By JM Hallas

FORT WORTH – After an exciting night of Friday the 13^th racing, 20 drivers had beaten the odds by securing their spots in tonight’s big A-mains. David Phillips, Derick Grigsby, Joel Couvillion, Shane Hebert, Joel Garcia, Kevin Rowland, Dean Abbey and Travis Johnson in the Limited Modifieds had locked in their spots with a draw to determine the front 4 rows.

The Factory Stocks saw Taylor Carver, Chris Henigan, Bobby Jordan, Scotty Case, Chris Davis, Ralo Pilkington, David Bonham and Jason Gore punch their tickets for the chance at the big payday.

The ASCS Sprint Cars had Sam Hafertepe Jr. take home top honors for the night followed by Blake Hahn, Johnny Herrera and Logan Forlar locking themselves in for tonight’s feature. Tonight is a whole new show the Sprint Cars with heats, qualifiers and B-mains before the 40-lap ASCS main event.

The Limited Modified A-main will be argued and discussed for years to come. It came down to two drivers, neither wanting to give up the victory, yet running each other clean and without contact. The finish, a photo finish no less, shows one thing, while the electronic scoring shows another…..The outcome, a margin of victory shorter than the blink of an eye.

ASCS Sprint Car winner Aaron Reutzel slides through Turn 4. Photo by JM Hallas

Reutzel Outruns ASCS Field

Defending ASCS National Champion, Aaron Reutzel finally got back on track after a lack luster start to 2016. Reutzel used a groove no one else found early to quickly move up behind early leader Johnny Herrera. Then on a restart, Reutzel got the jump on Herrera to get the point at the one-third mark of the race. Reutzel got a good advantage until traffic allowed Herrera to cut the gap, but never close enough to challenge Reutzel who took the checkers by 8/10 of a second.

At the drop of the green for ASCS Sprint Car Championship it was Sam Hafeterpe leading into turn 1, but it was Herrera off turn 2 to lead the first circuit. Hefertepe held second with Logan Forlar, Matt Covington and Blake Hahn on his tail. Reutzel, using the middle, quickly made his move forward going by Hahn on lap 1, then Covington and Forlar on lap 2.

As Herrera started stretching out his lead, Reutzel got by Haferetpe on lap 5 for second. Kevin Ramey slowed and stopped on the front stretch for a lap 8 yellow. Once back to green, Reutzel made his charge grabbing the top spot on lap 10 while Harli White got by Forlar for sixth. At halfway it was Reutzal, Herrera, Hafertepe, Hahn and Covington in the top five.

In a mid-pack battle for position Ray Allen Kulhanek and Channin Tankersley almost tangled, both got righted and kept going. With ten to go Reutzel was cruising away, but coming up on traffic. Herrera began cutting into Reutzel’s lead, while Hafetepe and Hahn were running down Herrera as well.

Reutzel’s biggest scare came on lap 27 when he tried to move up a lane and nearly lost it in turn 2. Herrera got a run closing the gap to a couple car lengths. That was as close as Herrera could ever get as Reutzel motored on to the victory in the Dissovalloy, BC Fundz, Momentum Racing Suspension, Walker Filtration Systems, Danny Sander Construction, Wings Unlimited, Shark Racing Engines, Triple XXX Chassis.

“If it hadn’t been for that caution there was absolutely no way I was catching Johnny(Herrera),” explained Reutzel. “Johnny was in a league of his own and was really fast. I got him off that restart when he didn’t have any momentum up yet and I was able to hit the top and get a run on him on the back stretch. He protected the bottom, like he should, and I was able to squeeze my way past him. I wasn’t real good until the last few laps when I slid the wing back, but I think Johnny was a little better than we were.”

“I went out and looked at it (track) during one of the reds in the B-main. I figured if it would just hold up for me for a little while it would be good up there. The moisture up there was going to save my right rear a bit. I felt good about running up there about 8 laps. If it worked I’d have 8 less hard laps on my tires as everyone else. It played out perfectly. The top held up just long enough for me to get to the lead. Once I took the lead I never went back up there and the rubber came back in. The cards were all in our favor tonight.”

