Short Track Nationals Open Results and Stories

Wednesday, October 22, 2014
10/22/14
 
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
 
Short Track Nationals Open
 
66 cars
 
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Josh Baughman 17 (1*) 2. Eric Riggins Jr. 47 (7*) 3. Shawn Dancer 49 (9*) 4. Blake Jenkins 99J (4) 5. Ryan Bickett 17B (3) 6. Dane Lorenc 00 (2) 7. Taylor Tidmore 32B (6) 8. Matt Covington 95 (5) DNS – Ryan Bowers 199
 
Bowers had issues in hot laps and never returned. Heats were eight laps, taking the eight heat winners, and the next eight in passing points to the A main. Baughman led early over Lorenc. Jenkins was third early on before Covington got by on lap three. Jenkins would ride over the top of turn two shortly after, bringing a caution. Baughman led Lorench, Covington, Tidmore and Riggins back to green. Tidmore passed Covington for third on the restart, and on lap five tried to move around Lorenc for second. Coming out of four, the two made contact down the frontstretch. Tidmore flipped, with Covington having nowhere to go and suffering enough damage to retire. Riggins and Dancer benefited by being two highest point gainers of the night.
 
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jason Johnson 41 (1*) 2. Howard Moore 40 (2) 3. Jerrod Hull 99 (4) 4. Blake Hahn 52 (6) 5. Alex Sewell 8 (5) 6. Dale Wester 12w (7) 7. Lance Moss 23M (8) 8. Kyle Clark 9$ (9) 9. Broc Elliott 75 (3)
 
J. Johnson led the distance as the lead trio didn’t change. The race was for fourth, with Hahn getting by Sewell with two laps to go.
 
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dustin Morgan 93 (2*) 2. Morgan Turpen 10m (4*) 3. Brian Brown 21B (5) 4. Jeff Swindell 94 (3) 5. Shane Golobic 91 (1) 6. Channin Tankersley 17T (8) 7. Marshall Skinner 26 (7) 8. Ronny Howard 44R (6)
 
Morgan led flag to flag over Turpen. Brown worked over Golobic for third, grabbing that spot on lap three.
 
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Zach Pringle 14z (1*) 2. Kevin Swindell 01 (3) 3. Klint Angelette 19 (2) 4. Wayne Johnson 77x (8*) 5. Jason Barney 87B (6) 6. Cody Gardner 17G (7) 7. Kevin Hinkle 21 (5) 8. Brandon Hinkle 21BX (4)
 
W. Johnson came to a stop shortly after the green fell. Pringle led the distance. K. Hinkle spun on lap two, and B. Hinkle did the same on lap four. K. Swindell shot to second, getting by Angelette on the lap four restart. He would barely miss the win at the end. W. Johnson came back to fourth and a feature spot, narrowly missing third at the line.
 
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Derek Hagar 9JR (1*) 2. Anthony Nicholson 16 (3) 3. AJ Bruns 44 (7*) 4. AG Rains 3A (8*) 5. Christopher Bell 31B (6) 6. Jordon Mallett 14m (4) 7. Kyle Bellm 14K (5) 8. Kade Morton 8m (2)
 
Hagar led the distance. Mallett and Bruns exchanged third three times before the halfway point, in a good race. Rains came on late for fourth.
 
Heat six (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (1*) 2. Gary Taylor 4J (2) 3. Dalton Davis 12 (7*) 4. Johnny Herrera 45x (8) 5. Sean McClelland 1 (6) 6. Jeremy Middleton 15J (4) 7. Terry Gray 10 (3) 8. Dusty Zomer 82 (5)
 
Kulhanek led the distance. Zomer shot up to third before contacting a turn four infield tire on lap three. Without steering or brakes, he slid sideways into the turn one infield tires and flipped. He was unhurt. Gray retired from third after spinning a lap later, and suffering front end issues. Taylor used the high side to make a late bid for the win but came up short.
 
Heat seven (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Eric Lutz 5 (1*) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (2) 3. Jerod Roller 5R (3) 4. Brandon Hanks 3H (7) 5. Matthew Bauldwin 43 (4) 6. Harli White 17w (6) 7. Glenn Styres 0 (8) 8. Joe B. Miller 51B (5)
 
Lutz got the jump on Hafertepe and held on in the mostly single-file affair.
 
