When it comes to success at the Bristol Motor Speedway, the Quantum Racing and Quicksilver Motorsports drivers have it down as well as the rest of the field. The race proved to be as such, but with too many twists and turns that left it a race for the ages, despite the calamity.
Pole sitter Ryan Heuser went on to lead the first 10 laps before lapped traffic had Rick Jackson catch up and pass on the inside lane. Rick led the next 33 with Ryan in distance by less than a second the entire time, meandering through more lapped cars.
On lap 40, Adam Crapser spun out off of turn 4 and clipped Cristian Torres, spinning him and sending Adam into Kevin Corbat. Corbat flipped the #4 Pennzoil machine once and on top of Torres, doomly damaging all three cars. Corbat would finish 39th, Torres 42nd, and Adam 32nd.
Ryan took the lead back after the yellow flag and led through lap 84. Matt Raboin, coming in 37 points behind his teammate who was 10th in points, was only leading his 127th lap of the season. In this race, he went on to lead 167, all in a row except for 1. Ryan was directly behind the entire time, and made several attempts to pass back by.
Johnny Reed Foley's chase hopes blew up entirely on lap 72, where the header blew up and sent smoke into the teary eyes of his country fans. Tony Pizzaro blew up on lap 192 after breaking the ignition, sending him back to 12th in points and a 40th place finish. On top of it all, leader Matt Raboin blew up on lap 253 and spun in his own oil entering turn one, finishing 39th after an incredible performance.
Oil was all over the race track, sending Kevin Corbat for a spin directly in front of Rick Jackson and John Tharp, who were in 3rd and 4th place. Both drivers would fall out of the lead lap, finishing 33rd and 20th after a very good day. After hitting debris from the #87, Ryan also lost a lap in the pits repairing the front nose of the car. The top-4 were now scattered in the standings, giving Matthew Dominique the lead.
Points leader Tim McDonnell got spun after contact with John Tharp. After a checkup for the wreck, Zach Michael, who drove from last to second after 292 laps, at one point a lap down, got flipped over once on the backstretch and fell out of the race. After a 37th place finish, he would fall from 7th to 10th in the standings.
Matthew Dominique led 35 laps before that caution, but relinquished it to John Battista after he beat him out of the pits. He led the next 109 laps, and looked to be the strongest car in the field. With less than 100 laps to go, the two were side-by-side for three straight laps before Battista got caught on the outside line behind lapped traffic. Matthew, Alan Nesfeder and Scott Jackson all took advantage, dropping the #39 back to fourth.
Dominique was the sole leader again. Nesfeder took a peak to the inside for the lead on lap 410, but couldn't complete the pass. Several laps later, Scott Jackson passed both on the same lap and flew away. 32 laps later, Nesfeder and Dominique made contact battling for second. Dominique spun and hit the inside wall hard, flying back up the race track into Jimmie Stevens and Adam Crapser. Surprisingly, Dominique would continue on to finish 7th and crawl up to 9th in the points standings.
With a new spring of life, Nesfeder was able to take advantage. With 20 laps to go, he made a 3-wide move underneath 2-lapped cars while Jackson was stuck behind. Between lap 488 and 490, the two were again side-by-side. Jackson had the preferred line and picked the #78 behind the Steven Spears machine. Nesfeder made an amazing three-wide move in the middle and somehow kept the lead.... Read more »
For the first time in Extravaganza Series history, the best of the best go to Lime Rock Park. After the Forrest Grove death, it would appear that most drivers would play it safe. For the most part, it remained true.
For the first 12 laps, it was Johnny Reed Foley and Tim McDonnell battling for the lead in the early going. They passed each other four times before the first caution flew out.
Steven Spears and William Perry tagged coming into the chicane, sending the #65 straight into the tire wall and gasping for air. Despite the oncoming crowd, the debris barely missed the people.
Brodrick Wittmann and Aaron Cummings made contact in the same area as the last wreck. The Subway machine barely missing the crowd and went flipping violently into the forest. Brodrick would come out okay, with nothing but a head full of anxiety.
Matthew Dominique, Johnny Reed Foley, Ryan Heuser and Tim McDonnell were giving it their all to take the top spot, battling hard between laps 19 and 51. Foley and Dominique passed each other ten times during the green flag run.
