Chili Bowl – Thursday Night West Coast Results and Recap

By Robert Haugh

In what was a repeat on Wednesday night, the West Coast comprised much of the A-main field, but it was Kevin Swindell, the reigning three-time Chili Bowl champion who came out on top in Thursday’s preliminary qualifying night at the 27^th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

Ten of the 24 A-main starters were West Coast entries, with NASCAR racer Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA) claiming second in Gary Zarounian’s #67x Stealth/Toyota, followed by hard charger Tim McCreadie, a New York Late Model ace and former Chili bowl winner in third from 15^th in Andy Bondio’s #47x Bondio/Barnes – putting up one of the most exciting performances of the week.

Arizona’s Jerry Coons, Jr. claimed fourth in the Dooling Machine #63 Spike/Esslinger with NASCAR racer Cole Whitt (Alpine, CA) claiming sixth in the Wilke-Pak #5 Stealth/Toyota.

Arizona native J.J. Yeley claimed seventh in the McKinnie Motorsports #1^ST Hacked/Toyota with first-time Midget racer and Chili Bowl rookie D.J. Netto (Hanford, CA) claiming eighth in the Netto Farms #7N Stealth/Chevrolet. 2012 Chili Bowl rookie-of-the-year Richard VanderWeerd (Visalia, CA) claimed eleventh after starting 21^st after transferring from a B-Main in Mike Sala’s #19s Spike/Sala Chevrolet. Bud Kaeding (Campbell, CA) claimed 12^th in the Loyet Motorsports #05K Spike/Esslinger followed by Troy Rutherford (Ojai, CA) in Calvin Martens’ #11R TCR/Esslinger and Rico Abreu (Rutherford, CA) in the Keith Kunz #67 Bullet/Toyota.

Arizona’s Connor Kassik (Lake Havasu) was fifth in points after the Heats, having driven the high line to place second from sixth in the Neverlift Motorsports #115 Spike/Chevrolet. Kassik once again was flying high in A-Qualifier 1, having moved from fifth to second, including passes on Yeley and Abreu, but after bouncing off another car and suffering damage, Kassik settled for seventh. Kassik was fighting for a transfer position in B-Main 1, but suffered a flat tire, with the race going green before he could get back on the track.

California native Tyler Reddick (Corning) was looking for an alphabet soup run in the 2B Racing #2B Beast/Gaerte, having suffered from a DNF in his Heat race. Reddick moved from 12^th to fourth in C-Main 1, then advanced from 16^th to eighth on B-Main 1, four spots shy of making the A-Main.

Whitt claimed an A-Qualifer, while Rutherford claimed a B-Main. Tanner Swanson (Kingsburg, CA) claimed a C-Main victory in Ted Finkenbinder’s #3F Bullet/Chevy, coming from the rear, passing 11 cars for the win. Yeley, Sweet, Nic Faas (ABC Motorsports #12F Spike/Esslinger) and Coons all claimed Heat race wins.

Thursday’s John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night West Coast Results

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 39-Kevin Swindell[1]; 2. 67X-Brad Sweet[4]; 3. 47X-Tim McCreadie[15]; 4. 63-Jerry Coons Jr[2]; 6. 5-Cole Whitt[3]; 7. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[6]; 8. 7N-D.J. Netto[7]; 11. 19S-Richard VanderWeerd[21]; 12. 05K-Bud Kaeding[8]; 14. 11R-Troy Rutherford[17]; 15. 67-Rico Abreu[14]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 11R-Troy Rutherford[1]; 3. 19S-Richard VanderWeerd[5]; 7. 56P-Jason Leffler[2]; 8. 2B-Tyler Reddick[16]; 11. 7D-Michelle Decker[11]; 14. 115-Conner Kassik[3]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 5. 62-Dennis Howell[9]; 6. 12F-Nic Faas[5]; 8. 3F-Tanner Swanson[13]; 13. 26X-John Golobic[10]

A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 2. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[3]; 4. 67-Rico Abreu[7]; 5. 56P-Jason Leffler[10]; 7. 115-Conner Kassik[5]; 9. 62-Dennis Howell[2]; 10. 7D-Michelle Decker[8]

