From the depths of the southern countryside to the Delaware promise-land, many attempt to rebuild their season after ten races of strife. Tim McDonnell is one, searching for his first top-10 of the season and coming off of his sixth finish of 30th or worse last week at Talladega. He will start 10th today, with seasonal lap-led leader Rick Jackson on the pole looking to add to his total.
The green flag came out with a very conventional top-10 starting grid. Towards the back, Philip Parker lost a battery, getting slammed from behind by Aaron Cummings. Tony Long and Cristian Torres clipped each other trying to avoid the accident, sending the #26 for a half-spin before getting back up to speed.
It didn't take much time for a four-car breakaway to dominate the event up front. Rick Jackson, Dave Miller, Ryan Heuser and Johnny Reed Foley meandered by a couple of lapped cars quickly and took hold of the top-4 positions in grand style.
Rick Jackson led the first 71 laps of the event before Dave Miller made his charge for the first lead change of the race. He would remain there through thick and thin, seeing Geno Sphere, Logan Sheets and Champion Ken Pettit all fall out of the event early with engine trouble. This would push Geno outside of the top-35 in points, while our 2021 Champion slid to 26th in the standings.
Pettit's engine failure would bring out the first caution of the race on lap-180. Ryan Heuser nabbed the lead away from Miller during their pit stop, but lost it wholesale after getting loose entering turn-3, handing the spot back to the #90. Unfortunately, Miller suffered a loose lug-nut and came back in to pit, losing a lap and giving the lead Rick Jackson for the second time.
The Crown Royal machine kept his position for 10 laps before Zakk Miller took it over on lap 202. He came from 25th to 1st to lead the field on a racetrack that's proven very difficult to pass, earning his stripes as possibly the fastest car in the event. A Matt Raboin spin halted his progress as the field entered their second caution flag.
A few lapped cars were trapped behind the pace car on the ensuing restart, forcing the Bepis mobile to meander through traffic on the get-go. Craig Lee took advantage of the hindrance and made it past Miller just a couple of laps after green. He would lead through lap 235.
Adam Crapser once again found his way to the lead for the fifth-straight event. He would go on to lead the next 20 laps before deciding to short-pit and make it a full 1-stop race to the finish. Miller and Lee would continue their battle for supremacy while Crapser awaited his fate.
Craig Lee took the top-spot away from Miller after leading the field for 41-straight laps. This part of the event saw another four-car breakaway including Ben Geer and Matthew Dominique, with Geer searching for his first top-5 finish since Las Vegas of 2021. Donald Stewart was mowing the leaders down little-by-little in 5th position.
Mowing the leaders down turn into mowing the concrete wall, bringing the final caution out while Adam Crapser's strategy fell to the wayside. Stewart slammed into the outside barrier, spinning down the backstretch canyon and into the inside wall as well. Ironically, it was Adam's brother Alex that was also involved, leaving both to limp home to 24th and 25th. Fortunately, Stewart was able to stay on the lead lap and earn a respectable 13th.
It was a 100-lap stretch to the finish between the same four cars from the previous run dominating the event. With Geer, Miller and Dominique all swapping positions several times during the stretch, Lee was able to pull away from the field by four seconds. Unfortunately, he wore out his tires as the remaining three caught
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Deep in the Alabama grassland terrain lies the malevolent 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Many have captured the crown here in superlative style, though some have faltered to the infield demigods in recent past. Bink Lucas and Dan Johnston would be an ideal example of both circumstances, revitalizing their desire to finish victorious at this grand Superspeedway.
Michael Henson and Tim McDonnell establish the front row and take the green flag in sheer jubilation. The two have endured monstrously devastating seasons thus-far, each outside of the top-30 in points. The two couldn't hold the top spots for too long, leaving Craig Lee, Matthew Dominique, Geno Sphere, Tony Pizzaro, Donald Stewart and Adam Crapser with the shared advantage through lap-25.
The #4 Alvin machine proved a dominating force once again in 2022, leading the field through laps 11 and 25. Randy Dobbins had pushed his way through the turmoil to take the advantage on a three-wide move between Adam and John Tharp. He preserved the top-spot through lap 30 before the Quick-Silver powerplant ransacked their way to the top of the heap.
