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ASCoT: East Bay Friday report

McCarl the Master in Friday ASCS Prelim at East Bay TAMPA, Fla. (February 1, 2008) -- Iowa's Terry McCarl put himself in a strong position to capture a second "King of the 360's" Nationals crown by racing to victory lane in Friday night's ...

Edited: Feb 3, 2008, 2:15 AM

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McCarl the Master in Friday ASCS Prelim at East Bay

TAMPA, Fla. (February 1, 2008) -- Iowa's Terry McCarl put himself in a strong position to capture a second "King of the 360's" Nationals crown by racing to victory lane in Friday night's 25-lap O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour Nationals series preliminary feature event at East Bay Raceway Park's 32nd Annual Winter Nationals.

Starting from the eleventh position, the 2006 event winner needed just eight laps to overtake early pacesetter Gary Wright before racing on to victory lane aboard Mark Burch's Engler Machine & Tool No. 1m Wolfweld.

With his sixth career ASCS National Tour feature win, McCarl climbed to fifth in points accumulated over the two preliminary events to lock himself into Saturday night's $10,000 to win Ronald Laney Memorial along with top point earner Gary Wright, Jason Johnson (second), Travis Rilat (third), Kenny Adams (fourth) and Tim Crawley (sixth).

The balance of the 55-car field will start from scratch, battling it out through a full card of heat races and "B" Mains to fill out Saturday night's 24-car starting field.

After accumulating the most passing points in heat race action, defending race winner Wright drew the pole position for the feature and led the field to the green flag with Nebraskan Don Droud, Jr., alongside.

Wright jumped into the lead at the drop of the green and led the opening lap in front of fourth-starter Travis Rilat, third-starter Garry Lee Maier, ninth-starter Wayne Johnson and Droud, with the red flag flying moments later when Terry Gray flipped in turn one. Gray was uninjured, but done for the night.

Picking off four positions on the opening circuit, McCarl was seventh on the restart and immediately began working forward as the final 24 circuits ran off in non-stop fashion.

McCarl battled past Jason Johnson and Droud for fifth on the second lap, and had made his way around Wayne Johnson and Maier to take over third by the fourth round.

Two laps later, McCarl disposed of Rilat for second and set his sights on Wright, who was running the low side of the clay oval. Working perfectly a couple of car-widths off the bottom groove, McCarl charged past Wright in turns one and two on the eighth lap and never looked back.

With McCarl working through lapped traffic most of the way, Jason Johnson began advancing through the field and was challenging Wright for second at the midway point. Johnson slipped around Wright for second on the 15th lap and closed in on McCarl on several occasions.

But on each occasion, McCarl made a timely move through lapped traffic to open up some breathing room, ultimately taking the checkered flag four car-lengths ahead of Johnson, who settled for second aboard Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports No. 41 Eagle.

Wright held the show position aboard the Wright-Cooper Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction No. 01 Maxim, with Wayne Johnson picking off a handful of positions to claim fourth aboard the Wesmar-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Maxim.

Rilat rounded out the top five aboard the F&J Construction No. 29 Triple-X, with Tim Crawley and Garry Lee Maier next across the line in seventh and eighth, respectively. Droud was ninth at the stripe, with 18-year-old Matt Tiffany completing the top ten.

Droud, Brian Smith, Crawley, Kenny Adams, Rilat, Joey Saldana and Maier topped heat race action for Friday night's 53-car field, with Daryn Pittman, Jason Sides and Greg Leonard victorious in "B" Main action.

O'Reilly ASCoT East Bay Raceway Park "King of the 360's" Nationals Preliminary Night Two Results:

Heat Races (Top 18 in passing points to "A" Main; Balance to 3 "B" Mains)

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 91-Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE), 2. 01-Gary Wright (Hooks, TX), 3. 14-Coleman Gulick (Binghamton, NY), 4. 17b-Ryan Bickett (Ramona, SD), 5. 20-Frank Carlsson (Oxford, FL), 6. 13-Kathryne Minter (Bedford, TX), 7. 79-Dakotah Stephens (Brandon, FL), 8. 00T-Thomas Selhorst (Clearwater, FL).

