Derek Hagar won the prelim of the World Dirt Track Challenge at the Ditch Friday (ASCS Photo) (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
10/18/24
Riverside International Speedway
West Memphis, AR
ASCS vs. USCS World Short Track Challenge
57 cars
The quarter-mile was nice and tacky for qualifying and times got quicker as we got deeper in qualifying. The cars were divided into two groups. Anton Hernandez (24th car out to time) was a surprise quick timer in the first groups with a lap of 12.056 seconds. Ayden Gatewood (26th car out) was second quick, followed by Hank Davis (29th), Seth Bergman (20th) and Sam Hafertepe Jr. (19th). Lance Moss (28th and dead last to come out) was also a shocker and set the quickest time of the night at 11.744 seconds to lead the second group. Sammy Swindell (17th car out) was second quick, followed by Blake Hahn (22nd), Ernie Ainsworth (27th) and Jason Martin (23rd).
It was all about points setting up for Saturday’s $10,000 to win finale. Qualifying and heat points were added together. The six heat winners and the top four in points not winning heats went to the feature, with the rest going to two B’s and two C’s. A six and a half hour program made for a long night for all.
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. 901-Tucker Boulton[2*]; 2. 5L-Anton Hernandez[4*]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 4. 8XR-Hayden Martin[1]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]; 6. 27J-Joseph Poe Jr[8]; 7. 88C-Brogan Carder[7]; 8. 17B-Brayden Taylor[10]; 9. 16-Hannah Merritt[5]; 10. 2J-Zach Blurton[9]
Heats were ten laps. Boulton led wire to wire. Blurton exited on lap six. Hernandez put a slider on H. Martin with two to go to secure second and a trip to the feature in the end. Bergman snagged third when H. Martin bobbled on lap nine.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3*]; 2. 37-Ayden Gatewood[4*]; 3. 16G-Austyn Gossel[6]; 4. 21-Carson Short[2]; 5. 121-Jan Howard[1]; 6. 10-Terry Gray[5]; 7. 88-Terry Easum[8]; 8. 26-Marshall Skinner[7]; 9. 44-Ronny Howard[9]; 10. 28-Jeff Willingham[10]
J. Howard was penalized from the front row on the initial start. Hafertepe inherited a front row starting spot and took advantage of it. Short chased him early before Gatewood snuck under him low in four on lap five. Gossel made a last corner pass for third.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[2*]; 2. 2C-Hank Davis[4*]; 3. 71-Brady Baker[8]; 4. 40-Howard Moore[6]; 5. 3-Jordon Mallett[3]; 6. 15D-Andrew Deal[7]; 7. 23W-Conner Wray[5]; 8. 10K-Dewayne White[9]; 9. 4C-Cooper Looney[1]
Hagar led throughout, chased by Davis. Baker was impressive from eighth, was by Mallett by lap three, when Mallett got over the right front of Looney, ending his run. Moore shot by Mallett on lap five for fourth.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. 47-Dale Howard[2*]; 2. 6-Cody Gardner[1]; 3. 23L-Lance Moss[4*]; 4. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[3]; 5. 71T-Christopher Townsend[5]; 6. 938-Bradley Fezard[6]; 7. 48-Wade Buttrey[8]; 8. 29R-Corey Ray[9]; 9. 56T-DL (Tank) Brashier[10]; 10. 88M-Trent Moss[7]
D. Howard led flag to flag, followed by Gardner and Moss. C. Ray spun to bring the only caution on lap five.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. 36-Jason Martin[3*]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 3. 91-Kyle Connery[2]; 4. 8X-Brad Bowden[1]; 5. 47S-Sammy Swindell[4]; 6. 2T-Todd Bradford[6]; 7. 91H-Chase Howard[8]; 8. 8-Joseph Wray IV[7]; 9. 16S-Steven Howell[9]
Bowden was penalized from the pole for jumping the initial start. J. Martin assumed a front row starting spot and led the distance. Connery passed Swindell for second on lap two. Covington was moving past Bradford at the same time. Covington then got by a bobbling Swindell on lap four for third. Bowden recovered from dropping back to sixth by taking fourth on lap seven
Heat six (started, *qualified for feature): 1. 10L-Landon Britt[3*]; 2. 6J-Kyle Jones[1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 4. 55Z-Zach Pringle[7]; 5. 10M-Morgan Turpen Havener[2]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks[5]; 7. 31-Casey Wills[9]; 8. 13X-Jake Brashier[8]; 9. 21M-Spencer Meredith[6]
Havener, who has one win in only four starts this year lead early over Jones, Britt and Hahn. Jones put a slider on Havener to take the lead on lap five. Britt grabbed second on lap six, and then passed Jones for the win on lap seven. Hahn gained third at the same time.
