STN Saturday – Everything You Need to Know!
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 25, 2014) – Three wildly intense nights of action are in the books atop the famed red clay. And now it really ratchets up as a $15,000 winner’s share is on the line in Saturday’s 27th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires championship finale at I-30 Speedway.
After Aaron Reutzel opened the week with a triumph over a field of 66 in Wednesday night’s Second Annual Short Track Nationals Open, Brian Brown and Christopher Bell enjoyed first career STN victory lane time with prelim scores on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
With 73 different drivers from 18 states as well as the Canadian province of Ontario slugging it out over the past two nights, six drivers have already locked themselves into Saturday’s finale that offers up a minimum of $2,500 to start to go along with the lucrative winner’s share.
The remaining portion of the field will vie for the remaining 14 starting positions with another pair of potential provisionals pushing the 40-lap championship feature to as many as 22 starters.
So, what to expect on Saturday?
First off, the six locked in drivers will take part in the Dash for Cash, with the finish of that race setting the lineup for the first three rows of the STN championship feature. Those six drivers include the top three finishers from the Thursday and Friday preliminary features.
Those that have secured a position include, with number of previous STN feature starts in parentheses, the following: Brian Brown (5), Christopher Bell (2), Aaron Reutzel (1), Matt Covington (1), Dalton Davis (0) and A.G. Rains (6).
The balance of the field will redraw and contest eight Saturday Night STN Showdowns that will award double passing and finishing points, with those points added to preliminary night points totals. The top eight drivers in combined points from preliminary night and Saturday Night Showdown action earn STN championship positions 7-14 with the next 24 to three “B” Mains and the balance of the field to three “C” Mains.
Four drivers will advance from each “C” Main to set up the 12-car “B” Mains from which two will advance from each to fill positions 15 through 20.
The 21st position is reserved for I-30 Speedway track champion Marshall Skinner should he not race his way in otherwise while the 22nd position will go to one of the top four finishers from Wednesday night’s STN Open if needed. Wednesday winner Reutzel and third-place finisher Davis have already locked in, leaving runner-up Stevie Smith first in line if needed and then fourth-place finisher Derek Hagar, who will be the president of the Stevie Smith Fan Club after a rough qualifying night in the hopes that the provisional will fall to him if needed. If not, Hagar will have to be elbows up to make his third consecutive STN finale.
With double points sure to make for some huge jumps and huge declines after the Saturday Night STN Showdowns, the Qualifying Night Point Totals (minus the six lock-in cars) are as follows:
1. 77x-Wayne Johnson 430.0
2. 8-Alex Sewell 425.0
3. 03-Joe Wood, Jr. 418.0
4. 10g-Terry Gray 414.0
5. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek 413.0
6. 49-Shawn Dancer 403.0
7. 4J-Gary Taylor 403.0
8. 17g-Cody Gardner 402.0
9. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr. 399.0
10. 52-Blake Hahn 397.0
11. 5r-Jerod Roller 391.5
12. 87b-Jason Barney 390.5
13. 1m-Sean McClelland 388.5
14. 82z-Dusty Zomer 388.0
15. 01-Kevin Swindell 388.0
16. 91a-Ernie Ainsworth 387.0
17. 44-A.J. Bruns 384.0
18. 45x-Johnny Herrera 379.0
19. 5-Eric Lutz 378.5
20. 3h-Brandon Hanks 368.5
21. X-Charlie Louden 367.0
22. 91-Shane Golobic 366.5
23. 14z-Zach Pringle 365.5
24. 17-Josh Baughman 363.0
25. 99h-Jerrod Hull 362.0
26. 0-Glenn Styres 358.0
27. 10m-Morgan Turpen 357.0
28. 26-Marshall Skinner 356.5
29. 41-Jason Johnson 355.5
30. 88-Tim Crawley 353.0
31. 14k-Kyle Bellm 350.5
32. 23-Seth Bergman 349.0
33. 199-Ryan Bowers 345.0
34. 38-Rick Pringle 330.0
35. 51b-Joe B. Miller 326.0
36. 47-Eric Riggins, Jr. 326.0 (Disqualified for the weekend)
37. 7m-Chance Morton 325.0
38. 43-Matthew Bauldwin 317.5
39. 93-Dustin Morgan 316.5
40. 17T-Channin Tankersley 311.5
41. 23m-Lance Moss 311.0
42. 33z-Zach Chappell 306.0
43. 12w-Dale Wester 301.0
44. 17w-Harli White 300.0
45. 4-Stevie Smith 299.5
46. 17b-Ryan Bickett 295.5
47. 94-Jeff Swindell 292.5
48. 74e-Claud Estes 280.0
49. 40-Howard Moore 279.5
50. 10b-Mitch Brown 277.5
51. 15J-Jeremy Middleton 276.5
52. 8m-Kade Morton 275.5
53. 15h-Sam Hafertepe,Jr. 270.5
54. 58-Gary Floyd 267.5
55. 9jr-Derek Hagar 264.5
56. 28-Jason Keith 264.5
57. 16-Anthony Nicholson 264.0
58. 9$-Kyle Clark 263.0
59. 99J-Blake Jenkins 262.5
60. 75-Broc Elliott 258.5
61. 00-Dane Lorenc 254.5
62. 21-Kevin Hinkle 254.5
63. 31g-Johnny Gardner 242.5
64. 21bx-Brandon Hinkle 240.5
65. 19-Klint Angelette 237.0
66. 13-Taylor Tidmore 235.0
67. 14m-Jordon Mallett 224.0
Saturday’s racing action is set to go green at 7:30 p.m. For more information, contact the track at 501-455-4567.
Sources: Lonnie Wheatley/Short Track Nationals Saturday PR
Rob Kocak photo