Tracey Clay and the staff at I-30 Speedway usually provide fireworks only around the Fourth of July, but fans were provided with plenty during the Thursday night preliminaries of the 27th annual Comp Cams Short Track Nationals.
They were all on the track, too.
Short Track Nationals
Results from Thursday night’s preliminary feature at the 27th annual Comp Cams Short Track Nationals sprint car event at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock.. The top three finishers advance to tonight’s main event:
DRIVER (HOMETOWN)
- Brian Brown, Grain Valley, Mo.
- Aaron Reutzel, Clute, Texas
- Dalton Davis, Millington, Tenn.
- Ray Allen Kulhanek, Conroe, Texas
- Alex Sewell, Broken Arrow, Okla.
- Cody Gardner, Benton
- Shawn Dancer, Delphos, Ohio
- Jason Barney, Constantia, N.Y.
- Sean McClelland, Tulsa
- Eric Lutz, Sioux Falls, S.D.
- Ernie Ainsworth, Bartlett, Tenn.
- Kevin Swindell, Bartlett, Tenn.
- Zach Pringle, Benton
- Morgan Turpen, Oakland, Tenn.
- Josh Baughman, Odessa, Texas
- Ryan Bowers, Ham Lake, Minn.
- Brandon Hanks, Burlison, Tenn.
- Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, Mo.
- Tim Crawley, Benton
- Seth Bergman, Snohomish, Wash.
LAP LEADERS Reutzel 1-24, Brown 25. HEAT WINNERS Jeff Swindell, K.Swindell, Matthew Bauldwin, Channin Tankersley, Lance Moss. QUALIFIER WINNERS Sewell, Reutzel, Gardner, McClelland. B-Main winners Lutz, Barney.
The biggest burst came at the end of the night's racing, when Brian Brown of Grain Valley, Mo., beat Aaron Reutzel of Clute, Texas, to the checkered flag by less than a foot to win the preliminary feature.
Brown started 14th and was in seventh place with five laps to go, but he took full advantage of a couple of incidents near the front of the field in the closing laps. He then made a daring, last-lap pass to defeat Reutzel, who was attempting to win his fourth race in as many starts this season at the Little Rock quarter-mile oval after winning Wednesday night's STN Open.
"I really didn't think there was any way we could pull that off as far back as we started," Brown said. "We don't usually do that well on quarter-miles, but my guys gave me a great car and it made me look halfway decent tonight."
Brown, Reutzel and surprising third-place finisher Dalton Davis of Millington, Tenn., secured starting spots in tonight's $15,000-to-win main event.
With Brown starting in the seventh row, Reutzel started on the outside of the front row and beat Davis to the first turn as he quickly built a comfortable lead. The lead shrunk when the caution flew on the ninth lap after Ryan Bowers of Ham Lake, Minn., slid off the top of the track in turn one.
But with open track ahead, Reutzel again raced to a large lead by the midway point with Davis in second and Jerrod Hull of Sikeston, Mo., in third. Brown moved into fifth when Kevin Swindell of Bartlett, Tenn., and Brandon Hanks of Burlison, Tenn., brought out the caution after they tangled in turn three while battling for fifth.
On the restart, Benton's Tim Crawley, winner of the 1998 event, got past Hull for third place. Then they spun in turn four when Hull attempted to regain the spot. After the caution, both drivers leaped from their cars to confront each other and a brief scuffle ensued as the crowd roared.
That set up a green-white-checkered finish with Brown starting third behind Reutzel and Davis. Coming to the checkered flag, Brown squeezed his car between Reutzel's and the front-stretch outside retaining wall as both dashed toward the finish line.
"I wasn't sure if I should try to go through there and risk wrecking it or not, but then I was almost alongside him so I was committed," said Brown, who secured a spot in his sixth career STN main event and his first since 2010.
"I was wanting to move up there [to block Brown], but I knew I was a little too late," Reutzel said.
Reutzel's only STN main event start was in 2011. It will be Davis' first.
Ray Allen Kulhanek of Conroe, Texas, finished fourth and Alex Sewell of Broken Arrow, Okla., was fifth. I-30 regular Cody Gardner of Benton took sixth. Rounding out the top 10 were Shawn Dancer of Delphos, Ohio, Jason Barney of Constantia, N.Y., Tulsa's Sean McClelland and Eric Lutz of Sioux Falls, S.D.
Sports on 10/25/2014