Shane Stewart Snares ASCS Midwest Win at I-80!
by: Lonnie Wheatley
GREENWOOD, Neb.
(May 27, 2010) – Shane Stewart kicked off the Memorial Day holiday weekend
of racing festivities by charging to victory lane in Thursday night’s 25-lap
American Sprint Car Series Midwest Region feature event at I-80 Speedway.
The Bixby, OK,
hotshoe worked forward from the seventh starting position to take the lead
away from Brian Brown on the ninth lap and paced the field the rest of the
way to take the win aboard Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered Rock Star Energy
Drink/ProBilt Construction No. 57 A.R.T.
“We all came here
tonight with one person on our mind,” Stewart explained in victory lane in
reference to Jesse Hockett, who tragically lost his life just one day
earlier. “Hopefully Jesse’s smiling on us right now.”
While pole starter
Eric Lutz outgunned California’s Justyn Cox to lead the opening round,
third-starter Brian Brown raced into the lead on the second circuit before
the caution flew for Dylan Peterson’s turn two spin.
Up to fifth after
the initial pair of circuits, Stewart needed just a couple of laps to
dispose of Cox, Billy Alley and Lutz to move into second, setting his sights
on Brown.
Stewart stalked the
leader for several rounds before pouncing for what proved to be the
race-winning move on the ninth circuit.
Once out front,
there was no stopping the reigning Lucas Oil ASCS National champion and
current points leader as he raced to the checkered flag with a ten
car-length advantage over Brown even after a late caution set up a four-lap
dash to the stripe.
“I can’t say enough
about my guys, especially Paul (Silva),” Stewart commented. “They do a
great job and gave me a perfect car to drive tonight.”
Brown settled for
runner-up honors carrying Hockett’s No. 77 on his FVP Maxim.
Working forward
from ninth, California’s Kyle Hirst made a late move around Lutz to snare
the show position with Lutz settling for fourth.
Defending ASCS
Midwest champion Jason Danley made a last-lap move around Billy Alley to
round out the top five, with Alley in sixth. Don Droud, Jr., raced from 16th
to seventh, with Travis Rilat, Jack Dover and 20th-starter Trevor
Grossenbacher completing the top ten.
Peterson, Lutz,
Stewart and Chad Humston topped heat race action for Thursday night’s 30-car
field, with Texas’ Channin Tankersley winning the “B” Main after early
leader Ryan Roberts retired to the pit area with mechanical woes. Humston
retired from the main event at the midway point with engine issues.
ASCS Midwest Region
Results from I-80 Speedway:
First Heat (8
Laps): 1. 25-Dylan Peterson, 2. 13-Seth Brahmer, 3. 17-Gage Dorr, 4.
24a-Jack Dover, 5. 44-Doug Lovegrove, 6. 71x-Bob Schaeffer, 7. 5j-Jamie
Ball, 8. 57s-Don Stoutner.
Second Heat (8
Laps): 1. 5-Eric Lutz, 2. 5h-Justyn Cox, 3. 77-Brian Brown, 4. 29-Travis
Rilat, 5. 71T-Channin Tankersley, 6. 77x-John Klabunde, 7. 35-Trevor
Grossenbacher, 8. 05-Justin Wolf-Medlock.
Third Heat (8
Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 6-Kyle Hirst, 3. 82-Jason Danley, 4. 18-Ryan
Roberts, 5. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 6. 78-Joe Miller, 7. 12-Tyler Drueke.
Fourth Heat (8
Laps): 1. 1m-Chad Humston, 2. 22-Billy Alley, 3. 4j-Lee Grosz, 4. 32-Toby
Chapman, 5. 71-Tige Jensen, 6. 9-John Webster, 7. 93b-Patrick Bourke.
“B” Feature (12
Laps): 1. 71T-Channin Tankersley, 2. 77x-John Klabunde, 3. 32-Toby Chapman,
4. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 5. 71-Tige Jensen, 6. 78-Joe Miller, 7. 12-Tyler
Drueke, 8. 5j-Jamie Ball, 9. 05-Justin Wolf-Medlock, 10. 9-John Webster, 11.
57s-Don Stoutner, 12. 18-Ryan Roberts, 13. 93b-Patrick Bourke. DNS: 71x-Bob
Schaeffer.
"A" Feature (25
Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 77-Brian Brown, 3. 6-Kyle Hirst, 4. 5-Eric
Lutz, 5. 82-Jason Danley, 6. 22-Billy Alley, 7. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 8.
29-Travis Rilat, 9. 24a-Jack Dover, 10. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 11. 13-Seth
Brahmer, 12. 5h-Justyn Cox, 13. 77x-John Klabunde, 14. 32-Toby Chapman, 15.
44-Doug Lovegrove, 16. 17-Gage Dorr, 17. 4j-Lee Grosz, 18. 25-Dylan
Peterson, 19. 1m-Chad Humston, 20. 71T-Channin Tankersley.
ASCS Midwest Region
Points (Top Ten): 1. Jack Dover 405, 2. Chad Humston 356, 3. Billy Alley
348, 4. Lee Grosz 329, 5. Ryan Roberts 320, 6. Eric Lutz 314, 7. Jason
Danley 306, 8. John Klabunde 275, 9. Doug Lovegrove 269, 10. Dylan Peterson
261.
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