TAMPA, Fla. (January 31, 2007) – Indiana's Brady Short thwarted Jesse
Hockett's designs on a second O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless series
feature event in as many nights of wingless Sprint Car action at East Bay
Raceway Park's 31st Annual Winter Nationals, as he battled into the
lead on the seventh round en route to winning Wednesday night's 25-lap feature.
In just his second night aboard Scott Benic's Gaerte-powered Lucas Oil
Products/Indiana Stone Works No. 2b Maxim, Short withstood a late rush from Jon
Stanbrough to post his second career Sprint Bandits TNT victory, this one coming
exactly one year after his first win.
"It kept trying to rain on us there for a while so the track was kinda
greasy, but Scott had the car working great tonight," Short explained in
victory lane.
After winning Monday night's feature, Hockett bolted into the early lead from
his outside front row starting slot ahead of polesitter Mike Brecht and
third-starter Short. Short worked his way around Brecht for second by the third
round, with the red flag then flying for a turn one tumble by Dickie Gaines.
Gaines was uninjured but done for the night.
Short immediately went to work on Hockett and raced underneath him entering
turn three on the fifth lap, only to have the move negated as the caution flew
for debris in turn four from a John Heydenreich-Zach Chappell scrape.
Heydenreich was forced pitside under the ensuing caution with a broken torsion
arm.
Following another interruption for Shane Cottle's turn three flip, the race
for the point was on between Hockett and Short. Having briefly lost the lead
prior to the cautions via a Short move to the low side, Hockett protected the
low line, thus forcing Short to the high side.
Short was able to make the high side work, pulling alongside Hockett on the
sixth lap and finally gaining command a lap later. While Zach Chappell and
Stanbrough were among those that appeared to be poised to challenge for the
lead, Short denied all bids to reach the checkered flag first.
Chappell, who raced from 12th to fourth in the opening two laps,
battled past Hockett for second on the 15th lap and set his sights on
Short. But fourth-starter Stanbrough followed Chappell around Hockett and then
took second from Chappell on the 18th circuit.
Stanbrough closed in on Short on several occasions, but was forced to settle
for runner-up honors in the second Danny Roberts entry. Hockett claimed the show
position at the line, with Chappell settling for fourth. After starting 21st,
Ohio's Luke Hall made a late move through the field to round out the top five.
Brecht made a late bid for top-five honors but was forced to settle for
sixth, with 15th-starter Chris Windom, Tracy Hines, 17th-starter
Danny Smith and 16th-starter Cole Whitt completing the top ten.
Stanbrough, Hockett, Heydenreich, Cottle and Brecht topped heat races for
Wednesday night's 41-car field, with Gaines, Chappell, Daron Clayton, Whitt and
Short victorious in the Qualifying races.
Danny Smith decimated the field in the first "B" Main, with young
Hunter Schuerenberg becoming the third and final leader of the second 12-lap
"B" Main when he took command on the seventh lap.
The top six drivers in cumulative points from Heat Races, Qualifying Races
and Features on both Monday and Wednesday are locked into Friday night's $10,000
to win O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT main event at East Bay Raceway Park's 31st
Annual Winter Nationals. Those six drivers are Brady Short, Jesse Hockett, Mike
Brecht, Levi Jones, Jon Stanbrough and Tracy Hines. The balance of the field
will start from scratch, filling out the 24-car feature field through a series
of heat races, qualifying races and "B" Mains.
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless East Bay Preliminary Night
Two Results:
Heat Races:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21R-Jon Stanbrough (Jamestown, IN), 2. 2b-Brady Short
(Bedford, IN), 3. 17-Chris Windom (Canton, IL), 4. 00-Danny Martin, Jr.
(Sarasota, FL), 5. 10-Daron Clayton (Sikeston, MO), 6. 34-Luke Hall (Ludlow
Falls, OH), 7. 10T-Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO), 8. 3-Kaley Gharst
(Decatur, IL), 9. 17s-Steve Buckwalter (Royersford, PA).
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO), 2. 7-Jon Sciscoe
(Bloomington, IN), 3. 85-Greg Leonard (Gibsonton, FL), 4. 17b-Brett Burdette
(Milan, IN), 5. 4R-Robbie Vaughn (Mt. Vernon, WA), 6. 21s-Jeff Bland, Jr.
(Bloomington, IN), 7. 40-Mark Hery (Piqua, OH), 8, 7a-Dakoda Armstrong (New
Castle, IN).
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 57b-John Heydenreich (Bloomsburg, PA), 2. 2k-Roger
Rager (Pequot Lake, MN), 3. 5-Kevin Briscoe (Mitchell, IN), 4. 21x-Dickie Gaines
(Mitchell, IN), 5. 6s-Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA), 6. 4b-Tom Busch (Bedford,
IN), 7. 34m-Arin McIntosh (Mitchell, IN), 8. 22w-Mike Webber (Cincinnati, OH).
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 36-Shane Cottle (Kokomo, IN), 2. 21-Tracy Hines
(Greenfield, IN), 3. 20J-Levi Jones (Olney, IL), 4. 57-Rob Chaney (Millersburg,
OH), 5. 8k-Zach Chappell (Talala, OK), 6. 5w-Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg, PA), 7.
22-Mikey Kuemper (Phoenix, AZ), 8. 7R-Riki Likowski (Hollis, NH).
Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 97-Mike Brecht (Beaver Dam, OH), 2. 4-Danny Smith
(Danville, IN), 3. 16-Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. (Brownsburg, IN), 4. 16s-Lee Stark
(Indianapolis, IN), 5. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 6. 29w-Cole Whitt (Alpine,
CA), 7. 20-Frank Carlsson (Oxford, FL), 8. 6x-Mark Cole (Lebanon, NH).
