10/28/04
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
82 cars
The Sprint Bandits format was used with heats and qualifiers. In the qualifiers the driver’s with the highest point totals start in the rear. The top twenty in points for the night were put into the A main with no consolations being run. The top two finishers lock themselves into Saturday’s A.
Heat one (started): 1. Mike Ward 88 (2) 2. Kevin Ramey 7m (3) 3. AG Rains 3 (1) 4. Wayne Johnson 94J (5) 5. Jerrod Hull 50 (9) 6. Scott Pursell 77p (4) 7. Kelly Kinser 97 (7) 8. Chad Kemenah 20K (10) 9. Toby Brown 61a (11) 10. Mitchell Moore 2d (6) 11. Jerry Kamer 5K (12) DQ – Jan Howard 46 (8)
Ward led flag to flag on a track that was still pretty narrow and heavy around the bottom. Kemenah struggled with a tight race car, and Kinser also had a problem moving up with his signature low groove crowded. J. Howard crossed the line fifth, but failed to report to the scales.
Heat two (started): 1. Jason Johnson 41 (2) 2. Dale Howard 47 (1) 3. Travis Rilat 29T (6) 4. Terry Gray 10T (3) 5. Marshall Skinner 26K (5) 6. Danny Wood 44 (10) 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (7) 8. Preston Peebles II 11P (11) 9. Josh Baker 33B (12) 10. Tim Montgomery 23x (8) 11. Derek Drown 26 (4) 12. Wesley Hale 27 (9)
J. Johnson dominated this one in a new mount with a black scheme. Rilat and Gray provided the entertainment banging on the track under green, caution and afterwards in a battle in which Rilat clearly had the better car. Drown broke his front end after a big wheelie and exited early, as did T. Montgomery.
Heat three (started): 1. Joey Montgomery 21c (2) 2. Lewis Jenkins Jr. 1J (5) 3. Pete Butler 29H (8) 4. Gary Wright 9 (9) 5. Chuck Swenson X (4) 6. Clint Garner 40 (11) 7. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (1) 8. Claud Estes III 74E (12) 9. Ronny Howard 44H (3) 10. Donnie Steward 16s (6) 11. Doc Sloan D12 (7) 12. Kenny Adams 4A (10)
J. Montgomery led wire to wire from his front row starting spot. A R. Howard spin on lap four collected Steward and a strong running Adams, who exited. Butler was the mover in this one on his home track. Jenkins, also racing at home, pressured J. Montgomery but came up short in the end after a good battle.
Heat four (started): 1. Billy Alley 22 (2) 2. Brian Brown 21B (4) 3. Richard Herring 10H (1) 4. DJ Masner D1 (5) 5. Johnny Miller 71J (8) 6. Johnny Anderson 7a (9) 7. Tyler Blank 75 (3) 8. Bennie Chesteen 11T (7) 9. Buster Dickerson 86 (11) 10. Sean McClelland 1x (10) 11. Skip Andrews 5P (6) 12. Andy Goin 77 (12)
Alley led early before a lap five McClelland spin. B. Brown was in tow, and had been challenging. Alley left him behind after the restart and went on to a convincing win despite one more stoppage for Goin, who got into the wall after contact
Heat five (started): 1. Tim Crawley 87 (5) 2. Bryce Vowan 2m (4) 3. Eric Schrock 86s (10) 4. Greg Wilson 98 (7) 5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 40R (11) 6. Kevin Swindell 1K (9) 7. Kenny Conrad 9c (2) 8. Arlen Stewart 46A (12) 9. Sammy Stuart 36s (3) 10. Steven Tiner 87JR (1) 11. Matt Folstad 1H (6) 12. Jim Bowden 15B (8)
Bowden flipped hard into the frontstretch wall before a lap could be completed. He was uninjured, but done for the night. Contact between Wilson and Folstad on the next attempt, resulted in the latter being towed off. Tiner took to the lead from the pole but slowed as contact between a charging Stenhouse and Stuart collided in turn four on lap four. All three restarted at the tail. Conrad led Vowan, Schrock, Crawley and Wilson back to green. Vowan moved to the high side to shoot around Conrad, as Crawley was moving up on the bottom. Crawley’s last lap pass was made possible went Vowan got over the turn two berm. He recovered for second.
