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.
Tim McDonnell's kryptonite of the year 2022 continues through the sixth week of the season, becoming plagued with a multitude of disasterous finishes that bewilder the Extravaganza faithful crowd. Many have rumoured the Volkswagen as a defunct entity, with no wishes of producing a model product that can compete with the big-time American brands. Some think they are making an honest attempt at giving McDonnell the resources, but have so far fallen short. "We have no horsepower." said McDonnell after Friday's event at Texas. "I made the mistake at the end and it killed us, and we've made several throughout the season. Sadly, we've been running poorly too. We've never been this far behind." Some say the spreading of recourses to the #3 and #46 teams have been the ultimate detriment to McDonnell's goal of his fourth Championship crown. With the short track stretch up ahead, the newly named CFM Motorsports organization prays for a turnaround quickly.
Ryan Heuser will be back after a three-race absence, looking to continue his so-far dominating performances in 2022. He has averaged 50 laps led per race this season, and could've been higher if it wasn't for his high-speed accident at Homestead. With Richmond, Martinsville and Bristol coming up, this may be the break Ryan needs to fold back into the Championship race. He is currently 422 points behind Alex Crapser in 10th. The car is definitely on it's usual rails, with replacement Trey Larkin earning three-straight top-20 finishes in his Extravaganza debut. "My vision is still off-kilter, but I am virtually painless and in my best shape of the season." says Ryan. He was rumoured to have lost 15 pounds during the hiatus.
The top-35 in points for 2022 will now be the provisional bubble spot for the rest of the season. High-profile drivers Michael Henson and William Perry will be on the outside looking in, hoping to keep their Extravaganza careers alive by making the next few shows on speed. Rookies Geno Sphere and Logan Sheets have taken their former spots on the grid. Tim McDonnell, Zakk Miller and Adam Crapser look to stray themselves from the same fate, less than 100 points ahead of Henson for the 36th spot in the standings.
Tonight the superstars of stock car racing battle for Superspeedway supremacy at one of the fastest racetracks in all of Extravaganza. There have been five different winners in five different races so far, mostly related to the new Goodyear racing tire. The parody may continue with two drivers outside the top-35 in points qualifying extremely well, Michael Henson on the pole and William "Tex" Perry in third.
Michael Henson succeeded in a miraculous pole birth as he led the field to the green in his Black + Decker #144. His bid for a good finish and a top-35 birth in the standings started off extremely well, leading the first two laps before Johnny Reed Foley took over at the helm. He and Bill Werkheiser would sail off into the sunset during the first green flag run as the rest of the field fought for the third position.
A lap-98 caution involving a turn-4 spin from Rob Scarberry brought out the first caution flag of the evening. John Battista flew by Foley on the ensuing restart and led the following six laps. From here, he would attempt to hold off the Race-2-Win brigade from behind just as he did the previous race at Atlanta.
Rick Jackson took the lead on lap 113 but couldn't hold his Bob Marley teammate off for long. Champion Ken Pettit would finally find his way to the front on speed in 2022, grabbing the lead on lap 118 with draft help from John Battista. The Wendy's machine would take it back just 20 laps later in a high-horsepower speed-run.
The #39 and #44 swapped the top position a couple more times before a Dave Miller battery issue forced out the second caution. Miller would finish two laps down in 32nd place and drop from third to fifth in the standings, disappointing the Marlboro fan club crowd. Up front, John Battista led the first 25 laps after the restart before getting run down by Rick Jackson and rookie Logan Sheets.
Battista led the halfway bacon bonus, though the rest of the crowd was ready to pounce on his parade. Jackson, Sheets, Craig Lee, Donald Stewart and Alan Nesfeder had all managed to creep up to the front at crunch time, looking to deviate from the Battista-Jackson domination of the event. Sheets led two laps before Craig Lee took the helm on lap 196. It had taken him only 28 laps to gain 18 positions and find his way to the front.
Riding in the 6th position, Bink Lucas tangled with the lapped car of William Perry sending both drivers hard into the turn-3 outside wall. Bink was able to limp to a 24th place finish, though Perry would wind up 39th. It would be his sixth-straight finish of 29th or worse to begin the season, winding up 37th in drivers points and having to qualify for the field at Richmond.
Logan Sheets had found his way past leader Craig Lee before the caution flag and stayed atop for the first five laps after the restart. The big-dogs ran the rookie down rapidly, flying past the Pizza Hut machine in shades of Crown Royal purple lurking in the shadows. Rick would eventually lead a race-high 96 laps on the evening.
What should be the final green flag pit stops of the night came towards lap 300 mark. Zach Michael and Johnny Reed Foley both came in before Rick Jackson, who had developed a full three-second lead over the #20 machine. Out of the pits, Alan Nesfeder recorded a miraculous stop and stormed out with a near 2-second advantage ahead of Michael, Logan Sheets and Ken Pettit.
