From Lonnie Wheatley
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (April 10, 2010) – Zach Chappell burst back into Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters victory lane in what would prove to be an instant classic Sprint Car feature event, holding off Brady Bacon and a closing Jesse Hockett to win Saturday night’s non-stop 35-lap main event atop I-30 Speedway’s high-banked, ¼-mile red clay oval.
The 2001 ASCS National Champion overtook Tim Crawley for the lead on the 14th circuit and then held off Bacon’s challenges over the final ten rounds with Hockett in the mix as well, taking his eighth career Lucas Oil ASCS National triumph and the first since June of 2004 in a feature event that took a mere ten minutes to complete.
“I knew someone was out there but I couldn’t tell who it was,” Chappell commented in victory lane. “My brakes were pretty hot, so I was just kinda chillin’ on the low side, trying to make good, clean laps.”
It was just enough for the lanky Talala, OK, racer, who held off the rim-riding Bacon to secure the win in David Chappell’s Wesmar-powered Legends Bar-B-Que No. 50z Maxim.
While Chappell gridded the feature field inside the third row a night after being sidelined in a heat race melee at Lone Star Speedway, it was 20-year-old Bacon leading the feature field to the green flag with three-time ASCS National champion and I-30 Speedway ace Crawley alongside.
Crawley gunned into the lead at the outset in front of his hometown crowd aboard Mike Ward’s McCarver-powered Boater Sports No. 88 Maxim and paced the early rounds in front of Bacon and fourth-starter Justin Carver, with Chappell fourth in the early going.
Finding the low side of the track to his liking, Chappell didn’t waste much time getting on the move though. Chappell slipped by Carver for third on the eighth lap and then disposed of Bacon for the runner-up slot on the eleventh lap just as Crawley reached the tail of the field.
Chappell set his sights on the leader, reeled him in and raced into the lead through turns one and two on the 14th round with Bacon following suit four laps later.
While Bacon kept Chappell in his sights, Jesse Hockett climbed into the lead mix as well when he took third away from Crawley on the 22nd lap and began shadowing the lead pair.
With Chappell tenaciously sticking to the low side, Bacon began working the upper reaches of I-30 Speedway clay over the final ten circuits. Bacon pulled alongside Chappell several times and even edged ahead momentarily during portions of laps 27 and 28, only to have Chappell surge back in front at the stripe.
A slick move through a pair of lapped cars on the 29th lap gave Chappell some breathing room, albeit briefly. Bidding for his first Lucas Oil ASCS National win, Bacon worked his way past the traffic and made one last-gasp rally on the top side over the final two circuits only to fall two car-lengths short at the stripe in Mike and Megan Eubanks’ Wesmar-powered Tel-Star Communications No. 99 Triple X.
In the lead duo’s wake and in position to pounce on any bobbles by the leading Oklahoma duo was Hockett, who settled for a close third-place showing in the Don Ott-powered VKCC Motorsports No. 75 A.R.T.
Crawley crossed the stripe in fourth, with two-time and defending Short Track Nationals champion Tony Bruce, Jr., rounding out the top five in the Bruce Racing No. 18 Maxim.
Marshall Skinner claimed sixth in his 2010 Lucas Oil ASCS debut, with defending I-30 Speedway track champion Justin Sturch racing from 19th to seventh.
Reigning Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters champion Shane Stewart rallied from the 18th starting position to claim eighth, escaping the night with a three-point advantage over Hockett in the series $60,000 championship points race.
Jack Dover gained a half-dozen positions to finish ninth, with Brian Brown advancing from 19th to complete the top ten.
While the feature ran off in entertaining non-stop fashion, several contenders watched much of the proceedings from the infield after running afoul of the infield markers including Travis Rilat and Sammy Swindell.
Bacon, Matt Covington, A.G. Rains, Chappell, Bruce, Jr., and Crawley topped heat race action for Saturday night’s 53-car field, with Brown, Stewart and Sturch winning the “B” Mains.
The Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters returns to action with the Second Annual Rock ‘N Roll 50 at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, AR, on April 23-24.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters
I-30 Speedway Results:
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to 3 “B” Mains):
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 10-Sammy Swindell, 3. 26-Marshall Skinner, 4. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 5. 29-Travis Rilat, 6. 6-Kyle Hirst, 7. 0-Andy McElhannon, 8. 44-Ronny Howard, 9. 74x-Joshua Hodges.