Ryan Heuser and Matt Raboin dominated the event through lap 30 and 50. The two swapped the lead three different times before handing the top-spot to Donald Stewart. Craig Lee surpassed the #55 machine after just one lap at the summit, leaving he and his teammate Heuser to battle it out for the ensuing 10 laps. Ben Geer would take the advantage on lap 61, with Johnny Reed Foley, Matt Raboin and John Battista earning their bonus points for the day through lap 75.
The turn-3 barrier was darkened by the shadows of yellow racecars just before the halfway point. Ryan Heuser and Alex Crapser made contact and hooked into Tim McDonnell, sending the #22 into a gargantuan blow to the outside wall. Heuser and Crapser also corralled the fence in unison while Rob Scarberry slammed into the passenger side of the McDonnell machine. McDonnell would end another race in sheer devastation, finishing 41st after a promising qualifying effort. He would drop from 507 to 642 points back from the standings leader by the completion of the event. Heuser was fortunately able to limp to 28th and avoid his 5th DNF in 2022, still leaving Talladega 796 points behind first place. Alex Crapser and Rob Scarberry would come home 33rd and 38th.
Tony Pizzaro, John Tharp and Logan Sheets took their turn at the top of the Talladega slipstream before a Team Danger Zone tag-team activated their playing cards. Steven Spears and Zach Michael led the field from lap 86 to 90, progressing their recent prosperity with the aspiration of winning their league leading third race of 2022. Johnny Reed Foley and Bink Lucas would also lead the ravaging field through the lap-100 mark.
Zach Michael took the lead away from the two competitive Quick-Silver machines on lap 121, leaving 3rd-in-points Dave Miller and the light-force of Craig Lee towards the back. Bink Lucas, Scott Jackson, John Tharp, Tony Pizzaro and Adam Crapser all swapped the lead before the 50-to-go mark. After the final green flag pit stops, it became a 6-car breakaway between Adam Crapser, Johnny Reed Foley, John Tharp, John Battista, Dave Miller and Logan Sheets to battle it out for the victory.
A disastrous blow to the front pack with 18 laps remaining saw Johnny Reed Foley collide with the lapped car of Rob Scarberry. The #42 STP machine flew up the racetrack and crowded John Tharp into the barrier, with Foley spinning downward into the wayward path of Donald Stewart and John Battista. Other than Battista who would limp to 18th, every driver involved would fall to the wayside and finish outside the top-34 after a dominating effort.
A restart at the 13-to-go mark saw Logan Sheets at the helm of the pack in search of his first Extravaganza Series victory. Unfortunately, a vibration forced the #58 into the pit road, leaving Craig Lee at the front before the final caution flag. Alex Crapser went for a spin on the frontstretch after contact with Ben Geer, bringing out the yellow and forging a 4-lap shootout to the checkered.
Craig Lee led the field to the green flag, jumping ahead by several car-lengths before a pass from Tony Pizzaro on the backstretch sent him waning towards the bac
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Michael Henson becomes the first driver to win two poles in 2022! A miraculous feat considering his lack of top-10 starting spots in previous seasons, along with his current 36th position in owners points. With Geno Sphere only 75 points ahead of the provisional cutoff, it could be the ultimate day for Henson to revitalize his Extravaganza career while cohort William "Tex" Perry falls into the doldrums. On the outside front-row is Tim McDonnell, an unbelievably welcome sight for all of Extravaganza. Mr. Consistency has been consistently finishing 36th all season, looking to continue his momentum of two top-20 finishes in-a-row and cap it off with a victory at Talladega. Up at the helm of the standings, Zach Michael took his first career Extravaganza Series points lead after a third place finish at Bristol. Besides his 39th position at The Rock, Zach has recorded a top-15 finish in every event this season. Could the #20 become the next Tim McDonnell? All will be told after 188 laps of action at the world's largest tri-oval!
It's a pinnacle situation for drivers like Zach Michael and Matthew Dominique, who come into today's Bristol event less than 100 points out of the lead in the standings. We are about to cross the quarter mark on the young 2022 season with points leader Tony Pizzaro hoping to keep that advantage after 500 grueling laps at Bristol. He will start 37th on the grid, already at a half-lap detriment to pole-sitter Dominique.
The first 46 laps of the race saw Matthew Dominique and Craig Lee swap the lead once, each earning 23 circuits at the helm of the field. Crossing the line for lap 49, Dominique blew his engine, earning a devastating last place effort after an excellent start to the season. He would drop from 3rd to 5th in the standings.
