MSRA wrapped up their inaugural season over the weekend, crowning Joey Mack as champion, and seeing Kyle Beard pick up his first series win while capturing the MidSouth Dirt Track Championship.
Thirty-one cars converged upon Poinsett County Raceway in Harrisburg, Arkansas for the two night show, and the fans were in for a treat. Night one utilized a two heat qualifying format, where competitors ran a heat race accumulating passing points, had their starting positions inverted, and ran a second heat.
At the end of the night, veteran Mike Bowers picked up the JFR Graphics pole award for the upcoming Saturday night feature. He was joined in the starting ten by Dane Dacus, Kyle Beard, Carl Thomas, Billy Moyer, Jr., Dusty Johnston, Jeff Floyd, Jeff Wells, Dewaine Hottinger, and Enik Sanders.
The multiple heat format kept the first night's events interesting, as some notable series regulars failed to lock in. While leading his second heat race, Joey Mack's car came to a stop, and he was knocked out of one of the ten feature spots. Mack had installed a new fuel pump the previous week on his car while changing engines, and the precautionary method backfired as the pump failed and damaged it and the power steering pump. After staying up most of the night attempting repair, they were able to find a machine shop early Saturday morning to fix the pieces, so they could make the qualifiers on Saturday night. In other Friday heat race action, series regular Billy Peden, who looked like well on his way to a qualifying spot, had the torque arm on his race car break, and he damaged his entire drive line (breaking the rear end, driveshaft, splitting the transmission in half, and breaking lifters on his engine). After attempting to repair it, he decided to skip the last chance qualifiers, borrow a car and take a provisional into the field.
On Saturday evening, in the first last chance race, Joey Mack charged from the outside pole to take the win, even though his repairs were not complete and he had to race without power steering. Mack decided to race instead of taking a provisional, knowing a win would start him in the eleventh position instead of nineteenth. In the second final qualifier, Robert Lovette led until the final corner, when Jordan Jones used lap traffic to dive under him for the win. Series provisionals went to Peden and Jon Kirby.
With the A Main set, Bowers led the field in a four wide salute, and then to the green for forty laps of action. After the first three laps, Kyle Beard had moved into the lead, with Bowers and Dane Dacus racing side by side, and at times three wide for the lead. After an early race incident damaged the spoiler of Dusty Johnston, the race went several laps green, until a mechanical failure on Jeff Wells car caused him to push up the track and collect Shane Essary. The race went without caution again from lap 28 to 35, when heavy contact between Bowers and Dacus resulted in Dacus retiring his car for the evening. Jordan Jones, who had moved from his twelfth starting spot to third, joined Bowers and Beard up front, but Beard seemed to have the field covered. Jones was able maneuver around Bowers, and chased Beard, with Jones on the bottom and Beard on the high side, closing up enough to show his nose under Beard's door on lap 37, but a late race caution allowed a strong restarting Beard to pull away for the win. Beard, who collected a big $5,000 check for the win, stated, "First, I want to thank the Lord, then all my friends and family for helping on the car this week, and especially my Dad. The car was really good early on the top, and Bowers and Dacus raced me clean. When Jones got up underneath me near the end, I got a little worried, but he raced me clean, too, and the top held and we made it." Jones added, "My car was good on the long runs, but I figured my only chance, as good as Kyle ran, was for him to get hung up by lap traffic. He ran a great race. I want to thank Racewrapz, RiceTec, Kuntz, and all my family for helping out on the car this season."
The Larry Shaw Hard Charger award was captured by Charlie Cole, who raced from 18th all the way up to fourth. Cole stated, "We changed everything on the car before the feature, Dad, Brian and Jeremy were really hustling. We went back to an old set up from about three years ago, and it just worked out." The Weld Forge Ahead Hard Luck Award went to series regular Billy Peden for all of his misfortune over the weekend.
The fifth place finish by Joey Mack cemented the first ever MSRA Championship. Mack stated, "This was the best I have ever seen the racetrack at PCR. There was a time that I could have made it five wide while we were all racing, but I settled down and fell in line. Coming out with a top five and the championship were my goals for the weekend, and with everything we had happen, we couldn't be happier." Series runner-up Jeff Floyd stated,"I am happy I was in a place at the last race of the season to compete for the championship, and since I didn't win it, glad another Kuntz powered GRT did. MSRA has done a great job for a first season deal, and I look forward to next year."
MSRA would like to thank all the racers, crews, sponsors, and fans for helping make their first season a success.
Finishing Order:
1. Kyle Beard
2. Jordan Jones
3. Mike Bowers
4. Charlie Cole
5. Joey Mack
6. Jeff Floyd
7. Carl Thomas
8. Billy Moyer, Jr.
9. Billy Peden
10. Jared Landers
11. Enik Sanders
12. Robert Lovette
13. Justin Alstin
14. Dusty Johnston
15. Shane Essary
16. Dane Dacus
17. Dewaine Hottinger
18. Jeff Wells
19. Jon Kirby
20. Stacy Taylor
Last Chance 1 Winner: Joey Mack
Last Chance 2 Winner: Jordan Jones
JFR Pole Award: Mike Bowers
Provisionals: Billy Peden, Jon Kirby
Weld Forge Ahead Hard Luck: Billy Peden
Larry Shaw Hard Charger: Charlie Cole
MSRA would like to thank series sponsors Hoosier Tire, GRT Race Cars, marComm101.net, Weld Racing Wheels, JFR Graphics, Larry Shaw Race Cars, and Kuntz and Company. For more information on the series, contact Chris Ellis at race@m-s-r-a.com For MSRA marketing and sponsorship opportunities contact Scott Williams at ideas@marcomm101.net, or visit us on the web at www.M-S-R-A.com
Thirty-one cars converged upon Poinsett County Raceway in Harrisburg, Arkansas for the two night show, and the fans were in for a treat. Night one utilized a two heat qualifying format, where competitors ran a heat race accumulating passing points, had their starting positions inverted, and ran a second heat.
