10/28/10
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
Heat one (started): 1. Jonathan Beason 36 (1) 2. Eric Baldaccini 4 (2) 3. Lewis Jenkins Jr. 7H (4) 4. Jerrod Hull 12 (3) 5. Don Young 7Y (6) 6. Joe Young 12T (7) 7. Brandon Berryman 31 (8) 8. Larry Howery 69 (5)
Heats were 10 laps and used the passing points system. Beason led the distance in a mostly single-file affair on a track that was still getting worked in.
Heat two (started): 1. Sammy Swindell 1s (2) 2. Jonathan Cornell 28 (1) 3. Eric Lutz 5L (4) 4. Sherman Davis 72 (6) 5. Ray Allen Kulhanek 21T (3) 6. Greg Wilson w20 (7) 7. Jordon Mallett 14m (5) 8. Sean McClelland 1m (8)
S. McClelland flipped after contact with Davis to start the heat. Swindell led flag to flag. Davis and Kulhanek went back and forth in a good battle for fourth.
Heat three (started): 1. Mike Hess 18H (2) 2. David Gravel 89G (3) 3. Curtis Evans 1P (1) 4. Channin Tankersley 71 (7) 5. Chris Williams 8x (8) 6. Haley Arnold 165 (5) 7. Kent Lewis Jr. 8TW (6) 8. Tim Law 1B (4)
Hess led the duration. Gravel made a late bid for the lead but came up short. Tankersley was the man on the move from the back row.
Heat four (started): 1. Darren Stewart 91 (2) 2. Jan Howard 46 (1) 3. Jason Johnson 41 (8) 4. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (6) 5. Joe Wood Jr. 03 (7) 6. Preston Peebles II 0c (3) 7. Justin Melton 11m (5) 8. Dakota Carroll 11c (4)
Stewart led flag to flag in this stout heat ahead of Howard. J. Johnson did well to move up to third, and held off a late rally by Bruce.
Heat five (started): 1. Brady Bacon 99 (4) 2. Wayne Johnson 77x (6) 3. Claud Estes III 74E (8) 4. Jon Carney II 3s (7) 5. Jarod Roller 5R (5) 6. Gary Taylor 1x (1) 7. Dennis Yoakam 22Y (3) 8. Joey Moughan 8H (2)
Taylor took an early lead. On lap two, Roller and Carney spun together in turn four. Taylor led Bacon, W. Johnson, Moughan and Estes back to green. A lap later, Taylor would perform a 360 spin and keep it going, losing several spots. Bacon inherited the lead and went on to win. Moughan spun on lap eight, bringing out the final caution. Estes put himself among the high point getters, driving 8th to 3rd.
Heat six (started): 1. Kyle Hirst 6 (1) 2. Koty Adams 16 (2) 3. Andy Shouse 27 (6) 4. Brian McClelland 87 (4) 5. Anthony Nicholson 16N (7) 6. Tommy Snellgrove 4s (5) 7. Jared Goerges 9G (8) 8. John Ricketts 76 (3)
Adams shot out to an early lead before Hirst shot to the fore on lap three and drove away. Ricketts came to a stop on lap seven. Shouse used the opportunity to take third from McClelland.
Heat seven (started): 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15 (2) 2. Aaron Reutzel 87R (1) 3. Gary Wright 9x (6) 4. Tim Shaffer 83 (3) 5. Marshall Skinner 26 (4) 6. Jason Martin 0 (7) 7. Derek Hagar 9H (5)
Hafertepe led the distance with Reutzel close behind. The challenger slid in front in turn three on the last lap, but Hafertepe cut back under him to win it. Wright and Shaffer had a nice duel for third, and Wright found his way by the Nationals champ for the spot.
Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Bacon (6*) 2. G. Wilson (8*) 3. Shaffer (7*) 4. Baldaccini (3*) 5. Jenkins Jr. (2) 6. Evans (1) 7. Mallett (10) 8. Howery (11) 9. Beason (4) 10. Hess (5) 11. Berryman (9)
Jenkins Jr. would lead the first four laps before a caution came out. Berryman and Beason damaged front ends and lost their wheels. Hess, who was running fourth, jumped one and had to retire. All three were done. Jenkins led Bacon, Wilson, Evans and Baldaccini back to green. Bacon would take the lead using the bottom on lap eight and hold on despite a caution for Howery on the white flag lap. G. Wilson and Shaffer redeemed mediocre heat race runs to surge to feature spots.
Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. W. Johnson (6*) 2. Wood Jr. (1*) 3. Hirst (4*) 4. D. Stewart (5*) 5. Martin (8) 6. Melton (10) 7. Adams (3) 8. Goerges (9) 9. Lutz (2) 10. Law (11) 11. D. Young (7)
Wood Jr. led before a lap two spin for Law. He led Lutz, W. Johnson, Adams and Hirst on the restart. W. Johnson hunted down Wood Jr. until passing him on lap 8 of the 12-lapper. Lutz spun out of fourth on lap ten and retired.
Qualifier three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Cornell (3*) 2. Hafertepe Jr. (5*) 3. Gravel (4*) 4. Kulhanek (8) 5. Nicholson (1) 6. J. Johnson (6*) 7. Peebles II (9) 8. Roller (7) 9. S. Davis (2) 10. Carroll (11) 11. Hagar (10)
Contact between Hagar and Roller broke the former's front end and he was done. J. Johnson got too hot heading into three, making contact with someone and spinning on the berm. He would restart at the rear. Nicholson led before a lap two yellow for S. Davis. Cornell jumped into the lead on lap three and won, holding off a late charging Hafertepe Jr. J. Johnson recovered for sixth.
Qualifier four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Bruce Jr. (2*) 2. B. McClelland (1*) 3. Tankersley (4*) 4. Estes III (6*) 5. Howard (3) 6. Taylor (9) 7. Shouse (5) 8. Skinner (7) 9. H. Arnold (8) 10. Yoakam (10) 11. Ricketts (11)
Bruce dusted the field. Tankersley worked over a strong running Estes to take third with three to go.
Qualifier five (started, qualified for feature): 1. Hull (1*) 2. S. Swindell (6*) 3. Reutzel (3*) 4. Wright (5*) 5. Carney II (4) 6. J. Young (7) 7. Williams (2) 8. Lewis Jr. (9) 9. Moughan (10) 10. Snellgrove (8) DNS - S. McClelland
Hull led flag to flag despite three cautions. On lap three, Snellgrove stopped. Hull led Williams, Reutzel and Carney II, who was busting the cushion. On lap five, Lewis Jr. spun. Reutzel had taken over second, with a furious battle for third between Carney II, S. Swindell and Wright. Carney II was running fourth on lap eight when he went over the top of the berm. S. Swindell had taken over second, where he would finish in front of Reutzel.
A main (started): 1. Haftertepe Jr. (4) 2. S. Swindell (3) 3. Wilson (8) / 4. Bacon (1) 5. D. Stewart (10) 6. W. Johnson (2) 7. Cornell (5) 8. Shaffer (14) 9. Bruce Jr. (7) 10. Tankersley (12) 11. Wright (13) 12. J. Johnson (17) 13. Reutzel (16) 14. Jerrod Hull (15) 15. Joe Wood Jr. (18) 16. Estes (6) 17. B. McClelland (20) 18. Gravel (11) 19. Hirst (9) 20. Baldaccini (19)
W. Johnson jumped over the backstretch berm and lost several spots at the start. Bacon led lap one, but Hafertepe Jr. rode around him to complete lap two. On lap six, Hirst shot sideways, collecting B. McClelland and Baldaccini. Hirst and Baldaccini were done. Hafertepe Jr. led S. Swindell, Bacon, Wilson and W. Johnson on the restart. Four laps later, the top five was the same when Gravel got over the top of turn two. The last 15 laps went non-stop, with the race for the lead intensifying between Hafertepe Jr. and S. Swindell. Wilson was able to take the third and final transfer to Saturday's main event. The 25-lapper concluded with S. Swindell briefly taking the lead with three to go. Hafertepe Jr. retaliated and drove a steady race to win the prelim.