I-30 Speedway
9/30/22
I-30 Speedway
Benton, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
ASCS
84 cars
Group A
The field was split into two groups, with two separate programs run. Each group had four heats, two B’s and a feature. Drivers qualified in their heat groups. Aaron Reutzel set a new track record (11.812) on the quarter-mile, besting Sammy Swindell’s mark with the WoO there in 2016 (11.835). Garet Williamson was best in the second heat group (11.949), Colton Heath in the third group (11.986) and Dylan Westbrook in the fourth (12.073).
Heat one (started): 1. Mark Smith 43M (1) 2. Aaron Reutzel 8 (4) 3. Justin Sanders 39 (3) 4. Tony Bruce Jr. 12H (2) / 5. Matt Covington 95 (5) 6. Eric Baldaccini 0 (6) 7. Tucker Boulton 74 (7) 8. Dusty Young 5L (8) 9. Joseph Poe Jr. 27J (10) 10. Wade Buttrey 48 (9) 11. Jamie Manley 132 (11)
8-lap heats had an invert of four, and took the top four to the feature. Heat winners and the fastest qualifier in the top four redrew for their feature starting spot. Smith led the distance, holding off Reutzel. Bruce was third, until overtaken by Sanderson on lap three.
Heat two (started): 1. Jeremy Middleton 15J (1) 2. Jason Martin 36 (3) 3. Josh McCord 85 (7) 4. Carson Short 21x (5) / 5. Joseph Miller 30 (8) 6. Michael Day 91 (6) 7. Ayden Gatewood 37 (11) 8. Ryan Bickett 17B (9) 9. Alex Lyles 17A (10) 10. Garet Williamson 24w (4) 11. Hayden Martin 67 (2)
Middleton led early over H. Martin, J. Martin and McCord. Williamson came to a stop a lap in, bringing caution. H. Martin flipped out of second on the restart. He was uninjured. Williamson exited. Short nabbed third on that restart, and then went over the top of the cushion on lap four. He rebounded to hold the final transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Alex Sewell 17 (1) 2. Dylan Postier 10P (6) 3. Lewis Jenkins Jr. 99L (7) 4. Colton Hardy 41 (4) / 5. Sam Wagner 73 (8) 6. Marshall Skinner 26 (2) 7. Chance McCrary 13M (9) 8. Rick Pringle 38 (10) 9. Chase Porter 2 (3) 10. Blake Jenkins 99 (5)
Contact from another car saw Skinner tip over at the outset. That collected B. Jenkins who got upside down, Porter and Hardy. Only Hardy would return. Sewell led early over Postier, L. Jenkins and S. Wagner. Skinner spun a lap in and went back to the tail. Sewell led Postier, L. Jenkins, S. Wagner and McCrary. Hardy claimed fifth on the restart, and took the fourth and final transfer from S. Wagner coming to the white flag.
Heat four (started): 1. Dylan Westbrook 47x (4) 2. Ernie Ainsworth 91A (2) 3. Brad Bowden 4x (1) 4. Chase Howard 13 (7) / 5. Slater Helt 22s (3) 6. Jerry Brey 17J (6) 7. Ronny Howard 44 (9) 8. Spencer Meredith 21 (8) 9. Jamey Mooney 69 (10) 10. Kevin Hinkle 21K (5)
Brey and Helt came together on the first lap, with Helt tipping over. He was ok and continued. It collected Hinkle and Mooney. Ainsworth led Westbrook, Bowden and C. Howard early. Westbrook closed on Ainsworth, and passed him for the lead with three to go.
B main one (started): 1. Covington (2) 2. Williamson (1) / 3. Skinner (4) 4. Bickett (8) 5. Miller (3) 6. Day (5) 7. Lyles (10) 8. H. Martin (13) 9. Meredith (9) 10. Boulton (6) 11. Mooney (11) 12. McCrary (7) 13. Hinkle (12)
The 12-lap B took the top two to the feature. Covington led Williamson the entire distance. Skinner and Miller had a spirited duel for third, with Skinner grabbing it for the last time with four to go. Bickett took fourth on the white flag lap.
B main two (started): 1. Porter (1) 2. Helt (2) / 3. Brey (5) 4. Baldaccini (4) 5. S. Wagner (3) 6. Young (8) 7. Gatewood (7) 8. R. Howard (6) 9. B. Jenkins (11) 10. R. Pringle (9) 11. Manley (13) 12. Poe (10) 13. Buttrey (12)
Porter and Helt were the class of this one. Brey steadily moved forward, grabbing fourth on lap three, and third on lap five, but it was one spot short.
A main (started): 1. Reutzel (4) 2. J. Martin (1) / 3. Sanders (8) 4. Heath (5) 5. Westbrook (7) 6. Postier (10) 7. Bruce (9) 8. Middleton (6) 9. Williamson (19) 10. Covington (17) 11. Short (15) 12. Sewell (3) 13. Helt (20) 14. Porter (18) 15. Bowden (13) 16. C. Howard (16) 17. L. Jenkins (14) 18. McCord (12) 19. Smith (2) 20. Ainsworth (11)
20-lap features locked the top two into Saturday’s Dash and championship feature. Reutzel was the class of the field. J. Martin trailed him the distance, though he was pressured by Smith early. Bowden would stop five laps in. Three laps after the restart, Smith slowed and exited while running third. The restart saw Reutzel leading J. Martin, Hardy, Sanders and Westbrook. Sanders snagged third when the green flew. Reutzel shot away again, hitting lapped traffic by lap 16. His win came 3.2 seconds over J. Martin, who also locked himself into Saturday’s main event. Williamson was a hard-charger for the second night in a row. Everyone outside the top two earned points, that they will add to their Saturday total.