A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Cole Whitt[5]; 2. 63-Jerry Coons Jr[6]; 3. 7N-D.J. Netto[4]; 4. 47X-Tim McCreadie[7]; 9. 26X-John Golobic[9]

A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 2. 67X-Brad Sweet[4]; 7. 12F-Nic Faas[3]

A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 2. 05K-Bud Kaeding[3]; 5. 11R-Troy Rutherford[5]; 6. 19S-Richard VanderWeerd[9]

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 4. 2B-Tyler Reddick[12]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 3F-Tanner Swanson[10]; 8. 27C-Kip Hughes[8]; 9. 51X-Matt Lundy[4]; 10. 6C-Michael Heberling[11]; DNF 73X-Greg Edenholm[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 4. 67-Rico Abreu[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[1]; 2. 11R-Troy Rutherford[5]; 3. 7N-D.J. Netto[7]; 4. 47X-Tim McCreadie[6]; DNF 2B-Tyler Reddick[8]; DNF 3F-Tanner Swanson[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 67X-Brad Sweet[2]; 4. 19S-Richard VanderWeerd[3]; 8. 73X-Greg Edenholm[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 3. 7D-Michelle Decker[3]; 4. 15D-Andrew Deal[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 4. 05K-Bud Kaeding[8]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 12F-Nic Faas[1]; 3. 5-Cole Whitt[8]; 4. 56P-Jason Leffler[2]; 6. 51X-Matt Lundy[3];

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 63-Jerry Coons Jr[5]; 2. 115-Conner Kassik[6]; 4. 62-Dennis Howell[8]; 5. 26X-John Golobic[7]; 7. 27C-Kip Hughes[4]; DNF 6C-Michael Heberling[3]

Friday west Coast Chili Bowl Entries

2R            Levi Roberts                        Broomfield, CO                        David Roberts Spike/Esslinger

3T            Tim Barber                        Fairfield, CA                        Chuck Cline Bullet/Chevrolet

6R            Joe Ramaker                        Boise, ID                        Jody Rosenboom DRC/Fontana

7            Shannon McQueen            Bakersfield, CA                        McQueen Racing Spike/Esslinger by McQueen

9E            Alex Schutte                        Rohnert Park, CA            Sean Dodenhoff EMC/Fontana

11XC            Steve Newman                        Steamboat Springs, CO            Mountain High BRE/BRE Ford

15X            Chad Boat                        Phoenix, AZ                        John Lawson Spike/Esslinger

21K            Cory Kruseman                        Ventura, CA                        Kruseman Motorsports Spike/Esslinger

27B            Johnny Scott                        Las Cruces, NM            Cliff Blackwell Stealth/Yates Ford

35D            Brett Felkins                        Lodi, CA                        Felkins Spike/Fontana

38K            Rick Hendrix                        Palmdale, CA                        Kruseman Motorsports Spike/Esslinger

55S            Trey Starks                        Puyallup, WA                        Jim Ferns Spike/Mopar

62S            Taylor Simas                        Orland, CA                        Douglas Bock Spike/Esslinger

68            Ronnie Gardner                        Corona, CA                        Six 8 Motorsports Stewart/Esslinger

71K            Jason Meyers                        Clovis, CA                        Keith Kunz Bullet/Speedway Toyota

73            Ryan Bernal                        Hollister, CA                        JFM Inc. Ellis/Bob Wirth Fontana

77            Mike Boesel                        Bennett, CO                        Mike Boesel Motorsports Stealth/Esslinger

84            Joey Fabozzi                                                            Fabozzi Racing Spike/Esslinger

88            Dustin Weland                        Parker, CO                        Buzzard/Fontana

151            Jesse Frazier                        Tulsa, OK                        Neverlift Motorsports Spike/Chevrolet

191            Chase Barber                        Brownsburg, IN                        Bret Barber Beast/Fontana

West Coast Chili Bowl Results - Wednesday Night

By Robert Haugh

Though West Coast entries comprised 13 of the 24 A-Main starters in Wednesday’s Chili Bowl qualifying feature, it was the Swindell show, with Tennessee’s Sammy Swindell, the five-time Chili Bowl champion cruising to the win from the pole position.

