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Series Mesquite Saturday report, results

SHANE STEWART TAKES OVER LUCAS OIL SPRINT CAR SERIES POINT LEAD... "The Texan" Triumphs in Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Prelim! MESQUITE, Texas (October 17, 2009) -- Gary Wright continued his winning ways atop the fabled 0x00bd-mile Devil's Bowl ...

SHANE STEWART TAKES OVER LUCAS OIL SPRINT CAR SERIES POINT LEAD...
"The Texan" Triumphs in Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Prelim!

MESQUITE, Texas (October 17, 2009) -- Gary Wright continued his winning ways atop the fabled 0x00bd-mile Devil's Bowl Speedway clay oval by racing to victory lane in Saturday night's 25-lap Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters preliminary feature event at the 36th Annual Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals.

Wright raced past Aaron Reutzel on the fifth round and then held off the advances of Shane Stewart over the latter circuits to secure his 126th career ASCS National win and the 20th in series competition at 'Da Bowl.

"The way the track was, I knew I was just gonna stay on the bottom," Wright explained in victory lane. "If Shane (Stewart) could drive by me on the high side, then he could have it."

While Stewart couldn't successfully pull off the race-winning move, he struck a much bigger blow in big-picture terms by overtaking Jason Johnson for the series points lead. With the $60,000 Lucas Oil Sprint Car championship hanging in the balance over the season's final sequence of events, Stewart's runner-up showing coupled with Johnson's 18th-place run put the Oklahoma racer ten points ahead of "The Ragin' Cajun". And, to keep things even more interesting, Wright's title chances stayed alive as he exited the night just 42 points off of Stewart's lead pace.

Another pair of Texans, Fort Worth's Kevin Ramey and Sunnyvale's Sam Hafertepe, Jr., joined Wright and Stewart as Saturday's top four finishers to lock into Sunday afternoon's Winter Nationals finale, which fires off at 2:00 p.m.

After Mother Nature pushed back the running of the weekend's 36th Annual Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals by one day, Wright landed on the pole of Saturday night's preliminary main event.

However, it was 19-year-old ASCS Gulf South champion Aaron Reutzel gunning into the lead at the drop of the green flag and pacing the opening circuits.

Wright didn't allow the youngster to get too comfortable with the top spot though, muscling by for the point on the fifth round with third-starter Stewart following suit to take second a lap later.

Into traffic by the seventh circuit, Stewart kept the pressure on and moved in to challenge on several occasions. But, one bobble in turn two and then another one in turn four several laps later as the leaders tried to put a lap on a struggling Jason Johnson were enough to prevent a move to the front by Stewart.

Wright found clear track once again when the race's only caution flew after 21 rounds for Darren Long's turn two spin. Clear sailing was all Wright needed to safely put the win away aboard Scott Brown's ASI-powered Lubbock Wrecker Service/Richwood Construction No. 9x Maxim.

Stewart held strong for second in Paul Silva's Wesmar-powered ProBilt Construction/Palmero Properties No. 57 A.R.T.

Newly crowned ASCS Lone Star champion Kevin Ramey worked past Reutzel for third on the eighth circuit and held the show position the rest of the way in the Williams Motorsports Wells-powered City Vending No. 7m Maxim.

Hafertepe outdueled Jesse Hockett over the final portion of the race to snare the fourth and final lock-in position to Sunday's Winter Nationals championship finale, while Hockett settled for fifth in the VKCC Motorsports/Tom Buch No. 13.

Reutzel crossed the stripe sixth in just his second career Lucas Oil Sprint Car feature start, with Danny Wood making a last-lap move around 13th-starter Eric Baldaccini to snare seventh.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car rookie contender Chad Corken posted his top run of the year by finishing ninth, with Aaron Berryhill climbing from 16th to complete the top ten.

Wood, Stewart, Ramey, Hafertepe, Danny Jennings, Ricky Logan and Wright topped heat race action for Saturday night's 60-car field, with Kenneth Walker, Tim Crawley and Don Young winning the "B" Mains.

