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Sweet
Sensation in Sprint Bandits TNT Lakeside Shuman Classic by Lonnie Wheatley |
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KANSAS
CITY, Kan. (August 19, 2006) – Brad Sweet put an exclamation point
on the Second Annual O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour 'N Topless Midwest
Swing finale by racing into the lead on the 26th round en route to a
$10,000 victory in Saturday night's 30-lap Ron Shuman Classic at Lakeside
Speedway in front of a standing room only crowd. Sweet's big break came when
Shane Hollingsworth surrendered a commanding lead with engine woes on the 21st
lap. Five circuits later, Sweet
charged by Charles Davis, Jr., on the high side of turn three to take command
and then took the checkered flag aboard Jack Yeley's Gaerte-powered Joe Dooling/DMI/Hot
Hues No. 3J DRC-chassis. While Sweet became the fifth
different winner in as many consecutive nights of Sprint Bandits TNT action, and
sixth TNT victory lane visitor including last week's Ultimate Challenge at
Southern Iowa Speedway, it was Warsaw, Missouri's Jesse Hockett who pocketed the
$2,500 O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest Swing championship with a
third place showing behind Sweet and Davis. "I was looking for that
white flag, I was about ready to fall out of the seat," an ecstatic Sweet
explained after the landmark victory. "The
track was so fast, you really had to work.
This is a great race to win." Sweet had his work cut out for
him from the outset, as he gridded the feature inside the third row.
At the drop of the green, it was outside front row starter Davis gunning
into the lead ahead of polesitter Hockett, with the Trucker's 24-Hour Road
Service teammates Shane Hollingsworth and Hunter Schuerenberg in third and
fourth. After the race's first caution
flew after four laps for Chris Morgan, who spun to a stop on the backstretch
with front end damage, Hockett blasted by Davis on the high side of turns one
and two on the restart to take command, with Hollingsworth taking from second
from Davis in turns three and four. Entering turn one on the sixth
lap, Schuerenberg slid too high and flipped wildly after tagging the wall.
Dickie Gaines got upside down in the ensuing scramble, with Levi Jones
cutting a left rear tire in the process. Schuerenberg
walked away without injury, while Gaines and Jones rejoined the chase.
Gaines, who entered the night atop TNT points, later pulled to the
infield with engine woes. Defending
TNT champion Jones retired before checkered flag flew as well. Following Schuerenberg's
tumble, Hollingsworth turned up the wick and dove to Hockett's inside in turns
one and two on the restart. The
pair raced wheel-to-wheel for more than a lap before Hollingsworth emerged with
the lead. Once in front, Hollingsworth
began to assert his strength by amassing a half straightaway advantage by the
tenth round. By the time Davis took
second from Hockett on the 14th lap, Hollingsworth was a mere blip on
the horizon with a straightaway advantage. Up to fourth after the
Schuerenberg flip, Sweet made his way past Hockett for third on the 17th
lap and began chasing down Davis for second.
The pair chipped into Hollingsworth's commanding lead over the following
laps, albeit ever so slightly with the laps quickly clicking off. Hollingsworth's stellar drive
came to an abrupt halt however, when his machine lost power and he coasted to a
stop in turn three on the 21st lap with a suspected broken valve. Davis led the way on the
restart in Mark Swanson's No. 21s, but could only hold off the Grass Valley, CA,
hotshoe for four laps, as Sweet charged by on the turn three cushion on the 26th
lap to take command. There was no stopping Sweet
over the final circuits, as he banked the victory in front of Davis and Hockett.
After starting tenth, Jon Stanbrough battled past Dave Darland in the
final rounds to snare fourth. Darland
rounded out the top five. Daron Clayton advanced a
half-dozen positions to snare sixth, with Mat Neely, 14th-starter
R.J. Johnson, 17th-starter Jim Cameron and 19th-starter
Tim Newman completing the top ten. Darland, Sweet and Clayton each
scored heat race wins, with Schuerenberg, Davis and Darland winning the
qualifying races. Hollingsworth had
the third qualifying race well in hand until a throttle spring broke in the
final corner. Hollingsworth still
coasted across the line to finish second, which allowed him to accumulate enough
points to run the Dash, which Hockett won to earn the pole position for the
feature. The night got off to a wild
start when Robert Ballou climbed a wheel and flipped in the opening corner of
the first heat race. A lap later,
Robby Ross tagged the turn one wall and flipped as well.