C main one (started): 1. 84-Brandon Hanks[2]; 2. 121-Jan Howard[1]; 3. 91H-Chase Howard[6]; 4. 48-Wade Buttrey[5]; 5. 21M-Spencer Meredith[10) /; 6. 17B-Brayden Taylor[9]; 7. 16S-Steven Howell[13]; 8. 27J-Joseph Poe Jr[3]; 9. 16-Hannah Merritt[7]; 10. 13X-Jake Brashier[11]; 11. 28-Jeff Willingham[14]; 12. 4C-Cooper Looney[8]; 13. 44-Ronny Howard[12]; 14. 15D-Andrew Deal[4]
The 12-lap C’s took the top five to the B’s. Hanks led throughout, but there was plenty going on behind him. Deal was second early, ahead of J. Howard, Poe and C. Howard. C. Hoard grabbed fourth on lap two before Merritt spun three laps in. Deal spun on that restart, surrendering second. Buttrey inherited the final transfer. A caution for debris followed on lap four. Poe got into the wall on lap six, surrendering fourth. Looney interited the final transfer, but Merdith, who started tenth, grabbed it on the restart. Looney came back to regain it on lap seven before slowing to a stop on lap nine.
C main two (started): 1. 26-Marshall Skinner[7]; 2. 938-Bradley Fezard[2]; 3. 10-Terry Gray[1]; 4. 88-Terry Easum[5]; 5. 2J-Zach Blurton[11] / 6. 2T-Todd Bradford[3]; 7. 29R-Corey Ray[9]; 8. 31-Casey Wills[6]; 9. 88C-Brogan Carder[4]; 10. 56T-DL (Tank) Brashier[12]; 11. 10K-Dewayne White[10]; 12. 8-Joseph Wray IV[8]; DNS - 88M-Trent Moss
Plenty of activity in this one too. Carder spun, collecting J. Wray, who was towed off. White also retired at that point as he had made contact as well and broke a shock. Once underway, Gray took the early lead ahead of Fezard, Skinner, Bradford and Easum. Skinner snagged second from Fezard on lap three, and then took the lead from Gray a lap later. Fezard followed him into second on lap five. Carder spun again on lap seven, but was allowed to continue. With five to go, the restart saw Skinner leading Fezard, Gray, Bradford and Easum. Easum passed Bradford for fourth on lap 10, and Blurton, who started at the tail, snagged the final transfer by getting by Bradford on lap 11.
B main one (started): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 6J-Kyle Jones[4]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[10]; 5. 21-Carson Short[5] / 6. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[3]; 7. 71T-Christopher Townsend[9]; 8. 10M-Morgan Turpen Havener[8]; 9. 48-Wade Buttrey[12]; 10. 91H-Chase Howard[11]; 11. 8XR-Hayden Martin[6]; 12. 21M-Spencer Meredith[13]; 13. 8X-Brad Bowden[7]; DNS - 47S-Sammy Swindell, 121-Jan Howard
15-lap B’s transferred the top five to the A main. Bergman shot to the lead early as Hahn got over the short concrete wall and got into the turn two fence. Despite that, he held onto fifth behind Bergman, Jones, Short and H. Martin. The race was stopped for fence repair. On the restart, Hahn moved up to fourth. Ainsworth grabbed the fifth and final transfer from H. Martin on lap five on the low side of two. Hahn passed Short for third on lap seven. Hanks, who came from the C, passed Ainsowrth on the high side on lap 10 to take fifth, and then got by Short who had a right rear going flat on lap 11. Short was able to barely hold off Ainsworth for the last ticket.
