SAPULPA, Okla. (June 19, 2014) – Winning could easily be replaced with dominating when talking about the performance turned in by Christopher Bell on Thursday night at the Creek County Speedway, lapping into the top five with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real for his first ASCS score of the 2014 season in the Berryman Motorsports No. 31b.
“I kind of grew up around here running Micro Sprints, and I always enjoy coming back to this place,” said Bell of the Sapulpa, Okla. oval. “I really like it, man; I just love these rough and heavy little bullrings. You can really sit up in the seat where the driver can really make a difference. I just can’t thank these guys enough; it’s a privilege to be in the seat.”
Drawing the outside front row, Bell took off to the lead from the word “go”.
Working a groove higher than anyone through traffic, Bell lapped to eighteenth by the first caution on Lap 9 for Blake Hahn. Stopped twice for red flags on Lap 10, first for Joe Wood, Jr. then Dustin Morgan, the raced rolled to its conclusion uninterrupted from there, despite a few close calls, with Bell lapping fifth place coming to the final lap.
Jason Johnson fought to second on Lap 8, and ended up crossing 7.666 seconds behind Bell at the finish.
“We got lucky in the Heat Race. Sometimes it pays to be lucky than good, but it got us in the redraw. We drew second row and that paid off really good but, we had nothing for Christopher, he was in a league of his own up on the curb,” commented Johnson when asked about the track and having to cowboy up. “I tried jumping up there once or twice, and just bicycled it so, the fastest car won the race tonight, and we just come home second.”
Posting his last podium finish in 2001, a very happy Robert Sellers posted his fourth career podium finish with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour. Excitedly, Sellers said, “Oh man we’ll take it. These guys are tough and we just do this occasionally. We’re a low budget team; Checkered Flag Trucking is our main sponsor on here, so without a lot of backing we’re really happy with the show position here.”
Forrest Sutherland was the first driver a lap down in the Salina Racing Engines No. 85 with a best ever fourth place finish with Matt Covington holding on to round out the top five.
Jeff Swindell fought from tenth to sixth with Aaron Reutzel following from eleventh to seventh. Johnny Herrera clawed from fifteenth to eighth with Seth Bergman from sixteenth to ninth. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. took a provisional into the night’s A-Feature and used it to its full advantage, coming from twenty-third to complete the top ten.
With 42 drivers drawing in, Heat Races numbered six with Christopher Bell, Brandon Hanks, Forrest Sutherland, Chance Morton, Blake Hahn, and Jason Johnson earning wins. A pair of B-Features went to Brad Loyet and Joe Bob Lee.
In the Bob Westphal Memorial Cup standings, Jason Johnson now leads over Blake Hahn by fiver markers. Jeff Swindell jumped to third with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. and Aaron Reutzel tied for fourth.
Overall driver standings saw Johnson close the gap from 41 to three on Brad Loyet for the lead. Jeff Swindell moved back to third with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. dropping on to fourth. Aaron Reutzel completes the top five in tour standings.
Co-sanctioned with the American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region, Robert Sellers earned high points for the region. Jake Martens, Kris Miller, Dustin Morgan, and Joe Wood, Jr. complete the top five point getters.
The Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real competes next on Friday, June 20 at the Outlaw Motorsports Park in Muskogee, Okla. Races are scheduled to begin at 8:00 P.M. (CT). For continued updates, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real
Creek County Speedway – Sapulpa, Okla.