“When I hit lapped traffic I figured that if I couldn’t get past that one car that no one could get past me. As long as I didn’t make any mistakes I was going to be alright. I made one little mistake and missed the rubber messing around with a lapped guy and bobbled a bit. Then I just decided to sit on the bottom and make someone try to go around me on top. I didn’t think that was going to be able to happen. I figured if I stayed on the bottom it was our race to lose.”

ASCS Sprints

87 Aaron Reutzel, 45x Johnny Herrera, 15h Sam Hafetepe jr., 52 Blake Hahn, 95 Matt Covington, 17w Harli White, 2L Logan Forlar, 2c Wayne Johnson, 23 Seth Bergman, 17 Josh Baughman, 21t Ray Allen Kulhanek, 28 Tommy Bryant, 02 Brandon Long, 29 Travis Rilat, 14 Channin Tankersley, 14k Kyle Bellm, 11m Jason McDougal, 91 Steven Russell, 7m Kevin Ramey, 05 Brad Loyet, 26m Fred Mattox, 2x Tucker Doughty, 10c Jeremy Campbell

ASCS Sprint Car Qualifiers (Top 12 in passing points to A-main)

ASCS Qualifier #1; 2c Wayne Johnson, 2x Tucker Doughty, 95 Matt Covington, 10c Jeremy Campbell, 76 Zane Lawrence, 11 Joe Wood jr, 84 Brandon Hanks, 8m Kade Morton, 3 Raven Culp

ASCS Qualifier #2; 17w Harli White, 02 Brandon Long, 23 Serth Bergman, 11m Jason McDougal, 28 Tommy Bryant, 7 Kevin Ramey, 20g Jake Greider, 7m Chance Morton, 12 James Mosher, 19 Wes Wofford—dns

ASCS Qualifier #3

87 Aaron Reutzel, 05 Brad Loyet,21t Ray Allen Kulhanek, 17 Josh Baughman, 14 Channin Tankersley, 14k Kyle Bellm, 29 Travis Rilat, 4j John Carney, 26m Fred Mattox

ASCS Sprint B-mains (Top 3 to A-main)

ASCS B-main #1, 21t Ray Allen Kukhanek, 14 Channin Tankersley, 7 Kevin Ramey, 76 Zane Lawrence, 7m Chance Morton, 26m Fred Mattox, 20g Jake Greider, 8m Kade Morton, 12 James Mosher, 12w Dale Wester, 05m Charles McMasnus, 18 Lorne Wofford, 36 John Pate, 55 Brad Queen, 17g Travis Elliott—dns

ASCS B-main #2; 29 Travis Elliott, 14k Kyle Bellm, 19c Jeremy Campbell, 84 Brandon Hanks, 1j Danny Jennings, 11 Joe Wood jr., 4j John Carney, 2xTucker Doughty, 33 Mark Huddleston, 98 Ryan Padgett, 2p Logan Payne, 3 Raven Culp, 19 Wes Wofford—dns, 51 Caleb Martin—dns

ASCS Sprint heats (Top 30 in passing points to Qualifiers)

ASCS heat #1; 91 Steven Russell, 28 Tommy Bryant, 8m Kade Morton, 17w Harli White, 2x Tucker Doughty, 26m Fred Mattox, 19 Wes Wofford, 12w Dale Wester, 17g Travis Elliott

ASCS heat #2; 17 Josh Baughman, 20g Jake Greider, 21t Ray Allen Kulhanek, 87 Aaron Reutzel, 7m Chance Morton, 55 Brad Queen, 18 Lorne Wofford, 2p Logan Payne

ASCS heat #3; 11 Joe Wood jr., 11m Jason McDougal, o2 Brandon Long, 4j John Carney II, 84 Brandon Hanks, 1j Danny Jennings, 2k John Kelly, 33 Mark Huddleston—dns

ASCS heat #4; 23 Seth Bergman, 05 Brad Loyet, 76 Zane Lawrence, 14 Channin Tankersley, 7m Kevin Ramey, 3 Raven Culp, 36 John Pate, 51 Caleb Martin

ASCS heat #5; 95 Matt Covington, 14k Kyle Bellm, 29 Travis Rilat, 2c Wayne Johnson, 12 James Mosher, 10c Jeremy Campbell, 98 Ryan Padgett, 05m Charles McManus

Limited Modified winner Kevin Rowland (4R) gets by Loni Richardson in hot laps. Photo by JM Hallas

Rowland Wires Limited Modified Field, Wins by a Wire

In one the closest ever finishes Kevin Rowland (Rockwall) edged out last year’s winner Nick Clinkenbeard, by the slightest of margins. Officially it was .001 or 1/1000th of a second according to the transponders although to the naked eye it appeared different. Rowland jumped out front after drawing the front row and was chased early by Shane Hebert. Clinkenbeard began his move at halfway getting by Hebert and chasing down Rowland. After a late caution the battle was on with Clinkenbeard looking high and low and giving it one final shot on the last lap only to come up short to the winner, Rowland.

