Salina Highbanks Speedway
10/22/16
Salina Highbanks Speedway
Salina, OK
WoO
26 cars
This was my first trip to the Salina Highbanks. I was pleasantly surprised. This is a great facility with good food variety, a steakhouse, shuttles to the pits and back and more.
David Gravel (3rd car out to time) set quick time at 11.688 seconds for the second straight night on the banked oval measured just less than 3/8 mile. Shane Stewart (14th car out) was second quick, followed by Ian Madsen (2nd), Daryn Pittman (10th), Donny Schatz (8th), Logan Schuchart (11th), Joey Saldana (21st), Jason Johnson (4th), Jacob Allen (7th) and Brady Bacon (13th). Brad Sweet underwent an engine change after hot laps. Tasker Phillips timed on a sour motor that would keep him out of action for the rest of the night.
Heat one (started): 1. Gravel 5 (1) 2. Pittman 9 (2) 3. Saldana 83 (3) 4. Bacon 99 (4) 5. Jason Sides 7s (5) 6. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (6) / 7. Clyde Knipp 13 (8) 8. Wayne Johnson 2c (7) DNS – Tasker Phillips 7w
8-lap heats took the top six to the feature and the top two to the Dash. Gravel led the distance in this one in a mostly single-file affair on a still heavy track. W. Johnson pulled off early.
Heat two (started): 1. Stewart 2 (1) 2. Schatz 15 (2) 3. J. Johnson 41 (3) 4. Kerry Madsen 17w (4) 5. Johnny Herrera 45x (8) 6. Sammy Swindell 82 (6) / 7. RJ Johnson 71A (7) 8. Brett Wilson 53 (9) 9. Paul McMahan 7 (5)
Stewart led Schatz and J. Johnson early. McMahan was running fifth on lap four when he came to a stop. The top four remained the same, but Herrera moved past Swindell on the restart.
Heat three (started): 1. I. Madsen 18 (1) 2. Schuchart 1s (2) 3. Greg Wilson w20 (4) 4. Brad Sweet 49 (5) 5. Allen 1a (3) 6. Jeremy Schultz 5J (7) / 7. Matt Juhl 09 (6) 8. Matt Covington 95 (8)
Not much movement in this one after lap one.
Dash (started): 1. Pittman (1) 2. I. Madsen (2) 3. Gravel (4) 4. Stewart (3) 5. Schatz (5) 6. Schuchart (6)
Pittman dominated this 6-lapper that determined starting position in the feature.
B main (started): 1. McMahan (1) 2. Juhl (2) 3. W. Johnson (3) 4. RJ Johnson (4) 5. Covington (6) 6. Knipp (5) / 7. B. Wilson (7) DNS – Phillips
Phillips tried to start but couldn’t. McMahan led the distance in the 12-lapper with the top six tagging the tail of the A. The only one left out was B. Wilson who had an OCRS 360 under the hood.
A main (started): 1. Pittman (1) 2. Gravel (3) 3. J. Johnson (8) 4. I. Madsen (2) 5. Stewart (4) 6. Bacon (10) 7. Schatz (5) 8. Sweet (12) 9. Saldana (7) 10. Herrera (14) 11. G. Wilson (9) 12. Sides (13) 13. McMahan (19) 14. Swindell (17) 15. Jeffrey (16) 16. Covington (23) 17. Juhl (20) 18. Schultz (18) 19. K. Madsen (11) 20. Allen (15) 21. RJ Johnson (22) 22. Schuchart (6) 23. Knipp (24) 24. W. Johnson (21)
Pittman led I. Madsen and Stewart early in what would become a 31-lapper. Schuchart’s motor detonated while he was running eighth with seven laps down. Pittman led I. Madsen, Gravel, Stewart, Saldana and J. Johnson. Contact with another car caused Swindell to stop on the frontstretch on the restart. As the track blew off, more drivers changed their lines and started moving. J. Johnson gained fourth from Stewart on lap 21. Bacon found a lower line to get by Sweet, then Schatz for seventh, and Saldana for sixth on lap 23. Meanwhile, Pittman was cruising and had opened up a straightaway on Gravel. With a half lap to go for the leader, McMahan and K. Madsen contacted in a battle for tenth, sending the latter into a series of flips. He was uninjured. McMahan replaced a right rear tire and rejoined the field. Pittman led a green, white, checker restart ahead of Gravel, I. Madsen, J. Johnson, Stewart and Bacon. Gravel slid in front of the leader, but Pittman returned the favor in the next corner and led going away on the last lap. J. Johnson slid I. Madsen for third on the last circuit as well. Pittman’s win was his eighth of the year and worth $10,000. Covington was the hard-charger.