Bell wins, denies Larson first Golden Driller at 33rd Chili Bowl National

Bell wins, denies Larson first Golden Driller at 33rd Chili Bowl National

 

 

Chili Bowl 2019 is over, and nothing is surer than to expect a Keith Kunz driver to take home the Golden Driller and that’s exactly what Christopher Bell did for the third consecutive year beating team mate and NASCAR star Kyle Larson with a last lap pass. The pairs who must be part of the all-time greats swapped bang for bang in a desperate last lap bid to grab that treasured Golden Driller.

Larson as hard as he tried was again denied a Golden Driller. Bell a three times winner will now try in 2020 to Join Kevin Swindell as only the second driver in the history of the Chili Bowl Nationals to win four consecutive Chili Bowls.

 

Chili Bowl Championship(55 Laps): 1. 71W-Christopher Bell, [2]; 2. 01-Kyle Larson, [3]; 3. 4A-Justin Grant, [5]; 4. 76M-Brady Bacon, [7]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum, [8]; 6. 7C-Tyler Courtney, [22]; 7. 1R-Brad Sweet, [11]; 8. 55V-C.J. Leary, [12]; 9. 67-Logan Seavey, [1]; 10. 3C-Tanner Thorson, [4]; 11. 47X-Danny Stratton, [13]; 12. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [15]; 13. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, [16]; 14. 87-Colby Copeland, [21]; 15. 97-Rico Abreu, [6]; 16. 31B-Michael Faccinto, [18]; 17. 84X-Chad Boat, [14]; 18. 76G-David Gravel, [10]; 19. 57C-Cole Bodine, [19]; 20. 4D-Robert Dalby, [23]; 21. 3N-Jake Neuman, [24]; 22. (DNF) 17S-Ricky Stenhouse Jr, [17]; 23. (DNF) 17C-Shane Golobic, [9]; 24. (DNF) 15S-Sean McClelland, [20]

As the dust settles and the Tulsa  Expo Centre returns to normal over 350 Teams have moved out and will now regroup and settle in ,get some well earned rest before  the start of their 2020 season.

Share Button

Red Hot Rico

Rico Abreu red hot at the Chili Bowl :The Chili Bowl is mine and the Champ salutes as the crowd erupts in support of a killer driveRico Bowl win
There were times during the early part of the race that it appeared Bryan Clauson had such control that a second golden driller would grace the shelves of his new home . Abreu’s team mate Christopher Bell hunting for his first Golden Driller took the early lead but lap 9 saw his dreams go under when he made contact with a lapped car and spun . Back of the pack went Bell and so did any chance of the Golden Driller .

The Chili Bowl is mine

The Chili Bowl is mine

Abreu diced early with Alex Bright for third before his move forward started .The racing between Zack Daum and Abreu was worth the entry fee alone .Laps 40,42 and 43 were crucial and a change came quickly once the race restarted .The caution on 40 and 43 were for incidents involving Sammy Swindell and 42 was for an incident in the stands.
By this time the track had become very narrow but the top was starting to offer opportunity.

With 12 laps to race Abreu finally found a way past the barriers Daum had successfully built and by lap 44 was all over the #63 of Clauson.The 2013 Champ had been running strong on the bottom and appeared to miss the change in track condition .Areu was aggressively driving the top and his pace was so much faster than Clauson. It was no surprise when he charged past and into the race lead on lap 45.
Once in the lead it was a case of put down the glasses the little man with the biggest right foot in Speedway had shut the gate on any challenger. There was no way back for Clauson and his second Golden Driller now resides with Red Hot Rico .
The USAC journey man Jerry Coons Jr, underrated by many was superb finishing 4th .Finally what a drive from Kyle Larson started 22nd and raced into 5th.The 2015 USAC Champion Tracy Hines finished in 17th position. The best of the NASCAR drivers was Kyle Larson 5th and the leading Outlaw was Joey Saldana in 10th .
Nine days to build this place, a week of exhilarating racing and two days to dismantle the best little dirt track in the world .

Driver interviews
Rico Abreu
“So I think this is one of the toughest tracks to be a leader at and set the pace,” said Rico. “Just because with how much the track changes in a feature or in a race, you can run second or third, and have the advantage of moving around on the surface rather than being the leader and running the line that you started running where you got the lead at.”

Abreu under the spotlight

Abreu under the spotlight

Bryan Clauson
“It took a lot longer for it widen out,” said Clauson of the track. “As silly as it sounds at that point in the race, I’d have rather been running second or third and hadn’t spent 10 laps trying to maneuver and figure out what I needed because the first lap of the restart I went in where I had been running, it wasn’t very good anymore.”
Zach Daum
Asked about his level of competitiveness, Daum replied, “We were decent, we weren’t great. We were way too tight early. Then once we moved to the cushion we were even tighter still. We struggled with side bite all weekend. So when we went to this race we kind of maybe went a little bit overboard. It’s still nothing to be ashamed of we ran third.”
Car Count: 335 Flip count :59

A Feature 1 (55 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[4]; 2. 63-Bryan Clauson[1]; 3. 5D-Zach Daum[8]; 4. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[6]; 5. 71K-Kyle Larson[22]; 6. 47X-Tim McCreadie[5]; 7. 91T-Tyler Thomas[9]; 8. 2X-Thomas Meseraull[11]; 9. 67-Tanner Thorson[16]; 10. 17-Joey Saldana[7]; 11. 8K-Blake Hahn[19]; 12. 71-Christopher Bell[2]; 13. 67Z-Kasey Kahne[10]; 14. 17G-Shane Golobic[20]; 15. 77B-Alex Bright[3]; 16. 17R-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[14]; 17. 24-Tracy Hines[13]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell[25]; 19. 71G-Damion Gardner[17]; 20. 99P-Dillon Welch[21]; 21. 3B-Joe B. Miller [24]; 22. (DNF) 71X-Shane Cottle[12]; 23. (DNF) 38-Justin Grant[23]; 24. (DNF) 21-Daryn Pittman[15]; 25. (DNF) 2A-C.J. Leary[18]

