From Bryan Hulbert
WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 21, 2017) – With a set of Hockett style donuts through the third and fourth turns of the Lucas Oil Speedway, Sammy Swindell put an exclamation point on his 13th career victory against the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, and first at the “Diamond of Dirt Tracks” to kick off the 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial.
Race No. 900 for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, Sammy won by several car lengths over early race leader, Aaron Reutzel. While slower traffic came into play at the end of the race, it was not enough to give the No. 87 a fighting chance.
“I knew we had a good car, and as long as somebody didn’t take me out or something, it was going to be okay. There was one lapped car at the end that didn’t want to get passed, but it didn’t stop me,” commented Swindell, who is the 15th different winner in National Tour competition in 2017.
Bettering his finish from one year ago by one during the Hockett/McMillin Memorial opener, the triumph for Swindell brings a big relief in a season of extreme ups and downs, “We’ve struggled a little bit with some things. We lost our good engine we had last year, so we’re going between two other ones and got this one where it’s rolling pretty good. Over the last few weeks, we found what it likes, but we have a good racecar. We just needed the chance to prove it. I feel like we should have about 10 or 12 wins this year, but things have happened.”
Rolling off seventh on the start, Swindell was quick to jump to the front with a ferocious battle in the opening laps with Wayne Johnson and Blake for the third spot as Aaron Reutzel pulled to a sizable advantage. Racing with Hahn, the No. 52 would end up going around in the first and second turns to draw the caution on Lap 6.
Restarting with Aaron Reutzel and Miles Paulus occupying the first two spots, the restart saw Swindell and Johnson going slide for slide past the No. 21 with each answering the other’s bid for the silver until the caution again flew on Lap 9 as Paulus rolled to a stop on the front stretch. Seeing his 3.070-second lead evaporate, Reutzel committed to the cushion as Swindell worked the hub of the Lucas Oil Speedway. With the low line coming in, Sammy had Aaron in his sights, and off the fourth turn working Lap 12, the A.G. Rains owned No. 3s bolted to the race lead.
From there, Swindell slowly marched away from the field for his fourth overall score the 2017 season. Johnson and Reutzel exchanged second for a few laps before Aaron gained the advantage with Wayne setting for the show position.
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. raced from 10th to fourth with Jason Martin fifth. Racing around the top five most of the A-Feature, Derek Hagar ended up sixth with Johnny Herrera seventh after starting 12th. Brad Loyet eighth was trailed by Jeff Swindell with 2017 ASCS Warrior Region Champion, Jonathan Cornell, making up the top-ten.
In event points following Thursday’s festivities, Sammy Swindell leads with 194 markers of a possible 200. Aaron Reutzel is second with 189, followed by Wayne Johnson (179), Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (170), and Jason Martin (169) to make up the top-five.
A field of 55 drivers was on hand to open the 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial with seven Heat Races won by John Carney II, Wade Nygaard, Harli White, Johnny Herrera, Aaron Reutzel, Wayne Johnson, and Miles Paulus. Qualifiers were topped by Sammy Swindell, Matt Covington, Derek Hagar, and Sam Hafertepe, Jr. B-Main wins went to Tony Bruce, Jr., Dustin Morgan, and Seth Bergman. One provisional was used by Harli White.
