By Andrew Kunas
Logan Forler continued his dominance of Big Sky Speedway on Friday night, winning the preliminary feature in the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial and scoring his third ASCS Frontier Region sprint car victory of the season.
Forler, a former series champion who now runs part-time with the series as he travels around the country, has won the last seven times he has appeared at Big Sky Speedway. The Boise, Idaho driver started third before passing defending series champion Trever Kirkland for the lead as they reached the halfway point. Forler led the rest of the 25-lap feature from there aboard the Forler Racing No. 2L Fisher-powered Maxim.
Forler earned a $3,000 payday, the largest ever for a standalone ASCS Frontier Region event. He’ll now go for his third straight Harvey Ostermiller Memorial victory, and the record $12,012 paycheck that goes with it, on Saturday night.
Kirkland finished second aboard his No. 37 Shark-powered Triple X, but not without making Forler work hard to pass him for the lead. Kirkland withstood a slide job attempt from Forler early on, and it was only when they in traffic on the 13th lap did Forler make the move for the lead. Kirkland is winless on the season, but has been competitive, leading in several races including Friday. The runner-up finish was the fourth on the season for him.
Lincoln, Nebraska’s Jake Bubak run in the Top 5 throughout and finished third in the Patrick Bourke No. 27b Don Ott-powered J&J. South Australia’s Scott Bogucki finished fourth and Fresno, California’s Dominic Scelzi was fifth.
Harrisburg, Oregon’s Tyler Thompson, one of a few drivers in the 30-car field making their first appearance at Big Sky Speedway, finished sixth ahead of ASCS Frontier Region points leader Kelly Miller of Lethbridge, Alberta. Seth Bergman, Colton Heath and Harli White rounded out the Top 10.
Utilizing the ASCS National Tour format for the event for the special event, group qualifying was held. Drivers drew for their heat races, but lineups were determined by their qualifying times. Thompson was the fastest driver overall, turning in a time of 13.658 seconds around the 3/8-mile clay oval.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Heath, Bergman, Bogucki and Bubak.
Saturday’s Harvey Ostermiller Memorial finale will see Friday’s main event points combined with Saturday’s qualifying and heat race points to determine lineups for the $12,012-to-win main event. That winner’s payday is believed to be the largest ever for a dirt sprint car race in Montana.
Wingless limited sprints, IMCA modifieds and INEX Legends are on the card with the ASCS Frontier Region sprint cars. Admission is $25 with seniors and military in for $15. Racing is scheduled for 7:00 at the track located north of Billings on U.S. Hwy 87. Those unable to attend but want to watch still can do so at www.speedmax.tv.
More information on the Brodix Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series, along with the ASCS National Tour and other ASCS regional tours, 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
Harvey Ostermiller Memorial preliminary night
Big Sky Speedway
Billings, MT
August 25, 2023
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
30 cars
Group qualifying overall fast time: 35mx Tyler Thompson, 13.658 seconds
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 33 Colton Heath, 2. 35mx Tyler Thompson, 3. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 4. 9k Kory Wermling, 5. 16g Austyn Gossel, 6. 21b Blayne Brink, 7. 66 Fred Holz, 8. 9m Sean MacDonnell
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 23 Seth Bergman, 2. 2L Logan Forler, 3. 12h Channin Tankersley, 4. 2jr Kelly Miller, 5. 21o Ryder Olson, 6. 9 Damon McCune, 7. 24m Ian Myers, DNS – 12 Josh Ostermiller.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 10 Scott Bogucki, 2. 37 Trever Kirkland, 3. 01 Rich Bailey, 4. 23n Skylar Gee, 5. 3 Jordan Milne, 6. 1m Willie Hernandez, 7. 35m Cody Masse.
Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. 27b Jake Bubak, 2. 0J Jeremy McCune, 3. 72 Phil Dietz, 4. 12hw Harli White, 5. 28 Joe Perry, 6. 82c Christian Kinnison, 7. 2m Abraham Hernandez.
B-Feature (12 laps): 1. 21b Blayne Brink, 2. 16g Austyn Gossel, 3. 28 Joe Perry, 4. 24m Ian Myers, 5. 9 Damon McCune, 6. 21o Ryder Olson, 7. 35m Cody Masse, 8. 3 Jordan Milne, 9. 2m Abraham Hernandez, 10. 1m Willie Hernandez, 11. 66 Fred Holz, 12. 82c Christian Kinnison, DNS – 9m Sean MacDonnell, 12 Josh Ostermiller. First four finishers transferred to Feature.
Feature (25 laps): 1. 2L Logan Forler, 2. 37 Trever Kirkland, 3. 27b Jake Bubak, 4. 10 Scott Bogucki, 5. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 6. 35MX Tyler Thompson, 7. 2jr Kelly Miller, 8. 23 Seth Bergman, 9. 33 Colton Heath, 10. 12HW Harli White, 11. 9k Kory Wermling, 12. 12h Channin Tankersley, 13. 23n Skylar Gee, 14. 28 Joe Perry, 15. 72 Phil Dietz, 16. 0J Jeremy McCune, 17. 24m Ian Myers, 18. 21b Blayne Brink, 19. 16g Austyn Gossel, 20. 01 Rich Bailey.
Lap leaders – Trever Kirkland 1-12, Logan Forler 13-25