Jerry Coons, Jr. Tops John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night
TULSA, Okla. (January 15, 2015) Night three of the 29th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals presented by General Tire saw one the Chili Bowl’s veterans claim victory, as Jerry Coons, Jr. hustled the high line to his third career prelim night victory
What will be the 16th A-Feature start for the Tucson, Ariz. native, this makes 12 consecutive years that Coons has made the cut for Saturday’s A-Feature.
“We had 60-70 cars here tonight and some of the top drivers. In any preliminary night, it’s hard enough to run in the top-three, certainly hard enough to win. Everything has got to go your way, which it did tonight. From our Heat, to our Qualifier, everything went right,” commented Coons on the win. “The reason we celebrate pretty good on preliminary nights is because it’s still a big win.”
Following a 10 car pile-up on the second lap, Danny Stratton took off to the race lead. Stalked by Andrew Deal, the Kansas shoe grabbed took point exiting the fourth turn on Lap 4.
Runner-up the following lap, Coons began building momentum. Railing the cushion, Coons set low in turn-three, sailing the Wilke-Pak No. 5 to the cushion and the lead on Lap 7.
Hitting traffic on Lap 11, the Arizona racing veteran gave up very little ground to Deal, despite contact from a slower car on the 13th round. Able to put two slower cars behind him, the caution flew on Lap 14 as Tracy Hines climbed the front straight-a-way wall while running in the final transfer to Saturday’s A-Feature.
Back to green with the lapped cars between Coons and Deal, it took little time for the advantage to grow, as Jerry Coons, Jr. crossed the stripe 2.220 seconds ahead of Andrew Deal.
Asked about the final restart, Deal replied, “I knew the car was good on top. I couldn’t get a good enough run to get around the lapped cars. Luckily they went to the bottom after that restart and that really helped me. I was just thinking, how many laps are left?”
After the Airbox came dislodged from the No. 39 during his Heat Race, forcing him to the rear of the lineup for causing a caution, Kevin Swindell had to earn his spot in the A-Feature through the night’s second B-Feature. Caught in the crash on the second lap, Swindell visited the work area to change a tire. Restarting at the tail, the four-time Chili Bowl Champion made the pass for the final podium step on Lap 24.
“I was able to get around the bottom pretty good. I think most of the guys couldn’t and didn’t really try,” said Swindell when asked about his run from the back. “I had the seas part a couple of times to get a few of them and I guess I had to really work past Bernal at the end.”
California’s Ryan Bernal raced to fourth with Christopher Bell clawing from 17th to complete the top-five after also being involved in the second lap crash.
Danny Stratton ended up sixth after leading early. Indiana’s Justin Peck from nineteenth to seventh with Shane Golobic, Seth Bergman, and Kevin Bayer making up the top-ten.
Thursday’s John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night saw 80 drivers drawing in, putting the week’s count at 248 competitors. Of those, a dozen added their name to the week’s flip count; bringing the flip count to 33 on the week. All drivers have walked away.
The 29th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals presented by General Tire continues Friday with the Vacuworx Global Qualifying Night at the River Spirit Expo Center. Hot Laps are slated to begin at 4:45 P.M. with racing at 5:45 P.M. (CT).
