Humston Hauls in ASCS Midwest Loot at McCool Junction
by: Lonnie Wheatley
McCOOL JUNCTION, Neb. (July 1, 2010) – Chad Humston kicked off the ASCS
Midwest Region’s Fourth of July holiday weekend double header by racing to
his first series win of the year in Thursday night’s 25-lap main event at
Junction Motor Speedway.
Humston assumed the
point on a mid-race restart when Jack Dover retired with engine woes and
then beat a closing Ryan Roberts to the stripe to secure his fourth career
ASCS Midwest win aboard Mark Burch’s Engler Machine & Tool No. 1m Wolfweld.
“We had this car
set up for about the last four laps of that race, and we needed every bit of
it,” the 23-year-old Giltner, NE, shoe commented in victory lane. “I wasn’t
sure if we were quite as fast as we needed to be the last couple of laps,
but it was enough.”
While Humston
gridded the feature field outside row three, it was rookie shoe Tyler Drueke
outgunning front row outside starter Dover for the lead at the drop of the
green flag with Humston up to third on the opening round before the caution
flew for Eric Lutz, who got turned around entering turn one.
Dover slid past
Drueke for the lead on the restart, but the young shoe fired right back into
the lead and held the top spot until the race’s second caution flew with
five laps in the books for defending series champion Jason Danley, who
slowed in turn four with engine issues.
Dover successfully
slid past Drueke for the point on the ensuing restart, with Humston
following suit. Dover led the way in front of Humston until a caution flew
at the midway point when Bronson Maeschen cut a left rear tire. The caution
proved to be the end of Dover’s run up front as well, as an ailing
powerplant forced the Springfield, NE, racer to retire Gary Swenson’s No.
24a machine to the pit area.
With Humston
suddenly out front upon Dover’s departure, tenth-starter Ryan Roberts was up
to third behind Humston and Don Droud, Jr., in pursuit of a second
consecutive McCool Junction win after taking his first series win at JMS in
May.
And, after breaking
free of the three-way scrum for position that included Droud, Jr., and Brian
Brown, Roberts closed the gap on Humston and tried to mount a challenge in
the closing circuits as traffic came into play.
While Roberts
closed to within two car-lengths on the white flag lap, Humston slipped away
on the final circuit to secure the win, forcing Roberts to settle for
runner-up honors.
Droud claimed the
show position, with 11th-starter Brown and 13th-starter
Lee Grosz rounding out the top five.
Gregg Bakker was
sixth, with early leader Drueke crossing the stripe seventh. With Dover in
Swenson’s mount for the night, Aussie crew member Brodie Tulloch took the
wheel of the Dover No. 53 and claimed eighth with Lutz and Maeschen
rebounding from early issues to complete the top ten.
Justyn Cox, Droud,
Jr., and Drueke topped the night’s heat races.
ASCS Midwest Region
Results from Junction Motor Speedway:
First Heat (8
Laps): 1. 5h-Justyn Cox, 2. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 3. 5-Eric Lutz, 4. 18-Ryan
Roberts, 5. 6-Kyle Hirst, 6. 1-Bronson Maeschen, 7. 82-Jason Danley.
Second Heat (8
Laps): 1. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 44-Doug Lovegrove, 3. 1m-Chad Humston, 4.
21-Brian Brown, 5. 4j-Lee Grosz, 6. 6g-Bryan Gossel.
Third Heat (8
Laps): 1. 12-Tyler Drueke, 2. 24a-Jack Dover, 3. 93-Patrick Bourke, 4.
53-Brodie Tulloch, 5. 71-Bob Schaeffer, 6. 17-Gage Dorr.
"A" Feature (25
Laps): 1. 1m-Chad Humston, 2. 18-Ryan Roberts, 3. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 4.
21-Brian Brown, 5. 4j-Lee Grosz, 6. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 7. 12-Tyler Drueke, 8.
53-Brodie Tulloch, 9. 5-Eric Lutz, 10. 1-Bronson Maeschen, 11. 93-Patrick
Bourke, 12. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 13. 44-Doug Lovegrove, 14. 17-Gage Dorr, 15.
71-Bob Schaeffer, 16. 5h-Justyn Cox, 17. 24a-Jack Dover, 18. 6-Kyle Hirst,
19. 82-Jason Danley.
ASCS Midwest Region
Points (Top Ten): 1. Jack Dover 1,183, 2. Eric Lutz 1,049, 3. Doug
Lovegrove 906, 4. Billy Alley 750, 5. Jason Danley 749, 6. Chad Humston 622,
7. Brian Brown 614, 8. (tie) Ryan Roberts and Tyler Drueke 612, 10. Lee
Grosz 589.
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