Kennedy & Drueke snag wins at the ASCS Event on Thursday, April 25th

by Greg Soukup

Thursday night saw the return of the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series to Eagle Raceway for the first time since 2015, thanks to Track Enterprises. Due to rain-outs earlier in the year, this was also the first official points race for the teams in 2019. That meant that each and every driver was up on the wheel and more than anxious to put their car in victory lane at the end of the evening. A total of 35 ASCS teams and 30 Precise Racing Sprint Series of Nebraska teams filled the pits, ready to put on a great show for the fans, and that they did!!

There were 2 serious incidents in the preliminary action. In the first heat for the ASCS sprints the 2X of Tucker Doughty ended up flipping after contact with another car. He was not seriously injured, but was unable to make repairs. At the start of the B Feature for the ASCS Travis Reber made contact with one of the implement tires on the inside of the racing surface and flipped the #88, ending his night.

Jamie Ball led lap #1 of the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series A Feature followed by the 95 of Matt Covington, Josh Baughman in the 17 and the Robbie Price 21P. Price passed Baughman on lap 3 for third. Lap 5 saw Covington snag the lead away from Ball, only to lose it back the next circuit but retake it the following lap as Baughman also passed Ball to snag the second spot. Lap 13 saw the #1 of Travis Rilat stop in turn 1 and the yellow flag flew. Price and Baughman both used the restart to move up a spot. Thomas Kennedy put the 21K into third shortly after that and moved up to second with 6 laps left. Wayne Johnson was on the move, advancing to third in the closing laps in his 2C with Cody Ledger’s 35L moving to fourth. Pierce hit the wall with 6 laps left, resulting in a flat right front tire which caused him to head to the pits. Covington got caught up in heavy lapped traffic at the end of the race allowing Kennedy to use the low side of the track to get by him on the last lap in turns 1 and 2. A furious attempt by Covington in turns 3 and 4 failed to get him back past Kennedy, making the top 4 Kennedy, Covington, Wayne Johnson and Cody Ledger. Kennedy’s win was made even more spectacular considering that it came from 13th on the starting grid.

The finale was the A Main for the Precise Racing Sprint Series of Nebraska Racesaver sprints. Josh Riggins in the 14J, Adam Gullion’s 91, the 12N of Neil Nickolite and Keith Dragoo’s 77D led the field on lap 1. Tyler Drueke vaulted past

Nickolite and Dragoo on lap 3 to take third. Drueke moved to second with 17 to go and snagged the lead 6 laps later. Cody Ledger put the 47 into fourth with 9 laps remaining. Joey Danley passed Ledger 2 laps later in the #14. Danley moved up to third with 4 to go and took the second spot the next circuit. Ledger again snagged the fourth spot on the last lap of the caution free race. Danley and Drueke battled fiercely right up to the checkered flag with Drueke coming out on top. Danley finished second with Riggins third and Ledger fourth.

RESULTS:

SSN Sprint A-Feature 1. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 2. Joey Danley Lincoln, Ne. 3. Josh Riggins 4. Cody Ledger Omaha, Ne. 5. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 6. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 7. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 8. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 9. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 10. Keith Dragoo 11. Terry Richards Denton, Ne. 12. Chad Koch(r) Lincoln, Ne. 13. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 14. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 15. Austin McLean Loveland, Co. 16. Ryan Jenkins(r) 17. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 18. Mark Vanderheiden(r) Papillion, Ne. 19. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 20. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne.

SSN Sprint B-Feature 1. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 2. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 3. Austin McLean Loveland, Co. 4. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 5. Trevor Grossenbacher Bennet, Ne. 6. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 7. Ryan Kitchen(r) Seward, Ne. 8. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 9. Boyd Peterson Ithaca, Ne. 10. Nate Johnson 11. Jason Miller Omaha, Ne. 12. Kayla Stoops Kennard, Ne. 13. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne. 14. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 15. Jimmy Grasso Omaha, Ne. DNS. Aaron Allgood(r) Lincoln, Ne.

SSN Sprint Heat 1 1. Joey Danley Lincoln, Ne. 2. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 3. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 4. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 5. Austin McLean Loveland, Co. 6. Jason Miller Omaha, Ne. 7. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. DNS. Aaron Allgood(r) Lincoln, Ne.

SSN Sprint Heat 2 1. Ryan Jenkins(r) 2. Chad Koch(r) Lincoln, Ne. 3. Josh Riggins 4. Cody Ledger Omaha, Ne. 5. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 6. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 7. Kayla Stoops Kennard, Ne. 8. Nate Johnson

SSN Sprint Heat 3 1. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 2. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 3. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 4. Mark Vanderheiden(r) Papillion, Ne. 5. Toby

Chapman Panama, Ne. 6. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 7. Trevor Grossenbacher Bennet, Ne. 8. Jimmy Grasso Omaha, Ne.

SSN Sprint Heat 4 1. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 2. Keith Dragoo 3. Terry Richards Denton, Ne. 4. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 5. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 6. Ryan Kitchen(r) Seward, Ne. 7. Boyd Peterson Ithaca, Ne. 8. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne.

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series:

21K-Thomas Kennedy, [13]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [4]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [11]; 4. 35L-Cody Ledger, [9]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman, [3]; 6. 28-Scott Bogucki, [14]; 7. 81-Jack Dover, [17]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett, [6]; 9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [22]; 10. J2-John Carney II, [8]; 11. 23-Seth Bergman, [18]; 12. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, [19]; 13. 5J-Jamie Ball, [1]; 14. 9X-Jake Bubak, [10]; 15. 17W-Harli White, [20]; 16. 23S-Stuart Snyder, [21]; 17. 82-Jason Martin, [15]; 18. 44-Chris Martin, [23]; 19. 92-Jordan Weaver, [5]; 20. (DNF) 21P-Robbie Price, [2]; 21. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks, [7]; 22. (DNF) 1-Travis Rilat, [16]; 23. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn, [12]; 24. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [2