Little Rock Short Track Nationals Night #2 Results and Stories

Little Rock Pits 10/13/17
 
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
 
Short Track Nationals Night #2
 
70 cars
 
With three new cars in the field tonight, the total cars for the event stood at 74.  Points were again tallied tonight, with drivers able to add their best night’s total to Saturday’s heat passing points, which are doubled.
 
Heat one (started): 1. Josh Baughman 17 (2) 2. Morgan Turpen 10m (1) 3. Steven Tiner 94x (4) 4. Derek Hagar 9JR (5) 5. Brad Bowden 39 (3) 6. Charlie Louden X (6) 7. Danny Smith 4s (8) 8. Blake Hahn 52 (7)
 
10-lap heats saw a passing point format that sent the top 40 to four Qualifiers.  Baughman led the distance in this one.  Hagar made the only pass after the first couple of laps when he got by Bowden for fourth on lap three.  He came just short of running down Tiner for third.
 
Heat two (started): 1. Wayne Johnson 2c (3) 2. Andy McElhannon 42 (1) 3. John Carney II 11x (2) 4. Brandon Stevens 99x (6) 5. Paul McMahan 01 (7) 6. Brandon Blenden 88B (5) 7. Tristan Lee 00 (4) DNS – Broc Elliott 75
 
It looked like a single-file affair, until W. Johnson found something on the top shelf.  Trailing McElhannon the whole way, he would pass him for the lead in the last corner to take the win.
 
Heat three (started): 1. Seth Bergman 23 (2) 2. Aaron Reutzel 87 (6) 3. Jeremy Middleton 15J (1) 4. Willie Croft 29 (7) 5. Jeff Swindell 94 (4) 6. Jan Howard 121 (3) 7. Chris Martin 44m (5) DNS – Sean McClelland 22
 
McClelland flipped Friday night.  He returned to his trailer where his generator blew up.  After a total rebuild Friday, he would start his car and break a rocker arm.  He decided that was enough.  Bergman led wire to wire and checked out.  J. Swindell checked up on the top of turn two in a traffic jam early.  Reutzel benefited and shot into third.  He would take second form Middleton on lap four.  Middleton and Croft would battle back and forth in a great race for third.
 
Heat four (started): 1. Scott Bogucki 84B (1) 2. Cody Gardner 88R (3) 3. Ryan Jamison 51J (4) 4. Adam Miller 32m (2) 5. Blake Baccus 16 (6) 6. Gary Floyd 58 (7) 7. Dakota Gaines D6 (5) DNS – Chase Howard 44c
 
Floyd stopped before a lap could be completed.  Bogucki led Gardner and Miller early.  Gaines stopped on lap three and exited.  Jamison would hound Miller for third and slid in front of him in turn two on lap seven.
 
Heat five (started): 1. Chance Morton 7m (3) 2. Dustin Gates 6 (4) 3. Zach Pringle 21B (6) 4. Mike Goodman 11G (7) 5. Tommy Snellgrove 4 (5) 6. Ronny Howard 44 (2) 7. Dale Wester 12w (8) DQ – Alex Sewell 8
 
Sewell dominated this one, but was DQed afterwards for a nose wing too far forward.  Gates passed R. Howard on lap two to get to third behind Morton and the leader.  Goodman would work by R. Howard for fifth.  R. Howard would tag him in turn three and turn him around.  Goodman would restart at the tail and drive back up to fourth.
 
Heat six (started): 1. Terry Gray 10 (2) 2. Tim Crawley 88 (3) 3. Jason Martin 36 (4) 4. Marshall Skinner 26 (7) 5. Michael Day 2 (1) 6. Justin Webb 31 (5) 7. Junior Jenkins 23x (8) 8. Harli White 17w (6)
 
Gray led Day and J. Martin early.  J. Martin moved into second on lap two, and Crawley would follow him by Day for third.  J. Martin would get sideways, but save it on lap five.  Crawley jumped into second at that point.  H. White would challenge J. Martin on the high side and pass him for third on lap seven.  A lap later, J. Martin was back by her.  The two would come together, with H. White launching over the hood of the #36.  She would tip over and be done.  J. Martin would continue to hold down third sans nose wing.
 
Heat seven (started): 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (1) 2. Brian Bell 23B (3) 3. Kyle Bellm 14K (4) 4. Jonathan Cornell 28 (5) 5. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (8) 6. Matthew Bauldwin 43 (2) 7. Wally Henson 2H (6) 8. Eddie Gallagher 1xx (7)
 
Hafertepe left no doubt in this one, pulling away.  The best battle behind him was for second, which Bell captured on the cushion, as he bested Bellm on lap five.
 
Heat eight (started): 1. Ernie Ainsworth 91A (2) 2. Joe Young 12T (1) 3. Howard Moore 40 (3) 4. Skylar Gee 99 (7) 5. Rick Pringle 38 (4) 6. Jake Greider 20G (6) 7. Joey Schmidt 1s (5)
 
Heat nine (started): 1. Channin Tankersley 17G (1) 2. Dale Howard 47 (3) 3. Brandon Hanks 84 (7) 4. Eric Lutz 5 (5) 5. Dewayne White 10K (2) 6. Kevin Hinkle 21K (6) 7. Butch David 21 (4)
 
Tankersley led the distance.  D. White would get squirrelly while running second on lap three and lose several spots.  D. Howard would take second, followed by Hanks and Lutz.

