Allen proves up to Challenge at Abilene

By Neal Palmer

ABILENE, Texas (Oct. 17-19) – Chase Allen proved this weekend he can not only build race cars, he can drive them, too.

Allen won Saturday’s IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified main event at Abilene Speedway’s Ryan Bard Memorial Southern Challenge. He took off from the pole, was fast right out of the gate and earned $3,000, plus a spot on the ballot for the 2014 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational.

National champion William Gould started outside the front row and looked to have one of the cars that might have something for Allen. Before halfway, the front pair had pulled away from the rest of the field by a straightway. Gould kept the pressure on Allen while Jerry Harpole, Chris Elliott, Josh McGaha and Keith White battled well behind them.

Elliott worked hard trying to get under Harpole, then decided to try the outside. He shot into third as they hit the front stretch. Elliott pulled away once clear, but with the laps winding down he just had too much ground to make up.

Allen went on to pull away in the final laps and when the checkers flew he was several car lengths ahead of Gould. Elliott, Harpole and White completed the top five.
One hundred and thirty cars from Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico vied at the 19th annual spe­cial. Total purse was more than $70,000.

Chad Hertel was the $2,500 Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod winner while Mi­chael Therwanger topped the $2,000 to win feature event for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars.
Taking home an even grand were IMCA Eagle Motorsports RaceSaver Sprint Car winner Josh Baughman and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock winner Cody Frank.

Hertel defended his home turf in the Southern SportMod main after winning Thursday’s qualifier for the pole start and holding off G.W. Egbert IV in the big show.
Egbert ran out of lap to catch up and Hertel went on to the win. Justin Shaw, Dean Abbey and Justin Cass rounded out the top five.

From his inside row three starting spot, Therwhanger worked his way to second and finally found his way past Matt Guillaume for the top Stock Car prize.
Pulling away in the late stages, he won ahead of Guillaume, Chad Estes, Gabe Tucker and Den­nis Bissonnette.

Jeremy Oliver looked to have the Hobby Stock to beat when that feature got underway. With about five laps to go, however, Oliver was working his way through traffic when a lapped car spun in front of him.

Oliver took evasive action but was unable to completely clear the spun car, clipping his bumper and cutting down his tire. That handed the lead to Frank.
Frank sailed on to take the checkers ahead of Kenny Ware, Joe Colyer, Andy Roller and Barrett Hutchison.

Baughman was a winged rocket right out of the trailer and seemed to have the ¼-mile red clay oval well in hand when he hit the dirt for the Sprint Car main.

Ryan Hall kept Baughman in view as the lead duo sped around the track, but Baughman proved to be too much to handle and went on to win in flying colors. Dustin Woods, Danny Merrell and Brandon Williams were next across the stripe.

Oct. 17 Qualifying Feature Results

Modifieds – 1. Chase Allen; 2. Keith White; 3. Chris Elliott; 4. Josh McGaha; 5. Joe Spillman; 6. Kevin Sustaire; 7. Vince Ogle; 8. Fred Wojtek; 9. Neal Flowers; 10. Charles Brewer; 11. Robby Edwards; 12. Ben Ketteman; 13. Jimmy Tidwell; 14. David Davis; 15. Jerry Harpole; 16. William Gould; 17. Charlie Smith; 18. Chad Estes; 19. Tommy Fain; 20. Glen Hibbard; 21. Doug Easter­ling.

Southern SportMods – 1. Chad Hertel; 2. G.W. Egbert IV; 3. Gabe Tucker; 4. Dean Abbey; 5. Bradley Poor; 6. George Egbert III; 7. Justin Cass; 8. Kyle Lathram; 9. David Sanford; 10. Kyle Wisdom; 11. Robert Cook; 12. Terry Owen; 13. T.C. Hogan; 14. Chris Grusendorf; 15. Cory Wil­liams; 16. Clint Pelzel; 17. Brandon Elkins; 18. Levi Ely; 19. Robert Crabtree; 20. Dustin Robin­son; 21. Shane Priddy.

Stock Cars – 1. Matt Guillaume; 2. David Phillips; 3. Michael Therwanger; 4. Dennis Bissonnette; 5. Jason Adcock; 6. Lance Shaw; 7. Michael Sheen; 8. Jody York 9. Kelly Brown; 10. Cary White; 11. Kevin Sustaire; 12. Gabe Tucker; 13. Chad Estes; 14. Kirk Martin; 15. Lewis Hammond; 16. Hunter Russell; 17. Tristan Carman; 18. Marc Egert; 19. Mike Golightly; 20. Billy Wade; 21. Travis Graves.