Chili Bowl Podium 2016

Chili Bowl Podium 2016

B-Feature: Top 6 advance to the A-Feature
B Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24-Tracy Hines[3]; 2. 21-Daryn Pittman[1]; 3. 71G-Damion Gardner[5]; 4. 8K-Blake Hahn[8]; 5. 99P-Dillon Welch[14]; 6. 3B-Joe B. Miller[11]; 7. 39B-Spencer Bayston[19]; 8. 7B-Austin Brown[4]; 9. 11A-Andrew Felker[10]; 10. 76M-Brady Bacon[16]; 11. 8J-Jonathan Beason[2]; 12. 21K-Cory Kruseman[15]; 13. 27T-Tucker Klaasmeyer[20]; 14. 14W-Matt Westfall[17]; 15. 25-Steve Buckwalter[18]; 16. 5X-Justin Peck[7]; 17. (DNF) 92-Brenden Bright[12]; 18. (DNF) 15X-Chad Boat[9]; 19. (DNF) 05H-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]; 20. (DNF) 57B-Chad Boespflug[6]
B Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 17R-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[5]; 2. 67-Tanner Thorson[7]; 3. 2A-C.J. Leary[1]; 4. 17G-Shane Golobic[3]; 5. 71K-Kyle Larson[12]; 6. 38-Justin Grant[9]; 7. 68W-Jake Swanson[10]; 8. 68-Ronnie Gardner[17]; 9. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[11]; 10. 51J-R.J. Johnson[4]; 11. 39S-Kevin Thomas Jr[16]; 12. 15D-Andrew Deal[19]; 13. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[15]; 14. 5S-Chase Stockon[6]; 15. 57D-Daniel Robinson[20]; 16. 8-Alex Sewell[14]; 17. (DNF) 9P-Parker Price-Miller[2]; 18. (DNF) 35M-Matt Sherrell[8]; 19. (DNF) 17H-Harli White[13]; 20. (DNF) 50-Daniel Adler[18]
C-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding B-Feature
C Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21K-Cory Kruseman[1]; 2. 76M-Brady Bacon[3]; 3. 14W-Matt Westfall[2]; 4. 25-Steve Buckwalter[4]; 5. 39B-Spencer Bayston[10]; 6. 27T-Tucker Klaasmeyer[9]; 7. 27H-Tanner Berryhill[11]; 8. 6K-Josh Lakatos[8]; 9. 73-Jason McDougal[16]; 10. 05T-Gary Taylor[12]; 11. 51X-Colby Copeland[20]; 12. 19S-Matt Streeter[19]; 13. 0S-Dylan Westbrook[14]; 14. 14-Trevor Kobylarz[5]; 15. 05S-Dominic Scelzi[7]; 16. 17J-Chase Johnson[6]; 17. (DNF) 51W-Danny Sheridan[13]; 18. (DNF) 37B-Jake Blackhurst[17]; 19. (DNF) 31B-David Budres[18]; 20. (DNF) 55-Nick Knepper[15]
C Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[4]; 2. 39S-Kevin Thomas Jr[8]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[3]; 4. 50-Daniel Adler[2]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[1]; 6. 57D-Daniel Robinson[10]; 7. 9K-Kyle Schuett[18]; 8. 29S-Anthony Nocella[5]; 9. 11-Tyler Courtney[15]; 10. 47-Danny Stratton[13]; 11. 56J-Sheldon Haudenschild[17]; 12. 0T-Tyler Brehm[19]; 13. 17M-Paul McMahan[9]; 14. 69-A.J. Fike[14]; 15. (DNF) 11AG-Dave Darland[7]; 16. (DNF) 17D-Alex DeCamp[6]; 17. (DNF) 7JA-Justin Allgaier[16]; 18. (DNF) 78-Nick Wean[12]; 19. (DNF) 35S-Danny Faria Jr[11]; 20. (DNF) 23-Jimmy Light[20]
D-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding C-Feature
D Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 55-Nick Knepper[2]; 2. 73-Jason McDougal[8]; 3. 37B-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 4. 31B-David Budres[5]; 5. 19S-Matt Streeter[17]; 6. 51X-Colby Copeland[4]; 7. 44X-Wesley Smith[13]; 8. 93-Dustin Morgan[16]; 9. 98D-Clinton Boyles[9]; 10. 15-Tim Siner[1]; 11. 91A-Chris Andrews[16]; 12. 7H-Darren Hagen[10]; 13. 99W-Larry Wight[12]; 14. 7A-Scott Weir[7]; 15. 7XX-Gage Walker[11]; 16. (DNF) 57T-Tyler Edwards[14]; 17. (DNF) 1PW-Paul White[6]
D Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 11-Tyler Courtney[6]; 2. 7JA-Justin Allgaier[1]; 3. 56J-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 4. 9K-Kyle Schuett[3]; 5. 0T-Tyler Brehm[4]; 6. 23-Jimmy Light[18]; 7. 73T-Trey Marcham[15]; 8. 100-Shane Stewart[16]; 9. 37F-Bill Balog[17]; 10. 39C-Payton Pierce[10]; 11. 22E-Cameron Hagin[12]; 12. 80-Josh Hawkins[7]; 13. 1-Sammy Swindell[2]; 14. 39S-Kevin Thomas Jr[18]; 15. 9$-Kyle Clark[14]; 16. (DNF) 88N-D.J. Netto[11]; 17. (DNF) 91K-Kevin Bayer[13]; 18. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]
E-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding D-Feature
E Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57T-Tyler Edwards[1]; 2. 93-Dustin Morgan[7]; 3. 91A-Chris Andrews[3]; 4. 19S-Matt Streeter[2]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman[13]; 6. 33-Davey Ray[15]; 7. 4C-Robert Sellers[6]; 8. 51JR-Ryan Jamison[5]; 9. 1T-Tony Roney[4]; 10. 32D-Danny Jennings[16]; 11. 20-Tadd Holliman[9]; 12. 82M-Steven Shebester[10]; 13. 55B-Alex Bowman[11]; 14. 5H-Tyson Hall[12]; 15. 20S-Shon Deskins[14]; 16. 91N-Austin Nemire[8]
E Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 73T-Trey Marcham[3]; 2. 100-Shane Stewart[1]; 3. 37F-Bill Balog[5]; 4. 23-Jimmy Light[15]; 5. 75-Johnny Herrera[4]; 6. 87F-Brian McClelland[9]; 7. 11B-Travis Berryhill[14]; 8. 7R-Robert Ballou[2]; 9. 29J-Logan Jarrett[13]; 10. 4J-Tim Crawley[6]; 11. 10C-Dalton Camfield[10]; 12. 1A-Kevin Ramey[12]; 13. (DNF) 37X-Anton Hernandez[8]; 14. (DNF) 11C-Chett Gehrke[11]
F-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding E-Feature
F Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 2. 20S-Shon Deskins[1]; 3. 33-Davey Ray[9]; 4. 32D-Danny Jennings[5]; 5. 4H-Tom Harris[11]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[7]; 7. 51S-Logan Scherb[10]; 8. 11S-Sean Watts[6]; 9. 7CM-Chance Morton[16]; 10. 14H-Harley Hollan[15]; 11. 25M-Derrick Myers[13]; 12. 21M-Michele Melton[12]; 13. 77U-Chris Urish[14]; 14. (DNF) 88-Chad Wheeler[2]
F Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1A-Kevin Ramey[1]; 2. 29J-Logan Jarrett[2]; 3. 11B-Travis Berryhill[16]; 4. 23-Jimmy Light[3]; 5. 19-Jake Bubak[15]; 6. 35F-Michael Faccinto[13]; 7. 55D-Nick Drake[12]; 8. 21S-Johnny Brown[4]; 9. 7E-Cory Eliason[5]; 10. 3C-Raven Culp[11]; 11. (DNF) 35L-Cody Ledger[6]; 12. (DNF) 96-Cody Brewer[7]; 13. (DNF) 24F-Hunter Fischer[9]; 14. (DNF) 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 15. (DNF) 77D-Dean Drake Jr[14]
G-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding F-Feature
G Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 77U-Chris Urish[2]; 2. 25M-Derrick Myers[1]; 3. 14H-Harley Hollan[4]; 4. 7CM-Chance Morton[6]; 5. 88T-Tyler Nelson[3]; 6. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[15]; 7. 6-Bill Rose[5]; 8. 41P-Austin Prock[8]; 9. 99-Kevin Chaffee[7]; 10. 17K-Michael Koontz[10]; 11. 2-Ryan Hall[16]; 12. 88D-Rusty Dukes[9]; 13. 7D-Michelle Decker[14]; 14. 7RS-Merril Lamb[11]; 15. (DNF) 7J-Shawn Jackson[13]; 16. (DNF) 7CH-Chris (Critter) Malone[12]
G Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77D-Dean Drake Jr[5]; 2. 35F-Michael Faccinto[7]; 3. 19-Jake Bubak[9]; 4. 11B-Travis Berryhill[4]; 5. 51F-Keith Rauch[10]; 6. 11F-Darin Snyder[8]; 7. 11E-Cory Elliott[14]; 8. 3FF-Mason Zeigler[11]; 9. 13-Derek Hagar[13]; 10. 11K-Gavin Harlien[1]; 11. 2K-Kyle Jones[16]; 12. 10J-John Hunt[13]; 13. 6C-Jeff Flesher[3]; 14. (DNF) 91-Jeff Stasa[12]; 15. (DNF) 4RD-Robert Dalby[2]; 16. (DNF) 6A-David Gough[6]
H-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding G-Feature
H Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7J-Shawn Jackson[4]; 2. 7D-Michelle Decker[2]; 3. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[8]; 4. 2-Ryan Hall[11]; 5. 13W-Tommy White[1]; 6. 86-Mark Lowrey[6]; 7. 5F-Rik Forbes[9]; 8. 21D-Justin Dickerson[10]; 9. 0G-Glenn Styres[15]; 10. 35X-Zach Hampton[3]; 11. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[14]; 12. 31E-Evan Sewell[13]; 13. 23A-Hannah Adair[12]; 14. 27K-Billy Lawhead[16]; 15. 19P-Alex Hill[5]; 16. 17E-Blake Edwards[7]
H Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10J-John Hunt[2]; 2. 11E-Cory Elliott[1]; 3. 13-Derek Hagar[4]; 4. 2K-Kyle Jones[6]; 5. 5$-Danny Smith[3]; 6. 2W-Wyatt Burks[8]; 7. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[9]; 8. 35B-T.J. Smith[12]; 9. 53H-Austin Archdale[7]; 10. 45X-C.J. Johnson[11]; 11. 56-Billy Wease[15]; 12. 57M-Landon Simon[16]; 13. 93K-Riley Kreisel[13]; 14. 87H-Coby Hughes[10]; 15. (DNF) 32-Casey Shuman[14]
I-Features: Top 4 advancing to the corresponding H-Feature
I Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 31E-Evan Sewell[2]; 2. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[8]; 3. 0G-Glenn Styres[11]; 4. 27K-Billy Lawhead[4]; 5. 15F-Aaron Farney[1]; 6. 67SF-Sarah Fisher[6]; 7. 14T-Tony Rossi[7]; 8. 11H-Chase Hill[12]; 9. 01J-David Ferguson[5]; 10. 2S-Travis Scott[14]; 11. 11J-Justin Melton[10]; 12. 14S-Steve Schaberg[15]; 13. 74-Zach Merritt[16]; 14. 7M-Anton Julian[9]; 15. (DNF) 8R-Randi Pankratz[13]; 16. (DNF) 3T-Tim Barber[3]
I Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 93K-Riley Kreisel[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[14]; 3. 56-Billy Wease[4]; 4. 57M-Landon Simon[5]; 5. 5C-Colten Cottle[7]; 6. 16K-Chris Dyson[6]; 7. 81-Jerry Hammock[3]; 8. 57-Tyler Seavey[14]; 9. 54-Evan Pardo[11]; 10. 2J-Zach Blurton[10]; 11. 8M-Kade Morton[12]; 12. 1P-Terry Nichols[13]; 13. 15B-Danny Burke[1]; 14. 0-Johnny Murdock[9]; 15. (DNF) 12K-Zac Taylor[11]; 16. (DNF) 22R-Eric Heydenreich[8]
Kevin Studley J-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding I-Feature.
J Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 8R-Randi Pankratz[2]; 2. 2S-Travis Scott[3]; 3. 14S-Steve Schaberg[1]; 4. 74-Zach Merritt[5]; 5. 16C-David Camfield Jr[8]; 6. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[12]; 7. 21H-Harlan Hulsey[15]; 8. 101-Chuck McGillivray[16]; 9. 15A-Ashley Hazelton[13]; 10. (DNF) 7-Shannon McQueen[4]; 11. (DNF) 98-Jarid Blondel[14]; 12. (DNF) 48-Taylor Forbes[9]; 13. (DNF) 46-Kenney Johnson[11]; 14. (DNF) 62-Taylor Simas[10]; 15. (DNF) 7K-Mason Keefer[6]; 16. (DNF) 5J-Jeff Crook[7]
J Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 54-Evan Pardo[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[4]; 3. 1P-Terry Nichols[1]; 4. 57-Tyler Seavey[6]; 5. 9U-Doug McCune[7]; 6. 9E-Rick Shuman[10]; 7. 69J-Jeromy Hefler[16]; 8. 83S-Shane Weeks[9]; 9. 5B-Andee Beierle[5]; 10. 77J-John Klabunde[12]; 11. 21T-Ty Hulsey[14]; 12. (DNF) 20X-Noah Harris[15]; 13. (DNF) 4M-J.J. Ercse[3]; 14. (DNF) 14B-Riley Adair[8]; 15. (DNF) 17KT-Joe Janowski[11]; 16. (DNF) 04-Marcus Thomas[13]
K-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding J-Feature
K Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 15A-Ashley Hazelton[2]; 2. 98-Jarid Blondel[3]; 3. 21H-Harlan Hulsey[4]; 4. 101-Chuck McGillivray[5]; 5. 32A-Garrett Aitken[15]; 6. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]; 7. 77X-Katlynn Leer[11]; 8. 92S-Isaac Schreurs[13]; 9. 85-Matt Johnson[6]; 10. 313-Mitchell Frewaldt[10]; 11. (DNF) 22D-David Stephenson[9]; 12. (DNF) 118-Scott Evans[16]; 13. (DNF) 10X-Danny Smith[14]; 14. (DNF) 7F-Josh Tyre[12]; 15. (DNF) 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[1]; 16. (DNF) 7SS-Wade Seiler[7]
K Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 04-Marcus Thomas[1]; 2. 21T-Ty Hulsey[7]; 3. 20X-Noah Harris[14]; 4. 69J-Jeromy Hefler[8]; 5. 35MF-Mitchell Faccinto[13]; 6. 12-Chris Sheil[16]; 7. 22B-Troy Betts[10]; 8. 0Z-Joe Rinne[3]; 9. 22-Chase Jones[15]; 10. 2D-Steve Davis[11]; 11. 41-Brad Thompson[6]; 12. 3BX-Aaron Pierce[4]; 13. (DNF) 56Y-Jeremy McCune[12]; 14. (DNF) 86C-Dave Camfield Jr.[2]; 15. (DNF) 1B-Chris Windom[5]; 16. (DNF) 83G-Matt Gilbert[9]
L-Features : Top 4 advance to corresponding K-Feature
L Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 92S-Isaac Schreurs[2]; 2. 10X-Danny Smith[5]; 3. 32A-Garrett Aitken[11]; 4. 118-Scott Evans[8]; 5. 17W-Justin Henderson[14]; 6. 14E-David McIntosh[6]; 7. 59E-Dex Eaton[9]; 8. 11Y-Travis Young[13]; 9. 76J-David Jones[7]; 10. (DNF) 349-Eric Saunders[10]; 11. (DNF) 51R-Matt Rossi[12]; 12. (DNF) 7S-Pat Schudy[16]; DNS 22H-John Heydenreich; DNS 44J-Jared Sewell; DNS 35W-Nate Wait
L Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 35MF-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 2. 20X-Noah Harris[1]; 3. 22-Chase Jones[6]; 4. 12-Chris Sheil[13]; 5. 3M-Brent Rees[3]; 6. 1TS-Tyler Shoemaker[5]; 7. 17S-Ryan Secrest[9]; 8. 69P-Colby Estes[14]; 9. 7X-Brian Peterson[10]; 10. 3-Dustin Weland[15]; 11. 5BB-Bobby Brewer[11]; 12. 7JR-J.D. Black[16]; 13. 70K-Kevin Olson[8]; 14. 5R-John Ricketts[12]; 15. 29-Garrett Saunders[4]; 16. (DNF) 10-George White[7]
M-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding L-Feature
M Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11Y-Travis Young[5]; 2. 17W-Justin Henderson[4]; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm[13]; 4. 7S-Pat Schudy[12]; 5. 71.5-Robert Bell[9]; 6. 56Z-Mindy McCord[11]; 7. 27B-A.J. Bruns[8]; 8. GO-Kip Hughes[6]; 9. 6B-Brad Kraus[16]; 10. 30T-Larry Bratti[7]; 11. 50LP-Michael Sosebee[1]; 12. 44D-Philip Dietz[15]; 13. 9H-Holly Porter[3]; 14. 35T-Tyler Robbins[10]; DNS 44C-Chris Stockham; DNS 83-Kurt Blackaby
M Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Chris Sheil[8]; 2. 69P-Colby Estes[5]; 3. 3-Dustin Weland[3]; 4. 7JR-J.D. Black[12]; 5. 37T-Tim Kent[7]; 6. 11R-Ariel Biggs[15]; 7. 9M-Cory Mallo[14]; 8. 3F-Frankie Guerrini[10]; 9. 84-Shaun Shapel[6]; 10. D6-Dakota Gaines[9]; 11. 5M-Sean Murphy[13]; 12. 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr[11]; 13. 31-James Burke[2]; DNS 7T-Jack Hawley; DNS 4D-Shane Sellers
N-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding M-Feature
N Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 56X-Mark Chisholm[2]; 2. 83-Kurt Blackaby[8]; 3. 44D-Philip Dietz[5]; 4. 6B-Brad Kraus[1]; 5. 26-Dustin Golobic[6]; 6. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[3]; 7. (DNF) 43-Logan Arnold[4]; 8. (DNF) 7W-Kory Schudy[9]; 9. (DNF) 2RS-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 10. (DNF) 53-Brett Thomas[7]
N Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7JR-J.D. Black[2]; 2. 5M-Sean Murphy[4]; 3. 9M-Cory Mallo[1]; 4. 11R-Ariel Biggs[8]; 5. 19N-Nick O’Neal[3]; 6. 0M-Mitchell Gladman[5]; 7. 59-Richard Harvey Jr[6]; 8. (DNF) 0B-A.J. Johnson[7]