Aaron Reutzel Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Gee (1*) 2. D. Howard (2*) 3. Reutzel (6*) 4. Tankersley (3*) 5. Gates (4) 6. Baughman (5) 7. Stevens (8) 8. Tiner (7) 9. Hagar (9) 10. McMahan (10)
 
10-lap Qualifiers were inverted by six based on heat passing points.  Gee led this one on the bottom of the track.  Gates was third early, but Reutzel was fourth by the halfway point, and the high-point driver used the bottom of three and four to dispose of Gates as well.  McMahan tangled with another car and spun in turn one on the last lap.  Surprisingly the green stayed out while he faced oncoming traffic crossing the finish line.
 
Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Turpen (1*) 2. Croft (2*) 3. Gardner (3*) 4. Kulhanek (8*) 5. Cornell (9) 6. W. Johnson (6) 7. Jamison (7) 8. Z. Pringle (4) 9. Bergman (5) 10. Floyd (10)
 
Problems saw Z. Pringle spin and half the field try to avoid him.  W. Johnson and Bergman both spun and the third row went to the tail to restart.  Turpen ran a strong race to win it.  Croft challenged for the point, taking it on the high side on laps three and eight, but Turpen would battle back on the low side in the best racing of the night.
 
Qualifier three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Crawley (3*) 2. J. Martin (7*) 3. McElhannon (1) 4. Morton (6*) 5. Goodman (2) 6. Gray (5) 7. Moore (8) 8. Lutz (9) 9. Miller (10) 10. Bogucki (4)
 
Bogucki spun to start this one, collecting Moore, who kept rolling.  Crawley had jumped to the lead on the first try, and did the same when the second green flew.  Goodman was second early, followed by McElhannon, who would shoot into second on lap two.  J. Martin was fun to watch on the low side and picked them off.  He took third from Goodman on lap four, and second from McElhannon on lap seven.
 
Qualifier four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Hafertepe (4*) 2. Young (1*) 3. Ainsworth (5*) 4. Bell (3) 5. Skinner (2) 6. Bellm (7) 7. Hanks (6) 8. Middleton (9) 9. Carney (8) DNS – Snellgrove
 
Hafertepe jumped to the fore right away and dominated by almost half a lap.  Young held off Ainsworth for second.  You could have thrown a blanket over fourth through seventh the last five laps.

Tim Crawley C main one (started): 1. J. Swindell (1) 2. Day (3) 3. Bowden (2) / 4. Gallagher (11) 5. J. Howard (8) 6. Webb (6) 7. Wester (7) 8. C. Martin (10) 9. Schmidt (9) 10. Hinkle (5) 11. Baccus (4) 12. David (12) DNS – Bauldwin, Sewell, Elliott
 
12-lap C mains took the top three to the B.  J. Swindell rode low to lead wire to wire.  Day passed Bowden for second on lap two.  Gallagher had a great drive that ended up one spot out of a transfer.
 
C main two (started): 1. R. Pringle (1) 2. Hahn (12) 3. Louden (3) / 4. Greider (4) 5. H. White (13) 6. Henson (9) 7. Jenkins (7) 8. D. White (2) 9. Lee (11) 10. Blenden (5) 11. R. Howard (8) 12. Gaines (10) 13. D. Smith (6) DNS – C. Howard, McClelland
 
R. Pringle snagged this one by .007 of a second over Hahn, who was roaring from the tail.  Louden banged into D. Smith, knocking the veteran out of kilter.  Louden took the last transfer, and D. Smith pulled it ins.  Gaines spun with four laps down. 
 
B main one (started): 1. W. Johnson (2) 2. Cornell (1) 3. Bellm (6) / 4. Gray (4) 5. Goodman (5) 6. Howard (8) 7. Gates (3) 8. J. Swindell (14) 9. Z. Pringle (10) 10. Bergman (7) 11. Bowman (16) 12. Bogucki (11) 13. Day (15) 14. Miller (12) 15. Floyd (13) 16. Lutz (9)
 
12-lap B mains took the top three to the A.  W. Johnson dominated throughout.  Cornell followed in second, but third was up for grabs.  After a restart for a spun Floyd, Gray and Bellm battled for the third and final transfer.  Bellm won the furious duel.
 
B main two (started): 1. Bell (1) 2. Hanks (4) 3. Baughman (3) / 4. McElhannon (2) 5. Hahn (9) 6. Stevens (6) 7. Tiner (8) 8. Jamison (5) 9. Middleton (7) 10. R. Pringle (10) 11. Louden (11) DNS – Skinner, Hagar, Carney, McMahan, Snellgrove
 
2017 I-30 champ Bell led this one wire to wire.

Sam Hafertepe Jr. A main (started): 1. Hafertepe (1) 2. Crawley (4) 3. Reutzel (2) 4. J. Martin (3) 5. Turpen (8) 6. D. Howard (9) 7. Gee (7) 8. Gardner (12) 9. Cornell (17) 10. Bell (16) 11. Croft (10) 12. Ainsworth (5) 13. W. Johnson (15) 14. Kulhanek (11) 15. Bellm (19) 16. Morton (6) 17. Baughman (20) 18. Young (13) 19. Tankersley (14) 20. Hanks (18)
 
The top three finishers locked themselves into Saturday’s finale.  Hafertepe led Reutzel and Crawley early in the 25-lapper.  By lap five, J. Martin was challenging Crawley for third and Turpen was up to fifth.  With eight laps in, Hanks backed it over the turn one berm and backed down the hill to bring the only caution of the race.  Hafertepe led Reutzel, Crawley, J. Martin and Turpen back to green.  Two laps later, Crawley squeezed between Reutzel and the tire at the bottom of turn four to shoot into second.  The top five remained the same the rest of the way.  Hafertepe was dominant, diamonding his corners on both ends.  Crawley and Reutzel ran mostly on the low side, as did J. Martin and Turpen.  Cornell passed eight cars to earn hard-charger honors.