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Tony Bruce, Jr., Captures Nebraska Cup with ASCS Midwest
Triumph!
by Lonnie Wheatley
EAGLE, Neb. (September 12, 2009) – "Holy cow, I'm worn out!" Tony Bruce,
Jr., exclaimed as he climbed from his Sprint Car on Saturday night.
And for good reason, as the Liberal, KS, shoe had just outlasted Jesse
Hockett in a classic slugfest atop the high-banked, 1/3-mile Eagle Raceway
clay oval to collect a hefty $5,000 ASCS Midwest Region winner's share and
the coveted Nebraska Cup.
After Tige Jensen and Brady Bacon traded stints out front in the opening
twelve rounds of the 30-lapper, Bruce and Hockett stepped to the head of the
pack and traded the point numerous times before Bruce finally put a couple
of car-lengths between himself and his Missouri chaser to secure the
checkered flag aboard the Rider-powered No. 18 Maxim.
"What a race, if anybody here didn't like that one, then you're not gonna
like any kind of racing," Bruce announced to the large crowd in victory
lane.
"It's fun racing with Jesse like that, you can race him hard and you also
know he's gonna race you clean," Bruce explained. "We were probably about
three inches apart quite a few times, but we never touched at all."
It marked Bruce's second overall ASCS feature win of the season, adding to
an ASCS Speedweek score at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway, where he reigns as
Short Track Nationals champion.
Bruce started Saturday night's main event right on Hockett's tailtank inside
the third row as Don Droud, Jr., and Tige Jensen led the way to the green
flag. Eagle rep Jensen gunned into the lead at the outset and paced the
initial five circuits before fourth-starter Brady Bacon charged into the
lead down the backstretch.
Following a quick caution after six laps for Gene Ackland's second spin,
Bruce and Hockett disposed of both Droud and Jensen to move into second and
third behind Bacon.
Battling issues that began with semi-functional brakes after losing a pad at
the outset and soon became no brakes at all, Bacon was a sitting duck for
the hard-charging duo of Hockett and Bruce.
A slight Bacon miscue in turns three and four on the 13th circuit was all it
took for Hockett and Bruce to relegate Bacon to third.
"I had the car to win tonight, but after losing the brakes it was about
impossible to get the car into the corners the way I needed to," Bacon
explained.
With Bacon suddenly chasing in third, Hockett paced the next seven rounds
with Bruce hot on his heels. With traffic coming into play, Bruce made his
move for the lead on the 19th round and the battle was on.
The pair battled side-by-side, trading sliders in consecutive corners
repeatedly, all the while slicing through lapped traffic over the next ten
circuits, with Bacon and Brian Brown within a pair of car-lengths to take
advantage of any potential miscues.
"Traffic was intense, I didn't know where some of those guys were gonna try
to go," Bruce explained.
Bruce got the break he needed two laps from the end, slipping past a pair of
lapped cars that held up Hockett just long enough for the slightest of Bruce
breathing room.
Bruce made no bobbles over the final two laps and took the checkered flag,
with Hockett settling for runner-up honors in his own No. 77 entry.
Eighth-starter Brown from Missouri made a late move to snare the show
position, with Oklahoma's Bacon crossing the stripe fourth.
Droud rounded out the top five to rank as the top finishing Nebraska rep,
with South Dakota's Justin Henderson advancing from 14th to sixth and
second-ranked ASCS Midwest shoe Chad Humston in seventh.
After slapping the wall and cutting his right rear tire in heat race action,
Mike Boston rallied from the tail of a "B" Main to take the second and final
transfer position away from Bronson Maeschen in the final corner and then
picked up Hard Charger honors by racing from 18th to eighth in the main
event.
While he was denied a third consecutive Nebraska Cup triumph, Jack Dover
managed to pick off ten positions by charging from 19th to ninth with Billy
Alley climbing from 17th to complete the top ten.
Ackland, Droud, Stuart Snyder, Henderson, Bruce and Jason Martin topped heat
race action for Saturday night's 52-car field, with Jason Danley, Ryan
Anderson and Alley winning the 12-lap "B" Mains. After a 19th-place finish
in the main event, Danley can secure the ASCS Midwest Region championship by
taking a competitive green flag in Sunday night's $2,001-to-win season
finale at the Butler County Motorplex in Rising City, NE.
Joe McCarthy got upside down on the frontstretch in the night's fifth heat,
while Eric Lutz went for a wild turn one ride in the sixth heat at the same
time that Kevin Ingle turned over on the frontstretch in a three-car scrum
off turn four.
