I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, AR
Short Track Nationals Night #1
52 cars
Passing points were used in the heats. Four qualifiers were inverted by
eight, with the top twenty drivers in combined points qualifying for the
A.
Heat one (started): 1. Eric Baldaccini 4 (1) 2. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (6) 3.
J Kinder 88K (4) 4. Dusty Ballenger 2D (8) 5. Scott Reneau 1R (3) 6. Chris
Williams 8x (2) 7. Eric Lutz 5L (7) 8. Kyle Sager 20 (5)
The track was heavy early. Baldaccini led the 10 lap distance, with
Johnson moving into second on lap one. The leaders tangled with Lutz and
Sager late in the going, but held on.
Heat two (started): 1. Sammy Swindell 10 (1) 2. Shane Stewart 57 (3) 3.
Ernie Ainsworth 40 (5) 4. Kevin Ramey 7m (8) 5. Channin Tankersley 71 (7)
6. Matt Covington 95 (6) 7. Haley Arnold 165 (4) 8. Marty Stanford 91m (2)
Swindell led early in what was probably the most stacked heat of the
night. On lap five, Stanford, pulled a huge wheelie in turn four, and
couldn’t save it from flipping. He was unhurt, but done for the night.
Heat three (started): 1. Travis Rilat 29 (4) 2. Dustin Morgan 93 (1) 3.
Tommy Worley Jr. A12 (3) 4. Brandon Corn 74 (2) 5. Aaron Berryhill 97 (6)
6. Brandon Berryman 31 (5) 7. Lyle Howey III 29H (7) 8. Randy Hibbs 2A (8)
Morgan led before a lap two spin by Hibbs that brought a caution. Rilat
took command on the restart.
Heat four (started): 1. Gary Taylor 61a (1) 2. Anthony Nicholson 16N (2)
3. Jonathan Cornell 28 (4) 4. Josh Fisher 86 (7) 5. Brady Bacon 99 (6) 6.
Matt Covington 95 (5) 7. Lane Whittington 9w (3)
Taylor led the distance and pulled away in his first night in the Brown
61a. Cornell challenged for second, but couldn’t quite get there.
Heat five (started): 1. Sean McClelland 1 (2) 2. Marshall Skinner 26m (6)
3. Tommy Bryant 21T (1) 4. Claud Estes III 74E (7) 5. Jerry Kamer 5K (5)
6. Brian McClelland 87 (3) 7. Billy Melton 87x (4)
Contact sent Melton over the turn two berm with some serious air. He was
done for the night. Bryant and B. McClelland battled hard for second
early on in a good race. Skinner was the mover.
Heat six (started): 1. Brandon Moseley 11m (1) 2. Jeremy Newkirk 01N (4)
3. Paul McMahan 3D (6) 4. Tyler Brown 14T (3) 5. David Gailley 24G (2) 6.
Junior Jenkins 40J (5) 7. Dewayne Prince 16 (7)
McMahan advanced to third behind Moseley and Newkirk early on. The lead
trio battled in classic I-30 style, but there was no change in order.
Brown joined the leaders in a blanket finish.
Heat seven (started): 1. Ricky Logan 10a (3) 2. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (7) 3.
Garry Bell 32 (4) 4. Jesse Hockett 13 (6) 5. Kent Buckley 87B (5) 6. Chad
Corken 11c (1) 7. Dalton Davis 12D (2)
Davis went over the berm before a lap could be completed and restarted at
the tail. Bell shot out to an early lead with Logan in pursuit. On lap
eight, Logan took the point after a fierce battle. Meanwhile, Bruce and
Hockett traded slidejobs for third. Bruce was able to get by Bell on the
last lap for second to earn high point honors through the heats.
Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Worley Jr. (2*) 2.
