By Lonnie Wheatley
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (November 11, 2011) – Johnny Herrera kept his Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters National title hopes alive by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s 25-lap preliminary feature atop the 5/16-mile Southern New Mexico Speedway clay oval.
Racing just a couple hundred miles from his Albuquerque home, Herrera gunned into the lead at the outset and led all the way to post his fourth National win of the season over a stacked 61-car field aboard the Wesmar-powered Mesilla Valley Transport/Champion Oil No. 45x Maxim.
With the triumph, Herrera locked into Saturday night’s $6,000-to-win Southern New Mexico finale along with runner-up Gary Wright, Brady Bacon (who rallied to third in the closing rounds) and fourth-place finisher Matt Covington.
“I didn’t know how close he (Wright) was,” Herrera explained afterward. “I just knew if I kept hitting my marks on the bottom he was gonna have to go around the outside of me if he was gonna go around.”
Herrera also shaved 44 points off of 12th-place finisher Shane Stewart’s Lucas Oil Sprint Car points lead, trimming it down to 93 points with next weekend’s season-ending Western World Championships at Tucson’s USA Raceway all that remains after the finale of the Las Cruces double.
While Kraig Kinser led the feature field to the green flag from the pole position, Herrera battled into the lead on the initial circuit with fourth-starter Wright racing into second by the third round and keeping pace with the leader.
Just as Herrera began to work traffic after seven laps, the first caution of the race flew when Brian Brown came to a stop off the top of turn four. On the ensuing restart, reigning Lucas Oil Sprint Car champion Jason Johnson surrendered the tenth position when he looped it in turn three. Johnson joined Brown at the tail of the field.
With Herrera leading Wright on the restart, sixth-starter Covington disposed of Kinser for third on the eighth circuit with El Paso’s John Carney II staking a claim on fourth by the tenth lap. With traffic a factor by the 15th round, the top four ran in that order until a Carney bobble in turns three and four on the 18th lap allowed Bacon to close in. Bacon, who had worked from 11th to seventh prior to the race’s first caution after seven laps, had cracked the top five by taking the position from Brad Loyet by the 15th circuit.
Battling for the fourth and final lock-in position, contact resulted in a broken front-end for Carney in turns one and two as Bacon continued on with 20 laps in the books.
Herrera kept Wright at bay over the final rounds for his eighth overall ASCS win of the season, while four-time ASCS National champion Wright settled for runner-up honors in his No. 9 Maxim.
Bacon battled past Covington on the white-flag lap to claim show honors in the Wesmar-powered Fatheadz Eyewear No. 99 Triple-X, with 2011 ASCS Lone Star champ Covington fourth in the Wesmar-powered Oilfield & Equipment Manufacturing No. 11c Triple-X.
Danny Lasoski made a last-lap move to round out the top five in Mark Burch’s Engler Machine No. 1m Wolfweld, with ASCS Warrior champion Loyet posting his best National finish to date in sixth.
After starting 13th, Brad Sweet rallied in the latter stages to claim seventh, with last year’s Southern New Mexico Speedway preliminary feature winner Jack Dover charging from 17th to eighth. Kraig Kinser was ninth, with Donny Schatz advancing four positions to complete the top ten.
Steve Kinser, who topped last year’s Las Cruces finale, slipped back to 15th after starting seventh.
Lasoski, Herrera, Jason Johnson, Dustin Morgan, Bacon, Hafertepe, Jr., and K. Kinser topped heat race action, with Dover, Brian Brown and Shane Stewart winning the “B” Mains.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters
Southern New Mexico Speedway (Las Cruces, NM) Preliminary Event
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to Three “B” Main):
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1m-Danny Lasoski, 2. 35a-Brad Sweet, 3. 48-Jake Martens, 4. 21-Brian Brown, 5. 0-Zach Chappell, 6. 5h-Mason Moore, 7. 99x-Chuck Jackson, 8. 2p-Alex Pettas. DNS: 22k-Kevin Barksdale.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 15c-Donny Schatz, 3. 15-Bud Goodwin, 4. 11c-Matt Covington, 5. 5w-Lucas Wolfe, 6. 28-Jeff Swindell, 7. 5k-Koby Barksdale, 8. 81-Danny Wood, 9. 33v-Henry Van Dam.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 3. 05-Brad Loyet, 4. 11-Steve Kinser, 5. 79-Calvin Landis, 6. M1-Derek Hagar, 7. 55-Trey Starks, 8. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 9. 36-Jason Martin.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 2-Dustin Morgan, 2. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 3. 57-Shane Stewart, 4. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 5. 19-Wes Wofford, 6. 23-Seth Bergman, 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 8. 77c-Colt Treharn, 9. 131-Royal Jones.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 224-John Carney II, 3. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. 21tx-Brandon Schure, 5. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 6. 2L-Logan Forler, 7. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 8. 145x-Derek Dimartino, 9. 77-Dalten Gabbard.
Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 12-Josh Grady, 5. 18w-Lorne Wofford, 6. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 7. 7c-John Carney. DNS: 9k-Kyle Sager.
Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 1mx-Kraig Kinser, 2. 9-Gary Wright, 3. 15cx-Joey Chester, 4. 41w-Joshua Williams, 5. 17m-Josh Boughman, 6. 62-Bill Mitchell, 7. 22-Jesse Baker, 8. 90-Lance Norick.
“B” Mains (Top 2 from Each Advance to “A” Main):
First “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 5w-Lucas Wolfe, 4. 0-Zach Chappell, 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 6. 2L-Logan Forler, 7. 48-Jake Martens, 8. 55-Trey Starks, 9. 23-Seth Bergman, 10. 77-Dalten Gabbard, 11. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 12. 145x-Derek Dimartino, 13. 21tx-Brandon Schure, 14. 2p-Alex Pettas, 15. 22-Jesse Baker.
Second “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 3. 28-Jeff Swindell, 4. 5h-Mason Moore, 5. M1-Derek Hagar, 6. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 7. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 8. 12-Josh Grady, 9. 15-Bud Goodwin, 10. 18w-Lorne Wofford, 11. 36-Jason Martin, 12. 5k-Koby Barksdale, 13. 90-Lance Norick, 14. 22k-Kevin Barksdale. DNS: 19-Wes Wofford.
Third “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 3. 17m-Josh Baughman, 4. 41w-Joshua Williams, 5. 79-Calvin Landis, 6. 81-Danny Wood, 7. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 8. 77c-Colt Treharn, 9. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 10. 7c-John Carney, 11. 15cx-Joey Chester, 12. 99x-Chuck Jackson, 13. 131-Royal Jones, 14. 62-Bill Mitchell. DNS: 9k-Kyle Sager.
Southern New Mexico Speedway Preliminary “A” Main:
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 9-Gary Wright, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 11c-Matt Covington, 5. 1m-Danny Lasoski, 6. 05-Brad Loyet, 7. 35a-Brad Sweet, 8. 53-Jack Dover, 9. 1mx-Kraig Kinser, 10. 15c-Donny Schatz, 11. 28-Jeff Swindell, 12. 57-Shane Stewart, 13. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 14. 88-Tim Crawley, 15. 11-Steve Kinser, 16. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 17. 41-Jason Johnson, 18. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 19. 21-Brian Brown, 20. 23-Seth Bergman, 21. 224-John Carney II, 22. 2-Dustin Morgan, 23. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 24. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
Lap Leaders: Johnny Herrera 1-25.
Note: Jeff Swindell and Seth Bergman both utilized their third provisional of the year to start the main event, both were partial-point provisionals. Both have one partial-point provisional remaining.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Shane Stewart 2,917, 2. Johnny Herrera 2,824 3. Jeff Swindell 2,717, 4. Brady Bacon 2,696, 5. (tie) Gary Wright and Tim Crawley 2,615, 7. Jason Johnson 2,490, 8. Tony Bruce, Jr. 2,407, 9. Seth Bergman 2,397, 10. Aaron Reutzel 2,307, 11. Zach Chappell 2,091, 12. Wayne Johnson 1,865, 13. Jack Dover 1,587, 14. Dustin Morgan 1,459, 15. Danny Wood 1,340.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Owner Points (Top 15): 1. Jason Johnson Racing #41 – 3,042, 2. Paul Silva #57 – 2,917, 3. Herrera/Main #45x – 2,824, 4. Swindell Group #28 – 2,717, 5. Bacon/Tel-Star #99 – 2,696, 6. Mike Ward #88 – 2,615, 7. Bruce Racing #18 – 2,407, 8. Petersen Motorsports #23 2,397, 9. Kenny Reutzel #87 – 2,307, 10. Randy Washburn #0 – 2,091, 11. Gary Wright #9 – 2,019, 12. M&M Motorsports #2 – 1,459, 13. Danny Wood #81 – 1,340, 14. Jack Dover #53 – 1,215, 15. Sam Hafertepe #15h – 1,214.
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Points (Top 10): 1. Rick Ziehl 2,223, 2. Calvin Landis 1,985, 3. Kyle McCutcheon 1,893, 4. Dalten Gabbard 1,866, 5. Lance Norick 1,793, 6. Joshua Williams 1,788, 7. Jordan Stetson 1,556, 8. Joey Chester 1,550, 9. Joshua Hodges 1,512, 10. Steve Stone 1,436.