Short Track Nationals Prelim #2 Results and Stories

Saturday, October 28, 2006
10/28/06

I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR

Short Track Nationals Prelim #2
Saturday afternoon

Typical day track conditions were the norm in the battle for the final three spots in Saturday night’s main event.

Heat one (started): 1. Brian Bell 23 (2) 2. Joe Beaver 53x (1) 3. Foster Landon 11F (4) 4. Kevin Ramey 7m (6) 5. Scotty McDonald 41m (3) 6. Ron Blair 35R (7) 7. Donny Howard 44H (5) 8. Jerry Kamer 5K (8) 9. Robert Bell 71B (9) 10. Jody Rosenboom K9 (10)

Heat two (started): 1. Dale Blaney 6 (2) 2. Jan Howard 4x (4) 3. Jesse Hockett 75 (7) 4. Chris Morgan 7c (1) 5. Jon Corbin 33 (3) 6. Jeff Mitrisin 10J (8) 7. Claud Estes III 74E (10) 8. Ernie Ainsworth 40 (9) 9. Larry Pinegar II 13F (6) 10. Nathan Brown 42 (5)

Heat three (started): 1. Marshall Skinner 26 (1) 2. Rodney Droud 2D (3) 3. AJ Bruns 44A (2) 4. Robbie Standridge 12x (7) 5. Derek Hagar 9JR (5) 6. Brian Brown 21 (8) 7. AG Rains 3 (4) 8. Dusty Wasmund 20 (6) 9. Tyler Thompson 11 (9) 10. Greg Merritt 12m (10)

Heat four (started): 1. Tim Crawley 87 (3) 2. Cody Branchcomb 94B (1) 3. Josh Baker 42s (2) 4. Ronny Howard 44 (10) 5. Rob Hartman 07H (8) 6. Jake Simmons 71s (5) 7. Jeff Day 95 (9) 8. Jack Dover 53D (4) 9. Terry Gray 10 (6) 10. Eric Schrock 86s (7)

Heat five (started): 1. Jason Meyers D12 (1) 2. Nick Smith 15s (2) 3. Justin Sturch 4T (7) 4. Dex Eaton 59 (4) 5. Preston Peebles II 11P (8) 6. Brad Bowden 15B (6) 7. Travis Whitney 27 (10) 8. Justin Barger 32B (5) 9. Kenny Coke 24w (9) DQ – Kaley Gharst 44G (3)

Heat six (started): 1. Travis Rilat 29 (2) 2. Kent Lewis Jr. 21T (1) 3. Sean McClelland 1 (9) 4. Brian McClelland 10B (3) 5. Steven Tiner 94T (7) 6. Joey Montgomery 21c (5) 7. Josh Howard 45 (10) 8. Travis Jenkins 4am (6) 9. Zach Pringle 8P (8) 10. Mike Ward 88 (4)

Heat seven (started): 1. Scott Winters R19 (1) 2. Darren Stewart 91 (3) 3. Tim Montgomery 32m (2) 4. Skip Wilson 65 (4) 5. Ryan Anderson 71R (7) 6. Rafe Essary 26E (6) 7. Don Young 75Y (9) 8. Cody Gardner 1G (5) DNS – Channin Tankersley 71T (8)

Heat eight (started): 1. Bryce Vowan 2m (5) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15 (6) 3. Eric Baldaccini B4 (9) 4. Chuck Swenson X (2) 5. Joe Young 12T (7) 6. Kent Buckley 1* (3) 7. Justin Melton 99 (8) 8. Brad Best 35B (1) 9. Wade Oliver 0 (4)

Heat nine (started): 1. Brad Sweet 77 (1) 2. Clint Garner 40G (3) 3. Mitch Runge 28 (4) 4. Eric Lutz 5 (5) 5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 40R (9) 6. Tommy Bryant 12mt (8) 7. Ryan Grubaugh 00G (6) 8. Ryan Marsch 2 (7) DNS – Gary Wright 9 (2)

