By Bryan Hulbert
MESQUITE, Texas (March 21, 2014) – Topping 49 drivers from 13 states and two countries, Tony Bruce, Jr. returned to Victory Lane at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway on the opening night of the 41st annual Spring Nationals.
The win marks the Kansas driver’s second Devil’s Bowl triumph again the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour, with is first coming on March 14, 2008.
“It means a ton to me,” said Bruce of the victory. “We have a lot of great supporters in this area with people like Bill Jewel with The Oil Medics; you know Bill and Kathy have been with me forever it seems like. We haven’t had a win here on the National Tour since I guess 2008. We’ve been in the top-three several times, and run up front all the time when we’re here so – hell yeah, we won at the Devil’s Bowl.”
Earning the pole of for the night’s 25 lap Protect the Harvest A-Feature, Bruce got the jump to the lead over the T&L Foundry No. 95 of Matt Covington.
“Matt’s really good every single time he’s been here. He always impresses everybody, so it was all about getting out front then just picking my way through lapped traffic and making sure I didn’t make any mistakes.”
Covington was challenged late in the A-Feature by Kevin Swindell, who worked next to the Oklahoma driver in slower traffic before the caution displayed for the stalled No. 7m of Kevin Ramey.
“It was a great run but I had the car a little too tight, but I’m not complaining about running second with the National Tour.”
Asked what was going through his mind on the late race restart, Covington replied with a joking tone, “As far as what was going through my mind on that last restart, I was thinking I hope Tony misses the bottom.”
Kevin Swindell settled for the final podium step in the Buffalo Wild Wings No. 82.
“It wasn’t bad, especially when we got to traffic and those guys made mistakes and opened it up. I think I was probably the best car through that stage of the race before the yellow. I managed to get by Bergman and by Matt, then the yellow came out, but overall it was a good night. First night in the car, first time racing since early January so; not too bad,” commented Swindell of his run with the Buffalo Wild Wings team.
Christopher Bell grabbed the final transfer spot into Saturday’s A-Feature, coming from seventh to fourth and in doing so, assumed the Lucas Oil ASCS National points lead with John Carney II completing the top-five in the Coyote Candle Co. No. 74B.
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. jumped to third in the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour standings with a sixth place showing. Seth Bergman crossed seventh with Greg Wilson jumping from tenth to eighth. Aaron Reutzel climbed nine spots to finish ninth with Jeff Swindell completing the top ten.
Six Heat Races started the evening with wins going to Tony Bruce, Jr., Matt Covington, Seth Bergman, Christopher Bell, Jason Johnson, and Jon Agan. A pair of B-Features saw Brad Loyet and Aaron Reutzel earning victories.
John Carney II emerged as the highest finishing Smiley’s Racing Products Lone Star Regional driver in the region’s season opener. Josh Baughman is currently second in driver standings with Michael Lang, Kevin Ramey, and Jake Martens completing the top five.
The 41st annual Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals and Matt Clevenger Memorial continues on Saturday, March 22. Gates are scheduled to open at 6:00 P.M. (CT) with races beginning at 8:00 P.M. For more information, log onto http://www.devilsbowl.com or http://www.ascsracing.com.
