Bryan Hulbert - Little Rock, Arkansas (June 29, 2012) Fortune shined on Tony Bruce Jr. at I-30 Speedway as the Oil Medics/Pro Auto No. 18 wired the field after the redraw put the Liberal, Kansas driver on the pole of the preliminary night’s twenty-five lap feature event.
“Everything came together tonight” commented a content Tony Bruce Jr. just moments before a heat soaked engine forced a coolant hose to rupture on the front straight-a-way. “We’ll get that fixed and see what we can do tomorrow”
Getting the jump into the lead, Bruce would pull to a comfortable advantage. Batting into the runner up spot on the opening laps, Jason Johnson would position his MVT/Roush Yates Ford No. 41 on the high side of the quarter-mile oval to being gaining on Tony Bruce Jr.
Slowing for the spun No. 23b of Brian Bell on lap eleven, Bruce would again begin to pull away as Johnson had to contend with the No. 26m of Marshall Skinner. Fight into the runner up spot, Skinner worked around the infield tires as Johnson continued to buzz the high line.
Pulling past the halfway point, Johnson would re-assume second as the race for fourth began to get dicey with Gary Wright trying to hold off the charge of thirteenth starting Wayne Johnson and sixth starting Johnny Herrera.
Motoring by for fourth, the Oil Medics/Super Shox No. 77x wasted no time taking over third from Skinner. Finding series rival Jason Johnson in a near spin with just under ten laps to run, Wayne was in the hunt before the caution lights blinked on again for Bell’s 23b.
Back to green for a six lap dash to the finish, Bruce again wasted no time pulling away as Wayne Johnson pulled off the pass for second but would run out of time to attempt on run for the lead as Tony Bruce Jr. sailed to his third win of the 2012 season.
Wayne Johnson would settle for runner up honors as Jason Johnson, after falling back to sixth on the last restart, fought back to third with Gary Wright rounding out the drivers locked into Saturday’s feature event as Marshall Skinner rounding out the top five.
Johnny Herrera would claim sixth with Brady Bacon moving up from ninth to claim seventh. Seth Bergman advanced four spots to take eighth with A.G. Rains and Dalton Davis completing the top ten.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV
I-30 Speedway - Little Rock, Arkansas
June 29, 2012 - Night #1
Car Count: 28
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3-A.G. Rains[4]; 2. 8x-Chris Williams[1]; 3. 77x-Wayne Johnson[3]; 4. 81-Danny Wood[5]; 5. 2-Dustin Morgan[6]; 6. 38-Rick Pringle[2]; 7. 23b-Brian Bell[7]
Heat 2: 1. 41-Jason Johnson[1]; 2. 26m-Marshall Skinner[3]; 3. 12t-Joe Young[6]; 4. 14k-Kyle Bellm[4]; 5. 4-Tommy Snellgrove[2]; 6. 12m-Greg Merritt[7]; 7. 92h-Richie Harris[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera[1]; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[3]; 4. 9-Gary Wright[7]; 5. 1g-Cody Gardner[6]; 6. 5h-Logan Forler[5]; 7. 1-Nic Jenkins[4]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[5]; 2. 17-Mike Pack[1]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 4. 12-Dalton Davis[7]; 5. 3h-Brandon Hanks[3]; 6. 5k-Jerry Kamer[2]; DNF 69-Larry Howery[6]
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 2-Dustin Morgan[1]; 2. 5h-Logan Forler[6]; 3. 23b-Brian Bell[9]; 4. 3h-Brandon Hanks[4]; 5. 4-Tommy Snellgrove[5]; 6. 12m-Greg Merritt[3]; 7. 5k-Jerry Kamer[8]; 8. 1-Nic Jenkins[12]; 9. 38-Rick Pringle[7]; 10. 92h-Richie Harris[11]; 11. 69-Larry Howery[10]; 12. 1g-Cody Gardner[2]Top 6 transfer
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[1]; 2. 77x-Wayne Johnson[13]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[4]; 4. 9-Gary Wright[5]; 5. 26m-Marshall Skinner[3]; 6. 45x-Johnny Herrera[6]; 7. 99-Brady Bacon[9]; 8. 23-Seth Bergman[12]; 9. 3-A.G. Rains[7]; 10. 12-Dalton Davis[2]; 11. 5h-Logan Forler[18]; 12. 14k-Kyle Bellm[16]; 13. 05-Brad Loyet[14]; 14. 81-Danny Wood[15]; 15. 12t-Joe Young[8]; 16. 3h-Brandon Hanks[20]; 17. 2-Dustin Morgan[17]; 18. 17-Mike Pack[11]; 19. 4-Tommy Snellgrove[21]; 20. 12m-Greg Merritt[22]; DNF 23b-Brian Bell[19]; DNF 8x-Chris Williams[10]Lap Leader(s): Tony Bruce Jr. 1-25
Lap Leader(s): Tony Bruce Jr. (1-25)
Pitstopusa.com Hard Charger of the Night: Wayne Johnson+11
FSR Radiator High Point Driver: Tony Bruce Jr.
Provisional(s): N/A
2012 Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-5, Brady Bacon-4, Wayne Johnson-3, Tony Bruce Jr.-3, Brian Brown-1, Seth Bergman-1, Danny Lasoski-1, Jason Martin-1, Dustin Morgan-1, Danny Wood-1, Cody Baker-1
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV Points (top 10): 1. Wayne Johnson 3,024 2. Jason Johnson 3,005; 3. Brady Bacon 2,882; 4. Johnny Herrera 2,782; 5. Brad Loyet 2,717; 6. Tony Bruce Jr. 2,668; 7. Danny Wood 2,478; 8. Seth Bergman 2,452; 9. Dustin Morgan 2,302; 10. Gary Wright 2,293
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV is scheduled to compete 68 times in 15 states throughout the United States with divers competing for their share of a $250,000 point’s fund.
The 2012 season marks the 21st year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. For information regarding availability and listings in your area log onto www.mavtv.com.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MavTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire, Brodix, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Filters, PitstopUSA.com, FSR Radiator and Racing Proucts, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, Wesmar Racing Engines, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.
Photo Credit: Jimmy Jones (Jones Sports Media)