Group B
Seth Bergman (12.214), Ryan Timms (11.971), Sam Hafertepe Jr. (11.932) and Steven Russell (12.268) set quick time in their respective heat groups.
Heat one (started): 1. Bergman 23 (4) 2. Kyler Johnson 45x (2) 3. Jack Wagner 77 (3) 4. Bradyn Baker 71 (6) / 5. Kobe Simpson 21s (9) 6. Chad Frewaldt 17F (8) 7. Bradley Fezard 938 (10) 8. Kade Morton 8M (1) 9. Gary Floyd 72P (7) 10. Brandon Anderson 55B (5) DNS – Zach Pringle 91z
K. Johnson led Bergman, Morton and J. Wagner early. Frewaldt spun two laps in, slowing things. J. Wagner moved into third, and Baker into fourth on the restart. Bergman slammed the cushion and went around K. Johnson on lap four. Contact soon after saw Morton collide with Anderson, who folded his front end. Morton was challenging for the final transfer when he spun with two to go. J. Wagner stole third from Baker in the last corner.
Heat two (started): 1. Howard Moore 3 (2) 2. Ryan Timms 5T (4) 3. Riley Goodno 22 (1) 4. Blake Hahn 52 (3) / 5. Landon Britt 10 (6) 6. Landon Crawley 187 (5) 7. Jordon Mallett 14 (7) 8. Christopher Townsend 6 (10) 9. Joey Schmidt 1s (9) 10. Scotty Milan 97 (8) 11. Jason Long 19 (11)
Moore led Goodno, Timms and Hahn early. Timms was exciting on the top side, but Goodno had it running well low to middle. Timms persistence paid off with a high side pass coming for the white flag.
Heat three (started): 1. Tim Crawley 87 (1) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (3) 3. Wayne Johnson 2c (2) 4. Derek Hagar 9JR (4) / 5. Donny Howard 55 (5) 6. Todd Bradford 2T (7) 7. Chris Sweeney 93 (9) 8. Chris Williams 63 (8) 9. Dewayne White 10K (6) DNS – Jace Park 87J
Park had issues in hot laps. He was slated for the pole, which helped Hagar, who was outside the first two rows initially. This was by far the stoutest heat of the night. Crawley led Hafertepe, W. Johnson and Hagar the entire way. Sweeney spun one lap in, and White came to a stop with thee to go. Hafertepe did apply plenty of pressure in the middle stages, but he was destined for the redraw either way.
Heat four (started): 1. Cody Gardner G6 (1) 2. Dale Howard 47 (2) 3. Joe B. Miller 51B (3) 4. Steven Russell JR1 (4) / 5. Brandon Hanks 84 (5) 6. Chad Jones 29 (8) 7. Gunner Ramey 21R (6) 8. Jeffrey West Jr. 24 (7) 9. Greg Merritt 12m (9) 10. Steven Howell 16 (10)
Gardner dominated a mostly single-file affair.
B main one (started): 1. L. Crawley (1) 2. Mallett (5) / 3. Hanks (2) 4. Ramey (6) 5. Jones (4) 6. Simpson (3) 7. Anderson (9) 8. Merritt (10) 9. Schmidt (7) 10. Fezard (8) DNS – West, Howell, Long
L. Crawley led Hans, Jones and Mallett early. Fezard spun a lap in, bringing the only caution. Jones grabbed second from Hanks on lap two, but it was short-lived, as Mallett used the low side on lap three to shoot from fourth to second in impressive fashion.
B main two (started): 1. Britt (1) 2. Morton (3) / 3. Bradford (4) 4. Milan (11) 5. Townsend (7) 6. Frewaldt (5) 7. Sweeney (6) 8. D. Howard (2) 9. Floyd (9) 10. Williams (8) 11. White (10) 12. Z. Pringle (12) DNS – Park
Contact with something sent Frewaldt sideways on the backstretch, contacting Z. Pringle, who tipped over. He was ok, and returned to the back of the pack. Britt led Morton the entire way. Floyd spun at the halfway point, when Z. Pringle exited.
A main (started): 1. Hafertepe (2) 2. Bergman (4) / 3. Timms (1) 4. T. Crawley (6) 5. Hahn (8) 6. W. Johnson (7) 7. Hagar (13) 8. Moore (3) 9. Joe B. Miller (11) 10. Russell (5) 11. D. Howard (9) 12. Mallett (17) 13. K. Johnson (10) 14. Goodno (12) 15. J. Wagner (14) 16. Britt (18) 17. L. Crawley (15) 18. Baker (16) 19. Morton (19) DNS – Gardner
Gardner pulled off just before the parade lap. Hafertepe Led Bergman, Timms and Moore early. Moore passed Timms on the low side on lap two for third, but Timms zoomed back by a lap later to reclaim the spot. T. Crawley threw a slider on Moore in turn four to take fourth on lap five. Hafertepe was into lapped traffic on lap nine, with Bergman on his tail. Timms performed a 360 spin with five to go, but retained third. That followed a bid by Bergman to pressure Hafertepe. In the end, Sam had them covered, and he and Bergman move onto the Dash Saturday.