10/27/05
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
82 cars
Heat one (started): 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (2) 2. Dale Howard 47 (3) 3. Lyle Howey III 55 (1) 4. Robbie Standridge 12x (7) 5. Clint Garner 40G (5) 6. Jon Carney II 13m (4) 7. Ronny Howard 44 (8) 8. Shane Stewart 14x (9) 9. Andy Goin 77 (6) 10. Travis Jenkins 4am (10)
10 lap heats transferred the top 40 in passing points to the qualifiers. The remaining drivers went to Last Chance Races. Howey led early before a lap two Stewart spin. The restart saw Howey ahead of Hafertepe, Da. Howard, Garner and Standridge. Two laps later Hafertepe took over the point and pulled away. Da. Howard worked over Howey before besting him in turn four on the final circuit on the extremely tacky surface.
Heat two (started): 1. Jan Howard 46 (8) 2. Jerrod Hull 50 (4) 3. Skip Wilson 65 (5) 4. Eric Schrock 86 (6) 5. Daryn Pittman 21P (9) 6. Kent Lewis Jr. 21T (2) 7. Bennie Chesteen 11T (7) 8. Mark Huddleston 33 (3) 9. Josh Lofton 4x (1)
Lofton led early, while Ja. Howard surged into third from the tail on the first lap. Schrock hit the high side in a battle for fourth with Wilson. After taking the white flag and under pressure from Ja. Howard, Loftons mount grabbed the tacky clay of turn two sending his front end skyward. Lofton stayed on the gas and shot his mount, skyward, and up and over in a rare sight. Ja. Howard assumed the lead and won going away in the green, white, checkered finish.
Heat three (started): 1. Tim Moss 29m (2) 2. Jesse Hockett 75 (5) 3. Chris Shirek 1s (9) 4. Steven Tiner 87JR (7) 5. Josh Baker 42s (6) 6. Louie Carufel 47x (4) 7. Nathan Benson 42 (1) 8. Eric Lutz 5L (8) 9. Brad Welborn 17w (3)
Moss led throughout. The tacky surface resulted in cars jumping all over the place, especially on the front stretch. Carufels front end went skyward, but he managed to save it. Welborn was set up tight and ejected himself on lap three. Lutz was not as lucked and flipped his mount on lap five. Moss led Hockett, who was good on the high side, Shirek from the tail, Tiner and Baker back to the green flag. That is how they would finish.
Heat four (started): 1. Kevin Ramey 7m (2) 2. Jon Corbin 33c (3) 3. Marshall Skinner 26 (4) 4. Preston Peebles II 11P (1) 5. Tim Crawley 87 (9) 6. Justin Sturch 4T (7) 7. Mike Ward 88 (5) 8. Kenny Taylor 66 (6) 9. Jason Sides 7 (8)
Ramey led the distance. The only real movement came from I-30 veteran, Tim Crawley, who did all he could do from the tail. He was just short of getting by Peebles at the finish.
Heat five (started): 1. Darren Stewart 91 (1) 2. Garry Lee Maier 11x (7) 3. Sean McClelland 1x (8) 4. Jake Peters 57x (6) 5. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (9) 6. Paul Sides 11J (3) 7. Wade Oliver 0 (5) 8. Don Young 11Y (2) 9. Sean Jones 5 (4)
D. Stewart led flag to flag in dominating fashion. Maier moved into the top three on lap one, after hitting the high side. McClelland also moved up nicely from row four. After going over the berm before a lap could be completed, 16 y.o. Schuerenberg came back to pass P. Sides on the final circuit for fifth. The Schuerenberg caution was unfortunate for Jones. The Cowtown champ was late to slow at the caution and launched over the right front of D. Young. Jones night was done.
Heat six (started): 1. Nick Smith 15s (3) 2. Tim Montgomery 01 (6) 3. Kent Buckley 1* (2) 4. Dusty Ballenger 2L (5) 5. Toby Brown 61a (4) 6. Brian Brown 21 (8) 7. Jason Johnson 41 (9) 8. Mitch Runge 28 (1) 9. Wade Nygaard 9x (7)
N. Smith led the distance, but the story was T. Montgomery who showed his mastery of the speedway, using every groove possible to climb to fourth. Runge was sent to the back for jumping on the initial start.
Heat seven (started): 1. Gary Wright 9 (2) 2. Jimmy Hurley 4H (4) 3. Stephen Chevallier 94c (5) 4. Lewis Jenkins Jr. 1J (3) 5. Bill Brian Jr. 00 (1) 6. Eric Sandage 60 (9) 7. Pete Butler 29H (7) 8. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (6) 9. Ernie Ainsworth 94A (8)
Picking Wright to win from the front row is like picking the Longhorns over the Sisters of the Poor. No Sisters of the Poor here, but Wright dominated by a half a lap. There was great action behind him, however, as Hurley impressed in the Baker 4 car. He was in a race long battle with Brian for second. Chevallier showed some muscle in moving into third as well.
