From Bill Wright
(6-6-23) Eagle Raceway,NE- Kyle Larson took over the top spot after leader Brent Marks flipped and held back a host of chargers to take the High Limit checkers in front of a huge crowd at Eagle Raceway Tuesday night.
40 cars
The first 410 race at Eagle since 2017 saw a packed house assembled with traffic backed up until heat races were starting.
Two flights of qualifying were used. Buddy Kofoid (2nd car out to time) set quick time in the first group and quick time overall at 11.354 seconds on the 1/3-mile oval. It was about three-tenths of a second off Sammy Swindell’s record of 11.076. Dusty Zomer (20th car out) was second quick in the first group, followed by Chase Randall (13th), Brent Marks (15th) and Austin McCarl (17th). Don Droud Jr., Frank Rodgers III and Riley Kreisel failed to get a time in. Anthony Macri (9th car out to time) set quick time in the second group at 11.474 seconds. He was followed by Cole Macedo (3rd car out), Rico Abreu (16th), Tyler Courtney (18th) and Aaron Reutzel (6th).
Heat one (started): 1. Kofoid 71 (1) 2. Kyle Larson 57 (4) 3. Randall 9 (2) 4. A. McCarl 88 (3) 5. Gio Scelzi 18 (7) / 6. Brandy Bacon 21H (8) 7. Jake Swanson 55B (6) 8. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (5) 9. Adam Gullion 91 (9) 10. Frank Rodgers III 6x (10)
8-lap heats were lined straight up by time, the same as the World of Outlaws and most late model series. As is usually the case, heats showed little excitement. The top two went to the Dash, and Larson took that spot from Randall low in turn four on lap two. That was all the movement.
Heat two (started): 1. Zomer 3J (1) 2. Marks 19 (2) 3. Ryan Timms 5T (3) 4. Jake Bubak 1x (4) 5. Robbie Price 7s (5) / 6. Matt Juhl 09 (6) 7. Tim Estenson 14T (7) 8. Ayrton Gennetten 19G (8) 9. Don Droud Jr. 1m (9) DNS – Riley Kreisel 91K
They finished where they started. Gennetten stopped a lap in but continued. Droud exited early.
Heat three (started): 1. Macri 39m (1) 2. Abreu 24 (2) 3. Reutzel 8 (3) 4. Zeb Wise 26 (4) 5. Corey Day 14D (6) / 6. Brian Brown 21 (5) 7. Riley Goodno 22 (9) 8. Blake Hahn 52 (8) 9. Carson McCarl 6 (7) 10. Cody Ledger 35L (10)
Single-file.
Heat four (started): 1. Courtney 7BC (2) 2. Macedo 14 (1) 3. Cory Eliason 11 (4) 4. Danny Dietrich 48 (3) 5. Lachlan McHugh 25 (6) / 6. Jack Dover 53 (5) 7. Kasey Kahne 9T (7) 8. Kaleb Johnson 22K (8) 9. Tyler Drueke 12 (9) 10. Jason Martin 81 (10)
Courtney led the distance over Macedo. McHugh used the high side of turn four to snatch the fifth and final transfer from Dover on lap three.
Dash (started): 1. Abreu (2) 2. Marks (1) 3. Macri (3) 4. Larson (7) 5. Kofoid (4) 6. Zomer (5) 7. Macedo (6) 8. Courtney (8)
Boring heats can lead to exciting racing later on, and the track started widening in the 7-lap Dash that set the starting order for the first four rows of the feature. Marks led early over Abreu, Macri and Kofoid. Abreu used a diamond move in three and four to take the lead on lap two. Courtney slowed to a stop and exited with steering gear issues with three to go. That negated a pass Larson had made for fourth. He used a diamond move in three and four to take the spot anyway after the green flew again.
B main (started): 1. Hafertepe (1) 2. Bacon (3) 3. Brown (2) 4. Dover (4) / 5. Swanson (7) 6. Goodno (6) 7. Juhl (5) 8. Kahne (8) 9. Hahn (10) 10. Estenson (9) 11. Johnson (12) 12. C. McCarl (14) 13. Gennetten (11) 14. J. Martin (18) 15. Ledger (17) 16. Drueke (15) 17. Gullion (13) 18. Rodgers (16) DNS – Droud, Kreisel
The 12-lapper took the top four to the A. Hafertepe led wire to wire in the non-stop race. Bacon got under Brown for second on lap eight. Dover held off the rest for the final transfer.
A main (started): 1. Larson (4) 2. Abreu (1) 3. Scelzi (17) 4. Kofoid (5) 5. Macri (3) 6. Randall (9) 7. Wise (14) 8. Bubak (15) 9. Reutzel (10) 10. Day (18) 11. Eliason (12) 12. Timms (11) 13. A. McCarl (13) 14. Bacon (22) 15. Dietrich (16) 16. Price (19) 17. Brown (23) 18. Goodno (26, prov.) 19. Hahn (25, prov.) 20. Hafertepe (21) 21. Zomer (6) 22. Macedo (7) 23. Marks (2) 24. Courtney (8) 25. McHugh (20) 26. Dover (24)
A large pyrotechnic event preceded the 40-lapper. Abreu cut out early in front of Marks, Macri and Larson. He was in lapped traffic by the eighth circuit. Larson got by Macri for third before McHugh took a tumble in turn three. He was unhurt. Rico chose the inside line over Marks, Larson, Macri and Kofoid. Marks reeled in Abreu and on lap 19, he ducked under him in turn four to take the lead. Larson followed him by Abreu two laps later to claim second. Courtney slowed and exited at that point. Kofoid dove under Abreu on the restart to claim third, while Randall had moved up to fifth. On lap 26, Marks hit a hole in turn one, bicycled and biffed it. He was unhurt. Larson chose the inside line in assuming the lead, ahead of Kofoid, Abreu, Randall and Macri. Randall quickly took third before a turned over Macedo with 11 to go. Hafertepe also suffered damage and retired. The final restart saw Larson leading Kofoid, Randall and Abreu. Abreu was fire after the restart, taking third and then claiming second from Kofoid late in the going. Abreu pressured and did all he could to run down Larson to no avail, despite sliding in front of him a couple times in a good race. Scelzi was third at the hard-charger worth $2,500. Larson took home $28,023 thanks to a $5,000 bonus from Phil Durst.