Lonnie
Wheatley, BATON ROUGE, Lou. (
Hockett
outdueled Aaron Berryhill in the early rounds then repelled the challenges of
Jason Johnson, Gary Wright and Travis Rilat to secure the victory aboard the
Wesmar-powered VKCC Motorsports No. 75 DRC-chassis.
“This is an
awesome way to start out with our brand new DRC,” an enthused Hockett commented
from victory lane after his fourth career ASCS National Tour victory. “This was my kind of race track, slick
through the middle with a good top to lean on, I loved it.”
With
Hockett gridding the field fourth beside two-time ASCS Sprints on Dirt champion
Dustin Daggett, it was Aaron Berryhill leading the feature field to the green
flag with Tim Montgomery alongside.
Returning
to the driver’s seat after sitting out a year, Berryhill gunned into the lead
at the drop of the green, with Hockett wasting little time taking to the
cushion to move into second by the completion of the second lap.
Hockett
quickly closed to Berryhill’s rear bumper and slid into the lead entering turn
one on the sixth lap. Berryhill returned
the favor though, ducking underneath the
The pair
swapped slidejobs once again in turns one and two on the eighth round, but
Hockett took command for keeps when he dove underneath Berryhill and slid to
the cushion off turn four just a half lap later.
Just as
Hockett was entering lapped traffic on the eleventh circuit, the race’s first
caution flew when Rookie pilot Brad Best looped his mount in turn four.
Hockett led
While
Johnson, Wright and Rilat battled in heated fashion for second on the ensuing
restart, Hockett slipped away from the dueling trio. Rilat had fought his way up to second in
front of Johnson and Wright by the time the race’s final caution flew for a
Tony Bruce, Jr., spin in turn two, setting up a five-lap dash to the checkered
flag.
Rilat stuck
his nose underneath Hockett on the restart, but Hockett stayed true to his
preferred high line and streaked across the finish line with a six car-length
advantage.
Johnson
fought his way back into second aboard Lanny Row’s Wesmar-powered The Shop
Diesel Service No. 41 Eagle on the 28th round and held the spot to
the line, with two-time and defending series champion Wright taking the show
position aboard the Wesmar-powered Southwest Express/The Shop Diesel
Service/Richwood Construction No. 9 Maxim.
Rilat moved atop the series points chase by finishing fourth in the
Motor Mike-powered Hard Eight Racing/F&J Construction No. 29 Maxim, with
Rookie of the Year contender Nick Smith rounding out the top five in the
Ostrich-powered MPHG Promotions No. 15s J&J.
Former
series champion Zach Chappell crossed the stripe sixth, with Darren Stewart
racing from 13th to seventh.
Sean McClelland gained several positions to claim eighth, while Joey
Montgomery turned in the evening’s top passing performance by charging from 18th
to ninth. Mike Chadd completed the top
ten.
Daggett,
Stewart, Wright and Chappell each scored heat race wins, with Berryhill, Chadd,
McClelland and Tim Montgomery victorious in qualifying race competition for the
37-car field.
Jerrod Hull
and Jake Peters split victory honors in the twin “B” Mains.
Tony Bruce,
Jr., the 2005 Brodix Rookie of the Year, utilized a provisional starting
position for the main event after a turn two flip while lining up for the
fourth qualifying race.
Daggett ran
among the top five in the “A” Main for 13 laps before retiring to the pit area
with mechanical woes.
Action for
the O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour resumes with Saturday night’s Leading
Edge Lubricants Challenge at
O’Reilly
Heat Races and Qualifying Races (Top
14 in Combined Points Advance to “A” Main; balance to Twin “B” Mains)
First Heat
(8 Laps): 1. 85-Dustin Daggett, 2.
01-Tim Montgomery, 3. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 5. 4-Mike
Chadd, 6. 35-Brad Best, 7. 7-Michael Herrington, 8. 12T-Mark Tate, 9. 12-Trey
Robb. DNS: 94-Cody Branchcomb.
Second Heat
(8 Laps): 1. 91-Darren Stewart, 2.
