WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 24, 2016) — A race for the ages at Lucas Oil Speedway; Oklahoma’s Wayne Johnson and Tennessee’s Sammy Swindell put on a thriller of a show for Saturday’s $10,000 top prize in the sixth annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
“You know, Jack [Hockett] means the world to me. Connie and everything she’s going through, and everything this family has gone through these last 10 years. They’re all really dear to my heart and I’ve wanted to win this damn race for a long time, but we’ve always sucked here but my buddy up there let us win this one,” exclaimed an jubilant, Wayne Johnson.
Johnson’s second win in as many nights, the City Vending No. 2c led the opening two rounds as Swindell made the pass just as the caution flew. Putting Johnson back to the point, Sammy swapped the cushion for the hub to get the pass off the second turn as the race worked to the fifth lap.
Delayed near the races’ halfway point for a pair of red flags, the first flew for Brian Bell who made hard contact with the fence. The delay to assess the damage resulted in an open red. The next stoppage was shortly after for Thomas Kennedy who biked the car through the first and second turns with damaging results.
In the chaos of reds and restarts, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. advanced to the runner-up spot.
Keeping pace with Swindell, the Lucas Oil ASCS Point’s Leader ran the diamond line. Keeping his momentum up, and holding off any potential slide jobs, Sam kept pace with Sammy for several laps before the veteran racer began to pull away.
Red for one final time in the closing laps for Jason McDougal, who walked away unscathed, the restart would nearly be Hafertepe’s undoing as the car biked hard through turns one and two. Bending the Jacobs Ladder on the No 15h, the misstep allowed Johnson, who has fallen as far back as fifth, the chance to rebound as cars scrambled to avoid Sam. Moving back into second, Wayne rolled to Swindell’s tail tank with four laps to get the job done; and the opportunity was about to present itself.
“I ran the center there and got by [Logan] Forler, and then when Sam messed up, I just set sail and I could see that Sammy was getting real tight on the curb, but everybody was and I just tried something different and entered above it and drove down the hill and hell, that thing just launched.”
Ultimately exchanging the lead four times in the final three rotations, Johnson would finally clear the No. 3s for the top spot coming to the white flag. The margin of victory was 1.661 seconds. While the runner-up finish was far from what Sammy has wanted, Swindell made a statement with three nights on the podium
“If I hadn’t messed up we could have had it. We had a good car and for running no more races than we’ve run, and with this place being a little bit different tonight than it has been, it’s not bad again to have just run these few races and be able to compete for the win every night, but that, we just gave it away really,” stated Swindell.
Running up from eighth, Washington’s Logan Forler brought his Steve Forler Trucking No. 2L home on the final podium step despite having to fight the setup in the closing laps, “It took us three nights to get this thing rolling, and tonight we were really good. I think we really would have been in contention for the win if we hadn’t broke the shocks off when we hit Sam, but everything was great this weekend and we ended up with a solid run.”
Despite the damaged rear suspension, Sam Hafertepe, Jr, was able to rebound from the bike to fourth with Derek Hagar roaring from 18th to complete the top five after winning a B-Feature.
Josh Baughman from 10th finished sixth with Blake Hahn marching to seventh from 13th. Battling early at the front of the field, Jonathan Cornell slipped back an eighth place showing with Brian Brown ninth. Going upside down in his Qualifier, Johnny Herrera had to advance through a B-Feature. With a broken Maxim Chassis to work with, the New Mexico shoe ran from 21st to round out the top-ten.
Overall, the sixth annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial drew 68 drivers to the Lucas Oil Speedway. Saturday’s program included seven heats. Jason McDougal, Brian Bell, Seth Bergman, Brandon Hanks, Zach Chappell, Brad Loyet, and Josh Baughman topped Heat Race action. Qualifiers were won by Thomas Kennedy, Josh Baughman, and Jay Russell. A trio of B-Features went to Aaron Reutzel, Derek Hagar, and Brad Loyet.
Provisionals were used by Kyle Bellm and Danny Thoman.
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network heads for the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. for the next showdown on Saturday, October 1 for the $6,000 to win Fall Brawl.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
ASCS National / ASCS Warrior Region
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, Mo.
