McMahan Wins Night One of Winter Heat

 

SOMERTON, Ariz. (Jan 2, 2015) – The opening night of the inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown lived up to its hype.

Paul McMahan bested a stout field of top-notch sprint car drivers from across the country on Friday night at Cocopah Speedway to score the $12,000-to-win prize. He also leads the points standings following the first of five nights during a nine-day period at the 3/8-mile oval.

“The race track was great,” McMahan said. “This was the first time I’ve ever been here. It kind of moves around all night long. It’s a great place, great facility, great event. Any time you can win it builds momentum. To win the first night out of 2015 with a brand new, experimental race car is phenomenal. We’re really looking forward to the rest of the week and the rest of the year.”

Night two of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown is Saturday with hot laps scheduled for 6 p.m. local time and Opening Ceremonies at 7 p.m.

McMahan was a front runner from the start of hot laps. He set the quickest time during warmups and then charged from sixth to win his heat race, which made him the high-points earner.

That lined him up on the outside of the third row for a qualifier. McMahan charged to a runner-up result, giving him a clear advantage in overall points and the pole position for the 30-lap feature.

However, Aaron Reutzel, who was making his 410ci sprint car debut, powered to the lead at the start of the main event.

The first caution of the race came on the second lap when Dale Blaney spun in turn three, where Willie Croft and David Gravel also came to a stop. Since a full lap wasn’t completed following Danny Lasoski’s power move from fourth to second place prior to the caution, McMahan and Joey Saldana moved back in front of Lasoski.

“I actually got very fortunate because I tried the top early and Danny Lasoski actually got by me on the bottom and the yellow came out so I got my spot back,” McMahan said. “After that I never wanted to move back off the bottom.”

Reutzel maintained the lead on the restart, but he brought out a caution of his own one lap later when it appeared that he made contact with the backstretch wall and cut down a tire.

That gave McMahan the lead, which he never relinquished. Saldana made a bid for the lead in traffic one third of the way through the race, but a red flag because of Christopher Bell and Reece Goetz flipping in turn three gave McMahan a clean track for the restart.

He caught traffic for the final time with 11 laps remaining, but wasn’t slowed as he methodically lapped up to 10th place.

First Heat (8 laps): Joey Saldana, Freddie Rahmer, Aaron Reutzel, David Gravel, Kraig Kinser, Dale Blaney, Reece Goetz, Dusty Zomer, Logan Schuchart.

Second Heat (8 laps): Roger Crockett, Seth Bergman, Logan Forler, Wayne Johnson, Skylar Gee, Kyle Larson, Jacob Allen, Matt Jensen, Mason Moore.

Third Heat (8 laps): Paul McMahan, Dakota Hendrickson, Henry Van Dam, Steve Kinser, Brian Brown, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Josh Hodges, Bud Walberg.

Fourth Heat (8 laps): Craig Dollansky, Stevie Smith, Willie Croft, Danny Lasoski, Kasey Kahne, Christopher Bell, Ryan Smith, D.J. Netto.

First Qualifier (10 laps): Kahne, McMahan, S. Smith, Larson, Croft, Schuchart, Johnson, Gee, Hodges.

Second Qualifier (10 laps): Blaney, Brown, Saldana, Gravel, Hendrickson, Allen, Bergman, Moore, Jensen.

Third Qualifier (10 laps): Reutzel, Lasoski, Bell, Dollansky, Goetz, Crockett, Zomer, Walberg.

Fourth Qualifier (10 laps): Hafertepe, K. Kinser, S. Kinser, Rahmer, Van Dam, Netto, Forler, R. Smith.

B Main (15 laps): Larson, S. Kinser, Bell, Hafertepe, Johnson, Croft, Goetz, Schuchart, Zomer, Forler, Moore, Netto, Allen, Gee, R. Smith, Walberg, Hodges, Jensen.

Feature (30 laps): McMahan, Saldana, Lasoski, Smith, Crockett, Brown, Rahmer, Bergman, Van Dam, Kahne, Hafertepe, Schuchart, Croft, Hendrickson, Larson, Reutzel, Goetz, Bell, Johnson, Dollansky, K. Kinser, S. Kinser, Gravel, Blaney.

Tags: featured, full-image

Category: News