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Gaines
Snares Sprint Bandits TNT Triumph at Lucas Oil Speedway by Lonnie Wheatley |
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WHEATLAND,
Mo. (August 17, 2006) – Dickie Gaines turned the tables on Jesse
Hockett to become the third different victor in as many consecutive nights of
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour 'N Topless Midwest Swing action by
topping Thursday night's 30-lap feature at Lucas Oil Speedway. Setting the pace from the
outset, Mitchell, Indiana's Gaines fought off the late charges of Hockett and
caught a timely red flag along the way that nullified Hockettt's move into the
lead on the 27th lap. Gaines
took off on the final restart to score his first Sprint Bandits TNT victory
aboard Danny Roberts' Service Drywall Company No. 21x DRC-chassis. "We had that little
incident with Jesse there near the end, and I'm not sure what that was all about
it, but it worked out alright," Gaines commented afterward.
"It's great to finally get one of these TNT wins, we were close
several times last year and then again last night, so it feels good to get this
one." For the second night in a row,
Gaines earned the pole position by accumulating the most points through heat and
qualifying race action. And for the
second night in a row, Gaines jumped into the lead at the drop of the green
flag, this time outgunning California shoe Cory Kruseman for the point. Gaines led the early rounds in
front of Kruseman, with Levi Jones taking third from Mat Neely on the fifth
circuit. Meanwhile, Hockett started
sixth and ran in that spot for the opening eight laps before taking fifth from
Jon Stanbrough on the ninth round just moments before the caution came out for
David Brown, who spun to a stop in turn one with front end damage after tagging
a loose Mike Martin. Back under way, Hockett, racing
just 25 miles from his Warsaw, MO, home, hinted that he was on a mission when he
charged by Neely for fourth on the tenth lap.
Hockett showed further proof of his mission three laps later as he
overtook Jones for third, setting his sights on second-runner Kruseman and
Gaines, who slipped away from his rivals in the early rounds. On the charge, Hockett rocketed
past Kruseman for second on the 14th lap and moved in to challenge
Gaines for the lead in turn two just four laps later.
Hockett kept the pressure on Gaines until action was interrupted with 20
laps in the books for Brad Sweet, who spun to a stop in turn four while running
sixth. Hockett hounded Gaines on the
restart, making a bid on the high side of turns three and four on the 24th
lap to no avail. After looking to
the low side of turn one on several occasions, Hockett finally dove underneath
Gaines in turn one on the 27th lap and snared the lead after some
slight contact, only to have the pass negated by a turn three tumble by A.J.
Martin at the same time. Back in front on the restart,
Gaines took off over the final four lap charge to the checkered flag to record
the win, as Hockett held off Kruseman for the runner-up slot.
Kruseman settled for the show position, with Jones and Neely rounding out
the top five. Bud Kaeding charged from his 15th
starting position to snare sixth, with young shoe Chris Windom racing from 13th
to seventh. Shane Hollingsworth was
eighth, with Preston Peebles II and 17th-starter R.J. Johnson
completing the top ten. Kruseman, Gaines and Robert
Ballou each scored heat race wins. Gaines
topped his qualifying race as well, with Sweet and Hunter Schuerenberg capturing
the other qualifying race wins. After winning his heat race,
Ballou climbed Kaeding's right rear tire exiting turn two late in his qualifying
race and flipped in spectacular fashion down the backstretch.
Although his car was destroyed, Ballou emerged unphased and quickly went
to work prepping a new machine for the week's O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams
TNT finale at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS, on Friday and Saturday. O’Reilly
Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour ‘N Topless Lucas Oil Speedway Results: Heat Races: First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 38-Cory Kruseman,
2. 11p-Preston Peebles II, 3. 11d-Levi Jones, 4. 1a-Adam Jones, 5. 57-Mike
Martin, 6. 15-R.J. Johnson, 7. 3J-Brad Sweet, 8. 48-David Brown, 9. 0c-Leighton
Crouch. Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Dickie
Gaines, 2. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 29-Bud Kaeding, 4. 17-Chris Windom, 5. 2b-Mat
Neely, 6. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. 75-Jesse Hockett, 8. 70-A.J. Martin. Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 12-Robert Ballou,
2. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 16-Lee Stark, 4. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 5.
92-Daron Clayton, 6. 55-Tony Everhart, 7. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 8. 92J-J.R.
Topper. Qualifying Races – Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers Determine “A” Feature Lineup First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Dickie
Gaines, 2. 2b-Mat Neely, 3. 38-Cory Kruseman, 4. 15-R.J. Johnson, 5. 21s-Charles
Davis, Jr., 6. 57-Mike Martin, 7. 55-Tony Everhart, 8. 48-David Brown, 9.
0c-Leighton Crouch. Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 3J-Brad
Sweet, 2. 75-Jesse Hockett, 3. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 4. 17-Chris Windom, 5.
14-Jon Stanbrough, 6. 29-Bud Kaeding, 7. 70-A.J. Martin, 8. 12-Robert Ballou. Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 2. 11d-Levi Jones, 3. 92-Daron Clayton, 4. 1a-Adam Jones, 5. 11p-Preston Peebles II, 6. 16-Lee Stark, 7. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 8. 92J-J.R. Topper. O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Lucas Oil Speedway “A” Main “A”
Main (30 Laps): 1. 21x-Dickie
Gaines, 2. 75-Jesse Hockett, 3. 38-Cory Kruseman, 4. 11d-Levi Jones, 5. 2b-Mat
Neely, 6. 29-Bud Kaeding, 7. 17-Chris Windom, 8. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 9.
11p-Preston Peebles II, 10. 15-R.J. Johnson, 11. 16-Lee Stark, 12. 14-Jon
Stanbrough, 13. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 14. 3J-Brad Sweet, 15. 55-Tony Everhart,
16. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 17. 70-A.J. Martin, 18. 92-Daron Clayton, 19.
21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 20. 57-Mike Martin, 21. 48-David Brown, 22. 1a-Adam
Jones, 23.0c-Leighton Crouch, 24. 92J-J.R. Topper.
DNS: 12-Robert Ballou. Lap
Leaders: Dickie Gaines 1-30. O'Reilly
Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest Swing Points (Top Fifteen):
1. Dickie Gaines 432, 2. Jesse Hockett 428, 3. Levi Jones 426, 4. Bud
Kaeding 420, 5. Mat Neely 416, 6. Jon Stanbrough 414, 7. Cory Kruseman 412, 8.
Shane Hollingsworth 404, 9. Preston Peebles II 394, 10. R.J. Johnson 378, 11.
Charles Davis, Jr. 376, 12. Lee Stark 364, 13. Robert Ballou 357, 14. A.J.
Martin 346, 15. Bret Mellenberndt 334. 2006 O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten): 1. Cory Kruseman 984, 2. Jon Stanbrough 952, 3. Bud Kaeding 938, 4. Dickie Gaines 901, 5. Mat Neely 833, 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 803, 7. Daron Clayton 766, 8. (tie) Jesse Hockett and Levi Jones 554, 10. Bryan Clauson 536.
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