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Larson Tops Warren CAT Qualifier; Swindell takes VIROC V

Bryan Hulbert - Tulsa, Oklahoma (January 8, 2013) Fresh off a four race sweep in New Zealand, Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson kept his streak of wins alive, celebrating a well-deserved victory with Steering Wheel absent doughnuts following a superb battle with Brady Bacon in Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifying A-Feature presented by US Fleet Tracking.

Earning the lead spot in the night’s A-Feature line-up, Larson stayed on point for the first three rounds before surrendering the top spot on lap three as Brady Bacon sailed the cushion off turn four.

“I knew it was going to get to the top within a few laps” commented Larson when asked about Bacon taking the lead away early on. “I really was focusing on finishing in the top three and wasn’t really too worried about him [Brady Bacon] getting by me but he was setting such a fast pace and I didn’t know how fast the other guys were behind me.”

With the majority of the field following suit to the cushion, slower traffic would approach quickly with the leaders finding the tail of the field by lap ten.

Taking to the hub to advance through traffic, the time spent around the berm was enough to allow Larson to begin closing the distance between the two.

As the pair of leaders raced on into heavier and heavier traffic, Tony Stewart and Casey Shuman continued a race long contest for the show position with Stewart putting the Chevrolet Performance No. 14 into the third spot on the sixteenth round.

Asked about the track, specifically being able to roll the bottom, Stewart replied, “At the beginning I think when they watered it was still a little bit greasy when we first started the race. It went away in a couple of laps but it was difficult for the first couple of laps to get going down there. As the pace kind of slowed down, my car got better from the halfway point on.”

As Stewart settled into third, Bacon raced to lap eighteen with Larson finding his chance at the lead with traffic holding Bacon to the bottom of the Tulsa Expo Raceway. Taking the PPM No. 99 back to the cushion, Larson would dive the bottom of turn one, pulling even with Brady down the back straight-a-way to take the lead entering turn three only to see the caution flag wave in turns one and two; reverting the field to the last fully completed lap.

Restarting with eighteen laps completed, Larson wasted no time going for the slide job, taking the lead exiting turn one and leading the remaining seven circuits.

“I got a big run on him into one and slid him, and that was kind of the move of the race” commented Larson. “After that I just focused on hitting my marks.”

Brady Bacon would try for the lead in the closing laps but fell short with Tony Stewart taking the final step on the podium. Casey Shuman held on for a fourth place finish with Chris Windom making up the top five.

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Jonathan Beason advanced from his tenth starting spot to finish sixth. Despite dropping a valve in the final laps, Phoenix, Arizona’s R.J. Johnson held on for seventh with Finland’s Markus Niemela crossing the stripe eighth. Shane Cottle and Kevin Ramey rounded out the top ten.

Eight Heat Races were contested with victories going to Casey Shuman, Chris Windom, Brenden Bright, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sean Dodenhoff, R.J. Johnson, P.J. Jones, and Shon Deskins.

The two C-Feature wins went to Darren Kingston and Kurt Mayhew with four A-Feature Qualifiers taken by Markus Niemela, Brady Bacon, Kevin Ramey, and Shane Cottle.

B-Feature victories belonged to Seth Motsinger and Zach Daum who earned the Hard Charger of the night, after a DNF in his Heat Race put the No. 5D last in the second C-Feature. Passing thirty-four cars through the C, B, and ultimately A-Feature, Daum ended up twelfth at the checkered flag.

Also a part of the Warren CAT Qualifying Night was the VIROC V. Headlined with fifteen drivers of who are either past Chili Bowl champions or driving for champion car owners, Kevin Swindell showed his continuing dominance of the Tulsa Expo Raceway with a closing lap pass on race long leader J.J. Yeley to earn his first, and third straight Swindell win in the Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions.

Into total, Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifier saw 65 drivers draw in representing sixteen states and three countries.

Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifying Night Results:

Heat Races - Top 40 in passing points advance to A-Feature Qualifiers.

