Eagle Raceway Report

All Star Sprint Results - Eagle Raceway Mon 8/16/99 Wright Wins Thunder Tour Opener at Eagle - By Jason Orth

EAGLE, NE (AUGUST 16, 1999) -- Gary Wright is a master of the short dirt track. He's beaten the best of the best on the "bullrings" and the soft-spoken Texan dispensed his wealth of knowledge on the field by winning the 30-lap A main and the opening leg of the All Star Sprint vs. NCRA Thunder Through the Plains tour at Eagle Raceway Monday night.

Starting fourth row, Wright took the CompUSA / F&J Construction Chevrolet-powered sprinter to the front early. He made his way to third by the third lap and took over second with five down. Despite the ease of his earlier passes, leader Brian Paulus of Mechanicsburg, PA proved to be a more difficult task. The fast track was making lapped cars fast as well -- and tough to pass. With a small stretch of clear track, Wright slipped past Paulus for the lead. But Danny Smith's flip in turn four brought out the red flag with twelve laps down, and set Wright back to second.

Paulus and Wright shot out from the pack and battled for three furious laps. Gary finally got the best of the fight taking the lead low in corner two with fourteen laps to go. One lap later, Rodney Duncan stopped on the backstretch to bring out the caution flag.

Wright held the lead over Paulus on the restart. It was easy to see how hard Paulus was running as his brakes glowed brightly. The lead built up would soon be diminished as Mike Goodman hit the turn two wall hard, flipping with 10 laps to go.

The final laps belonged to Wright as he put lapped cars and distance between him and second. But Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw, WA had other plans -- using the red flag to dial in extra speed. He grabbed second from Paulus with two laps remaining and closed on Wright, but the Hooks, TX driver was just too far ahead as he cruised to the win. Kahne, Paulus, Paul McMahan, and Joey Saldana rounded out the top five. Paul McMahan was the fast qualifier with heat race wins to Shane Carson, Greg Wilson, Joey Saldana and Kahne with Frankie Kerr the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash winner. Shane Stewart won the United Expressline B Main.

Time Trials: 1. U2 Paul McMahan 11.596, 2. 8 Dean Jacobs 11.668, 3. 17 Joey Saldana 11.684, 4. 23k Kasey Kahne 11.780, 5. 28 Brian Paulus 11.781, 6. 66 Aaron Berryhill 11.807, 7. 9 Gary Wright 11.840, 8. 92 Danny Smith 11.850, 9. 9s Shane Stewart 11.858, 10. 23s Frankie Kerr 11.867, 11. 4k Kelly Kinser 11.889, 12. 40 Peter Murphy 11.920, 13. 3 Mike Goodman 11.938, 14. 51 Jerrod Hull 12.013, 15. 6 Kenny Jacobs 12.063, 16. 22 Rodney Duncan 12.070, 17. 8b John Bankston 12.130, 18. 63 Greg Wilson 12.164, 19. 7 Jason Sides 12.342, 20. 29 Larry Neighbors 12.365, 21. 12$ Shane Carson 12.472, 22. 20 Brian Ellenberger 12.486, 23. 93 Jimmy Lambert 12.497, 24. 88 Steve King 12.560, 25. 18 Brian Carlson 12.596, 26. 00 Gregg Bolte 12.766, 27. 92j J.R. Topper 12.770, 28. 44 Doug Lovegrove 13.152, 29. 61 Earnest Jennings 13.201 .

COMMERCIAL TRUCK & TRAILER DASH (4 laps) - 1, Frankie Kerr. 2, Joey Saldana. 3, Kasey Kahne. 4, Dean Jacobs. 5, Danny Smith. 6, Paul McMahan.

UNITED EXPRESSLINE HEAT 1 (8 laps) - Shane Carson, Mike Goodman, Brian Paulus, Paul McMahan, John Bankston, Earnest Jennings, Shane Stewart, Brian Carlson.

SOUTHWEST EXPRESSLIEN HEAT 2 (8 Laps) - Greg Wilson, Jerrod Hull, Brian Ellenberger, Frankie Kerr, Dean Jacobs, Aaron Berryhill, Gregg Bolte.

UNITED SPECIALTIES HEAT 3 (8 laps) - Joey Saldana, Gary Wright, Jason Sides, Jimmy Lambert, Kenny Jacobs, J.R. Topper, Kelly Kinser.

SOUTHWEST GLASS HEAT 4 (8 laps) - Kasey Kahne, Danny Smith, Rodney Duncan, Peter Murphy, Larry Neighbors, Steve King, Doug Lovegrove.

UNITED EXPRESSLINE B MAIN (12 laps) - 1, Shane Stewart. 2, Aaron Berryhill. 3, Kelly Kinser. 4, Steve King. 5, Gregg Bolte. 6, Doug Lovegrove. 7, Brian Carlson. 8, J.R. Topper. 9, Earnest Jennings.

A FEATURE (30 laps) - 1, Gary Wright. 2, Kasey Kahne. 3, Brian Paulus. 4, Paul McMahan. 5, Joey Saldana. 6, Dean Jacobs. 7, Shane Stewart. 8, Aaron Berryhill. 9, Frankie Kerr. 10, Peter Murphy. 11, Rodney Duncan. 12, Kelly Kinser 13, Kenny Jacobs. 14, Jason Sides. 15, Jerrod Hull. 16, John Bankston. 17, Steve King. 18, Larry Neighbors. 19, Brian Ellenberger. 20, Jimmy Lambert. 21, Greg Wilson. 22, Mike Goodman. 23, Shane Carson. 24, J.R. Topper.