Springfield showdown goes to Cornell

 by Bryan Hulbert

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (April 20, 2013) Jonathan Cornell finished his 2012 season with a victory at the Springfield Raceway with the Speedway Motors Warrior and American Bank of Oklahoma Sooner Regions. Returning with the regional combination on Saturday, April 20, Cornell topped the regional showdown, driving the Kiowa Line Builders No. 28 to his first triumph of the 2013 season.

Pulling the third starting spot of the night’s 25 lap feature event, Cornell chased early leader Brandon Hahn into slower traffic before Hahn tripped the ever thinning cushion in turn three; falling off the track then returning atop turn four, under power, on Lap 9.

With Logan Forler to his back bumper, Cornell stuck to the cushion on the restart. Approaching the tail of the field on Lap 15, Forler began closing the distance to a pair of car lengths only to see the caution again fly for Hahn after contact with the front straight wall on the nineteenth circuit.

The final six laps saw Cornell pull to nearly a straight-a-way when the checkered flag fell. Logan Forler posted his second runner up spot of the weekend with Danny Wood completing the podium. Swapping lines again, and again on the restart Blake Hahn edged Brian Brown for fourth with Brown crossing fifth.

Coming out the night’s first B-Main, Harli White charged from seventeenth to sixth followed by Seth Bergman from sixteenth. Randy Martin, Jay Russell, and Matt Ward made up the drivers in the top ten.

The Speedway Motors Warrior Region returns to competition on May 4 at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.

Speedway Motors Warrior Region / American Bank of Oklahoma Sooner Region
Springfield Raceway – Springfield, Mo.
Saturday, April 20, 2013

Car count: 40

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Brandon Hahn; 2. 21-Brian Brown; 3. 38-Cody Baker; 4. 17W-Harli White; 5. 39-Andy Shouse; 6. 48-Jake Martens; 7. 75-Tyler Blank; 8. 6-Bryan Grimes

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Danny Wood; 2. 14Z-Zach Pringle; 3. 76-Jay Russell; 4. 95-Matt Covington; 5. 23-Seth Bergman; 6. 17G-Cody Gardner; 7. 85-Forrest Sutherland; 8. 14T-Andrew Turley

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11W-Wyatt Burks; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell; 3. 4AM-Mike Goodman; 4. 14-Randy Martin; 5. 14T-Andrew Turley; 6. 22B-Dustin Barks; 7. 8-Shane Pace; 8. 32X-Robert Richardson; DNF 5-Joe Bob Lee

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn; 2. 92J-J.R. Topper; 3. 51-Matt Ward; 4. 04-Brad Graham; 5. 29Q-Rusty Quick; 6. 22-Koby Barksdale; 7. 9-Casey Baker; 8. 22K-Kevin Barksdale

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 2L-Logan Forler; 2. 31G-Johnny Gardner; 3. 94L-Layne Himebaugh; 4. 57-Kyle Chady; 5. 97-Kevin Cummings; 6. 86X-Josh Fisher; DNS 21X-Taylor Velasquez; DNS 77-Kevin Whitworth

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 76-Jay Russell; 2. 17W-Harli White; 3. 48-Jake Martens; 4. 6-Bryan Grimes; 5. 29Q-Rusty Quick; 6. 32X-Robert Richardson; 7. 85-Forrest Sutherland; 8. 97-Kevin Cummings; 9. 14T-Andrew Turley; DNF 38-Cody Baker; DNF 86X-Josh Fisher; DNF 31G-Johnny Gardner; DNS 21X-Taylor Velasquez

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman; 2. 95-Matt Covington; 3. 17G-Cody Gardner; 4. 75-Tyler Blank; 5. 22B-Dustin Barks; 6. 57-Kyle Chady; 7. 39-Andy Shouse; 8. 22-Koby Barksdale; 9. 22K-Kevin Barksdale; DNF 8-Shane Pace; DNF 9-Casey Baker; DNS 5-Joe Bob Lee; DNS 77-Kevin Whitworth

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 28-Jonathan Cornell; 2. 2L-Logan Forler; 3. 81-Danny Wood; 4. 52-Blake Hahn; 5. 21-Brian Brown; 6. 17W-Harli White; 7. 23-Seth Bergman; 8. 14-Randy Martin; 9. 76-Jay Russell; 10. 51-Matt Ward; 11. 94L-Layne Himebaugh; 12. 14Z-Zach Pringle; 13. 4AM-Mike Goodman; 14. 95-Matt Covington; 15. 48-Jake Martens; 16. 11W-Wyatt Burks; DNF 29-Brandon Hahn; DNF 17G-Cody Gardner; DNF 8-Shane Pace; DNF 04-Brad Graham

Lap Leaders: Brandon Hahn (1-9), Jonathan Cornell (10-25)

Tags: featured, full-image

Category: Missouri, Springfield Raceway