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2H-Casey Shuman[3]; 2. 57X-Kaley Engstrom[1]; 3. 31B-David Budres[4]; 4. 87F-Brian McClelland[5]; 5. 56X-Mark Chisholm[2]; 6. 45X-C.J. Johnson[8]; 7. 57K-Kevin Studley[6]; 8. 33R-Joe Stornetta[9]; 9. 22AZ-Rick Shuman[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7W-Chris Windom[6]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[3]; 3. 9U-Doug McCune[2]; 4. 7M-Seth Motsinger[5]; 5. 0K-Don O'Keefe Jr[7]; 6. 2X-Clint Woolbright[1]; DNF 49JR-Bobby Michnowicz[4]; DNF 14R-Jody Rosenboom[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 92J-Brenden Bright[2]; 2. 81-Markus Niemela[1]; 3. 6-Aaron Pierce[4]; 4. 39C-Dillon Welch[8]; 5. 5BL-Barry Lamb[3]; 6. 17W-Cole Wood[6]; 7. 91H-Mike Hudson[7]; 8. 33A-Stephen Arnold[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 71-Kyle Larson[8]; 3. 21N-Nick Speidel[2]; 4. 77H-Michael Harders[3]; 5. 81B-Ryan Beechler[5]; 6. 86C-David Camfield Jr[6]; 7. 1X-Bryan Debrick[7]; 8. 98GB-Curtis Boyer[4]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[2]; 2. 0Z-Cameron Beard[4]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon[6]; 4. 19W-Matt Mitchell[3]; 5. 17E-Blake Edwards[7]; 6. W94-Waylon Weaver[5]; DNF 23-Jimmy Light[1]; DNF 22-Mike Goodman[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 51J-R.J. Johnson[4]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart[5]; 3. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[2]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[7]; 5. 21X-Kurt Mayhew[1]; 6. 7J-Shawn Jackson[8]; 7. 1B-Bobby Brewer[6]; 8. 11H-Dustin Hapka[3]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 98-P.J. Jones[1]; 2. 89K-Josh Lakatos[3]; 3. 05C-Shane Cottle[4]; 4. 7MR-Kevin Ramey[7]; 5. 55-Taylor Lynn Ferns[8]; 6. 94K-Darren Kingston[6]; DNF 22A-Andy Malpocker[2]; DNF 4B-Chris Shirek[5]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 11T-Shon Deskins[1]; 2. 11C-Chett Gehrke[4]; 3. 28K-Justin Hendricks[7]; 4. 83JR-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.[6]; 5. 12S-Bryan Severs[5]; 6. 5R-Garrett Rider[8]; DNF 73F-Tyler Walker[2]; DNF 5D-Zach Daum[3]

C-Features - Top 4 to corresponding B-Features:

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 21X-Kurt Mayhew[2]; 2. 86C-David Camfield Jr[3]; 3. 57K-Kevin Studley[6]; 4. 5BL-Barry Lamb[1]; 5. 23-Jimmy Light[10]; 6. 14R-Jody Rosenboom[8]; 7. 22A-Andy Malpocker[9]; 8. 33R-Joe Stornetta[7]; 9. 1X-Bryan Debrick[5]; 10. W94-Waylon Weaver[4]; DNF 11H-Dustin Hapka[12]; DNF 22AZ-Rick Shuman[13]; DNF 4B-Chris Shirek[11]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 94K-Darren Kingston[3]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[12]; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm[1]; 4. 73F-Tyler Walker[9]; 5. 49JR-Bobby Michnowicz[7]; 6. 17W-Cole Wood[2]; 7. 91H-Mike Hudson[4]; 8. 98GB-Curtis Boyer[11]; DNF 2X-Clint Woolbright[5]; DNF 1B-Bobby Brewer[6]; DNF 22-Mike Goodman[8]; DNF 33A-Stephen Arnold[10]

A-Feature Qualifiers - Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the US Fleet Track A-Feature.

