Lonnie Wheatley, TAMPA, Fla. (January 31, 2006) – Indiana’s Brady Short topped a stellar field of 49 entries in Tuesday afternoon’s season-opening event for the O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless series at East Bay Raceway Park’s 30th Annual Winter Nationals, wiring the field in the 25-lap feature event.
The event served as the opening portion of a rare day-night Tuesday doubleheader after the originally scheduled Monday night event was postponed by rain.
Short, who earned the pole position for the feature event by virtue of accumulating the most points through heat and qualifying race action, took command at the outset and was never headed as he raced to victory lane aboard the Gaerte-powered Indiana Steel Works No. 36 Maxim.
“This is special, this is just my second year in a sprint car and this it’s just my second win, so this is a pretty big thing for us,” last year’s National Non-Wing Sprint Car rookie of the year commented from victory lane.
Short outgunned fellow Hoosier State native Ed Hassler for the point at the drop of the green, with Indiana veteran shoe Danny Smith racing into second on the opening round. Shane Cottle had battled past Hassler for third on the fourth round, only to have the pass negated for wild flip down the backstretch by Wayne Johnson. Tim Shaffer also flipped in the melee, with Mat Neely’s car planted along the backstretch wall. There were no injuries.
Back under way, Short held Smith and Hassler at bay for several rounds before he began slipping away from the field. Short had amassed nearly a straightaway advantage by the time the race’s second and final caution flew after 23 laps when Casey Shuman came to a halt in turn two. Under the ensuing caution period, Cottle surrendered his top-five position with a flat left rear tire.
Set for a two-lap charge to the checkered flag, there was no stopping Short as he raced to the line unabated. Smith settled for the runner-up slot, with Hassler taking the show position. Jon Stanbrough climbed from ninth to snare fourth, with Cory Kruseman slicing through the field from his 16th starting position to round out the top five.
Charles Davis, Jr., crossed the stripe sixth, with Darren Hagen, 15th-starter Bud Kaeding, Dickie Gaines and Zach Chappell completing the top ten.
Short kicked off the day by making a last-lap pass of Chappell to win the first heat race. Hassler wired the field in the second heat race, with Jake Scott making a lap seven pass of Darland to win the third heat. Terry McCarl and Cory Kruseman swapped the lead repeatedly before McCarl took the win in the fourth heat, with Davis scoring a convincing win in the fifth heat.
Qualifying races were claimed by Derek O’Dell, Steven King, Smith, Shaffer and Gaines.
King and Bryan Clauson split victory honors in the twin 12-lap “B” Mains.
O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Monday Afternoon Results:
Heat Races
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 36-Brady Short, 2. 50z-Zach Chappell, 3. 10-Mat Neely, 4. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 5. 11d-Derek O’Dell, 6. 88-Steven King, 7. 8m-Joe Melnick, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9. 11-Brent Beauchamp, 10. 2k-Roger Rager.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 66h-Ed Hassler, 2. 71-Darren Hagen, 3. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 4. 16-Nick Adams, 5. 53x-Casey Shuman, 6. 17T-Tony Beaber, 7. 93-Scott Townsend, 8. 92-Kenny Carmichael, 9. 20-Frank Carlsson. DNS: 22-Mike Weber.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Scott, 2. 29T-Travis Rilat, 3. 11x-Dave Darland, 4. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 5. 4-Danny Smith, 6. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 7. 85-Greg Leonard, 8. 29p-Terry Pletch, 9. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 10. 51J-John Sauermilch.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 24-Terry McCarl, 2. 38-Cory Kruseman, 3. 92x-Daron Clayton, 4. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 5. 3R-Brandon Petty, 6. 4b-Tom Busch, 7. 52-Mark Broughman, 8. 5m-Arin McIntosh, 9. 71c-Jack Helget, 10. 51x-Harley Slotten.
Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 5g-Shane Cottle, 3. 57-John Heydenreich, 4. 7s-Jason Sides, 5. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 6. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 7. 67-Bryan Clauson, 8. 81-Justin Marvel, 9. 69x-Mark Cole.
Qualifying Races – Top 16 in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers to “A” Feature; Balance of field to Twin “B” Mains
First Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 11d-Derek O’Dell, 2. 57-John Heydenreich, 3. 36-Brady Short, 4. 50z-Zach Chappell, 5. 53x-Casey Shuman, 6. 2k-Roger Rager, 7. 10-Mat Neely, 8. 11-Brent Beauchamp, 9. 34-Luke Hall, 10. 8m-Joe Melnick.
Second Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 88-Steven King, 2. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 3. 71-Darren Hagen, 4. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 92-Kenny Carmichael, 6. 20-Frank Carlsson, 7. 7s-Jason Sides, 8. 93-Scott Townsend, 9. 51-John Sauermilch, 10. 29T-Travis Rilat.
Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 4-Danny Smith, 2. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 3. 66h-Ed Hassler, 4. 85-Greg Leonard, 5. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 6. 29p-Terry Pletch, 7. 51x-Harley Slotten, 8. 17T-Tony Beaber, 9. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 10. 92x-Daron Clayton.
Fourth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 2. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 3. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 4. 3R-Brandon Petty, 5. 38-Cory Kruseman, 6. 1-Jake Scott, 7. 71c-Jack Helget, 8. 52-Mark Broughman, 9. 5a-Arin McIntosh, 10. 22-Mike Weber.
Fifth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 2. 67-Bryan Clauson, 3. 4b-Tom Busch, 4. 5g-Shane Cottle, 5. 24-Terry McCarl, 6. 11x-Dave Darland, 7. 16-Nick Adams, 8. 81-Justin Marvel, 9. 69x-Mark Cole.
“B” Mains – Top 4 from Each to “A” Main
First “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 88-Steven King, 2. 10-Mat Neely, 3. 1-Jake Scott, 4. 53x-Casey Shuman, 5. 29T-Travis Rilat, 6. 4b-Tom Busch, 7. 81-Justin Marvel, 8. 7s-Jason Sides, 9. 92-Kenny Carmichael, 10. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 11. 69x-Mark Cole, 12. 20-Frank Carlsson, 13. 71c-Jack Helget, 14. 22-Mike Weber, 15. 51x-Harley Slotten. DNS: 17T-Tony Beaber, 8m-Joe Melnick.
Second “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 67-Bryan Clauson, 2. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 3. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 4. 16-Nick Adams, 5. 11x-Dave Darland, 6. 11-Brent Beauchamp, 7. 5m-Arin McIntosh, 8. 2k-Roger Rager, 9. 93-Scott Townsend, 10. 34-Luke Hall, 11. 52-Mark Broughman, 12. 51-John Sauermilch, 13. 85-Greg Leonard, 14. 3R-Brandon Petty, 15. 29p-Terry Pletch. DNS: 92x-Daron Clayton.
“A” Main
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 36-Brady Short, 2. 4-Danny Smith, 3. 66h-Ed Hassler, 4. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 5. 38-Cory Kruseman, 6. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 7. 71-Darren Hagen, 8. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 9. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 10. 50z-Zach Chappell, 11. 57-John Heydenreich, 12. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 13. 67-Bryan Clauson, 14. 1-Jake Scott, 15. 16-Nick Adams, 16. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 17. 5g-Shane Cottle, 18. 53x-Casey Shuman, 19. 88-Steven King, 20. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 21. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 22. 10-Mat Neely, 23. 11d-Derek O’Dell. DNS: 24-Terry McCarl.
|