The 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial continues on Friday, September 22, 2017 with Hot Laps at 5:45 P.M. (CDT). 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 races across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com. Make sure to like the American Sprint Car Series on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LucasOilASCS, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/LucasOilASCS, and check out our Instagram @LucasOilASCS.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Warrior Region
7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial – Night 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Car Count: 55
Heat Races (Top 40 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11X-John Carney II, [2]; 2. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [1]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [4]; 4. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [3]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman, [8]; 6. 22S-Sean McClelland, [5]; 7. 81A-Chris Morgan, [7]; 8. 92J-J.R. Topper, [6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [2]; 2. 36-Jason Martin, [1]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell, [7]; 4. 93-Dustin Morgan, [5]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell, [4]; 6. 44M-Chris Martin, [3]; 7. 44-Jared Sewell, [6]; (DNS) 49B-Ben Brown,
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [8]; 3. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [6]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton, [5]; 5. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [1]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox, [3]; 7. 12S-Carson McCarl, [7]; 8. (DNF) 0-Ned Powers, [2]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [2]; 2. 81-Jack Dover, [7]; 3. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [1]; 4. 18-Ryan Roberts, [4]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [8]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, [5]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [6]; 8. 3Z-Zach Davis, [3]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Brandon Hanks; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel; 3. 34-Corey Nelson; 4. 4-Evan Martin; 5. 57-TJ Artz; 6. 85-Forrest Sutherland; 7. 52-Blake Hahn; 8. 21R-Andrew Deal
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 2. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 3. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, [6]; 5. 2-Kyle Sauder, [8]; 6. 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [1]; 7. 22-Dustin Barks, [7]; 8. 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [5]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Miles Paulus, [4]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet, [1]; 3. 17-Josh Baughman, [7]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee, [2]; 5. 27-Danny Thoman, [5]; 6. 9M-Tyler Blank, [6]; 7. 11G-Mike Goodman, [3]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks, [2]; 5. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [8]; 6. 22S-Sean McClelland, [10]; 7. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [6]; 8. 21R-Andrew Deal, [7]; 9. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 10. 27-Danny Thoman, [9]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet, [2]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell, [5]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [4]; 5. 2-Kyle Sauder, [7]; 6. 81-Jack Dover, [6]; 7. 18-Ryan Roberts, [8]; 8. 8-Alex Sewell, [9]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton, [10]; 10. (DNF) 84B-Scott Bogucki, [3]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [1]; 4. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [3]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman, [5]; 6. 93-Dustin Morgan, [7]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [6]; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [9]; 9. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [8]; 10. 44M-Chris Martin, [10]
Qualifier 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [1]; 2. 36-Jason Martin, [3]; 3. 21-Miles Paulus, [6]; 4. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [4]; 5. 11X-John Carney II, [5]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, [8]; 7. 4-Evan Martin, [2]; 8. 9M-Tyler Blank, [9]; 9. 7M-Chance Morton, [7]; 10. 26M-Fred Mattox, [10]
BMRS B-Main (Top 2 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [2]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks, [3]; 3. 11X-John Carney II, [1]; 4. 22S-Sean McClelland, [4]; 5. 27-Danny Thoman, [8]; 6. 22-Dustin Barks, [10]; 7. 4-Evan Martin, [5]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill, [11]; 9. 7M-Chance Morton, [6]; 10. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [7]; 11. 34-Corey Nelson, [9]; 12. 3Z-Zach Davis, [13]; 13. 92J-J.R. Topper, [12]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan, [3]; 2. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [2]; 3. 21R-Andrew Deal, [5]; 4. 18-Ryan Roberts, [4]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [1]; 6. 44M-Chris Martin, [8]; 7. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [6]; 8. 57-TJ Artz, [12]; 9. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [7]; 10. 81A-Chris Morgan, [9]; 11. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [11]; 12. 0-Ned Powers, [13]; 13. (DNF) 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [10]
B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [1]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, [3]; 3. 2-Kyle Sauder, [2]; 4. 9M-Tyler Blank, [6]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 6. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 7. 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [12]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton, [7]; 9. 26M-Fred Mattox, [8]; 10. 44-Jared Sewell, [10]; 11. 11G-Mike Goodman, [11]; 12. 12S-Carson McCarl, [9]; 13. 49B-Ben Brown, [13]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [7]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [2]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [10]; 5. 36-Jason Martin, [8]; 6. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [5]; 7. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [12]; 8. 05-Brad Loyet, [11]; 9. 94-Jeff Swindell, [4]; 10. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [15]; 11. 52-Blake Hahn, [6]; 12. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [14]; 13. 95-Matt Covington, [9]; 14. 99-Skylar Gee, [22]; 15. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [21]; 16. 17-Josh Baughman, [16]; 17. 93-Dustin Morgan, [18]; 18. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks, [20]; 19. (DNF) 23-Seth Bergman, [19]; 20. (DNF) 17W-Harli White, [23]; 21. (DNF) 21-Miles Paulus, [1]; 22. (DNF) 81-Jack Dover, [13]; 23. (DNF) 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [17]
Lap Leader(s): Aaron Reutzel 1-11; Sammy Swindell 12-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Skylar Gee +8
FSR High Point Driver: Miles Paulus
Provisional(s): Harli White