Seth Bergman Wins Wild Friday Dirt Cup Prelim

Bryan Hulbert - ALGER, Wash. (June 22, 2018) If ever a race could be called wild, Friday's preliminary A-Feature of the 47th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort fits the bill as Seth Bergman came through the field from 16th for his third win of the season with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com.

Keeping clear of a myriad of crashes, the win also propelled Seth back to the top of the National Tour point standings by six markers over Blake Hahn as Sam Hafertepe, Jr., who led the standings coming into Dirt Cup, fell to third by 27 points.

"The first part of the race was pretty hectic, and I knew it was going to be important to stay out of trouble. A lot of guys were getting a lot of damage, and I wanted to make sure we got through there with a car that could complete, and sure enough we had a car that was really, really, fast," stated Seth who avoided a pair of red flag incidents that saw four drivers getting upside down before the field could complete the first lap.

"I just really proud of my guys, I know we had a rough night last night which is out of character for us, but we kept our heads held high, came out tonight, and got the job done. We had a little luck there at the beginning but as the race went on, we really got rolling"

Moving to ninth on the lineup before the field completed a lap, Seth raced inside the top-ten before mounting a charge into the top-five on Lap 10. Caution on Lap 15, the restart saw Bergman and Michael Kofoid battling before the rear axle snapped on the No. 8r, sending the young California driver flipping coming off the fourth turn.

Resulting in an open red, the restart was short lived as Joey Saldana spun to a stop. Underway once more, Seth kept his momentum up by letting the car run up the track from the bottom through the first and second turns in order to catch the cushion. Picking off Scott Bogucki and J.J. Hickle, the Corridor Electric No. 23 wasted no time in running down second place, Jason Solwold. Clearing the No. 18 before the red lights blinked on again for Trey Starks, the field went back to green with six laps to run.

With Rilat at the helm, the BDS Motorsports No. 1 was smooth around the bottom groove as Bergman returned to his familiar line. With the run set, Seth pulled the trigger the following lap. On Rilat's back bumper entering the first turn, Seth again swung to the wall. Diving under Travis into turn-three, Seth slid his way into the lead on Lap 21.

Not wavering from his line, Seth ran away to a 2.000-second advantage over Travis Rilat with Jason Solwold making the final podium step. From 10th, Scott Bogucki finished fourth. With two consistent nights, the Australian shoe will lead the field to the green in Saturday's $15,000 to win feature event. With the win, Bergman will start outside the front row.

The night's CP-Carrillo Hard Charger, Colton Heath clawed his way to fifth after starting 21st. J.J. Hickle slipped to sixth with Brock Lemley seventh. Matt Covington from 19th made it to eighth with Logan Forler and Roger Crockett to make up the top-ten.

The 47th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort wraps up on Saturday, June 23 with Opening Ceremonies at 7:00 P.M. (PDT). Ticket information, directions, and more can be found online at http://www.skagitspeedway.com.

For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the Regional Tours that make up the over 150 across the ASCS Nation in 2018, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Skagit Speedway - Alger, Wash.
47th Dirt Cup - Night 2
Friday, June 22, 2018

Car Count: 52
Event Count: 53

Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to the Qualifiers)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-David Miller, [2]; 2. 8P-Jared Peterson, [4]; 3. 22X-Trevor Cook, [1]; 4. 77X-Alex Hill, [5]; 5. 33-Colton Heath, [7]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 7. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [8]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn, [9]; 9. 88-Travis Reber, [3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8R-Michael Kofoid, [1]; 2. 3-J.J. Hickle, [3]; 3. 10L-Brock Lemley, [6]; 4. 1R-Ryan Robinson, [8]; 5. 44H-Jake Helsel, [2]; 6. 2-James Setters, [4]; 7. 25-Michael Hodel, [5]; 8. 33S-Lance Sargent, [7]; 9. 9A-Luke Didiuk, [9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 2. 2L-Logan Forler, [1]; 3. 1-Travis Rilat, [5]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 6. 97R-Jason Reed, [3]; 7. 96-Greg Hamilton, [6]; 8. 22-Garen Linder, [8]; 9. 5J-Jamie Ball, [9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Joey Saldana, [4]; 2. 21P-Robbie Price, [2]; 3. 18-Jason Solwold, [5]; 4. 29W-Steven James, [1]; 5. 56-Justin Youngquist, [8]; 6. 54-Chris Ochs, [3]; 7. 44NZ-Daniel Anderson, [6]; 8. 23S-Steve Parker, [7]; (DNS) 15-Jeff Dunlap,

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [2]; 2. 55-Trey Starks, [4]; 3. 59-Eric Fisher, [3]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [6]; 5. 75-Brian Boswell, [1]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, [7]; 7. 5R-Steve Reeves, [5]; 8. 14-Bailey Sucich, [8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 45-Austen Wheatley, [2]; 2. 11EH-Marc Duperron, [1]; 3. 44-Chris Martin, [4]; 4. 91-Chase Goetz, [5]; 5. 11-Roger Crockett, [8]; 6. 57-Bud Ashe, [3]; 7. 57C-Chris Schmelzle, [6]; 8. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith, [7]

Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)

Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11EH-Marc Duperron, [1]; 2. 18-Jason Solwold, [2]; 3. 1R-Ryan Robinson, [3]; 4. 55-Trey Starks, [4]; 5. 26-Joey Saldana, [6]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman, [5]; 7. 33-Colton Heath, [9]; 8. 56-Justin Youngquist, [7]; 9. 77X-Alex Hill, [8]; 10. 29W-Steven James, [10]

Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Martin, [1]; 2. 21P-Robbie Price, [2]; 3. 3-J.J. Hickle, [3]; 4. 10L-Brock Lemley, [4]; 5. 11-Roger Crockett, [7]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, [10]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [9]; 8. 45-Austen Wheatley, [5]; 9. 91-Chase Goetz, [8]; 10. 16-David Miller, [6]

Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [1]; 2. 1-Travis Rilat, [3]; 3. 2L-Logan Forler, [2]; 4. 8R-Michael Kofoid, [4]; 5. 28-Scott Bogucki, [6]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, [9]; 7. 8P-Jared Peterson, [5]; 8. 59-Eric Fisher, [7]; 9. 22X-Trevor Cook, [8]; 10. 44H-Jake Helsel, [10]

BMRS B-Feature (Top 2 in each advance to the A-Feature)

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [1]; 2. 45-Austen Wheatley, [2]; 3. 77X-Alex Hill, [4]; 4. 57C-Chris Schmelzle, [9]; 5. 5J-Jamie Ball, [12]; 6. 56-Justin Youngquist, [3]; 7. 97R-Jason Reed, [7]; 8. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 9. (DNF) 96-Greg Hamilton, [8]; 10. (DNF) 22-Garen Linder, [10]; 11. (DNF) 29W-Steven James, [5]; 12. (DNF) 23S-Steve Parker, [11]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 8P-Jared Peterson, [1]; 2. 33-Colton Heath, [2]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [6]; 4. 16-David Miller, [3]; 5. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith, [11]; 6. 91-Chase Goetz, [4]; 7. 14-Bailey Sucich, [10]; 8. 44NZ-Daniel Anderson, [8]; 9. 54-Chris Ochs, [7]; 10. 44H-Jake Helsel, [5]; 11. (DNF) 25-Michael Hodel, [9]; 12. (DNF) 88-Travis Reber, [12]

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [8]; 3. 17W-Harli White, [2]; 4. 59-Eric Fisher, [3]; 5. 33S-Lance Sargent, [10]; 6. 5R-Steve Reeves, [9]; 7. 9A-Luke Didiuk, [11]; 8. 75-Brian Boswell, [5]; 9. 2-James Setters, [6]; 10. (DNF) 57-Bud Ashe, [7]; 11. (DNF) 15-Jeff Dunlap, [12]; 12. (DNF) 22X-Trevor Cook, [4]

Protect the Harvest A-Feature:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [16]; 2. 1-Travis Rilat, [1]; 3. 18-Jason Solwold, [5]; 4. 28-Scott Bogucki, [10]; 5. 33-Colton Heath, [21]; 6. 3-J.J. Hickle, [9]; 7. 10L-Brock Lemley, [12]; 8. 95-Matt Covington, [19]; 9. 2L-Logan Forler, [14]; 10. 11-Roger Crockett, [15]; 11. 45-Austen Wheatley, [20]; 12. 99-Skylar Gee, [17]; 13. 52-Blake Hahn, [22]; 14. (DNF) 55-Trey Starks, [11]; 15. (DNF) 26-Joey Saldana, [2]; 16. (DNF) 8R-Michael Kofoid, [13]; 17. (DNF) 8P-Jared Peterson, [18]; 18. (DNF) 44-Chris Martin, [4]; 19. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera, [6]; 20. (DNF) 21P-Robbie Price, [7]; 21. (DNF) 11EH-Marc Duperron, [3]; 22. (DNF) 1R-Ryan Robinson, [8]

Lap Leader(s): Travis Rilat 1-20; Seth Bergman 21-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Colton Heath +16
FSR High Point Driver: Travis Rilat
Provisional(s): N/A

Event Points as of June 22, 2018 (Top 16 Lock into Saturday's A-Feature)

• 28-Scott Bogucki -731
• 23-Seth Bergman -716
• 1-Travis Rilat -715
• 21P-Robbie Price -707
• 3-J.J. Hickle -705
• 2L-Logan Forler -698
• 45X-Johnny Herrera -696
• 10L-Brock Lemley -690
• 99-Skylar Gee -686
• 55-Trey Starks -663
• 1R-Ryan Robinson -656
• 56-Justin Youngquist -650
• 95-Matt Covington -645
• 8R-Michael Kofoid -643
• 59-Eric Fisher -641
• 45-Austen Wheatley -638
• 8P-Jared Peterson -632
• 77X-Alex Hill -611
• 91-Chase Goetz -611
• 22X-Trevor Cook -604
• 52-Blake Hahn -597
• 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr -583
• 2C-Wayne Johnson -574
• 18-Jason Solwold -572
• 11-Roger Crockett -571
• 44-Chris Martin -530
• 33-Colton Heath -529
• 11EH-Marc Duperron -529
• 26-Joey Saldana -523
• 22-Garen Linder -517
• 5J-Jamie Ball -511
• 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith -510
• 17W-Harli White -505
• 57A-Bud Ashe -501
• 16-David Miller -501
• 33S-Lance Sargent -492
• 97R-Jason Reed -487
• 29W-Steven James -476
• 44H-Jake Helsel -473
• 75-Brian Boswell -392
• 14B-Bailey Sucich -382
• 57C-Chris Schmelzle -382
• 5R-Steve Reeves -381
• 96-Greg Hamilton -377
• 44NZ-Daniel Anderson -376
• 2-James Setters -374
• 54-Chris Ochs -370
• 9A-Luke Didiuk -369
• 25-Michael Hodel -368
• 23S-Steve Parker -364
• 88-Travis Reber -363
• 15-Jeff Dunlap -362
• 8-Devon Borden -297