Bryan Hulbert
ALGER, Wash. (June 20, 2019) Leading start to finish to open the 48th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino/Resort, Oklahoma’s Blake Hahn became the sixth different winner since 2015 in Dirt Cup competition with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
“Thank you to all the fans for coming out tonight. This is one of my favorite races we go to all year and to top the podium on the first night is a good start to the weekend. Dalton had the car dialed in tonight every time we hit the track. Hopefully, we can do this again tomorrow night,” stated Hahn with the night’s trophy in hand.
With the victory, Hahn has taken over the point’s lead with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network by 28 markers over Sam Hafertepe, Jr. with John Carney II moving back to third over Scott Bogucki with Matt Covington following. All five are within 74 points.
Winning the drag race into the first two turns over Jason Solwold, the Sage Fruit, Co. No. 52 worked high at first before moving near the middle groove the Skagit Speedway. With room to breath over the No. 18 of Solwold, the 2015 Dirt Cup Champion came under fire from Matt Covington as the No. 95 worked the hub of the Skagit Speedway.
Finding Hahn in traffic as the race progressed to the ninth lap, Covington took a shot at the race lead through the third and fourth turns. Unable to clear the No. 52, the nose of the No. 95 was all Blake needed to see to adjust his line to the hub of the Skagit Speedway. Patiently through traffic, Hahn controlled the pace of the A-Feature with tire conservation a top priority.
“I felt the tire start to chatter and that’s about when I saw Matt take a shot underneath me. Luckily I had enough momentum to beat him into the next turn, otherwise, I was running second. After that, I just tried to keep the car as straight as possible and not let traffic put me in a bad position.”
Nose to tail through the top five at one point with the leaders trailing the back of the pack, the leaders spread out momentarily as before the caution flew working Lap 24 for Sam Hafertepe, Jr. with a flat tire. The No. 15h was not able to escape the work area before the A-Feature went back to green.
Pulling away on the restart with two laps to go, Hahn opened his advantage to 2.703 seconds at the drop of the checkered flag. Matt Covington in second was joined on the podium by Jason Solwold. Seth Bergman moved up one to finish fourth with John Carney II making his first appearance at the Skagit Speedway with a fifth-place finish from eighth.
Robbie Price in sixth was followed by Travis Jacobson. Justyn Cox from 12th moved up to finish eighth with Scott Bogucki coming out of the night’s second B-Feature before advancing from 18th to ninth to earn the night’s Hard Charger Award. Chris Schmelzle completed the top ten.
A field of 50 was on hand to open the 48th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino/Resort. Six SCE Gaskets Heat Races were topped by Jake Helsel, Jason Solwold, Seth Bergman, Harli White, Justin Youngquist, and Reece Goetz. Hoosier Tire Qualifiers went to Alex Hill, Blake Hahn, and Garen Linder. A pair of BMRS B-Features was won by Reece Goetz and Scott Bogucki. The Cook’s Contracting Dump Truck Award went to Alex Hill. No Provisionals were allowed.
The 48th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino/Resort continues on Friday, June 21 with gates opening at 5:00 P.M. with racing at 7:00 P.M. (PT). More information on the Skagit Speedway can be found online at http://www.skagitspeedway.com.
For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the nine Regional Tours that make up ASCS Nation in 2019, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV
Summer Thunder Sprint Series
Skagit Speedway (Alger, Wash.)
