From Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (March 7, 2011) – Unpredictable. That’s the word, as The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region has been all kinds of unpredictable over the past couple of years. Throw a newly reconfigured Lone Star Speedway into the mix for Saturday night’s season opener and the unexpected is all that can truly be expected.
Kilgore, TX, will be the site of all the lid-lifting action, as The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region kicks off its 2011 season this Saturday night at Lone Star Speedway.
Billed as “The Fastest ½-Mile Dirt Track in Texas” in recent years, Lone Star Speedway has undergone an off-season transformation. Rather than the scary fast high-banked ½-mile of the past, The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star forces will be faced with a new challenge atop the new 3/8-mile oval.
While Eric Baldaccini of Keller, TX, reigns as ASCS Lone Star champion, Kolt Walker ranks as the only driver that captured multiple series victories during a 2010 season that featured 14 different winners in 15 events. Walker topped last September’s ASCS Lone Star card at Lone Star Speedway.
Walker’s September 11 score at Lone Star was his second series triumph in a row after a July 24 win at Devil’s Bowl, snapping a string of 13 different winners in as many races dating back to the 2009 season finale.
In addition to Kermit, TX, native Walker, other drivers collecting ASCS Lone Star scores in 2010 included Baldaccini, Claud Estes, Justin Melton, Brian McClelland, Gary Wright, Tommy Bryant, Gary Taylor, Wayne Johnson, Matt Covington, Jason Johnson, Kenneth Walker, Sean McClelland and Ray Allen Kulhanek.
While wins were spread about, 23-year-old Baldaccini rose to the top of the point charts with a half-dozen top-fives and a series’ best 11 top-tens to claim the 2010 championship by 81 markers over Godley’s Claud Estes. Baldaccini’s 2010 series win came at Boyd Raceway on June 11.
While Baldaccini outdistanced Estes for the crown, others among 2010 Lone Star top ten included Melton (Flower Mound, TX), Brandon Corn (Gause, TX), Martin Edwards (Mesquite, TX), John Ricketts (Burleson, TX), Kolt Walker, Brian McClelland (Tulsa, OK), Preston Peebles II (Lubbock, TX) and Scott Reneau (Trinidad, TX).
Among those looking to add his name to the list of ASCS Lone Star winners will be Sunnyvale’s Sam Hafertepe, Jr., who will try to make it two wins in as many weekends after topping Friday night’s ASCS Gulf South card at Beaumont’s Golden Triangle Raceway Park.
Saturday’s action at Lone Star Speedway, the first of two scheduled The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star events atop the 3/8-mile clay oval with a return engagement set for June 11, gets under way at 7:30 p.m.
Lone Star Speedway is located in Kilgore, TX, off I-20 Exit 583, then 0.5 mile north on SR 135, then one mile east on FM 1252, then 0.5 mile south. For more information, contact the track at 903-986-9731.
The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region is currently slated for 17 nights of competition at nine different tracks throughout Texas and into Oklahoma in 2011.
Past ASCS Regional Feature Winners at Lone Star Speedway:
9/11/10 – Kolt Walker (Lone Star)
4/9/10 – Matt Covington (Lone Star with National)
5/24/09 – Brandon Berryman (Gulf South)
* – Indicates events held in conjunction with Lucas Oil ASCS National series.
The 2011 season marks the 20th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, with approximately 200 nights of competition at tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.