Speedweek round 1 Texarkana results 2009-06-05

Crawley Wins ASCS Speedweek Opener at Texarkana!

TEXARKANA, Ark. (June 5, 2009) -- Tim Crawley kicked off the 17th Annual F&J Construction ASCS Speedweek featuring the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters by wiring the field in Friday night's 30-lap feature at Texarkana 67 Speedway.

Crawley used a slick move through the opening pair of corners to race into the lead from his fourth starting position and then survived several caution periods en route to his 13th career ASCS Speedweek feature triumph and second atop the 0x00bc-mile 67 Speedway clay oval.

"We thought the start could be pretty important, there was a good chance that it could be hard to pass much and in front was the place to be," the 2004 Speedweek champion and three-time ASCS National champion explained from victory lane.

After a chaotic initial attempt to start the feature was waved off, current Lucas Oil ASCS points leader Shane Stewart and Tony Bruce, Jr., led the feature field to the green flag with Crawley gridded to the outside of Nick Smith in row two.

With Stewart outdragging Bruce into turn one and taking to the topside, Crawley cut across to the bottom exiting turn two to take command.

While Stewart stayed within striking distance much of the way, Crawley worked the bottom portion of the track flawlessly and cruised to victory lane aboard Mike Ward's McCarver-powered Boater Sports No. 88 Maxim, not even allowing some lapped traffic in the latter stages slow his victory charge.

In Crawley's wake, Stewart had his hands full throughout. After just a handful of laps, tenth-starter Sean McClelland moved in and diced with Stewart for the runner-up position until the race's final caution flew for Eric Baldaccini's disabled mount on the front stretch with 15 laps in the books.

Nick Smith battled past McClelland on the restart and then mixed it up with Stewart the rest of the way with Stewart edging Smith by mere feet at the line for second in Paul Silva's Wesmar-powered ProBilt Construction No. 57 A.R.T.

Smith claimed the show position in the Wesmar-powered Sooner Network Solutions No. 15s J&J, while Tony Bruce, Jr., reclaimed several positions over the final rounds to snare fourth in the Rider-powered No. 18 Maxim.

McClelland rounded out the top five in the Wesmar-powered Maxwell Oil No. 1 J&J, with defending ASCS Speedweek champion Jason Johnson climbing from 12th to finish sixth. Justin Sturch was seventh, with 16th-starter Paul McMahan, 20th-starter Zach Chappell and 23rd-starter Gavin Punch completing the top ten.

Bruce, Matt Covington, Dustin Morgan and Stewart topped heat race action for the 30-car field, with Eric Baldaccini winning the 12-lap "B" Main.

Six-time ASCS Speedweek champion Gary Wright, racing just 20 miles from his Hooks, TX, home, made an early exit from the feature with rear end woes and was credited with a 21st place finish.

Claud Estes and Gary Taylor both tumbled off the turn three embankment on the opening round of the "B" Main. Both drivers walked away unscathed, although Taylor's mount was mangled.

Round Two of the 17th Annual F&J Construction ASCS Speedweek featuring the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters takes place Saturday night at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway, with racing action getting under way at 7:30 p.m.

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Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters

17th Annual F&J Construction ASCS Speedweek

Round One -- Texarkana 67 Speedway

Heat Races (Top 18 in Passing Points to "A" Main):

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 15s-Nick Smith, 4. 2-Kenneth Walker, 5. 81au-Gavin Punch, 6. 50z-Zach Chappell, 7. 31m-Matt Clevenger, 8. 87a-Andrew Marshala.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 2. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 41-Jason Johnson, 5. 23-Seth Bergman, 6. 75-Don Young, 7. 74e-Claud Estes, 8. 2x-Randy McKinney.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan, 2. 94-Danny Wood, 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 4. 9x-Gary Wright, 5. 77-Colt Treharn, 6. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 7. 14k-Kyle Bellm.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 8z-Zach Pringle, 3. 9-Justin Sturch, 4. 3d-Paul McMahan, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 01-Jeremy Newkirk, 7. 91-Gary Taylor.

"B" Main (Top 6 Advance to "A" Main):

"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 2. 50z-Zach Chappell, 3. 01-Jeremy Newkirk, 4. 31m-Matt Clevenger, 5. 81au-Gavin Punch, 6. 75-Don Young, 7. 77-Colt Treharn, 8. 2x-Randy McKinney, 9. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 10. 74e-Claud Estes, 11. 91-Gary Taylor, 12. 87a-Andrew Marshala.

ASCS Speedweek Round One "A" Main Event:

"A" Feature (30 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 57-Shane Stewart, 3. 15s-Nick Smith, 4. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 5. 1-Sean McClelland, 6. 41-Jason Johnson, 7. 9-Justin Sturch, 8. 3d-Paul McMahan, 9. 50z-Zach Chappell, 10. 81au-Gavin Punch, 11. 29-Travis Rilat, 12. 99-Brady Bacon, 13. 31m-Matt Clevenger, 14. 75-Don Young, 15. 2-Kenneth Walker, 16. 23-Seth Bergman, 17. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 18. 95-Matt Covington, 19. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 20. 8z-Zach Pringle, 21. 9x-Gary Wright, 22. 93-Dustin Morgan, 23. 01-Jeremy Newkirk, 24. 94-Danny Wood.

Lap Leaders: Tim Crawley 1-30.

17th Annual F&J Construction ASCS Speedweek Points (Top Ten -- Through Round One of Six): 1. Tim Crawley 150, 2. Shane Stewart 146, 3. Nick Smith 144, 4. Tony Bruce, Jr., 142, 5. Sean McClelland 140, 6. Jason Johnson 138, 7. Justin Sturch 136, 8. Paul McMahan 134, 9. Zach Chappell 132, 10. Gavin Punch 130.

-credit: ascs