On the first attempt at the 3-wide start Derick Grigsby got too good of a jump before the chalk line and was sent to row two. This moved Dean Abbey to the pole for the 40-lap Limited Modified Championship. Rowland, from the middle row, got the drop on the field going into turn 1. Behind him there was a multi-car stack up, but everyone got rolling without caution.

Behind Rowland were Travis Johnson, Hebert, Abbey and Clinkenbeard until Bo Day stopped in turn 4 for a yellow. On the restart Hebert got past Johnson for second with Clinkenbeard getting by Abbey for fourth. In the pack Dennie Geiber and Tracy Denby Jr put Grigsby back two spots to eighth.

By lap 10 Rowland and Hebert were inching away from Clinkenbeard and Johnson side by side for third. After a restart, Hebert gave Rowland a look low with Clinkenbeard getting inside Johnson again and securing the spot. At the crossed flags it was Rowland, Clinkenbeard and Hebert side by side, Johnson and Denby in the top five.

Clinkenbeard got the spot on lap 21 while Denby got past Johnson leaving him wheel to wheel with Geiber. Clinkbeard was able to run down Rowland with 15 to go, and the battle was on. Clinkenbeard looked high off turns 1-2, then low coming off turn 4. Along the way Clinkenbeard lost a little ground, but was quickly back in the hunt on Rowlands bumper again.

As the lead duo ran nose to tail, Denby and Geiber caught Hebert for third with Geiber sneaking by Denby. Lap 34 saw JC Howell loop it in turn 2 to bring out a yellow and let everyone catch their breath. When green flew again Hebert looked high on Clinkenbeard, but opened a hole for Geiber on the bottom. John Whittington cracked the top five getting around Johnson, before falling out.

Rowland almost saw his chance to win go away when he hit a rut in turn 1 giving Clinkenbeard a good run. Yellow would fly on lap 37 after last night’s winner David Phillips stopped in turn 2. On the restart Clinkenbeard stayed glued to Rowlands tail while Geiber looked for another way around both. Clinkenbeard got alongside Rowland on lap 38, but Rowland held him off as the white flag waved.

Clinkenbeard gave Rowland one final shot using the high side of turns 3-4. The two ran side by side to line where, to the naked eye, it looked like Clinkenbeard had won. But the transponder loop showed it was Rowland in the B&B Pawn Shops, Hi-Tek Paving Company, Smileys, Kodiak Tough, in-house powered, Wicked Chassis by a hair, literally, getting the win.

“From my seat it was hard to tell who won,” exclaimed Rowland. “After the race we were just waiting on word from the officials. When I saw Nick Clinkenbeard doing a do-nut it kind of took the spark out of me. I thought maybe we hadn’t won, but they came back on the radio and said that we had gotten it. I lost one like that earlier in Greenville.”

“This is my biggest win by far. I’m pretty happy to beat a field with these guys. I knew if we drew good we’d have our chance. We took a couple years off and this is about my eighth race since coming back. Things have been going good so far. We’ve raced a little bit of everything. We ran a full Modified back about 8 years ago and went to Limited Modified about 4 years ago.”

“I really didn’t have concerns about the tires for 40 laps. We just try to keep the car straight and not slide the car. My biggest concern is with two laps to go I hit that rut in turn 1 and broke something on the rear end.”

“When you’re out front and hogging the bottom on that track, it’s hard to go around somebody. He did get a good run on me twice coming off turn 4. I didn’t know there was anything there, but obviously there was. Hey, we came out on top, that’s all that really matters. Being out front all race you don’t know if there’s a faster line, where they are, if they’re on your bumper or ten car lengths behind you. You just hit your lines that way you had planned and hope that your line is the best.”

Limited Modifieds A-main

4r Kevin Rowland, 66 Nick Clinkenbeard, 15 Dennie Geiber, 15x Tracy Denby jr., 9 Shane Hebert, 86j Travis Johnson, 17 Dean Abbey, 30 Joel Couvillion, 69 Derick Grigsby, 44 Kale Westover, 26g JJ Jennings, 90 Dustin Butcher, 232 Joel Garcia, 5w John Whittington, 18 David Phillips, 103 JC Howell, 88x RJ Stroman, 23m Jimmy Day, 30d JoJo Paige, 31 Cody Smith, 18 Tim Clonch, 20 Chase Allen, 184 Rodney White, 4 Bo Day

Limited Modified Qualifiers (Top 3 to A-main, 4-8 to last chance)

Ltd Mod Qualifier #1; 66 Nick Clinkenbeard, 20 Chase Allen, 23m Jimmy Day, 7 James Blaylock, 00 Tory Yant, 24 Jake Upchurch, 9 Brandon Blaylock, 17s James Skinner, 99 Kasey Kuykendall, 19r Todd Short, 69y Bret Young, 36 Bryan Mewborn, 662f Greg Frazer

Ltd Mod Qualifier #2; 31 Cody Smith, 26g JJ Jennings, 88x RJ Stroman, 185 Rodney White, 115 Jack Barfield, 74 Jason Hammonds, 84 Tom Lorenz, j2 Josh Short, 2 Brian Short, 23 Steven Nabors, 3 Eric Floyd’, 2k Charlie Knight, 7m Dylan Ramey

Ltd Mod Qualifier #3; 15 Dennie Gieber, 15x Tracy Denby jr., 44 Kale Westover, 5s Bud Reed, 18c Tim Clonch, 19 Bubba Seals, 17d Tommy Davis jr., 0 Loni Richardson, 21t Tracy Peters, 23 James Daniel

Ltd Mod Qualifier #4; 4 Bo Day, 5w John Whittington, 103 JC Howell, 90k Dustin Butcher, 8c Will Carter, k1 Stephen Guidry, 46 David Cobb, 21 Chad Cox, 101 Jeff Rozelle, 91w Mitchell Waschmann, 75 Patrick McCoy

Ltd Mod Last Chance Qualifier (Top 2 to A-main)

18c Tim Clonch, 184 Rodney White, 5s Bud Reed, 24 Jake Upchurch, 19 Randy Seals, 74 Jason Hammonds, 84 Tom Lorenz, 21 Chad Cox, 00 Tory Yant, k1 Stephen Guidry, 46c David Cobb, 9b Brandon Blaylock, 8c Will Carter, 115 Jack Barfield, 90 Dustin Butcher, 7 James Blaylock, j2 Josh Short, 17 Tommy Davis jr., 17s James Skinner, 0 Loni Richardson

Taylor Carver has enjoyed this view a lot the past two races at TMS Dirt Track – The checkered flag. Photo by JM Hallas

Carver Captures Factory Stock Title Back to Back

Lockesburg, Arkansas’ Taylor Carver takes home another TMS Dirt Track cowboy hat, and the big plastic check, this year backing up his win last fall in the US National Dirt Track Championships. Carver took the lead after going three wide with early leader Ralo Pilkington and Chris Henigan. Jason Gore worked his way up to second and chased Carver the last half of the 30-lapper but came up a couple car lengths to Carver at the finish.

As the 24-car Factory Stock field came to green three-wide for the start Pilkington was first into turn 1 trailed by Scotty Case, Henigan, Gore and Carver. Case had trouble and fell back quickly, while Carver got by Gore for third. Carver then picked off Henigan for second with Chris Davis taking fifth from Case.

As Henigan looked low on Pilkington, Carver went top side and it was three wide for the lead coming off turn 4. Carver edged ahead to get the spot on lap 5 with Gore taking third from Henigan. Gore then passed Pilkington for second who gave up third a lap later to Henigan before yellow waved for Jimmy Day, who found the turn 4 wall on lap 10.

On a restart the top six got away clean with Bubba Seals and Cody Smith side by side for seventh. Bobby Jordan gabbed a top five spot getting past Pilkington. At halfway it was Carver and Gore pulling away from Henigan, Davis and Jordan. With ten to go the Carver-Gore duo had built a big lead on Henigan, Davis and Jordan while multi-car battles raged for seventh and tenth.

