Looney Wins Season Opener
GREENWOOD, NE (April 2, 2011) - Brad Looney held a strong and fast line
around I-80 Speedway in the Lucas Oil MLRA season opener Saturday night,
to top the field of 48 super late models. Looney of Republic, Missouri,
finished second in the Lucas Oil MLRA points in 2010 without winning a
feature event. 2011 started off with a bang at the Spring Meltdown in
Greenwood, Nebraska for Looney, with his second career MLRA win. Looney
drives the Federal Protection, Victory Circle by Moyer #14 with a
Hatfield Racing Engine. Brad's win Saturday also locks him into the
Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway in July. In the Triple A
Victory Lane, Looney thanked his family and sponsors for their support.
The Spring Meltdown brought 48 of best drivers in the Midwest to I-80
Speedway. The stacked field made for plenty of racing action all evening
long. Five heat races set the lineup for the feature event and two B
features. Heat race victories went to, Travis Dickes, David Turner, Jake
Meier, John Anderson and Denny Eckrich. The top 16 drivers in passing
points went on to the Lucas Cattle A Main, while the remaining drivers
battled for the top three finishing spots in each of two B Features.
In B Feature #1, Chad Simpson, RC Whitwell and Bryant Goldsmith earned
starting positions in the feature. B Feature #2 sent Mike Collins, Bill
Leighton and Jason O'Brien onto the main event.
Series provisional starting spots were awarded to Justin Asplin in the
77A and the 58E of Dave Eckrich. Two track provisionals were awarded to
Joe Kosiski and Mike Wiarda.
Twenty-six drivers took the green flag for thirty-five laps. A caution
on lap three sent the 00 of Jesse Stovall to the back of the pack.
Stovall worked his way back to a 9th place finish. Another yellow flag
on lap eight gave John Anderson's Shop Quik team enough time to change a
flat tire and tag the back of the field before the restart. A battle
ensued as Kyle Berck charged from the 14th place starting position to
3rd place in less than ten laps. Berck would continue to run side by
side with Chris Simpson in the 32 for the rest of the feature before
overtaking Simpson just before the checkers flew. Simpson and Berck's
race kept them just behind Looney who led the feature from start to
finish.
Lucas Oil Products Heat Race #1 Results (10 Laps): 1. 21 Travis Dickes,
2. 77 Kurt Kile, 3. 56 Tony Jackson Jr. (R), 4. 3 Mike Collins, 5. 25
Chad Simpson, 6. 10 Jr. Coover, 7. 83 Denton Ducan, 8. 92 Delbert Smith,
9. 51 Billy Koons Jr. (R), 10. 6H Al Humphrey
Powertrain Industries Heat Race #2 Results (10 Laps): 1. 15 David
Turner, 2. 74 Jeremy Payne, 3. 22P Craig Preble, 4. 14B Kyle Berck, 5.
24 Bill Leighton, 6. 14JR RC Whitwell, 7. 58 Dave Eckrich, 8. 88 Kevin
Kile, 9. 4W Jason Pursley (R), 10. 45 Dan Battaglia
ATL Fuel Cells Heat Race #3 Results (10 Laps): 1. 20 Jake Meier, 2. 33
Al Purkey, 3. 77A Justin Asplin, 4. 22 Alan Vaughn, 5. 82 Robbie
Anderson, 6. 53K Joe Kosiski, 7. 29K Bill Koons, 8. 40 Shawn Harker, 9.
2P Dwane Pospisil, 10. 24S Stoney Stuart
Peterson Fluid Systems Heat Race #4 Results (10 Laps): 1. 2J John
Anderson, 2. 14 Brad Looney, 3. 15 Jason O'Brien, 4. 00 Jesse Stovall,
5. 4 JC Wyman, 6. 12 Trenton Jackson, 7. 62 Leon Zeitner, 8. 8 Mike
Wallace, 9. 14W Dustin Walker
Fast Track Photos Heat Race #5 Results (10 Laps): 1. 50 Denny Eckrich,
2. 32 Chris Simpson, 3. 75 Terry Phillips, 4. 24G Bryant Goldsmith, 5.
