By Andrew Kunas
BILLINGS, Mont. – After racing a 410 sprint car on the West Coast all season, reigning Brodix ASCS Frontier Region champion Logan Forler decided to return to 360 sprint car action this weekend in Montana, and on his first night back with the series he found himself in a familiar place, victory lane.
The Boise, Idaho driver won Friday’s main event on opening night of the Big Sky 360 Nationals at Big Sky Speedway in Billings, a track where Forler won twice last year en route to the series championship. Forler led all 25 laps and was never seriously challenged for the lead in the family’s No. 2L Fisher-powered Maxim. In a race that was slowed just once, Forler’s furious pace around the 3/10-mile clay oval saw him lap through sixth place in the field.
It was Forler’s first win this year, and by his admission was a bit of confidence builder as he and team had struggled, but learned a lot, racing 410 sprint cars on the West Coast. Forler will look to sweep the weekend in Saturday night’s Big Sky 360 Nationals finale at Big Sky Speedway.
After drawing the pole for the main event, Forler immediately took the lead on the start and motored away from fellow front row starter Kory Wermling. Wermling, who entered the night third in the points standings, eventually fell back to fourth place on the track as points leader Trever Kirkland moved into second place and Tyler Driever into third. Wermling then suffered engine problems while running in fourth place and pulled into the infield.
Kirkland, unable to track down Forler, still got his second straight runner-up finish in ASCS Frontier Region competition aboard the Kirkland Racing No. 37 Shark-powered Triple X. The Helena, Montana driver also increased his points lead, now holding a 48-point advantage over Coaldale, Alberta’s Kelly Miller, who finished fourth.
Continuing his rebound from a difficult start to his season, Driever drove from the sixth starting position to finish third aboard the family’s No. 33t Shark-powered Maxim. For the Meridian, Idaho driver it was his third straight podium finish and he has climbed back into the Top 5 in the series points standings. Behind Miller, Phil Dietz came from deep in the field to finish fifth and earn hard charger honors, picking up a sizeable cash bonus that came mostly from the fans at the track.
The rest of the Top 10 were Jeremy McCune, James Setters, Willie Hernandez, Abraham Hernandez and Shad Petersen.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Wermling and Kirkland.
The series continues with Saturday’s Big Sky 360 Nationals finale at Big Sky Speedway. Tickets are $20 for general admission, with seniors and veterans getting in for $15. As always at Big Sky Speedway, kids are 60″ are in for free. Saturday’s card will see the ASCS Frontier Region sprint cars joined by the WISSOTA street stocks, WISSOTA midwest modifieds and IMCA sport compacts. Big Sky Speedway is located several miles north of town up U.S. Hwy 87 towards Roundup.
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.
– – –
Brodix ASCS Frontier Region
Big Sky 360 Nationals – Night 1
Big Sky Speedway
Billings, MT
July 15, 2022
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 9k Kory Wermling, 2. 2jr Kelly Miller, 3. 69r Damon McCune, 4. 2 James Setters, 5. 24m Ian Myers, 6. 1m Willie Hernandez, 7. 72 Phil Dietz, DNS – 17j Tony Bruce Jr.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 37 Trever Kirkland, 2. 2L Logan Forler, 3. 0J Jeremy McCune, 4. 38b Bryan Brown, 5. 33t Tyler Driever, 6. 81 Casey Tillman, 7. 2m Abraham Hernandez, DNS – 2n Shad Petersen.
Feature (25 laps): 1. 2L Logan Forler, 2. 37 Trever Kirkland, 3. 33t Tyler Driever, 4. 2jr Kelly Miller, 5. 72 Phil Dietz, 6. 0J Jeremy McCune, 7. 2 James Setters, 8. 1m Willie Hernandez, 9. 2m Abraham Hernandez, 10. 2n Shad Petersen, 11. 69r Damon McCune, 12. 81 Casey Tillman, 13. 9k Kory Wermling, 14. 24m Ian Myers, DNS – 17j Tony Bruce Jr, 38b Bryan Brown.
– – –
Big Sky 360 Nationals – past winners
2020 – Seth Bergman
2021 – Tyler Driever