B main two (started): 1. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 2. 40-Howard Moore[7]; 3. 6-Cody Gardner[2]; 4. 3-Jordon Mallett[6]; 5. 10-Terry Gray[13] / 6. 26-Marshall Skinner[11]; 7. 88-Terry Easum[14]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel[4]; 9. 2J-Zach Blurton[15]; 10. 23W-Conner Wray[9]; 11. 71-Brady Baker[5]; 12. 55Z-Zach Pringle[8]; 13. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]; 14. 91-Kyle Connery[3]; 15. 938-Bradley Fezard[12]
After a more permanent fix on the fence in turn two, Covington shot out to the lead ahead of Gardner, Baker, Gossel and Moore. Fezard was trying a charge when he flipped hard in turn four. He was o.k., but done. On eht restart, Moore and Pringle both got by Gossel for fourth and fifth. Gossel spun on lap five with some contact with Gray. Covington led Gardner, Baker, Moore and Pringle back to green. Moore quickly took third, while Pringle gained fourth from Baker on lap eight. Mallett then took the final transfer from Baker on lap 9 before K. Johnson flipped hard into the turn three and four fence. More repairs followed. He was ok. Moore took second from Gardner on the restart. Pringle’s fine run came to an end with three to go when he got into the turn four wall. Covington now led Moore, Garnder, Mallett and Baker back to green. Skinner made a huge move from seventh to fifth on that restart. Baker got upside down, bringing another red. He was ok. The green, white, checker finish saw Gray nip Skinner for the final transfer to the feature.
A main (started): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[10]; 2. 47-Dale Howard[8]; 3. 6J-Kyle Jones[13]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[12]; 5. 10L-Landon Britt[5]; 6. 6-Cody Gardner[16]; 7. 5L-Anton Hernandez[1]; 8. 36-Jason Martin[3]; 9. 52-Blake Hahn[15]; 10. 40-Howard Moore[14]; 11. 23-Seth Bergman[11]; 12. 10-Terry Gray[20]; 13. 23L-Lance Moss[9]; 14. 84-Brandon Hanks[17]; 15. 21-Carson Short[19]; 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 17. 2C-Hank Davis[6]; 18. 3-Jordon Mallett[18]; 19. 901-Tucker Boulton[7]; 20. 37-Ayden Gatewood[4]
Hafertepe led Hernandez and Davis early in the 25-lapper. Gatewood spun, collecting Moss a lap in. Davis grabbed second from Hernandez on the restart, and Hagar was already into the top five after starting tenth. Mallett spun, bringing caution on lap four. Hagar nabbed fourth from Britt on that restart. On lap eight, Davis rode up on the wall in turn four, but kept it going. Hafertepe led Hernandez, Davis, Hagar and Britt. Mallett got into the turn two wall and limped down the track on lap 10. Hafertepe was unable to avoid him, clipped him and turned over. He was ok. Davis went pitside with his issues at the same time. Now Hernandez was the leader, ahead of Hagar, Britt, D. Howard and Covington, who came from the B. Hagar quickly took the point and pulled away. Hahn spun to bring caution. D. Howard passed Britt for third on the restart. Covington followed him into fourth o lap 13. Jones moved into the top five at that point, and passed Covington for fourth on lap fourteen. D. Howard shot by Hernandez, followed by Jones on lap 19 before Hanks got upside down. He was ok. Hagar dominated the last six laps for the $2,000 win.
Points accumulated will set up heat races to start Saturday’s action, culminating in the 40-lap $10,000 to win finale.