Ryan and Foley also battled hard, passing each other five times during the same stint. The #18 would short pit on lap 52, taking a full load of fuel while Ryan came in 10 laps later with a half-tank and a five second lead. It's only halfway and pit strategy would start to look significant.
After a Mark Guthrie engine failure, a Cristian Torres crash and a Rick Jackson motor failure, it was a two-way race for sixth between Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro. As Johnny Reed Foley pulled ahead and four slower cars stayed out, the rest were trapped behind lapped traffic. Ryan Heuser and Matthew Dominique re-pitted and was working their way through heavier traffic towards the back, while Tim McDonnell and John Battista were waiting in the wings behind chase contender Donald Stewart, who went a lap down early. For him, this was likely the final nail in the coffin.
It was looking even more dominant for the #18 than Watkins Glen. With nobody in sight, a green flag run to the end probably would have meant victory again. The reality was a 15th place finish after pitting under the next caution, but he did lead the most laps and continues to be a force to be reckoned with three races remaining in the regular season. He'll have to gain 40 points a race on 10th place for the final three races to make it in.
Glenn Kaufmann had a tire go down entering turn one on lap 106. Chaos ensued behind, as Alex Crapser and John Tharp made every last attempt to crash while trying to pass him. They did not, but the chicane proved a different story for Matthew Dominique and Dalton Lucas. They were three-wide on corner exit, as the #25 hit the #54 on the right side and flew into the bushes, flipping and sending the #88 along as a spectator of the massive barrell-rolls. Both drivers were uninjured, but it sent Matthew all the way to 10th in the standings after leading for most of the season.
The waning laps were a show between Zach Michael, Tim McDonnell and Tony Pizzaro. John Battista, Alex Crapser and Jimmie Stevens lurked behind during the run, but after McDonnell passed Michael on turn one on lap 121, the Caterpillar machine was gone and nobody had a chance. They would need a caution to even the field back out.
The yellow flag never flew. Jimmie Stevens would have to pit for fuel with a couple laps to go, wondering if the rest of the field could make it. They did. McDonnell would ea
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Today, at approximately 3:37 PM Eastern time, ARCA driver Forrest Grove was killed after exiting turn 6 in his #14 Stanley Dodge. He made contact with another car, sending him past the concrete bridge and over the hill. After being an estimated 7 stories above the racing surface, Forrest's car landed, the shear impact killing him instantly, and tumbled through a series of barrel-rolls until his car stopped near the pit road entrance. Few of the ARCA competitors who saw the incident were so horrified that they parked their cars in shear terror. "It was one of the worst incidents in modern stock car history" says ARCA chairman Dexter Holmes. "We are currently in thought and prayer for the Grove family." Forrest was the second-nephew of long-time Extravaganza Series driver Jason Grove, who was looking to fall into his footsteps. Today, the dream, as well as his life, has ended.
It was a wonderful day for the drivers who were farthest out of contention for the chase. While they reeled themselves back in, it was the opportunity for them and the rest of the field to beat the road course Big 3: Battista, McDonnell, and Pizzaro.
Tony Pizzaro qualified a miserable 24th, but worked his way up the field immediately. On his way up, he spun out Jimmie Stevens and kept the train chuggin'. Speedy was understandably upset.
Averaging over two positions a lap, Pizzaro took the lead away from pole sitter Rick Jackson on lap 11. He continued to lead until the lap 22 caution, when Ben Geer and Dale Rosendaul wrecked coming off of turn 5.
What was already deemed the fastest car in the history of the Extravaganza Series since the "Rapid Riker" in the 1984 World 600, blew up on the same lap 22. Some have already speculated that it was a test motor prepared for the chase.
Scott Jackson led the next 20 laps of the race before pitting. The rest of the field came in several laps later, handing the lead to the short-pitting John Battista, still recovering from the whiplash from last week.
It would be a loss for Battista, as Scott Deutsch flipped coming out of the pit lane with Bill Werkhesier. Ironically that wasn't the caution, as teammates Dave Butterworth and Ken Pettit blew up a few laps a part, with the latter bringing out the caution and forcing the #39 to pit virtually alone. Teammates Matt Raboin and Matthew Dominique grabbed the #1 and #2 spots.