Qualifying Races – Top 16 in Combined Passing Points from Heats
& Qualifiers to "A" Main; balance to Twin "B" Mains
First Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Dickie Gaines (Mitchell, IN), 2. 7-Jon
Sciscoe (Bloomington, IN), 3. 34-Luke Hall (Ludlow Falls, OH), 4. 21R-Jon
Stanbrough (Jamestown, IN), 5. 17-Chris Windom (Canton, IL), 6. 6s-Brad Sweet
(Grass Valley, CA), 7. 3-Kaley Gharst (Decatur, IL), 8. 22-Mikey Kuemper
(Phoenix, AZ), 9. 17s-Steve Buckwalter (Royersford, PA).
Second Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 8k-Zach Chappell (Talala, OK), 2. 21-Tracy
Hines (Greenfield, IN), 3. 75-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO), 4. 57b-John
Heydenreich (Bloomsburg, PA), 5. 4b-Tom Busch (Bedford, IN), 6. 00-Danny Martin,
Jr. (Sarasota, FL), 7. 10T-Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO), 8. 7a-Dakoda
Armstrong (New Castle, OK).
Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 10-Daron Clayton (Sikeston, MO), 2. 97-Mike
Brecht (Beaver Dam, OH), 3. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 4. 36-Shane Cottle
(Kokomo, IN), 5. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 6. 17b-Brett Burdette (Milan,
IN), 7. 40-Mark Hery (Piqua, OH), 8. 22w-Mike Webber (Cincinnati, OH).
Fourth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 29w-Cole Whitt (Alpine, CA), 2. 20J-Levi Jones
(Olney, IL), 3. 85-Greg Leonard (Gibsonton, FL), 4. 57-Rob Chaney (Millersburg,
OH), 5. 4R-Robbie Vaughn (Mt. Vernon, WA), 6. 34m-Arin McIntosh (Mitchell, IN),
7. 7R-Riki Likowski (Hollis, NH), 8. 2k-Roger Rager (Pequot Lake, MN).
Fifth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 2b-Brady Short (Bedford, IN), 2. 5w-Lucas Wolfe
(Mechanicsburg, PA), 3. 16-Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. (Brownsburg, IN), 4. 5-Kevin
Briscoe (Mitchell, IN), 5. 21s-Jeff Bland, Jr. (Bloomington, IN), 6. 16s-Lee
Stark (Indianapolis, IN), 7. 6x-Mark Cole (Lebanon, NH), 8. 20-Frank Carlsson.
"B" Mains – Top 4 from each advance to "A" Main
First "B" Main (12 Laps): 1. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 2.
2k-Roger Rager (Pequot Lake, MN), 3. 34-Luke Hall (Ludlow Falls, OH), 4. 57-Rob
Chaney (Millersburg, OH), 5. 40-Mark Hery (Piqua, OH), 6. 4R-Robbie Vaughn (Mt.
Vernon, WA), 7. 34m-Arin McIntosh (Mitchell, IN), 8. 00-Danny Martin, Jr.
(Sarasota, FL), 9. 6x-Mark Cole (Lebanon, NH), 10. 16s-Lee Stark (Indianapolis,
IN), 11. 7a-Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, IN), 12. 17s-Steve Buckwalter
(Royersford, PA), 13. 22-Mikey Kuemper (Phoenix, AZ).
Second "B" Main (12 Laps): 1. 10T-Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston,
MO), 2. 17b-Brett Burdette (Milan, IN), 3. 6s-Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA), 4.
5-Kevin Briscoe (Mitchell, IN), 5. 4b-Tom Busch (Bedford, IN), 6. 7s-Jason Sides
(Bartlett, TN), 7. 5w-Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg, PA), 8. 20-Frank Carlsson
(Oxford, FL), 9. 3-Kaley Gharst (Decatur, IL), 10. 22w-Mike Webber (Cincinnati,
OH), 11. 7R-Riki Likowski (Hollis, NH). DNS: 21s-Jeff Bland, Jr. (Bloomington,
IN).
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT "A" Main
"A" Main (25 Laps): 1. 2b-Brady Short (Bedford, IN), 2. 21R-Jon
Stanbrough (Jamestown, IN), 3. 75-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO), 4. 8k-Zach
Chappell (Talala, OK), 5. 34-Luke Hall (Ludlow Falls, OH), 6. 97-Mike Brecht
(Beaver Dam, OH), 7. 17-Chris Windom (Canton, IL), 8. 21-Tracy Hines
(Greenfield, IN), 9. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 10. 29w-Cole Whitt (Alpine,
CA), 11. 20J-Levi Jones (Olney, IL), 12. 36-Shane Cottle (Kokomo, IN), 13.
2k-Roger Rager (Pequot Lake, MN), 14. 6s-Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA), 15.
85-Greg Leonard (Gibsonton, FL), 16. 7-Jon Sciscoe (Bloomington, IN), 17.
5-Kevin Briscoe (Mitchell, IN), 18. 57-Rob Chaney (Millersburg, OH), 19.
10-Daron Clayton (Sikeston, MO), 20. 10T-Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO), 21.
57b-John Heydenreich (Bloomsburg, PA), 22. 16-Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. (Brownsburg,
IN), 23. 17b-Brett Burdette (Milan, IN), 24. 21x-Dickie Gaines (Mitchell, IN).
Lap Leaders: Jesse Hockett 1-6, Brady Short 7-25.
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten): 1. Brady Short 296, 2. Jesse
Hockett 294, 3. Tracy Hines 276, 4. (tie) Mike Brecht and Jon Stanbrough 274, 6.
Shane Cottle 270, 7. Levi Jones 268, 8. Chris Windom 266, 9. Danny Smith 264,
10. Zach Chappell 258.
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