Heat six (started): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (2) 2. Chad Jones 40x (7) 3. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (1) 4. Robbie Standridge 12x (10) 5. Robert Bell 71 (4) 6. Wade Oliver 0 (5) 7. Danny Martin Jr. 00m (8) 8. Rich Holt 20H (11) 9. Eric Lutz 5 (3) 10. Dusty Zomer 1z (9) 11. Robert Gant 15G (6)
Stewart was simply the class of the field from beginning to end. He had built a half a lap lead over an impressive Jones before Zomer stopped with a broken front end while running sixth on lap seven. Behind the pair, Kulhanek, Oliver and Standridge battled for third. Kulhanek, contemplating a move to Knoxville next summer held on to the spot, while Standridge grabbed fourth before a lap nine spin by Lutz. Martin was sent to the tail at the outset for passing the pace car, and struggled up to seventh.
Heat seven (started): 1. Roger Crockett 57 (4) 2. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (5) 3. Josh Higday 24 (2) 4. Paul Sides 11J (11) 5. Ricky Logan 7R (8) 6. Joe McCarthy 19 (9) 7. Trevor Lewis 00T (7) 8. Ken Buckley 1* (10) 9. Sammy Swindell 1 (1) 10. Raymond Stull 21R (3) 11. Lee Moore 6 (6)
S. Swindell grabbed the early lead before L. Moore got over the turn two berm and retired. Swindell led the next two circuits before McCarthy, who had moved up to fifth, spun. S. Swindell sputtered on the restart, handing the lead to Higday, who led Crockett, Bruce, Sides and Logan. Sammy would take it pitside, unable to find the power hed needed. Crockett made his winning pass on lap six and pulled away from the field.
Qualifier one (started): 1. Tiner (3) 2. Kinser (6) 3. Folstad (2) 4. Wright (10) 5. Stewart (11) 6. Bruce (7) 7. Schrock (12) 8. Stuart (4) 9. Herring (9) 10. Logan (8) 11. Holt (5) DNS – Bowden (1)
Tiner jumped to the early lead and led flag to flag from his inherited front row spot. Holt took a nasty flip after contact from Stewart on lap three. He was uninjured. Logan spun on the restart. Tiner led Kinser, Folstad, Bruce and Wright back to the green flag. Wright and Stewart were able to get by Bruce and grab top five spots after starting at the rear.
Qualifier two (started): 1. Rilat (10) 2. Crockett (12) 3. Martin (5) 4. Hull (9) 5. Alley (11) 6. Swenson (7) 7. R. Howard (4) 8. Andrews (2) 9. Stewart (6) 10. Goin (1) 11. Miller (8) DNS – McClelland (3)
Goin led early, but Rilat was on a tear from row five and captured the point on the fourth go-around. Alley had jumped up to sixth by lap six when he spun. On the restart, Rilat led Martin, Swenson, Crockett who started last and Hull. Crockett showed his strength by picking off Swenson and Martin and coming home second. Alley recovered for fifth.
Qualifier three (started): 1. Peebles (6) 2. Steward (3) 3. Ramey (10) 4. Skinner (7) 5. Adams (1) 6. Masner (8) 7. Jones (12) 8. Sloan (2) 9. Conrad (5) 10. Butler (11) 11. Dickerson (4) 12. Rains (9)
Adams, the pole-sitter appeared to smack an infield tire at the first attempt at green. He appeared to be done as he was towed to the work area, but hard contact between Rains and Jones provided the chance he needed to get back in the race before a lap could be completed. Steward grabbed the lead and looked strong before the caution came out for Jones who had pieces coming off of his damaged wing. Peebles grabbed the point on lap four and held it. Butler flipped hard in turn two on lap five. The incident collected Conrad, and Dickerson, who retired. Ramey moved up nicely, and Adams recovered for fifth, but would have to wait until Friday to race again.
Qualifier four (started): 1. Drown (2) 2. T. Montgomery (3) 3. Oliver (6) 4. Jenkins (11) 5. Stenhouse (9) 6. Crawley (12) 7. Vowan (10) 8. Garner (8) 9. Blank (5) 10. Hale (1) 11. Chesteen (4) 12. McCarthy (7)
Drown led the distance. Garner spun on lap two. By that time, Drown led T. Montgomery, Hale, Oliver and Chesteen. Stenhouse had aggressively worked his way up to sixth on lap seven but got turned around in turn four on lap seven and came to a stop. H would recover for an impressive fifth, getting around Crawley late. Jenkins also moved up nicely. T. Montgomery challenged at the line but came up short.