A lot of confusion stems as to why the Race 2 Win Lombardi-Justice duo would decide to take a big risk this close to the chase. Perhaps it is only coincidence, but seeing Rick Jackson with arguably the fastest car in a road course race made some think otherwise. It could be dire straits for the field if this program hits it's stride. For now, Quantum Racing looks like the brains, as R2W engines go up in flames.
On lap 58, Dominique had a left-front tire going down and was forced to pit. Raboin came in after the next caution, giving the lead to Tim McDonnell. He had Rick Jackson, Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee up his tail before a three-wide incident into the inner-loop settled the race back down. Zakk Miller, Alan Nesfeder and Adam Crapser all have different opinions about who caused the wreck. The #4 says Miller dove down too late. The #28 says Adam was a lap down and should have let them go. The #78 made a remark about a sandwich, and how it's tastier when you don't crash.
It became a four-way battle for the lead in the waning laps. McDonnell suffered the same pressure from the #44 and #18 as the last run, but kept his cool as the two raced side-by-side for second. Foley would grab the spot.
Tim and Foley raced side-by-side for a half-lap before the AC Delco machine cleared the CAT car for the lead on lap 68. Rick tried to take advantage of the lost momentum, but came up short. Behind them, Battista was able to pass Craig Lee for fourth.
After a Cristian Torres spin on lap 82, it became a six-way battle for the win. Foley was able to pull away from the field after an incredible battle for second place. Battista was able to scoot by McDonnell after a lap-and-a-half. He was ready to run Foley down.
What went from a death-defying event turned into a three-way battle for the lead across three green flag runs. The veterans ended up running away with the top-positions, as the young guns ran into hard luck all day.
Immediately, there was a horror crash on lap 3 involving John Battista after Matthew Dominique blew up on the frontstretch. Battista tried to dodge the #25 on the inside, but failed and flew into the infield grass, careening into the inside wall and flying through the racetrack. He flew so fast that he sailed through a gap between Rick Jackson and Zach Michael and head-on into the outside wall at 143 miles-per-hour. The #39 was feet from climbing the wall and floating into the forest, but instead flipped five times and landed upside-down on it's roof. In sheer amazement and determination, the car was able to continue with ARCA driver Bink Lucas at the helm. Battista was rattled, but will hang on to race at the track he won at last year, Watkins Glen next week.
After Alex Crapser and Dave Miller led a few laps, the battle turned to Jimmie Stevens and Tony Pizzaro for the top-spot. Speedy held it for three laps before falling back rapidly. Pizzaro would continue to be a factor.
On lap 20, Pocono master Rick Jackson took the helm and led for the next 22 laps. After a terrible green flag pit stop, he would relinquish the lead to Randy Dobbins.
A Steven Spears and Jonathan Skrabacz crash in turn 3 brought out the caution during green flag pit stops. This trapped chase contenders Scott Jackson and Donald Stewart a lap down, as well as Speedy, Ben Geer, Tex Perry, Tony Long, Brandon Raines, Glen Kaufmann, Adam Crapser and Brodrick Wittmann. Leader Randy Dobbins was in complete turmoil, racing them while trying to mantain his advantage.
Glenn Kaufmann scraped the tunnel-turn wall on lap 48. He corrected into Michael Henson and Ryan Heuser, and slammed hard into the inside barricade. Heuser and Henson spun with him into the turn three-traffic. Scott Jackson, Dale Rosendaul, Cristian Torres and Bink Lucas were all injured from the incident, but carried forward.
The middle of the race was a battle for second, as Pizzaro pulled away from the field. Lapped car Adam Crapser passed him with fresh tires, and towed Pizzaro away from the pack during the first green flag run. It took John Tharp 65 laps to finally catch up and pass. The two would remain the front-runners as the battle for the win loomed near. It seemed they would be the only two, until Rick Jackson jumped ahead on lap 129.
One lap after Rick took the lead, Tharp made a three-wide move in turn 1 and made it stick. It caused some confusion between the R2W teamates. Pizzaro refused to give to the #44 on the outside and sent he and Rick into the outside wall. Fortunately, they would continue on with minimal damage and stay in contention for the win.
