Salina results 2000-08-16

SALINA, KS - It has been a long dry spell for sprint car veteran Danny Smith. The Danville, Indiana native hadn't visited victory lane with the All Star series since late May, which just happened to be his first victory in several seasons with the group. This month found Danny back again for the sixth annual Thunder Through the Plains tour featuring the O'Reilly National Championship Racing Association and the All-Star Circuit of Champions sprints and for the second time this season he found victory lane as he took his first ever Thunder feature Wednesday night at Salina Speedway. The third stop in the five race tour saw ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole sitter Travis Rilat take the lead as the green flag fell for the 30 lap feature, but it was the veteran Smith who took over the top position coming out of turn two. Travis Whitney, Rilat and current NCRA points leader Gary Wright gave chase after the first lap. Smith quickly opened up a half stretch advantage as Rilat and his CompUSA sponsored sprinter began challenging Whitney for the runner-up position. The leaders were approaching lapped traffic on lap six when the first caution of the feature flew for Mike Goodman, who spun to a stop in turn three. The restart took Smith out of lapped traffic and gave him a clear track for the next four laps before Whitney began making his move for the lead. As the leaders approached lapped traffic on lap ten, Smith went too deep into turn one, allowing Whitney to dive underneath to take the lead. Whitney opened up a quick eight car length advantage and by the half way point was ten car lengths ahead of Smith, Rilat, Wright and current All-Star points leader Kenny Jacobs. The huge lead quickly diminished on lap eighteen when last year's NCRA rookie of the year Jason Sides came to a stop entering turn one with power steering problems. The restart saw Smith right on Whitney's bumper as the drivers now had to worry about tires on the dry-slick three-eights mile oval. The leaders again caught lapped traffic on lap 20, then two laps later the complexion of the race changed when Whitney blew a tire entering turn two and came to a stop, bringing the caution. The restart saw Rilat duck underneath Smith, but the Indiana driver pulled out to a five car length advantage coming out of turn two. Rilat then had two worries as he had to contend with Wright, who was pressuring for the runner up position, and his own right rear tire, which was showing signs of wear after the caution. Lap after lap saw Smith continue to widen his lead while Rilat continued to hold off Wright for second. Just as the white flag appeared the final caution of the night waved when Greg Wilson, who was running seventh, blew his right rear going down the back straightaway. The restart with two laps to go saw Rilat again pressure Smith for the lead, but on the final lap, his right rear finally gave up, causing him to slow down the backstretch. This gave Wright second position but it was too late to catch Smith, in the John Baker Chevrolet-powered machine, as he went on to take his eighteenth career All-Star victory, his first ever in Thunder competition. Jacobs finished a strong third while eighth starting Kelly Kinser came home fourth. Jason Johnson and his Lanny Row owned Builtwiser chassis rounded out the top five. Heat races for the 29 car field were won by Ted Lee, Kevin Huntley, Todd Gracey and Jerrod Hull. Smith also won the Commercial Truck and Trailer dash, followed by Kinser, Wilson, Huntley, Kemenah and Duncan. In a rare occurrence, Jacobs was found running the 12 lap Georgia Marketing and Promotions B feature, which he led flag to flag followed by Ryan Craighead, Steven King and Matt Saint.

Time Trials: 1. Kenny Jacobs, 13.968; 2. Jason Johnson, 14.033; 3.
Travis Whitney, 14.082; 4. Gary Wright, 14.099; 5. Danny Smith, 14.102; 6.
Travis Rilat, 14.103; 7. Ryan Craighead, 14.191; 8. Kelly Kinser, 14.219;
9. Mike Goodman, 14.252; 10. Kevin Huntley, 14.295; 11. Greg Wilson,
14.329; 12. Chad Kemenah, 14.382; 13. Rodney Duncan, 14.386; 14. Aaron
Berryhill, 14.389; 15. Billy Wilburn, 14.404; 16. Larry Neighbors, 14.439;
17. Ted Lee, 14.540; 18. Nick Haygood, 14.773; 19. Todd Gracey, 14.633;
20. Jerrod Hull, 14.639; 21. Ryan Flynn, 14.646; 22. Steven King, 14.690;
23. Ty Boyles, 14.721; 24. Barry Ruble, 14.754; 25. Calvin Landis, 14.780;
26. Matt Saint, 14.900; 27. Jason Sides, 15.086; 28. Dan Oswalt, 15.558;
29. Earnest Jennings, 15.998.
   HEAT: 1. Lee 2. Goodman 3. Duncan 4. Flynn 5. Smith 6. Landis 7. Jacobs
8. Jennings.
   HEAT: 1. Huntley 2. Haygood 3. Johnson 4. Berryhill 5. Rilat 6. Saint
7. King.
   HEAT: 1. Gracey 2. Wilson 3. Whitney 4. Sides 5. Wilburn 6. Craighead
7. Boyles. 
   HEAT: 1.  Hull 2. Kemenah 3. Wright 4. Neighbors 5. Kinser 6. Ruble 7.
Oswalt.
   COMMERCIAL TRUCK & TRAILER DASH: 1. Smith 2. Kinser 3. Wilson 4.
Huntley 5. Kemenah 6. Duncan.
   GMP B MAIN: 1. Jacobs 2. Craighead 3. King 4. Saint 5. Boyles 6. Ruble
7. Landis 8. Jennings 9. Oswalt.
   A FEATURE (30 laps) - 1, Danny Smith. 2, Gary Wright. 3, Kenny Jacobs.
4, Kelly Kinser. 5, Jason Johnson. 6, Larry Neighbors. 7, Aaron Berryhill.
8, Kevin Huntley. 9, Chad Kemenah. 10, Rodney Duncan. 11, Jerrod Hull. 12,
Nick Haygood. 13, Todd Gracey. 14, Travis Whitney. 15, Mike Goodman. 16,
Steve King. 17, Greg Wilson. 18, Billy Wilburn. 19, Ryan Flynn. 20, Matt
Saint. 21, Ted Lee. 22, Travis Rilat. 23, Ryan Craighead. 24, Jason Sides.