I-30 Speedway
10/12/17
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
71 cars
Overall points were accumulated, with a format change seeing the drivers best of two nights used for their Saturday positions.
Heat one (started): 1. Tim Crawley 88 (4) 2. Brandin Hanks 84 (1) 3. Matt Covington 95 (3) 4. Howard Moore 40 (5) 5. Dustin Gates 6 (8) 6. Brian Bell 23B (6) 7. Dewayne White 10K (7) 8. Jason Martin 36 (2)
10-lap heats were run using passing points that set the top 40 up for Qualifiers. Early in the night, the track was rather heavy, making it a little tougher to move forward. J. Martin led this one until an issue sent him up in smoke, and off the track. Crawley, who had moved up to second assumed the lead and won it.
Heat two (started): 1. Morgan Turpen 10m (1) 2. Ernie Ainsworth 91A (3) 3. Paul McMahan 01 (4) 4. Dale Wester 12w (2) 5. Danny Smith 4s (5) 6. Eddie Gallagher 1xx (7) 7. Zach Pringle 21B (8) 8. Jan Howard 121 (6)
Turpen led the distance and pulled away, in probably the stoutest heat of the night. Wester rode second until bicycling in turn four on the last lap. That opened the door for Ainsworth and McMahan. The fight back in the pack for fifth was furious between four veterans that probably deserved better if their draw was not so unlucky.
Heat three (started): 1. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (1) 2. Matthew Bauldwin 43 (2) 3. Andy McElhannon 42 (5) 4. Adam Miller 32m (3) 5. Rick Pringle 38 (4) 6. Scott Bogucki 84B (6) 7. Ronny Howard 44 (7) 8. Chase Howard 44c (8)
Kulhanek led the distance in this one. The best racing was between Miller and R. Pringle for fourth. C. Howard exited early.
Heat four (started): 1. Steven Tiner 94x (4) 2. Channin Tankersley 17G (1) 3. Josh Baughman 17 (5) 4. Bill Balog 1x (8) 5. Chance Morton 7m (7) 6. Gary Floyd 58 (6) 7. Kevin Hinkle 21K (3) 8. Butch David 21 (2)
Tankersley led early over Tiner and David. Floyd spun with two laps down after trying to avoid hitting Baughman in a battle for third. David exited with a flat right rear at the same time. Balog was already up to fourth from the tail, and waged a furious battle with Baughman for third. They exchanged the spot twice. Tiner would take the point using the high side of turn two on lap six.
Heat five (started): 1. Aaron Reutzel 87 (2) 2. Tony Bruce Jr. 86 (4) 3. Harli White 17w (3) 4. Willie Croft 29 (1) 5. Jon Carney II 11x (8) 6. Joe Young 12T (7) 7. Joey Schmidt 1s (5) 8. Blake Baccus 16 (6)
Reutzel was penalized a row for jumping the first start. Though Bruce took the early lead, Reutzel stormed to the fore by lap three and checked out.
Heat six (started): 1. Kyle Bellm 14K (2) 2. Michael Day 2 (1) 3. Marshall Skinner 26 (6) 4. Jeremy Middleton 15J (3) 5. Eric Lutz 5 (7) 6. Dalton Stevens 99x (8) 7. Justin Webb 31 (5) 8. Tommy Snellgrove 4 (4)
Bellm pulled away to win this one. Skinner came from sixth to challenge Day for second in a good race. Lutz also pressured Middleton much of the event for fourth.
Heat seven (started): 1. Skylar Gee 99 (2) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) 3. Dale Howard 47 (5) 4. Ryan Jamison 51J (1) 5. Sean McClelland 22 (8) 6. Wally Henson 2H (6) 7. Terry Gray 10 (7) 8. Jake Greider 20G (3)
Gee led flag to flag in a heat that didn’t see too much action up front until D. Howard shot around Jamison in the last corner for third.
