Herrera Wins LoneStar Sprint Nationals Opener

From Lonnie Wheatley

KILGORE, Texas (October 13, 2011) – Johnny Herrera tallied up his third Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters National win of the year by topping Thursday night’s 30-lap main event at Lone Star Speedway’s Inaugural LoneStar Sprint Nationals.

The Albuquerque shoe gunned into the lead at the drop of the green flag from the pole starting position and held the top spot all the way aboard the Wesmar-powered Mesilla Valley Transport/Champion Oil No. 45x Maxim.

With the victory, Herrera is assured a spot among the front four rows of Saturday night’s $12,000-to-win LoneStar Sprint Nationals finale along with Seth Bergman, Matt Covington and Tim Crawley, who claimed second, third and fourth in Thursday night’s main event.

While Crawley rallied from 18th to claim the fourth and final lock-in position, Brady Bacon missed out by just one spot in fifth with the rest of the top ten including Tony Bruce, Jr., Aaron Reutzel, Travis Rilat, Justin Melton and Brian Brown.

Channin Tankersley, Rilat, Dustin Morgan, Herrera and Covington topped heat race action for Friday night’s 53-car field, with Daryn Pittman and Crawley winning the “B” Mains.

Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters
Inaugural LoneStar Sprint Nationals
Lone Star Speedway (Kilgore, TX)

Heat Races:

Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 71x-Channin Tankersley, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. 81-Danny Wood, 5. 11-Justin Melton, 6. 11g-Mike Goodman, 7. 27-Andy Shouse, 8. 8-John Carney II, 9. 16-Koty Adams, 10. 30-Brandon Corn, 11. 15b-Curtis Wayne Brown.

Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 51-Beau Smith, 3. 21-Brian Brown, 4. 2-Wes Miller, 5. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 6. 88-Tim Crawley, 7. 74e-Claud Estes, 8. 20k-Thomas Kennedy, 9. 76-John Ricketts, 10. 33-Mark Huddleston, 11. 17m-Josh Baughman.

Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 2dm-Dustin Morgan, 2. 23-Seth Bergman, 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 4. 99-Brady Bacon, 5. 31-Brandon Berryman, 6. 20-Chad Wilson, 7. 69h-Larry Howery, 8. 90-Lance Norick, 9. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 10. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 11. 21k-Lou Kennedy.

Heat Four (10 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 45k-Kolt Walker, 3. 36-John Pate, 4. 5h-Mason Moore, 5. 45-Martin Edwards, 6. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 7. 58-Gary Floyd, 8. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 9. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 10. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek.

Heat Five (10 Laps): 1. 11c-Matt Covington, 2. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 3. 24-Daryn Pittman, 4. 9-Gary Wright, 5. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 6. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 7. 0-Zach Chappell, 8. 14b-Robert Byrom, 9. 23j-Junior Jenkins, 10. 79-Ryan Hall.

“B” Mains:

First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 24-Daryn Pittman, 2. 11-Justin Melton, 3. 81-Danny Wood, 4. 11g-Mike Goodman, 5. 31-Brandon Berryman, 6. 45-Martin Edwards, 7. 20k-Thomas Kennedy, 8. 69h-Larry Howery, 9. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 10. 20-Chad Wilson, 11. 16-Koty Adams, 12. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 13. 33-Mark Huddleston, 14. 23j-Junior Jenkins, 15. 27-Andy Shouse, 16. 0-Zach Chappell, 17. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 18. 15b-Curtis Wayne Brown, 19. 21k-Lou Kennedy.

Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 3. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 5. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 6 90-Lance Norick, 7. 17b-Josh Baughman, 8. 2-Wes Miller, 9. 14b-Robert Byrom, 10. 58-Gary Floyd, 11. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 12. 79-Ryan Hall, 13. 74e-Claud Estes, 14. 8-John Carney II, 15. 77x-Wayne Johnson. DNS: 9-Gary Wright, 76-John Ricketts, 30-Brandon Corn.

Lone Star Speedway “A” Main:

“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 23-Seth Bergman, 3. 11c-Matt Covington, 4. 88-Tim Crawley, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 8. 29-Travis Rilat, 9. 11-Justin Melton, 10. 21-Brian Brown, 11. 5h-Mason Moore, 12. 36-John Pate, 13. 51-Beau Smith, 14. 41-Jason Johnson, 15. 71x-Channin Tankersley, 16. 2dm-Dustin Morgan, 17. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 18. 45k-Kolt Walker, 19. 11g-Mike Goodman, 20. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 21. 24-Daryn Pittman, 22. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 23. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 24. 81-Danny Wood (DNS).