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Bergman Best in Speedway Motors ASCS Midwest Opener at I-80!
BY: Lonnie Wheatley
GREENWOOD, Neb. (April 8, 2011) – Snohomish, Washington’s Seth Bergman
captured his second career American Sprint Car Series Regional feature win
by charging to victory lane in Friday night’s season-opening 25-lap Speedway
Motors ASCS Midwest Region main event at I-80 Speedway.
Bergman, who picked
up his first win during the initial weekend of Northwest action under the
ASCS banner in 2008, battled into the lead on the second round and, after
some early pressure in traffic from Brian Brown, checked out in the latter
stages to take the $3,000 victory with a comfortable straightaway margin.
“I knew Brian would
be on me on that restart, so I drove it even harder after that,” the
23-year-old Lucas Oil ASCS National title contender explained. “I didn’t
know if he was close or not.”
Finding the
4/10-mile dirt oval that was made heavy by rain the previous day to his
liking, Bergman rallied from seventh to second in his heat to earn a spot in
the redraw, where he drew the front row outside starting position for the
feature.
While pole starter
Don Droud, Jr., paced the initial circuit, Bergman blasted into the lead in
turns one and two the next time around and held the point the rest of the
way aboard the Petersen Motorsports Wesmar-powered Superior Marine No. 23
Eagle, lapping all the way up to ninth in the process.
It wasn’t without
at least a challenge or two along the way, as fifth-starter Brown worked
past Droud for second by the time Bergman reached traffic on the eighth
circuit. Brown moved in on Bergman’s tailtank to challenge, with Bergman
splitting a pair of lapped cars to maintain the lead moments before the
caution flew on the tenth round for Ryan Roberts, who slowed to a halt in
turn two.
“When we got in
dirty air, the car got pretty tight if I got right behind someone,” Bergman
explained. “In open track, the car was great.”
With a pair of
lapped cars between himself and Brown, Bergman checked out and raced on to a
straightaway advantage as Brown struggled to get past the lapped machine of
Ryan Anderson until a final caution flew after 13 laps for Justyn Cox, who
stopped in turn two with steering woes.
Brown disposed of
the lapped car on the restart but was no match for the fleet Bergman, who
again opened up a healthy lead that wasn’t even diminished as he sliced
through traffic over the final handful of circuits.
Bergman took the
checkered flag well ahead of Brown, with Droud settling for the show
position. Wayne Johnson slipped around Jack Dover for fourth on the 24th
lap, with Dover rounding out the top five.
Lee Grosz was
sixth, with Tony Bruce, Jr., Russ Hall, Gregg Bakker and Chad Meyer
completing the top ten.
Jason Danley, Hall,
Bryan Gossel, Droud and Brown topped heat race action for the 45-car field,
with Bakker and Cox winning the 12-lap “B” Mains. Chad Humston blew an
engine in heat race action and was done for the night, while Trevor
Grossenbacher was victimized by a turn three rut and flipped in the first
“B” Main without injury.
Speedway Motors
ASCS Midwest Results from I-80 Speedway:
First Heat (10
Laps): 1. 82-Jason Danley, 2. 18r-Ryan Roberts, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 31-Mark
Pace, 5. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 6. 32-Toby Chapman, 7. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 8.
20k-Thomas Kennedy, 9. 17b-Ryan Bickett.
Second Heat (10
Laps): 1. 45c-Russ Hall, 2. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 3. 33-Danny Lasoski, 4.
21c-Justyn Cox, 5. 1w-Chad Meyer, 6. 4-Jordan Boston, 7. 14-Jody Rosenboom,
8. 12-Tyler Drueke, 9. 77-John Klabunde.
Third Heat (10
Laps): 1. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 2. 23-Seth Bergman, 3. 9-Jared Georges, 4.
15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 5. 71r-Ryan Anderson, 6. 7k-Robby Wolfgang, 7.
10d-Danielle Ossenfort, 8. 17-Gage Dorr, 9. 1m-Chad Humston.
Fourth Heat (10
Laps): 1. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 38-Wayne Johnson, 3. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher,
4. 4j-Lee Grosz, 5. 24a-Terry McCarl, 6. 51-Mike Hess, 7. 44-Doug Lovegrove,
8. 21x-Ryan Kitchen, 9. 71-Tige Jensen.
Fifth Heat (10
Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 2L-Logan Forler, 3. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 4.
21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 5. 3j-Jeremiah Jordahl, 6. 7-Lance Fassbender, 7.
0-Jeff Osborn, 8. 28-Mitch Runge, 9. 22-Billy Alley.
First “B” Main (12
Laps): 1. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 2. 71r-Ryan Anderson, 3. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 4.
45x-C.J. Johnson, 5. 31-Mark Pace, 6. 77-John Klabunde, 7. 7-Lance
Fassbender, 8. 3j-Jeremiah Jordahl, 9. 21x-Ryan Kitchen, 10. 44-Doug
Lovegrove, 11. 28-Mitch Runge, 12. 17-Gage Dorr, 13. 0-Jeff Osborn, 14.
35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 15. 51-Mike Hess. DNS: 1m-Chad Humston.
Second “B” Main (12
Laps): 1. 21c-Justyn Cox, 2. 2L-Logan Forler, 3. 4-Jordan Boston, 4.
24a-Terry McCarl, 5. 1w-Chad Meyer, 6. 14-Jody Rosenboom, 7. 22-Billy Alley,
8. 7k-Robby Wolfgang, 9. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 10. 32-Toby Chapman, 11.
10d-Danielle Ossenfort, 12. 12-Tyler Drueke, 13. 9-Jared Georges, 14.
20k-Thomas Kennedy. DNS: 71-Tige Jensen.
"A" Feature (25
Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 2. 21-Brian Brown, 3. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 4.
38-Wayne Johnson, 5. 53-Jack Dover, 6. 4j-Lee Grosz, 7. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr.,
8. 45c-Russ Hall, 9. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 10. 1w-Chad Meyer, 11. 2L-Logan
Forler, 12. 82-Jason Danley, 13. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 14. 71r-Ryan Anderson,
15. 4-Jordan Boston, 16. 31-Mark Pace, 17. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 18. 33-Danny
Lasoski, 19. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 20. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 21. 21c-Justyn
Cox, 22. 18r-Ryan Roberts, 23. 24a-Terry McCarl, 24. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr.
Speedway Motors
ASCS Midwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Seth Bergman 150, 2. Brian Brown
142, 3. Don Droud, Jr. 135, 4. Wayne Johnson 130, 5. Jack Dover 125, 6. Lee
Grosz 122, 7. Tony Bruce, Jr. 119, 8. Russ Hall 116, 9. Gregg Bakker 113,
10. Chad Meyer 110.
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