2009 ASCS National Tour Underway

The opening weekend of the ASCS National Tour is up and running after the conclusion of the opening weekend of sprint car racing at Devils Bowl Speedway in Mesquite Texas. The field consisted of sixty five sprint cars with drivers coming from  all over the country to compete at the two night show. To say the field was a hot one would be an understatement with big guns Jason Johnson, Gary Wright, Shane Stewart and Paul McMahan present as well past and present ASCS series champions from all across North America.

For Seth it was his first trip to Devils Bowl Speedway and his first outing in the seat since the Northwest series final at Yakima Speedway in September of 2008. With a brand new race car and motor for 2009 the team was hopeful of a strong outing but had realistic expectations based on Seth’s time out of the seat.

Friday night saw Seth pitted in heat number four against reigning National Tour champion Jason Johnson as well as National Tour top 10 finisher Nick Smith. Seth started the heat in fifth position but was quickly passed by Johnson on the first corner as he raced from the back of the field. Seth was able to quickly regain his fifth position but was unable to make up any further ground and finished his heat in fifth position.

Seth started in Seventh position for the second “B” main event with the top two advancing to the feature event. Unlike earlier in his heat race Seth clearly had more power coming out of the corners and made a great start to the race to move up to sixth on the opening lap. It wasn’t long before we had our first red flag for Derek Hagar as he crashed into the wall on turn one. As the race resumed Seth was able to move up into fifth place and began chasing after the leaders. Unfortunately the track still remained quite narrow and passing was extremely difficult. Seth drove as hard as he could but was unable to get by Tim Crawley and finished the B in fifth position.

With the cobwebs dusted off Seth and the team returned to the track for night two confident of an improved performance. Seth’s heat saw him drawn against National tour regularr Jesse Hockett but a favorable pill draw gave Seth the third stating position for the heat. Seth started the race in pursuit of the lead cars in Sean McCleland and Brady Bacon. Seth drove the car hard but was unable get the car around the lead pair. Unfortunately for Seth the #3 car of Joe Wood Jr was handling the conditions well and he was able to get by Seth late in the heat to take third position leaving Seth to finish in fourth place.

Seth’s heat result saw him starting in sixth position for the second B main event. Like the night before Seth’s car was more hooked up for the B Main as he was able to quickly move up into fourth position at the start of the race. Seth was right on the heels of the front three which included Brady Bacon, Travis Rilat and Mike Chadd. With Seth in pursuit of the front three Ricky Logan was in pursuit of Seth and on lap eight Logan was able to take fourth. On lap ten leader Brady Bacon spun out which moved Seth back to fourth for the final four laps. On the restart Seth through everything at Logan in attempt to get by but Logan was able to hold Seth at bay for the remainder of the heat as he crossed the line in fourth place.

“I was disappointed not to make the feature tonight I had a real shot starting third in my heat but I didn’t make it happen. I just need more time in the seat that was clearly the difference between me and the other drivers this weekend. I know things will be better next weekend in Oklahoma” said Seth after Saturday nights racing.

The team heads to Oklahoma City for two nights of racing at the State Fair Speedway. Stay tuned for more news during the week.