Inside Line Promotions, JETMORE, Kan. (May 28) – It was a bit confusing and a roller-coaster finish to Saturday night for Jack Dover.
The 21-year-old thought inadvertent radio chatter cost him Night 1 of the 3rd annual Steve King Memorial presented by The Oil Medics at The Great American Dirt Track in Jetmore, Kan.
However, Derek Drown, who crossed the finish line first, was disqualified for a nose wing violation. That handed the opener of the two-day ASCS Sooner Region/NCRA event to Dover.
“It’s not the way I wanted to win, but I’ll take it,” he said with a big grin. “We showed out there that we were the fastest car over the race.”
Dover, who started seventh, worked his way into second place within the first handful of laps. Meanwhile, Drown took the lead from polesitter Jason Martin as Dover climbed into the top three.
The duo had a spirited battle for several laps before Dover eventually got positioning on the bottom of the track entering turn one a third of the way through the 30-lap race. The drivers had a drag race down the backstretch before Dover cleared him entering turn three and gradually created a sizable lead.
A pair of cautions in the final 10 laps allowed Drown to close the gap, but it wasn’t until Dover said he heard a voice over the RACEceiver that there was a challenge for the top spot.
“I thought he said something so I slowed down,” Dover said. “I was clear out of the throttle.”
Drown powered into the lead on the backstretch and held on the final three circuits for the apparent win. However, post-race inspection found his nose wing was too far forward and he was disqualified.
“It’s unreal,” Drown said. “It’s one of them deals.”
Officially, Mike Peters finished second. He was also the runner-up to Dover in the fifth and final heat race.
“There was a little bit of everything,” Peters said of the main event. “Good close racing and some excitement.”
C.J. Johnson placed third, Jeremy Campbell was fourth and Danny Wood rounded out the top five.
Brian Brown was sixth, followed by Joe Wood Jr., Garry Lee Maier, Justyn Cox and Miranda Arnold, respectively. Arnold drove from 10th to finish fourth in her B Main and then rallied from last place – 22nd – to record the top 10.
Bruce Jr. and Colton Treharn each claimed a B Main victory.
In an unusual moment, Matt Covington was leading the second B Main when his right front tire came off the car in turn two. Covington, whose tire flew off the track, raced another lap and a half in the lead before his car failed to turn and went straight into the wall in turn four.
Brady Bacon, Drown, Brown, Campbell and Dover topped the heat races.
Racing resumes on Sunday with the finale of the 3rd annual Steve King Memorial presented by The Oil Medics. The front gate opens at 5:30 p.m. with racing set for 7:30 p.m.
Results from The Great American Dirt Track:
Heat races (top 14 in passing points to the feature, balance to two “B” Mains):
Heat One (10 laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 81-Danny Wood, 3. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 4. 76j-Justin Schwein, 5. 7-Michelle Decker, 6. 33-Kris Miller, 7. 91-Patrick Stasa, 8. 35g-Barry Gifford, 9. 74-Zach Merritt.
Heat Two (10 laps): 1. 74b-Derek Drown, 2. 21t-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 4. 19-Patrick Stasa, 5. 81x-Jon Freeman, 6. 110-Cameron Hagien, 7. 85-Forrest Sutherland, 8. 18r-Ryan Roberts, 9. 21tx-Brandon Schure.
Heat Three (10 laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 03-Joe Wood Jr., 3. 36-Jason Martin, 4. 22-Koby Barksdale, 5. 81au-Gavin Punch, 6. 8w-Jordan Whitehead, 7. 0c-Preston Peebles III, 8. 165-Haley Arnold, 9. 11-Jeffrey Newell.
Heat Four (10 laps): 1. e85-Jeremy Campbell, 2. 100-Zach Chappell, 3. 21c-Justyn Cox, 4. 18-Tony Bruce Jr., 5. 1-Ty Williams, 6. 0-Steven Richardson, 7. 31L-Lee Little, 8. 22k-Kevin Barksdale (DNS).
Heat Five (10 laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 51-Mike Peters, 3. 77-Colton Treharn, 4. 11c-Matt Covington, 5. 20-Luke Cranston, 6. 36-Andy Shouse, 7. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 8. 77y-Rus Yeager.
“B” Mains (Top 4 from each advance to the feature):
First “B” Main (12 laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr., 2. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 3. 81au-Gavin Punch, 4. 20-Luke Cranston, 5. 22-Koby Barksdale, 6. 81x-Jon Freeman, 7. 36-Andy Shouse, 8. 0c-Preston Peebles III, 9. 18r-Ryan Roberts, 10. 0-Steven Richardson, 11. 165-Haley Arnold, 12. 74-Zach Merritt, 13. 110-Cameron Hagien, 14. 11-Jeffrey Newell (DNS), 15. 22k-Kevin Barksdale (DNS).
Second “B” Main (12 laps): 1. 77-Colton Treharn, 2. 19-Patrick Stasa, 3. 7-Michelle Decker, 4. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 5. 33-Kris Miller, 6. 85-Forrest Sutherland, 7. 77y-Rus Yeager, 8. 91-Jeff Stasa, 9. 31L-Lee Little, 10. 11c-Matt Covington, 11. 1-Ty Williams, 12. 8w-Jordan Whitehead, 13. 35g-Barry Gifford, 14. 21tx-Brandon Schure.
Feature (30 laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 51-Mike Peters, 3. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 4. e85-Jeremy Campbell, 5. 81-Danny Wood, 6. 21-Brian Brown, 7. 03-Joe Wood Jr., 8. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 9. 21c-Justyn Cox, 10. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 11. 7-Michelle Decker, 12. 21t-Taylor Velasquez, 13. 81au-Gavin Punch, 14. 20-Luke Cranston, 15. 19-Patrick Stasa, 16. 36x-Jason Martin, 17. 77-Colton Treharn, 18. 99-Brady Bacon, 19. 18-Tony Bruce Jr., 20. 76j-Justin Schwein, 21. 100-Zach Chappell, 22. 74b-Derek Drown.