Heat eight (started): 1. Cody Gardner 88R (2) 2. Jonathan Cornell 28 (5) 3. Wayne Johnson 2c (4) 4. Seth Bergman 23 (7) 5. Chris Martin 44m (6) 6. Dakota Gaines D6 (3) 7. Charlie Louden X (8) 8. Tristan Lee 00 (1)
Gardner led the distance. Lee lost power holding up a couple of competitors on lap two and then came to a stop beyond Hammer Hill in one and two. W. Johnson ran a strong second after the caution until losing his steering in turn four on the last lap. Cornell passed him for second while Wayne limped home third. Cornell’s run completed a solid run that saw him get by C. Martin for third on lap six.
Heat nine (started): 1. Sammy Swindell 3 (1) 2. Alex Sewell 8 (6) 3. Derek Hagar 9JR (7) 4. Brad Bowden 39 (4) 5. Junior Jenkins 23x (2) 6. Blake Hahn 52 (5) 7. Mike Goodman 11G (3)
Swindell dominated, winning by a half lap. Behind him, Sewell ran a great race, passing Bowman for third on the second lap, and Jenkins on lap three for second. Bowman followed him into third at that point, but Hagar was charging from the tail as well, taking third with three to go.
Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Bergman (1*) 2. Ainsworth (2*) 3. Crawley (6*) 4. Gardner (4*) 5. Hagar (5*) 6. Turpen (3) 7. Carney (8) 8. Moore (9) 9. Day (7) 10. Miller (10)
Ten lap Qualifiers used passing points, inverting the top six in points. The top 14 overall qualified for the feature. Ainsworth lead Bergman, Crawley and Gardner early. Bergman would shoot by Ainsworth for the lead on lap two and pull away.
Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. McElhannon (2*) 2. Bruce (4*) 3. Reutzel (5*) 4. Kulhanek (3) 5. McMahan (7) 6. Bauldwin (1) 7. Tiner (6) 8. Morton (9) 9. Middleton (10) 10. McClelland (8)
The first tumble of the night came when the green flew and Reutzel suffered a flat left rear. His spin collected McClelland who turned it over in turn 1. He was o.k., and Reutzel restarted at the tail. McElhannon would stay out front the whole race. Reutzel was back to fifth by lap two, took fourth a lap later, and third from Kulhanek on lap six. Bruce and Kulhanek battled mid-race, high and low, with Bruce moving into second on lap four.
Qualifier three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Swindell (3*) 2. Baughman (2*) 3. Hanks (1) 4. Hafertepe Jr. (4*) 5. Lutz (9) 6. Sewell (6) 7. Bellm (5) 8. C. Martin (10) 9. Johnson (7) 10. Covington (8)
Contact between Covington and Bellm on the backstretch collected W. Johnson. Covington would retire, and W. Johnson would join him a couple laps later. Baughman jumped out the to lead ahead of Swindell, Hanks and Hafertepe. Swindell would dog Baughman and capture the lead with two to go.
Qualifier four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Balog (3*) 2. Skinner (4*) 3. Tankersley (1) 4. Cornell (6*) 5. White (8) 6. Gee (5) 7. D. Howard (2) 8. Bowden (9) 9. Gates (7) 10. Wester (10)
D. Howard was penalized a row for jumping. Skinner assumed his spot outside row one and shot out to the early lead. Balog pounced into second ahead of Tankersley. Balog drove a higher line in Ron Pitts sprinter than anyone all night, and shot outside of Skinner in turn two on the third lap. He would pull away from there. Cornell passed D. Howard for fourth on lap five.
C main one (started): 1. Bell (5) 2. R. Pringle (3) 3. Hahn (7) / 4. J. Martin (13) 5. Jamison (2) 6. Gray (10) 7. Louden (8) 8. Goodman (12) 9. Young (4) 10. Floyd (6) 11. D. White (9) 12. Webb (11) 13. Stevens (1) 14. Snellgrove (14) DNS – J. Howard, Lee
12-lap C mains took the top three to the B’s. Young spun before a lap could be completed. Stevens had issues on the second lap and spun into the infield. When he tried to re-enter, he was struck by Webb, breaking his front end. R. Pringle was leading Jamison, Floyd, Bell and Hahn at the time. Bell drove into third on the restart and took second from Jamison a lap later. He would circle R. Pringle to lead on lap seven, while Hahn took the third transfer spot from Jamison. One last caution for a spun D. White with four laps to go gave new life to J. Martin who started on the tail. He would come from sixth to fourth on the restart, but fell one spot short of a transfer.
