Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – PARK CITY, KS – Getting the show in just before the rains came the last time the American Sprint Car Series presented by RacinDirt.com was at 81-Speedway, Mother Nature got a little bit of revenge on Saturday night with a pop-up shower causing around a three-hour delay before Jason Martin rolled back into Victory Lane at the three-eighths-mile oval.
“First of all, thank you to all these people who sat it out in that rain. It was pretty cool to look out while it was still raining and see people sitting in the stands. Kudos to you guys. The fans are what pay our bills, and hopefully, you all enjoyed it,” stated Martin to the applause of the fans. “Also, to the staff. They could have just checked out and said, we’re done, but instead, it was an awesome racetrack.”
Leading from start to finish, the start was crucial to Martin’s success. Taking the green to the right of the front row, Jason and Covington swapped lines into the first turn, with the No. 36 able to escape with the lead.
Gone in clean air, traffic brought Covington into the mix, and at one point, the top four were nose to tail. Rubbing up on Martin’s left rear trying to shoot the bottom off the fourth turn as Jason worked a slower car on Lap 12, Matt was able to calm the right side tires of the No. 95 back to the racing surface and missed taking the point by 0.098-seconds.
Slowed thrice during the 25-lap affair, the final one came on Lap 19.
First and second unchanged, Martin would roll away by 1.064-seconds at the checkered flag. Covington in second, the race behind him saw several shifts through the last six laps as Jordon Mallett grabbed third away from Jake Bubak while Howard Moore snuck into the top five.
Getting shuffled back to eighth at one point, Brandon Anderson made it back to sixth, with Don Droud, Jr. slipping back on the final restart from fifth to seventh. Making up seven positions for the night KSE Hard Charger Award, Christopher Townsend crossed eighth, followed by Tim Estenson ninth and Whit Gastineau in tenth.
The field numbered 24 on Saturday, with Tim Estenson, the overall quickest driver in The Driver’s Project Qualifying at 14.348-seconds. AR Dyno Specialty Heat Race wins went to Don Droud, Jr., Landon Britt, and Jason Martin.
The next event for the American Sprint Car Series presented by RacinDirt.com is the 33rd annual Xtreme Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank, happening August 3-5, at Knoxville Raceway. The event is $20,000 to win.
Race Results:
ASCS National / ASCS Sooner
81 Speedway (Park City, Kan.)
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Car Count: 24
The Driver’s Project Group Qualifying (Top 4 in each group invert into Heat Races)
The Drivers Project Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 14T-Tim Estenson, 14.348[7]; 2. 2-Chase Porter, 14.455[1]; 3. 14-Jordon Mallett, 14.457[5]; 4. 1M-Don Droud Jr, 14.463[3]; 5. 13-Elijah Gile, 14.593[6]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 14.722[8]; 7. 10X-Jordan Knight, 15.082[4]; 8. 23K-Mike Kleymann, 15.082[2]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 3-Howard Moore, 14.479[4]; 2. 1X-Jake Bubak, 14.533[8]; 3. 2W-Whit Gastineau, 14.572[5]; 4. 10-Landon Britt, 14.583[2]; 5. 12-Jeffrey Newell, 14.654[3]; 6. 10C-Jeremy Campbell, 14.676[7]; 7. 9$-Kyle Clark, 14.723[1]; 8. 31-Casey Wills, 15.297[6]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 14.548[7]; 2. 36-Jason Martin, 14.634[5]; 3. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 14.756[3]; 4. 7C-Chris Morgan, 14.867[6]; 5. 26M-Fred Mattox, 14.996[8]; 6. 6-Christopher Townsend, 15.005[2]; 7. 97-Kevin Cummings, 16.095[4]; 8. 31M-Eric Matthews, 16.125[1]
AR Dyno Specialty Heat Races (All Drivers advance to the A-Feature):
AR Dyno Specialty Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Don Droud Jr[1]; 2. 14-Jordon Mallett[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[6]; 4. 2-Chase Porter[3]; 5. 14T-Tim Estenson[4]; 6. 10X-Jordan Knight[7]; 7. 13-Elijah Gile[5]; 8. (DNS) 23K-Mike Kleymann
AR Dyno Specialty Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt[1]; 2. 1X-Jake Bubak[3]; 3. 2W-Whit Gastineau[2]; 4. 12-Jeffrey Newell[5]; 5. 3-Howard Moore[4]; 6. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[6]; 7. 9$-Kyle Clark[7]; 8. 31-Casey Wills[8]
AR Dyno Specialty Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin[3]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[2]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox[5]; 5. 6-Christopher Townsend[6]; 6. 31M-Eric Matthews[8]; 7. 97-Kevin Cummings[7]; 8. 7C-Chris Morgan[1]
A-Feature
RacinDirt A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 3. 14-Jordon Mallett[4]; 4. 1X-Jake Bubak[3]; 5. 3-Howard Moore[10]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson[7]; 7. 1M-Don Droud Jr[5]; 8. 6-Christopher Townsend[15]; 9. 14T-Tim Estenson[9]; 10. 2W-Whit Gastineau[11]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[12]; 12. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[18]; 13. 10-Landon Britt[6]; 14. 9$-Kyle Clark[19]; 15. 2-Chase Porter[8]; 16. 7C-Chris Morgan[23]; 17. 31-Casey Wills[22]; 18. 31M-Eric Matthews[16]; 19. 10X-Jordan Knight[17]; 20. 97-Kevin Cummings[20]; 21. 23K-Mike Kleymann[24]; 22. 26M-Fred Mattox[14]; 23. 12-Jeffrey Newell[13]; 24. 13-Elijah Gile[21]
Lap Leader(s): Jason Martin 1-25
KSE Hard Charger: Christopher Townsend +7
Driver’s Project Quick Time: Tim Estenson 14.348-seconds
High Point Driver: Matt Covington
Provisional(s): N/A