Gore got to within a car length or Carver with five laps to go. Gore would drive in deeper, but Carver had the pull coming off the corners. As the white flag was shown Carver had a slight bit of breathing room, about two car lengths, and was able to hold on in his Hootiecackle Collision, C&C Construction, Roberts Tree Service, Tootsie Sheet Metal, Smith Cleaners, Craft Performance Engines, Reed Race Cars for the back to back win.

“I’m starting to think we’re pretty good here instead of just lucky,” replied Carver. “I had a good idea that Jason Gore, or someone was back there. He’s one of the faster guys we race with at other tracks. He drives a lot like me, real smooth and straight through the corners. I knew he’d be there at the end since he started near the front. I was waiting for him to poke his nose beside me at any time. We managed to stay out in front. It turned out good.”

“We’re pretty close on the car to where we were last year when we won. I moved my groove down a little bit in my driving, but the track was pretty good. I was worried when they started ripping it up (farming), but it turned out good. We loosened the car up a bit after that. I thought the Sprint Cars were after us and after I was lined up I saw them go out there. (Hot laps for 4 Friday qualifiers) I thought, man I messed up! Once I pulled out on it and looked at it I could see it was going to be alright. Justin Whitehead found a better line on me last night in the qualifier and passed me, so I made sure I had the preferred line tonight.”

“It’s tough any time you run against the caliber of these guys, Gore, (Chris) Henigan, Ralo (Pilkington) and Justin Whitehead. They all race where we’re from and real fast. It’s a good weekend if you can beat them.”

Factory Stocks A-Main

340 Taylor Carver, 721 Jason Gore, 16x Chris Henigan, 10 Bobby Jordan, 98 Chris Davis, 19 Bubba Seals, 4 Bo Day, 31 Cody Smith, 22r Ralo Pilkington, 107 Dennis Bissonette, 18m Craig Oakes, 6$ Chance Morris, 21m Michael Smith, 83 Chase Bresee, 71m Tommy Davis jr., 27 Casey Lyles , 21j Bubba Jones, 73 Jeff Sontag, 66 David Bonham, 96 Trey Smitherman, 23m Jimmy Day, 36j Justin Whitehead, j27 Scotty Case, 21t Chad Cox

Factory Stocks Qualifiers (Top 4 to A-main, 5-12 to last chance)

Factory Stock Qualifier #1; 96 Trey Smitherman, 21j Charles Jones, 36j Justin Whitehead, 71m Tommy Davis jr., 20 Nathan Sexton, 49 Ryan Slott, 70 Kenneth Chamberlain, 7 Ricky Sessions, 40c Miranda Carver, 21t Chad Cox, 02 Matthew Berry, 21 Billy Vest, 39 Marvin Lough, 57s Mark Shipman, 40 Skeet Amason

Factory Stock Qualifier #2; 6s Chance Morris, 107 Dennis Bissonette, 4 Bo Day, 73 Jeff Sontag, 00 Bubba Long, 92 Jason Lishman, 32a Austin Waters, 42 Justin Burt, 47 Tom Earl III, 55 Charlie Wilson, 15h Lance Hanson jr., 23m, Jimmy Day, 42 Lee Carver, 62x Josh Worn, 5h Lance Hanson sr., ccc Chris Coon

Factory Stock Qualifier #3; 31 Cody Smith, 21m Michael Smith, 19 Bubba Seals, 18 Craig Oakes, 83 Chase Bresee, 27 Casey Lyles, xxx Shawn Graham, 50 Jeffery Hill, 8 Tim Homeyer, 2 John Roan, 85 James Thompson, 46 BJ Atchison, 02x Brandon Sexton, 70k Royce Jones, 55 Tim Clonch

Factory Stock Last Chance Qualifier (Top 4 to A-main)

83 Chase Bresee, 00 Bubba Long, 27 Casey Lyles, 49 Ryan Slott, 58 Jeff Hill, 70 Kenneth Chamberlain, 20 Nathan Sexton, 47 Tom Earl III, 7 Ricky Sessions, 92 Jason Lishman, xxx Shawn Graham, 8 Tim Homeyer, 85 James Thompson, 40c Miranda Carver, 02 Matthew Berry, 21t Chad Cox, 42j Justin Burt