Boat Sails to Vacuworx Qualifier Victory
Bryan Hulbert – Tulsa, Oklahoma (January 11, 2013) Pacing the full 25 laps of Friday’s US Fleet Tracking A-Feature, Phoenix, Arizona’s Chad Boat captured his first Chili Bowl prelim victory, setting himself up to repeat the success of his Father Billy Boat who earned the coveted Golden Driller in 1997.
“It’s really special” said Boat of his win. “I’ve been coming here for seven years and only made the A once, so every other year has been a disappointment for sure.”
Slowing early for the spun No. 35D of Brett Felkins, the majority of the field made use of the hub with the caution displayed again on lap three for the No. 29 of Brandon Hahn.
At speed with twenty-two laps remaining, Boat began moving his John Lawson owned mount up the track as the cushion began working in. Finding the high line first, the No. 3DD of Dave Darland began his run; taking third on lap nine and second on lap ten.
Unable to run down Boat as both drivers ran hard on the highline, the Phoenix driver advanced to an early 2.5 second advantage prior to a lap fifteen caution involving Jon Stanbrough who slowed to a stop after slapping the wall entering turn one.
Going green briefly on the next restart, Brandon Hahn’s No. 29 ended up on its side; collecting third place Levi Jones and nearly collecting second place Dave Darland in the process.
Underway with ten laps to complete, Boat and Darland worked the cushion; opening to a sizable advantage as the mix for third saw Cory Kruseman move into the picture with a pass on Billy Wease who continued to challenge on the inside for the show position.
Rebounding from a Qualifier flip that put Kruseman eighth in the line-up, the Ventura, California driver pursued Darland into the final circuits.
Coming to the white flag, the Lucas Oil No. 21k dove for the slide job, pinning Wease to the bottom groove in order to take the runner up spot from Darland who also had to hold off the No. 38 for third entering turns three and four.
With no time to catch Chad Boat as the Curb Records No. 15x scooted to a satisfying win with Kruseman’s last lap heroics earing the No. 21k the runner up spot with Darland able to hold off Wease for third with Trevor Kobylarz sneaking into the top five in the final laps.
Jokingly, Darland commented on the last lap pass by saying, “It got be a good question there in the last lap whether I was even going to finish in the top three. Somebody was under me there for the third spot after Cory gave me that dirty slide job to get me into Turn 1. He might have learned that off of me.”
Asked if he was pleased with the night’s results, Kruseman’s reply was one of satisfaction, “I turned it over and ripped the Battery out of it and we had every break we could possibly get. I got to pull in twice and work on it and go back out and still run second.”
Jason Meyers came from ninth to sixth with Daryn Pittman from eleventh to seventh. Justin Allgaier also climbed through the standings from fifteenth to eighth with Austin Brown following suit from fourteenth to ninth. Ryan Bernal was the biggest mover of the race advancing from twenty-first to round out the top ten.
The final eight Heat Races of the week numbered eight with Jason Meyers, Levi Jones Chase Stockton, Austin Brown, Trevor Kobylarz, Daniel Robinson, Chris Coker, and Justin Allgaier taking the first checkered flags of the night.
C-Features went to Cody Darrah and Chase Barber with Alex Schutte and Tim Barber winning the B-Features.
A-Feature Qualifiers went to Ronnie Gardner, Bubba Altig, Chad Boat, and Levi Jones.
Final count saw 268 Drivers making role call for the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire. Of those 70 checked in for Friday’s Vacuworx Global Qualifying Night including drivers from Canada and Australia.
Saturday’s Lucas Oil Championship events begin at Noon with the K-Features. Line-ups for Saturday’s alphabet soup are available at http://www.chilibowl.com/profile/schedule/results.aspx?r=30993&rt=sch.