Pizzaro took the lead back on lap 137, but pitted on lap 142 in an attempt to gain track position. Despite coming in three laps later, Rick managed to beat the #12 on the track by a nose, killing two birds with the fresh tires. Tharp was not so fortunate, pitting one lap after Rick and coming out 2-1/2 seconds behind. There was only 12 laps to go.
Other than valiant efforts to gain time through the traffic, the #12 had nothing for the Crown Royal machine. Tharp caught the draft too late, and looked to be the only car who had anything for Rick. The #44 machine crossed the finish line first for the first time since the Charlotte fall race last season, breaking one of the longest losing streaks of his career. Congrats to Rick, crew chief Falco Lombardi, and the entire Race-2-Win crew for an excellent victory!
After a race where bumpers were torn off, flames flew out of hoods, and drivers were nearly ejected from their race seats, a welcome trip to the northeast was well needed. It was a mild race, though it still contained plenty of excitement.
Craig Lee took the pole position but was immediately passed by Matthew Dominique, who needed a good finish after several clunkers as of late. Craig was the fastest car all week, and looked to be saving his car early.
Alex Crapser took the lead on lap 48 from Scott Jackson. Scott had acquired the lead after missing his pit stall, the beginning of a series of errors that placed him 37th by the end and dropping him to 14th in points. Alex would lead 40 laps in total.
Craig Lee bided his time and re-took the lead on lap 69. With five straight top-15 finishes on the season, it looked as if the streak would continue with a big victory at the Magic Mile.
Disaster struck on lap 98 for the #101. Donald Stewart and Scott Drake made contact out turn 4 while Craig was flying through the field with fresh tires. Drake smacked the "Trojan Man", sending him into the inside wall and to the rear of the field. Meanwhile, points leader Tim McDonnell would get caught in an incident with Dalton Lucas at the same part of the track. Both drivers would continue on without major damage.
By miracle of all miracles, it only took Craig 42 laps to fly by the field and re-take the lead away from Rick Jackson. It was his race to lose, as the others stared in wonderment and confusion.
After plenty of side-by-side battles, it took Tony Pizzaro a full 17 laps to fully overtake Craig for the lead on lap 174. With nobody else in sight, the two could swap it out all day and still pull away from the field with ease.
Several big names like Alex Crapser, Donald Stewart and John Tharp were about to go a lap down before a spin on the frontstretch saved them all. Tony lost the lead to Craig due to lapped traffic, got a little aggressive and spun Bill Werkheiser into the inside wall. He came back up the track into William Perry, who caught air and black smoke at the same time. Both cars finished outside the top-30. Later, Zach Michael and Johnny Reed Foley made contact battling for 17th. Both cars slammed the outside wall, collecting Donald Stewart and Tyler Scott, who got the worst of it.
Between lap 253 and 264, Tony Pizzaro and Ken Pettit were battling hard for the top-spot. Ryan Heuser and Craig Lee were lurking behind, but the two Race 2 Wincars seemed to have the balance right late in the going. For the final 20 laps, Ken would make several attempts to complete the pass on the #12. He would get side-by-side with him multiple times in turns 1-2, but seemingly lose grip on the bottom lane in 3-4 each time. Meanwhile, Craig found his way past Ryan to lurk behind in third.
With three laps to go and a three-way battle for the lead, Aaron Cummings and Jonathan Skrabacz made contact entering turn 3. Steven Spears got involved in the mess as well, as it became a race for the victory up front with the yellow flag in hand.
Craig managed to find his way underneath Ken Pettit, destroying the #8's momentum on the final green flag lap. Ken would hold him off, but paid the price by missing the opportunity to grab his first victory since Atlanta, as Tony Pizzaro and the Fenway machine crossed the start-finish line in first. Congrats to Tony, crew chief Neil Justi
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T'was the cathedral of madness at Kentucky Motor Speedway, where the wrecks were plenty, and none were hesitant to say was one of the most embarrasing and dramatic mid-races of any event we're run in a long time. With that being said, it was an incredible finish.