Rick Jackson and Johnny Reed Foley stormed through the field with their slight tire advantage. It took no less than ten laps for Jackson to rummage from 6th to 2nd, with 25 laps left to spare to make his move on leader Nesfeder. On lap 315 he pulled off the feat, leaving 20 laps on the board to pull away from the rest of the pack. Somehow, Nesfeder was able to keep within one second of the #44 for most of the run. Jackson was about to close to his first victory of the season when disaster stuck! His car was out of fuel! Him, Johnny Reed Foley, Ken Pettit, Donald Stewart, Jonathan Skrabacz, Matt Raboin and Bill Werkheiser all missed the mark on gasoline and ran out. A devastating blow to the crew chiefs and fuel mileage wives of E
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A miracle pole-sitting performance for Michael Henson gives the #144 team the ammunition to put themselves back into the top-35 in owners points before the week-6 cutoff. Behind him in third, William Perry comes in 37th in owners points, looking to knock out Jonathan Scrabacz, Zakk Miller or Aaron Cummings to keep themselves out of the Provisional Danger Zone for the 2022 season. Here is the current cutoff:
2022 Owners Points After Five Events 31. Adam Crapser: +58 32. Tim McDonnell: +53 33. Aaron Cummings: +44 34. Zakk Miller: +34 35. Jonathan Scrabacz: +23 --------------------------------------------------- 36. Michael Henson: -23 37. William Perry: -68 38. Kevin Corbat: -88
The winner of the last two events at Texas Motor Speedway will be watching this event from the sidelines for a third straight week. Replacement driver Trey Larkin will remain at the helm, nabbing the top lap time in Happy Hour and attempting to earn his third straight top-20 finish for Quick-Silver. Towards the top of the standings, Tony Pizzaro, Donald Stewart and Dave Miller battle it out for supremacy towards the 1/6th mark of the season. Russ Charneski himself is the grand marshal of the event. Good luck to all!
Points leader John Battista and the rest of the Extravaganza crew looks to conquer the fastest 1-1/2 mile racetrack in the entire United States. Matt Raboin becomes the fifth pole winner in five races thus-far. With many of the Extravaganza elite currently without a victory, we could see our fifth different winner as well at the bullring of Atlanta.
Rick Jackson started on the outside front row and wasted no time passing the #87 Valvoline Viper. Matt would become the rare pole sitter who did not lead a lap all day, crawling to an honest 9th place finish by the races end. It was a dominant effort by the Race-2-Win and Lucas Racing brigade early on in the going.
The Crown Royal machine would dominate the first green flag run, with only minor attempts from Tony Pizzaro and Craig Lee to take the top-spot away. It was smarter to stay behind him, as they pulled away from some of the dominant cars who were mired back in traffic after a bad qualifying run. Johnny Reed Foley, John Tharp, Bill Werkheiser and Zakk Miller all seemed to have the speed of the leaders if they could just find the track position.
The excellent crew work of the Lucas Racing teams propelled John Battista and Alex Crapser out to the front. The two would work traffic together while Craig Lee lurked eerily from behind. The other former leaders scurried over three seconds behind in hopes of finding their earlier speed to re-catch the lead group.
Craig Lee would interrupt the Lucas Racing strategy to pull away from the field and race himself to the front, grabbing his five bonus points but helping Rick Jackson crawl towards the lead. He re-took it prior to the halfway bacon bonus, and took the $100,000 check and racking his led lap total to 137 by the end of the race.
A big crash by the leaders after the halfway mark saw Craig Lee blow a right-front tire on the quad-oval. Mark Guthrie slammed into him, spinning the NOS Energy machine into oncoming traffic. John Battista tried to pass him high but slammed into Craig head-first, sending him down the racetrack and into Ken Pettit's Marley mobile. Pettit, Guthrie and Lee would finish 41st through 39th and unable to continue. Battista would drop from 1st to 4th in the points, continuing the race but limping to a 35th place finish.
The only caution of the event was over as the remaining Race-2-Win drivers battle it out for the lead. Both drivers are looking for redemption, as Pizzaro looks to re-earn the points advantage that was lost at Rockingham. Rick Jackson has been the most dominant driver all season, averaging over 50 laps led per race though earning three DNF's in four events so far. A victory today will help both of their causes.
Crossing the 250-lap mark, Zach Michael had arrived to break-up the Race-2-Win domination. He would lead 33 laps en-route to possibly becoming the first two-time winner of the season, battling Pizzaro for that right. From behind, Tony Long, Bill Wekheiser, Johnny Reed Foley, Dave Miller and Zakk Miller were all in a frenzy trying to catch the remaining three up front.
Tony Pizzaro was the first of the three leaders to come in for a stop just 15 laps to the finish. Rick Jackson came in the following lap, with Zach Michael making his way to the pits two circuits later. Pizzaro came out with a 1-1/2 second lead. All drivers took on two tires, including Johnny Reed Foley who had miraculously found his way to the front after an unbelievable stop from his AC Delco Top-Gear crew.
Johnny Reed Foley suddenly had the fastest car out of the four. Michael came out ahead of Rick Jackson in an attempt to run down the #12 machine, though his three lap tire advantage could not pull the mustard. Foley was able to scatter by the #20 and make his way towards the Fenway Park mobile with just a handful of laps to go. He would catch him on the final lap, and run side-by-side to the finish.
John Battista redeems the points lead after earning his third top-10 of the season at Rockingham. He's led in every event so far, something only Dave Miller, Tony Pizzaro and Rick Jackson have accomplished. On the contrary, pole-sitter Matt Raboin has failed to lead a lap all season, looking to hold off the pack to get to the line first after the first 1.5 miles. Speeds will veer well over 200 miles per hour during the early stages of each run, leading some to believe that the big crash is imminent. Look for Tim McDonnell and Rick Jackson to fly through the melee's and get their season back on track at Atlanta. Good luck!