6th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial – Night 3
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Car Count: 64
Event Count: 68
ButlerBuilt Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11M-Jason McDougal[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 3. 77X-Alex Hill[3]; 4. 81A-Chris Morgan[6]; 5. 101-Chuck McGillivray[4]; 6. 42-Andy McElhannon[2]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[8]; 8. (DNF) 5J-Jamie Ball[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23B-Brian Bell[5]; 2. 17W-Harli White[1]; 3. 93-Taylor Walton[4]; 4. 92J-J.R. Topper[7]; 5. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[2]; 6. 7H-Brian Gramm[6]; 7. 75E-Broc Elliott[8]; 8. (DNF) 85-Forrest Sutherland[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 3. 53-Jack Dover[6]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]; 5. 87F-Sean McClelland[4]; 6. 49B-Ben Brown[2]; 7. 47-Matt Simpson[3]; 8. 15S-Scott Comstock[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Brandon Hanks[2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 3. 81W-Danny Wood[5]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[3]; 6. 20K-Kevin Ulmer[8]; 7. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox[1]; (DNS) 44K-Kaitlyn Boland
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 50Z-Zach Chappell[2]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[1]; 3. 82-Thomas Kennedy[5]; 4. 38-Cody Baker[7]; 5. 75-Tyler Blank[6]; 6. 3Z-Zach Davis[4]; 7. 72-Ray Seeman[8]; 8. (DNF) 34-Corey Nelson[3]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 2. 3-Nate VanHaaften[2]; 3. 71C-Stacey Alexander[4]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton[8]; 5. 48-Miles Paulus[3]; 6. 27-Danny Thoman[7]; 7. 24C-Lanny Carpenter[5]; 8. (DNF) 44X-Jared Sewell[6]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[1]; 2. 76-Jay Russell[2]; 3. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[4]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[3]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm[5]; 6. 8Z-Zach Pringle[7]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton[6]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 82-Thomas Kennedy[2]; 2. 23B-Brian Bell[6]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[3]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[9]; 5. 17W-Harli White[7]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks[5]; 7. 38-Cody Baker[1]; 8. 71C-Stacey Alexander[8]; 9. 53-Jack Dover[4]; 10. (DNF) 44-Chris Martin[10]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[3]; 2. 3-Nate VanHaaften[1]; 3. 11M-Jason McDougal[4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[10]; 7. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[8]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill[9]; 9. (DNF) 50Z-Zach Chappell[5]; 10. (DNF) 92J-J.R. Topper[2]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Jay Russell[1]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar[2]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 5. 81W-Danny Wood[3]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[10]; 7. 81A-Chris Morgan[8]; 8. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera[6]; 9. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton[9]; 10. (DNF) 93-Taylor Walton[7]
BMRS B-Features (Top 2 finishers transfer to the tail of the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks[3]; 3. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[10]; 4. 81A-Chris Morgan[5]; 5. 7M-Chance Morton[8]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[4]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill[6]; 8. 3-Nate VanHaaften[2]; 9. 85-Forrest Sutherland[16]; 10. 7H-Brian Gramm[11]; 11. 20K-Kevin Ulmer[9]; 12. 49B-Ben Brown[13]; 13. 72-Ray Seeman[12]; 14. (DNF) 47-Matt Simpson[14]; 15. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox[15]; (DNS) 93-Taylor Walton
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[4]; 3. 53-Jack Dover[6]; 4. 81W-Danny Wood[3]; 5. 8M-Kade Morton[13]; 6. 38-Cody Baker[5]; 7. 34-Corey Nelson[16]; 8. 48-Miles Paulus[10]; 9. 17W-Harli White[2]; 10. 20G-Jake Greider[11]; 11. 101-Chuck McGillivray[8]; 12. 3Z-Zach Davis[12]; 13. 27-Danny Thoman[9]; 14. (DNF) 15S-Scott Comstock[14]; 15. (DNF) 92J-J.R. Topper[7]; (DNS) 44X-Jared Sewell
B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[2]; 3. 75-Tyler Blank[3]; 4. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[4]; 5. 8Z-Zach Pringle[8]; 6. 42-Andy McElhannon[11]; 7. 44-Chris Martin[6]; 8. 71C-Stacey Alexander[5]; 9. 5J-Jamie Ball[14]; 10. 87F-Sean McClelland[7]; 11. 75E-Broc Elliott[10]; 12. 24C-Lanny Carpenter[12]; 13. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[9]; 14. 50Z-Zach Chappell[13]; 15. 44K-Kaitlyn Boland[15]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 3S-Sammy Swindell[2]; 3. 2L-Logan Forler[8]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 5. 9JR-Derek Hagar[18]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman[10]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn[13]; 8. 28-Jonathan Cornell[4]; 9. 21-Brian Brown[7]; 10. 45X-Johnny Herrera[21]; 11. 84-Brandon Hanks[20]; 12. 05-Brad Loyet[19]; 13. 86-Tony Bruce Jr[3]; 14. 5D-Zach Daum[22]; 15. 95-Matt Covington[11]; 16. 14K-Kyle Bellm[23]; 17. 76-Jay Russell[14]; 18. 27-Danny Thoman[24]; 19. (DNF) 11M-Jason McDougal[15]; 20. (DNF) 11X-John Carney II[5]; 21. (DNF) 23B-Brian Bell[9]; 22. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel[17]; 23. (DNF) 23-Seth Bergman[16]; 24. (DNF) 82-Thomas Kennedy[12]
Lap Leader(s): Wayne Johnson 1-4, 27, 29-30; Sammy Swindell 5-26, 28
FSR High Point Driver: Brian Bell
Hard Charger: Derek Hagar +13
Provisional(s): Kyle Bellm; Danny Thoman (Regional)