It didn't take too long for the action to start, with Dave Miller, Ryan Heuser, Matthew Dominique and Rick Jackson all leading several laps early in the go.
On lap 71, Ryan was in the lead, pulling away from the field before blowing his engine. Matthew slammed into the back of him, destroying his car and inevitably losing more points to Tim McDonnell in the standings. They would both finish outside the top-35. For Ryan, it was the third time this season he would blow up while leading. He dropped to 9th in points after the event.
Points leader Tim McDonnell qualified 6th, but was mired in three-wide mid-pack traffic after battling a loose condition early. Once the adjustment was made, his car became a rocket-ship, passing Rick Jackson for the lead on lap 119.
Trouble started on lap 127 when Donald Stewart spun on the frontstretch. We saw Tyler Scott and John Tharp take some wide rides. We saw Braindon Raines, Bill Werkhesier, Cristian Torres, Rick Jackson, Brodrick Wittmann, Tyler Scott, Tony Pizzaro, Steven Spears, Mark Guthrie, Randy Dobbins and Dave Miller all take trips to the infield care center, mostly due to the "Damned lapped cars" as Rob Scarberry pointed out after the race.
The most controvertial crash of the season by many moons occured on lap 154. John Tharp, Scott Drake and Mark Guthrie tangled coming out of turn four. Drake lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the pace car, but came out uninjured. John Tharp, who claims he "lost control and brakes" after his fight with Rick Jackson's crew, flew back onto the race track and slammed into three Race-2-Win Motorsports drivers immediately, all mired in the points race. Points leader Tim McDonnell was sent for a half-flip, riding the outside wall until his car came back o it's wheels. McDonnell went on to finish, but left the race saying "I finally know why his car says zig-zag. Too bad he zugged us into the fence." Rick went on to say "That is not the same John Tharp that I saw when he started up the ranks. He's always been aggressive, but his head shrunk a size or two after that move." Ken Pettit and Tony Pizzaro declined to make a comment, but only gesture at the disappointment of the situation.
After the drama fell through, Ben Geer became the fastest car on the race track and flew past leaders Matt Raboin and Craig Lee. He built up a sizable lead before pit stops, as Zach Michael and Rob Scarberry followed only a couple of seconds behind.
Pit stops began on lap 217, when Matt and Craig short-pitted. They would pull to a ten-second lead, but the tires of Ben, Rob and Zach were strong enough to possibly hunt them down for the next 38 laps.
Matt and Craig continued to race hard despite the dwindling distance between them and the third place car. Draft from Dan Johnston and Adam Crapser helped only so much, as the fresher tires were coming quickly.
What turned into the show Ben Geer was about to spoil was the show Zach Michael did, passing Ben and Rob and working his way through the lapped traffic. With six laps to go, Zach was there. As Craig and Matt made marvelous attempts to used lapped traffic as their defense, it was to no avail as the inevitable was about to commence.
By the end of this race, we would have a new points leader, a two-time Extravaganza Series Champion out of the top-10, and a race winner coming back to form after a recent slump. The event ran quick.......... for some more quickly than others.
The race was dominated by Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro early on, until race favorite Rick Jackson took the top-spot on 23. He would only lead four laps, as he and John Battista went a lap down early due to unfortunate circumstances. Neither of them would get it back.
After a spin by Dan Johnston and Alan Nesfeder, Pizzaro and Johnny Reed Foley dominated the next run. With both drivers falling out of chase contention, it was a well needed boost of horsepower for the duo.
Alan Nesfeder went fo a wild frontstretch ride on lap 57, caused by contact between John Tharp and Zach Michael. Cristian Torres and Kevin Corbat made hard contact with multiple cars, heading to the garage with Nesfeder. Tharp would go on to finish 5th, with Zach limping a hindered car to a 20th place finish.
It was very hard to match the horsepower of the #18, staying in the top-10 for most of the night and easily keeping up with the #138 and #12 powerhouse. These three, along with Tim McDonnell, looked to be the mid-race favorites to win.
Most of the field came in to pit between lap 116 and 117. Dale Rosendaul used the Old Fart's Racing low-horsepower engine to truck along for two extra laps, before handing Foley, Alex Crapser and Dave Miller the 1-2-3 spots.
