(Image Credit: MVI Racing Photography)
Andrew Kunas (June 5, 2015) GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Everyone competing in the ASCS Frontier Region sprint car tour this season is wondering if anyone can stop J.J. Hickle and the Peterson Racing No. 23n right now. It didn't come easily Friday night, but Hickle found himself in victory lane for the third consecutive race to open the 2015 sprint car season in Montana.
The Quilcene, Washington driver, who swept the two season opening events last weekend at Billings Motorsports Park, caught Laurel, Montana's Phil Dietz with four laps remaining and made the winning pass. Hickle extended his lead over Dietz in the season point standings to 36 tallies. Hickle has now won five out of eight ASCS Frontier Region feature events dating back to last season aboard the No. 23n Ostrich-powered Rocket.
"I thought it was a good night for our team. We started sixth and stayed patient and worked a tough and treacherous race track and we made sure we were there at the end," Hickle said in the pit area following the event, referencing the three red flags for sprint cars tumbling upside down that plagued the race.
Hickle started the 25-lap affair in the sixth position and was already in fourth place by the time he completed the first lap. Trever Kirkland, who finished second to Hickle last Friday at Billings, led early before yielding the lead to Dietz, while Hickle worked by pole sitter David Hoiness for third. Racing was first interupted by a yellow flag on with 11 laps completed when Jordan Milne came to a stop in Turn 2 of the 3/10-mile clay oval after contact with another car. Shortly after the restart Hickle got around Kirkland for second and soon set his sights on Dietz.
Dietz held his ground on restarts following the first two red flags before Lap 22 when Hickle finally managed to get a run at him on the back stretch and finished the pass as they rounded Turns 3 and 4. The field completed the lap to make it official just before the third red flag halted the race for the last time. Hickle led the remaining laps after the last restart.
Hickle only led four laps Friday, compared to leading 46 out of 50 last weekend, but Hickle was just as happy as before.
"Every race we work our butts off. Our teamwork is good and our confidence is good," said Hickle, who had not won three consecutive main event races in his racing career before his current run.
Dietz, who finished second to Hickle last Saturday at Billings, had to settle for the runner-up spot again aboard the Dietz Prevost Racing No. 72 Kistler-powered Maxim. Seventh starting Skylar Gee of Leduc, Alberta finished third in the Gee Racing No. 99 AMS-powered Triple X.
Lethbridge, Alberta's Kelly Miller picked up his third straight Top 5 finish with a fourth place effort aboard the KDM Motorsports No. 2jr AMS-powered Schnee after coming from the ninth starting position. Miller moved up to third place in the standings, with Gee behind him in fourth.
Hard charger honors Friday night went to Burlington, Wash.'s Greg Hamilton, who charged from the 20th and final starting position to take fifth place aboard the Hamilton Racing No. 96 Shark-powered Triple X. Hamilton suffered problems with his machine during his heat race and did not finish and if not for a couple of scratched cars would have been forced to run in a B-Feature event. After two cars scratched out of the B-Feature, all remaining cars including Hamilton were moved up to tag the back fo the A-Feature field. Starting last, Hamilton was quickly battling to get into the Top 10 and then picked off one car after another to get into the Top 5.
Kirkland, Joe Perry, Bob Shiplet, Roger Cummings and Seth Ostermiller rounded out the Top 10. It was Ostermiller's first Top 10 finish in just his third competitive night in a sprint car.
For the second time in three events to start the season, Dietz earned the top score in heat race passing points, with his run from sixth to first in Heat 3 getting him 125 points. Being the first in the Top 8 to draw for his starting position in the A-Feature, Dietz drew the third spot. Skylar Gee won the opening heat race, his second of the season, and Alberta's Bill Boyce won Heat 2.
The series returns to action Saturday at Electric City Speedway. This weekend's events are a make-up for the rained out events on May 15th and 16th. After Saturday's event the series next moves to Gallatin Speedway on Friday, June 12th before returning to Billings Motorsports Park the next day.
The Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series, presented in part by Speedmart Inc. is a winged 360 dirt sprint car tour racing around the state of Montana and beyond. More information on the ASCS Frontier Region can be found online at frontier.ascsracing.com or you can follow the series on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ascsfrontier. The national website of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by MAVTV American Real is www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
ASCS Frontier Region
Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Car Count: 22
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee; 2. 27DD-David Hoiness; 3. 77-Bob Shiplet; 4. 3J-Jordan Milne; 5. 22-Chris Roberts; 6. 4-Cliff Nelson Jr.; 7. 4N-John Nelson; DNS 38B-Bryan Brown
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Bill Boyce; 2. 2JR-Kelly Miller; 3. 23N-J.J. Hickle; 4. 00-Roger Cummings; 5. 18-Seth Ostermiller; 6. 24-Leroy Brush; 7. (DNF) 0J-Jeremy McCune
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 72-Phil Dietz; 2. 37-Trever Kirkland; 3. 28-Joe Perry; 4. 12X-Josh Ostermiller; 5. 35M-Cody Masse; 6. 11-Cliff Nelson; 7. (DNF) 96-Greg Hamilton
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 23N-J.J. Hickle[6]; 2. 72-Phil Dietz[3]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee[7]; 4. 2JR-Kelly Miller[9]; 5. 96-Greg Hamilton[20]; 6. 37-Trever Kirkland[2]; 7. 28-Joe Perry[8]; 8. 77-Bob Shiplet[4]; 9. 00-Roger Cummings[12]; 10. 18-Seth Ostermiller[11]; 11. 35M-Cody Masse[14]; 12. 22-Chris Roberts[15]; 13. 24-Leroy Brush[16]; 14. (DNF) 12X-Josh Ostermiller[10]; 15. (DNF) 11-Cliff Nelson[19]; 16. (DNF) 4N-John Nelson[18]; 17. (DNF) 27DD-David Hoiness[1]; 18. (DNF) 3J-Jordan Milne[13]; 19. (DNF) 1-Bill Boyce[5]; 20. (DNF) 4-Cliff Nelson Jr.[17]
- Bryan Hulbert on Jun 06, 2015
- Article Date: 6/6/2015