Hobby Stocks – 1. Jeremy Oliver; 2. Cody Frank; 3. Andy Roller; 4. Joe Colyer; 5. Jamie Her­ring; 6. Brandon Gaddis; 7. Barrett Hutchison; 8. Dan Lang; 9. Jerrad Steele; 10. April Phillips; 11. Tru­man Davis; 12. Colin Deming; 13. Gerald Spalding Jr.; 14. Scotty W. Brown; 15. Gerald Spal­ding Sr.; 16. Garrett Rawls; 17. Colby Dello; 18. Kenny Ware; 19. Chad Reedy; 20. Michael Ledbet­ter; 21. Rodney Sparks.
Oct. 18 Qualifying Feature Results

Modifieds – 1. Gould; 2. Harpole; 3. Toby Herring; 4. Brewer; 5. Fain; 6. Chad Melton; 7. Ketteman; 8. Smith; 9. Hibbard; 10. Estes; 11. Davis; 12. Flowers; 13. Mike McCarthy; 14. Danny Hogue; 15. Brandon Byars; 16. Ronnie Sebree; 17. Easterling; 18. Scooter Bates; 19. Troy Mel­ton; 20. Bobby Sikes Jr.

Southern SportMods – 1. Williams; 2. Justin Shaw; 3. Brian Flowers; 4. Mark Patterson; 5. Cook; 6. Ely; 7. Priddy; 8. Owen; 9. Robinson; 10. Jeffrey Abbey; 11. Kenny Ware; 12. Rodger Pierce; 13. Pelzel; 14. William Beckham; 15. Tim McDonald; 16. Chase Parson; 17. Kenneth Graves; 18. Lodi Mitchell; 19. Ronnie O’Neal; 20. Hogan.

Stock Cars – 1. Tucker; 2. Martin; 3. Estes; 4. Robert Cook; 5. Dustin White; 6. Ronnie Christo­pher; 7. Robert Barnett Sr.; 8. Jason Christopher; 9. Carman; 10. Bill Brzezinski; 11. L.P. O’Neal; 12. Jason Batt; 13. Mark Lord; 14. Travis Sutherlin; 15. Sustaire; 16. Terry Wojtek; 17. Malcolm Kill; 18. Tyler Muirhead; 19. Mart Wampler; 20. Graves.

Hobby Stocks – 1. Ware; 2. Rawls; 3. Hutchison; 4. Reedy; 5. Phillips; 6. Deming; 7. Brown; 8. Steele; 9. Gerald Spalding Sr.; 10. Dello; 11. Lang; 12. Davis; 13. Ledbetter; 14. Gerald Spalding Jr.
Oct. 19 Feature Results

Modifieds – 1. Allen; 2. Gould; 3. Elliott; 4. Harpole; 5. White; 6. McGaha; 7. Brewer; 8. Hibbard; 9. Ogle; 10. Herring; 11. Wojtek; 12. Flowers; 13. Edwards; 14. Ketteman; 15. Chad Melton; 16. Tidwell; 17. Smith; 18. Sustaire; 19. Spillman; 20. Fain.

Southern SportMods – 1. Hertel; 2. G.W. Egbert IV; 3. Shaw; 4. Dean Abbey; 5. Cass; 6. Jeffrey Ab­bey; 7. George Egbert III; 8. Ware; 9. Graves; 10. Julie Boettler; 11. Pelzel; 12. Williams; 13. Tucker; 14. Patterson; 15. Cook; 16. Ely; 17. Owen; 18. Flowers; 19. Priddy; 20. Bradley Poor.

Stock Cars – 1. Therwanger; 2. Guillaume; 3. Estes; 4. Tucker; 5. Bissonnette; 6. Sheen; 7. Shaw; 8. Dustin White; 9. Hammond; 10. Cary White; 11. Adcock; 12. Scott Kristinek; 13. Tim Pfalzgraf; 14. Phillips; 15. Batt; 16. Cook; Travis Sutherlin; 18. Martin; 19. Ronnie Christopher; 20. Sustaire.

Sprint Cars – 1. Josh Baughman; 2. Ryan Hall; 3. Dustin Woods; 4. Danny Merrell; 5. Brandon Williams; 6. Trevor Reed; 7. Gary Floyd.
Hobby Stocks – 1. Frank; 2. Ware; 3. Colyer; 4. Roller; 5. Hutchison; 6. Reedy; 7. Herring; 8. Deming; 9. Phillips; 10. Brown; 11. Rawls; 12. Gaddis; 13. Lang; 14. Davis; 15. Oliver; 16. Ledbet­ter; 17. Steele; 18. Dello; 19. Gerald Spalding Sr.; 20. Gerald Spalding Jr.; 21. Sparks.