Heat eight (started): 1. Kevin Swindell 1 (4) 2. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (7) 3. AG Rains 3 (6) 4. Scott Bolden 18c (8) 5. Joey Moughan 8H (3) 6. Bryce Vowan 2m (9) 7. Scott Winters R19 (2) 8. Joey Montgomery 21c (1) DQ Donny Howard 44D (5, crossed 4th)
Winters took the early advantage, but succumbed to Bulldog Swindell on lap three. Swindell went on to victory, ahead of a great battle for second between W. Johnson and Rains. W. Johnson had it working high and low and bested the West Memphis native. Moughan went off the berm of turn two before a lap could be completed and restarted at the rear. J. Montgomery needed two pushes and had to start at the back. Winters broke on lap seven, ending his run.
Heat nine (started): 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 40R (2) 2. Travis Rilat 29 (9) 3. Josh Howard 45 (4) 4. Cody Gardner 1G (6) 5. Garry Bell 32 (7) 6. Joe Young 12T (8) 7. Claud Estes III 74E (5) 8. Robert Bell 71 (1) 9. Jim Bowden 15B (3)
Stenhouse took the point and pulled away before a lap five spin by G. Bell, who had come in contact with R. Bell. Stenhouse led R. Bell, Jo. Howard, Gardner and Rilat back to green flag racing. The slowdown is what Rilat needed and he went to work, surging into third and then outdueling Jo. Howard for second in a great run from the tail.
Last Chance Race #1 (started): 1. B. Brown (2) 2. Butler (6) 3. Baker (1) 4. J. Young (3) / 5. Carufel (4) 6. Chesteen (7) 7. Nygaard (8) 8. Goin (9) 9. Huddleston (5) 10. T. Jenkins (10) DNS S. Jones
Four 12 lap Last Chance Races transferred the top four cars to the back of each qualifier. B. Brown led this one flag to flag, but with two stoppages, lap five and seven spins by Nygaard. T. Jenkins exited on lap three, and Goin retired on lap five.
Last Chance Race #2 (started): 1. Sandage (1) 2. P. Sides (4) 3. Bruce (8) 4. Sturch (3) / 5. Lutz (7) 6. Runge (10) 7. Brian (2) 8. Benson (5) 9. Winters (6) 10. Lofton (9)
Sandage led the distance from his pole position. Benson was a two-spin victim (laps 1 and 6). Sides and Bruce put on a show for second, exchanging the spot three times in the last two laps in one of the better races of the night. On lap two, Winters lost control and was fishtailing down the front stretch when Lofton came upon him and couldnt avoid jumping his rear tires. Lofton didnt get upside down but broke enough to be done, ending his evening of bad luck.
Last Chance Race #3 (started): 1. J. Johnson (2) 2. Carney (3) 3. Taylor (7) 4. Estes (4) / 5. Ward (5) 6. Ainsworth (8) 7. Garner (1) 8. Welborn (9) 9. J. Montgomery (6) DNS Moughan
J. Johnson led throughout and left the rest behind. Garner was sent to the back for jumping the initial start and Ward needed to pushes, and also started at the tail. Ward had himself in a transfer spot with two to go, but Estes battled back on the low side to gain the spot back. J. Montgomery exited on lap five.
Last Chance Race #4 (started): 1. R. Howard (4) 2. Oliver (5) 3. Lewis (3) 4. R. Bell (8) / 5. Do. Howard (7) 6. S. Stewart (6) 7. D. Young (7) 8. Vowan (2) 9. Bowden (10) DQ T. Brown (1, crossed 1st) DNS J. Sides
T. Brown led flag to flag but was DQed. No reason was announced. A couple of incidents happened before the green flag was dropped. Vowan spun, collecting Bowden, ending both their nights. S. Stewart found himself in a wicked flip on the next try at green. The incident also involved D. Young who headed pitside with vibration problems. Do. Howard exited after spinning on lap four.