This Chili Bowl report is supported by FLAT OUT MAGAZINE where you will find all the information on US open wheel racing ,Midgets to Sprintcars .Please visit our page to order your copy NOW!  $7.95 delivered direct to your door across Australia and New Zealand

december flat outDecember/January edition $7.95 Back copies available

Share Button

Clauson sweeps final preliminary night at Chili Bowl

Bryan Clauson wins night four at the Bowl

Bryan Clauson wins night four at the Bowl

On the final preliminary night of the 30th Chili Bowl Bryan Clauson raced in 4 wins from his four starts.
First up Clauson took his heat then his qualifier and a flag to flag Feature win. With a second Golden Driller there for the taking Clauson improved his position even further when he won the Pizza Express Pole Shuffle when he disposed of Christopher Bell in the final match race to decide pole position for the Saturday night Championship Final.

Bryan Clauson's night

Bryan Clauson’s night

Clauson made the most from his pole spot and raced to an early lead over McCreadie with Kahne, Pittman and Golobic chasing hard to limit Clauson’s early advantage.
McCreadie picked the high side in an effort to close down Clauson.Kahne and Pittman continued to argue over the final transfer position.
Traffic and cautions offered little assistance to McCreadie .With 5 laps to race and traffic ahead Clauson continued to slide his way around the back markers and head to finishing line a comfortable winner over McCreadie .Kasey Kahne managed to hold his third position from Pittman to book his ticket for the Saturday night 55 lap final .
Taking a little gloss over the nights racing was the  disqualification of Shane Cockrum from the 2016 Chili Bowl Nationals when it was established that Cockbrum had driven in place of Alex Shanks .At this stage no explanation from Cocbrum his team or Alex Shanks.The Benton Fire Chief has some explaining to do .
A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 63-Bryan Clauson[1]; 2. 47X-Tim McCreadie[5]; 3. 67Z-Kasey Kahne[3]; 4. 21-Daryn Pittman[2]; 5. 17G-Shane Golobic[7]; 6. 71G-Damion Gardner[13]; 7. 67-Tanner Thorson[10]; 8. 15X-Chad Boat[11]; 9. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[8]; 10. 05H-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 11. 21K-Cory Kruseman[9]; 12. 68-Ronnie Gardner[19]; 13. 14-Trevor Kobylarz[16]; 14. 11AG-Dave Darland[23]; 15. 27T-Tucker Klaasmeyer[18]; 16. 35S-Danny Faria Jr[17]; 17. 51W-Danny Sheridan[21]; 18. 15-Tim Siner[12]; 19. 9K-Kyle Schuett[22]; 20. 31B-David Budres[24]; 21. 80-Josh Hawkins[14]; 22. 98D-Clinton Boyles[20]; 23. (DNF) 88ND.J. Netto[15]; DQ 20A-Alex Shanks (aka. Shane Cockrum)…The 20a was found out to be Shane Cockrum, not Alex Shanks. Because of this, Shane has been DQ’d from the 2016 Chili Bowl Nationals.
Lap Leader: Bryan Clauson 1-25
Hard Charger: Dave Darland +9
Pizza Express Pole Shuffle (2 Laps, winner faces next lowest seed)
Zach Daum def. Shane Cottle
Zach Daum def. Thomas Meseraull
Zach Daum def. Kasey Kahne
Zach Daum def. Tyler Thomas
Joey Saldana def. Zach Daum
Jerry Coons, Jr. def. Joe Saldana
Tim McCreadie def. Jerry Coons, Jr.
Rico Abreu def. Tim McCreadie
Alex Bright def. Rico Abreu
Christopher Bell def. Alex Bright
Bryan Clauson def. Christopher Bell
The Championship Feature field will be a classic race and with Kyle Larson ,Tanner Thorson having to charge through their B2 Feature and Pittman and Hines having to do the same in the B1 Feature some interesting and thrilling racing awaits race fans

Who will hold the 2016 Golden Driller ?.