C main two (started): 1. Croft (1) 2. D. Smith (2) 3. Gaines (8) / 4. Henson (6) 5. Z. Pringle (3) 6. Greider (12) 7. Jenkins (4) 8. Schmidt (10) 9. R. Howard (5) 10. Hinkle (7) 11. David (11) 12. Baccus (9) DNS – Gallagher, Bogucki, C. Howard
D. Smith led Croft early. Gaines shot into third right away. A restart after a caution for debris with three to go gave Croft a shot at D. Smith for the win. He would make the winning pass with two to go. Good racing for fourth between locals Henson and Z. Pringle was all for naught in the end.
B main one (started): 1. Sewell (1) 2. Gee (5) 3. Howard (8) / 4. Lutz (3) 5. Hanks (2) 6. Carney (7) 7. Bell (12) 8. Bellm (6) 9. C. Martin (9) 10. Hahn (14) 11. Gates (11) 12. Miller (13) 13. R. Pringle (15) 14. H. White (4) 15. Day (10) DNS – McClelland
12-lap B mains took the top three to the feature. Sewell led wire to wire. Lutz was second early, ahead of Hanks. Gee was on the move, however, taking third from Hanks on lap two. Moore would follow after starting eighth, taking fourth from H. White on lap seven. Gee passed Lutz for second on lap 8. With two to go, a three-wide battle for the final transfer ensued with Moore grabbing it when the dust settled over Luz and H. White.
B main two (started): 1. Tiner (4) 2. Turpen (5) 3. Tankersley (2) / 4. Croft (12) 5. Kulhanek (1) 6. D. Smith (15) 7. Morton (8) 8. Middleton (11) 9. Gaines (14) 10. Bauldwin (6) 11. Bowden (9) 12. Wester (13) 13. D. Howard (7) 14. W. Johnson (16) 15. McMahan (3) 16. Covington (10)
Hard racing on the second lap saw Tiner and McMahan contacting. McMahan spun, and was hit hard by Covington. They were both done. Bowden was also collected in the melee, but made repairs to restart at the tail. Tankersley led Kulhanek, Tiner, Bauldwin and Turpen on the restart. Tiner would jump into second, while Turpen nabbed fourth. Turpen continued her good run, getting by Kulhanek on lap six. Tiner and Tankersley put on a show for the lead, with Tiner prevailing coming for the white flag lap. Before the race could be completed, Bowden’s flat tires stopped him in turn four. While fans salivated over the battle for the win between Tiner and Tankersley, Turpen would use the low groove to capture second at the checkers.
A main (started): 1. Swindell (2) 2. Balog (3) 3. Bruce (4) 4. Reutzel (7) 5. Hafertepe (13) 6. Crawley (1) 7. Ainsworth (10) 8. Cornell (8) 9. Bergman (9) 10. Moore (19) 11. Hagar (14) 12. Skinner (5) 13. Turpen (18) 14. Gee (17) 15. Tiner (16) 16. Sewell (15) 17. Gardner (12) 18. Tankersley (20) 19. McElhannon (6) 20. Baughman (11)
Swindell led Crawley and Balog early in the 25-lapper that would lock the top three into Saturday’s finale. Four laps in, Baughman flipped in turn four, bringing the only red of the event. Swindell used to the low groove to lead Crawley, Balog, McElhannon, Bruce and Reutzel back to green. Balog shot around the very high side of the track, reeling in Crawley and taking second from him. Gardner spun with eight laps counted. Balog continued his pursuit of Swindell, while Reutzel found his way by Crawley for third at the halfway point. Balog gained on Swindell and pulled beside him a time or two using the high side, but Sammy was able to get through traffic well enough to take the win. Reutzel was in the final lock-in spot. With five laps to go, he had a straightaway lead on Bruce. Bruce would surge, however, reeling him in and nipping him at the line for the last transfer to Saturday night. Moore was the hard-charger.