Lonnie
Wheatley, KANSAS CITY, Kan. (August 19, 2006) – Brad Sweet put an exclamation
point on the Second Annual O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour 'N Topless
Midwest Swing finale by racing into the lead on the 26th round en
route to a $10,000 victory in Saturday night's 30-lap Ron Shuman Classic at
Lakeside Speedway in front of a standing room only crowd.
Sweet's
big break came when Shane Hollingsworth surrendered a commanding lead with
engine woes on the 21st lap.
Five circuits later, Sweet charged by Charles Davis, Jr., on the high
side of turn three to take command and then took the checkered flag aboard Jack
Yeley's Gaerte-powered Joe Dooling/DMI/Hot Hues No. 3J DRC-chassis.
While
Sweet became the fifth different winner in as many consecutive nights of Sprint
Bandits TNT action, and sixth TNT victory lane visitor including last week's
Ultimate Challenge at Southern Iowa Speedway, it was Warsaw, Missouri's Jesse
Hockett who pocketed the $2,500 O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest
Swing championship with a third place showing behind Sweet and Davis.
"I
was looking for that white flag, I was about ready to fall out of the
seat," an ecstatic Sweet explained after the landmark victory. "The track was so fast, you really had
to work. This is a great race to
win."
Sweet
had his work cut out for him from the outset, as he gridded the feature inside
the third row. At the drop of the green,
it was outside front row starter Davis gunning into the lead ahead of
polesitter Hockett, with the Trucker's 24-Hour Road Service teammates Shane
Hollingsworth and Hunter Schuerenberg in third and fourth.
After
the race's first caution flew after four laps for Chris Morgan, who spun to a
stop on the backstretch with front end damage, Hockett blasted by Davis on the
high side of turns one and two on the restart to take command, with
Hollingsworth taking from second from Davis in turns three and four.
Entering
turn one on the sixth lap, Schuerenberg slid too high and flipped wildly after
tagging the wall. Dickie Gaines got
upside down in the ensuing scramble, with Levi Jones cutting a left rear tire
in the process. Schuerenberg walked away
without injury, while Gaines and Jones rejoined the chase. Gaines, who entered the night atop TNT
points, later pulled to the infield with engine woes. Defending TNT champion Jones retired before
checkered flag flew as well.
Following
Schuerenberg's tumble, Hollingsworth turned up the wick and dove to Hockett's
inside in turns one and two on the restart.
The pair raced wheel-to-wheel for more than a lap before Hollingsworth
emerged with the lead.
Once
in front, Hollingsworth began to assert his strength by amassing a half
straightaway advantage by the tenth round.
By the time
Up
to fourth after the Schuerenberg flip, Sweet made his way past Hockett for
third on the 17th lap and began chasing down
Hollingsworth's
stellar drive came to an abrupt halt however, when his machine lost power and
he coasted to a stop in turn three on the 21st lap with a suspected
broken valve.
There
was no stopping Sweet over the final circuits, as he banked the victory in
front of Davis and Hockett. After
starting tenth, Jon Stanbrough battled past Dave Darland in the final rounds to
snare fourth. Darland rounded out the
top five.
Daron
Clayton advanced a half-dozen positions to snare sixth, with Mat Neely, 14th-starter
R.J. Johnson, 17th-starter Jim Cameron and 19th-starter
Tim Newman completing the top ten.
Darland,
Sweet and Clayton each scored heat race wins, with Schuerenberg, Davis and
Darland winning the qualifying races.
Hollingsworth had the third qualifying race well in hand until a
throttle spring broke in the final corner.
Hollingsworth still coasted across the line to finish second, which
allowed him to accumulate enough points to run the Dash, which Hockett won to
earn the pole position for the feature.
The
night got off to a wild start when
O’Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour ‘N Topless Lakeside
Speedway Ron Shuman Classic Results:
Heat Races:
First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 11d-Levi Jones, 2.
21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 4. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 5.
55-Tony Everhart, 6. 18-Tim Newman, 7. 4-Robby Ross, 8. 12-
Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3J-Brad Sweet, 2.
21x-Dickie Gaines, 3. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 4. 20-Mike Lefholz, 5. 17-Chris
Windom, 6. 96c-Jim Cameron, 7. 21-Mike Lefholz, 8. 97-Bret Mellenberndt.
Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 92-Daron Clayton, 2. 75-Jesse
Hockett, 3. 11-Dave Darland, 4. 7c-Chris Morgan, 5. 2b-Mat Neely, 6. 15-R.J.
Johnson, 7. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 8. 92J-J.R. Topper.
Qualifying Races – Top
Four in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers that were in Friday
competition to Pole Dash; Balance of "A" Feature Lineup Determined by
Combined Points
First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 71-Hunter
Schuerenberg, 2. 2b-Mat Neely, 3. 3J-Brad Sweet, 4. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 5.
21x-Dickie Gaines, 6. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 7. 18-Tim Newman. DNS: 4-Robby Ross.
Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21s-Charles
Davis, Jr., 2. 20-Ron Lefholz, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 7c-Chris Morgan, 5.
92-Daron Clayton, 6. 96c-Jim Cameron, 7. 21-Mike Lefholz. DNS: 12-
Third Qualifier (8
Laps): 1. 11-Dave Darland, 2. 10-Shane
Hollingsworth, 3. 11d-Levi Jones, 4. 15-R.J. Johnson, 5. 55-Tony Everhart, 6.
1k-Kim Kennedy, 7. 92J-J.R. Topper, 8. 17-Chris Windom.
Pole Dash – Finishing
Order Determines Front Two Rows of "A" Main
Pole Dash (4 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 21s-Charles Davis,
Jr., 3. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 4. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg.
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits
COMP Cams TNT Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic “A” Main
“A”
Main (30 Laps): 1. 3J-Brad Sweet, 2.
21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 5. 11-Dave
Darland, 6. 92-Daron Clayton, 7. 2b-Mat Neely, 8. 15-R.J. Johnson, 9. 96c-Jim
Cameron, 10. 18-Tim Newman, 11. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 12. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 13.
55-Tony Everhart, 14. 11d-Levi Jones, 15. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 16.
21x-Dickie Gaines, 17. 71-Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. 7c-Chris Morgan, 19.
92J-J.R. Topper, 20. 20-Ron Lefholz.
DNS: 17-Chris Windom, 21-Mike Lefholz, 4-Robby Ross, 12-
Lap
Leaders: Charles Davis, Jr. 1-4, Jesse
Hockett 5-6, Shane Hollingsworth 7-21, Charles Davis, Jr. 22-25, Brad Sweet
26-30.
Final
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest Swing Points (Top Twenty): 1. Jesse Hockett 706, 2. Mat Neely 694, 3.
(tie) Dickie Gaines and Jon Stanbrough 686, 5. Shane Hollingsworth 664, 6.
Charles Davis, Jr. 650, 7. R.J. Johnson 644, 8. Bret Mellenberndt 582, 9.
2006
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten):
1. Jon Stanbrough 1,224, 2. Dickie Gaines 1,155, 3.