Fisher (4*) 3. Bruce Jr. (8*) 4. Kinder (3*) 5. Baldaccini (6*) 6. Logan
(7*) 7. Ballenger (5) 8. Corken (12) 9. Williams (11) 10. Berryman (10)
11. Buckley (9) 12. Berryhill (1) DNS – Hibbs
Worley took the early lead in the 12 lapper. On lap six, Berryhill went
over the berm, surrendering fifth. Worley led Fisher, Kinder, Bruce and
Baldaccini on the restart. Three more laps were complete, when Buckley
spun. Bruce had moved into third, but couldn’t advance on the lead pair.
Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Swindell (6*) 2.
Bryant (2*) 3. Rilat (8*) 4. Cornell (3*) 5. Estes III (4*) 6. Ramey (5)
7. S. McClelland (7) 8. Lutz (11) 9. Sturch (10) 10. Davis (13) 11. Arnold
(12) 12. Bacon (1) 13. Reneau (9)
Bryant led early. Bacon was battling him back and forth, and on lap
three, while trying to duck under the lead in turn four, got sideways and
tipped over. Reneau flipped in turn three at the same time. Both drivers
were o.k. Bryant led Estes, Swindell, Rilat and Cornell back to green
flag racing. Swindell hunted down the lead at the halfway point, while
Cornell made a late move by Estes for fourth.
Qualifier three (started, qualified for feature): 1. W. Johnson (8*) 2.
Nicholson (4*) 3. Tankersley (2*) 4. Taylor (6*) 5. Stewart (5*) 6. Sager
(12) 7. Jenkins (10) 8. Howey III (11) 9. Newkirk (7) 10. Gailley (9) 11.
Corn (1) 12. Bell (3) DNS – Melton
It took awhile to even get a lap in. Bell tangled with Corn, mangling
both cars and sending them pitside. Taylor went over the top of turn two
and tipped over, trying to avoid them. After brief repairs, he brought
his crippled car back out. Sager was also caught in the mess and
continued with extensive damage. Stewart spun on the next try, collecting
Gailley, who flipped over Stewart’s hood. Gailley was done, but Stewart
continued with a mangled nose wing. Nicholson shot out to a lead, but W.
Johnson dogged him until a pass for the point on lap eight. Jenkins
finished without headers on the right side. Taylor and Stewart rebounded
enough for a spot in the A.
Qualifier four (started): 1. T. Brown (2*) 2. McMahan (7*) 3. Morgan (4*)
4. Skinner (8*) 5. Covington (9) 6. B. McClelland (10) 7. Moseley (6) 8.
Prince (11) 9. Kamer (1) 10. Hockett (3) 11. Whittington (12) 12. Stanford
(13) 13. Ainsworth (5)
T. Brown led flag to flag despite a couple of stoppages and pressure from
Hockett and then McMahan. Ainsworth spun and exited on lap seven.
Hockett came to a stop while running second on lap nine with motor ills.
A main (started): 1. W. Johnson (1) 2. Swindell (4) 3. Bruce Jr. (2) 4.
McMahan (5) 5. Skinner (6) 6. Rilat (3) 7. Taylor (10) 8. Worley Jr. (9)
9. Stewart (16) 10. Nicholson (8) 11. Kinder (17) 12. Morgan (12) 13.
Cornell (18) 14. Fisher (7) 15. Baldaccini (14) 16. T. Brown (11) 17.
Tankersley (19) 18. Estes III (20) 19. Bryant (15) 20. Logan (13)
The 25-lapper was only slowed once, a lap 15 spin by Logan. W. Johnson
was able to maintain a lead throughout, using the low side on both ends.
Bruce and Swindell battled for second. Swindell proved a bit better on
the low side in three and four then Bruce. The lap 15 restart saw W.
Johnson ahead of Swindell, Bruce, McMahan and Skinner. Swindell took a
couple of shots on the high side at both ends, but W. Johnson had the
preferred line. The top three locked themselves into Saturday’s main
event, and all have win the big show before. The rest will start over on
Saturday. Stewart was the hard-charger.