48th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup – Night 1
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Car Count: 50
SCE Gaskets Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Jake Helsel, [1]; 2. J2-John Carney II, [5]; 3. 21P-Robbie Price, [9]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, [8]; 5. 54J-Joe Lyon, [3]; 6. 18T-Tanner Holmes, [7]; 7. 2-James Setters, [6]; 8. 14B-Bailey Sucich, [4]; 9. 17C-Chris Bullock, [2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Jason Solwold, [2]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 3. 9A-Luke Didiuk, [4]; 4. 88-Travis Reber, [3]; 5. 96AU-Andrew Caruana, [7]; 6. 71-John Stuart, [1]; 7. (DNF) 91C-Chase Goetz, [5]; 8. (DNF) 29W-Steven James, [8]; 9. (DNF) 23P-Steve Parker, [9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 3. 57C-Chris Schmelzle, [2]; 4. 22L-Garen Linder, [5]; 5. F1-Corbin Fauver, [4]; 6. 14-Jordon Mallett, [7]; 7. 96-Greg Hamilton, [6]; 8. 10L-Brock Lemley, [8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White, [1]; 2. 8-Devon Borden, [5]; 3. 77X-Alex Hill, [3]; 4. 44W-Austen Wheatley, [7]; 5. 97R-Jason Reed, [8]; 6. 41-Aaron Willison, [2]; 7. 54-Chris Ochs, [4]; 8. 0-Ashleigh Johnson, [6]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 56-Justin Youngquist, [2]; 2. 33S-Lance Sargent, [1]; 3. 8R-Justin Sanders, [6]; 4. 7-Tyler Thompson, [3]; 5. 8C-Justyn Cox, [8]; 6. 33-Colton Heath, [7]; 7. 11-Roger Crockett, [5]; 8. N8-Nate Vaughn, [4]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 9R-Reece Goetz, [1]; 2. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [4]; 3. 3-J.J. Hickle, [3]; 4. 17-Cam Smith, [6]; 5. 28-Scott Bogucki, [7]; 6. 59-Eric Fisher, [5]; 7. 22X-Travis Jacobson, [8]; 8. (DNF) 6-Breyton Davison, [2]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Heat & Qualifier Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77X-Alex Hill, [1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [3]; 3. 18-Jason Solwold, [5]; 4. 9A-Luke Didiuk, [2]; 5. 21P-Robbie Price, [6]; 6. 57-Jake Helsel, [4]; 7. F1-Corbin Fauver, [8]; 8. 54J-Joe Lyon, [9]; 9. 71-John Stuart, [10]; 10. (DNF) 96AU-Andrew Caruana, [7]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 2. 3-J.J. Hickle, [1]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [4]; 4. 17-Cam Smith, [2]; 5. 28-Scott Bogucki, [7]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes, [8]; 8. 56-Justin Youngquist, [5]; 9. 59-Eric Fisher, [9]; 10. 2-James Setters, [10]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57C-Chris Schmelzle, [1]; 2. 22X-Travis Jacobson, [9]; 3. 44W-Austen Wheatley, [3]; 4. 96-Greg Hamilton, [10]; 5. J2-John Carney II, [6]; 6. 97R-Jason Reed, [2]; 7. (DNF) 88-Travis Reber, [7]; 8. (DNF) 17W-Harli White, [4]; 9. (DNF) 2X-Tucker Doughty, [5]; 10. (DNF) 14-Jordon Mallett, [8]
Qualifier 4 (8 Laps): 1. 22L-Garen Linder, [1]; 2. 8C-Justyn Cox, [2]; 3. 33S-Lance Sargent, [3]; 4. 33-Colton Heath, [8]; 5. 9R-Reece Goetz, [4]; 6. 8-Devon Borden, [6]; 7. 8R-Justin Sanders, [5]; 8. 7-Tyler Thompson, [7]; 9. 41-Aaron Willison, [9]; 10. (DNF) 91C-Chase Goetz, [10]
