|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
Levi
is Lovin' East Bay – Takes $10K Sprint Bandits TNT Prize! |
|
TAMPA,
Fla. (February 2, 2007) – Levi Jones saved the best for last in the
third and final night of O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless Second Annual
Wingless Showdown at East Bay Raceway Park's 31st Annual Winter
Nationals, leading the final 16 circuits to capture the $10,000 winner's share
in Friday night's 40-lap feature. Monday night winner Jesse
Hockett paced the opening 24 rounds, with Jones and Mike Brecht shadowing his
every move along the way. But the
slightest of hesitations in lapped traffic on the 25th lap was just
the opening Jones was looking for. Jones held off Mike Brecht and
Hockett the rest of the way to capture the second major victory in less than a
month for the Tony Stewart Motorsports team, as team owner Stewart captured
O'Reilly Chili Bowl Nationals honors on January 13. "You've really got to give
a lot of credit to the track owners, Al (Varnadore) and Todd (Hutto), at any
other track in the country this race would have been cancelled early this
afternoon," Jones commented of heavy rains over night.
"I'm glad we got to race and I'm going to enjoy their $10,000." "The team got off to a
good start with Chevrolet by winning the Chili Bowl and now we were able to get
this one, it's a great way to get the 2007 season going," Jones surmised. After the initial attempt to
start the race was waved off for a turn two fracas that eliminated four starters
(Daron Clayton, Greg Leonard, Cole Whitt and John Heydenreich), the balance of
the 40-lapper ran off with just one caution period for Washington's Robbie
Vaughn, whose disabled mount came to a stop in turn two. While Jones gridded the 24-car
feature field fourth, it was Brady Short leading the way to the green flag after
earning the most points through preliminary action on Monday and Wednesday.
But Hockett shot into the lead at the outset, with Jones taking second
from Short by the fourth lap. Following the lap six
interruption, Jones kept the pressure on Hockett as Brecht battled past Short
for third on the ninth circuit. Jones
looked high and low for several laps, but Hockett held steady to maintain the
lead as Brecht shadowed the lead pair. By the 17th round,
Hockett opened up a slim three car-length lead.
That lead would vanish in short order, as lapped traffic soon came into
play. And when Hockett moved up the
track entering turn three and tried to thread the needle between a pair of
lapped cars, Jones pounced to the low side of the track and charged off turn
four with a slim lead. Brecht followed Jones' lead
through turns three and four and, after racing wheel-to-wheel with Hockett for a
full lap, took over second place. Brecht
and Hockett kept pace with Jones over the final 15 laps, waiting for the error
that never came. Even as the lead trio
approached lapped traffic in the waning lap, Jones never wavered and took the
checkered flag two car-lengths ahead of Ohio's Brecht, with Missouri's Hockett
on Brecht's rear bumper in third. While the top three raced
together throughout, the trio of Short, Jon Stanbrough and Tracy Hines diced for
fourth position another ten car-lengths back.
Short held the fourth position at the line, with Stanbrough rounding out
the top five. Hines, Jones' teammate, crossed
the stripe in sixth, with Shane Cottle, Kaley Gharst, Zach Chappell and 17th-starter
Dickie Gaines completing the top ten. Cottle, Gharst, Billy
Puterbaugh, Jr., and Clayton won Friday night's heat races, with Tom Busch
topping the 12-lap "B" Main. A total of 43 different drivers
competed in the Second Annual O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless Showdown
at East Bay Raceway Park's 31st Annual Winter Nationals. O’Reilly
Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless East Bay Wingless Showdown Finale Results: Locked in from Preliminary Events (Top six in cumulate heat, qualifier and feature races from Monday and Wednesday: 2b-Brady
Short (Bedford, IN), 75-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO), 97-Mike Brecht (Beaver Dam,
OH), 20J-Levi Jones (Olney, IL), 21R-Jon Stanbrough (Jamestown, IN), 21-Tracy
Hines (Greenfield, IN). Heat Races (Top 14 in Passing Points to "A" Main; Balance to "B" Main: First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 36-Shane Cottle
(Kokomo, IN), 2. 4R-Robbie Vaughn (Mt. Vernon, WA), 3. 85-Greg Leonard (Gibsonton,
FL), 4. 6x-Mark Cole (Lebanon, NH), 5. 57-Rob Chaney (Millersburg, OH), 6.