Share Button

Rico Abreu strong win night 2 Chili Bowl

Rico Abre at the Chili Bowl

Rico Abre at the Chili Bowl

Night 2 at the Chili Bowl and Rico Abreu telegraphs his Championship intentions with a powerful win in the night 2 Feature .Rico’s form when he is behind the Wheel of the Kunz Toyota is alway at such a dominating standard tonight was no different.

Night 2  podium

Night 2 podium

young Oaklahoma flyer Tyler Thomas sat on the pole and raced into the early lead .Tyler has been fast all night and for the first 11 laps managed keep Abreu at bay .Abreu was aggressive on the restart after the caution and stole the point from Thomas .As hard as Thomas tried and with the assistance of late race cautions could still not managed the pass to retain his race lead .

The difference between the pair , experience and Thomas will be a stronger challenger in the Championship decider .The big mover on the night picking up a load of passing points was Parker-Price Miller.

The feature results from night two,

UOF A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[6]; 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas[1]; 3. 2X-Thomas Meseraull[4]; 4. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[19]; 5. 7B-Austin Brown[2]; 6. 5S-Chase Stockon[7]; 7. 8K-Blake Hahn[8]; 8. 68W-Jake Swanson[16]; 9. 92-Brenden Bright[21]; 10. 8-Alex Sewell[9]; 11. 50-Daniel Adler[24]; 12. 25-Steve Buckwalter[13]; 13. 17D-Alex DeCamp[12]; 14. 6K-Josh Lakatos[18]; 15. 57D-Daniel Robinson[20]; 16. 05T-Gary Taylor[11]; 17. 69-A.J. Fike[5]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell[22]; 19. (DNF) 51X-Colby Copeland[17]; 20. (DNF) 11-Tyler Courtney[14]; 21. (DNF) 73-Jason McDougal[10]; 22. (DNF) 39C-Payton Pierce[3]; 23. (DNF) 99W-Larry Wight[15]; 24. (DNF) 9$-Kyle Clark[23]

Rico Abreu back in the pits after his feature win

Rico Abreu back in the pits after his feature win

 

Share Button

Alex Bright shines at Chili Bowl

image

Night one of the 30th Chili Bowl Nationals ends in the bright lights of the podium for Alex Bright, stunning drive from P8 to hold off. Joel Saldana and Zach Daum .

Saldana,Bright,Daum

Saldana,Bright,Daum

Lap 11 saw Kyle Larson’s run from pole disrupted when he found a stalled car on the excit of turn 2 .Larson was able to restart from the rear of the field .

Larson recovered to finish in 9th.During the race Darren Hagan flipped but was not injured .

The final results for The night one qualifier ,UOF A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 77B-Alex Bright[8]; 2. 17-Joey Saldana[11]; 3. 5D-Zach Daum[5]; 4. 8J-Jonathan Beason[2]; 5. 51J-R.J. Johnson[16]; 6. 57B-Chad Boespflug[12]; 7. 35M-Matt Sherrell[3]; 8. 11A-Andrew Felker[19]; 9. 71K-Kyle Larson[1]; 10. 99P-Dillon Welch[17]; 11. 14W-Matt Westfall[14]; 12. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[18]; 13. 17J-Chase Johnson[24]; 14. 39S-Kevin Thomas Jr[7]; 15. 39B-Spencer Bayston[4]; 16. 78-Nick Wean[13]; 17. 0S-Dylan Westbrook[21]; 18. 55-Nick Knepper[22]; 19. 0T-Tyler Brehm[20]; 20. 1PW-Paul White[10]; 21. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[23]; 22. (DNF) 7H-Darren Hagen[9]; 23. (DNF) 22E-Cameron Hagin[15]; 24. (DNF) 44X-Wesley Smith[6]

 

Bright over Saldana on the line

Bright over Saldana on the line

 

Share Button

Rico jumps into Team owner Kunz’s arms after Chili Bowl success.

Rico jumps into Team owner Kunz’s arms after Chili Bowl success.
Rico Abreu with a stirring drive put the heat into the 29th Chili Bowl with a measured drive to win the 29th Chili Bowl.

Abreu wins at Tulsa \Pic credit Teejay Crawford

Abreu wins at Tulsa \Pic credit Teejay Crawford

The 2014 USAC National Dirt Midget Champion brought all of his enormous talent to the Tulsa Expo clay coming from behind the defending Champion Clauson to place his hands squarely on the Golden Driller at the end of the 55 laps.
The exuberance Abreu show after his win can only be described as special and track pictures and videos show his and his team emotions better than any word I can write.
Rico doing just what the crowd wanted and they chant Rico, Rico, and Rico. Watch this link . https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204825040339573

The build up to the 55 lap Championship Feature could not have been better scripted. Preliminary Winners Clauson, Coons and Larson holding down the top three position with Abreu just behind.

Jerry CoonsJr and Bryan Clauson lead the field to the gree Pic-Teejay Crawford

Jerry CoonsJr and Bryan Clauson lead the field to the gree
Pic-Teejay Crawford

Coons took the field to the green but it was Clauson that stole the early race lead follow but Coons, Deal and Larson .Clauson was smoking out in the lead and the early indications were that the defending Champion was the pace of the field.
Looking for his first Chili Bowl Championship Larson was aggressively looking for any opportunity to pass and on lap 15 spun the Kunz/Beast/Toyota
By lap 20 a change was starting to come over the race with the emergence of Abreu from the pack by lap 20 the USAC Champ has worked past Coons and was looking like a threat to Clauson.
Lap 22, another caution bringing Abreu right onto the tail of the Priority Aviation Esslinger.
On the restart Rico’s car was fast while Clauson’s car appear to be struggling a little and after pushing hard on lap 26 Abreu after running the cushion slid the #97 Toyota hit the bottom and slid under the defending Champion as the crowd got to their feet .Clauson’s tried to respond but the Esslinger had nothing to offer and Rico’s Chili Bowl chances started to look promising.

Abreu’s lead started to lengthen and now the attention was back onto Clauson as he tried to fend off the fast arriving Pittman .Lap 30 and both Clauson’s and Pittman’s Chili Bowl chances were dealt a serious blow when they tangled trying to avoid a spinning Spencer Bayston . Both cars stopped and were rewarded with a rear of the field restart.