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 2. 75-Jesse Hockett, 3. 57-Shane Stewart, 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 5. 93-Dustin Morgan, 6. 7-Don Young, 7. 9x-Gary Wright, 8. 8z-Zach Pringle, 9. 94-Danny Wood.
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 3-A.G. Rains, 2. 71-Channin Tankersley, 3. 23-Brian Bell, 4. 1g-Cody Gardner, 5. 35-Matt Sherrell, 6. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 7. 32-Garry Bell, 8. 3g-Darren Long, 9. 6x-Raymond Stull.
Heat Four (10 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. 58-Wade Oliver, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 9-Justin Sturch, 5. 57g-Dude Garrett, 6. 2-Kenneth Walker, 7. 5k-Jerry Kamer, 8. 40-Ernie Ainsworth, 9. 91x-Taylor Milton.
Heat Five (10 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 1-Sean McClelland, 3. 24-Justin Carver, 4. 39-Brad Bowden, 5. 1x-Chad Pitts, 6. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 7. 10a-Ricky Logan, 8. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 9. 12T-Joe Young.
Heat Six (10 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 91-Darren Stewart, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 21-Brian Brown, 5. 8x-Chris Williams, 6. 5h-Justyn Cox, 7. 14-Jordon Mallett. DNS: 12g-Johnny Gardner.
“B” Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Main):
First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 57g-Dude Garrett, 4. 1g-Cody Gardner, 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 6. 6x-Raymond Stull, 7. 0-Andy McElhannon, 8. 1x-Chad Pitts, 9. 32-Garry Bell, 10. 87a-Andrew Marshala. DNS: 40-Ernie Ainsworth, 44-Ronny Howard, 12g-Johnny Gardner.
Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 3. 3g-Darren Long, 4. 35-Matt Sherrell, 5. 8x-Chris Williams, 6. 10a-Ricky Logan, 7. 5h-Justyn Cox, 8. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 9. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 10. 8z-Zach Pringle, 11. 93-Dustin Morgan. DNS: 39-Brad Bowden.
Third “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 9-Justin Sturch, 2. 6-Kyle Hirst, 3. 9x-Gary Wright, 4. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 5. 2-Kenneth Walker, 6. 7-Don Young, 7. 5k-Jerry Kamer, 8. 94-Danny Wood, 9. 14-Jordon Mallett, 10. 91x-Taylor Milton, 11. 23-Brian Bell. DNS: 12T-Joe Young.
I-30 Speedway “A” Main Event:
“A” Feature (35 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 88-Tim Crawley, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 26-Marshall Skinner, 7. 9-Justin Sturch, 8. 57-Shane Stewart, 9. 53-Jack Dover, 10. 21-Brian Brown, 11. 91-Darren Stewart, 12. 6-Kyle Hirst, 13. 41-Jason Johnson, 14. 9x-Gary Wright, 15. 24-Justin Carver, 16. 95-Matt Covington, 17. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 18. 3-A.G. Rains, 19. 58-Wade Oliver, 20. 71-Channin Tankersley, 21. 1-Sean McClelland, 22. 94-Danny Wood, 23. 10-Sammy Swindell, 24. 29-Travis Rilat.
Lap Leaders: Tim Crawley 1-13, Zach Chappell 14-35.
Note: Gary Wright and Danny Wood utilized provisionals based on 2009 owner’s points to start the “A” Main. It was Wright’s third provisional of the year and Wood’s first.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Points (Top 20): 1. Shane Stewart 373, 2. Jesse Hockett 370, 3. Tony Bruce, Jr. 360, 4. Brady Bacon 342, 5. Jason Johnson 340, 6. Sammy Swindell 331, 7. Zach Chappell 328, 8. Danny Wood 318, 9. Matt Covington 313, 10. Jack Dover 309, 11. Tim Crawley 301, 12. Brian Brown 300, 13. Kyle Hirst 290, 14. Travis Rilat 286, 15. Ricky Logan 283, 16. Johnny Herrera 263, 17. Sean McClelland 254, 18. Dustin Morgan 252, 19. Gary Wright 249, 20. Channin Tankersley 244.