Swindell was briefly challenged by California’s Damion “The Demon” Gardner in Andy Bondio’s #47 Bondio/Barnes Chevy and Washington’s Gary Taylor in the Loyet Motorsports #05T Spike/Esslinger, but Sammy was simply dominant in taking the Wednesday’s US Fleet Tracking A-Main.

Gardner claimed second, securing himself into Saturday’s A-main, while Taylor claimed fourth after a late-race pass by “Wild Child” Jac Haudenschild who was third. “Fremont Flier” Shane Golobic (Fremont, CA) rounded out the Top five, claiming fifth aboard the AutoNet Mobile retro-Leader Card-themed Wilke-Pak #11 Stealth/Toyota.

California native Darren Hagen, the 2012 USAC-National Midget champion claimed sixth in the RFMS Racing #3 DCR/Esslinger, having narrowly edged California native Bryan Clauson at the line, who claimed seventh from thirteenth in the CTR-Curb Agajanian #39 Spike/Esslinger. Five-time USAC-CRA Sprint Car champion Mike Spencer took eighth aboard the Proflyer Enterprises #51S Spike/Proflyer with Indiana’s Brad Kuhn rounding out the Top 10 in Mason Cook’s Willit’s Towing & Recovery #10 Beast/Fontana.

Former BCRA champion Matt Streeter was having a strong run in his #14JR Spike/S&S Automotive Chevrolet before getting involved in an incident and flipping.

Former BCRA champion “T-Mez” Thomas Meseraull, Tyler Edwards (JFM entry), Jace VanderWeerd, David Prickett, Streeter and Stratton also made Wednesday’s A-main.

Arizona’s Stevie Sussex III, Taylor, Golobic, Meseraull and Hagen each recorded Heat race wins while Washington native and NASCAR star Kasey Kahne claimed a C-Main aboard the Darrah Motorsports #89 Spike/Chevy. Californian Jace VanderWeerd claimed a B-Main aboard Ron VanderWeerd’s #8v Spike/Stanton Mopar while Taylor and Hagen each recorded an A-Qualifier triumph.

After getting derailed in an incident-marred Heat 2, “Spirit of American Canyon” Travis Berryhill avoided multiple incidents to take the final transfer in C-Main 1 aboard the Manic Racing #11x Stealth/Fontana, finishing fourth after starting sixth in a race won by Kahne. Berryhill then fell short in B-Main 1, coming home 11^th after starting 16^th.

Chili Bowl rookie, 21-year-old Trey Marcham of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma learned first hand how much luck plays into the Chili Bowl. Pioloting the McQueen Racing #7 Spike/Esslinger by Duane McQueen, Marcham made one mistake in his Heat race, entering into a spin while running a strong second, getting collected by other cars, breaking a rear arm, bending a wheel and suffering a flat left front tire among other items, relegating Marcham to a disappointing eighth-place Heat finish, finishing with the flat tire. 

Marcham started nearly last in C-Main1. While moving foward the front, Marcham slowed for a spinning car ahead of him, getting plowed from behind, ripping off a shock mount, ending his evening.

Wednesday’s River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night West Coast Results

A Feature (25 Laps): 2. 47-Damion Gardner[3]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 5. 11-Shane Golobic[6]; 6. 3-Darren Hagen[7]; 7. 39B-Bryan Clauson[13]; 8. 51S-Mike Spencer[5]; 10. 10-Brad Kuhn[14]; 15. 57-Thomas Meseraull[16]; 17. 72-Tyler Edwards[22]; 18. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[18]; 20. 015-David Prickett[24]; DNF 14JR-Matt Streeter[9]; DNF 2S-Danny Stratton[20]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 11. 11J-Travis Berryhill[16]; DNF 89-Kasey Kahne[13]; DNF 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[2]; DNF 3B-Jayme Barnes[3]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[1]; 2. 2S-Danny Stratton[6]; 3. 72-Tyler Edwards[2]; 4. 015-David Prickett[5]; 11. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[8]; DNF 44S-Clint Schubert[16]