The chase for the Golden Driller now took an exciting change as the cautions and troubles for Clauson and Pittman worked a treat for Kevin Swindell who had been slowly working his way through the field after an early incident that saw the four times Chili Bowl Champion end up with a ROF restart .Swindell’s forceful drive was rewarded with his second consecutive runner up position. Damion Gardiner had slowly taken advantages of others mistakes to grind out a satisfying third in the Jason Leffler tribute memorial #71L racecar after starting out of P23.

After crossing the strip Abreu completed the expected donut before throwing his small frame from the top of the Beast/Toyota right into Team owners Keith Kunz’s arms .Amazing celebration

Post race interview Rico Abreu:
“I just tried to stay as patient as I could. You know the race is a not a long race, but it is a long race. For a few laps I just kind of got after it just to see where we were at and I hung with him [Bryan Clauson] pretty good,” commented Abreu about his pass for the lead. “I don’t know how hard he was racing, but when the time was right I pulled the trigger and gave him a slide job and was waiting for him to slide me back. We dragged raced each other into three and I came out with the lead. “

Rico at post race interview

Rico at post race interview

Kevin Swindell on his runner up position:
“You come here four years in a row and leave here as the winner, and sit in that middle chair, it’s no fun to even run second anymore. Last year was kind of depressing and pretty much the same thing of just being a couple laps too late,” commented Swindell. “We had a great car, but somebody else’s mistake really put me behind the eight-ball at the beginning. I did all I could to get back, but Rico was really good at the end.”
There was some post race friction between Sammy Swindell and Kyle Larson, both claiming the other was to blame for incidents during the race. I must say I find the amount of agro against Swindell across the Sport is hard to believe .Texts flying around between to two, unnecessary, the less said about the incident the better, and fans will make up their own minds.

Sammy Swindell in trouble again

Sammy Swindell in trouble again

A Feature (55 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu [3]; 2. 39-Kevin Swindell[10]; 3. 71L-Damion Gardner[23]; 4. 67-Tanner Thorson[18]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell[16]; 6. 21-Daryn Pittman[8]; 7. 71K-Kyle Larson[4]; 8. 15D-Andrew Deal[6]; 9. 5D-Zach Daum[20]; 10. 63-Bryan Clauson[2]; 11. 8K-Blake Hahn[15]; 12. 05-Brad Loyet[7]; 13. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[1]; 14. 7A-Darren Hagen[22]; 15. 2B-Ryan Bernal[17]; 16. 17C-Casey Shuman[25]; 17. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[12]; 18. 39B-Spencer Bayston[11]; 19. 63K-Chris Windom[5]; 20. 17RW-Dave Darland[24]; 21. 15X-Chad Boat[9]; 22. 5C-Colten Cottle[21]; 23. 71-Christopher Bell[14]; 24. 88B-Terry Babb[13]
Lap Leader(s): Bryan Clauson 1-26; Rico Abreu 27-55

All the best Open Wheel Action can be your just order the December issue of Flat Out Magazine now available for purchase from this site , visit the Flat Out Page to order .

Delivere  anywhere in Australia and New Zealand vis Australia Post -Secure payment by Palpay ;

December issue

December issue

Share Button

Clauson flag to flag to win night 4 Chili Bowl

Clauson  flag to flag to win night 4 Chili Bowl
The defending Champion Bryan Clauson had his Priority Aviation Joe Dooling / Rusty Kunz Esslinger perfectly programmed with the auto pilot set to win from the opening lap. Clauson started his defense perfect with heat, qualifier win and looks very fast and confident on the track.

Bryan Clauson in victory lane Preliminary night 4 Pic - Racing Boys

Bryan Clauson in victory lane Preliminary night 4
Pic – Racing Boys

 Clauson and Darland on the front row rolled to the green and Clauson immediately set about stamping his authority over the 24 car field.
Clauson led the field from Darland; Pittman and the big early mover was Boat charging up to 4th from his 8th starting position.

Boats early race pace soon saw him pass Pittman and assume third behind Darland.
Boat and Pittman managed to work pass Dave Darland who was now coming under threat from Damon Gardiner. With the race entering lap 22 trouble arrived for Darland and Gardiner when they get tangled up, putting an end to their transfer chances. Pittman and Boat were racing hard for the spot behind the untroubled Clauson.

As normal the lapped traffic started to get involved in the leaders race. Clauson sliced past them with the skill of a surgeon leaving Pittman and Boat to work their own way around the lapped traffic

.The race was pretty uneventful with Clauson dominating and the big question was who would come out on top in the battle between Pittman and Boat.
Chad Boat has been fast and looked solid in second until the pair entered the last two laps and finally the World of Outlaws 2013 Champion managed to find the way past on the bottom for a strong second behind the  Priority Aviation backed car of Clauson

.After an ordinary set of lead up races Tanner Thorson put his little Toyota Beast to work with an impressive win the second B feature to secure his A Feature start .Starting out of P18 in the A Feature Thorson was the biggest mover all night ending up in a very creditable 4th place just ahead of Darren Hagan and Woo Late Model star and 2006 Chili Bowl winner Tim McCredie.

Brian Clauson was asked what it would mean to win back-to-back Drillers, Clauson replied, “It would be huge; this place has been under an evil reign for a long time. I got to sit here next to Kevin [Swindell] last year and talk about how easy it is to win off the front row, and this and that. We are on the front row this year, and hopefully it’s as easy as he says. Hopefully we can make 55 good ones, and be sitting here again tomorrow.

Press conference after night 4 Chili Bowl Pic-Chili Bowl Nationals

Press conference after night 4 Chili Bowl
Pic-Chili Bowl Nationals

Daryn Pittman post race “I hadn’t run the bottom in 20 laps so I didn’t know what to expect when I went down there,” said Pittman of his pass for second. “I was just committed that I was going down there and try to make something happen.”
Chad Boat post race “You’ve got to pass everyone you can and our goal was to get up where Bryan was. It probably wasn’t realistic, but I think we are all pretty pleased here.”