In the second qualifying race, Mike Lefholz tagged the turn three wall
and flipped in spectacular fashion. Then
in the third qualifying race, Chris Windom bicycled entering turn one and
flipped after contact with the wall. There
were no injuries, although all flip victims were done for the night. O’Reilly
Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour ‘N Topless Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic
Results: Heat Races: First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 11d-Levi Jones,
2. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 4. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 5.
55-Tony Everhart, 6. 18-Tim Newman, 7. 4-Robby Ross, 8. 12-Robert Ballou. Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3J-Brad Sweet, 2.
21x-Dickie Gaines, 3. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 4. 20-Mike Lefholz, 5. 17-Chris
Windom, 6. 96c-Jim Cameron, 7. 21-Mike Lefholz, 8. 97-Bret Mellenberndt. Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 92-Daron Clayton,
2. 75-Jesse Hockett, 3. 11-Dave Darland, 4. 7c-Chris Morgan, 5. 2b-Mat Neely, 6.
15-R.J. Johnson, 7. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 8. 92J-J.R. Topper. Qualifying Races – Top Four in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers that were in Friday competition to Pole Dash; Balance of "A" Feature Lineup Determined by Combined Points First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 71-Hunter
Schuerenberg, 2. 2b-Mat Neely, 3. 3J-Brad Sweet, 4. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 5.
21x-Dickie Gaines, 6. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 7. 18-Tim Newman.
DNS: 4-Robby Ross. Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21s-Charles
Davis, Jr., 2. 20-Ron Lefholz, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 7c-Chris Morgan, 5.
92-Daron Clayton, 6. 96c-Jim Cameron, 7. 21-Mike Lefholz.
DNS: 12-Robert Ballou. Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 11-Dave Darland, 2. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 3. 11d-Levi Jones, 4. 15-R.J. Johnson, 5. 55-Tony Everhart, 6. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 7. 92J-J.R. Topper, 8. 17-Chris Windom. Pole Dash – Finishing
Order Determines Front Two Rows of "A" Main Pole Dash (4 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 4. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg. O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic “A” Main “A”
Main (30 Laps): 1. 3J-Brad Sweet,
2. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 5. 11-Dave
Darland, 6. 92-Daron Clayton, 7. 2b-Mat Neely, 8. 15-R.J. Johnson, 9. 96c-Jim
Cameron, 10. 18-Tim Newman, 11. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 12. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 13.
55-Tony Everhart, 14. 11d-Levi Jones, 15. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 16. 21x-Dickie
Gaines, 17. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. 7c-Chris Morgan, 19. 92J-J.R. Topper,
20. 20-Ron Lefholz. DNS: 17-Chris
Windom, 21-Mike Lefholz, 4-Robby Ross, 12-Robert Ballou. Lap
Leaders: Charles Davis, Jr. 1-4,
Jesse Hockett 5-6, Shane Hollingsworth 7-21, Charles Davis, Jr. 22-25, Brad
Sweet 26-30. Final
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest Swing Points (Top Twenty):
1. Jesse Hockett 706, 2. Mat Neely 694, 3. (tie) Dickie Gaines and Jon
Stanbrough 686, 5. Shane Hollingsworth 664, 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 650, 7. R.J.
Johnson 644, 8. Bret Mellenberndt 582, 9. Robert Ballou 578, 10. Cory Kruseman
562, 11. Daron Clayton 555, 12. Levi Jones 548, 13. Tony Everhart 547, 14. Mike
Martin 442, 15. Lee Stark 439, 16. J.R. Topper 424, 17. Bud Kaeding 420, 18.
Brad Sweet 416, 19. Preston Peebles II 394, 20. Hunter Schuerenberg 366. 2006
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten):
1. Jon Stanbrough 1,224, 2. Dickie Gaines 1,155, 3. Cory Kruseman 1,134,
4. Mat Neely 1,111, 5. Charles Davis, Jr. 1,077, 6. Daron Clayton 1,006, 7. Bud
Kaeding 938, 8. Jesse Hockett 832, 9. R.J. Johnson 719, 10. Levi Jones 676. |
