Mark Smith Victorious In Hockett/McMillin Memorial Opener

Bryan Hulbert – WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 17, 2020) Using slower traffic to his advantage, Pennsylvania's Mark Smith rocketed from the fifth starting spot to win Thursday's opener of the General Tire Hockett/McMillin Memorial with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Smith's second career victory with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network; the win is his 18th overall in 2020.

Of the last lap challenge, Smith stated, "I saw somebody's tires down there, but there really isn't much you can do when the track gets like this unless you take somebody out, and Jordon's a good driver. He wouldn't do something like that."

Chasing down Ayrton Gennetten as the leaders found the back of the field on Lap 7, Smith closed the gap on the No. 3 through the next revolution. Swinging wide off the fourth turn on Lap 9, that opened the door for Smith to bolt into the lead.

Opening a nearly 2.5-second advantage on the field, lapped cars kept second through fifth on their toes. Slipping through the back-markers from eighth, Jordon Mallett moved the second on Lap 16. Hugging the berm of the three-eighths-mile oval, Mallett slowly chipped away at Smith's advantage.

Held up with three laps to run, Smith's cushion over the field quickly faded as Mallett rolled his Porter Commercial Refrigeration No. 14 to the back bumper of the Mach1 Chassis No. M1. With a low line run through turns one and two on the final lap, Mallett pulled to Smith's left rear. Making slight contact, Jordon rolled out of the throttle to avoid the crash. Giving it one last run into the final two turns, it wasn't enough as Smith held off the charge by 0.342-seconds.

Mallett's best career finish with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network at Lucas Oil Speedway; the Thursday silver is the second time that Mallett has graced a National Tour podium. Falling back early after starting on the pole, Scott Bogucki rallied back to third in the SawBlade.com No. 28.

Making up seven positions, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. made it to fourth with Dylan Westbrook in fifth.

Sixth went to Jonathan Cornell, followed by Derek Hagar, who charged from 17th to seventh. Roger Crockett was eighth with Seth Bergman and Ayrton Gennetten completing the top ten.

A record field of 77 drivers was on hand for the first night of the General Tire Hockett/McMillin Memorial. Eight SCE Gaskets Heat Races went to Justyn Cox, Sean McClelland, Billy Butler, Scott Bogucki, Seth Bergman, Garet Williamson, Jonathan Cornell, and Ryan Conium. Hoosier Tire Qualifiers numbered seven and were topped by Joe B. Miller, Chase Randall, Jordon Mallett, Mark Smith, Brandon Anderson, Tim Crawley, and Miles Paulus. BMRS B-Features went to Brandon Anderson, Howard Moore, and Devon Borden. The Brodix LCQ was won by Derek Hagar.

Provisional starts were utilized by Matt Covington, Chase Randall, and Austin O'Neal.

The General Tire Hockett/McMillin Memorial continues on Friday, September 18. Racing gets underway at 7:00 P.M. (CT). Information and tickets can be found online at http://www.lucasoilspeedway.com.

Live coverage is at http://www.lucasoilracing.tv and http://www.racinboys.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 ASCS Nation in 2020, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).

Race Results:

ASCS National Tour | ASCS Warrior Region
Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, Mo.)
Hockett/McMillin Memorial - Night 1
Thursday, September 17, 2020