At the end of the night, veteran Mike Bowers picked up the JFR Graphics pole award for the upcoming Saturday night feature. He was joined in the starting ten by Dane Dacus, Kyle Beard, Carl Thomas, Billy Moyer, Jr., Dusty Johnston, Jeff Floyd, Jeff Wells, Dewaine Hottinger, and Enik Sanders.
The multiple heat format kept the first night's events interesting, as some notable series regulars failed to lock in. While leading his second heat race, Joey Mack's car came to a stop, and he was knocked out of one of the ten feature spots. Mack had installed a new fuel pump the previous week on his car while changing engines, and the precautionary method backfired as the pump failed and damaged it and the power steering pump. After staying up most of the night attempting repair, they were able to find a machine shop early Saturday morning to fix the pieces, so they could make the qualifiers on Saturday night. In other Friday heat race action, series regular Billy Peden, who looked like well on his way to a qualifying spot, had the torque arm on his race car break, and he damaged his entire drive line (breaking the rear end, driveshaft, splitting the transmission in half, and breaking lifters on his engine). After attempting to repair it, he decided to skip the last chance qualifiers, borrow a car and take a provisional into the field.
On Saturday evening, in the first last chance race, Joey Mack charged from the outside pole to take the win, even though his repairs were not complete and he had to race without power steering. Mack decided to race instead of taking a provisional, knowing a win would start him in the eleventh position instead of nineteenth. In the second final qualifier, Robert Lovette led until the final corner, when Jordan Jones used lap traffic to dive under him for the win. Series provisionals went to Peden and Jon Kirby.
With the A Main set, Bowers led the field in a four wide salute, and then to the green for forty laps of action. After the first three laps, Kyle Beard had moved into the lead, with Bowers and Dane Dacus racing side by side, and at times three wide for the lead. After an early race incident damaged the spoiler of Dusty Johnston, the race went several laps green, until a mechanical failure on Jeff Wells car caused him to push up the track and collect Shane Essary. The race went without caution again from lap 28 to 35, when heavy contact between Bowers and Dacus resulted in Dacus retiring his car for the evening. Jordan Jones, who had moved from his twelfth starting spot to third, joined Bowers and Beard up front, but Beard seemed to have the field covered. Jones was able maneuver around Bowers, and chased Beard, with Jones on the bottom and Beard on the high side, closing up enough to show his nose under Beard's door on lap 37, but a late race caution allowed a strong restarting Beard to pull away for the win. Beard, who collected a big $5,000 check for the win, stated, "First, I want to thank the Lord, then all my friends and family for helping on the car this week, and especially my Dad. The car was really good early on the top, and Bowers and Dacus raced me clean. When Jones got up underneath me near the end, I got a little worried, but he raced me clean, too, and the top held and we made it." Jones added, "My car was good on the long runs, but I figured my only chance, as good as Kyle ran, was for him to get hung up by lap traffic. He ran a great race. I want to thank Racewrapz, RiceTec, Kuntz, and all my family for helping out on the car this season."
The Larry Shaw Hard Charger award was captured by Charlie Cole, who raced from 18th all the way up to fourth. Cole stated, "We changed everything on the car before the feature, Dad, Brian and Jeremy were really hustling. We went back to an old set up from about three years ago, and it just worked out." The Weld Forge Ahead Hard Luck Award went to series regular Billy Peden for all of his misfortune over the weekend.
The fifth place finish by Joey Mack cemented the first ever MSRA Championship. Mack stated, "This was the best I have ever seen the racetrack at PCR. There was a time that I could have made it five wide while we were all racing, but I settled down and fell in line. Coming out with a top five and the championship were my goals for the weekend, and with everything we had happen, we couldn't be happier." Series runner-up Jeff Floyd stated,"I am happy I was in a place at the last race of the season to compete for the championship, and since I didn't win it, glad another Kuntz powered GRT did. MSRA has done a great job for a first season deal, and I look forward to next year."
MSRA would like to thank all the racers, crews, sponsors, and fans for helping make their first season a success.
Finishing Order:
1. Kyle Beard
2. Jordan Jones
3. Mike Bowers
4. Charlie Cole
5. Joey Mack
6. Jeff Floyd
7. Carl Thomas
8. Billy Moyer, Jr.
9. Billy Peden
10. Jared Landers
11. Enik Sanders
12. Robert Lovette
13. Justin Alstin
14. Dusty Johnston
15. Shane Essary
16. Dane Dacus
17. Dewaine Hottinger
18. Jeff Wells
19. Jon Kirby
20. Stacy Taylor
Last Chance 1 Winner: Joey Mack
Last Chance 2 Winner: Jordan Jones
JFR Pole Award: Mike Bowers
Provisionals: Billy Peden, Jon Kirby
Weld Forge Ahead Hard Luck: Billy Peden
Larry Shaw Hard Charger: Charlie Cole
MSRA would like to thank series sponsors Hoosier Tire, GRT Race Cars, marComm101.net, Weld Racing Wheels, JFR Graphics, Larry Shaw Race Cars, and Kuntz and Company. For more information on the series, contact Chris Ellis at race@m-s-r-a.com For MSRA marketing and sponsorship opportunities contact Scott Williams at ideas@marcomm101.net, or visit us on the web at www.M-S-R-A.com