The red flag flew only once over the course of the night for a wild double tumble that brought an early end to the night for the Missouri duo of Mark Shirshekan and Brian Brown while chasing Ricky Logan into turn one on the second lap of the night's sixth heat race. There were no injuries.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters
36th Annual Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Preliminary Results
Devil's Bowl Speedway -- Mesquite, TX

Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to "A" Main; Balance to 3 "B" Mains):

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 94-Danny Wood, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 75-Don Young, 4. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 10-Sammy Swindell, 6. 53-Jack Dover, 7. 4m-Randi Miller, 8. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 9. 03-Joe Wood, Jr.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 81au-Gavin Punch, 4. 91-Jonathan Allard, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 9T-Gary Taylor, 7. 23-Seth Bergman, 8. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 9. 69-Larry Howery.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 2. 13-Jesse Hockett, 3. e85-Zach Chappell, 4. 87x-Billy Melton, 5. 22-Koby Barksdale, 6. 3s-John Carney II, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 45-Martin Edwards, 9. 87a-Andrew Marshala.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2. 7-Darren Long, 3. 11-Chad Corken, 4. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 5. 14-Michael Lang, 6. 22a-Dan Adkins, 7. 65-Skip Wilson, 8. 165-Haley Arnold, 9. 29L-Larry Long.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings, 2. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 1-Sean McClelland, 5. 22J-John Gaston, 6. 35-Greg Rilat, 7. 22b-Ben Gregg, 8. 93-Dustin Morgan.

Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 10a-Ricky Logan, 2. 27-Andy Shouse, 3. 99d-Rickey Hood, 4. 2-Kenneth Walker, 5. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 6. 21-Brian Brown, 7. 3d-Paul McMahan, 8. 99j-Jake Ossenfort.

Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 9x-Gary Wright, 2. 8m-Kyle McCutcheon, 3. 45k-Kolt Walker, 4. 88-Tim Crawley, 5. 6-Justin Spoerl, 6. 24-David Gailley, 7. 21s-Russell Shoulders, 8. 9-Brian Parker.

"B" Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to "A" Main):

First "B" Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2-Kenneth Walker, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 4. 10-Sammy Swindell, 5. 14aj-Wayne Johnson, 6. 3d-Paul McMahan, 7. 23-Seth Bergman, 8. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 9. 93-Dustin Morgan, 10. 22J-John Gaston, 11. 9-Brian Parker, 12. 87x-Billy Melton, 13. 6-Justin Spoerl, 14. 65-Skip Wilson. DNS: 21s-Russell Shoulders.

Second "B" Feature (15 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. e85-Zach Chappell, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 99-Brady Bacon, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 22-Koby Barksdale, 9. 22a-Dan Adkins, 10. 69-Larry Howery, 11. 22b-Ben Gregg, 12. 165-Haley Arnold, 13. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 14. 45k-Kolt Walker. DNS: 3-Mark Shirshekan.

Third "B" Feature (15 Laps): 1. 75-Don Young, 2. 7-Darren Long, 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 4. 81au-Gavin Punch, 5. 3s-John Carney II, 6. 9T-Gary Taylor, 7. 4m-Randi Miller, 8. 35-Greg Rilat, 9. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 10. 45-Martin Edwards, 11. 29L-Larry Long, 12. 24-David Gailley, 13. 14-Michael Lang. DNS: 21-Brian Brown.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Preliminary Main Event:

"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9x-Gary Wright, 2. 57-Shane Stewart, 3. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 4. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 5. 13-Jesse Hockett, 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 7. 94-Danny Wood, 8. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 9. 11-Chad Corken, 10. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 11. 1j-Danny Jennings, 12. 99d-Rickey Hood, 13. 2-Kenneth Walker, 14. 29-Travis Rilat, 15. 10a-Ricky Logan, 16. 27-Andy Shouse, 17. 3d-Paul McMahan, 18. 41-Jason Johnson, 19. 91-Jonathan Allard, 20. 88-Tim Crawley, 21. 75-Don Young, 22. 7-Darren Long, 23. 8m-Kyle McCutcheon, 24. 53-Jack Dover.

Lap Leaders: Aaron Reutzel 1-4, Gary Wright 5-25.

Note: Paul McMahan and Jack Dover utilized Lucas Oil provisionals to start the "A" Main,

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Presented by K&N Filters Points (Top Twenty): 1. Shane Stewart 2,134, 2. Jason Johnson 2,124, 3. Gary Wright 2,092, 4. Travis Rilat 1,983, 5. Tim Crawley 1,933, 6. Paul McMahan 1,928, 7. Danny Wood 1,894, 8. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,874, 9. Jack Dover 1,849, 10. Jesse Hockett 1,833, 11. Sean McClelland 1,619, 12. Kenneth Walker 1,506, 13. Darren Long 1,417, 14. Chad Corken 1,412, 15. Gary Taylor 1,396, 16. Seth Bergman 1,322, 17. Gavin Punch 1,269, 18. Brady Bacon 1,083, 19. Wayne Johnson 982, 20. Ricky Logan 899.

-credit: ascs

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