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Short
Stands Tall in Sprint Bandits TNT Opener at East Bay by Lonnie Wheatley |
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TAMPA,
Fla. (January 31, 2006) – Indiana’s Brady Short topped a stellar
field of 49 entries in Tuesday afternoon’s season-opening event for the
O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless series at East Bay Raceway Park’s
30th Annual Winter Nationals, wiring the field in the 25-lap feature
event. The event served as the opening
portion of a rare day-night Tuesday doubleheader after the originally scheduled
Monday night event was postponed by rain. Short, who earned the pole
position for the feature event by virtue of accumulating the most points through
heat and qualifying race action, took command at the outset and was never headed
as he raced to victory lane aboard the Gaerte-powered Indiana Steel Works No. 36
Maxim. “This is special, this is
just my second year in a sprint car and this it’s just my second win, so this
is a pretty big thing for us,” last year’s National Non-Wing Sprint Car
rookie of the year commented from victory lane. Short outgunned fellow Hoosier
State native Ed Hassler for the point at the drop of the green, with Indiana
veteran shoe Danny Smith racing into second on the opening round.
Shane Cottle had battled past Hassler for third on the fourth round, only
to have the pass negated for wild flip down the backstretch by Wayne Johnson.
Tim Shaffer also flipped in the melee, with Mat Neely’s car planted
along the backstretch wall. There
were no injuries. Back under way, Short held
Smith and Hassler at bay for several rounds before he began slipping away from
the field. Short had amassed nearly
a straightaway advantage by the time the race’s second and final caution flew
after 23 laps when Casey Shuman came to a halt in turn two.
Under the ensuing caution period, Cottle surrendered his top-five
position with a flat left rear tire. Set for a two-lap charge to the
checkered flag, there was no stopping Short as he raced to the line unabated.
Smith settled for the runner-up slot, with Hassler taking the show
position. Jon Stanbrough climbed
from ninth to snare fourth, with Cory Kruseman slicing through the field from
his 16th starting position to round out the top five. Charles Davis, Jr., crossed the
stripe sixth, with Darren Hagen, 15th-starter Bud Kaeding, Dickie
Gaines and Zach Chappell completing the top ten. Short kicked off the day by
making a last-lap pass of Chappell to win the first heat race.
Hassler wired the field in the second heat race, with Jake Scott making a
lap seven pass of Darland to win the third heat.
Terry McCarl and Cory Kruseman swapped the lead repeatedly before McCarl
took the win in the fourth heat, with Davis scoring a convincing win in the
fifth heat. Qualifying races were claimed
by Derek O’Dell, Steven King, Smith, Shaffer and Gaines. King and Bryan Clauson split
victory honors in the twin 12-lap “B” Mains. O’Reilly
Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Monday Afternoon Results: Heat Races First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 36-Brady Short,
2. 50z-Zach Chappell, 3. 10-Mat Neely, 4. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 5. 11d-Derek
O’Dell, 6. 88-Steven King, 7. 8m-Joe Melnick, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9. 11-Brent
Beauchamp, 10. 2k-Roger Rager. Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 66h-Ed Hassler,
2. 71-Darren Hagen, 3. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 4. 16-Nick Adams, 5. 53x-Casey Shuman,
6. 17T-Tony Beaber, 7. 93-Scott Townsend, 8. 92-Kenny Carmichael, 9. 20-Frank
Carlsson. DNS: 22-Mike Weber. Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jake Scott, 2.
