(Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
10/14/22
I-80 Speedway
Greenwood, NE
WoO
39 cars
A cool crisp night and a packed house greeted those in attendance for the last sprint car event ever at I-80 Speedway, which will close its doors for good after this weekend.
Cars were split into two flights of qualifying. Brian Brown (6th car out) set quick time in the first group on the 4/10-mile oval at 13.772 seconds. Jacob Allen (14th car out) was second quick, followed by James McFadden (13th), Brad Sweet (3rd) and Ayrton Gennetten (15th). David Gravel (7th car out) set quick time in the second group and overall at 13.674 seconds. It was just over a tenth slower than Mark Kinser’s record 13.570 time in 2000. Spencer Bayston (5th car out) was second quick, followed by Carson Macedo (10th), Ryan Timms (2nd) and Brock Zearfoss (11th).
Heat one (started): 1. McFadden 83 (2) 2. Brown 21 (1) 3. Sheldon Haudenschild 17 (4) 4. Gennetten 3 (3) 5. Kasey Kahne 9 (6) / 6. Jake Bubak 1x (7) 7. Zach Hampton 35 (5) 8. Riley Kreisel 91 (10) 9. Ryan Roberts 18R (9) 10. Jack Dover 81 (8)
8-lap heats took the top two to the Dash, and top five to the feature. The track was fast and narrow, lending little passing after the first lap.
Heat two (started): 1. Sweet 49 (2) 2. Ian Madsen 2KS (4) 3. Allen 1a (1) 4. Donny Schatz 15 (6) 5. Carson McCarl 27 (5) / 6. Matt Juhl 10 (3) 7. Aaron Reutzel 8 (7) 8. Kraig Kinser 11K (8) 9. Dustin Selvage 7w (9) 10. Kevin Ingle 2K (10)
Sweet led from the outset. Madsen shot around Allen on lap two to gain the second Dash spot. Schatz and C. McCarl got around Juhl on the first lap to lock themselves in.
Heat three (started): 1. Gravel 2 (1) 2. Macedo 41 (2) 3. Zearfoss 3z (3) 4. Garet Williamson 24 (4) 5. Riley Goodno 22 (5) / 6. Justin Henderson 1 (6) 7. Tyler Drueke 12 (7) 8. Terry McCarl 24x (10) 9. Tim Estenson 14T (8) 10. Bill Rose 6 (9)
A single file affair. Henderson fell just short of getting by Goodno, but things were still narrow.
Heat four (started): 1. Bayston 5 (1) 2. Gio Scelzi 18 (4) 3. Timms 5T (2) 4. Logan Schuchart 1s (3) 5. Noah Gass 20G (5) / 6. Robbie Price 7s (7) 7. Brendan Mullen 11m (6) 8. Christopher Thram 24T (8) 9. Alan Gilbertson 97 (9)
The biggest move came on lap two, when Scelzi slid under Timms to take the second Dash spot.
Dash (started): 1. Scelzi (1) 2. Gravel (2) 3. Macedo (4) 4. Bayston (3) 5. Brown (6) 6. Sweet (5) 7. McFadden (8) 8. Madsen (7)
6 laps determined feature starting positions one through eight.
B main (started): 1. Bubak (2) 2. Reutzel (5) 3. Henderson (1) 4. Price (3) / 5. Drueke (4) 6. Mullen (6) 7. Roberts (11) 8. Kinser (9) 9. Thram (10) 10. Dover (15) 11. Ingle (17) 12. Kreisel (7) 13. Rose (16) 14. Gilbertson (14) 15. Estenson (12) 16. T. McCarl (8) 17. Selvage (13) DNS – Juhl, Hampton
An incident involving Estenson, Hampton and Juhl in staging for the B stopped things. Hampton ended upside down, after making contact with Juhl, who broke his front end. Both were done. The 12-lap B took the top four to the back of the A. Bubak wrestled the lead from Henderson early, followed by Reutzel and Drueke. Price slid by Drueke in turn two on lap two to take the fourth and final transfer. Estenson slowed at the halfway point.
A main (started): 1. Gravel (2) 2. Haudenschild (9) 3. Macedo (3) 4. McFadden (7) 5. Sweet (6) 6. Zearfoss (10) 7. Schuchart (16) 8. Brown (5) 9. Schatz (15) 10. Scelzi (1) 11. Timms (12) 12. Allen (11) 13. Kahne (17) 14. Reutzel (22) 15. Madsen (8) 16. Williamson (14) 17. Gass (20) 18. Gennetten (13) 19. Bubak (21) 20. Price (24) 21. Goodno (18) 22. Henderson (23) 23. C. McCarl (19) 24. Bayston (4)
Williamson had a wing support issue in staging and had to restart at the tail. Gravel shot out to the lead, while Macedo banged into Scelzi in turn two, flattening his left front tire. Scelzi made repairs to the tire and nose wing and restarted at the tail. Once green, Gravel set the pace ahead of Macedo, Sweet and McFadden. Haudenschild came from row five to pass McFadden for fourth on lap two. C. McCarl stopped four laps in, bringing another caution. Scelzi was already from the tail to 16th. Three laps later, Bayston jumped the turn three cushion and flipped. That brought on an open red period. Gravel led Macedo, Sweet, Haudenschild, McFadden and Brown on the double-file restart. Scelzi had climbed to 13th. Things went clean from there. Gravel was in lapped traffic on lap fifteen. Haudenschild found steam, passing Sweet low in turn four for third on lap 17. Three laps later, McFadden performed the same move on Sweet to take fourth. Haudenschild also reeled in Macedo, taking second low in turn two on lap 23. Gravel cruised from there to win going away. Not counting Scelzi’s charge from the back to tenth, Schuchart was the official hard-charger.