Lonnie Wheatley, MEMPHIS, Tenn. (April 23, 2005) – Gary Wright found the
winning combination in O’Reilly American Sprint Car Series National Tour
presented by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores competition for the first
time in 2005 as he chased down pacesetter Darren Stewart on the 19th
round then checked out on the field en route to topping Saturday night’s 30-lap
feature at Memphis Motorsports Park.
“We had a
good track to race on tonight and we had a really good car for it,” commented
Wright after steering the Wesmar-powered Southwest Express/Richwood
Construction/The Shop No. 9 Maxim to his 91st career ASCS National
Tour feature victory.
Wright
established the tone for the evening early by scorching the field in the first
heat race and accumulating the night’s most passing points to earn the right to
start the feature fifth behind Darren Stewart, Dale Howard, Mike Ward and Tim
Crawley, Friday night’s top four finishers.
After the
first attempt to start the race was waved off for Garry Bell’s contact with the
turn three fencing, Stewart outgunned Howard to snare the early lead. The caution flew again with just one lap in
the books when Lee Sowell, who made a last lap pass in the first “B” Main to
earn a feature starting berth, came to a halt in tour four with mechanical
problems.
Back under
way, Stewart set the pace in front of Howard and
After
encountering lapped traffic on the sixth lap, Howard closed the gap on Stewart
and raced into the lead on the low side in turn two on the tenth round. Howard looped his machine a half lap later
without stopping, retaining second position when the caution flew for Ricky
Stenhouse, Jr., who spun in turn two at the same time with steering arm
problems.
Stewart
stretched his lead to a straightaway over Howard in short order on the ensuing
restart, with Wright battling past Howard for second on the twelfth round. With Stewart back into lapped traffic at the
midway point, Wright quickly closed the gap and had closed to Stewart’s rear
bumper by the 16th lap.
Stewart
fended off the defending series champion for several laps until Wright used the
high line to race into the lead exiting the fourth turn on the 19th
round. Once in front, there was no
stopping the “Texan” as he sliced through lapped traffic with ease to deny
Stewart a weekend sweep.
Wright had
amassed a half straightaway advantage when the race’s final caution flew with
just three rounds to go for Brodix National Tour Rookie of the Year contender
Jake Martens, who spun in turn two while running a strong fourth.
With three
lapped cars separating Wright from Stewart on the final restart, Wright charged
to the checkered flag unchallenged over the final three rounds. Stewart settled for second, with Howard
taking the show position. Ward crossed
the stripe fourth, with
Jan Howard
charged from 18th to claim sixth at the line, with Bryce Vowan in
seventh. Former ASCS National champion
Travis Rilat earned Hard Charger honors by racing from 22nd to
eighth, while Martens recovered from the late spin to snare ninth. Josh Howard completed the top ten.
With 36
cars in the pits, Wright, Travis Senter, Jr., Hunter Schuerenberg and Martens
topped heat race action. Eddie Gallagher
overtook Marshall Skinner on the ninth round en route to winning the first
12-lap “B” Main, with Ernie Ainsworth claiming the second “B” Main victory.
Stewart
escaped the weekend with a six point advantage over Wright in the series points
chase, with Jan Howard just two more markers back in third. Action for the O’Reilly ASCS National Tour
presented by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores resumes on May 6 at Fast
Trax Speedway in
Results:
Locked in from Friday night’s preliminary feature: Darren Stewart, Dale Howard, Mike Ward, Tim
Crawley.
First Heat (10 Laps):
1. Gary Wright, 2. Bryce Vowan, 3. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 4. A.G. Rains,
5. Bob Schaeffer, 6. Eddie Gallagher, 7. Cody Gardner. DNS: Steven Tiner.
Second Heat (10 Laps):
1. Travis Senter, Jr., 2. Josh Howard, 3. Henry Gustavus, 4. Travis
Rilat, 5. Ernie Ainsworth, 6. Andy McElhannon, 7. Jimmy Taylor, 8. Robert Gant.
Third Heat (10 Laps):
1. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2. Garry Bell, 3. Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. Jan
Howard, 5. Marshall Skinner, 6. Lee Sowell, 7. Jim Bowden, 8. Buster Dickerson.
Fourth Heat (10 Laps):
1. Jake Martens, 2. Toby Brown, 3. Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. Greg Merritt,
5. Philip Faulkner, 6. Ronny Howard, 7. Dewayne Prince, 8. Andy Goin.
First B Feature (12 Laps):
1. Eddie Gallagher, 2. Marshall Skinner, 3. Lee Sowell, 4. Greg Merritt,
5. Cody Gardner, 6. Robert Gant, 7. Philip Faulkner, 8. Jim Bowden, 9. Andy
Goin.
Second B Feature (12 Laps):
1. Ernie Ainsworth, 2. Travis Rilat, 3. Andy McElhannon, 4. Ronny
Howard, 5. Jimmy Taylor, 6. Bob Schaeffer, 7. Dewayne Prince. DNS: Buster Dickerson, Steven Tiner.
A Feature (30 Laps):
1. Gary Wright, 2. Darren Stewart, 3. Dale Howard, 4. Mike Ward, 5. Tim
Crawley, 6. Jan Howard, 7. Bryce Vowan, 8. Travis Rilat, 9. Jake Martens, 10.
Josh Howard, 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 12. Marshall Skinner, 13. Eddie
Gallagher, 14. Tony Bruce, Jr., 15. Travis Senter, Jr., 16. Toby Brown, 17. Sam
Hafertepe, Jr., 18. A.G. Rains, 19. Henry Gustavus, 20. Andy McElhannon, 21.
Ernie Ainsworth, 22. Jimmy Taylor, 23. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 24. Lee Sowell,
25. Garry
O’Reilly ASCS National Tour presented by Love’s Travel
Stops & Country Stores Points (Top Ten):
1. Darren Stewart 554, 2. Gary Wright 548, 3. Jan Howard 546, 4. Jake
Martens 514, 5. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 502, 6. Travis Rilat 490, 7. Tony Bruce,
Jr. 483, 8. Toby Brown 439, 9. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 427, 10. A.G. Rains 413.