For more information on the Chili Bowl Nationals, log onto http://www.chilibowl.com
Results:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night
Car Count: 80
Budweiser Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 2. 71-Christopher Bell[5]; 3. 75-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 4. 3F-Geoff Ensign[4]; 5. 78J-Tommy Kunsman[1]; 6. 37T-J.T. Imperial[7]; 7. 77K-Katlynn Leer[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Davey Ray[1]; 2. 37-Seth Bergman[2]; 3. 51S-Steven Shebester[4]; 4. 5X-Justin Peck[5]; 5. 11-Justin Melton[7]; 6. 12A-Austin Archdale[3]; 7. 5BL-Barry Lamb[6]; 8. 7RS-Scott Crystal[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[2]; 2. 39-Kevin Swindell[3]; 3. 19W-Matt Streeter[1]; 4. 14H-Harley Hollan[4]; 5. 87C-Kip Hughes[5]; 6. GO-Coby Hughes[6]; 7. 7D-Michelle Decker[8]; 8. (DNF) 2H-Robert Harr[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 6A-David Gough[1]; 2. 20W-Chad Wilson[3]; 3. 26-Shane Golobic[7]; 4. 69-A.J. Fike[8]; 5. 2M-Seth Motsinger[4]; 6. 05W-Kenny Wallace[2]; 7. 31-James Burke[5]; 8. (DNF) 86S-Danny Smith[6]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Cole Wood[1]; 2. 57C-Chad Boespflug[2]; 3. 2B-Ryan Bernal[4]; 4. 14E-Eric Fenton[3]; 5. 11B-Josh Baughman[7]; 6. 25J-Matt Juhl[5]; 7. 6-Tom Harris[8]; 8. 67RW-Sarah Fisher[6]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[3]; 2. 10V-Richard VanderWeerd[2]; 3. 68M-Tyler Edwards[4]; 4. 45-C.J. Johnson[6]; 5. 56X-Mark Chisholm[8]; 6. 2J-Ryan Leavitt[5]; 7. 5B-Andee Beierle[7]; 8. (DNF) 48J-Wally Pankratz[1]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 73D-David Gravel[6]; 2. 73-Jason McDougal[2]; 3. 8H-Harli White[4]; 4. 19S-Patrick Stasa[8]; 5. 8R-Randi Pankratz[5]; 6. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[7]; 7. (DNF) 29S-Christian Kinnison[1]; 8. (DNF) 88-Tyler Nelson[3]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 2A-C.J. Leary[5]; 2. 50-Daniel Adler[3]; 3. 17M-Michael Koontz[4]; 4. 3A-Chris Andrews[6]; 5. 57K-Kevin Studley[7]; 6. 14N-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 7. 53H-Matt Harms[8]; DNS 35L-Cody Ledger
Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 81H-Heath Duinkerken[2]; 2. 24-Tracy Hines[4]; 3. 51-Jake Hagopian[1]; 4. 5$-Danny Smith[5]; 5. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[7]; 6. 21N-Nick Speidel[3]; 7. 5G-P.J. Gargiulo[8]; 8. 71T-Ricky Shelton[6]
Heat 10 (8 Laps): 1. 47-Danny Stratton[8]; 2. 91K-Kevin Bayer[4]; 3. 22E-Mike Goodman[5]; 4. 96-Cody Brewer[6]; 5. 21D-Justin Dickerson[3]; 6. 7R-Anton Julian[7]; 7. (DNF) 6K-Ryan Foster[2]; 8. (DNF) 101-Chuck McGillivray[1]
D-Features: Top 2 advance to corresponding C-Feature.
D Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 67RW-Sarah Fisher[6]; 2. 88-Tyler Nelson[7]; 3. 5B-Andee Beierle[1]; 4. 71.5-Robert Bell[5]; 5. 101-Chuck McGillivray[8]; 6. (DNF) 2H-Robert Harr[4]; 7. (DNF) 7RS-Scott Crystal[3]; 8. (DNF) 5BL-Barry Lamb[2
D Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 35L-Cody Ledger[8]; 2. 6K-Ryan Foster[3]; 3. 86S-Danny Smith[5]; 4. 53H-Matt Harms[1]; 5. 71T-Ricky Shelton[6]; 6. 31-James Burke[2]; 7. 29S-Christian Kinnison[4]; 8. 48J-Wally Pankratz[7]
C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[1]; 2. 14H-Harley Hollan[2]; 3. 57K-Kevin Studley[4]; 4. 37T-J.T. Imperial[5]; 5. 25J-Matt Juhl[8]; 6. 67RW-Sarah Fisher[13]; 7. 7R-Anton Julian[6]; 8. 88-Tyler Nelson[14]; 9. 87C-Kip Hughes[3]; 10. 6-Tom Harris[10]; 11. 05W-Kenny Wallace[12]; 12. 12A-Austin Archdale[11]; 13. 78J-Tommy Kunsman[7]; 14. 77K-Katlynn Leer[9]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 3F-Geoff Ensign[1]; 2. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[5]; 3. 7D-Michelle Decker[9]; 4. 8R-Randi Pankratz[3]; 5. 14E-Eric Fenton[2]; 6. 2M-Seth Motsinger[4]; 7. 6K-Ryan Foster[14]; 8. 5G-P.J. Gargiulo[10]; 9. 21N-Nick Speidel[11]; 10. 35L-Cody Ledger[13]; 11. 14N-Paul Nienhiser[12]; 12. 21D-Justin Dickerson[6]; 13. 2J-Ryan Leavitt[8]; 14. GO-Coby Hughes[7]
Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.
Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57C-Chad Boespflug[1]; 2. 47-Danny Stratton[6]; 3. 19W-Matt Streeter[10]; 4. 17M-Michael Koontz[8]; 5. 39-Kevin Swindell[2]; 6. 81H-Heath Duinkerken[4]; 7. 51S-Steven Shebester[7]; 8. 6A-David Gough[3]; 9. 56X-Mark Chisholm[9]; 10. (DNF) 71-Christopher Bell[5]
Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Tracy Hines[4]; 2. 2B-Ryan Bernal[7]; 3. 26-Shane Golobic[5]; 4. 10V-Richard VanderWeerd[1]; 5. 75-Thomas Meseraull[9]; 6. 20W-Chad Wilson[2]; 7. 73D-David Gravel[6]; 8. 17W-Cole Wood[3]; 9. (DNF) 45-C.J. Johnson[8]; 10. (DNF) 51-Jake Hagopian[10]
Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 15D-Andrew Deal[5]; 2. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[6]; 3. 22E-Mike Goodman[2]; 4. 91K-Kevin Bayer[4]; 5. 5X-Justin Peck[9]; 6. 69-A.J. Fike[3]; 7. 68M-Tyler Edwards[7]; 8. 11-Justin Melton[10]; 9. 3A-Chris Andrews[8]; 10. (DNF) 73-Jason McDougal[1]
Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 37-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 50-Daniel Adler[1]; 3. 19S-Patrick Stasa[3]; 4. 33-Davey Ray[4]; 5. 2A-C.J. Leary[6]; 6. 5$-Danny Smith[9]; 7. 8H-Harli White[7]; 8. 96-Cody Brewer[8]; 9. 11B-Josh Baughman[10]; 10. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[5]
B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 71-Christopher Bell[9]; 2. 5X-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 33-Davey Ray[1]; 4. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[13]; 5. 5$-Danny Smith[4]; 6. 6A-David Gough[7]; 7. 81H-Heath Duinkerken[3]; 8. 11-Justin Melton[8]; 9. 68M-Tyler Edwards[6]; 10. 56X-Mark Chisholm[11]; 11. 14H-Harley Hollan[14]; 12. 57K-Kevin Studley[15]; 13. 51-Jake Hagopian[12]; 14. 20W-Chad Wilson[5]; 15. 45-C.J. Johnson[10]; 16. 37T-J.T. Imperial[16]
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 39-Kevin Swindell[3]; 2. 10V-Richard VanderWeerd[2]; 3. 17W-Cole Wood[7]; 4. 8H-Harli White[6]; 5. 3F-Geoff Ensign[13]; 6. 96-Cody Brewer[8]; 7. 51S-Steven Shebester[5]; 8. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[14]; 9. 7D-Michelle Decker[15]; 10. 3A-Chris Andrews[10]; 11. 11B-Josh Baughman[11]; 12. 75-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 13. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[9]; 14. (DNF) 69-A.J. Fike[4]; 15. (DNF) 8R-Randi Pankratz[16]; 16. (DNF) 73-Jason McDougal[12]
A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[3]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 3. 39-Kevin Swindell[18]; 4. 2B-Ryan Bernal[5]; 5. 71-Christopher Bell[17]; 6. 47-Danny Stratton[1]; 7. 5X-Justin Peck[19]; 8. 26-Shane Golobic[7]; 9. 37-Seth Bergman[8]; 10. 91K-Kevin Bayer[14]; 11. 19W-Matt Streeter[6]; 12. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[23]; 13. 10V-Richard VanderWeerd[20]; 14. 8H-Harli White[24]; 15. 22E-Mike Goodman[16]; 16. 57C-Chad Boespflug[9]; 17. 24-Tracy Hines[4]; 18. 19S-Patrick Stasa[12]; 19. 2A-C.J. Leary[11]; 20. 17M-Michael Koontz[10]; 21. 17W-Cole Wood[22]; 22. (DNF) 73D-David Gravel[15]; 23. (DNF) 50-Daniel Adler[13]; 24. (DNF) 33-Davey Ray[21]
Lap Leader(s): Danny Stratton 1-3; Andrew Deal 4-6; Jerry Coons, Jr. 7-25;