By Andrew Kunas
GREAT FALLS, Mont. – It was a long-awaited moment for James Setters, his family, his friends, and his loyal fans, and it finally came on Saturday night as he rocketed away from the field to score his first career Brodix ASCS Frontier Region sprint car victory in the Montana Spring Round-Up finale at Electric City Speedway.
The 19-year-old from Spirit Lake, Idaho led all 25 laps of the main event aboard his family’s No. 2 Borello-powered Helix that was perfectly set up. After drawing the pole for the event, Setters motored away from fellow front row starter Kelly Miller of Coaldale, Alberta on the start and from there was never threatened. Setters was leading Miller by more than six seconds when the first caution came out with 18 laps completed. Setters again motored away on the following restart.
A green-white-checkered finish was set up after Miller brought out the red flag when he was bit by the cushion on the top of turns 1 and 2 and went tumbling upside down after taking the white flag. Helena, Montana’s Trever Kirkland, who won the season opening feature on Friday night, wound up behind Setters for the final restart but he too had nothing for Setters, who again jetted away over the last two laps and won comfortably.
While frequently racing the 360 sprint car in ASCS Frontier Region events, Setters is a regular in sportsman sprint competition at Electric City Speedway, essentially making the 3/10-mile Great Falls clay oval his home track. After making weight at the scales, Setters was pushed out in front the main grandstand. Climbing out of the car, he was greeted with a kiss from his girlfriend and a roaring ovation from his home track crowd in celebration of his first ASCS victory.
Setters appeared stunned and had the “is this really happening?!” look on his face as he was interviewed in victory lane and celebrated. It’ll be a night James and the Setters family will remember forever.
Backing up his Friday night victory, Kirkland finished second aboard the Kirkland Racing No. 37 Shark-powered Triple X. With the overall very solid weekend, Kirkland left Electric City Speedway with the early ASCS Frontier Region points lead. The big mover of the night was Billings driver Joe Perry, who had to miss his heat race when a steering problem suddenly occurred and he rolled to a stop during the pace laps. He and father Chuck fixed the problem and he tagged the back of the main event field. Perry impressively worked his way through the field and finished third for the second straight night aboard the family’s No. 28 Don Ott-powered Maxim.
Kory Wermling finished fourth, finishing in the Top 5 both nights at his home town track. Alberta veteran Bill Boyce finished fifth. The rest of the Top 10 were Bryan Brown, Ross Mathewson, Michael Bingham, Brianna Widhalm and Ian Myers.
Setters and Kirkland won heat races earlier in the evening.
This weekend’s races were the first at Electric City Speedway for the ASCS Frontier Region since 2018. The series is back for a two-night holiday special on Sunday and Monday, July 3rd and 4th. The annual Montana Round-Up, the three-night Labor Day weekend special, is back on the schedule for September 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
The ASCS Frontier Region next races on Friday, June 10th with the Spring Clash at Belgrade at Gallatin Speedway near Bozeman, Montana. The Montana Spring Shootout is Saturday, June 11th at Big Sky Speedway outside of Billings.
More information on the Brodix Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series can be found online at www.ascsracing.com. Stagg Motor Sports, the promoting company of the ASCS Frontier Region, can be found at www.staggmotorsports.com.
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Brodix ASCS Frontier Region
Montana Spring Round-Up – Night 2
Electric City Speedway
Great Falls, MT
May 28, 2022
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 2 James Setters, 2. 2jr Kelly Miller, 3. 77b Michael Bingham, 4. 38b Bryan Brown, 5. 1 Bill Boyce, 6. 56 Ross Mathewson.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 37 Trever Kirkland, 2. 9k Kory Wermling, 3. 3 Jordan Milne, 4. 2b Brianna Widhalm, 5. 24m Ian Myers, DNS – 28 Joe Perry.
Feature (25 laps): 1. 2 James Setters, 2. 37 Trever Kirkland, 3. 28 Joe Perry, 4. 9k Kory Wermling, 5. 1 Bill Boyce, 6. 38b Bryan Brown, 7. 56 Ross Mathewson, 8. 77b Michael Bingham, 9. 2b Brianna Widhalm, 10. 24m Ian Myers, 11. 2jr Kelly Miller, 12. 3 Jordan Milne.