Bacon Sizzles in Short Track Nationals Opener!

Lonnie Wheatley, LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 28, 2011) – Brady Bacon picked an ideal time to win his first Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters National feature of the year by winning I-30 Speedway’s 24^th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires opening feature event.

After the STN lidlifter was interrupted by rain midway through the program on Thursday night, action resumed on Friday with the 21-year-old from Broken Arrow, OK, ultimately wiring the field in the non-stop 25-lap preliminary feature.

Locking into Saturday night’s $15,000-to-win, $2,400-to-start STN finale along with Bacon was runner-up Shane Stewart of Bixby, OK, and third-place finisher Travis Rilat of Forney, TX.

Rilat pressured Bacon in the early going before Stewart rallied from fourth past Matt Covington and then Rilat on consecutive laps just prior to the midway point. Bacon held a substantial lead much of the way, only to have Stewart close to within a pair of car-lengths as the checkered flag flew on Bacon’s Wesmar-powered Fatheadz Eyewear No. 99 Triple-X.

Stewart settled for runner-up honors in Paul Silva’s Rockstar Energy Drink No. 57 A.R.T., with Rilat third in his No. 29 Triple X.

Covington held fourth until the 23^rd round when Seth Bergman claimed the position, with Tim Shaffer snaring fifth on the white-flag lap.

Covington was sixth, with Wayne Johnson, Paul McMahan, Jason Martin and Aaron Reutzel completing the top ten.

McMahan, Bergman, Mason Moore, Stewart, Ray Allen Kulhanek and Covington topped heat race action, with Oklahoma shoes Stewart and Covington doubling up with wins in the first two qualifiers before Mother Nature intervened on Thursday night. Jordon Mallett, Claud Estes and Rilat won the remaining qualifying races on Friday, with Moore, Tony Bruce, Jr., and Channin Tankersley winning the “B” Mains.

A total of 51 different drivers took part in the opening portion of the 24^th Annual Short Track Nationals, with the final half of the field set to take to the track to cap off Friday night’s action.

24^th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires Thursday Night Results:

Heat Races:

First Heat (10 Laps): 1. 01x-Paul McMahan, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 39-Brad Bowden, 4. 1g-Cody Gardner, 5. M1-Tim Shaffer, 6. 01n-Jeremy Newkirk, 7. 87m-Brian McClelland, 8. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 9. 4-Tommy Snellgrove.

Second Heat (10 Laps): 1. 23b-Seth Bergman, 2. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 3. 0m-Andy McElhannon, 4. 27-Andy Shouse, 5. 89g-David Gravel, 6. 51h-Mike Hess, 7. 33a-Austin Alumbaugh, 8. 93-Chris Sweeney. DNS: 19-Jay Snellgrove.

Third Heat (10 Laps): 1. 5h-Mason Moore, 2. 71-Channin Tankersley, 3. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 4. 6b-Ryan Beechler, 5. 9k-Kyle Sager, 6. 31b-Brandon Berryman, 7. 32-Charles Tankersley, 8. 51s-Lee Sowell, 9. 33h-Mark Huddleston.

Fourth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 94-Derek Hagar, 3. 18b-Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. 74e-Claud Estes, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 36b-Jonathan Beason, 7. 14T-Tyler Brown, 8. 38m-Ryan Moore.

Fifth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 21k-Ryan Kitchen, 4. 21x-Jimmy Hurley, 5. 64-Scotty Thiel, 6. 5k-Jerry Kamer, 7. 76-John Ricketts, 8. 28c-Jonathan Cornell.

Sixth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 11c-Matt Covington, 2. 36m-Jason Martin, 3. 66-Tommy Worley, 4. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 5. 14m-Jordon Mallett, 6. 4b-Eric Baldaccini, 7. 4j-John James, 8. 52-Frank Sudduth.

Qualifying Races – Top 14 in Combined Passing/Finishing Points to “A” Feature; Balance to “B” Mains

First Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 21x-Jimmy Hurley, 4. 1g-Cody Gardner, 5. 39-Brad Bowden, 6. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 7. 4b-Eric Baldaccini, 8. 28c-Jonathan Cornell, 9. 9k-Jerry Kamer, 10. 4j-John James. DNS: 19-Jay Snellgrove.

