Lone Star vs Sooner Mesquite results 2009-05-09

Wright On in ASCS Red River Shootout at Devil's Bowl!

MESQUITE, Texas (May 9, 2009) -- Just when it looked as though Nebraska's Jack Dover was going to pull off a spectacular win in Round Two of the ASCS Red River Shootout at Devil's Bowl Speedway, Lady Luck intervened and gave a friendly nod to Gary Wright.

And, taking full advantage, "The Texan" came away with Saturday night's $2,000 ASCS Lone Star Region vs. American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region 25-lap triumph atop the famed 0x00bd-mile clay oval.

While Wright found himself standing in a familiar place at night's end, the Devil's Bowl Speedway victory lane, the hard-earned win came after surviving the best efforts of a pair of salty 19-year-olds in the form of Brady Bacon and Jack Dover.

After Wright and Bacon diced for the point most of the way, Dover surged from third into the lead with a daring move in turns three and four on the 22nd lap only to have his engine sour one circuit later.

Wright, the four-time Lucas Oil ASCS National champion, then paced the final two rounds to collect his third ASCS Regional triumph of the season aboard Scott Brown's ASI-powered Lubbock Wrecker Service/Richwood Construction No. 9x Maxim.

"I'm not sure what happened to Dover, but we got a little lucky on that one," Wright commented in victory lane.

Taking command on the 13th round, Wright finally found a hint of breathing room after the caution flew for Matt Covington's turn two spin with 15 laps in the books.

But, when Wright hit lapped traffic again with a handful of laps to go, Bacon and Dover quickly closed the gap to renew the battle that had been brewing at the midway point.

"That lapped car was killing me, I had to lock it up a couple of times just to keep from wrecking," Wright explained.

It was all the opportunity that Dover needed, blitzing past both Bacon and Wright in one fell swoop for the lead at the completion of the 22nd lap. A lap later, one last caution flew when Sean McClelland slid off the top of turn four.And, before action could resume, Dover pulled his mount pitside with terminal engine problems. "I felt it flatten out right before that caution, we wouldn't have even made those last two laps," the 2008 ASCS Midwest Region champion commented.

Under that same caution, Bacon's strong run came to an early end as well when he retired to the pit area with a depleted fuel cell and a cut right rear tire. After starting on the front row to the outside of pole starter Wright, Bacon had officially held the lead on eleven of the hotly contested opening dozen circuits.

Wright, who had led lap seven and then laps 13-21, set sail on the final two-lap dash to the line and took the checkered flag in front of Danny Wood, who finished second to Wright's son-in-law Nick Smith one night earlier in the opening leg of the ASCS Red River Shootout at State Fair Speedway.

Travis Rilat claimed the show position, while Kevin Ramey maintained his ASCS Lone Star points lead by advancing from the sixth row to finish fourth.

Originally slated to start tenth, Joe Wood, Jr., took advantage of a pair of opening lap cautions to rejoin the field and charged from 22nd to round out the top five.

Jason Johnson was in the thick of a five-car scramble for the lead at the midway point that also included Bacon, Wright, Dover and Wood when he locked it up and spun in turn two. The reigning Lucas Oil ASCS National champion restarted at the tail of the field and rallied to finish sixth.

Donnie Ray Crawford posted a seventh-place run, while Eric Baldaccini rebounded from a pair of early issues to claim eighth. Arizona's Ben Gregg raced from 20th to ninth, with New Mexico's Colt Treharn completing the top ten.

Claud Estes, Dale Wester, Crawford, Wood and Wright topped heat race action for the 44-car field, with J.P. Bailey and Matt Covington winning the twin "B" Mains.

After going for a wild ride down the frontstretch as the green flag flew upon the night's third heat race, Brian Parker emerged relatively unscathed.

ASCS Red River Shootout Round Two

American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region vs. ASCS Lone Star Region

Results from Devil's Bowl Speedway:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 74e-Claud Estes, 2. 26-Dalton Steed, 3. 87x-Billy Melton, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 45x-Martin Edwards, 6. 17w-Brad Welborn, 7. 24-David Gailley, 8. 22J-John Gaston, 9. 69h-Larry Howery.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 12w-Dale Wester, 2. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 4. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 5. 31m-Matt Clevenger, 6. 5m-Glenn Martin, 7. 04-Brad Graham, 8. 88r-Andy Rea, 9. 25-Robert Sellers.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 77-Colt Treharn, 4. 22b-Ben Gregg, 5. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 6. 14-Michael Lang, 7. 72-Sherman Davis, 8. 76-John Ricketts, 9. 9-Brian Parker.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 94-Danny Wood, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 45-J.P. Bailey, 4. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 5. 1r-Scott Reneau, 6. 95-Matt Covington, 7. 10-George White, 8. 11m-Brandon Moseley. DNS: 8-Shane Pace.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 9x-Gary Wright, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 45k-Kolt Walker, 4. 93-Dustin Morgan, 5. 14e-Justin Spoerl, 6. 13-Kathryne Minter, 7. 11-Justin Melton, 8. 87-Brian McClelland.

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 45-J.P. Bailey, 2. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 3. 72-Sherman Davis, 4. 11-Justin Melton, 5. 22J-John Gaston, 6. 69h-Larry Howery, 7. 11m-Brandon Moseley, 8. 10-George White, 9. 14-Michael Lang, 10. 1r-Scott Reneau, 11. 04-Brad Graham, 12. 93-Dustin Morgan, 13. 31m-Matt Clevenger. DNS: 9-Brian Parker.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 2. 22b-Ben Gregg, 3. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 4. 17w-Brad Welborn, 5. 14e-Justin Spoerl, 6. 5m-Glenn Martin, 7. 76-John Ricketts, 8. 25-Robert Sellers, 9. 87-Brian McClelland, 10. 24-David Gailley, 11. 13-Kathryne Minter, 12. 88r-Andy Rea, 13. 45x-Martin Edwards. DNS: 8-Shane Pace.

"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9x-Gary Wright, 2. 94-Danny Wood, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 5. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 6. 41-Jason Johnson, 7. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 8. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 9. 22b-Ben Gregg, 10. 77-Colt Treharn, 11. 95-Matt Covington, 12. 74e-Claud Estes, 13. 12w-Dale Wester, 14. 99-Brady Bacon, 15. 53-Jack Dover, 16. 1-Sean McClelland, 17. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 18. 45k-Kolt Walker, 19. 45-J.P. Bailey, 20. 87x-Billy Melton, 21. 26-Dalton Steed, 22. 72-Sherman Davis.

ASCS Lone Star Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Kevin Ramey 590, 2. Brad Welborn 522, 3. Brian McClelland 514, 4. Matt Clevenger 506, 5. J.P. Bailey 500, 6. Kolt Walker 488, 7. Justin Melton 486, 8. Eric Baldaccini 473, 9. Claud Estes 465, 10. Michael Lang 443.

American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Danny Wood 446, 2. Joe Wood, Jr. 418, 3. Sean McClelland 410, 4. Matt Covington 400, 5. Brady Bacon 394, 6. Dustin Morgan 390, 7. J.P. Bailey 380, 8. Sherman Davis 374, 9. Robert Sellers 366, 10. Kyle Bellm 332.

-credit: ascs