TULSA, Okla. (June 1, 2015) Racing was plenty this past weekend for the ASCS Nation, as the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real saw action as did the ASCS Frontier Region and ASCS Southwest Region.
Competing five of the six scheduled events, as the Salina Speedway in Salina, Kan. postponed their race until June 19, the weekend saw 92 drivers taking part in at least one night of ASCS competition across Arizona, Kansas, Montana, and Nebraska.
The Winners:
Friday, May 29, 2015
• J.J. Hickle (ASCS Frontier) – With nature finally giving folks a break, Washington’s J.J. Hickle struck the first blow with the Montana based region on board the Peterson Motorsports No. 23n at the Billings Motorsports Park.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
• Seth Bergman (ASCS National) For the second time in 2015, Seth Bergman found the top of the podium with the National Tour, adding the Hinchman Racewear Eagle Nationals presented by TBJ Promotions to his resume.
• Rick Ziehl (ASCS Southwest) Claiming win number three of the season against the Southwest Region, New Mexico’s Rick Ziehl topped action at the Central Arizona Speedway in Casa Grande, Ariz.
• J.J. Hickle (ASCS Frontier) For the second time in as many nights in Billings, Montana’s best was outgunned by Washington’s finest at J.J. Hickle delivered the weekend sweep for Peterson Motorsports.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
• Brian Brown (ASCS National) The debut event for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour at the famed Belleville High Banks went to Missouri’s Brian Brown. The win is Brown’s first of the year with the National Tour, and fourth overall.
News and Notes:
• Now That’s Fast – When all was said and done on Saturday night, there were very few drivers on the lead lap, as Seth Bergman lapped all the way to fifth on his way to his first Eagle Nationals triumph.
• Ouch – Jordan Weaver took one of the nastiest spills in recent memory on Saturday night. Thankfully the young lady was able to walk away after contact from another driver sent the Widow Wax No. 92 airborne into a tractor tire. The impact with the tire tore free everything from the Radiator forward.
• Title Chase – As reported by Andrew Kunas with the ASCS Frontier Region, J.J. Hickle plans on taking on the Montana region of the American Sprint Car Series full time in 2015 in the Peterson No. 23n. Safe to say, he’s off to a good start, and in good equipment. If you remember, Brock Lemley drove the No. 23n to victory against the National Tour in 2012 at the Electric City Speedway.
• Do You Even Steer? – When Power Steering goes away on a smooth track things are tough, but on a rough track they’re nearly impossible. That is unless you're Matt Covington who managed to wrangle his T&L Foundry No. 95 around the Eagle Raceway to score a third place finish.
• Laps Led – On top of his weekend sweep, J.J. Hickle led 46 of the weekend’s 50 A-Feature laps at the Billings Motorsports Park.
• That Shaking Feeling – When you race a track like Belleville, vibrations can have dire consequences. Luckily for Brian Brown, the team was able to track down the source before the night’s feature event, finding a tire to be off. In his weekly recap, Brown explained, “We pushed off for the heat and had a really bad vibration. We didn’t really know what was going on. Imagine going 140 miles per hour and having a tire shake. That’s what it felt like. We were lucky enough to finish second. We checked the balance of the tires when we came in, and they were fine. The next move was to go into the engine. We changed u-joints and didn’t see anything there. We went back to the tires and found out one of them was off. Hoosier makes a great tire, but that was one in a million that’s off a bit. It was a good job by Chad (Morgan) and Josh (Hembe) and we have Neal Kelly here from Australia. To pull a motor out and change a u-joint between the heat and the feature…they did a good job. That kept me away from the track too, and maybe over-analyzing it.”
• For His Friend – Brian Brown dedicated his win on Sunday to his late friend, Scott Rider, who lost his battle with cancer.
• Within Striking Distance – Saturday at Eagle was a not so perfect storm for Aaron Reutzel as the engine let go while running the top-five. With Bergman and Herrera placing first and second, this pulled the pair to within 50 points. A runner up the following night gave Aaron some breathing room.
• New Track Record – Ryan Roberts set a new single lap track record at the Eagle Raceway on Saturday night for ASCS style cars, with a time of 11.801 seconds. The previous record was set by Trevor Grossenbacher on June 13, 2009 with a time of 11.815 seconds.
• Speaking of Fast – The Belleville High Banks is forevermore fast. In Hot Laps, Jake Buback was fastest with a time of 15.247 seconds. During competition, Jack Dover turned a time of 15.188 seconds. According to track officials, the track is between a half to five-eighths of a mile around.
• Hard Chargers - Jordan Boston was the weekends biggest Hard Charger, advancing 12 positions during Saturday’s Eagle Nationals. Bob Ream, Jr. at Central Arizona and Seth Bergman at Belleville each advanced 10 positions to earn Hard Charger honors. Montana’s Bryan Brown picked off eight positions at Billings. J.J. Hickle picking up seven spots on Friday night on his way to Victory.
Coming Up:
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real hits another high-banked oval this coming Saturday, June 6 with the season’s only appearance at the Salina High Banks Speedway in Salina, Okla. The evening will be co-sanctioned with the American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Red River Region presented by Smiley’s Racing Products.
The ASCS Frontier Region returns to action with a double header at the Electric City Speedway in Great Falls, Mont.
The ASCS Southwest Region is in action the Arizona Speedway on Saturday, June 6 in Queen Creek, Ariz.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
The 2015 season will mark the 24th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation in both National and Regional competition.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.
ASCS Online:
American Sprint Car Series - http://www.ascsracing.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/lucasoilascs
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/lucasoilascs (@lucasoilascs)
Audio Broadcast - http://www.racinboys.com
Live Scoring (Where Applicable) - http://www.ascsracing.com/live and the Race Monitor App
ASCS National Drivers Online:
Kyle Bellm - http://www.kylebellm.com
Seth Bergman - http://www.sethbergmanracing.com
Tony Bruce, Jr. - http://www.tonybrucejr.com
Matt Covington - http://www.mattcovingtonracing.com
Blake Hahn - http://www.blakehahnracing.com
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. - http://www.sam15.com
Johnny Herrera - http://www.johnnyherreraracing.com
Wayne Johnson - https://www.facebook.com/WayneJohnsonRacing?fref=ts
Aaron Reutzel - http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com
Jeff Swindell - http://www.jeffswindell.com
Jordan Weaver - https://www.facebook.com/JordanWeaverRacing92
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix.
Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, iON Camera, Smokey Mountain Moonshine, C&R Radiator, Hawk Performance Products, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, and General Tire.
Communications for the American Sprint Car Series is provided by Racing Electronics. All events are broadcast online at http://www.racinboys.com.
Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, KSE Racing Products, Fuel Safe, DMI Rear Ends, BMRS, SpeedMart, Competition Suspension, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, The Joie of Seating, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Rod End Supply, Smiley's Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection.
- Bryan Hulbert on Jun 01, 2015
- Article Date: 6/1/2015