Lonnie Wheatley, GREENWOOD, Neb. (April 17, 2010) – Jack Dover delivered veteran car owner Gary Swenson his first feature win of the 2010 season by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap American Sprint Car Series Midwest Region feature at Nebraska Raceway Park’s I-80 Speedway.
The 20-year-old from Springfield, NE, held off several challenges along the way and then survived a late restart to secure the win aboard the Gary’s Auto Sales No. 24a Schnee.
With Dover leading the feature field to the green flag from the pole position, action was intense from the outset with third-starter Lou Kennedy, Jr., moving up to challenge Dover in the early rounds.
Then at the race’s midway point, it was Clint Garner that turned up the heat on Dover, with the pair exchanging sliders for several laps before Dover broke away once again.
“Those guys kept putting sliders on me, I just told myself to be patient and keep my momentum up on the top side,” Dover explained.
It worked each time, as Dover finally broke away from Kennedy’s early pressure on the fifth lap and began to slip away as Kennedy slid back. Grosz, who started front row outside, moved into second on the sixth round and chased the leader until slowing with mechanical problems on the tenth round to bring out a caution.
With sixth-starter Garner up to second, the next handful of laps were contested at a fever pitch between Dover and Garner with Dover ultimately reclaiming command and slipping away as Chad Humston rallied past Kennedy, Ryan Roberts and then Garner to take second by the 16th round.
As Dover reached the tail of the field, Humston was quickly closing the gap when the race’s final caution flew for Tige Jensen, setting up a six-lap dash to the stripe.
“I kept checking the scoreboard to see who was in second, and when I saw the No. 1m up there I knew it was time to get going,” Dover commented.
But when Humston and Garner opted to test each other’s nerves and reflexes over the final half dozen circuits, Dover checked out on the top side to take the win by a comfortable margin.
Humston prevailed in the wild duel for runner-up honors aboard Mark Burch’s No. 1m, with Garner settling for the show position.
Charging from 15th, Billy Alley was in the mix in the final stages and crossed the stripe fourth, with Ryan Roberts rounding out the top five.
Robby Wolfgang was sixth, with 14th-starter Eric Lutz, Kennedy, Gregg Bakker and John VandenBerg completing the top ten.
Friday night winner Dustin Morgan was eliminated on the opening lap of the feature when both he and Gage Dorr got upside down in a turn two tangle.
Humston, Dover, Grosz and Kennedy topped Saturday night’s heat race action, with Ryan Bickett outlasting John Klabunde to win the 12-lap “B” Main.
ASCS Midwest Region Results from I-80 Speedway:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1m-Chad Humston, 2. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 3. 71-Tige Jensen, 4. 22-Billy Alley, 5. 43-A.J. Selenke, 6. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 7. 14-Jody Rosenboom, 8. 20k-Thomas Kennedy.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 24a-Jack Dover, 2. 18-Ryan Roberts, 3. 5-Eric Lutz, 4. 28-Mitch Runge, 5. 93-Dustin Morgan, 6. 98-J.D. Johnson, 7. 82-Jason Danley, 8. 32-Toby Chapman.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 4j-Lee Grosz, 2. 2d-Dusty Ballenger, 3. 7k-Robby Wolfgang, 4. 25-Dylan Peterson, 5. 77-John Klabunde, 6. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 7. 05-Justin Wolf-Medlock.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 2. 40-Clint Garner, 3. K9-John VandenBerg, 4. 17-Gage Dorr, 5. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 6. 44-Doug Lovegrove, 7. 54-Bryan Dobesh.
“B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 2. 77-John Klabunde, 3. 54-Bryan Dobesh, 4. 28-Mitch Runge, 5. 14-Jody Rosenboom, 6. 32-Toby Chapman, 7. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 8. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 9. 82-Jason Danley, 10. 05-Justin Wolf-Medlock, 11. 43-A.J. Selenke, 12. 20k-Thomas Kennedy, 13. 98-J.D. Johnson. DNS: 44-Doug Lovegrove.
"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 24a-Jack Dover, 2. 1m-Chad Humston, 3. 40-Clint Garner, 4. 22-Billy Alley, 5. 18-Ryan Roberts, 6. 7k-Robby Wolfgang, 7. 5-Eric Lutz, 8. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 9. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 10. K9-John VandenBerg, 11. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 12. 77-John Klabunde, 13. 2d-Dusty Ballenger, 14. 25-Dylan Peterson, 15. 71-Tige Jensen, 16. 4j-Lee Grosz, 17. 54-Bryan Dobesh, 18. 17-Gage Dorr, 19. 93-Dustin Morgan, 20. 28-Mitch Runge.
ASCS Midwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Jack Dover 292, 2. Chad Humston 264, 3. Ryan Roberts 255, 4. Dustin Morgan 242, 5. Gregg Bakker 238, 6. Lee Grosz 233, 7. Robby Wolfgang 228, 8. Ryan Bickett 227, 9. Billy Alley 226, 10. Lou Kennedy, Jr. 218.
- USAC Sprints on Apr 18, 2010
- Article Date: 4/17/2010