The entire field went for a frenzy after a four-wide battle for the lead destroyed almost half of the field. Donald Stewart and Matthew Dominique made contact, spinning the #55 head-first into the outside wall and flipping. Jimmie Stevens and dominator Johnny Reed Foley also went for a tumble, as Dominique would lose the points lead to Tim McDonnell because of the incident. Walt Flowers, Jimmie Stevens and Aaron Cummings were now out.
Through attrition and pure speed, suddenly Tim McDonnell and John Tharp had the two cars that could beat Tony and Ryan. Tharp has been coming from behind all season to win races, and with six laps to go, it looked to happen once again.
Tony Pizzaro got shuffled back late, and made a daring four-wide move to cause the last big crash on lap 155. Brandon Raines, who was having one of the best races of his career, got tagged by the #12 in turn three. Crapser got crunched, Heuser got slammed, and the miracle run of Steven Spears was thrown into the garbage disposal of lost dreams.
One final lap remained after the restart, with Tim McDonnell immediately taking the inside lane underneath leader Tharp. Craig Lee made the obvious choice and went with the #22, as the lapped cars of John Battista and Rick Jackson decide who to help draft.
McDonnell blocked Tharp on the outside lane, giving Lee some room low to sneak in. With Jackson backing off of McDonnell, Battista was able to get to the bumper of Lee and pas him through. To the line, it would be Craig Lee victorious, with McDonnell and Tyler Scott coming out of nowhere to finish third. Congrats to Craig, crew chief Spook Millikan and the entire QuickSilver Motorsports team for an excellent victory!
It was an incredible run with incredible fun. From points-contenders crashing down to oblivion, to the guys on the bubble staying out of trouble. Safe to say, the action was in full-force for most of t his one.
Early on, it was already a horror story of the ages for points leader Matthew Dominique, who crashed in the same corner twice. He made contact with Scott Jackson on lap 10, and then with John Tharp on lap 40. Both suffered big hits to the outside turn 1 wall, ending his day with a 42nd place finish.
Rick Jackson and Tim McDonnell were the front-runners early on, each leading 40 laps of the event. As the field looked on, it appeared that there were at least 5 cars that could easily keep up, including John Battista, Matt Raboin and Zach Michael.
Johnny Reed Foley meandered hios way through the pack to race the "Big-2". Despite leading no laps, he would remain a factor throughout, keeping his car in the top-5 for most of the event.
Dave Miller, Ken Pettit, Tim McDonnell, Tony Pizzaro and Matt Raboin were the biggest point- losers other than Dominique and John Tharp. They were all involved in wrecks, giving some action to the point-lead race after this one was over. For Pizzaro and Miller, they would dig into a deeper hole from chase contention.
Tony Long, who had used miraculous pit strategy to come out first with almost 100 laps to go, was involved in an accident with David Baldinger on lap 163. He and Randy Dobbins were able to short pit on what what people were calling "Hell's tires" today, and got out to a spectacular lead. Unfortunately, it ended in spectacular fashion.
The race heated up late as the leaders were stuck behind Scott Jackson and Ken Pettit, who were all eagerly racing to stay on the lead lap. Zakk Miller had a short-lived stint at the lead before Zach Michael passed him on lap 176. Alex Crapser and Johnny Reed Foley made various attempts for the top-spot during the spanning laps.
Rick Jackson re-pitted during the previous pit stop and used his four tires to gather himself to the front. He raced Zach side-by-side for five straight laps before finally taking the spot. Unfortunately, he could not pull away far asthe #8 and #38 impeded his progress to further his lead.
On lap 223, the #20 and #18 came in for four fresh tires. Rick entered the pits three laps later and fell to a five-second deficit over the Home Depot/Coke machine. It was doubtful that he could catch up, but the fears of his winless streak would outway his common sense as he would make a run for it.
Zach got caught up in heavy lapped traffic during the final laps, as Rick's deficit went to less than a second by the white flag. It was all he could muster, as the 51-race winless streak came to an end on this day for the #20 NSRA machine. Congrats to Zach Michael, crew chief Justin Knapp, and the entire NSRA Racing crew for an excellent victory!