A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Markus Niemela[1]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart[5]; 3. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[8]; 4. 7W-Chris Windom[6]; 5. 11C-Chett Gehrke[4]; 6. 11T-Shon Deskins[3]; 7. 28K-Justin Hendricks[2]; 8. 17E-Blake Edwards[9]; 9. 7J-Shawn Jackson[10]; DNF 83JR-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.[7]

A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon[4]; 2. 71-Kyle Larson[6]; 3. 31B-David Budres[1]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[2]; 5. 92J-Brenden Bright[5]; 6. 39C-Dillon Welch[3]; 7. 87F-Brian McClelland[8]; 8. 55-Taylor Lynn Ferns[7]; 9. 77H-Michael Harders[9]; 10. 5R-Garrett Rider[10]

A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 1. 7MR-Kevin Ramey[2]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[3]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 51J-R.J. Johnson[6]; 5. 7M-Seth Motsinger[8]; 6. 19W-Matt Mitchell[9]; 7. 81B-Ryan Beechler[10]; 8. 9U-Doug McCune[7]; 9. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[5]; 10. 6-Aaron Pierce[1]

A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 1. 2H-Casey Shuman[6]; 2. 05C-Shane Cottle[1]; 3. 45X-C.J. Johnson[9]; 4. 89K-Josh Lakatos[3]; 5. 0Z-Cameron Beard[5]; 6. 57X-Kaley Engstrom[2]; 7. 98-P.J. Jones[4]; DNF 21N-Nick Speidel[7]; DNF 12S-Bryan Severs[10]; DNF 0K-Don O'Keefe Jr[8]

B-Features - Top 4 advance to the US Fleet Tracking A-Feature.

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7M-Seth Motsinger[2]; 2. 87F-Brian McClelland[5]; 3. 81B-Ryan Beechler[6]; 4. 19W-Matt Mitchell[4]; 5. 57X-Kaley Engstrom[9]; 6. 86C-David Camfield Jr[14]; 7. 57K-Kevin Studley[15]; 8. 21X-Kurt Mayhew[13]; 9. 83JR-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.[11]; 10. 6-Aaron Pierce[12]; 11. 5BL-Barry Lamb[16]; DNF 11T-Shon Deskins[3]; DNF 55-Taylor Lynn Ferns[8]; DNF 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[7]; DNF 31B-David Budres[1]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 5D-Zach Daum[14]; 2. 11C-Chett Gehrke[1]; 3. 98-P.J. Jones[9]; 4. 39C-Dillon Welch[3]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell[2]; 6. 21N-Nick Speidel[4]; 7. 73F-Tyler Walker[16]; 8. 7J-Shawn Jackson[10]; 9. 56X-Mark Chisholm[15]; 10. 77H-Michael Harders[11]; 11. 9U-Doug McCune[8]; 12. 12S-Bryan Severs[6]; 13. 94K-Darren Kingston[13]; DNF 17E-Blake Edwards[7]; DNF 28K-Justin Hendricks[5]

US Fleet Tracking A-Feature - Top 3 Lock into Saturday’s Lucas Oil Championship A-Feature

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[4]; 3. 14-Tony Stewart[3]; 4. 2H-Casey Shuman[2]; 5. 7W-Chris Windom[5]; 6. 8J-Jonathan Beason[8]; 7. 51J-R.J. Johnson[6]; 8. 81-Markus Niemela[10]; 9. 05C-Shane Cottle[13]; 10. 7MR-Kevin Ramey[7]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[11]; 12. 5D-Zach Daum[18]; 13. 39C-Dillon Welch[24]; 14. 98-P.J. Jones[22]; 15. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[9]; 16. 87F-Brian McClelland[19]; 17. 92J-Brenden Bright[14]; 18. 89K-Josh Lakatos[15]; 19. 19W-Matt Mitchell[23]; 20. 7M-Seth Motsinger[17]; 21. 81B-Ryan Beechler[21]; DNF 0Z-Cameron Beard[16]; DNF 45X-C.J. Johnson[12]; DNS 11C-Chett Gehrke

VIROC V (20 Laps): 1. 39-Kevin Swindell[4]; 2. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[2]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 4. 15X-Chad Boat[5]; 5. 63-Jerry Coons Jr[7]; 6. 47X-Tim McCreadie[6]; 7. 71-Kyle Larson[11]; 8. 24-Tracy Hines[8]; 9. 21K-Cory Kruseman[3]; 10. 05-Brad Loyet[10]; 11. 67X-Brad Sweet[9]; 12. 47-Damion Gardner[13]; 13. 56P-Jason Leffler[15]; 14. 5-Cole Whitt[14]; DNF 14-Tony Stewart[12]

Photo Credit: Mike Spivey

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