Craig Lee led the event through the lap 72 caution flag. Second-place driver Matt Raboin and Dakota Wilkins made contact off of turn-2, slamming hard into the outside wall while Wilkins looped around twice and kept on trucking. Raboin would stay competitive until a couple unscheduled stops for damage repair dropped him to 30th place by the end of the race.
The #101 NOS Hardracer chevrolet continued to lead the field through lap 107 before a tire rub forced him into the pits, losing two laps in the process. He would lead once again after green flag stops but ultimately fell out of sequence, finishing 21st on the day. Quicksilver teammate Ryan Heuser, Steven Spears and Alex Crapser each took turns at the helm in the aftermath.
Alex Crapser meandered through traffic and took the lead away from Steven Spears on lap 212, pioneering all but two laps towards the halfway mark. He would win the Bacon Bonus before handing the top-spot over to his brother Adam just one lap later. Rick Jackson and John Tharp all took turns up front before green flag pit stops, where an out-of-sequence Steven Spears rose to the top of the leaderboard with a four second advantage.
A lap 333 engine failure from Mark Heron saved Spears from losing two laps under green, racing with Alex Crapser and Rick Jackson for the lead after the restart. A backstretch crash between Bill Werkheiser and Matt Raboin a few laps into the run turned into devastation for John Battista and Dave Miller. Both drivers slammed into the rear of Werkheiser's car, sending Battista from 9th to a 38th place DNF while Miller miraculously limped to 25th despite a severely damaged engine.
It was the Steven Spears and Logan Sheets show between laps 345 and 388. Adam Crapser made a miraculous double-dip move on the outside of turn one to send the #65 back to third place and out of harms way for the ensuing chaos. Three laps after the lead change the #4 and the #138 clipped entering the same corner. Both cars impaled the outside wall with torturous force, ending the race for both drivers. This was the second devastating blow for Adam, who fell victim to an unscheduled pit stop last week after a similar dominating performance. For Ryan, it was his league-leading fourth DNF in six events, putting himself in the biggest hole of his Extravaganza career. He would exit the race 519 points out of 10th place with only 17 races to make up the distance. Donald Stewart and Cristian Torres were also involved in the incident.
Logan Sheets was pulling off the race of his career at Bristol, leading by over a second for a good portion of the next green flag run. He remained in command until 55 to go, where a Rick Jackson and Johnny Reed Foley tag-team earned the reins for the top-2 positions. It took Foley 449 laps to battle from a dead-last starting-spot to first on the leaderboard.
Zach Michael took his first lead of the day with 45 laps remaining. Jackson would nab it back 11 laps later, contributing to a total of 54 total lead changes. Matthew Dominique, Ryan Heuser, Craig Lee, Alex Crapser, Steven Spears, Logan Sheets, Zach Michael, Rick Jackson and John Tharp all led an immaculate 20+ laps on the day, an Extravaganza Series record performance.
Jackson led the field from lap 466 to 472
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Matthew Dominique becomes the new points leader after his phenomenal 2nd-place effort at Richmond last weekend. He has only recorded one finish outside of the top-16 all season, proving he is back to form after a less-than-stellar 2021 campaign. He will start 8th on the grid at Martinsville, with teammate Matt Raboin attempting to pull off a second short track victory in-a-row just as he did last season. Third place finisher last week Adam Crapser is on the pole, with Champion Ken Pettit on the outside looking for his first top-9 in 2022. John Battista and Ryan Heuser come in as the pre-race favorites, both still looking for their first victory of the young season. Good luck to all!
The Extravaganza regulars travel to our second short track of the season, where Matt Raboin attempts to sweep the Richmond-Martinsville-Bristol stretch and crawl his way into the top-10 in points. His teammate Matthew Dominique comes in as the points leader, mirroring his early-season performance of 2019. He will grid 8th in the field with race favorites John Battista and Ryan Heuser starting off 5th and 17th.
Adam Crapser started the field off on the pole, looking to hold off the Extravaganza elite and capture his first premier Series victory. From the mid-western dirt track atmosphere to the Bonanza Series Championship, Crapser is slated to be the next rising star in the series. He would prove worthy of him future title by leading the first 36 laps of the event.