Heat eight (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Stevie Smith 4 (2*) 2. Aaron Reutzel 87 (5*) 3. Tim Crawley 88 (3) 4. Seth Bergman 23 (4) 5. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (7) 6. Mitch Brown 10B (6) 7. Claud Estes III 74E (8) 8. Chance Morton 7m (1)
 
C. Morton led early, before S. Smith took the lead on lap three. Crawley moved by C. Morton before the latter went up in smoke and brought out the caution. Reutzel would run down Crawley and pass him with two to go for second and a trip to the feature.
 
C main one (started): 1. Shane Golobic (2) 2. Cody Gardner (1) 3. Mitch Brown (3) / 4. Glenn Styres (4) 5. Jordon Mallett (5) 6. Dane Lorenc (6) 7. Joe B. Miller (7) 8. Kade Morton (10) 9. Kevin Hinkle (8) 10. Broc Elliott (9) DNS – Taylor Tidmore, Terry Gray, Matt Covington
 
Golobic led early over Gardner in the 10-lapper. The race was on for the lead, with the two exchanging the point four times before Golobic made one last move on the last lap. Brown won a racelong duel with fellow Canadian Styres for the third and final transfer to the B.
 
C main two (started): 1. Ryan Bickett (1) 2. Harli White (2) 3. Kyle Bellm (6) / 4. Claud Estes III (4) 5. Lance Moss (3) 6. Chance Morton (8) 7. Brandon Hinkle (10) 8. Jeremy Middleton (5) 9. Ronny Howard (9) 10. Kyle Clark (7) DNS – Marshall Skinner, Dusty Zomer, Ryan Bowers
 
Bickett led the distance. Bellm charged to third by lap three.
 
B main one (started): 1. Johnny Herrera (1) 2. Brandon Hanks (3) 3. Gary Taylor (4) / 4. Anthony Nicholson (2) 5. Jerrod Hull (5) 6. Shane Golobic (13) 7. Mitch Brown (15) 8. Jeff Swindell (9) 9. Jerod Roller (6) 10. Blake Jenkins (8) 11. Channin Tankersley (11) 12. Christopher Bell (10) 13. Matthew Bauldwin (12) 14. Cody Gardner (14) 15. Klint Angelette (7)
 
A number of cars were involved in a lap one incident. Angelette retired with a broken front end. Tankersley and J. Swindell returned. On the second try, Jenkins got loose and Tankersley and Bell, who would retire, were involved. Herrera shot to the point once the race got going. Taylor grabbed third from Nicholson on lap two of 12, and was all over Hanks for second the rest of the way. He grabbed the spot on lap 10, but Hanks came back and grabbed it on the last lap. 
 
B main two (started): 1. K. Swindell (1) 2. Brian Brown (2) 3. Tim Crawley 88 (6) / 4. Seth Bergman (8) 5. Howard Moore (3) 6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (4) 7. Jason Barney (9) 8. Ryan Bickett (13) 9. Alex Sewell (11) 10. Tony Bruce Jr. (7) 11. Sean McClelland (10) 12. Dale Wester (12) 13. Kyle Bellm (15) 14. Harli White (14) 15. Blake Hahn (5)
 
Hahn spun before a lap could be completed, and retired. K. Swindell led early over Brown and Moore. Crawley came from row three to grab the final transfer from Moore on lap four.
 
A main (started): 1. Aaron Reutzel (3) 2. Stevie Smith (7) 3. Dalton Davis (5) 4. Derek Hagar (12) 5. Zach Pringle (11) 6. Kevin Swindell (18) 7. AJ Bruns (4) 8. Ray Allen Kulhanek (13) 9. Johnny Herrera (17) 10. Brian Brown (20) 11. AG Rains (16) 12. Wayne Johnson (15) 13. Gary Taylor (21) 14. Dustin Morgan (6) 15. Josh Baughman (9) 16. Tim Crawley (22) 17. Jason Johnson (10) 18. Morgan Turpen (8) 19. Brandon Hanks (19) 20. Eric Lutz (14) 21. Shawn Dancer (2) 22. Eric Riggins Jr. (1)
 
Riggins led the 25-lapper early over Reutzel and Bruns. On lap three, Riggins shot over the top of turn one, surrendering his lead to Reutzel. The only caution of the event came with 14 laps in the books. Fourth running J. Johnson spun. The restart saw Reutzel leading Bruns, Davis, S. Smith and Hagar. S. Smith shot from fourth to second using the cushion on the restart. Reutzel was never seriously challenged the rest of the way. He will have the first shot at a provisional for Saturday night if he can not qualify by other means. S. Smith will have the next shot, then Davis and Hagar.