29T-Travis Rilat, 3. 11x-Dave Darland, 4. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 5. 4-Danny Smith,
6. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 7. 85-Greg Leonard, 8. 29p-Terry Pletch, 9. 29-Kyle Nicholas,
10. 51J-John Sauermilch. Fourth
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 24-Terry McCarl,
2. 38-Cory Kruseman, 3. 92x-Daron Clayton, 4. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 5. 3R-Brandon
Petty, 6. 4b-Tom Busch, 7. 52-Mark Broughman, 8. 5m-Arin McIntosh, 9. 71c-Jack
Helget, 10. 51x-Harley Slotten. Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 5g-Shane Cottle, 3. 57-John Heydenreich, 4. 7s-Jason Sides, 5. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 6. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 7. 67-Bryan Clauson, 8. 81-Justin Marvel, 9. 69x-Mark Cole. Qualifying Races – Top 16 in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers to “A” Feature; Balance of field to Twin “B” Mains First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 11d-Derek
O’Dell, 2. 57-John Heydenreich, 3. 36-Brady Short, 4. 50z-Zach Chappell, 5.
53x-Casey Shuman, 6. 2k-Roger Rager, 7. 10-Mat Neely, 8. 11-Brent Beauchamp, 9.
34-Luke Hall, 10. 8m-Joe Melnick. Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 88-Steven
King, 2. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 3. 71-Darren Hagen, 4. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 5.
92-Kenny Carmichael, 6. 20-Frank Carlsson, 7. 7s-Jason Sides, 8. 93-Scott
Townsend, 9. 51-John Sauermilch, 10. 29T-Travis Rilat. Third
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 4-Danny
Smith, 2. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 3. 66h-Ed Hassler, 4. 85-Greg Leonard, 5. 29-Kyle
Nicholas, 6. 29p-Terry Pletch, 7. 51x-Harley Slotten, 8. 17T-Tony Beaber, 9.
56-Kevin Briscoe, 10. 92x-Daron Clayton. Fourth
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 1T-Tim
Shaffer, 2. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 3. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 4. 3R-Brandon Petty, 5.
38-Cory Kruseman, 6. 1-Jake Scott, 7. 71c-Jack Helget, 8. 52-Mark Broughman, 9.
5a-Arin McIntosh, 10. 22-Mike Weber. Fifth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 2. 67-Bryan Clauson, 3. 4b-Tom Busch, 4. 5g-Shane Cottle, 5. 24-Terry McCarl, 6. 11x-Dave Darland, 7. 16-Nick Adams, 8. 81-Justin Marvel, 9. 69x-Mark Cole. “B” Mains – Top 4 from Each to “A” Main First
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1.
88-Steven King, 2. 10-Mat Neely, 3. 1-Jake Scott, 4. 53x-Casey Shuman, 5.
29T-Travis Rilat, 6. 4b-Tom Busch, 7. 81-Justin Marvel, 8. 7s-Jason Sides, 9.
92-Kenny Carmichael, 10. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 11. 69x-Mark Cole, 12. 20-Frank
Carlsson, 13. 71c-Jack Helget, 14. 22-Mike Weber, 15. 51x-Harley Slotten.
DNS: 17T-Tony Beaber, 8m-Joe Melnick. Second
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 67-Bryan
Clauson, 2. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 3. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 4. 16-Nick Adams, 5. 11x-Dave
Darland, 6. 11-Brent Beauchamp, 7. 5m-Arin McIntosh, 8. 2k-Roger Rager, 9.
93-Scott Townsend, 10. 34-Luke Hall, 11. 52-Mark Broughman, 12. 51-John
Sauermilch, 13. 85-Greg Leonard, 14. 3R-Brandon Petty, 15. 29p-Terry Pletch.
DNS: 92x-Daron Clayton. “A” Main “A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 36-Brady Short, 2. 4-Danny Smith, 3. 66h-Ed Hassler, 4. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 5. 38-Cory Kruseman, 6. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 7. 71-Darren Hagen, 8. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 9. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 10. 50z-Zach Chappell, 11. 57-John Heydenreich, 12. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 13. 67-Bryan Clauson, 14. 1-Jake Scott, 15. 16-Nick Adams, 16. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 17. 5g-Shane Cottle, 18. 53x-Casey Shuman, 19. 88-Steven King, 20. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 21. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 22. 10-Mat Neely, 23. 11d-Derek O’Dell. DNS: 24-Terry McCarl. |