Ken Pettit was the first driver to make a charge on the #4 Alvin machine. Adam was struggling to meander through lapped traffic, letting the Marley mobile fly by on the inside lane and have him handle the pressure ahead. Pettit would lead through lap 60 before giving back the position.
John Battista and Pettit raced side-by-side for second while Adam pulled away from the pack. Pettit cleared past the Wendy's Lucas Racing mobile to re-catch the leader and fly back by on lap 100. He would stay there for fourteen laps before another lead swap by Adam. The lapped traffic ahead were giving the leaders fits during this point, with only three cars conceding to fall a lap down by the lap 120 mark.
The first caution of the race was caused by a battle for 17th position. Dave Butterworth and Rick Jackson made contact entering turn-3, sending the Crown Royal car for a spin while Butterworth cracked the outside wall. On the subsequent restart, Dave Miller made it past Adam Crapser for the lead and remained there for 73 laps.
Cristian Torres was lounging within the race of his life, earning the top-spot over Miller on lap 236. Fourteen laps later, Torres would capture his first ever Halfway Bacon Bonus, earning an extra $100,000 to the Twisted Metal pocketbook. It would not last the entire distance, as John Battista found his way to the lead for the first time after lurking in the top-5 all race long.
A turn-3 incident between Dave Butterworth and Michael Henson on lap 270 was followed by a 40-lap stint of Wendy's domination. After an Alex Crapser and Jonathan Skrabacz tangle in the same corner, four cars decided to stay out on 40-lap old tires while the rest of the field ebullated in malevolent delight, presuming the warn out rubber would devastate their efforts. Markell Murphy, Scott Jackson, Ryan Heuser and Bill Werkheiser all took the gamble.
One of the drivers that gambled for track position fell into the depths of another engine tragedy. Ryan Heuser had just made his green flag pit stop in third place before coming to a blow with only 53 laps to go. His teammate Craig Lee fell victim to an engine failure early in the going as well, leaving both drivers in a deep hole in the standings coming out of Martinsville. Ken Joynt also battled engine fatigue, gapping the Quick-Silver teammates in the final race result.
Despite the disparity in pit strategies, every driver still had to make one more stop. The advantage for the drivers that pitted was their ability to gas-and-go to make the finish while the other drivers would need at least one full can. Markell Murphy had miraculously pulled away from the field by over seven seconds before coming in with 60 laps to go. Fortunately for him, there were no caution flags between he and Tony Pizzaro's pit stops and he was able to maintain the top-spot by a hair by the end of the cycle.
The splash-and-go stop by Pizzaro lessened the gap from seven seconds to just a couple of car-lengths by the 20-to-go mark. Pizzaro made his move on Murphy in turn-3, clearing the Red Bull machine in hopes to cruise to his second victory of 2022. Just three laps later, Murphy made the same move on the inside of turn-1 and repeated the favor, using his fresher two-tires to his advantage while Pizzaro dropped into the clutches of Scott Jackson in a battle for second place.
Matthew Dominique becomes the new points leader after his phenomenal 2nd-place effort at Richmond last weekend. He has only recorded one finish outside of the top-16 all season, proving he is back to form after a less-than-stellar 2021 campaign. He will start 8th on the grid at Martinsville, with teammate Matt Raboin attempting to pull off a second short track victory in-a-row just as he did last season. Third place finisher last week Adam Crapser is on the pole, with Champion Ken Pettit on the outside looking for his first top-9 in 2022. John Battista and Ryan Heuser come in as the pre-race favorites, both still looking for their first victory of the young season. Good luck to all!
The first short track of the season produces it's 7th pole sitter in the first seven events of 2022 in the #30 Team Danger Zone Bepis Mustang. Zakk Miller comes into the event 32nd in points, just one year removed from a near chase birth and a peek into top-tier status by some Extravaganza experts. He looks to turn his season around today, with short track masters Alex Crapser and Matt Raboin surrounding him on the starting grid. Bonanza regular Brian Lowe pulls off a miracle 5th starting spot, a career best for the veteran.
The initial laps saw Zakk Miller clear the Alex Crapser machine and sail off into the sunset while the rest of the field battled for second-place supremacy. Crapser, Tony Pizzaro, Matthew Dominique, Matt Raboin, Adam Crapser and Ryan Heuser all lurked into the distance as Miller meandered through lapped traffic. By the lap 100 mark, Miller had led every lap.
