Grain Valley, Missouri (May 23, 2012) Lapped traffic and a slick racetrack proved the perfect combination for Tony Bruce Jr. as the driver of the Oil Medics 18 dominated the night’s non-stop 30 lap feature event at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri.
Asked about several daring moves in slower traffic, Bruce replied, “You just got to do what you got to do fortunately I’ve got Wayne Priddy here; he gives me a hell of a car every time.”
Starting the night’s A-Feature with the local curfew within sight, the field rolled to the green with Speedway Motors Warrior Region favorites Kyle Bellm and Brian Brown on the front row. Getting the early lead, Bellm would surrender the top spot to the Casey’s General Store 21 on lap two. Charging from sixth, Bruce would take over third from the 77x of Wayne Johnson on the fifth round with slower traffic coming into play as Bruce went to work on Bellm for the runner up spot.
Working high in three and four and low in one and two as the race approached lap ten, the Weld Wheels 18 of Bruce would secure the runner up spot and quickly pull to the back bumper of the FVP 21 of Brown; taking a full head of steam to the bottom groove for the slide job exiting turn four on the tenth circuit.
Challenging back to the inside line, Brown would pull even with the Oil Medics 18 but would be unable to complete the pass as Bruce began diving in and out of slower traffic; sliding pairs of cars and often times having to thread the needle in order to keep Brian Brown at bay until finally gaining a comfortable advantage.
As the chase for the lead worked into ever increasing slower traffic the battle for third through fifth would see eighth starting Jonathan Cornell able to race into third over Kyle Bellm and Wayne Johnson on lap sixteen before accidental contact while battling in traffic on lap twenty-one shuffled the Kiowa Line Builders 28 back to sixth; allowing Bellm to reclaim the show position with Wayne Johnson and Brad Loyet in tow.
Racing into the night’s final five laps, lapped traffic would clear with Brian Brown going full tilt but the straight-a-way deficit would prove too much as Tony Bruce Jr. raced to his second Lucas Oil ASCS win of the 2012 season. Brown would take the runner up spot with Kyle Bellm, Wayne Johnson, and Brad Loyet rounding out the top five.
Following his runner up finish, Brian Brown donated his winnings for the night to the family of Jeff Osborn.
The Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV competes next at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska on Thursday May 24, 2012.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV
Valley Speedway – Grain Valley, Missouri
May 23, 2012
Event Car Count: 34
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 2. 4-Jordan Boston[3]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[4]; 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera[8]; 5. 8-Danny Lasoski[5]; 6. 76-Jay Russell[6]; 7. 75-Tyler Blank[9]; 8. 4x-Shawn Petersen[7]; DNS 9-Gary Wright
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77x-Wayne Johnson[5]; 2. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[1]; 3. 5h-Logan Forler[6]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[7]; 5. 81-Danny Wood[2]; 6. 2-Dustin Morgan[3]; 7. 17w-Cole Wood[4]; 8. 48-David Brown[8]; 9. 55-Greg Clemons[9]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 1x-Gary Taylor[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[7]; 4. 9m-Chad Ely[1]; 5. 8w-Jordan Whitehead[8]; 6. 5M-Miranda Arnold[6]; DNF 09-Joshua Stephens[3]; DNF 0-Steven Richardson[5]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[1]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell[8]; 3. 86-Kyle Bellm[6]; 4. 2A-Randy Hibbs[4]; 5. 99-Brady Bacon[7]; 6. 65-Trevor (T.J.) Muths[3]; 7. 6-Haley Arnold[2]; DNF 53-Jack Dover[5]
B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 81-Danny Wood[4]; 2. 2A-Randy Hibbs[1]; 3. 53-Jack Dover[16]; 4. 2-Dustin Morgan[7]; 5. 5M-Miranda Arnold[6]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[9]; 7. 65-Trevor (T.J.) Muths[8]; 8. 76-Jay Russell[5]; 9. 17w-Cole Wood[10]; 10. 6-Haley Arnold[13]; 11. 4x-Shawn Petersen[14]; 12. 9m-Chad Ely[2]; 13. 55-Greg Clemons[18]; DNF 8-Danny Lasoski[3]; DNF 0-Steven Richardson[15]; DNF 9-Gary Wright[17]; DNS 09-Joshua Stephens; DNS 48-David Brown
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[6]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 3. 86-Kyle Bellm[1]; 4. 77x-Wayne Johnson[3]; 5. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 6. 28-Jonathan Cornell[8]; 7. 41-Jason Johnson[14]; 8. 45x-Johnny Herrera[9]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[10]; 10. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 11. 5h-Logan Forler[7]; 12. 53-Jack Dover[19]; 13. 4-Jordan Boston[12]; 14. 81-Danny Wood[17]; 15. 1x-Gary Taylor[11]; 16. 2-Dustin Morgan[20]; 17. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[13]; 18. 99-Brady Bacon[16]; 19. 5M-Miranda Arnold[21]; 20. 2A-Randy Hibbs[18]; 21. 8w-Jordan Whitehead[15]; 22. 75-Tyler Blank[22]; DNF 8-Danny Lasoski[23]
Lap Leaders: Kyle Bellm (1-2), Brian Brown (3-9), Tony Bruce Jr. (10-30)