Cody Morris, Kennedale, Texas (11-11-11) - A stout field of 91 regional race teams signed in to compete in the preliminary night of the Lucas Oil American Small Car Series season finale at the 1/4 mile high banks of Cowtown Speedway in Kennedale, Texas.
Setting up the 2011 season for both the Lucas Oil American Small Car Series and Cowtown Speedway, the evening would see each of the three 2011 Lucas Oil ASCS2 titles clinched, as well as 3 return visits to victory lane.
Needing only to complete 1 lap of competitive action clinch his second consecutive Lucas Oil ASCS2 Outlaw Championship, Sapulpa, Oklahoma's Blake Hahn did just that and then some.
By virtue of a strong heat race outing, the top 6 in passing points would redraw for the top 3 starting rows of the 20 lap Lucas Oil ASCS2 Outlaw main event. While Hahn drew the pole position, fellow front row starter Josh Toho would fail to answer the starting call, thus moving Matthew Baldwin into the outside front row starting slot.
Outlaw main event action struggled to get underway, with two seperate incident involving top 5 starting drivers denying completion of a lap. The third attempt approved continuation, with Lindsay, Oklahoma's Harli White immediately busting through to challenge Hahn for the lead.
A winner in season opening Outlaw action at Cowtown Speedway, White nabbed the early lead, albeit with Hahn in dogged pursuit. As the lead duo reached lapped traffic, Hahn maneuvered through a set of lapped cars to regain the race lead just before a lap 9 caution for a stalled Morgan Montgomery mount in turn 2.
Four cautions would fly over the following 3 laps, with White testing Hahn's low side immediately into turn 1 upon restarts, but each time Hahn shut the door, and did so a final time after the final race stoppage with 8 laps remaining.
Hahn maintained a 2-4 car length lead as White shadowed his leading pace, but ultimately fail to mount a serious offense as the reigning Lucas Oil ASCS2 Outlaw champion earned his fifth ASCS2 Outlaw score of the 2011 campaign aboard the Speedway Vending, Metric Cycles, and La Joie Seating sponsored no. 52.
As White settled for runner up honors, a sensational late race rally had many bystanders convinced that just a few more laps could have netted the Lone Star state an Outlaw score as Richmond, Texas' Wyatt Rector had moved from 7th to 3rd under green flag conditions and had fully negated the sizeable margin the lead duo had with just 3 laps remaining.
A former GCS Champion in his rookie bid, the young south Texan claimed his first Lucas Oil ASCS2 podium with his show position finish. Coweta, Oklahoma's Kade Morton outdueled Howard Moore for the 4th and final lock in spot to Saturday night's season finale main event.
Howard Moore, Matthew Baldwin, Wyatt Rector, and Harli White each claimed heat race victories over the 30 car Lucas Oil ASCS2 Outlaw field, with Chris McNitt topping the 12 lap B Feature.
B Feature #1 1: McNitt, Chris (10) 2: Flud, Frank (08) 3: Montgomery, Morgan (14m) 4: Tyer, Jason (12) 5: Scott, Ron (01) 6: Kirkes, Rick (72k) 7: Haggerty, Doug (19) 8: Peterson, Shawn (4p) 9: Hall, Tyson (5x)
A Feature 1: Hahn, Blake (52) 2: White, Harli (17) 3: Rector, Wyatt (7) 4: Morton, Kade (8m) 5: Moore, Howard (23) 6: Lawhead, Billy (59) 7: Jones, Kyle (69) 8: Harvey, Will (2) 9: Wiseley, Dalton (22) 10: Baldwin, Matthew (43) 11: Evans, Scotty (118) 12: McNitt, Chris (10) 13: Masters, Steve (70) 14: Cantrell, Eric (05) 15: Debrick, Brian (10x) 16: McCrary, Chance (13m) 17: Davis, Philip (69x) 18: Salisbury, Drew (12s) 19: Klaasmeyer, Tucker (27) 20: Tyer, Jason (12) 21: Flud, Frank (08) 22: Montgomery, Morgan (14m) 23: Berryman, Brandon (155) 24: Toho, Josh (55)
Always a hotly contested affair that boosts the adrenaline of regional dirt track fans, the 20 lap Lucas Oil ASCS2 Non Wing affair would once again provide the needle threading action it is best known for. However, not without controversy.
Angleton, Texas native Caleb Martin led fellow front row starter and 2010 Lucas Oil ASCS2 Non Wing Champion to the initial start, as well as the early lead. But lap 2 contact between Martin and Bell would send Bell spinning to a slow tumble along the backstretch. Bell would rejoin the field under his own power, but tag the rear of the 24 car main event lineup.
A winner of EMSA Non Wing action at Cowtown in June, as well as the 2009 November Non Wing special, Martin would dominate throughout the 20 lap main event, however the action behind him was fierce, with Tyson Hall exercising a daring late race move to gain 3 positions in one turn, with Bell battling his way from 24th back up to 6th at the final stripe.
But it would prove too little too late, as Martin snared his first Lucas Oil ASCS2 Non Wing score of the 2011 campaign aboard the Hyper Racing, MMW, Elkins Racing, and Ace Racing Exhaust no. 51m machine.