Car Count: 77

SCE Gaskets Heat Races (Top 70 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Justyn Cox[2]; 2. 47-Dale Howard[4]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 4. 88-Travis Reber[7]; 5. 1X-Tim Crawley[5]; 6. 5T-Ryan Timms[3]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[10]; 8. 14E-Kyle Bellm[9]; 9. 37H-Matthew Howard[6]; 10. 18T-Tanner Holmes[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland[1]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]; 3. 88X-Shane Stewart[4]; 4. 9-Chase Randall[3]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[9]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[7]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[2]; 8. 26-Marshall Skinner[10]; 9. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[5]; 10. 86-Timothy Smith[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Billy Butler[1]; 2. 3M-Howard Moore[4]; 3. 2-Brad Bowden[3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 5. M1-Mark Smith[9]; 6. 21R-Gunner Ramey[5]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 8. 9M-Cody Baker[10]; 9. 77X-Alex Hill[8]; 10. 75B-Brian Boswell[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki[9]; 2. 22S-Slater Helt[1]; 3. 0-Corey Nelson[2]; 4. 15-Jase Randolph[3]; 5. 13-Chase Howard[4]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks[10]; 7. 57B-Bobby Butler[5]; 8. 87-Jason Barney[6]; 9. 90X-Matt Tanner[7]; 10. 121-Steve Glover[8]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[4]; 3. 17W-Harli White[6]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[10]; 5. 21-Miles Paulus[5]; 6. 16A-Justin Sanders[9]; 7. 7B-Ben Brown[3]; 8. 45-Chuck Hebing[1]; 9. 22L-Connor Leoffler[8]; 10. 11A-Austin O'Neal[7]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson[2]; 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas[4]; 3. 23G-Steven Shebester[3]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]; 5. 4-Evan Martin[9]; 6. 30-Joseph Miller[1]; 7. 10L-Landon Britt[6]; 8. 19-Colby Thornhill[8]; 9. 97-Scotty Milan[5]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[2]; 2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]; 3. 17B-Ryan Bickett[1]; 4. 11-Roger Crockett[8]; 5. 76-Jay Russell[4]; 6. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 7. 5-Kory Bales[3]; 8. 31-Casey Wills[6]; 9. 28V-Luke Verardi[5]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 46-Ryan Coniam[2]; 2. 21P-Robbie Price[1]; 3. 8-Devon Borden[5]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 5. 29-Emilio Hoover[6]; 6. 5D-Zach Daum[8]; 7. 3P-Rusty Potter[3]; 8. 95X-Asa Swindell[9]; 9. 3Z-Zach Davis[4]

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

Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]; 2. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[5]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki[6]; 4. 2-Brad Bowden[2]; 5. 22L-Connor Leoffler[10]; 6. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 7. 13-Chase Howard[7]; 8. 3P-Rusty Potter[9]; 9. 30-Joseph Miller[8]; 10. 9JR-Derek Hagar[3]

Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Chase Randall[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[6]; 4. 14E-Kyle Bellm[8]; 5. 23G-Steven Shebester[2]; 6. 90X-Matt Tanner[10]; 7. 75-Tyler Blank[7]; 8. 46-Ryan Coniam[5]; 9. 19-Colby Thornhill[9]; 10. 57-Billy Butler[4]

Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Jordon Mallett[3]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[4]; 3. 47-Dale Howard[5]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[2]; 5. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]; 6. 20G-Jake Greider[9]; 7. 9M-Cody Baker[10]; 8. 10L-Landon Britt[8]; 9. 76-Jay Russell[7]; 10. 15-Jase Randolph[1]

Qualifier 4 (8 Laps): 1. M1-Mark Smith[4]; 2. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[6]; 3. 0-Corey Nelson[2]; 4. 3M-Howard Moore[5]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 6. 29-Emilio Hoover[1]; 7. 4-Evan Martin[3]; 8. 45-Chuck Hebing[10]; 9. 95-Matt Covington[9]; 10. 95X-Asa Swindell[8]

Qualifier 5 (8 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[5]; 3. 22-Riley Goodno[1]; 4. 8-Devon Borden[4]; 5. 7C-Justyn Cox[6]; 6. 87-Jason Barney[9]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[3]; 8. 57B-Bobby Butler[8]; 9. 21R-Gunner Ramey[7]; 10. 37H-Matthew Howard[10]

Qualifier 6 (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Tim Crawley[1]; 2. 88X-Shane Stewart[3]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas[5]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 5. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]; 6. 26-Marshall Skinner[7]; 7. 31-Casey Wills[9]; 8. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[10]; 9. 7B-Ben Brown[8]; 10. 88-Travis Reber[4]

Qualifier 7 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Miles Paulus[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 17W-Harli White[5]; 4. 21P-Robbie Price[3]; 5. 16A-Justin Sanders[2]; 6. 24-Garet Williamson[6]; 7. 5T-Ryan Timms[7]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill[9]; 9. 97-Scotty Milan[8]; 10. 5-Kory Bales[10]

BMRS B-Feature (Top 5 from each advance to the LCQ)

