. Hafertepe dominated this one over Cornell and White. The track stayed heavy.
Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Covington (1*) 2. Hahn (3*) 3. Paulus (2*) 4. Sams (4*) 5. Mallett (7) 6. Alumbaugh (5*) 7. Gennetten (8) 8. Crawley (9) 9. Brown (10) 10. Howard (6)
Coming in second highest in points, Howard got over the cushion in turn one and was shuffled to the tail. Covington led throughout. Hahn snagged second from Paulus at the halfway point.
Qualifier three (started): 1. Mills (2*) 2. Price (6*) 3. Russell (1*) 4. Bellm (3*) 5. Williamson (5*) 6. Grimes (9) 7. Bruce (8) 8. Carney (7) 9. Carpenter (10) 10. Hanks (4)
Contact sent Hanks sideways and to the infield. Price suffered damage to top and nose wing, and Carney was collected as well. Mills led throughout and the Knoxville regular looked good on a track he had never seen. Price grabbed second after passing Russell on lap two. Carney lost a nose wing panel that became a debris caution with a few laps left. He restarted at the tail.
B main one (started): 1. Mallett (1) 2. Carney (4) 3. Gennetten (3) / 4. Howard (2) 5. Crawley (5) 6. Bogucki (15) 7. Klaasmeyer (8) 8. Carrick (9) 9. Hill (13) 10. Barks (11) 11. Walton (7) 12. Bales (14) 13. Bowman (12) 14. Brown (6) 15. Smith (10) DNS – McCarl
12-lap B mains took the top three to the back of the A. Mallett led wire to wire. Bowman slowed to a stop one lap in. Brown exited at the same time. Mallett led Howard, Gennetten, Barks and Crawley back to green. Carney came from sixth to move into third on the last lap. He’d take second from Howard with two to go. Gennetten made a late run at Howard as well, and took the final transfer from him in the last corner in an exciting finish.
B main two (started): 1. Grimes (1) 2. Crockett (8) 3. Blank (11) / 4. Bruce (3) 5. Hanks (5) 6. O’Neal (7) 7. Carpenter (6) 8. Ryun (10) 9. Gharst (2) 10. Sutherland (4) 11. E. Martin (12) 12. Utz (9) DNS – Morgan, R. Martin, Baker
Gharst led Grimes, Sutherland the Bruce early. Crockett moved into fourth on lap two. Utz stopped four laps in. Gharst led Grimes, Sutherland, Crockett and Bruce. Gharst suffered a flat left rear under the caution, and Sutherland suffered from a flat right rear. Grimes now led Crockett, Bruce, Blank and Hanks back to green. Blank shot into third on the restart.
A main (started): 1. Price (1) 2. Hafertepe (2) 3. Nienhiser (6) 4. Covington (7) 5. Hahn (4) 6. Bergman (10) 7. Cornell (8) 8. Alumbaugh (16) 9. Bellm (13) 10. Blank (22) 11. Mallett (17) 12. Crockett (20) 13. Gennetten (21) 14. Doughty (15) 15. Russell (14) 16. Carney II (19) 17. Williamson (12) 18. Paulus (11) 19. Grimes (18) 20. Brown (24, prov.) 21. Mills (3) 22. White (5) 23. E. Martin (25, prov.) 24. Sams (9) 25. Bogucki (23, prov.)
Price led Hafertepe, Hahn and Nienhiser early in the 25-lapper. Sams got into the wall, bringing the first of several cautions with one lap down. After the green flew again, Price was back into lapped traffic by lap six. White, Hahn and Nienhiser were racing hard for third. E. Martin stopped six laps in to bring another yellow. White flipped hard in turn two on the restart, after jumping the cushion halfway up the track and getting into the choppy stuff. She walked away. Mills would stop on lap nine to bring another yellow. Price continued to lead Hafertepe, Hahn, Nienhiser and Bergman. Price was getting back to lapped traffic when Brown stopped 14 laps in. Nienhiser got around Hahn for third after the restart, and Covington shot into fourth as Hahn biked above the cushion. Price was dicing again in lapped traffic when Williamson stopped with eight laps to go. It would prove to be the last caution. Price pulled away to win over Hafertepe and Nienhiser. Blank was the hard-charger in entertaining fashion, often going above the cushion to pass cars and cheat disaster.