Friday’s Vacuworx Global Qualifying Night Results
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71K-Jason Meyers[3]; 2. 35D-Brett Felkins[4]; 3. 6R-Joe Ramaker[5]; 4. 94C-Brad Cox[6]; 5. 32-Danny Jennings[7]; 6. 151-Jesse Frazier[9]; 7. 3G-Matt Harms[8]; 8. 27B-Johnny Scott[2]; 9. 83B-Eldon Blackaby[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 56A-Levi Jones[2]; 2. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[6]; 4. 6B-Bill Balog[4]; 5. 05-Brad Loyet[9]; 6. 4X-Shawn Petersen[3]; 7. 59-Billy Lawhead[8]; 8. 14C-Shane Cockrum[7]; 9. 82H-Mike Hess[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11W-Chase Stockton[4]; 2. 20-Tadd Holliman[7]; 3. 23F-Josh Most[5]; 4. 2R-Levi Roberts[9]; 5. 59E-Dex Eaton[8]; 6. 1R-Robby Larson[6]; DNF 73-Ryan Bernal[1]; DNF 91B-Kevin Bayer[2]; DNF 88-Dustin Weland[3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7B-Austin Brown[1]; 2. 3DD-Dave Darland[5]; 3. 9E-Alex Schutte[3]; 4. 21-Daryn Pittman[8]; 5. 84-Joey Fabozzi[7]; 6. 25M-Derrick Myers[6]; 7. 77-Mike Boesel[9]; 8. 14X-Scott Petersen[2]; 9. 16C-Rich Camfield[4]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Trevor Kobylarz[5]; 2. 62S-Taylor Simas[4]; 3. 15X-Chad Boat[9]; 4. 4-Jon Stanbrough[2]; 5. 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[6]; 6. 24E-Cody Darrah[3]; 7. 57H-Davey Heskin[7]; 8. 14E-Eric Fenton[8]; 9. 5L-Mike Larrison[1]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 57D-Daniel Robinson[3]; 2. 38-Billy Wease[8]; 3. 38K-Rick Hendrix[7]; 4. 15-Danny Burke[1]; 5. 17R-Kyle Steffens[6]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres[5]; 7. 7CS-Pat Schudy[9]; DNF 27-Ryan Smith[2]; DNF 63D-Nick Knepper[4]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Chris Coker[2]; 2. 21K-Cory Kruseman[4]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas[7]; 4. 191-Chase Barber[1]; 5. 7-Shannon McQueen[5]; 6. 17-Michael Koontz[8]; 7. 85-Jonathan Hendrick[3]; 8. 7RS-Scott Crystal[6]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Justin Allgaier[3]; 2. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[2]; 3. 71XX-Davey Ray[4]; 4. 3T-Tim Barber[5]; 5. 32A-Garrett Aitken[6]; 6. 55S-Trey Starks[1]; 7. 87C-Coby Hughes[8]; 8. 11XC-Steve Newman[7]
C-Features – Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Features
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 191-Chase Barber[1]; 2. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[10]; 4. 77-Mike Boesel[2]; 5. 59-Billy Lawhead[5]; 6. 82H-Mike Hess[13]; 7. 27B-Johnny Scott[11]; 8. 14C-Shane Cockrum[9]; 9. 14X-Scott Petersen[12]; 10. 63D-Nick Knepper[14]; 11. 5L-Mike Larrison[15]; 12. 85-Jonathan Hendrick[8]; 13. 57H-Davey Heskin[7]; 14. 4X-Shawn Petersen[6]; DNF 1R-Robby Larson[3]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 24E-Cody Darrah[6]; 2. 7CS-Pat Schudy[2]; 3. 91B-Kevin Bayer[11]; 4. 25M-Derrick Myers[3]; 5. 14E-Eric Fenton[8]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen[1]; 7. 27-Ryan Smith[12]; 8. 87C-Coby Hughes[5]; 9. 7RS-Scott Crystal[10]; 10. 88-Dustin Weland[15]; 11. 55S-Trey Starks[7]; 12. 83B-Eldon Blackaby[14]; DNF 3G-Matt Harms[4]; DNF 16C-Rich Camfield[13]; DNF 11XC-Steve Newman[9]
A-Feature Qualifiers – Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the US Fleet Tracking A-Feature.
