Park City, KS — (March 25, 2016) — Derek Hagar outlasted windy conditions, a tough field of competitors and a slew of late-race restarts to win the first-ever GoMuddy.com National Sprint League 360 Sprint Car Series race on Friday at 81 Speedway.
Hagar started the 25-lap Park City Cup/Air Capital Shootout main event on the outside of the front row after earning the second-most points out of 45 drivers through heat race and qualifier competition. He quickly capitalized on the starting position by beating polesitter John Carney II into turn one on the opening lap.
With wind blasting the track throughout the night it made for a tricky surface that Hagar mastered while in the lead. He entered traffic on Lap 14 before surviving four cautions in the final seven laps, including the final yellow flag as Hagar and Danny Wood raced side by side through turns three and four on the final lap.
Hagar got a strong restart and powered away from Wood to claim Night 1 of the event, which concludes on Saturday with a $10,000-to-win main event.
“It seemed like it took forever, but it all worked out,” Hagar said in his postrace interview. “I knew I had to outsmart (Wood) on that restart so I changed up my routine a bit. We just need to do it tomorrow night when it counts for that $10,000.”
Wood took advantage of a lengthy red flag on Lap 20 for a three-car incident in turn three involving J.D. Johnson, Harli White and Cody Ledger. Crews were allowed to make adjustments while the accident scene was cleaned up and Wood’s adjustments helped him quickly advance into second place on the restart by racing a lane higher on the track than Carney II.
Wood then tried the similar lane on the track in the closing laps in a bid for the lead and he pulled even with Hagar in turn three on the final lap before the caution.
“It’s one of those deals,” Wood said. “It’s luck whether you have it sometimes. I thought we could have had it. We changed the car a bit (during the red flag) and we made it a little better and was able to charge.”
Carney II held onto third place despite a problem with his brakes to cap a night that began with a rally from ninth to second place in a heat race and from sixth to win a qualifier.
Justin Henderson finished fourth and Brian Brown maneuvered from 11th to a fifth-place result.
Forrest Sutherland, Zach Daum, C.J. Johnson, Lee Grosz and Thomas Kennedy each won a heat race with Carney II, Hagar, Henderson and Wood winning qualifiers. Lou Kennedy Jr. and Taylor Velasquez both claimed a B Main.
Saturday’s $10,000-to-win event, which is co-sanctioned with the GoMuddy.com NCRA/NSL 360 Region, is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. – one hour earlier than advertised. The cost is only $20 for grandstand admission.
Fans unable to attend the event can watch live Pay-Per-View by visiting http://www.SpeedShiftTV.com.
GoMuddy.com National Sprint League 360 Sprint Car Series Race Report: 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan., on March 25, 2016 –
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps): 1. 85-Forrest Sutherland (1); 2. 33l-Danny Lasoski (3); 3. E85-Tony Bruce Jr. (5); 4. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (2); 5. 10c-Jeremy Campbell (6); 6. 20-Luke Cranston (9); 7. 33-Kris Miller (7); 8. 6-Kaden Taylor (8); 9. 50-Randy Woodside (4).
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps): 1. 75k-Zach Daum (2); 2. 24bh-Justin Henderson (3); 3. 9jr-Derek Hagar (9); 4. 98-J.D. Johnson (4); 5. 2-Parker Price-Miller (8); 6. 40-Howard Moore (6); 7. 76-Jay Russell (5); 8. 1-Sean McClelland (7); 9. 31b-Sheldon Haudenschild (1).
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps): 1. 45x-C.J. Johnson (2); 2. 81w-Danny Wood (3); 3. 21k-Lou Kennedy Jr. (9); 4. 17w-Harli White (5); 5. 72-Ray Seemann (6); 6. 47-Brant O’Bannion (8); 7. 20g-Jake Greider (1); 8. 51-Josh Fairbank (7); 9. 75-Tommy Barber (4).
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps): 1. 4jx-Lee Grosz (3); 2. 4j-John Carney II (9); 3. 18-Ian Madsen (6); 4. 1x-Don Droud Jr. (5); 5. 91-Jeff Stasa (7); 6. 81s-Stu Snyder (4); 7. 28-Tracey Hill (8); 8. 14-Josh Riggins (2); 9. 29-Josh Stevenson (1).
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps): 1. 20k-Thomas Kennedy (1); 2. 9n-Wade Nygaard (2); 3. 81a-Chris Morgan (3); 4. 86-Tyler Thomas (6); 5. 21-Brian Brown (8); 6. 35l-Cody Ledger (5); 7. 50z-Zach Chappell (4); 8. 14m-Jordon Mallett (9); 9. 81-Jon Freeman (7).