Last Chance Race one (started): 1. Estes (1) 2. Jenkins (6) 3. Essary (3) 4. Kamer (5) / 5. Coke (8) 6. Hagar (2) 7. R. Bell (7) 8. N. Brown (9) 9. Simmons (4) DNS – Swenson, D. Howard, Tankersley

Last Chance Race two (started): 1. B. Brown (2) 2. Whitney (3) 3. Pinegar (5) 4. Gardner (8) / 5. McDonald (1) 6. Day (4) 7. Wasmund (6) 8. Z. Pringle (9) 9. Merritt (7) DNS – Grubaugh, Rains, Wright

Last Chance Race three (started): 1. Corbin (1) 2. D. Young (3) 3. Bryant (2) 4. Best (4) / 5. Thompson (6) 6. Dover (5) DNS – Buckley, Josh Howard, Bowden, Oliver, Schrock

Last Chance Race four (started): 1. Mitrisin (1) 2. Ainsworth (4) 3. Blair (2) 4. Rosenboom (5) / 5. Marsch (3) DNS – J. Young, J. Montgomery, Melton, Barger, Gray, Ward

Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. B. McClelland (1*) 2. T. Montgomery (3*) 3. Standridge (4*) 4. Lutz (2) 5. Branchcomb (5*) 6. Baldaccini (9*) 7. Estes (11) 8. Kamer (14) 9. Vowan (10) 10. Meyers (7) 11. Essary (13) 12. Jenkins (12) 13. Jan Howard (8) 14. Droud (6)

Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Tiner (1*) 2. Stenhouse (2*) 3. Stewart (6*) 4. Ramey (4*) 5. Hockett (8*) 6. N. Smith (5) 7. B. Bell (9*) 8. B. Brown (11) 9. Gardner (14) 10. Whitney (12) 11. Pinegar (13) 12. Sturch (7) 13. Runge (3) 14. Crawley (10)

Qualifier three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Morgan (2*) 2. Blaney (9*) 3. Wilson (1) 4. Hartman (3) 5. S. McClelland (10*) 6. Winters (7*) 7. Corbin (11) 8. Thompson (14) 9. D. Young (12) 10. Garner (6) 11. Bryant (13) 12. Bruns (4) 13. Skinner (8) 14. Lewis (5) DNS – Best

Qualifier four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Peebles (3*) 2. R. Anderson (1*) 3. Landon (5*) 4. Sweet (7*) 5. Eaton (2) 6. Rilat (9*) 7. Mitrisin (11) 8. Hafertepe (10) 9. Baker (4) 10. R. Howard (8) 11. Beaver (6) 12. Rosenboom (12) 13. Blair (13) DNS – Ainsworth

A main (started): 1. S. McClelland (2) 2. Blaney (1) 3. Stewart (3) / 4. Sweet (5) 5. Peebles (4) 6. Branchcomb (19) 7. Winters (18) 8. Stenhouse (15) 9. B. Bell (17) 10. Rilat (14) 11. Hockett (8) 12. Standridge (12) 13. Baldaccini (7) 14. T. Montgomery (6) 15. Morgan (9) 16. Ramey (20) 17. Tiner (13) 18. R. Anderson (16) 19. B. McClelland (11) 20. Landon (10)

Three tries at green were needed before the 20 lapper got underway. Stenhouse spun on the first try, while Tiner went to the work area for repairs. B. McClelland tipped over on the second try. Landon was collected, and was the only one to retire. Blaney shot out to a lead and still led on lap two, when B. McClelland and R. Anderson contacted and retired. The restart saw Blaney ahead of S. McClelland, Stewart, Sweet and Peebles. The rest of the contest went non-stop. On lap twelve, Blaney drifted a little high and S.McClelland snuck under for what would be the winning pass. Hockett made a late bid, getting around his teammate, Sweet, in a mad charge at the end. Smoking his tires to try to catch Stewart, who held the third and final Saturday night transfer, he finally blew his right rear with one to go. Stenhouse and Rilat contacted, sending the Texan upside down before he could complete the final lap.