Lucas Oil ASCS Presented by MAVTV American Real
41st Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals – Prelim Night
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, Texas
Friday, March 21, 2014
Car Count: 49
Heat Races presented by SpeedMart – 8 Laps, winners plus top 10 in passing points to A-Feature.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[3]; 2. 82-Kevin Swindell[7]; 3. 14-Michael Lang[2]; 4. 7M-Kevin Ramey[8]; 5. 29$-Russ Hall[9]; 6. 29T-Travis Rilat[6]; 7. 92-Jordan Weaver[1]; 8. (DNF) 81W-Danny Wood[5]; 9. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson[4]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland[8]; 4. 10W-George White[1]; 5. 22X-Wayne Johnson[6]; 6. 45-Martin Edwards[5]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton[3]; 8. 33-Kris Miller[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 3. 12W-Dale Wester[1]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[3]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 6. 12M-Kolt Walker[4]; 7. 19-Patrick Stasa[5]; 8. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 31B-Christopher Bell[4]; 2. 48-Jake Martens[1]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[3]; 4. 1J-Danny Jennings[5]; 5. E85-Luke Cranston[7]; 6. 72-Phil Dietz[8]; 7. 4X-Shawn Petersen[6]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[2]; 2. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 3. 74B-John Carney II[8]; 4. 11-Joe Wood Jr[5]; 5. 17W-Harli White[6]; 6. 4J-John James[4]; 7. 3-Raven Culp[7]; 8. 41P-Jeff Carlson[3]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Jon Agan[1]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[3]; 3. 17X-Josh Baughman[5]; 4. 28-Channin Tankersley[6]; 5. 17-Blake Hahn[7]; 6. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[2]; 7. 59-David Gravel[8]; 8. 30-Brandon Corn[4]
Smiley’s Racing Products B-Features – Top 3 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 2. 1J-Danny Jennings[3]; 3. 17-Blake Hahn[5]; 4. 29T-Travis Rilat[8]; 5. 12M-Kolt Walker[10]; 6. 19-Patrick Stasa[12]; 7. 81W-Danny Wood[15]; 8. 17W-Harli White[7]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton[13]; 10. 41P-Jeff Carlson[16]; 11. 33-Kris Miller[14]; 12. (DNF) 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 13. (DNF) 12W-Dale Wester[4]; 14. (DNF) 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[11]; 15. (DNF) 22X-Wayne Johnson[6]; 16. (DNF) 45-Martin Edwards[9]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 2. 14-Michael Lang[2]; 3. 28-Channin Tankersley[1]; 4. 59-David Gravel[9]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 6. 11-Joe Wood Jr[3]; 7. E85-Luke Cranston[4]; 8. 93-Dustin Morgan[13]; 9. 4J-John James[10]; 10. 30-Brandon Corn[15]; 11. 72-Phil Dietz[8]; 12. 92-Jordan Weaver[14]; 13. 4X-Shawn Petersen[12]; 14. (DNF) 3-Raven Culp[11]; 15. (DNF) 10W-George White[7]; 16. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[16]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature – Top 4 lock into Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 3. 82-Kevin Swindell[4]; 4. 31B-Christopher Bell[7]; 5. 74B-John Carney II[5]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson[10]; 9. 87-Aaron Reutzel[18]; 10. 94-Jeff Swindell[13]; 11. 4-Jon Agan[11]; 12. 28-Channin Tankersley[22]; 13. 45X-Johnny Herrera[23]; 14. 05-Brad Loyet[17]; 15. 17-Blake Hahn[21]; 16. 41-Jason Johnson[9]; 17. 29$-Russ Hall[15]; 18. 17X-Josh Baughman[14]; 19. 29-Brandon Hahn[24]; 20. 14-Michael Lang[20]; 21. (DNF) 1-Sean McClelland[6]; 22. (DNF) 7M-Kevin Ramey[12]; 23. (DNF) 1J-Danny Jennings[19]; DNS 48-Jake Martens
Lap Leader(s): Tony Bruce, Jr. 1-25
KSE Hard Charger: Channin Tankersley – +10
Hawk Performance Fastest Lap: Aaron Reutzel – 15.323
CSI Rebound: James Mosher
Provisional(s): Johnny Herrera (P1), Brandon Hahn (P1)
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2014 A-Feature Winner(s): Rico Abreu-2, Tony Bruce, Jr. – 1
2014 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Christopher Bell 414; 2. Johnny Herrera 342; 3. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 341; 4. Jason Johnson 339; 5. Seth Bergman 337; 6. Tony Bruce, Jr. 334; 7. Brad Loyet 333; 8. Matt Covington 327; 9. Jeff Swindell 303; Rico Abreu 300;
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The 2014 season marks the twenty-third year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation. Anchored by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
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