Lap 98 saw the first caution of the event entering turn 3 between Geno Sphere and Donald Stewart, winding up with Sphere mired into the outside wall. 100 laps later, Kevin Corbat and Jimmie Stevens deja vu into the same barrier, with both drivers suffering minor contact. The ensuing restart saw the third yellow flag, starting with Dalton Lucas hitting the outside turn-2 wall and tagging Dakota Wilkins. Both were sent into a whirlybird backstretch extravaganza. Neither driver would finish inside the top-20, with Stewart dropping from third to fifth in the standings after a 32nd place effort.
After a seemingly infinite struggle and a hard-charging grind to the front, Tony Pizzaro finally took the lead away from the #30. Zakk Miller had led every circuit from lap 1 to lap 165, hoping to cap his usual one dominating short track performance of the season with a Richmond victory. Despite the overwhelming domination of the Bepis machine, Pizzaro could only handle the load for 58 laps. A mistake attempting to pass lapped traffic forced John Battista, Johnny Reed Foley, Miller, Adam Crapser and Matt Raboin to fly by in style, marking the third lead change of the night.
Battista remained at the helm for five laps before Johnny Reed Foley took the top-spot on lap 229. Foley had entered the event with a victory at Atlanta and leading a lap in his last three Extravaganza Series events. This would be the third race of 2022 that he would only lead one, getting re-passed by Zakk Miller just after he crossed the stripe.
With Miller and the Team Danger Zone Bepis crew adding to their lap-led total on the evening, many drivers were on the opposite end of the spectrum attempting to find their short-track luck. Both Tim McDonnell and Steven Spears made multiple unscheduled pit-stops, with Brian Lowe and Bill Werkheiser also four laps down after the halfway mark due to loose lug nuts and tire problems. Logan Sheets and Scott Jackson were the other primary problem-getters, involved in a lap 112 melee off of turn-2 that sent them both into the outside wall. Rick Jackson also suffered, blowing a right front tire and finishing the event in 27th place.
Zakk Miller was still up front crossing the lap-250 mark, leading a total of 192 laps on the night. Unfortunately, a loose lug nut and a horrid vibration sent him into the pits during the next caution flag, dropping the #30 Bepis Mustang to 19th on the restart. He would manage to race through the field and record a ninth place finish on a day that he dominated, proof that the team is back to form and ready to add to the victory column for 2022. After the restart, John Battista had found his way back up front with Johnny Reed Foley in tow.
Matthew Dominique flied through the field and pulled past Battista for the lead on lap 327. His teammate Matt Raboin followed the path, as the first and only green flag stops of the event were about to commence. Battista had exited the pits after his tire change and yielded a little to soon, clipping Randy Dobbins and flying into his teammate Dalton Lucas. Lucas went for a half-flip after a hard impact into the outside turn-3 wall, while Battista destroyed the back end of his Wendy's Chevrolet. William Perry slammed into the #88 in the aftermath, destroying his automobile. Battista would limp to 17th after an excellent run, with Lucas and Perry finishing 37th and 41st. Dalton would drop out of the top-10 in points for the first time all season.
Only nine cars remained on the lead lap w
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The top-20 in the standings are separated by only 214 points after the first six races. By way of satirical irony, our last four Champions are not among them. Tim McDonnell is currently 31st in the standings without a top-10 to his name. Ken Pettit's best finish of the season was two 13th-place finishes at California and Homestead, occupying the 23rd spot in points. Ryan Heuser suffered upper-body injuries at Homestead and is mired in 40th. Fortunately, he is back this week at a racetrack he has absolutely owned, even more so than Harrison James at Dover during the 1980's. Here is his record:
Previous Nine Winners at Richmond Fall 2017: Ryan Heuser Spring 2018: Matt Raboin
Fall 2018: Ryan Heuser Spring 2019: Ryan Heuser Fall 2019: Ryan Heuser Spring 2020: Ryan Heuser Fall 2020: Ryan Heuser Spring 2021: Craig Lee
Fall 2021: Ryan Heuser
*yellow indicates Ryan Heuser
On a sumber note, Michael Henson has missed his first show in over a half-decade. The Shake N' Bake Racing stable will rely on Tony Long, who is currently an impressive 15th in points. He will start 34th. Zakk Miller is on the pole, looking to gain some momentum after his 6th place finish at Atlanta.