Qualifier #1 (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Ballenger (1*) 2. D. Stewart (6*) 3. Tiner (4*) 4. Hafertepe (8*) 5. B. Brown (11*) 6. Butler (12) 7. Peters (2) 8. McClelland (7) 9. Ja. Howard (10*) 10. Wilson (5) 11. N. Smith (9) 12. Howey (3) 13. Baker (13) 14. J. Young (14)
Passing points from the qualifiers were added to passing points from the heats to determine the top 20 competitors who qualified for the A. Ballenger led the 15 lapper throughout in his first trip to Memphis. D. Stewart grabbed second from Tiner after a nice battle on the final lap. Hafertepe held off a determined B. Brown, who worked up through the field nicely and put himself from a spot in a Last Chance race to the A. Butler also moved up well, but it wasnt enough to land in the top 20.
Qualifier #2 (started, *qualified for feature): 1. T. Montgomery (9*) 2. Schuerenberg (2*) 3. Skinner (4*) 4. Wright 9 (7*) 5. Schrock (3) 6. Peebles (1) 7. Rilat (10*) 8. Bruce (13) 9. Sturch (14) 10. Chevallier (5) 11. Hurley (6) 12. Moss (8) 13. P. Sides (12) 14. Sandage (11)
Schuerenberg led the first 11 laps through three cautions, but he couldnt hold off the Master of the Middle, T. Montgomery. No one gets around the middle groove at Little Rock like Montgomery. Cautions came in the form of a stopped P. Sides on lap one, a spin by Hurley on lap six, and a Peebles spin on lap nine. From lap four on, it was as entertaining as it gets at I-30. Schrock was working the high side and blew up to as high as third, while Skinner and Wright battled low. Montgomery was back in fifth on the lap nine restart, but was in the lead two laps later. No words can describe the action in this one, as it was three-wide for position at the checkers.
Qualifier #3 (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Pittman (3*) 2. J. Johnson (11*) 3. Hockett (8*) 4. Stenhouse (7*) 5. Rains (5) 6. L. Jenkins (1) 7. Buckley (2) 8. Maier (10*) 9. Carney (12) 10. Da. Howard (6) 11. Swindell (9) 12. Taylor (13) 13. Bolden (4) 14. Estes (14)
Contact among several cars down the backstretch on the initial green, ended in Estes getting into the infield tires and being bounced back violently on the track. He was uninjured, but done. L. Jenkins took the point, but Pittman was too much on lap five. By the time Bolden spun on lap eight, Pittman and L. Jenkins led Rains, a surging J. Johnson and a rim-riding Hockett. J. Johnson was on a mission, and like B. Brown coming from the Last Chance Race. By races end, he gave Pittman all he could handle, but fell just short. Hockett and Stenhouse ran steadily to third and fourth.
Qualifier #4 (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Crawley (3*) 2. W. Johnson (9*) 3. Jo. Howard (4*) 4. G. Bell (1) 5. Gardner (2) 6. Hull (7*) 7. Ramey (8) 8. Standridge (5) 9. R. Howard (11) 10. Shirek (10) 11. Oliver (12) 12. R. Bell (14) 13. Corbin (6) 14. K. Lewis (13)
G. Bell led the first two laps, but gave up his lead to the veteran Crawley, who pulled away. One stoppage slowed the action, a lap six stop for R. Howard.
A main (started): 1. Pittman (8) 2. J. Johnson (6) 3. Wright (7) 4. Crawley (10) 5. Hockett (4) 6. T. Montgomery (1) 7. B. Brown (18) 8. D. Stewart (3) 9. Skinner (15) 10. Rilat (11) 11. Ja. Howard (17) 12. Ballenger (12) 13. Hull (20) 14. Hafertepe (5) 15. Maier (19) 16. Schuerenberg (14) 17. Tiner (13) 18. W. Johnson (2) 19. Jo. Howard (16) 20. Stenhouse (9)
T. Montgomery was hooked up and led early in the 25 lapper. The rest of the field reeled him in when Stenhouse came to a stop on lap five and retired to the pits. T. Montgomery led W. Johnson, Hockett, Pittman and Wright back to green flag racing. Hockett was on a role and circled around W. Johnson for second. He passed T. Montgomery for the lead on lap seven, but it was negated when Schuerenberg and Brown spun. T. Montgomery reassumed the lead on the restart, ahead of Hockett, W. Johnson, Pittman and Wright. Hockett shot himself over the turn four berm and half the field went by him. Eventually he would recover to get back to the top five. Pittman began his move by getting by W. Johnson, who went pitside on lap 12, for second. He took the lead for good on lap 10. One more stoppage slowed things, a lap 16 trip over the berm for Tiner. The final restart saw Pittman leading Wright, a surging J. Johnson, T. Montgomery and a charging Crawley. The final nine laps were exciting, with J. Johnson getting around Wright. He had nothing for Pittman in the end. Crawley got into fourth, but couldnt quite run down the top three. Those top three get an automatic transfer to Saturday nights main event.