Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Hockett Wins Ultimate Challenge With Ultimate Finish!

by Bill Wright

August 11, 2009 (Oskaloosa, IA) - The throng gathered at the 8th Annual Casey's Ultimate Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company could agree on one thing. They just saw one of the best races they had ever seen. Warsaw, Missouri's Jesse "The Rocket" Hockett edged defending race winner Dave Darland by .045 of a second for $15,000 and put his name on the list of previous champions in the prestigous event held at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA.

Darland took the point from his starting position outside of row one as the 30-lap main event got underway. Hockett followed the leader closely as the pair put some distance between themselves and the third place car of Chad Boat, who had moved up from row four by lap ten. Damion Gardner entered the mix in the battle for third, as a group of cars clustered about a straightaway behind the leaders.

On lap 13, the lead pair approached the lapped machine of Hud Cone, and on lap 16, Hockett made a successful slider count in turn four to take the lead. A lap later, 13th running Travis Rilat brought out the red flag with a flip in turn two. Hockett led Darland, Hunter Schuerenberg, Boat and Robert Ballou back to green flag racing.

The final 14 laps went non-stop, with Darland closely trailing Hockett, who was entering turn one low and sliding to the cushion in turn two, and riding the berm in three and four. With two laps to go, the leader was back in traffic, and Darland saw his opportunity. Entering turn three on the last lap, Hockett encountered the slower car of Henry Clarke. Briefly caught behind him in turn four, Darland saw his opportunity to outdrag the leader to the finish line. In the end, it was Hockett who avenged a close loss to Dickie Gaines in 2004.

"I didn't know what I was going to do that last lap," said Hockett. "The bottom was good, and so was the top. Dave Darland is such a great competitor, I knew he'd be there. My crew and my owners put a great car under me, and I can't thank them enough."

Hockett swept the night by winning both his Heat and his Qualifier to earn the pole position for the feature. Ballou, Shane Hmiel and Gardner all won heats, while Rilat, Darland and Kevin Swindell won Qualifiers. Swindell's win came after he was running fourth in turn four and won a four-wide drag race to the stripe. Gardner won a foot race for a new Winters rear-end that involved the Heat and Qualifier winners. Matt Westfall copped the B main. 42 cars were in attendance.

Joining Rilat as flip victims on the night were Coleman Gulick, who blew a right rear and toppled in hot laps, Josh Wise in heat race four, Dene McAllan in Qualifier One and Brad Sweet in Qualifier Four. No one was injured.

8th Annual Ultimate Challenge Finish (Started): 1. Jesse Hockett 13 (1) 2. Dave Darland 2B (2) 3. Chad Boat 30 (8) 4. Levi Jones 20 (4) 5. Cole Whitt 67K (10) 6. Kevin Swindell 83 (13) 7. Jerry Coons Jr. 69 (14) 8. Josh Wise 37 (22) 9. Robert Ballou 81 (3) 10. Hunter Schuerenberg 11 (7) 11. Bryan Clauson 7 (12) 12. Brady Bacon 99 (15) 13. Damion Gardner 71 (5) 14. Tracy Hines 21 (6) 15. Shane Hmiel 12B (9) 16. Matt Westfall 9x (21) 17. Casey Shuman 1 (20) 18. Johnny Herrera 2 (24) 19. Henry Clarke 67 (18) 20. Hud Cone 7D (23) 21. Nic Faas 17F (17) 22. Travis Rilat 1st (11) 23. Don Droud Jr. 71x (19) 24. Darren Hagen 12 (16)

Heat one (started): 1. Robert Ballou (1) 2. Tracy Hines (4) 3. Bryan Clauson (6) 4. Hunter Schuerenberg (8) 5. Chad Boat (10) 6. Kevin Swindell (9) 7. Cale Conley z1 (5) 8. Bruce St. James 7K (3) 9. Casey Riggs 37R (2) 10. Mike Moore 69x (7) DNS - Dene McAllan 5

Heat two (started): 1. Shane Hmiel (4) 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (3) 3. Cole Whitt (6) 4. Darren Hagen (5) 5. Nic Faas (10) 6. Casey Shuman (1) 7. Matt Westfall (7) 8. Wayne Johnson G1 (9) 9. Sheldon Leesekamp F1 (11) 10. Kaley Gharst 7x (8) 11. Terry Babb 21x (2)

Heat three (started): 1. Jesse Hockett (1) 2. Dave Darland (4) 3. Brad Sweet (6) 4. Don Droud Jr. (2) 5. Johnny Herrera (3) 6. Hud Cone (8) 7. Chris Urish 77u (9) 8. Caleb Armstrong 11D (7) 9. Robert Bell (5) DNS - Rob Chaney 57B

Heat four (started): 1. Damion Gardner (4) 2. Levi Jones (5) 3. Henry Clarke (6) 4. Brady Bacon (3) 5. Travis Rilat (8) 6. Mathew Shedarowich 8z (2) 7. Zach Chappell 50z (7) 8. Kyle Cummins 4u (1) 9. Josh Wise (9) DNS - Coleman Gulick 14

