From Bryan Hulbert
Mesquite, TX — (June 14, 2014) — The 41st annual Devil’s Bowl Summer Nationals saw 36 drivers with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real in attendance, and Seth Bergman dominated every lap turned by the Oil Field Equipment and Manufacturing No. 23 for his first score at the famed half-mile.
Seth’s third overall ASCS National Tour triumph, the victory was a far cry from how the Washington driver’s day began; getting into a fender bender on the way to the track.
“I can’t take this grin off my face,” said Bergman. “After getting into a car accident on the way here with the truck and trailer, we just had to shake it off. Me and my guy looked at each other and said well; at least we got the accident out the way. We can go win this thing now.”
And win he did, taking off from the pole, Bergman led flag-to-flag after getting the jump on outside front row starting Tony Bruce, Jr.
Left to battle with Blake Hahn, the pair chased each other through slower traffic with Bruce holding the runner up spot until mechanical problems sent the Oil Medics No. 18 to the pits on Lap 21.
Hahn would hold on to the runner up spot, matching his career best finish with the National Tour that happened on October 10, 2012 at the Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas.
“I hated to see Tony go out like that. I really would have rather raced him for position but getting second with the national boys is awesome. I needed this,” said Hahn of his runner up finish. “I’m not a fan of big tracks, and the Devil’s Bowl has not been very friendly to me in the past so I’ll take a second here any day.”
Tim Crawley posted his 118th career Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour podium finish, doing so in the John James owned No. 4J.
After the engine began vibrating coming to the win the night before at the Timberline Speedway, Tim and the James Motorsports crew were running on fumes after having to swap out a broken valve assembly, “I have to thank Wells [Racing Engines]. They opened their shop up for us today and we got in there and pulled this motor apart, and it wasn’t hurt that bad from last night we we were able to get it fixed, and apparently we fixed it alright, it ran pretty good,” chuckled the three-time Lucas Oil ASCS National Champion.
Aaron Reutzel grabbed fourth on Lap 22 after battling several laps with Jason Johnson. The MVT No. 41 completed the top five after starting seventh. Reutzel’s finish moved the driver of the No. 87 up one in the standings to fifth.
Johnson closed the gap on Loyet for the championship chase from 24 to 15 points behind.
Jeff Swindell was one of the few drivers who swapped between the top and bottom grooves, coming from eleventh to sixth with Dustin Morgan crossing seventh. After having to come from sixth to second in the B-Feature, Brad Loyet charged from eighteenth to eighth with Johnny Herrera in tow from nineteenth to ninth. Josh Baughman finished tenth to record his first top-ten of the season against the National Tour.
The start to the 22nd ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek, and second Bob Westphal Memorial Cup, the evening saw four Heat Races with Blake Hahn, Seth Bergman, Tony Bruce, Jr., and Brandon Hanks earning wins. The night’s B-Feature went to Joe Wood, Jr. whose night ended on Lap 24 of the A-Feature in a cloud of steam.
Paired with the Smiley’s Racing Products ASCS Lone Star Region, high points went to Josh Baughman. John Carney II earned second place points with Kolt Walker, Travis Rilat, and Martin Edwards fifth in points earned for the region.
Up next, the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real heads to the Lawton Speedway in Lawton, Okla. on Wednesday, June 18. For updates on the American Sprint Car Series, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real
41st Summer Nationals
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, Texas
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Car Count: 36
Heat Races presented by SpeedMart – 8 Laps, winners plus top 12 in passing points to A-Feature.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 4J-Tim Crawley[4]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[3]; 5. 74B-John Carney II[5]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[8]; 7. 7M-Kevin Ramey[7]; 8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 9. (DNF) 17T-Channin Tankersley[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 93-Dustin Morgan[4]; 3. 1J-Danny Jennings[5]; 4. 94-Jeff Swindell[7]; 5. 17W-Harli White[8]; 6. 74E-Claud Estes III[9]; 7. 33-Mark Huddleston[3]; 8. (DNF) 7A-Paul Solomon[1]; 9. (DNF) 19-Patrick Stasa[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[4]; 2. 45-Martin Edwards[1]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[8]; 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[5]; 5. 3-Raven Culp[7]; 6. 10-George White[9]; 7. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[6]; 8. (DNF) 12W-Dale Wester[3]; 9. (DNF) 29-Brandon Hahn[2]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3H-Brandon Hanks[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 3. 12M-Kolt Walker[7]; 4. 03-Joe Wood Jr[5]; 5. 17X-Josh Baughman[9]; 6. 39C-Travis Rilat[3]; 7. 14-Michael Lang[6]; 8. 4X-Shawn Petersen[4]; 9. (DNF) 2K-John Kelly[2]
Smiley’s Racing Products B-Feature – Top 6 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 03-Joe Wood Jr[1]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[6]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 4. 74B-John Carney II[7]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[12]; 6. 39C-Travis Rilat[8]; 7. 10-George White[4]; 8. 14-Michael Lang[11]; 9. 19-Patrick Stasa[18]; 10. 7M-Kevin Ramey[9]; 11. 17T-Channin Tankersley[17]; 12. 4X-Shawn Petersen[14]; 13. 2K-John Kelly[20]; 14. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[10]; 15. (DNF) 74E-Claud Estes III[3]; 16. (DNF) 33-Mark Huddleston[13]; 17. (DNF) 3-Raven Culp[2]; 18. (DNF) 12W-Dale Wester[15]; 19. (DNF) 7A-Paul Solomon[16]; 20. (DNF) 29-Brandon Hahn[19]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 2. 17-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 4J-Tim Crawley[4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson[7]; 6. 94-Jeff Swindell[11]; 7. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]; 8. 05-Brad Loyet[18]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera[19]; 10. 17X-Josh Baughman[12]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[21]; 12. 74B-John Carney II[20]; 13. 3H-Brandon Hanks[9]; 14. 1J-Danny Jennings[10]; 15. (DNF) 12M-Kolt Walker[5]; 16. (DNF) 03-Joe Wood Jr[17]; 17. (DNF) 18-Tony Bruce Jr[2]; 18. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington[15]; 19. (DNF) 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[16]; 20. (DNF) 39C-Travis Rilat[22]; 21. (DNF) 45-Martin Edwards[13]; 22. (DNF) 17W-Harli White[14]
Lap Leader(s): Seth Bergman 1-30
FSR High Point: Aaron Reutzel
KSE Hard Charger: Brad Loyet +10
Hawk Performance Fastest Lap: N/A
CSI Rebound: Matt Covington
Provisional(s): N/A
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2014 A-Feature Winner(s): Aaron Reutzel -2, Rico Abreu – 2, Tony Bruce, Jr. – 1, Patrick Stasa – 1, Derek Hagar – 1, Jeff Swindell – 1, Brad Loyet – 1, Seth Bergman – 1
2014 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Brad Loyet 1,228; 2. Jason Johnson 1,213; 3. Johnny Herrera 1,190; 4. Jeff Swindell 1,180; 5. Aaron Reutzel 1,166; 6. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1,162; 7. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,103; 8. Seth Bergman 1,102; 9. Blake Hahn 1,093; 10. Matt Covington 1,039;
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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.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix.
Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, iON Camera, Smokey Mountain Moonshine, C&R Radiator, Hawk Performance Products, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, and General Tire.
Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, KSE Racing Products, SpeedMart, Competition Suspension, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Saldana Racing Products, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, The Joie of Seating, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Rod End Supply, Smiley’s Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News by texting ASCS to 22828 with any mobile device.