A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 1. 68-Ronnie Gardner[2]; 2. 3DD-Dave Darland[4]; 3. 38-Billy Wease[6]; 4. 71K-Jason Meyers[5]; 5. 2R-Levi Roberts[1]; 6. 9E-Alex Schutte[8]; 7. 5C-Chris Coker[3]; 8. 32A-Garrett Aitken[10]; 9. 151-Jesse Frazier[9]; 10. 71XX-Davey Ray[7]
A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[1]; 2. 4-Jon Stanbrough[10]; 3. 7B-Austin Brown[2]; 4. 49-Trevor Kobylarz[6]; 5. 3T-Tim Barber[8]; 6. 35D-Brett Felkins[3]; 7. 6B-Bill Balog[9]; 8. 57D-Daniel Robinson[5]; 9. 94C-Brad Cox[7]; DNF 38K-Rick Hendrix[4]
A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 1. 15X-Chad Boat[6]; 2. 21-Daryn Pittman[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 4. 91T-Tyler Thomas[4]; 5. 31-Justin Allgaier[5]; 6. 59E-Dex Eaton[7]; 7. 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[9]; 8. 62S-Taylor Simas[3]; 9. 32-Danny Jennings[8]; 10. 17-Michael Koontz[10]
A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 1. 56A-Levi Jones[4]; 2. 21K-Cory Kruseman[3]; 3. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 4. 20-Tadd Holliman[5]; 5. 84-Joey Fabozzi[8]; 6. 6R-Joe Ramaker[2]; DNF 17R-Kyle Steffens[9]; DNF 23F-Josh Most[7]; DNF 11W-Chase Stockton[6]; DNF 15-Danny Burke[10]
B-Features – Top 4 advance to the US Fleet Tracking A-Feature
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9E-Alex Schutte[3]; 2. 57D-Daniel Robinson[5]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[15]; 4. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 5. 5C-Chris Coker[4]; 6. 151-Jesse Frazier[11]; 7. 191-Chase Barber[13]; 8. 17R-Kyle Steffens[8]; 9. 11W-Chase Stockton[7]; 10. 84-Joey Fabozzi[2]; 11. 0-Glenn Styres[14]; 12. 77-Mike Boesel[16]; 13. 6B-Bill Balog[6]; 14. 94C-Brad Cox[10]; DNF 23F-Josh Most[9]; DNF 15-Danny Burke[12]
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 3T-Tim Barber[1]; 2. 25M-Derrick Myers[16]; 3. 35D-Brett Felkins[2]; 4. 91B-Kevin Bayer[15]; 5. 62S-Taylor Simas[6]; 6. 38K-Rick Hendrix[9]; 7. 2R-Levi Roberts[3]; 8. 17-Michael Koontz[12]; 9. 32A-Garrett Aitken[8]; 10. 6R-Joe Ramaker[5]; 11. 7CS-Pat Schudy[14]; 12. 24E-Cody Darrah[13]; 13. 32-Danny Jennings[10]; DNF 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[7]; DNF 59E-Dex Eaton[4]; DNF 71XX-Davey Ray[11]
US Fleet Tracking A-Feature – Top 3 Lock into Saturday’s Lucas Oil Championship A-Feature
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15X-Chad Boat[1]; 2. 21K-Cory Kruseman[8]; 3. 3DD-Dave Darland[4]; 4. 38-Billy Wease[2]; 5. 49-Trevor Kobylarz[6]; 6. 71K-Jason Meyers[9]; 7. 21-Daryn Pittman[11]; 8. 31-Justin Allgaier[15]; 9. 7B-Austin Brown[14]; 10. 73-Ryan Bernal[21]; 11. 9E-Alex Schutte[17]; 12. 4-Jon Stanbrough[5]; 13. 56A-Levi Jones[3]; 14. 3T-Tim Barber[18]; 15. 25M-Derrick Myers[20]; 16. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[10]; 17. 91T-Tyler Thomas[13]; 18. 57D-Daniel Robinson[19]; 19. 91B-Kevin Bayer[24]; DNF 68-Ronnie Gardner[7]; DNF 29-Brandon Hahn[23]; DNF 05-Brad Loyet[16]; DNF 20-Tadd Holliman[12]; DNF 35D-Brett Felkins[22]
Photo Credit: Joe Orth