Jesse Stovall Sweeps CBC Western Swing

Jesse Stovall Sweeps Corn Belt Clash Western Swing

 

Jesse Stovall led every lap from the pole position to collect the $3,000 to win Alphabet Soup Classic at the I-80 Speedway. Stovall began his night by winning his heat race in dominating fashion, a race where he started in the 8th position only to be leading by the end of lap one.


Stovall started the main event alongside Tony Jackson, Jr. but immediately took advantage of the clean air at the drop of the green flag. In a race that saw four cautions Jesse had to defend his top spot on each of the ensuing restarts. Among the drivers that took a shot at Stovall was Slayton, MN driver Jason Krohn, who was able to pull alongside the eventual winner late in the event. However, a few laps later Krohn would slow on the race track bringing out the night's final caution. Krohn would take his ride pit side and retire from the event with mechanical issues.

The final restart came with only 8 laps remaining and this time it gave the inside track to Chad Simpson. Simpson attempted to cut under Stovall exciting turn four on the re-start but Stovall was able to protect his line and drive away for his first Corn Belt Clash win of the year.

In Victory Lane Stovall commented about the heavy pressure on the re-starts. "I was a little concerned about every one of them (re-starts). Chad, Terry and Jason are all really good racers". "I've never won a (points) race here at I-80, and I'm really excited to be able to finally do it."

Stovall went on to say, "I didn't know quite what to do entering that last corner but I guess on the last re-start I did things like I needed to and got to driving away again".

Second finishing Chad Simpson said, "We had a couple of shots at him, I just couldn't get through one and two like I needed. In three and four I was really good, but in one and two I just needed a little more." Simpson finished by saying, "We started deep, (8th ) and came up and ran 2nd, we've got nothing to hang our heads about tonight."

Defending MLRA Champion Terry Philips rounded out a solid podium finish in 3rd . Phillips who ran the top side for most of the event said, "We got the car too tight and I just couldn't run the bottom very well. Tonight we just had a 3 rd place car."

Rounding out the top five was Tony Jackson Jr. and Brantlee Gotschall, while Kyle Berck secured theHard Charger by advancing 13 positions to finish in 8th . Heat race wins were collected by Gotschall, Stovall and Phillips.

A Feature (30 Laps): 1. Jesse Stovall 2. Chad Simpson 3. Terry Phillips 4. Tony Jackson, Jr. 5. Brantlee Gotschall 6. J.C. Wyman 7. Tad Pospisil 8. Kyle Berck 9. Jason Papich 10. Justin Asplin 11. Matt Buller 12. Austin Siebert 13. Cale Osborn 14. Scott Lewis 15. Bryon Allison 16. Dave Eckrich 17. Dean Moore 18. Jeff Roth 19. Randy Roth 20. Jason Krohn 21. Ben Schaller 22. Mike Stadel 23. Payton Looney

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. Jason Papich 2. Austin Siebert 3. Ben Schaller 4. Dean Moore 5. Cale Osborn 6. Jeff Roth 7. Mike Stadel 8. Randy Roth 9. Junior Coover 10. Curt Drake 11. Kyle Berck 12. Chad Jensen

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. Brantlee Gotschall 2. Chad Simpson 3. Jason Krohn 4. Tad Pospisil 5. Jason Papich 6. Kyle Berck 7. Ben Schaller 8. Cale Osborn 9. Curt Drake 10. Mike Stadel

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. Jesse Stovall 2. Scott Lewis 3. Dave Eckrich 4. Payton Looney 5. Bryon Allison 6. Junior Coover 7. Chad Jensen 8. Rece Vaught.

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. Terry Phillips 2. Tony Jackson Jr. 3. Justin Asplin 4. Matt Buller 5. J.C. Wyman 6. Austin Siebert 7. Dean Moore 8. Jeff Roth 9. Randy Roth

On Saturday night the Adams County Speedway played host to the annual $5,000 to win Ray Houck Memorial, "Liberty 50". For the second time in as many nights , it was Jesse Stovall parking his Malvern Bank sponsored entry in Victory Lane.
Stovall, the races defending winner rolled off from the outside front row and quickly worked his way around pole sitter J. C. Wyman off the exit of turn two to set the early pace. Three cautions over the first 13 laps would keep the field tight as the likes of Wyman, Jason Papich, and Terry Phillips would battle for the second position.

A long green flag run would ensue putting Stovall deep into lapped traffic where he was able to continue to build on his race lead. With 13 laps remaining Phillips cleared Papich for the 2nd spot off turn four only to find himself making contact with the lapped car of Matt Buller. Phillips would continue on but Buller would come to rest on the front stretch putting the field under caution.

The final caution of the event would wave with only 6 laps remaining, giving Phillips one last shot at Stovall. Phillips would drive deep to the top of turn one, but as he had done all night, Stovall was able to launch off the bottom of turn two and cruise to his second Corn Belt Clash Series win of the season.

The exit of turn two proved to be the money corner for Stovall who said of his unique line, "That's a little trick I figured out last year and I don't know if any of the other guys could see me do it. I tried not to do it for a couple laps just to try and mess with them. It's all just a part of the game we all play".

Stovall who completed a sweep of the weekends racing action wrapped up by saying, "To have a weekend like this is paying off for all of the work and years I have been driving up and down the road doing this."

Terry Phillips would come home in the runner up spot, his third consecutive podium finish. Phillips jokingly said of his good friend and travel partner Stovall, "I'm about sick of him (Stovall) to tell you the truth. If he wasn't here I would be a hero. He is hard to beat but were working at it and getting closer to where we need to be."

After a great dual with Phillips, Nipomo California's Jason Papich would come home with a season best 3rd place finish. When asked about numerous re-starts besides Phillips he said, "I couldn't figure out to restart high or low, I tried both and just picked the wrong spot on one of them and Phillips got around me. After that it just became harder to pass."

Completing the top five was Dave Eckrich and Pole winner J. C. Wyman, whom had his best finish of the season at his former home track. Earlier in the night heat race wins went to Stovall and Eckrich, while Payton Looney claimed the Hard Charger Award as a result of his 9 position improvement in the final run down.

A Feature (50 Laps): 1. Jesse Stovall 2. Terry Phillips 3. Jason Papich 4. Dave Eckrich 5. J.C. Wyman 6. Kyle Berck 7. Payton Looney 8. Brantlee Gotschall 9. Scott Lewis 10. Paul Glendenning 11. Justin Asplin 12. Bryon Allison 13. Sterling Perkins 14. Jeff Roth 15. Randy Roth 16. Austin Siebert 17. Matt Buller 18. Jason Rauen 19. Tad Pospisil 20. John Hampel 21. Tony Jackson, Jr.

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. Jesse Stovall 2. J. C. Wyman 3. Brantlee Gotschall 4. Terry Phillips 5. Justin Asplin 6. Scott Lewis 7. Matt Buller 8. Dean Moore 9. Paul Glendenning 10. Randy Roth 11. Tony Jackson, Jr.

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. Dave Eckrich 2. Kyle Berck 3. Jason Papich 4. Austin Siebert 5. Tad Pospisil 6. Sterling Perkins 7. Bryon Allison 8. Payton Looney 9. John Hampel 10. Jeff Roth 11. Jason Rauen