Mike Gabelhouse flipped in turn four in the first "B" Main, while Lee Grosz
tagged the turn one wall to avoid a spinning car just ahead while leading
the second "B" Main.
There were no injuries.
ASCS Midwest Results from Eagle Raceway's Nebraska Cup:
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 14g-Gene Ackland, 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 3. 4-Mike
Chadd, 4. 96-Bronson Maeschen, 5. 22x-Billy Alley, 6. 34-Josh Padellford, 7.
77-John Klabunde, 8. 22-Jesse Baker, 9. 71x-Bob Schaeffer.
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 71-Tige Jensen, 3. 4m-Randi
Miller, 4. 8b-Bobby Becker, 5. x29-Roger Sluka, 6. 91-Mitchell Moore, 7.
6g-Bryan Gossel, 8. 87j-Josh Lepage, 9. 19x-Chuck Jackson.
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 23s-Stuart Snyder, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 82-Jason
Danley, 4. 7g-Mike Gabelhouse, 5. 23-Terry Holliman, 6. 14j-Josh Riggins, 7.
21-Ryan Kitchen, 8. 3z-Zach Davis, 9. 88-Mike Boston.
Heat Four (10 Laps): 1. 99jr-Justin Henderson, 2. 1m-Chad Humston, 3.
71r-Ryan Anderson, 4. 4j-Lee Grosz, 5. 28x-Ken Klabunde, 6. 96kx-Adam
Gullion, 7. 76-Jay Russell, 8. 9j-Mark Schmidt, 9. 19-Joe McCarthy.
Heat Five (10 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 21x-Brian Brown, 3.
44w-Austen Wheatley, 4. 24a-Jack Dover, 5. 5-Eric Lutz, 6. 6-Nick Bryan, 7.
2k-Kevin Ingle, 8. 32-Toby Chapman.
Heat Six (10 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, 2. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 3. 77x-Jesse
Hockett, 4. 35ab-Trevor Grossenbacher, 5. 22k-Koby Barksdale, 6. 13F-Larry
Pinegar, 7. 45-Jeff Lowery, 8. 14-Jeff Heffner.
First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 82-Jason Danley, 2. 88-Mike Boston, 3.
96-Bronson Maeschen, 4. 91-Mitchell Moore, 5. 34-Josh Padellford, 6. 21-Ryan
Kitchen, 7. 2k-Kevin Ingle, 8. 22-Jesse Baker, 9. 77-John Klabunde, 10.
35ab-Trevor Grossenbacher, 11. 22k-Koby Barksdale. DNS: 19-Joe McCarthy.
Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 71r-Ryan Anderson, 2. 24a-Jack Dover, 3.
44w-Austen Wheatley, 4. 13f-Larry Pinegar, 5. 76-Jay Russell, 6. 45-Jeff
Lowery, 7. 8b-Bobby Becker, 8. 71x-Bob Schaeffer, 9. 14j-Josh Riggins, 10.
4j-Lee Grosz, 11. 87j-Josh Lepage, 12. 19x-Chuck Jackson. DNS: 32-Toby
Chapman.
Third "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 22x-Billy Alley, 2. 23-Terry Holliman, 3.
28x-Ken Klabunde, 4. x29-Roger Sluka, 5. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 6. 14-Jeff
Heffner, 7. 6-Nick Bryan, 8. 9j-Mark Schmidt, 9. 3z-Zach Davis, 10. 4-Mike
Chadd. DNS: 5-Eric Lutz, 96kx-Adam Gullion.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 77x-Jesse Hockett, 3.
21x-Brian Brown, 4. 99-Brady Bacon, 5. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 6. 99jr-Justin
Henderson, 7. 1m-Chad Humston, 8. 88-Mike Boston, 9. 24a-Jack Dover, 10.
22x-Billy Alley, 11. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 12. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 13. 71-Tige
Jensen, 14. 71r-Ryan Anderson, 15. 23-Terry Holliman, 16. 36-Jason Martin,
17. 23s-Stuart Snyder, 18. 4m-Randi Miller, 19. 82-Jason Danley, 20.
14g-Gene Ackland.
ASCS Midwest Points (Top Ten): 1. Jason Danley 1,562, 2. Chad Humston 1,486,
3. Eric Lutz 1,254, 4. Jack Dover 1,246, 5. Brian Brown 1,140, 6. Lee Grosz
1,108, 7. (tie) Jonathan Cornell and Don Droud, Jr. 1,072, 9. Mike Boston
1,013, 10. Ryan Anderson 835.
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