West Memphis, AR — (May 2, 2015) — In a race with five different leaders, the 7th annual Eagle Motorsports Rock ‘N Roll 50 presented by MyRacePass.com saw Washington’s Seth Bergman charge from 12th to win for his second career victory at the famed Riverside International Speedway.
Winded after the 50 lap affair, Seth Bergman’s win is his first of the season with the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real, and matches Tim Crawley as the only other two-time winner of the Rock ‘N Roll 50.
“I was really bad at the begging of this deal. We tightened the car up way too much and I was actually worried we were going to go a lap down before that first caution came out so I just told myself – man up, put this thing on the fence, and if you bring it back on the Wrecker, at least you know you tried – and I’m pretty sure I bounced it off every piece of wall out here.”
Taking off following a false start, Aaron Reutzel jumped around fellow front row starter Anthony Nicholson for the lead. Starting to find slower traffic in the early laps, Reutzel came under fire from Tim Crawley for the lead; relinquishing the top spot on the seventh round.
Caution on Lap 19 for Brandon Hanks, the lead battle had shifted as Reutzel faded to fourth, allowing Blake Hahn and Johnny Herrera to second and third. Regrouping on the restart, Reutzel worked back into the lead battle; trading slide jobs with Tim Crawley and Blake Hahn before Hahn found the wall exiting turn-two on Lap 37.
Restarting fifth, Bergman rode the wall at either end of “The Ditch”, moving by Crawley on Lap 39 and setting sights on Reutzel as the red flew the following lap for the No. 8z of Zach Pringle who flipped in the first turn. Zach was okay.
Under red, Reutzel saw his night take a turn as the right rear went flat. Along with Johnny Herrera, the pair ended up in the work area. Handing Seth Bergman the race lead, it was not wasted as Seth drove to a 1.530 second advantage over Tim Crawley for the win.
“Sometimes when you’re leading, you just don’t know what’s going on behind you and you’re just a sitting Duck,” commented Crawley on the runner-up finish after leading the lion’s share of the night’s 50 laps. “Once they showed they’d moved up some, and I tried it but I was so tight trying to get in against the wall, I was struggling up there. So second; again.”
Utilizing the restart on Lap 40, Wayne Johnson made the charge from fifth to round out the night’s podium, “We were really good early in the race there, and I really thought we were going to have something for these guys but then Johnny got to having that flat there and kind of got wide and it messed me up and that’s when Bergman got by me. Not making excuses the car was good, just had a third place car evidently.”
Matt Covington crossed fourth with Mississippi’s Dale Howard completing the top-five after starting 14th.
With fresh rubber on the right rear, Aaron Reutzel put on a clinic from deep in the field to grab sixth in the final ten laps, putting the No. 87 to a 78 point advantage over Johnny Herrera in the championship standings.
Earning the final transfer into the night’s A-Feature, event promoter, Tony Bruce, Jr. was the night’s Hard Charger from 21st to seventh. Kyle Bellm from 15th crossed the line eighth with Marshall Skinner and Anthony Nicholson completing the top-ten.
The night saw 36 drivers drawing in with five Heat Races going to Anthony Nicholson, Tim Crawley, Derek Hagar, Wayne Johnson, and Matt Covington. A pair of B-Features went to A.G. Rains and Andy McElhannon.
The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real is Thursday, May 7 at Lakeside Speedway with the McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic. Tickets are on sale at http://www.racinboys.com.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
7th annual Eagle Motorsports Rock ‘N Roll 50
Riverside International Speedway – West Memphis, Ark.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Car Count: 36
Heat Races (8 Laps, taking the winners plus the next 11 highest in Passing Points into the A-Feature. Top eight in points will redraw)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Anthony Nicholson[4]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 3. 47-Dale Howard[3]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 5. 32B-Taylor Tidmore[6]; 6. 91-Steven Russell[5]; 7. 21-Kevin Hinkle[2]; 8. (DNF) 17G-Cody Gardner[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley[2]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 3. 14K-Kyle Bellm[3]; 4. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[6]; 5. 5-Jerod Roller[5]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[7]; 7. 43-Matthew Bauldwin[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[4]; 3. 44-Ronny Howard[2]; 4. 3-A.G. Rains[3]; 5. 15-Jeremy Middleton[1]; 6. 33-Kris Miller[6]; 7. 2-Brandon Kilpatrick[5]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 77X-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 31-Justin Webb[2]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell[3]; 4. 42-Andy McElhannon[4]; 5. (DNF) 8Z-Zach Pringle[6]; 6. (DNF) 27-Curt Terrell[5]; 7. (DNF) 39-Brad Bowden[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. 26-Marshall Skinner[3]; 3. 3H-Brandon Hanks[1]; 4. 14-Jordon Mallett[7]; 5. 1-Eddie Gallagher[6]; 6. 92-Jordan Weaver[5]; 7. 6-Sean Hosey[4]
B-Features (12 Laps, taking the top 3 from each)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 42-Andy McElhannon[2]; 2. 44-Ronny Howard[1]; 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[5]; 4. 39-Brad Bowden[8]; 5. 32B-Taylor Tidmore[3]; 6. 1-Eddie Gallagher[4]; 7. 33-Kris Miller[6]; 8. 27-Curt Terrell[7]; 9. 43-Matthew Bauldwin[9]; 10. 21-Kevin Hinkle[10]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 3-A.G. Rains[2]; 2. 8Z-Zach Pringle[3]; 3. 3H-Brandon Hanks[1]; 4. 5-Jerod Roller[4]; 5. 17G-Cody Gardner[10]; 6. 15-Jeremy Middleton[5]; 7. 91-Steven Russell[6]; 8. 2-Brandon Kilpatrick[8]; 9. 6-Sean Hosey[9]; 10. (DNF) 92-Jordan Weaver[7]
***A-Feature (50 Laps)
A Feature (50 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[12]; 2. 88-Tim Crawley[3]; 3. 77X-Wayne Johnson[7]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 5. 47-Dale Howard[14]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 7. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[21]; 8. 14K-Kyle Bellm[15]; 9. 26-Marshall Skinner[9]; 10. 16-Anthony Nicholson[2]; 11. 3-A.G. Rains[18]; 12. 94-Jeff Swindell[16]; 13. 42-Andy McElhannon[17]; 14. 45X-Johnny Herrera[6]; 15. 14-Jordon Mallett[10]; 16. 9JR-Derek Hagar[8]; 17. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[13]; 18. 31-Justin Webb[11]; 19. 33-Kris Miller[23]; 20. (DNF) 8Z-Zach Pringle[20]; 21. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 22. (DNF) 44-Ronny Howard[19]; 23. (DNF) 3H-Brandon Hanks[22]
Lap Leader(s): Aaron Reutzel 1-2; 4-6, 39-40; Anthony Nicholson 3; Tim Crawley 7-37; Blake Hahn 38; Seth Bergman 41-50;
Hard Charger: Tony Bruce, Jr. +14
FSR High Point of the Night: Derek Hagar