Second Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 11c-Matt Covington, 2. 23b-Seth Bergman, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 1x-Gary Taylor, 5. 93-Chris Sweeney, 6. 52-Frank Sudduth, 7. 01n-Jeremy Newkirk, 8. 64-Scotty Thiel, 9. 0m-Andy McElhannon, 10. 14T-Tyler Brown.

Third Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 14m-Jordon Mallett, 2. 6b-Ryan Beechler, 3. 18b-Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. 36m-Jason Martin, 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 6. 5h-Mason Moore, 7. 31b-Brandon Berryman, 8. 32-Charles Tankersley, 9. 33a-Austin Alumbaugh. DNS: 5m-Miranda Arnold.

Fourth Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 74e-Claud Estes, 2. 89g-David Gravel, 3. 94-Derek Hagar, 4. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 5. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 6. 21k-Ryan Kitchen, 7. 87m-Brian McClelland, 8. 38m-Ryan Moore, 9. 5k-Jerry Kamer. DNS: 4-Tommy Snellgrove.

Fifth Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 27-Andy Shouse, 2. M1-Tim Shaffer, 3. 51h-Mike Hess, 4. 01x-Paul McMahan, 5. 66-Tommy Worley, 6. 71-Channin Tankersley, 7. 36b-Jonathan Beason, 8. 76-John Ricketts, 9. 51s-Lee Sowell. DNS: 33h-Mark Huddleston.

“B” Features – Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Feature

First “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 5h-Mason Moore, 2. 27-Andy Shouse, 3. 6b-Ryan Beechler, 4. 39-Brad Bowden, 5. 76-John Ricketts, 6. 28c-Jonathan Cornell, 7. 87m-Brian McClelland, 8. 31b-Brandon Berryman, 9. 52-Frank Sudduth. DNS: 21x-Jimmy Hurley, 14T-Tyler Brown, 5m-Miranda Arnold, 19-Jay Snellgrove.

Second “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 18b-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 1g-Cody Gardner, 3. 66-Tommy Worley, 4. 1x-Gary Taylor, 5. 21k-Ryan Kitchen, 6. 36b-Jonathan Beason, 7. 4b-Eric Baldaccini, 8. 64-Scotty Thiel, 9. 51s-Lee Sowell, 10. 5k-Jerry Kamer, 11. 38m-Ryan Moore. DNS: 4T-Tommy Snellgrove.

Third “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 71-Channin Tankersley, 2. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 3. 89g-David Gravel, 4. 51h-Mike Hess, 5. 01n-Jeremy Newkirk, 6. 9k-Kyle Sager, 7. 0m-Andy McElhannon, 8. 33a-Austin Alumbaugh, 9. 93-Chris Sweeney, 10. 4j-John James, 11. 32-Charles Tankersley. DNS: 33h-Mark Huddleston.

“A” Feature – Top 3 Finishers Locked into Saturday night’s $15,000 to win STN Finale.

A Feature (25 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 99-Brady Bacon (2), 2. 57-Shane Stewart (3), 3. 29-Travis Rilat (1), 4. 23b-Seth Bergman (5), 5. M1-Tim Shaffer (9), 6. 11c-Matt Covington (4), 7. 77x-Wayne Johnson (7), 8. 01x-Paul McMahan (8), 9. 36m-Jason Martin (6), 10. 87a-Aaron Reutzel (10), 11. 18b-Tony Bruce, Jr. (16), 12. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek (7), 13. 71-Channin Tankersley (17), 14. 94-Derek Hagar (14), 15. 1g-Cody Gardner (19), 16. 14m-Jordon Mallett (11), 17. 5h-Mason Moore (15), 18. 27-Andy Shouse (18), 19. 74e-Claud Estes (13), 20. 16-Anthony Nicholson (20).

Lap Leaders: Brady Bacon 1-25.