BMRS B-Feature (Top 3 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 9R-Reece Goetz, [1]; 2. 57-Jake Helsel, [4]; 3. 17-Cam Smith, [3]; 4. 18T-Tanner Holmes, [8]; 5. 56-Justin Youngquist, [5]; 6. 6-Breyton Davison, [16]; 7. 10L-Brock Lemley, [14]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett, [13]; 9. 54J-Joe Lyon, [9]; 10. 9A-Luke Didiuk, [2]; 11. 2-James Setters, [12]; 12. 14B-Bailey Sucich, [15]; 13. 41-Aaron Willison, [11]; 14. (DNF) 17W-Harli White, [6]; 15. (DNF) 59-Eric Fisher, [10]; 16. (DNF) 88-Travis Reber, [7]; 17. (DNF) 29W-Steven James, [17]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki, [3]; 2. 33-Colton Heath, [1]; 3. 96-Greg Hamilton, [2]; 4. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [6]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett, [10]; 6. 7-Tyler Thompson, [8]; 7. N8-Nate Vaughn, [15]; 8. 17C-Chris Bullock, [16]; 9. 0-Ashleigh Johnson, [14]; 10. 71-John Stuart, [11]; 11. 8R-Justin Sanders, [4]; 12. (DNF) 54-Chris Ochs, [13]; 13. (DNF) F1-Corbin Fauver, [7]; 14. (DNF) 96AU-Andrew Caruana, [9]; 15. (DNF) 97R-Jason Reed, [5]; 16. (DNF) 23P-Steve Parker, [17]; 17. (DNF) 91C-Chase Goetz, [12]
A-Feature
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [3]; 3. 18-Jason Solwold, [2]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman, [5]; 5. J2-John Carney II, [8]; 6. 21P-Robbie Price, [4]; 7. 22X-Travis Jacobson, [6]; 8. 8C-Justyn Cox, [12]; 9. 28-Scott Bogucki, [18]; 10. 57C-Chris Schmelzle, [9]; 11. 22L-Garen Linder, [10]; 12. 33S-Lance Sargent, [14]; 13. 77X-Alex Hill, [7]; 14. 33-Colton Heath, [20]; 15. 17-Cam Smith, [21]; 16. 44W-Austen Wheatley, [11]; 17. 3-J.J. Hickle, [15]; 18. 9R-Reece Goetz, [17]; 19. 8-Devon Borden, [16]; 20. 96-Greg Hamilton, [22]; 21. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [13]; 22. (DNF) 57-Jake Helsel, [19]
Lap Leader(s): Blake Hahn 1-25
Hard Charger: Scott Bogucki +9
Dump Truck Award: Alex Hill -6
High Point Driver: Blake Hahn
Provisional(s): N/A
Event Points Following 6/20/2019
Rank Car #, Driver, Points
52 Blake Hahn 169
95 Matt Covington 158
18 Jason Solwold 153
23 Seth Bergman 148
J2 John Carney 140
21P Robbie Price 136
5T Travis Jacobson 132
31C Justyn Cox 131
57C Chris Schmelzle 128
28 Scott Bogucki 125
22L Garen Linder 125
33S Lance Sargent 123
77X Alex Hill 122
33 Colton Heath 114
17 Cam Smith 114
8R Austen Wheatley 113
3 J.J. Hickle 113
9R Reece Goetz 110
8 Devon Borden 106
44 Jake Helsel 103
15H Sam Hafertepe 103
96 Greg Hamilton 101
56 Justin Youngquist 99
2X Tucker Doughty 98
18T Tanner Holmes 96
9A Luke Didiuk 96
7 Tyler Thompson 95
14 Jordon Mallett 92
18S Justin Sanders 92
44J Joe Lyon 91
17W Harli White 90
8X John Stuart 88
F1 Corbin Fauver 88
6 Breyton Davison 88
22X Brock Lemley 87
97R Jason Reed 87
11 Roger Crockett 87
N8 Nate Vaughn 87
88 Travis Reber 86
2 James Setters 85
17C Chris Bullock 85
0 Ashleigh Johnson 85
41 Aaron Willison 85
96 Andrew Caruana 84
54 Chris Ochs 83
59 Eric Fisher 83
14 Bailey Sucich 82
91C Chase Goetz 79
29w Steven James 77
23P Steve Parker 77