26JR Corey Zeitner, 6. 1W Mike Wiarda, 7. 33 Brian Kenkel, 8. 19 Dustin
Reeh (R), 9. 15 Jase Kaser
Lucas Oil MLRA Contingency Awards for April 2, 2011:
Performance Bodies: 33 Al Purkey
KRC Hard Charger: 25 Chad Simpson
KRC Hard Luck: 58 Dave Eckrich
Weld Wheels: 24G Bryant Goldsmith
BSB Manufacturing: 29K Bill Koons
R2C Performance Filters: 14 Brad Looney
Keizer Wheels: 56 Tony Jackson Jr.
SAFERACER: 22 Alan Vaughn
Racing Optics: 6H Al Humphrey
Rod End Supply: 1W Mike Wiarda and 14W Dustin Walker
Sunoco Race Fuels B Feature #1 Results (12 Laps): 1. 25 Chad Simpson, 2.
14JR RC Whitwell, 3. 24G Bryant Goldsmith, 4. 4 JC Wyman, 5. 62 Leon
Zeitner, 6. 82 Robbie Anderson, 7. 58 Dave Eckrich, 8. 1W Mike Wiarda,
9. 77A Justin Asplin, 10. 29K Bill Koons, 11. 4W Jason Pursley, 12. 15
Jase Kaser, 13. 2P Dwane Pospisil, 14. 40 Shawn Harker, 15. 8 Mike
Wallace, 16. 45 Dan Battaglia
Hoosier Racing Tire B Feature #2 Results (12 Laps): 1. 3 Mike Collins,
2. 24B Bill Leighton, 3. 15B Jason O'Brien, 4. 88 Kevin Kile, 5. 12
Trenton Jackson, 6. 14W Dustin Walker, 7. 10 Jr. Coover, 8. 24S Stoney
Stuart, 9. 19 Dustin Reeh (R), 10. 83 Denton Ducan, 11. 33 Brian Kenkel,
12. 6H Al Humphrey, 13. 51 Billy Koons Jr. (R), 14. 26JR Corey Zeitner,
15. 53K Joe Kosiski, 16. 92 Delbert Smith
Lucas Cattle Company A Feature Results (35 Laps): 1. 14 Brad Looney, 2.
14B Kyle Berck, 3. 32 Chris Simpson, 4. 25 Chad Simpson, 5. 50 Denny
Eckrich, 6. 33 Al Purkey, 7. 75 Terry Phillips, 8. 15 David Turner, 9.
00 Jesse Stovall, 10. 22 Alan Vaughn, 11. 21 Travis Dickes, 12. 24B Bill
Leighton, 13. 77K Kurt Kile, 14. 2J John Anderson, 15. 74 Jeremy Payne,
16. 14JR RC Whitwell, 17. 1W Mike Wiarda, 18. 3 Mike Collins, 19. 53K
Joe Kosiski, 20. 15B Jason O'Brien, 21. 24G Bryant Goldsmith, 22. 56
Tony Jackson Jr. (R), 23. 77A Justin Asplin, 24. 20 Jake Meier, 25. 22P
Craig Preble, 26. 58 Dave Eckrich
The Lucas Oil MLRA heads to Heartland Park Topeka and Lucas Oil Speedway
April 8th and 9th for two nights of racing action. Heartland Park Topeka
will have gates open at 5:30 PM with racing at 7:00 PM on Friday April
8th. For more information on the upcoming events at HPT please visit
www.HPT.com or
www.MLRAracing.com .
Saturday, April 9th is the opening night for Lucas Oil Speedway in
Wheatland, Missouri. Gates will open at 5:00 PM, Hot Laps at 6:30 PM
with racing at 7:05 PM. For more information on this and other events at
Lucas Oil Speedway visit
www.LucasOilSpeedway.com .
Visit the series website
www.MLRAracing.com for the most up to date information on the
Lucas Oil MLRA.
|