WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (August 24, 2017) – Getting the lead with a slide job on Lap 3, over Derek Hagar and Aaron Reutzel, Arkansas’ Tim Crawley was in a league of his own on Thursday night, as the Mike Ward Racing No. 88 put a whipping on the field at Riverside International Speedway with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
Tim Crawley at speed at Riverside International Speedway where he picked up the win on Thursday with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour. (ASCS / Scott FrazierPhoto)
“I may not run the National Tour anymore, but they still know who Tim Crawley is,” chuckled the three time Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour Champion.
Coming back from a dislocated rib and back issues earlier in the season, Crawley’s win is the fifth time he has done so with the National Tour at “The Ditch”, and the 46th time he has triumphed with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
Asked about the run, Tim replied, “We hit everything real good. I had to kind of stay away from the car and away from Mike [Ward] because we both have a tendency to crank on it and I think if we had, we would have cranked ourselves right out of the ballpark.”
Caution through the opening turns of Thursday’s A-Main, Crawley and Giovanni Scelzi made contact going into the first turn, sending the BDS Motorsports No. 1 spinning to a stop. Scelzi was able to continue.
Finding the tail of the field by Lap 5, Crawley worked through traffic easily as Derek Hagar and Aaron Reutzel traded the runner-up spot. Unfazed by every worsening traffic, Crawley kept the race for second a straightaway behind.
With the feature’s momentum unhindered by cautions, Crawley built a cushion of seven lapped cars before the caution lights finally clicked on for Johnny Herrera, who stopped off the exit of turn-two after contact with the outside concrete.
Back to green with the field reverting to two laps to run, Crawley simply set the cruise.
Using traffic to his advantage on the restart, Derek Hagar snuck by for the runner-up spot with Aaron Reutzel taking the final podium step.
“Getting beat by Tim Crawley here is about like getting beat by Brian Brown at Knoxville. That is nothing to hang your head over,” said Reutzel on the front stretch.
Advancing 10 spots to finish fourth was Marshall Skinner with Brian Bell ending up fifth after having to rebound from a hard hit to the wall. Blake Hahn was sixth with Wayne Johnson seventh. Sammy Swindell moved up from 15th to finish eight with brother, Jeff Swindell, tearing through the field from 22nd to earn the evening’s CP-Carrillo Hard Charger of the Night. Another driver advancing out the BMRS B-Main, Andy McElhannon made up the top-ten.
A field of 31 drivers was on hand with four Heat Races going to Blake Hahn, Ernie Ainsworth, Aaron Reutzel, and Wayne Johnson. The night’s BMRS B-Main was topped by Justin Webb. The FSR Radiator High Point Driver of the Night was Aaron Reutzel. No provisional starts were utilized.
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network races again on Saturday, August 26 at Smoky Mountain Speedway.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven regional tours that make up the over 150 dates across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Mid-South Region
Riverside International Speedway – W. Memphis, Ark.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Car Count: 31
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to the A-Feature)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 2. 88-Tim Crawley, [4]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [6]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, [8]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman, [7]; 6. 12M-Greg Merritt, [1]; 7. 21-Kevin Hinkle, [3]; 8. (DNF) 39-Brad Bowden, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth, [1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [2]; 3. 88R-Cody Gardner, [5]; 4. 26-Marshall Skinner, [6]; 5. 94-Jeff Swindell, [7]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 7. 2H-Wally Henson, [8]; 8. (DNF) 47-Dale Howard, [4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [6]; 2. 23B-Brian Bell, [7]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [5]; 4. 31-Justin Webb, [3]; 5. 44-Ronny Howard, [2]; 6. 51B-Joe B. Miller, [8]; 7. 21B-Brandon Hinkle, [4]; 8. 10K-Richard (Rick) Kahler, [1]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [2]; 2. 40-Howard Moore, [1]; 3. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [6]; 4. 3-Sammy Swindell, [5]; 5. 42-Andy McElhannon, [3]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 7. (DNF) 44C-Chase Howard, [7]
BMRS B-Main (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 31-Justin Webb, [2]; 2. 42-Andy McElhannon, [4]; 3. 2H-Wally Henson, [6]; 4. 17W-Harli White, [8]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, [7]; 6. 94-Jeff Swindell, [1]; 7. 21B-Brandon Hinkle, [11]; 8. 10K-Richard (Rick) Kahler, [15]; 9. 12M-Greg Merritt, [10]; 10. 21-Kevin Hinkle, [12]; 11. (DNF) 44-Ronny Howard, [5]; 12. (DNF) 51B-Joe B. Miller, [3]; (DNS) 39-Brad Bowden, ; (DNS) 47-Dale Howard, ; (DNS) 44C-Chase Howard,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, [3]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [4]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [1]; 4. 26-Marshall Skinner, [14]; 5. 23B-Brian Bell, [5]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn, [6]; 7. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [7]; 8. 3-Sammy Swindell, [15]; 9. 94-Jeff Swindell, [22]; 10. 42-Andy McElhannon, [18]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [11]; 12. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [2]; 13. 40-Howard Moore, [13]; 14. 88R-Cody Gardner, [10]; 15. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth, [8]; 16. 99-Skylar Gee, [21]; 17. 95-Matt Covington, [9]; 18. 23-Seth Bergman, [16]; 19. 31-Justin Webb, [17]; 20. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera, [12]; 21. (DNF) 2H-Wally Henson, [19]; 22. (DNF) 17W-Harli White, [20]
Lap Leader(s): Derek Hagar 1-2; Tim Crawley 3-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Jeff Swindell +13
FSR High Point Driver: Aaron Reutzel
Provisional(s): N/A