Qualifier One (started): 1. Travis Rilat (2) 2. Hunter Schuerenberg (3) 3. Tracy Hines (5) 4. Jerry Coons Jr. (4) 5. Shane Hmiel (6) 6. Johnny Herrera (1) 7. Mathew Shedarowich (7) 8. Wayne Johnson (8) 9. Kyle Cummins (9) 10. Mike Moore (10) 11. Dene McAllan (11)

Qualifier Two (started): 1. Jesse Hockett (5) 2. Chad Boat (3) 3. Cole Whitt (4) 4. Damion Gardner (6) 5. Don Droud Jr. (2) 6. Hud Cone (1) 7. Cale Conley (7) 8. Bruce St. James (8) 9. Kaley Gharst (10) 10. Casey Riggs (9) DNS - Rob Chaney

Qualifier Three (started): 1. Dave Darland (5) 2. Brady Bacon (2) 3. Levi Jones (6) 4. Nic Faas (3) 5. Casey Shuman (1) 6. Matt Westfall (7) 7. Robert Bell (9) 8. Brad Sweet (4) 9. Sheldon Leesekamp (8) DNS - Terry Babb

Qualifier Four (started): 1. Kevin Swindell (2) 2. Robert Ballou (6) 3. Darren Hagen (3) 4. Bryan Clauson (5) 5. Josh Wise (9) 6. Henry Clarke (4) 7. Caleb Armstrong (8) 8. Chris Urish (1) 9. Zach Chappell (7) DNS - Coleman Gulick

B main (started): 1. Matt Westfall (4) 2. Josh Wise (3) 3. Caleb Armstrong (2) 4. Johnny Herrera (1) / 5. Kaley Gharst (13) 6. Cale Conley (6) 7. Bruce St. James (11) 8. Chris Urish (7) 9. Mike Moore (15) 10. Zach Chappell (12) 11. Kyle Cummins (14) 12. Robert Bell (9) 13. Mathew Shedarowich (5) 14. Caleb Armstrong (8) 15. Wayne Johnson (10) DNS - Sheldon Leesekamp, Casey Riggs, Brad Sweet, Dene McAllan, Terry Babb, Coleman Gulick, Rob Chaney

If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me! 
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com

Ultimate finish? NOT!

The ULTIMATE FINISH Tuesday night and possibly EVER was the 4 wide finish to the qualifier with Kevin Swindell winning after being 4th in turn 4.

The A main finish was great but was only the 2nd best of the night!

That was a great heat race, has to been one of the best finishes I've seen in years. It was just a great night of racing. In my opinion it's about time we have some sort of topless series in Iowa. That was the best night of racing all year that I have seen. Great Job Terry McCarl, how about you and 34 raceway work out a deal where you run 410's Friday in Burlington with the 360's and then move to Knoxville on Saturday and do it again. Once again thank you Terry and Lori and your crew for putting on a great night of racing.

Thanks Terry, drivers, crews, fans, and USAC for the best show this year! I don't think anyone can top it

Bill W, did you count the number of passes in the heat races?

Someone on here said the winner would come off the front row. Not surprising though.

Reading Bill W's report, you can count the passes too... as long as you know how to add & subtract!?

Reason for my post.

Last week a poster said there would be more passes in the heat races of the wingless race than the entire night of the Nationals. Bill W replied that he would be counting.

Not really. Swindell and twice Bacon passed way more cars than their starting spots would indicate. Bacon restarted both his heats in the rear. In his qualifier he started 2nd and finished 2nd but passed 6 or 8 cars to do it. Swindell fell way back on the start of his qualifier after contact with anouther car at the start. Heck he passed 3 cars from turn4 to the flagstand!

So you are saying Swindell made almost as many passes on the last straight away, on the last lap of his qualifier than happened in the B and the A on Monday night? Also if you take Jack Dover's passes out of Monday's race Kevin would have passed more last night than on Monday.

Before the fur flys, I mean this in jest. Sounds like Mom nature blew the program on Monday, not the wings being on the cars.

"Grip it and Rip it, just don't Flip it!"
R.I.P. Lester

Tbird

It does seem there was more passing in the heat races at Osky Tuesday night than all of the races last night at Knoxville.

You were not there. That say's it all. I have been attending races for 50 years and NEVER saw a 4 wide finish. Not even with some lapped cars involved.

Guess you just had to see it. Everywhere I went around Knoxville the next day all I heard was people talking about that HEAT RACE finish, not the A main finish. Not to belittle the A finish, it was just over shadowed by the greatest finish most of us have EVER seen!

Very good racing both nights at Osky! There are always nay sayers and over analizers,on these boards here and otherwise in regards to yelping about no passing,,blah,,blah,,,bean counting. The nay sayers 9 times out of 10 are the people that stay at home on the porch and rocks, but yets 'knows it all'. In a word Homeys. Also known in their 'own minds' as gods of the keyboard and masters of nothing,,,...All the heat races and features,each night were good and run fast. Next years FRC and UC will more than likely be better than this years! Mark your calenders.

Take Care