75-Jesse Hockett, 3. 15s-Nick Smith, 4. 14w-Sean Walden, 5. 29-Travis Rilat, 6.
X-Chuck Swenson, 7. 21c-Joey Montgomery, 8. d12-Doc Sloan. DNS: 17b-Ryan Bickett.
Third Heat
(8 Laps): 1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 57x-Jake
Peters, 3. 46-Jan Howard, 4. 9L-Lane Whittington, 5. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 6.
1-Sean McClelland, 7. 81au-Gavin Punch, 8. 94c-Stephen Chevallier, 9. 99-Ray
Stevison.
Fourth Heat
(8 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2.
41-Jason Johnson, 3. 94h-Jerrod Hull, 4. 01m-Shane Morgan, 5. 44J-Abe Sherwood,
6. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 7. 49-Ty Johnson, 8. 45-Josh Howard, 9. 17c-Greg
Coleman.
First
Qualifying Race (8 Laps): 1. 97-Aaron
Berryhill, 2. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 3. 85-Dustin Daggett, 4. 46-Jan Howard, 5.
91-Darren Stewart, 6. 01m-Shane Morgan, 7. 12T-Mark Tate, 8. 81au-Gavin
Punch. DNS: 12-Trey Robb.
Second
Qualifying Race (8 Laps): 1. 4-Mike
Chadd, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 15s-Nick Smith, 5. 57x-Jake
Peters, 6. 44J-Abe Sherwood, 7. 49-Ty Johnson, 8. d12-Doc Sloan, 9. 99-Ray
Stevison.
Third
Qualifying Race (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sean
McClelland, 2. 9L-Lane Whittington, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 9-Gary Wright, 5.
35-Brad Best, 6. 94h-Jerrod Hull, 7. 7-Michael Herrington, 8. 94c-Stephen
Chevallier. DNS: 17c-Greg Coleman.
Fourth
Qualifying Race (8 Laps): 1. 01-Tim
Montgomery, 2. X-Chuck Swenson, 3. 21c-Joey Montgomery, 4. 50z-Zach Chappell,
5. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 6. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 7. 45-Josh Howard, 8. 14w-Sean
Walden, 9. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr.
First “B”
Main (10 Laps): 1. 94h-Jerrod Hull, 2.
46-Jan Howard, 3. 35-Brad Best, 4. 01m-Shane Morgan, 5. 7-Michael Herrington,
6. 49-Ty Johnson, 7. d12-Doc Sloan. DNS:
X-Chuck Swenson, 81au-Gavin Punch, 12-Trey Robb, 99-Ray Stevison, 94-Cody
Branchcomb.
Second “B”
Main (10 Laps): 1. 57x-Jake Peters, 2.
21c-Joey Montgomery, 3. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. 14w-Sean Walden, 5. 45-Josh
Howard, 6. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 7. 94c-Stephen Chevallier, 8. 44J-Abe Sherwood, 9.
12T-Mark Tate. DNS: 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 17c-Greg Coleman.
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3.
9-Gary Wright, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 15s-Nick Smith, 6. 50z-Zach Chappell, 7.
91-Darren Stewart, 8. 1-Sean McClelland, 9. 21c-Joey Montgomery, 10. 4-Mike
Chadd, 11. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 12. 94h-Jerrod Hull, 13. 9L-Lane Whittington,
14. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 15. 01-Tim
Lap Leaders: Aaron Berryhill 1-7, Jesse Hockett 8-30.
Note: Tony Bruce, Jr., utilized a provisional
starting position for the “A” Main.
O’Reilly
ASCoT presented by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Points (Top
Fifteen: 1. Travis Rilat 266, 2. Nick
Smith 265, 3. Darren Stewart 258, 4. (tie) Gary Wright and Tim Montgomery 254, 6.
Jesse Hockett 251, 7. Zach Chappell 222, 8. Jerrod Hull 219, 9. Mike Chadd 209,
10. Jan Howard 198, 11. Dustin Lindquist 195, 12. Sean McClelland 191, 13. Sam
Hafertepe, Jr. 189, 14. Tony Bruce, Jr. 183, 15. Dustin Daggett 177.