Qualifier #1 (12 Laps): 1. 4j-John Carney II (6); 2. 21-Brian Brown (2); 3. E85-Tony Bruce Jr. (3); 4. 20k-Thomas Kennedy (4); 5. 91-Jeff Stasa (1); 6. 35l-Cody Ledger (8); 7. 14m-Jordon Mallett (9); 8. 51-Josh Fairbank (10); 9. 20-Luke Cranston (7); 10. 81-Jon Freeman (11); 11. 75k-Zach Daum (5); 12. 50-Randy Woodside (DNS).
Qualifier #2 (12 Laps): 1. 9jr-Derek Hagar (6); 2. 9n-Wade Nygaard (3); 3. 98-J.D. Johnson (1); 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson (5); 5. 81a-Chris Morgan (2); 6. 75-Tommy Barber (11); 7. 76-Jay Russell (9); 8. 20g-Jake Greider (10); 9. 47-Brant O’Banion (7); 10. 28-Tracey Hill (8); 11. 33l-Danny Lasoski (4).
Qualifier #3 (12 Laps): 1. 24bh-Justin Henderson (4); 2. 86-Tyler Thomas (3); 3. 10c-Jeremy Campbell (7); 4. 18-Ian Madsen (5); 5. 81s-Stu Snyder (8); 6. 72-Ray Seemann (1); 7. 17w-Harli White (2); 8. 50z-Zach Chappell (9); 9. 21k-Lou Kennedy Jr. (6); 10. 6-Kaden Taylor (10); 11. 31b-Sheldon Haudenschild (DNS).
Qualifier #4 (12 Laps): 1. 81w-Danny Wood (4); 2. 1x-Don Droud Jr. (2); 3. 2-Parker Price-Miller (3); 4. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (1); 5. 4jx-Lee Grosz (6); 6. 40-Howard Moore (7); 7. 85-Forrest Sutherland (5); 8. 1-Sean McCelland (9); 9. 14-Josh Riggins (10); 10. 33-Kris Miller (8); 11. 29-Brandon Stevenson (DNS).
B Main #1 (12 Laps/Top 4 Transfer): 1. 21k-Lou Kennedy Jr. (1); 2. 35l-Cody Ledger (4); 3. 81s-Stu Snyder (3); 4. 72-Ray Seemann (5); 5. 20g-Jake Greider (10); 6. 14m-Jordon Mallett (7); 7. 33-Kris Miller (12); 8. 47-Brant O’Bannion (9); 9. 75-Tommy Barber (6); 10. 6-Kaden Taylor (13); 11. 81a-Chris Morgan (13); 12. 33l-Danny Lasoski (DNS); 13. 1-Sean McClelland (DNS); 14. 31b-Sheldon Haudenschild (DNS); 15. 50-Randy Woodside (DNS).
B Main #2 (12 Laps/Top 4 Transfer): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (2); 2. 40-Howard Moore (4); 3. 91-Jeff Stasa (3); 4. 17w-Harli White (5); 5. 50z-Zach Chappell (10); 6. 51-Josh Fairbank (9); 7. 81-Jon Freeman (13); 8. 76-Jay Russell (7); 9. 28-Tracey Hill (11); 10. 14-Josh Riggins (12); 11. 20-Luke Cranston (8); 12. 85-Forrest Sutherland (1); 13. 75-Zach Daum (6); 14. 29-Brandon Stevenson (DNS).
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9jr-Derek Hagar (2); 2. 81w-Danny Wood (4); 3. 4j-John Carney II (1); 4. 24bh-Justin Henderson (3); 5. 21-Brian Brown (11); 6. 45x-C.J. Johnson (6); 7. 9n-Wade Nygaard (5); 8. E85-Tony Bruce Jr. (10); 9. 1x-Don Droud Jr. (13); 10. 86-Tyler Thomas (7); 11. 4jx-Lee Grosz (8); 12. 21k-Lou Kennedy Jr. (17); 13. 2-Parker Price-Miller (15); 14. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (18); 15. 91-Jeff Stasa (22); 16. 17w-Harli White (24); 17. 72-Ray Seemann (23); 18. 20k-Thomas Kennedy (12); 19. 81s-Stu Snyder (21); 20. 98-J.D. Johnson (16); 21. 10c-Jeremy Campbell (14); 22. 35l-Cody Ledger (19); 23. 18-Ian Madsen (9); 24. 40-Howard Moore (20). Laps led: Derek Hagar 1-25.
(The top 24 in passing and finishing points in the heat races were inverted in the qualifiers. The top 16 in overall passing and finishing points following the qualifiers locked into the A Main.)