Droud Top Regular After First Night of Chili Bowl Action
Thursday, January 12, 2006
by Bill Wright - Don Droud Jr. (pictured) led 2005 Knoxville regulars in qualifying action at the Chili Bowl in Tulsa Wednesday night. 88 cars competed in the first of three nights of qualifying. Droud won one of the ten heats (heat 3) and transferred to one of four "A" Qualifiers. Droud finished second in that race (Qualifier 3) and garnered enough points to start 11th in the star-studded main event. He ran a steady race to take home sixth. The finish will probably give Droud enough points to start towards the front of one of Saturday's B Main events.
Wayne Johnson, in his rookie effort at the Chili Bowl, got plenty of track time. Misfortune brought him a ninth place finish in heat six. Slated to start at the rear (12th) of Last Chance Qualifier number two, Johnson stormed forward to win that event. That would put him at the tail of A Qualifier two where he passed six more cars to finish fifth (enough to qualify for the B main and start 9th). Bad luck hit again as Johnson was involved in an incident in the B, and was scored 14th.
Billy Alley, in his second Chili Bowl, finished seventh in heat eight. A flip in Last Chance Qualifier number four ended his evening.
Justin Henderson will drive a team car to Donnie Lehmann (who finished 16th in Wednesday's A) in his first attempt at the Chili Bowl Thursday night.
Seven-time Knoxville track champ, Danny Lasoski took a hard fought win over 12-time Knoxville Nationals champion, Steve Kinser in Jerry Russell's #33D. 2004 Knoxville Midget Nationals champion, Jerry Coons Jr., and WoO late model driver, Tim McCreadie, rounded out the top four. The top four finishers are locked into Saturday night's championship main event.
NASCAR champ Tony Stewart rode out a wicked crash in hot laps and scratched from the event. He will try it again on Friday night.
Wednesday A Main Finish (top four locked into Saturday's A): 1. 33D, Danny Lasoski 2. 67S, Steve Kinser 3. 23, Jerry Coons Jr. 4. 1A, Tim McCreadie 5. 99B, Brady Bacon 6. 44D, Don Droud Jr. 7. 7R, Johnny Rodriguez 8. 8K, Bud Kaeding 9. 22, Ray Bull 10. 5, Davey Ray 11. 85X, Brent Beauchamp 12. 21, Ryan Kaplan 13. 11A, Brett Anderson 14. 5C, Joey Montgomery 15. 1C, Chad McDaniel 16. 31, Donnie Lehmann 17. 1W, Paul White 18. 4, Michele Miller 19. 2, Danny Stratton 20. 32, Aaron Fike 21. 5X, Craig Carey 22. 91, Ryan Durst 23. 95J, Rik Forbes 24. 47D, Stan Yockey
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