The Chili Bowl –Oklahoma’s Beason Wins
The Hard 8 Team
Tulsa Oklahoma January 14 2014
They say come in from the cold and that ‘s what race fans did in huge numbers as the Fairground at Tulsa filled and the expected heat from the Chili Bowl race cars pushed the cold to one side .
The interest in the Chili Bowl, the biggest race on the Midget Speedcar calendar has a hypnotic effect on racers; they have a need to compete
Record entries included the current World of Outlaws Champion Daryn Pittman, Joey Saldana together with NASCAR stars Ricky Stenhouse, Kasey Kahne and JJ Yeley.
The Warren CAT Preliminary night is all about securing the most number of points but there is always the bonus of passing points.
The gathering of points was squarely on the mind of Jonathan Beason and his Hard 8 Team as they started their quest for his first win in a Chili Bowl Preliminary. Beason gained the highest number of points in his heat and qualifiers to enable him to win the covet pole position for the 25 lap Feature.
We are reminded that it was almost 2 years since Jonathan’s friend and team mate Donnie Ray Crawford passed away. Jonathon’s win in the Feature was a tribute to his friend.
The field for the final feature was tough; Kyle Larson, Alex Bright and Zach Daum were among the heavy hitter in the feature.
Beason from Oklahoma jumped quickly and held the race lead from the start to finish. Bright and Daum were busy with each other while Kyle Larson was cutting his way fast towards the lead. At time on the Tulsa track traffic can get very rough but Beason dealt with each lapped car quickly, never really coming under attack from the 2013 POWRi Champ Daum or Bright.
Beason, Daum and Bright will now move directly into the Saturday final while the remainder will rely on their points gained from the program.
Jonathan Beason at the post race interview was asked how he felt “Asked about his level of nervousness getting through the feature, Beason replied, “I was really worried. I race 10 times a year now. This was my second midget race this, well, I guess this would be my first one this year. I haven’t really dealt with lapped traffic like these guys have. I was worried but thankfully; I saw their noses a couple of times, but I figured lapped cars were going to be in their way too “
Jonathan Beason and his #8
Earlier in the night Kyle Larson show just how dominating he can be with his heat win and the win in the Race of Champions, but Kyle will be watching the points closely over the week as he desperately wants a place in the Saturday nights final.
Vacuworx Global VIROC V Race of Champions (20 Laps): 1. 71K-Kyle Larson [6]; 2. 47-Damion Gardner [3]; 3. 97-Christopher Bell[4]; 4. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 5. 24-Tracy Hines[11]; 6. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[7]; 7. 21K-Cory Kruseman[5]; 8. 71-Kasey Kahne[1]; 9. 63-Bryan Clauson[15]; 10. 1-Sammy Swindell[13]; 11. 39-Kevin Swindell[9]; 12. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[14]; 13. 15X-Chad Boat[12]; 14. (DNF) 47X-Tim McCreadie[10]; 15. (DNF) 4AU-Mathew Smith[8]
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason[1]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[3]; 3. 77-Alex Bright[2]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[7]; 5. 71K-Kyle Larson[16]; 6. 71C-Shane Cottle[5]; 7. 16-Thomas Meseraull[20]; 8. 51J-R.J. Johnson[15]; 9. 7JM-Joey Moughan[10]; 10. 99-Brady Bacon[18]; 11. 4J-Tim Crawley[9]; 12. 44-Don Droud Jr[11]; 13. 39C-Joey Saldana[6]; 14. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[22]; 15. 50-Daniel Adler[13]; 16. 55F-Taylor Ferns[19]; 17. 38-Billy Wease[23]; 18. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[12]; 19. 17E-Blake Edwards[24]; 20. 19-Steven Drevicki[21]; 21. 1W-Paul White[17]; 22. 4AU-Mathew Smith[14]; 23. (DNF) 98-P.J. Jones[8]; 24. (DNF) 11W-Tyler Courtney[4]
The crowds will back for more on Wednesday when the Chili Bowl Nationals continue with the River Spirit Casino Qualifying night.70 drivers booked in , Wednesday will see Sammy Swindell,Rico Abreu ,Jerry Coons jr , Chris Windom and JJ Yeley join 65 others chasing points .Racing begins at 6pm(CT) with hot laps .