Qualifier five (started): 1. M. Moore (3) 2. W. Johnson (8) 3. T. Brown (4) 4. Wilson (9) 5. J. Montgomery (11) 6. J. Anderson (7) 7. B. Brown (10) 8. Kamer (2) 9. Estes (6) 10. Schuerenberg (5) DNS – J. Howard (1), Baker (12)
When J. Howard failed to start, M. Moore took advantage, leading flag to flag. T. Brown spun before a lap could be completed, but recovered nicely for fourth. J. Montgomery spun also, but recovered for fith. Brown came to a rest on lap five. By that time, M. Moore led Schuerenberg, W. Johnson, Kamer and T. Brown. Fourteen year old, Schuerenberg was running third on lap eight when he hit a tire and slid to the infield. Ignition problems slowed B. Brown.
Qualifier six (started): 1. S. Swindell (3) 2. Hafertepe (5) 3. Wood (7) 4. D. Howard (9) 5. Sides (10) 6. Higday (8) 7. Pursell (6) 8. Stull (2) 9. L. Moore (1) DNS – Buckley (4), J. Johnson (11)
L. Moore exited after spinning twice. The second time was on lap two. Stull who held the early lead, gave it up with a spin on the lap two restart. S. Swindell with a motor that sounded like popcorn popping, held on to the win, but didn’t have enough points to garner an A main start. Sides move from tenth to fifth combined with his heat race charge gave him enough points for the main event.
Qualifier seven (started): 1. Kemenah (5) 2. Zomer (2) 3. Gray (7) 4. Standridge (9) 5. Ward (11) 6. Bruce (10) 7. Lutz (3) 8. Lewis (4) 9. Kulhanek (8) 10. Gant (1) 11. Bell (6)
Bell flipped hard down the frontstretch on the initial try at green. He was shaken but not seriously hurt. Zomer grabbed the early lead before a lap two caution for Gant who came to a stop. Zomer led Lewis, Kemenah, Gray and Kulhanek back to green flag racing. Three more laps were in the books before Lewis had something go awry, possibly from contact in the front end. The result was a head on collision with the turn four wall. He was uninjured. Kulhanek shelled his driveshaft and dropped out on lap five as well. Kemenah took advantage of the restart in grabbing the point from Zomer and never looked back. Gray, Standridge and Ward battled tooth and nail for third in some good racing.
A feature (started): 1. Jenkins (4) 2. Stewart (8) 3. Crockett (1) 4. W. Johnson (9) 5. Ward (11) 6. Hull (14) 7. D. Howard (15) 8. Ramey (3) 9. Wilson (17) 10. J. Montgomery (10) 11. Sides (12) 12. Stenhouse (20) 13. Bruce (18) 14. Peebles (19) 15. Wright (7) 16. Standridge (13) 17. Alley (6) 18. Schrock (16) 19. Rilat (2) DQ – Crawley (5) DNS – Jones
Crockett shot out from his pole position and started pulling away from Alley, who was in tow by lap three. Rilat’s front end let go after contact on lap seven bringing out the race’s first caution. Crockett led Alley, Jenkins, Stewart and Wright back to green flag racing. Only one more lap was in the books before Standridge spun, collecting Schrock, who retired to the pits. Alley, running second got high in turn four on the restart and spun on his own. With only the top two transferring to Saturday’s feature, Billy took it pitside. Jenkins inherited second and set his sights on the leader, Crockett, on the restart. He made his move in turn two and held the point until a lap twelve caution resulting from contact between Wilson, and Stenhouse, who started the event as the first alternate when his teammate, Jones, scratched. Jenkins led Wright and Stewart, who had gotten by Crockett back to the green. The final caution came out on lap sixteen when Standridge made contact with the wall and exited. On the restart, unbelievably, Wright suffered the same fate as Alley, spinning in turn four and surrendering second. He also bowed out at that point. Now Stewart had the final transfer and held on to it, though he couldn’t put any serious pressure on Jenkins over the last nine laps. Crawley crossed fifth but was DQed for not reporting to the scales.