By Andrew Kunas
BELGRADE, Mont. – Phil Dietz continued his march toward a fifth Montana sprint car championship by claiming the checkered flag in Friday’s ASCS Frontier Region main event at Gallatin Speedway, earning his second victory of the year.
The Laurel, Montana driver padded his points lead, now 235 tallies over Billings driver David Hoiness, with his first victory at the 3/10-mile clay oval since July 2013. Dietz’s first 2015 win came in June at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls. He led all 25 laps aboard the Dietz Prevost Racing No. 72 Kistler-powered Maxim.
A spin on the initial start by pole sitter Bryan Brown put Hoiness on the inside front row alongside Dietz for the complete restart. Hoiness initially had the better start and took the lead going into Turn 1, only to slide up the race track and well off the racing groove, allowing several cars to get by. That allowed Dietz to motor away, and he was not challenged the entire way from there.
Dietz was the ASCS Frontier Region series champion in its inaugural season in 2013, but also won three other championships under various banners before then in Montana.
Two weeks after winning at Gallatin Speedway, Travis Rilat of Forney, Texas took the Richard Saumure No. 39 Shark-powered Maxim from the eighth starting position to take the runner-up spot at the same track. Rilat, driving an Alberta-based car, has a win and two runner-up finishes in three starts with the ASCS Frontier Region over the last two weeks.
Coming from the ninth starting position, Joe Perry of Billings piloted his father Chuck’s No. 28 Santos & Sons-powered Maxim to a podium finish. After his earlier mishap, Hoiness recovered to finish fourth in his family’s No. 27DD Wesmar-powered J&J. After a pair of cars failed to start Billings driver Josh Ostermiller officially started 17th and came up to score a Top 5 finish, earning hard charger honors Friday evening.
Jeremy McCune, Skylar Gee, Brown, Tristen Spiers and Jerry Brown rounded out the Top 10.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Trever Kirkland, Dietz and Gee. Gee’s run from fourth place to win the third and final heat race of the evening gave him top passing points honors with a score of 115. In the Top 8 re-draw he drew the fourth starting position for the main. Bryan Brown, who was the eighth and final driver in the re-draw, had the pole position left over for him.
The ASCS Frontier Region next races Saturday at Billings Motorsports Park, where Hoiness won his third main event of the season just two weeks ago. The series returns to Gallatin Speedway on Saturday, September 12th for the annual Big Sky Supernationals.
The Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series, presented in part by Speedmart Inc. is a winged 360 dirt sprint car tour racing around the state of Montana and beyond. More information on the ASCS Frontier Region can be found online at frontier.ascsracing.com or you can follow the series on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ascsfrontier. The national website of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by MAVTV Motorsports Network is www.ascsracing.com.
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American Sprint Car Series – Frontier Region
Gallatin Speedway
Belgrade, MT
August 14, 2015
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
21 cars
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 37 Trever Kirkland, 2. 27DD David Hoiness, 3. 28 Joe Perry, 4. 51t Tristen Spiers, 5. 98 Joe Ramaker, 6. 00 Roger Cummings, DNS – 12 Josh Ostermiller.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 72 Phil Dietz, 2. 0J Jeremy McCune, 3. 39c Travis Rilat, 4. 38 Jerry Brown, 5. 81 Darren Smith, 6. 3m Shane Moore, 7. 24 Leroy Brush.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 99 Skylar Gee, 2. 38b Bryan Brown, 3. 4 Junior Nelson, 4. 4n Johnny Nelson, 5. 34 Rob Matherly, DNS – 12p Randy Pierce, 22 Chris Roberts.
High points score: 99 Skylar Gee, 115
Feature (25 laps): 1. 72 Phil Dietz, 2. 39c Travis Rilat, 3. 28 Joe Perry, 4. 27DD David Hoiness, 5. 12 Josh Ostermiller, 6. 0J Jeremy McCune, 7. 99 Skylar Gee, 8. 38b Bryan Brown, 9. 51t Tristan Spiers, 10. 38 Jerry Brown, 11. 00 Roger Cummings, 12. 22 Chris Roberts, 13. 4n Johnny Nelson, 14. 24 Leroy Brush (DNF), 15. 3m Shane Moore (DNF), 16. 37 Trever Kirkland (DNF), 17. 81 Darren Smith (DNF), 18. 4 Junior Nelson (DNF). DNS – 12p Randy Pierce, 34 Rob Matherly, 98 Joe Ramaker.
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ASCS Frontier Region
Top 10 points (after 8/14)
1. Phil Dietz, 1828
2. David Hoiness, 1593
3. Skylar Gee, 1555
4. Bryan Brown, 1423
5. J.J. Hickle, 1416
6. Josh Ostermiller, 1361
7. Jeremy McCune, 1252
8. Trever Kirkland, 1170
9. Kelly Miller, 1135
10. Joe Perry, 1129