Chili Bowl 2019 – night five

Friday night’s preliminary feature at the 33^rd annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire was all Justin Grant as he captured the 25-lap feature from the pole position. Grant who earlier won his qualifier race, battled Tanner Thorson the entire race which was run without a caution, at a pace that many observers believed was a Chili Bowl record for the distance.

Grant’s victory his third consecutive preliminary night win broke the stranglehold of Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) which had won all the preliminary races before Friday night. Finishing third behind Grant and Thorson was Chad Boat while fourth place fell to NASCAR star Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with KKM’s Tucker Klaasmeyer fifth.

Notable performances during the night came from Kevin Thomas Jr. and Spencer Bayston, both of whom suffered misfortune in the heat races and did not finish. Thomas Junior won his ‘C’ feature race to advance into the ‘B’ feature in which he finished third to start 22^nd in the ‘A’ main featured and he moved up to finish 14^th at the drop of the checkered flag.

Bayston finished second behind Thomas Jr. in their ‘C’ feature and finished fourth in his ‘B’ feature and started the ‘A’ man in 24^th position. Over 25 laps Bayston worked his way up to finish ninth to win the night’s hard charger award.

350 cars made an appearance on track during the five nights of competition and on the final night every car and driver gets a chance to race once more. Racing in Tulsa Oklahoma begins at 10 AM Saturday morning with the ‘O’ main, then advances backwards through the alphabet to the crowning of the 2019 Chili Bowl champion at the end of the 55-lap ‘A’ main.

Chili Bowl 2019- night four

The fourth preliminary night A-main feature at the 33^rd annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire was eventful from beginning to end. The first start was aborted when the midget of Joe Miller came to a stop in turn one. Pole sitter Danny Stratton in the Andy Bondio machine tried a little too hard to push the start and starter Roger Slack set Stratton back one row which moved defending champion Christopher Bell to the pole position. The third attempt to start the 25-lap finale was again called back when the car of Andrew Deal rolled to a stop in turn one.

Once the field was turned loose, Bell raced away to a comfortable advantage over Jerry Coons Jr., Strattion, Shane Golobic and Ryan Bernal in the Kevin Swindell entry. By running the low line through turns one and two and the high line on the cushion through turns three and four, Bell built a lead of 1.6 seconds before the caution flag flew on lap 7 when Thomas Meseraull tangled with another car and his 7R machine suffered a crushed tail tank but was able to continue.

When the green flag re-appeared Bell drove away from Coons as the cars of Golobic Bernal. CJ Leary and Stratton fought for third place. Once again Bell built a big lead of 1.7 seconds before the yellow flag flew again on lap 12. When racing resumed Bell streaked away again to a lead of 2.5 seconds when the field slowed again for Jake Morgan’s crash in turn four that eliminated the #19 car from the race.

Once the field was back to up to speed, on lap 20 Merseraull’s machine took a series of vicious flips into turn three that also caught up the cars of Tracy Hines and Kyle Cummins. The latter pair were able to continue, but “T-Mez” was done for the night. The last few laps of racing were wild as Golobic challenged Bell several times through turns three and four for the race lead but was unable to make the pass stick. 

At the finish the top four finishers were Christopher Bell, Shane Golobic, CJ Leary and Danny Stratton. This finish continues the Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) domination of the 2019 Chili Bowl was four KKM cars claiming all four preliminary night wins thusfar.

Chili Bowl 2019 – night three

The start of Wednesday’s 25-lap A-main preliminary night feature at the 33^rd annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire featured two-time winner Rico Abreu on the outside of the front row alongside young Cole Bodine. 

Abreu in his #97 Safelite Auto Glass-sponsored Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota powered machine fell to third at the drop of the green flag behind Blake Hahn as Bodine, who is not related to the NASCAR Bodine family shot into the lead in NOS Energy Drink Clauson-Marshall Racing entry.

On lap two, Abreu shot past Hahn, grandson of Chili Bowl founder Emmett Hahn, to secure second place and moved to the cushion and chased down leader Bodine and took the lead on the seventh lap on the low side through turn four. From there Rico cruised the top, as former winner Tim McCreadie, World of Outlaws sprint car star David Gravel and Bodine battled for second place.

At the checkered flag it was Rico Abreu followed by Gravel and Bodine with Californian Jake Swanson finishing fourth after starting the race in seventeenth position. Swanson was not the race’s biggest mover however, that honor went to Ryan Smith who improved eighteen positions from his 23^rd starting spot.

The the heartbreak of the night award went to Pauls Valley Oklahoma’s Steven Shebester, who was leading the second B feature when the engine in Ray Williams’ gorgeous City Vending machine expired three laps from the finish.

BCRA champion to race at Indy in "BC39"

Defending Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) series champion Maria Cofer a group of several BCRA  drivers entered for “The Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS Energy Drink” midget race set to take place next week on the new quarter-mile dirt oval located inside turn three of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2 ½-mile oval.

Maria is scheduled to pilot the #97 Spike/Toyota entered by Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) as part of the nine-car KKM team. The race honors the memory of fallen racer Bryan Clauson who was born in Carmichael California and went on to capture three national midget championships.      

In addition to Ms.Cofer who hails from Macdoel, California regular BCRA competitors Robert Dalby from Anaheim, David Prickett from Fresno and Randi Pankratz who lives in Atascadero are all set to make the long tow east to the greatest race course in the world and take part is what is billed as the richest midget racing event in recent history, the event will feature a purse that totals more than $70,000 with incentives, topped by the $15,000 winner's purse. Also on the entry list for the “BC39” is 2007 BCRA champion Justin Grant, who now lives and races in Indiana.

The first night of racing action on Wednesday, September 5, will feature hot laps, heat races and a pursuit race. On Thursday, September 6, on-track action will begin with hot laps, as all cars will practice with their respective qualifying races, followed by qualifying races and the “alphabet races” as used at the Chili Bowl Nationals all which lead up to the 39-lap A-Main event.   

NBC Sports will the air event in a one-hour recap package on Friday, September 7 at 3 PM Pacific time with complete coverage of the two-day event.  

Keith Kunz Racing three for three!

 

 

With Christopher Bell's sweep of the Thursday night Chili Bowl Nationals preliminary night as he won his heat race, qualifying race and the 25-lap feature, Keith Kunz Racing (KKR) is for three for three with preliminary night feature wins so far this week at Tulsa Expo Raceway.

 

Bell built a lead of nearly five seconds at time during the John Christner Trucking feature race, but second place Shane Golobic closed to as close as one second in the closing laps, but got no closer. Third place was captured by Chase Johnson driving for Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) President Del Morris with veteran Tracy Hines fourth and Indiana's Caleb Armstrong fifth.

 

Ryan Bernal driving for Clauson-Marshall Racing started the featured 17th and finished sixth. Two other drivers started the A-Main after starting from the D-Main - both Tanner Thorsen and Michael Pickens both had trouble in their heat races and raced hard to make up for their earlier troubles.