22-Mikey Kuemper (Phoenix, AZ). DNS:
17b-Brett Burdette (Milan, IN)> Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kaley Gharst
(Decatur, IL), 2. 6s-Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA), 3. 8k-Zach Chappell (Talala,
OK), 4. 29w-Cole Whitt (Alpine, CA), 5. 10T-Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO),
6. 22w-Mike Webber (Cincinnati, OH), 7. 5-Kevin Briscoe (Mitchell, IN). Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 16-Billy
Puterbaugh, Jr. (Brownsburg, IN), 2. 2k-Roger Rager (Pequot Lake, MN), 3. 7-Jon
Sciscoe (Bloomington, IN), 4. 17-Chris Windom (Canton, IL), 5. 57b-John
Heydenreich (Bloomsburg, PA), 6. 21s-Jeff Bland, Jr. (Bloomington, IN), 7.
7a-Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, IN). Fourth
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10-Daron Clayton
(Sikeston, MO), 2. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 3. 21x-Dickie Gaines
(Mitchell, IN), 4. 4b-Tom Busch (Bedford, IN), 5. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN),
6. 12-David Kelly (Plant City, FL), 7. 34m-Arin McIntosh (Mitchell, IN). "B" Main – Top
4 advance to "A" Main "B" Main (12 Laps): 1. 4b-Tom Busch (Bedford, IN), 2. 29w-Cole Whitt (Alpine, CA), 3. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 4. 57b-John Heydenreich (Bloomsburg, PA), 5. 10T-Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO), 6. 5-Kevin Briscoe (Mitchell, IN), 7. 7a-Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, IN), 8. 34m-Arin McIntosh (Mitchell, IN), 9. 12-David Kelly (Plant City, FL), 10. 22w-Mike Webber (Cincinnati, OH), 11. 21s-Jeff Bland, Jr. (Bloomington, IN), 12. 57-Rob Chaney (Millersburg, OH). DNS: 22-Mike Kuemper (Phoenix, AZ), 17b-Brett Burdette (Milan, IN). O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT “A” Main - $10,000 to Win “A”
Main (40 Laps): 1. 20J-Levi Jones
(Olney, IL), 2. 97-Mike Brecht (Beaver Dam, OH), 3. 75-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw,
MO), 4. 2b-Brady Short (Bedford, IN), 5. 21R-Jon Stanbrough (Jamestown, IN), 6.
21-Tracy Hines (Greenfield, IN), 7. 36-Shane Cottle (Kokomo, IN), 8. 3-Kaley
Gharst (Decatur, IL), 9. 8k-Zach Chappell (Talala, OK), 10. 21x-Dickie Gaines
(Mitchell, IN), 11. 7-Jon Sciscoe (Bloomington, IN), 12. 6s-Brad Sweet (Grass
Valley, CA), 13. 16-Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. (Brownsburg, IN), 14. 4-Danny Smith
(Danville, IN), 15. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 16. 17-Chris Windom (Canton,
IL), 17. 2k-Roger Rager (Pequot Lake, MN), 18. 4b-Tom Busch (Bedford, IN), 19.
6x-Mark Cole (Lebanon, NH), 20. 4R-Robbie Vaughn (Mt. Vernon, WA), 21. 10-Daron
Clayton (Sikeston, MO), 22. 85-Greg Leonard (Gibsonton, FL), 23. 29w-Cole Whitt
(Alpine, CA), 24. 57b-John Heydenreich (Bloomsburg, PA). Lap
Leaders: Jesse Hockett 1-24, Levi Jones 25-40.
O'Reilly
Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten): 1.
(tie) Brady Short and Jesse Hockett 438, 3. Mike Brecht 420, 4. Levi Jones 418,
5. (tie) Jon Stanbrough and Tracy Hines 414, 7. Shane Cottle 406, 8. Zach
Chappell 390, 9. Danny Smith 386, 10. Chris Windom 384. |
