From Lonnie Wheatley
GREENWOOD, Neb. (May 27, 2010) – Shane Stewart kicked off the Memorial Day holiday weekend of racing festivities by charging to victory lane in Thursday night’s 25-lap American Sprint Car Series Midwest Region feature event at I-80 Speedway.
The Bixby, OK, hotshoe worked forward from the seventh starting position to take the lead away from Brian Brown on the ninth lap and paced the field the rest of the way to take the win aboard Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered Rock Star Energy Drink/ProBilt Construction No. 57 A.R.T.
“We all came here tonight with one person on our mind,” Stewart explained in victory lane in reference to Jesse Hockett, who tragically lost his life just one day earlier. “Hopefully Jesse’s smiling on us right now.”
While pole starter Eric Lutz outgunned California’s Justyn Cox to lead the opening round, third-starter Brian Brown raced into the lead on the second circuit before the caution flew for Dylan Peterson’s turn two spin.
Up to fifth after the initial pair of circuits, Stewart needed just a couple of laps to dispose of
Cox, Billy Alley and Lutz to move into second, setting his sights on Brown.
Stewart stalked the leader for several rounds before pouncing for what proved to be the race-winning move on the ninth circuit.
Once out front, there was no stopping the reigning Lucas Oil ASCS National champion and current points leader as he raced to the checkered flag with a ten car-length advantage over Brown even after a late caution set up a four-lap dash to the stripe.
“I can’t say enough about my guys, especially Paul (Silva),” Stewart commented. “They do a great job and gave me a perfect car to drive tonight.”
Brown settled for runner-up honors carrying Hockett’s No. 77 on his FVP Maxim.
Working forward from ninth, California’s Kyle Hirst made a late move around Lutz to snare the show position with Lutz settling for fourth.
Defending ASCS Midwest champion Jason Danley made a last-lap move around Billy Alley to round out the top five, with Alley in sixth. Don Droud, Jr., raced from 16th to seventh, with Travis Rilat, Jack Dover and 20th-starter Trevor Grossenbacher completing the top ten.
Peterson, Lutz, Stewart and Chad Humston topped heat race action for Thursday night’s 30-car field, with Texas’ Channin Tankersley winning the “B” Main after early leader Ryan Roberts retired to the pit area with mechanical woes. Humston retired from the main event at the midway point with engine issues.
ASCS Midwest Region Results from I-80 Speedway:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Peterson, 2. 13-Seth Brahmer, 3. 17-Gage Dorr, 4. 24a-Jack Dover, 5. 44-Doug Lovegrove, 6. 71x-Bob Schaeffer, 7. 5j-Jamie Ball, 8. 57s-Don Stoutner.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 5-Eric Lutz, 2. 5h-Justyn Cox, 3. 77-Brian Brown, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 71T-Channin Tankersley, 6. 77x-John Klabunde, 7. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 8. 05-Justin Wolf-Medlock.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 6-Kyle Hirst, 3. 82-Jason Danley, 4. 18-Ryan Roberts, 5. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 6. 78-Joe Miller, 7. 12-Tyler Drueke.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1m-Chad Humston, 2. 22-Billy Alley, 3. 4j-Lee Grosz, 4. 32-Toby Chapman, 5. 71-Tige Jensen, 6. 9-John Webster, 7. 93b-Patrick Bourke.
“B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 71T-Channin Tankersley, 2. 77x-John Klabunde, 3. 32-Toby Chapman, 4. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 5. 71-Tige Jensen, 6. 78-Joe Miller, 7. 12-Tyler Drueke, 8. 5j-Jamie Ball, 9. 05-Justin Wolf-Medlock, 10. 9-John Webster, 11. 57s-Don Stoutner, 12. 18-Ryan Roberts, 13. 93b-Patrick Bourke. DNS: 71x-Bob Schaeffer.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 77-Brian Brown, 3. 6-Kyle Hirst, 4. 5-Eric Lutz, 5. 82-Jason Danley, 6. 22-Billy Alley, 7. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 8. 29-Travis Rilat, 9. 24a-Jack Dover, 10. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 11. 13-Seth Brahmer, 12. 5h-Justyn Cox, 13. 77x-John Klabunde, 14. 32-Toby Chapman, 15. 44-Doug Lovegrove, 16. 17-Gage Dorr, 17. 4j-Lee Grosz, 18. 25-Dylan Peterson, 19. 1m-Chad Humston, 20. 71T-Channin Tankersley.
ASCS Midwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Jack Dover 405, 2. Chad Humston 356, 3. Billy Alley 348, 4. Lee Grosz 329, 5. Ryan Roberts 320, 6. Eric Lutz 314, 7. Jason Danley 306, 8. John Klabunde 275, 9. Doug Lovegrove 269, 10. Dylan Peterson 261.