Speedweek Round 3
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Car Count: 42
Heat Races presented by SpeedMart – 8 Laps, winners plus top 10 in passing points to A-Feature.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31B-Christopher Bell[1]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[2]; 3. 5-Joe Bob Lee[3]; 4. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[4]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 6. 92-Jordan Weaver[7]; 7. (DNF) 13-Taylor Tidmore[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3H-Brandon Hanks[2]; 2. 18K-Brian McClelland[1]; 3. 11AM-Mike Goodman[3]; 4. 77X-Wayne Johnson[5]; 5. 9$-Kyle Clark[6]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell[7]; 7. (DNF) 5$-Danny Smith[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Forrest Sutherland[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 3. 4J-Tim Crawley[3]; 4. 93-Dustin Morgan[7]; 5. 03-Joe Wood Jr[6]; 6. 36-Jonathan Beason[5]; 7. (DNF) 35-Rick Wright Jr[4]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton[4]; 2. 33-Kris Miller[1]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[6]; 4. 40-Howard Moore[3]; 5. 17X-Josh Baughman[7]; 6. 97-Kevin Cummings[2]; 7. (DNF) 58-Gary Floyd[5]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 48-Jake Martens[2]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 4. 05-Brad Loyet[6]; 5. 14Z-Zach Pringle[5]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton[7]; 7. 57-Kyle Chady[3]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[4]; 2. 7S-Robert Sellers[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 4. 14K-Kyle Bellm[5]; 5. 21X-Taylor Velasquez[6]; 6. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 7. 17W-Harli White[1]
Smiley’s Racing Products B-Features – Top 3 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 2. 77X-Wayne Johnson[3]; 3. 17X-Josh Baughman[4]; 4. 57-Kyle Chady[13]; 5. 36-Jonathan Beason[10]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton[9]; 7. (DNF) 40-Howard Moore[5]; 8. (DNF) 11AM-Mike Goodman[2]; 9. (DNF) 9$-Kyle Clark[6]; 10. (DNF) 21X-Taylor Velasquez[7]; 11. (DNF) 5$-Danny Smith[12]; 12. (DNF) 13-Taylor Tidmore[11]; 13. (DNF) 92-Jordan Weaver[8]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 5-Joe Bob Lee[1]; 2. 4J-Tim Crawley[2]; 3. 03-Joe Wood Jr[6]; 4. 14K-Kyle Bellm[3]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]; 6. 14Z-Zach Pringle[7]; 7. 1-Sean McClelland[10]; 8. 8-Alex Sewell[8]; 9. 17W-Harli White[13]; 10. 97-Kevin Cummings[9]; 11. 58-Gary Floyd[11]; 12. (DNF) 35-Rick Wright Jr[12]; 13. (DNF) 18-Tony Bruce Jr[4]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 31B-Christopher Bell[2]; 2. 41-Jason Johnson[3]; 3. 7S-Robert Sellers[1]; 4. 85-Forrest Sutherland[6]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[8]; 6. 94-Jeff Swindell[10]; 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel[11]; 8. 45X-Johnny Herrera[15]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[16]; 10. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[23]; 11. 3H-Brandon Hanks[4]; 12. 17-Blake Hahn[7]; 13. 05-Brad Loyet[17]; 14. 48-Jake Martens[12]; 15. 17X-Josh Baughman[21]; 16. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[24]; 17. 33-Kris Miller[14]; 18. (DNF) 93-Dustin Morgan[9]; 19. (DNF) 03-Joe Wood Jr[22]; 20. (DNF) 5-Joe Bob Lee[18]; 21. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton[5]; 22. (DNF) 18K-Brian McClelland[13]; 23. (DNF) 4J-Tim Crawley[20]; 24. (DNF) 77X-Wayne Johnson[19]
Lap Leader(s): Christopher Bell 1-30
FSR High Point: Jason Johnson
KSE Hard Charger: Sam Hafertepe, Jr. +13
Hawk Performance Fastest Lap: Christopher Bell 11.738 seconds
CSI Rebound: Dustin Morgan
Provisional(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (P1); Tony Bruce, Jr. (P2)
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2014 A-Feature Winner(s): Aaron Reutzel -2, Rico Abreu – 2, Tony Bruce, Jr. – 1, Patrick Stasa – 1, Derek Hagar – 1, Jeff Swindell – 1, Brad Loyet – 1, Seth Bergman – 1, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. – 1, Christopher Bell – 1
2014 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Brad Loyet 1,474; 2. Jason Johnson 1,471; 3. Jeff Swindell 1,427; 4. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1,422; 5. Aaron Reutzel 1,404; 6. Johnny Herrera 1,394; 7. Blake Hahn 1,329; 8. Seth Bergman 1,319; 9. Matt Covington 1,286; 10. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,284;
2014 Speedweek Driver Standings (Top 10) 1. Jason Johnson 383; 2. Blake Hahn 378; 3. Jeff Swindell 369; 4. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 368; 5. Aaron Reutzel 368; 6. Seth Bergman 367; 7. Brad Loyet 362; 8. Dustin Morgan 348; 9. Matt Covington 341; 10. Johnny Herrera 317;
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The 2014 season marks the twenty-third year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation. Anchored by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix.
Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, iON Camera, Smokey Mountain Moonshine, C&R Radiator, Hawk Performance Products, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, and General Tire.
Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, KSE Racing Products, SpeedMart, Competition Suspension, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Saldana Racing Products, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, The Joie of Seating, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Rod End Supply, Smiley’s Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News by texting ASCS to 22828 with any mobile device.