From Bryan Hulbert
Wheatland, MO — (September 26, 2014) — For the 45th time in his career, Tim Crawley parked in Victory Lane with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real, taking night one of the fourth annual Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
Crawley’s third win at the “Diamond of Dirt Tracks”, the Mike Ward Motorsports No. 88 led start-to-finish in Friday’s Protect the Harvest A-Feature event.
Challenged in the final laps by Jeff Swindell, the R&A Farms No. 94 slipped a nose under Crawley with two laps to run, “When you start on the pole, sometimes it’s your race to lose. You just can’t really tell what’s going on behind you.” commented Crawley. “I think the top just go so far around and I saw Jeff’s nose get underneath me – I done led this whole thing and I wanted this trophy real bad so I was going to get it back in front.”
Taking to the cushion, Crawley took off to a half straight-a-way advantage.
Racing for second, Jeff Swindell and Wayne Johnson exchanged slide-jobs for a bit as the pair starting to close before a caution brought the field single file on Lap 13 for Aaron Reutzel who stopped atop turn four with heavy smoke and fire under the hood of the No. 87.
Aaron was ok, and was scored twenty-second.
With clear racetrack and a lapped car between himself and Swindell, the three time National Champion again jumped to a commanding lead. Racing to the back-markers on Lap 18, Crawley’s advantage shrunk as Swindell worked the bottom line.
Showing his nose to Crawley, the No. 94 shot nearly even exiting the second turn. Holding for a moment, Crawley’s run off the cushion was more than the low side could handle.
Changing up his line, Crawley split lapped cars on the final lap for the win while Wayne Johnson snuck by for second, “Just to be locked in here is great. Jesse was a good friend of mine, and this means we have a shot tomorrow. We get to start in the first four rows of this thing, but we need to work on this car. It was dragging the left-rear too much on entry, and taking way too long to get going but hats off to Crawley, he was rolling there.”
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. also worked by the No. 94 on the final lap to claim the final podium step. Asked about the race with Swindell on the final lap, Swindell replied, “I thought he was going to stick to the bottom there, but I think his line just went away there. He tried to pinch it down into three, which is what you’re supposed to do, but I think Johnny was coming there too and made it all that harder to pull back around.”
From tenth, Johnny Herrera did work by for the final transfer into Saturday’s A-Feature. Jeff Swindell ended up completing the top five.
Brad Loyet settled for sixth with Jack Dover seventh. Roger Crockett crossed eighth with Jonathan Cornell ninth from thirteenth in the Elk Grove Ford No. 17. After taking a provisional into the A-Feature, Tony Bruce, Jr. climbed from twenty-forth to complete the top ten.
A field of 49 drivers broke into six Heat Races with Tim Crawley, Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Harli White, Jason Johnson, Roger Crockett, and Johnny Herrera each earning wins. A pair of B-Features went to Derek Hagar and Seth Bergman. Provisionals were utilized by Tony Bruce, Jr. and Matt Covington.
The Speedway Motors Warrior Region saw Jonathan Cornell garner high points. Brian Brown, Kyle Bellm, Adam Jones, and Danny Thoman were the top five point earners.
The fourth annual Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial continues Saturday, September 27 with races getting underway at 6:30 P.M. (CT). For more information, log onto http://www.lucasoilspeedway.com.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, Mo.
4th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial
Friday, September 26, 2014
Car Count: 49
SpeedMart Heat Races (8 laps): Winners plus the next 10 highest in Passing Points transfer to the A-Feature.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley[4]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[6]; 3. 5-Matt Close[2]; 4. 1A-Adam Jones[5]; 5. 1-Sean McClelland[8]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[9]; 7. 34-Corey Nelson[7]; 8. (DNF) 5M-Miranda Arnold[1]; 9. (DNF) 92J-J.R. Topper[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 77X-Wayne Johnson[4]; 3. 72X-Josh Fisher[1]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 5. 82-Dusty Zomer[3]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[7]; 7. 4-Evan Martin[6]; 8. 88X-J Kinder[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White[2]; 2. 93-Dustin Morgan[3]; 3. 17WX-Jonathan Cornell[5]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 5. 14-Randy Martin[6]; 6. 81A-Chris Morgan[8]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 8. 76-Jay Russell[1]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[2]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman[1]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar[4]; 4. 1M-Danny Lasoski[5]; 5. 14S-Jarrod Schneiderman[3]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 7. 20K-Kevin Ulmer[6]; 8. 93W-Taylor Walton[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Roger Crockett[1]; 2. 27-Danny Thoman[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[7]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[5]; 5. 3H-Brandon Hanks[6]; 6. 2A-Randy Hibbs[4]; 7. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[8]; 8. 99-Andrew Turley[3]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 2. 53-Jack Dover[4]; 3. 9M-Cody Baker[2]; 4. 86-Kyle Bellm[8]; 5. 85-Cody Forshee[3]; 6. 24-Lanny Carpenter[5]; 7. (DNF) 3Z-Zach Davis[6]; 8. (DNF) 16-Anthony Nicholson[7]
Smiley’s Racing Products B-Features (12 laps): Top 3 from each advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[1]; 2. 1M-Danny Lasoski[4]; 3. 1A-Adam Jones[3]; 4. 75-Tyler Blank[8]; 5. 14-Randy Martin[6]; 6. 16-Anthony Nicholson[15]; 7. 81A-Chris Morgan[7]; 8. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[5]; 9. 88X-J Kinder[14]; 10. 14S-Jarrod Schneiderman[9]; 11. 4-Evan Martin[12]; 12. 5M-Miranda Arnold[16]; 13. 5-Matt Close[2]; 14. (DNF) 24-Lanny Carpenter[10]; 15. (DNF) 2A-Randy Hibbs[11]; DNS 3Z-Zach Davis; DNS 92J-J.R. Topper
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[5]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 4. 72X-Josh Fisher[4]; 5. 9M-Cody Baker[2]; 6. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[10]; 7. 3H-Brandon Hanks[6]; 8. 82-Dusty Zomer[8]; 9. 93W-Taylor Walton[14]; 10. 34-Corey Nelson[11]; 11. 85-Cody Forshee[9]; 12. 20K-Kevin Ulmer[12]; 13. 99-Andrew Turley[15]; 14. (DNF) 1-Sean McClelland[1]; DNS 95-Matt Covington; DNS 76-Jay Russell
Protect the Harvest A-Feature (25 Laps): Top 4 lock into Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley[1]; 2. 77X-Wayne Johnson[2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[10]; 5. 94-Jeff Swindell[5]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 7. 53-Jack Dover[8]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett[9]; 9. 17WX-Jonathan Cornell[13]; 10. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[24]; 11. 41-Jason Johnson[6]; 12. 9JR-Derek Hagar[17]; 13. 21-Brian Brown[20]; 14. 17W-Harli White[3]; 15. 17-Josh Baughman[16]; 16. 86-Kyle Bellm[11]; 17. 23-Seth Bergman[18]; 18. 52-Blake Hahn[22]; 19. 93-Dustin Morgan[12]; 20. 95-Matt Covington[23]; 21. 1A-Adam Jones[21]; 22. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel[14]; 23. (DNF) 1M-Danny Lasoski[19]; 24. (DNF) 27-Danny Thoman[15]
Lap Leader(s): Tim Crawley 1-25
KSE Hard Charger: Tony Bruce, Jr. +14
FSR High Point: Tim Crawley
Hawk Performance A-Feature Fastest Lap: Tim Crawley – 13.899 seconds
CSI Rebound: J.R. Topper
Provisional(s): Tony Bruce, Jr. (BP2), Matt Covington (BP1)