Pits still rocking at the end of day Pic -Chili Bowl National

Pits still rocking at the end of day
Pic -Chili Bowl National

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 63-Bryan Clauson[1]; 2. 21-Daryn Pittman[3]; 3. 15X-Chad Boat[8]; 4. 67-Tanner Thorson[18]; 5. 7A-Darren Hagen[12]; 6. 47X-Tim McCreadie[17]; 7. 3-Shane Cottle[7]; 8. 68-Ronnie Gardner[9]; 9. 21K-Cory Kruseman[5]; 10. 71L-Damion Gardner[4]; 11. 1JR-Stevie Sussex III[11]; 12. 17RW-Dave Darland[2]; 13. 4J-Tim Crawley[10]; 14. 17K-Alex Schutte[16]; 15. 37F-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]; 16. 57D-Daniel Robinson[23]; 17. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[6]; 18. 51F-Mike Spencer[14]; 19. 85H-Shane Hollingsworth[22]; 20. 41-Jason Johnson[20]; 21. 82H-Mike Hess[21]; 22. 17J-Chase Johnson[15]; 23. 24X-Landon Simon[24]; 24. 35X-Frank Flud[19]

Saturday night in Tulsa it is time for the GOLDEN DRILLER CHAMPIONSHIP RACE

Chili Bowl reports are brought to you by Flat Out Magazine the magazine with all the open wheel action from the USA and down Under .Get your copy with Brian Brown on the cover now by visiting . http://www.talkingspeedway.com/flat-out-magazine/

December issue

December issue

Share Button

Jerry Coons Jr and Stanton Toyota win night three Chili Bowl

Jerry Coons Jr and Stanton Toyota win night three Chili Bowl

Jerry Coons wins at the Chili Bowl Pic credit Patrick Grant

Jerry Coons wins at the Chili Bowl
Pic credit Patrick Grant

USAC journey man Jerry Coons Jr worked his Wile-Pak Stanton SR11 Toyota to a treat as he wheeled to the win in the John Christner Preliminary Feature over Andrew Deal and Kevin Swindell
On paper this Feature appeared to be the strongest so far on Bowl schedule featuring 4 times winner Kevin Swindell 2005 Champion Tracey Hines and 2013 USAC Midget Champ Bell.Both Bell and Swindell had trouble during the night and had to fight through the Bs to gain their transfer into the A Feature. Both won their B Features.
Danny Stratton and Andrew Deal would lead the field to the green but lap 1 in turn 2 the race would come to abrupt stop with 10 cars colliding , massive pile up. Both Bell and Swindell were in the middle of it.

Lap 1 pile up Chili Bowl Pic credit Tee-Jay Crawford

Lap 1 pile up Chili Bowl
Pic credit Tee-Jay Crawford

Stratton took the race lead from the restart but by lap 4 Andrew Deal had worked his way past Stratton. Deal would only hold the point till lap 7 before Coons took his Wilke-Pak Stanton into the race lead. Coons had been working the cushion showing all of his 12 years of Chili Bowl Championship experience.
Coons and Deal had consolidated their positions but there were still lots of action to come as only the top three would transfer to the Championship Final.
The final race caution would come out on lap 14 for Tracey Hines. Hines was running in the final transfer position when yellow Toyota climbed the fence in the front straight and his transfer spot was gone.

When they passed the cone for the final restart Coons and Deal again took control of their positions and the remaining attention was focused on the charge coming from Swindell and Bell. Lap 24 of 25 and Swindell finally gets by Ryan Bernall to grab that important final transfer spot. Bell would cross in 5th and has some work ahead of him the make the Championship Final.

Swindell and Bell ready for the John Christner Trucking Preliminary Final

Swindell and Bell ready for the John Christner Trucking Preliminary Final

Jerry Coons Jr wins the John Christner Trucking Preliminary by 2,220 seconds over Andrew Deal and Kevin Swindell

Jerry Coons Jr post race “”We had 60-70 cars here tonight and some of the top drivers. In any preliminary night, it’s hard enough to run in the top-three, certainly hard enough to win. Everything has got to go your way, which it did tonight. From our Heat, to our Qualifier, everything went right,” commented Coons on the win. “The reason we celebrate pretty good on preliminary nights is because it’s still a big win.”

Kevin Swindell post race “”I was able to get around the bottom pretty good. I think most of the guys couldn’t and didn’t really try,” said Swindell when asked about his run from the back. “I had the seas part a couple of times to get a few of them and I guess I had to really work past Bernal at the end.

A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[3]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 3. 39-Kevin Swindell[18]; 4. 2B-Ryan Bernal[5]; 5. 71-Christopher Bell[17]; 6. 47-Danny Stratton[1]; 7. 5X-Justin Peck[19]; 8. 26-Shane Golobic[7]; 9. 37-Seth Bergman[8]; 10. 91K-Kevin Bayer[14]; 11. 19W-Matt Streeter[6]; 12. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[23]; 13. 10V-Richard VanderWeerd[20]; 14. 8H-Harli White[24]; 15. 22E-Mike Goodman[16]; 16. 57C-Chad Boespflug[9]; 17. 24-Tracy Hines[4]; 18. 19S-Patrick Stasa[12]; 19. 2A-C.J. Leary[11]; 20. 17M-Michael Koontz[10]; 21. 17W-Cole Wood[22]; 22. (DNF) 73D-David Gravel[15]; 23. (DNF) 50-Daniel Adler[13]; 24. (DNF) 33-Davey Ray[21]
Lap Leader(s): Danny Stratton 1-3; Andrew Deal 4-6; Jerry Coons, Jr. 7-25;

This Chili Bowl report is brought to you by Flat Out Magazine . For all the open wheel action order Flat Out now with Brian Brown on the cover from our Flat Out page

Secure payment by Palpay available in Australian and New Zealand  visit our Flat Out Page and ORDER NOW !

December issue

December issue

Share Button

Abreu strikes at Chili Bowl night two

Abreu strikes at Chili Bowl night two
Refreshed from his racing stint down under Rico Abreu picked up the three aces in the River Spirit Qualifying Night with his heat win, qualifier win and the preliminary Feature triumph

Abreu on hi s way to winning night two at the Chili Bowl Credit Buck Monson

Abreu on hi s way to winning night two at the Chili Bowl
Credit Buck Monson

The Bowl has a Toyota feeling about it with first Larson and now Abreu taking the praise of the massive Bowl Crowd and now the pressure will move onto teammate Christopher bell when it ‘s his turn to fire his Beast Toyota looking for 3 from three for the Kunz Toyota Team .

Abreu started out of position 6 and found early pace to advance to 4th on the opening lap. Windom had the early race lead from Marcham and Blake Hahn.
Abreu found the cushion early and soon found his way around both Marcham and Hahn. Lap 15 and the cushion work by Abreu soon paid dividends as he managed move past the early leader Chris Windom.

The 2014 USAC Champion and his little Beast Toyota then controlled the race to cross the strip 2.75 sec ahead of Chris Windom .Blake Hahn looked likely to get second but as the race entered the final laps a fast finishing J.J Yeley raced wheel to wheel with Hahn and it was only in the last two corners that Yeley managed to get that final drive out of the corner to edge Hahn from third and the transfer spot into the Championship Final.
83 cars started the night two preliminary and 11 drivers flipped over making 21 so far for the Bowl Nationals. All driver were ok after their experience . The last to flip on the night was Alex Decamp

Abreu raced with confidence and always looked in command but the apart from Rico the night belonged to the old stager Sammy Swindell. Sammy’s night started with a black fag for a lost muffler making the 5times Bowl Champion work through D , C, and B Features before having the chance to qualify. Swindell was the master , a stallion against a lot of ponies as he made his way into the A Final .Starting from P 18 Swindell managed to get to 5th and just missed the transfer spot During the night Swindell passed 45 cars.

Sammy Swindell charges his way to the A Final  credit Buck Monson

Sammy Swindell charges his way to the A Final
credit Buck Monson

Abreu was asked after the race about his mindset in the late stages of the race, Abreu replied, “Don’t crash. You get those lapped cars running side-by-side in front of you then all you worry about is the guy behind you running you down.”