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11s-Brian Smith (Mooresville, NC), 2. b4-Eric Baldaccini (Keller, TX), 3. 3x-Brian Maddox (Brandon, FL), 4. a12-Tim Shaffer (Aliquippa, PA), 5. 34-Luke Hall (Ludlow Falls, OH), 6. 93-Bob Schaeffer (New Castle, CO), 7. d12-Doc Sloan (Imperial, MO), 8. 15c-Anthony Cain (Fairfax, VT).

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley (Benton, AR), 2. 94-Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK), 3. 63-Josh Weller (Mertztown, PA), 4. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 5. 00-Danny Martin, Jr. (Sarasota, FL), 6. 8x-Chris Williams (Memphis, TN), 7. 6s-Mike Schroeder (Southwest Ranches, FL), 8. 29T-Leigh Thomas (Duluth, MN).

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 4a-Kenny Adams (Malabar, FL), 2. 41-Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA), 3. 1m-Terry McCarl (Altoona, IA), 4. X-Chuck Swenson (Watertown, SD), 5. 3bx-Joey Biasi (Mary D, PA), 6. 21T-T.J. Luedke (Plymouth, WI), 7. 97-Aaron Schipper (Plymouth, WI), 8. 51-John Sauermilch (Elkhart Lake, WI).

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat (Forney, TX), 2. 19T-Matt Tiffany (Daytona Beach, FL), 3. 10-Terry Gray (Bartlett, TN), 4. 6-Greg Leonard (Apollo Beach, FL), 5. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 6. 5-Dave Calaman (Carlisle, PA), 7. 17-Samantha Taylor (Bonney Lake, WA).

Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 2-Joey Saldana (Brownsburg, IN), 2. 50z-Zach Chappell (Talala, OK), 3. 21-Daryn Pittman (Owasso, OK), 4. 3-Sport Allen (Pinellas Park, FL), 5. 75-Don Young (Memphis, TN). DNS: 3b-Brad Greer (Coultierville, IL), 02-Gene Lasker (Tampa, FL).

Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 11x-Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS), 2. 27-Andy Shouse (Oklahoma City, OK), 3. 18x-Adam Gordon (Suffern, NY), 4. 25-Michael Parent (Quebec, CAN), 5. 18-Shane Butler (Bushnell, FL), 6 12-Tim Kelly (Dundee, NY), 7. 4c-Tyler Godwin (Lutz, FL).

"B" Mains -- Top 2 From Each Advance to "A" Main

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 21-Daryn Pittman (Owasso, OK), 2. 17b-Ryan Bickett (Ramona, SD), 3. 27-Andy Shouse (Oklahoma City, OK), 4. 75-Don Young (Memphis, TN), 5. 34-Luke Hall (Ludlow Falls, OH), 6. 5-Dave Calaman (Carlisle, PA), 7. 17-Samantha Taylor (Bonney Lake, WA), 8. 93-Bob Schaeffer (New Castle, CO), 9. 79-Dakotah Stephens (Brandon, FL), 10. 15c-Anthony Cain (Fairfax, VT). DNS: 14-Coleman Gulick (Binghamton, NY), 3b-Brad Greer (Coultierville, IL).

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 2. 63-Josh Weller (Mertztown, PA), 3. 3bx-Joey Biasi (Mary D, PA), 4. 8x-Chris Williams (Memphis, TN), 5. 18x-Adam Gordon (Suffern, NY), 6. 20-Frank Carlsson (Oxford, FL), 7. 18-Shane Butler (Bushnell, FL), 8. 29T-Leigh Thomas (Duluth, MN), 9. 12-Tim Kelly (Dundee, NY), 10. d12-Doc Sloan (Imperial, MO). DNS: 4c-Tyler Godwin (Lutz, FL).

