From Bryan Hulbert
Tulsa, OK — (January 14, 2014) –Almost two-years to the day, Jonathan Beason was able to dedicate his Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals preliminary night win to his friend, and former teammate Donnie Ray Crawford who passed away in 2012, taking the Hard 8 Racing No. 8J to his first Chili Bowl prelim win in Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifier.
Accumulating the highest combined passing points through Heats and Qualifiers, Beason earned the pole for the 25 lap affair; never relinquishing the point even as Zach Daum and Alex Bright pursued the Oklahoma shoe through heavy slower traffic in the closing laps.
Asked about his level of nervousness getting through the feature, Beason replied, “I was really worried. I race 10 times a year now. This was my second midget race this, well, I guess this would be my first one this year. I haven’t really dealt with lapped traffic like these guys have. I was worried but thankfully; I saw their noses a couple of times, but I figured lapped cars were going to be in their way too.”
Taking a shot at the lead before the tenth round, Alex Bright settled back in line before relinquishing the runner spot to Illinois’ Zach Daum on Lap 10.
Trading blows for the silver position, Daum and Bright never allowed Beason to gain a sizable advantage as traffic kept the race for the lead tight. Trying for the inside pass as laps waned, Daum’s attempt was foiled as the high-line cleared, allowing Beason the advantage, and the win by 0.852 seconds, despite a slower car nearly losing control in front of the leaders at the finish.
“I wasn’t going throw nothing stupid at him,” commented Daum of his attempts at the lead. “I could’ve thrown a slide job, but as slick as the track was, it was going to crash both of us. There was no reason to do that. We just wanted to lock ourselves in the show and that’s what we did.”
Alex Bright earned the final transfer into Saturday’s 55 lap, championship event. “I never expected to make the A-Main this year, but I did think I would get into the prelim night feature,” commented a very happy Alex Bright. “To be locked in is quite amazing and hopefully we can move forward in the A-Main.”
Gary Taylor came from seventh to fourth with Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions winner, Kyle Larson, advancing 11 spots to complete the top five after engine problems gridded the No. 71k sixteenth.
Shane Cottle crossed sixth with Thomas Meseraull emerging as the night’s Hard Charger. Clawing from twentieth to seventh.was R.J. Johnson. Joey Moughan, crossed ninth with Brady Bacon, from eighteenth, completed the top ten.
Larson’s victory in the VIROC IV broke a streak of three consecutive Swindell wins in the $2,500 to win, 20 lap Race of Champions, and puts the California drivers as the fourth different winner, joining Sammy Swindell (2009, 2011, and 2012), Kevin Swindell (2013), and Brad Loyet (2010). Leading by Lap 10, after starting sixth, Larson was unchallenged to the finish.
Of the 70 scheduled drivers from Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifying night, 69 made the call. A pair of Chili Bowl rookies earned staring spots in the A-Feature. Jeb Sessums finished fourteenth after starting twenty-second. Australia’s Mathew Smith ended up twenty-second after starting fourteenth. Four drivers flipped during the night no injuries reported.
The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire continues with Wednesday’s River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night. Races begin at 6:00 P.M. (CT) with Hot Laps at 5:00 P.M. For additional information on the Chili Bowl, log onto http://www.chilibowl.com.
Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifying Night Results
Heat Races – Top 40 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71K-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. 7JM-Joey Moughan[3]; 3. 87F-Brian McClelland[4]; 4. 55F-Taylor Ferns[8]; 5. 14C-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 6. 21N-Nick Speidel[7]; 7. 91W-Mickey Walker[5]; 8. 3H-Bubba Hunt[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Don Droud Jr[1]; 2. 1W-Paul White[3]; 3. 4J-Tim Crawley[5]; 4. 6J-Joe Stornetta[6]; 5. 51J-R.J. Johnson[8]; 6. 14E-Eric Fenton[7]; 7. 1JR-Joe Ramaker[2]; 8. 56XX-Lance Bennett[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5D-Zach Daum[5]; 2. 4AU-Mathew Smith[7]; 3. 31M-Ray Seach[1]; 4. 12S-Bryan Severs[2]; 5. 8OK-Gage Walker[8]; 6. 79J-Jacob Patton[4]; 7. 37T-William Gould[6]; 8. 27-J.J. Hickle[3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[1]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[5]; 3. 38-Billy Wease[3]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[8]; 5. 2A-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 6. 7X-Critter Malone[2]; 7. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[6]; 8. 33A-Stephen Arnold[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Bobby East[4]; 2. 0B-Tyler Brehm[3]; 3. 16-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 4. 55B-Brian Shirley[2]; 5. 57K-Kevin Studley[8]; 6. 6D-Jesse Denome[5]; 7. 83J-Jonathan Halford[6]; 8. 11D-Dustin Hapka[7]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 11W-Tyler Courtney[1]; 2. 71C-Shane Cottle[3]; 3. 50-Daniel Adler[5]; 4. 99-Brady Bacon[8]; 5. 7-Shannon McQueen[2]; 6. 81B-Ryan Beechler[7]; 7. 17W-Cole Wood[4]; 8. 11B-Josh Baughman[6]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[1]; 2. 17E-Blake Edwards[7]; 3. 98-P.J. Jones[6]; 4. 55D-Nick Drake[5]; 5. 10W-George White[3]; 6. (DNF) 9U-Doug McCune[4]; 7. (DNF) 1B-Bobby Brewer[2]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Alex Bright[4]; 2. 45W-C.J. Johnson[1]; 3. 12K-Josh Lakatos[3]; 4. 19-Steven Drevicki[7]; 5. 86S-Danny Smith[2]; 6. (DNF) 49JR-Dan Hillberg[5]; 7. (DNF) 1R-Robby Larson[6]
Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Mike Goodman[1]; 2. 39C-Joey Saldana[6]; 3. 87-Dave Camfield Jr.[3]; 4. 4R-Ryan Greth[4]; 5. 4G-Bill Jackson[5]; 6. 24T-Jason Tyer[7]; 7. (DNF) 29S-Brian Harvey[2]
C-Features – Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C Feature 1 (12 Laps, top 4 advance): 1. 2A-Hunter Schuerenberg[1]; 2. 11B-Josh Baughman[14]; 3. 37T-William Gould[8]; 4. 91W-Mickey Walker[10]; 5. 24T-Jason Tyer[3]; 6. 1JR-Joe Ramaker[11]; 7. 14E-Eric Fenton[2]; 8. 9U-Doug McCune[7]; 9. 86S-Danny Smith[5]; 10. 49JR-Dan Hillberg[6]; 11. 11D-Dustin Hapka[13]; 12. 27-J.J. Hickle[15]; 13. 29S-Brian Harvey[12]; 14. (DNF) 83J-Jonathan Halford[9]; 15. (DNF) 14C-Paul Nienhiser[4]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps, top 4 advance): 1. 81B-Ryan Beechler[2]; 2. 1R-Robby Larson[9]; 3. 7-Shannon McQueen[4]; 4. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[8]; 5. 7X-Critter Malone[7]; 6. 79J-Jacob Patton[6]; 7. 21N-Nick Speidel[1]; 8. 33A-Stephen Arnold[12]; 9. 6D-Jesse Denome[5]; 10. 1B-Bobby Brewer[11]; 11. (DNF) 3H-Bubba Hunt[13]; 12. (DNF) 17W-Cole Wood[10]; 13. (DNF) 56XX-Lance Bennett[14]; 14. (DNF) 10W-George White[3]
Qualifiers – Top 16 in Passing Points advance to the A-Feature.
Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 71C-Shane Cottle[1]; 2. 77-Alex Bright[5]; 3. 5D-Zach Daum[6]; 4. 71K-Kyle Larson[4]; 5. 99-Brady Bacon[2]; 6. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[3]; 7. 8OK-Gage Walker[8]; 8. 45W-C.J. Johnson[7]; 9. 87-Dave Camfield Jr.[9]; 10. (DNF) 4R-Ryan Greth[10]
Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4J-Tim Crawley[1]; 2. 7JM-Joey Moughan[2]; 3. 44-Don Droud Jr[4]; 4. 39C-Joey Saldana[5]; 5. 22-Mike Goodman[3]; 6. 4AU-Mathew Smith[6]; 7. 87F-Brian McClelland[7]; 8. 55D-Nick Drake[9]; 9. 57K-Kevin Studley[8]; 10. 12S-Bryan Severs[10]
Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason[5]; 2. 50-Daniel Adler[1]; 3. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[4]; 4. 55F-Taylor Ferns[3]; 5. 1W-Paul White[2]; 6. 38-Billy Wease[8]; 7. 55B-Brian Shirley[10]; 8. 6J-Joe Stornetta[7]; 9. 17E-Blake Edwards[6]; 10. 31M-Ray Seach[9]
Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 11W-Tyler Courtney[4]; 2. 05T-Gary Taylor[3]; 3. 98-P.J. Jones[5]; 4. 51J-R.J. Johnson[7]; 5. 19-Steven Drevicki[1]; 6. 16-Thomas Meseraull[9]; 7. 4-Bobby East[6]; 8. 4G-Bill Jackson[10]; 9. 12K-Josh Lakatos[8]; 10. 0B-Tyler Brehm[2]
B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1W-Paul White[3]; 2. 55F-Taylor Ferns[1]; 3. 19-Steven Drevicki[5]; 4. 38-Billy Wease[4]; 5. 55B-Brian Shirley[7]; 6. 2A-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]; 7. 37T-William Gould[15]; 8. 22-Mike Goodman[2]; 9. 4R-Ryan Greth[12]; 10. 8OK-Gage Walker[6]; 11. 57K-Kevin Studley[10]; 12. 4G-Bill Jackson[9]; 13. 55D-Nick Drake[8]; 14. 91W-Mickey Walker[16]; 15. 0B-Tyler Brehm[11]; 16. (DNF) 11B-Josh Baughman[14]
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon[2]; 2. 16-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 3. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[4]; 4. 17E-Blake Edwards[5]; 5. 4-Bobby East[1]; 6. 45W-C.J. Johnson[7]; 7. 12K-Josh Lakatos[10]; 8. 6J-Joe Stornetta[8]; 9. 87F-Brian McClelland[6]; 10. 87-Dave Camfield Jr.[9]; 11. 81B-Ryan Beechler[13]; 12. 1R-Robby Larson[14]; 13. 31M-Ray Seach[11]; 14. 7-Shannon McQueen[15]; 15. 12S-Bryan Severs[12]; 16. (DNF) 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[16]
VIROC VI (20 Laps): 1. 71K-Kyle Larson[6]; 2. 47-Damion Gardner[3]; 3. 97-Christopher Bell[4]; 4. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 5. 24-Tracy Hines[11]; 6. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[7]; 7. 21K-Cory Kruseman[5]; 8. 71-Kasey Kahne[1]; 9. 63-Bryan Clauson[15]; 10. 1-Sammy Swindell[13]; 11. 39-Kevin Swindell[9]; 12. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[14]; 13. 15X-Chad Boat[12]; 14. (DNF) 47X-Tim McCreadie[10]; 15. (DNF) 4AU-Mathew Smith[8]
A-Feature: 25 Laps, top 3 lock into Saturday’s Championship Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason[1]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[3]; 3. 77-Alex Bright[2]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[7]; 5. 71K-Kyle Larson[16]; 6. 71C-Shane Cottle[5]; 7. 16-Thomas Meseraull[20]; 8. 51J-R.J. Johnson[15]; 9. 7JM-Joey Moughan[10]; 10. 99-Brady Bacon[18]; 11. 4J-Tim Crawley[9]; 12. 44-Don Droud Jr[11]; 13. 39C-Joey Saldana[6]; 14. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[22]; 15. 50-Daniel Adler[13]; 16. 55F-Taylor Ferns[19]; 17. 38-Billy Wease[23]; 18. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[12]; 19. 17E-Blake Edwards[24]; 20. 19-Steven Drevicki[21]; 21. 1W-Paul White[17]; 22. 4AU-Mathew Smith[14]; 23. (DNF) 98-P.J. Jones[8]; 24. (DNF) 11W-Tyler Courtney[4]