Hall would make up for a disappointed mechanical failure in Outlaw action with his runner up performance, with Ryan Jaisle taking show position honors. Coy Jorden would get the better of a late race duel with newly crowned 2011 Lucas Oil ASCS2 Non Wing Champion Steven Shebester, with Jorden snaring the 4th and final lock in spot to Saturday's season finale main event.
A Pauls Valley, Oklahoma native and 2010 Non Wing runner up, Shebester's ninth top 5 run of the year may have been one spot shy of a direct transfer into saturday night's main event, but supported by a trio of 2011 Non Wing victories, it would be more than enough to earn his first Lucas Oil ASCS2 Non Wing Championship aboard the Concept Chassis, Metric Cycles, Keiser Wheels, Shebester Carbs, C&D Ditching, and Gordon Seros Racing Engines sponsored orange and black no. 82 Concept mount
Christopher Bell, Caleb Martin, Ryan Jaisle, Kevin Batterbee, and Steven Shebester topped heat race action over the 36 car Lucas Oil ASCS2 Non Wing field, with Tyson Hall and Chris McNitt each scoring 12 lap B Feature victories.
B Feature #2 1: Jones, Kyle (67T) 2: Smitherman, Taylor (21t) 3: Marcham, Josh (8) 4: Fifield, Justin (112) 5: Hoff, Sterling (39) 6: Venable, Brent (91) 7: Shouse, Andy (13) 8: Masters, Steve (70) 9: McNitt, Chris (99) 10: Debrick, Brian (10)
B Feature #1 1: Hall, Tyson (5x) 2: Kinnison, Christian (182) 3: Martin, Keith (99m) 4: Dodson, Cord (7) 5: Estes, DJ (74E) 6: Hahn, Blake (51) 7: Estes, Claude (74E) 8: Gilbert, Stoney (68s) 9: Estes, Colby (71) 10: Scherb, Logan (18)
A Feature 1: Martin, Caleb (51m) 2: Hall, Tyson (5x) 3: Jaisle, Ryan (97) 4: Jorden, Coy (15) 5: Shebester, Steven (82) 6: Bell, Christopher (19) 7: White, Harli (17) 8: Tyer, Jason (12t) 9: Martin, Keith (99m) 10: Toho, Josh (42) 11: Marcham, Trey (321) 12: Wood, Chipper (47) 13: Marcham, Josh (8) 14: Engstrom, Kaley (61) 15: Fifield, Justin (112) 16: Smitherman, Taylor (21t) 17: Williams, Peyton (22) 18: Evans, Scotty (114) 19: Peterson, Shawn (4p) 20: Anderson, Kyle (55) 21: Batterbee, Kevin (1) 22: Jones, Kyle (67T) 23: Dodson, Cord (7) 24: Kinnison, Christian (182)
Fierce battles throughout the duration of the 2011 Lucas Oil ASCS2 Restricted campaign would be revisited early and often in the 20 lap Lucas Oil ASCS2 Restricted main event. While Lone Star native Dylan Fox led the field to the opening green, it was Coweta, Oklahoma's Chance Morton picking up where he left off in October ASCS2 action at Cowtown.
Following a nasty front straightaway tumble for El Reno, Oklahoma's Kyle Keeler after contact with hometown Christian Kinnison, Morton wasted no time in gunning into the lead. Many races were left in the field, but they would not be for the point as Morton pulled off an October repeat of absolute dominance.
The wire to wire victory marked Morton's series' wide best sixth main event triumph, while also clinching the 2011 Lucas Oil ASCS2 Restricted Championship aboard the Morton Excavating, Intruder Chassis, Momo's Racing Engines, and Napa sponsored black no. 7m mount.
Sand Springs, Oklahoma's Colton Wiseley took runner up honors with an impressive run from 15th to 2nd. Polesitter Dylan Fox claimed show position honors with Anton Hernandez claiming the fourth and final lock in position to saturday night's season finale main event. Cyril, Oklahoma's Cord Dodson recovered from an early tumble, advancing from 24th to 5th for a spectacular Hard Charger effort.
Chance Morton, Johnny Boland, and Kyle Keeler took heat race wins over the 25 car Lucas Oil ASCS2 Restricted field.
A Feature 1: Morton, Chance (7m) 2: Wiseley, Colton (20) 3: Fox, Dylan (127) 4: Hernandez, Anton (11B) 5: Dodson, Cord (7) 6: Boland, Johnny (1) 7: Chandler, Grady (00) 8: Kinnison, Christian (82) 9: Harvey, Lyndon (99H) 10: Gennetten, Ayrton (144) 11: Ramey, McKenzie (17m) 12: Stringer, Bailey (97B) 13: White, Jeremy (33) 14: Gorham, Weston (71) 15: Goad, Trevor (4T) 16: McGuire, Mason (18) 17: Shores, Austin (8) 18: Stubblefield, Colby (2) 19: Goad, Shelby (18) 20: McDermott, Blake (12B) 21: Keeler, Kyle (27) 22: Smith, Steven (3s) 23: Klaasmeyer, Tucker (28) 24: Montgomery, Morgan (111) 25: Brimmer, Garron (3)
The Lucas Oil American Small Car Series returns Saturday night to complete the 2011 campaign, the Inaugural Cowtown Crown, and Cowtown Speedway's 2011 racing season. USRA Modifieds and Limited Modifieds will join the card in support with heat race action beginning at 6pm sharp.
Please www.cowtownspeedway.com for further Saturday night event details.
