10/23/14
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
Heat one (started): 1. Jeff Swindell 94 (1) 2. Jerrod Hull 99 (4) 3. Eric Lutz 5 (6) 4. Aaron Reutzel 87 (8) 5. Dustin Morgan 93 (5) 6. Claud Estes III 74E (2) 7. Josh Baughman 17 (7) 8. Mitch Brown 10B (3)
Swindell led the 10-lapper for the distance. Hull moved into second on lap one, and Lutz shot by Estes for third on lap three. Reutzel charged from eighth to fourth.
Heat two (started): 1. Kevin Swindell 01 (2) 2. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (4) 3. Ryan Bowers 199 (3) 4. Ernie Ainsworth 91A (5) 5. Seth Bergman 23 (7) 6. Jeremy Middleton 15J (6) 7. Taylor Tidmore 13 (1) 8. Klint Angelette 19 (8)
K. Swindell led early over Tidmore and Kulhanek. The red came out with two laps in the books when Angelette went out over turn three. He didn’t get upside down, but was done for the night. Kulhanek shot to second on the restart, and Bowers followed him into third on lap six. K. Swindell won going away.
Heat three (started): 1. Matthew Bauldwin 43 (1) 2. Chance Morton 7m (2) 3. Jason Barney 87B (4) 4. Brian Brown 21B (3) 5. Cody Gardner 17G (5) 6. Morgan Turpen 10m (6) 7. Kyle Clark 9$ (7)
Bauldwin led the distance. The track was heavy and narrow, resulting in a single-file affair.
Heat four (started): 1. Channin Tankersley 17T (2) 2. Brandon Hanks 3H (1) 3. Zach Pringle 14z (3) 4. Tim Crawley 88 (6) 5. Sean McClelland 1 (4) 6. Blake Jenkins 99J (5)
Tankersley led flag to flag in another single-file race.
Heat five (started): 1. Lance Moss 23m (1) 2. Dalton Davis 12 (7) 3. Alex Sewell 8 (3) 4. Shawn Dancer 49 (5) 5. Stevie Smith 4 (2) 6. Kevin Hinkle 21 (4) 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H(6)
Dancer got into Hafertepe on the start sending Sam into a tip-over. He was uninjured. On the second try, Moss ran across S. Smith’s front end. That also collected Sewell and Hinkle. Stevie would restart at the tail with nose wing damage.
Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Alex Sewell (2*) 2. Brian Brown (1*) 3. Dalton Davis (6*) 4. Jason Barney (3) 5. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (5*) 6. Stevie Smith (7) 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (9) 8. Lance Moss (4) 9. Kevin Hinkle (8)
Sewell led Brown and Barney early. Hinkle spun twice, once after lap one, and then once after lap two. Davis, the high point earner coming out of the heats, grabbed third from Barney on lap 8 of 10.
Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Aaron Reutzel (4*) 2. Ernie Ainsworth (2*) 3. Tim Crawley (3*) 4. Dustin Morgan (1) 5. Kevin Swindell (6*) 6. Eric Lutz (5) 7. Claud Estes III (8) 8. Jeremy Middleton (7) DNS – Klint Angelette
Ainsworth grabbed the early lead, but Reutzel took over on lap three. At the same time, Crawley worked by Morgan for third.
Qualifier three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Cody Gardner (1*) 2. Shawn Dancer (2*) 3. Josh Baughman (8) 4. Morgan Turpen (7) 5. Ryan Bowers (3) 6. Chance Morton (4) 7. Channin Tankersley (6) DQ – Jeff Swindell (5) DNS – Taylor Tidmore
Gardner led early over Dancer and Morton. With two laps in the books, J. Swindell leaned on Bowers, who contacted Tankersley, sending him flipping over turn two. He was uninjured. J. Swindell was DQed for rough driving. In an interview, he cited other cases of rough driving without penalty, and bowed out of the event. Baughman worked his way up to third on the restart.
Qualifier four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Sean McClelland (1*) 2. Seth Bergman (2*) 3. Brandon Hanks (4*) 4. Zach Pringle (3) 5. Jerrod Hull (6*) 6. Matthew Bauldwin (5) 7. Mitch Brown (9) 8. Kyle Clark (8) 9. Blake Jenkins (7)
The track remained heavy, and this one was single-file most of the way.
B main one (started): 1. Eric Lutz (2) 2. Morgan Turpen (4) 3. Josh Baughman (1) / 4. Chance Morton (5) 5. Mitch Brown (9) 6. Stevie Smith (7) 7. Claud Estes III (6) 8. Matthew Bauldwin (3) DNS – Jeff Swindell, Klint Angelette
Lutz shot out to an early lead and held off Turpen in the 12-lapper.
B main two (started): 1. Jason Barney (1) 2. Zach Pringle (2) 3. Ryan Bowers (4) / 4. Dustin Morgan (3) 5. Lance Moss (6) 6. Jeremy Middleton (8) 7. Blake Jenkins (7) 8. Kyle Clark (5) DNS – Channin Tankersley, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Taylor Tidmore
Barney led the distance. The lone caution came out for a stopped Clark on lap three. Jenkins stopped on the restart.
A main (started): 1. Brian Brown (14) 2. Aaron Reutzel (2) 3. Dalton Davis (1) 4. Ray Allen Kulhanek (9) 5. Alex Sewell (3) 6. Cody Gardner (12) 7. Shawn Dancer (8) 8. Jason Barney (16) 9. Sean McClelland (13) 10. Eric Lutz (15) 11. Ernie Ainsworth (7) 12. Kevin Swindell (5) 13. Zach Pringle (18) 14. Morgan Turpen (17) 15. Josh Baughman (19) 16. Ryan Bowers (20) 17. Brandon Hanks (4) 18. Jerrod Hull (6) 19. Tim Crawley (10) 20. Seth Bergman (11)
Reutzel led Davis and Hanks early in the 25-lapper. Bowers went over the top of one and two with nine laps in the books. Reutzel led Davis, Hanks, Hull and Crawley back to green. Four laps later, Hull used the high side to pass Hanks for the third and final locked in position for Saturday night’s main event. Crawley followed him into fourth. With three laps to go, fifth and sixth running Hanks and K. Swindell tangled and stopped. The restart saw Reutzel leading Davis, Hull, Crawley and Brown. Crawley used momentum off of two to pass Hull for third down the backstretch. Hull tried to work back under him in three and four and the two contacted, taking both out. They ended in the dirt in fisticuffs. Reutzel led the field back to a green, white, checker finish ahead of Davis, Brown, Sewell and Gardner. Brown shot around Davis for second and reeled in the leader. Coming out of turn four, heading to the checkers he would ride the cushion around Reutzel for an exciting win. Brown, Reutzel and Davis locked themselves into Saturday night’s finale.