A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[4]; 3. 14JR-Matt Streeter[7]; 5. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[9]; 6. 72-Tyler Edwards[3]; 8. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[8]; 9. 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[6]

A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen[2]; 2. 11-Shane Golobic[4]; 5. 39B-Bryan Clauson[6]; 7. 015-David Prickett[3]

A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 2. 47-Damion Gardner[5]; 3. 51S-Mike Spencer[6]

A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 2. 10-Brad Kuhn[1]; 4. 57-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 5. 3B-Jayme Barnes[2]; 8. 2S-Danny Stratton[4]

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 89-Kasey Kahne[2]; 4. 11J-Travis Berryhill[6]; DNF 7T-Trey Marcham[12]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 4. 44S-Clint Schubert[8]; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 3. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[3]; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[6]; DNF 11J-Travis Berryhill[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 2. 51S-Mike Spencer[5]; 6. 89-Kasey Kahne[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 2. 2S-Danny Stratton[4]; 3. 015-David Prickett[6]; 4. 3B-Jayme Barnes[7]; 8. 7T-Trey Marcham[3]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Shane Golobic[2]; 2. 10-Brad Kuhn[1]; 7. 44S-Clint Schubert[4];

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[5]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 3. 47-Damion Gardner[7]; 4. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[4];

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen[1]; 2. 72-Tyler Edwards[4]; 3. 39B-Bryan Clauson[8]; 4. 14JR-Matt Streeter[6]

Visit www.chilibowl.com for full results and entries.

Chili Bowl Thursday West Coast entries

1ST            J.J. Yeley                        Charlotte, NC                        McKinnie Motorsports Hacked/Toyota

2B            Tyler Reddick                        Corning, CA                        2B Racing Beast/Gaerte

3F            Tanner Swanson            Kingsburg, CA                        Ted Finkenbinder Bullet/Chevrolet

05K            Bud Kaeding                        Campbell, CA                        Loyet Motorsports Spike/Esslinger

5            Cole Whitt                        Alpine, CA                        Wilke-Pak Stealth/Toyota

6C            Michael Heberling            Centennial, CO                        Heberling Stealth/Hybrid GM

7D            Michelle Decker            Guthrie, OK                        McQueen Racing Spike/Esslinger by McQueen

7N            D.J. Netto                        Hanford, CA                        Frank Netto Stealth/Chevrolet

11R            Troy Rutherford            Ojai, CA                        Calvin Martens TCR/Esslinger

12F            Nic Faas                        Huntington Beach, CA            ABC Motorsports Spike/Esslinger

19S            Richard VanderWeerd            Visalia, CA                        Mike Sala Spike/Sala Chevrolet

26X            John Golobic                        Mountain View, CA            Douglas Bock Spike/Esslinger

27C            Kip Hughes                        Enid, OK                        Cliff Blackwell Stealth/Gaerte

47X            Tim McCreadie                                                     Andy Bondio Bondio/Barnes

56P              Jason Leffler                          Long Beach, CA            56 Inc. Beast/Esslinger 3-Wide Life

51X            Matt Lundy                          Phoenix, AZ                        Bobby Martin Ellis/Proflyer

62            Dennis Howell                         Rancho Palos Verdes, CA            Stealth/Salsa Chevrolet

63            Jerry Coons Jr.                        Tucson, AZ                        Dooling Machine Spike/Esslinger

67            Rico Abreu                        Rutherford, CA                        Keith Kunz Bullet/Speedway Toyota

67X            Brad Sweet                        Grass Valley, CA            Gary Zarounian Stealth/Toyota

73X            Greg Edenholm                        Malibu, CA               JFM Inc. Ellis/Esslinger King Racing Products

115            Conner Kassik                        Lake Havasu, AZ            Neverlift Motorsports Spike/Chevrolet