Third "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 6-Greg Leonard (Apollo Beach, FL), 2. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 3. 3-Sport Allen (Pinellas Park, FL), 4. 00-Danny Martin, Jr. (Sarasota, FL), 5. 25-Michael Parent (Quebec, CAN), 6. 21T-T.J. Luedke (Plymouth, WI), 7. 13-Kathryne Minter (Bedford, TX), 8. 6s-Mike Schroeder (Southwest Ranches, FL), 9. 97-Aaron Schipper (Plymouth, WI), 10. 51-John Sauermilch (Elkhart Lake, WI), 11. OOT-Thomas Selhorst (Clearwater, FL).

Strawberry Dash:

Strawberry Dash (10 Laps): 1. 3-Sport Allen (Pinellas Park, FL), 2. 00-Danny Martin, Jr. (Sarasota, FL), 3. 25-Michael Parent (Quebec, CAN), 4. 79-Dakotah Stephens (Brandon, FL), 5. 21T-T.J. Luedke (Plymouth, WI), 6. 3bx-Joey Biasi (Mary D, PA), 7. 93-Bob Schaeffer (New Castle, CO), 8. 29T-Leigh Thomas (Duluth, MN), 9. 15c-Anthony Cain (Fairfax, VT), 10. 12-Tim Kelly (Dundee, NY).

O'Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Event:

"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 1m-Terry McCarl (Altoona, IA), 2. 41-Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA), 3. 01-Gary Wright (Hooks, TX), 4. 94-Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK), 5. 29-Travis Rilat (Forney, TX), 6. 88-Tim Crawley (Benton, AR), 7. 11x-Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS), 8. a12-Tim Shaffer (Aliquippa, PA), 9. 91-Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE), 10. 19T-Matt Tiffany (Daytona Beach, FL), 11. 2-Joey Saldana (Brownsburg, IN), 12. b4-Eric Baldaccini (Keller, TX), 13. 4a-Kenny Adams (Malabar, FL), 14. 4-Danny Smith (Danville, IN), 15. 21-Daryn Pittman (Owasso, OK), 16. 50z-Zach Chappell (Talala, OK), 17. 6-Greg Leonard (Apollo Beach, FL), 18. X-Chuck Swenson (Watertown, SD), 19. 11s-Brian Smith (Mooresville, NC), 20. 63-Josh Weller (Mertztown, PA), 21. 7s-Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN), 22. 3x-Brian Maddox (Brandon, FL), 23. 17b-Ryan Bickett (Ramona, SD), 24. 10-Terry Gray (Bartlett, TN).

Lap Leaders: Gary Wright 1-7, Terry McCarl 8-25.

Locked into Saturday night's feature (Top six in accumulated heat and feature points from Thursday and Friday): 1. Gary Wright 513.0, 2. Jason Johnson 498.0, 3. Travis Rilat 495.0, 4. Kenny Adams 486.0, 5. Terry McCarl 485.5, 6. Tim Crawley 482.0. Balance of the top 20 (start from scratch on Saturday night): 7. Wayne Johnson 480.5, 8. Danny Smith 470.5, 9. Daryn Pittman 469.5, 10. Don Droud, Jr. 466.0, 11. Matt Tiffany 462.0, 12. Garry Lee Maier 461.0, 13. Tim Shaffer 460.5, 14. Greg Leonard 451.0, 15. Jason Sides 448.5, 16. Josh Weller 437.0, 17. Chuck Swenson 432.0, 18. Joey Saldana 427.5, 19. Danny Martin, Jr. 422.0, 20. Terry Gray 420.0.

O'Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Ten): 1. Gary Wright 95, 2. (tie) Jason Johnson, Terry McCarl and Travis Rilat 92, 5. (tie) Wayne Johnson and Kenny Adams 92, 7. Tim Crawley 84, 8. Danny Smith 82, 9. Daryn Pittman 80, 10. Don Droud, Jr. 79.

-credit: ascs

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