Windom Abreu Yeley at post race interview Photo- Chili Bowl Nationals

Windom Abreu Yeley at post race interview
Photo- Chili Bowl Nationals

Third place JJ Yeley at the post race interview “You have to run hard no matter what when you’re here. The race track got really treacherous and you had to be smooth. I think he [Blake] was trying to regain maybe the spot he had given up there, and obviously when you are coming down to the last couple of laps, you are going to do everything you can to get in that top-three,” commented Yeley of his final lap battle with Blake Hahn.

A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[6]; 2. 63K-Chris Windom[1]; 3. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[4]; 4. 8K-Blake Hahn[3]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell[18]; 6. 73T-Trey Marcham[2]; 7. 17C-Casey Shuman[8]; 8. 51X-Colby Copeland[23]; 9. 91T-Tyler Thomas[9]; 10. 11W-Brady Bacon[13]; 11. 92-Brenden Bright[16]; 12. 68W-Jake Swanson[5]; 13. 5E-James Edens[19]; 14. 1T-Tony Roney[7]; 15. 88J-Jace VanderWeerd[17]; 16. 9E-Brody Roa[24]; 17. 38-Justin Grant[10]; 18. 19L-Landon Hurst[21]; 19. 37X-Tim Kent[22]; 20. 66-Shane Cockrum[11]; 21. 55D-Nick Drake[20]; 22. 7B-Austin Brown[14]; 23. (DNF) 75X-Travis Berryhill[12]; 24. (DNF) 62T-Taylor Simas[15]
Lap Leader(s): Chris Windom 1-14; Rico Abreu 15-25;

Night three is the John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night

This Chili Bowl report is supported by the December issuse of Flat Out Magazine . All the open wheel action from the Staes and down under . You can order by going to our Flat out Pge on this site . Secure payments by Palpay

December issue

December issue

Share Button

Chili Bowl opener is all Kyle Larson

Chili Bowl opener is all Kyle Larson what a drive !
Tulsa-Oklahoma:

Kyle Larson wins opener at Chili Bowl  Credit Patrick Grant Photo

Kyle Larson wins opener at Chili Bowl
Credit Patrick Grant Photo

The 29th Chili Bowl started in the most disastrous possible way for Larson and Keith Kunz.
Getting his Chili Bowl off to an early start in heat one did little for Larson after starting from position 10 he suffered car damage during his progress forward resulting in a broken drag link and front shock. The team pulled out the spanners and worked to ready the car for the C Main so that the car could return to contest the remaining races.
Return he did winning the C main then B to gain his start in the William Cat Preliminary Feature. The task for Larson from position 17 was to make one of the top three positions to advance to the big Diller Final on Saturday night.
A daunting tasks for many but for Larson just another challenge. After 4 laps the Elik Grove driver had moved inside the top 10, the little Beast Toyota, What a feeling!
Up front the race lead was a battle between Loyet, Jones and Daum and it was not long before the POWRi Champion had taken over the race lead. Daum looked strong and fast and was increasing his every lap.

The Kunz Toyota team working hard to ready the Beast  Credit Joshua Skelton

The Kunz Toyota team working hard to ready the Beast
Credit Joshua Skelton

Cautions pay no favors to race leaders as all their hard fought advantage is lost as the field compress up for the restarts. Each caution brought Larson closer to the leaders
The cautions might have played into Larson’s hands but you need to have that special ability to make the caution your friend.
By lap 20 the traffic started to come into play and would be the downfall of Zach Daum the POWRi Champ when he had to shut down to miss the spinning levi Jones #56 and Alex Bright . Larson had the opening and from that point on it was no contest as the Kunz Kid took the field apart as only he.
Larson would cross in first from Loyet and Brayston while Daum would recover after restarting ROF to finish in 9th place. The night belonged to Kyle Larson, spectacular form to win the C, B and A Features.

Chili Bowl podium night one  Credit Patrick Grant

Chili Bowl podium night one
Credit Patrick Grant

It was not a happy night for New Zealand’s Michael Pickens after having a flat at the start of his heat and being unable to get it fixed before the race started , the Kiwi found himself on back foot needing to qualify through the 2nd B main . Pickens made the A Final and was running strongly from P 20 to 4th when he ran out of fuel, how is it possible? Pickens would fade as a result and finish in 8th place.
Earlier in the night Sammy Swindell showed that retirement and ages has done little to reduce his Chili Bowl form fast when he won the VROC of Champions from Bryan Clauson over Kory Krusemen. Clauson ran from Position 12 into second and passing Larson, Bell and Abreu on the way.\
Kyle Larson post race comment “”No, not at all,” commented Larson when asked if he thought he’d be sitting in Victory Lane.”I thought it’d be tough to get to the “A”. I could get through the “C” and thought it would be close on getting to the “A” from the “B”. If I was to get to the “A”, I thought if I could finish in the top-six or seven, it would be a solid recovery. Everything seemed to fall my way after that Heat Race accident.”
Brad Loyet Post race comment “”It was one of those things where I kind of got caught early on following Daum and watching his line. Every time he’d make a mistake, I’d make one. My car was a little bit too snug and when I almost lost everything about half-way through the race, I sat back and relaxed, and realized that if we make some solid laps here, we’re going to be in the show on Saturday.”
Spencer Bayston post race comment “”I’m really just in awe right now. I’m just in shock. I’m sitting here shaking, and trying to get through my mind that I just made it in the A-Main,” said Bayston. “Two years ago, I was sitting at home watching YouTube videos of Kyle, Brad, and Bryan, and all those guys race around here. To be racing against them is a true honor.”
A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71K-Kyle Larson[17]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 3. 39B-Spencer Bayston[3]; 4. 21S-Joey Saldana[12]; 5. 88B-Terry Babb[7]; 6. 5C-Colten Cottle[23]; 7. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]; 8. 63NZ-Michael Pickens[20]; 9. 5D-Zach Daum[5]; 10. R8-Joey Moughan[19]; 11. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[21]; 12. 27-Alex Bright[14]; 13. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 14. 56-Levi Jones[2]; 15. 11A-Andrew Felker[13]; 16. 52C-Isaac Chapple[18]; 17. 8J-Jonathan Beason[11]; 18. 7SS-Wade Seiler[24]; 19. 79J-Jacob Patton[22]; 20. (DNF) 35-Billy Wease[15]; 21. (DNF) 78-Nick Wean[9]; 22. (DNF) 17S-Dominic Scelzi[8]; 23. (DNF) 19P-Robert Ballou[10]; 24. (DNF) 71X-Tyler Courtney[16]
Lap Leader(s): Levi Jones 1-7; Zach Daum 8-20; Kyle Larson 21-24;
It is now on to night 2 of the Chili Bowl Nationals and the River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night

This Chili Bowl report is brought to you couresty of Flat Out Magazine . All the open wheel racing news from across the USA and Down Under . You can order your copy by visiting our Flat Out page  . Secure payment via Palpay

December issue

December issue

Share Button