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar[12]; 3. 1X-Tim Crawley[3]; 4. 51B-Joe B Miller[2]; 5. 2-Brad Bowden[5]; 6. 14E-Kyle Bellm[6]; 7. 13-Chase Howard[10]; 8. 9M-Cody Baker[13]; 9. 4-Evan Martin[8]; 10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[7]; 11. 10L-Landon Britt[14]; 12. 87-Jason Barney[11]; 13. 95-Matt Covington[17]; 14. 45-Chuck Hebing[15]; 15. 97-Scotty Milan[18]; 16. 75B-Brian Boswell[21]; 17. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[16]; 18. 86-Timothy Smith[20]; 19. 24-Garet Williamson[4]; 20. 29-Emilio Hoover[9]; 21. 28V-Luke Verardi[19]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 3M-Howard Moore[1]; 2. 21-Miles Paulus[3]; 3. 16A-Justin Sanders[7]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[5]; 5. 22S-Slater Helt[8]; 6. 23G-Steven Shebester[6]; 7. 57B-Bobby Butler[14]; 8. 90X-Matt Tanner[11]; 9. 76-Jay Russell[13]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill[16]; 11. 5T-Ryan Timms[12]; 12. 3Z-Zach Davis[19]; 13. 26-Marshall Skinner[9]; 14. 15-Jase Randolph[15]; 15. 21P-Robbie Price[4]; 16. 9-Chase Randall[2]; 17. 75-Tyler Blank[10]; 18. 7B-Ben Brown[17]; 19. 121-Steve Glover[20]; 20. 5-Kory Bales[18]

B Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 8-Devon Borden[2]; 2. 7C-Justyn Cox[1]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 4. 22-Riley Goodno[5]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 6. 46-Ryan Coniam[6]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes[19]; 8. 19-Colby Thornhill[16]; 9. 11A-Austin O'Neal[20]; 10. 31-Casey Wills[12]; 11. 0-Corey Nelson[3]; 12. 57-Billy Butler[10]; 13. 20G-Jake Greider[9]; 14. 3P-Rusty Potter[13]; 15. 95X-Asa Swindell[17]; 16. 22L-Connor Leoffler[8]; 17. 88-Travis Reber[11]; 18. 30-Joseph Miller[15]; 19. 37H-Matthew Howard[18]; 20. 21R-Gunner Ramey[14]

Brodix Last Chance Qualifier (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)

Last Chance Qualifier (12 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[6]; 2. 3M-Howard Moore[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 4. 21-Miles Paulus[5]; 5. 7C-Justyn Cox[4]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[12]; 7. 51B-Joe B Miller[10]; 8. 16A-Justin Sanders[8]; 9. 8-Devon Borden[3]; 10. 2-Brad Bowden[11]; 11. 84-Brandon Hanks[9]; 12. 5D-Zach Daum[14]; 13. 22S-Slater Helt[13]; 14. 1X-Tim Crawley[7]; 15. 1-Sean McClelland[15]

Sawblade.com A-Feature

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. M1-Mark Smith[5]; 2. 14-Jordon Mallett[8]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki[1]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[11]; 5. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[3]; 6. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[4]; 7. 9JR-Derek Hagar[17]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett[7]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[13]; 10. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[2]; 11. 91T-Tyler Thomas[10]; 12. 94-Jeff Swindell[6]; 13. 3M-Howard Moore[18]; 14. 88X-Shane Stewart[16]; 15. 47-Dale Howard[9]; 16. 7C-Justyn Cox[21]; 17. 21-Miles Paulus[20]; 18. 17W-Harli White[12]; 19. 24D-Danny Sams III[15]; 20. 52-Blake Hahn[14]; 21. 55B-Brandon Anderson[19]; 22. 9-Chase Randall[24]; 23. 11A-Austin O'Neal[25]; 24. 22-Riley Goodno[22]; 25. 95-Matt Covington[23]

Lap Leader(s): Ayrton Gennetten 1-8; Mark Smith 9-25
Hard Charger: Derek Hagar +10
High Point Driver: Scott Bogucki
Provisional(s): Matt Covington (Points); Chase Randall (Points); Austin O'Neal (Regional)

2020 Driver Standings (Top 15): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1,657; 2. Roger Crockett 1,505; 3. Harli White 1,427; 4. Scott Bogucki 1,386; 5. Blake Hahn 1,352; 6. Jordon Mallett 1,337; 7. Matt Covington 1,316; 8. Dylan Westbrook 1,288; 9. Garet Williamson 1,161; 10. Danny Sams 1,152; 11. Alex Hill 1,096; 12. Chase Randall 1,059; 13. Ryan Bickett 1,003; 14. Travis Reber 977; 15. Justin Sanders 643;

2020 A-Feature Winner(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. – 5 (2/29 – Canyon Speedway Park; 6/25 – Caney Valley Speedway; 6/27 – I-30 Speedway; 7/17 – U.S. 36 Raceway; 9/13 – I-80 Speedway); Matt Covington - 1 (2/28 - Canyon Speedway Park); Brad Sweet – 1 (3/6 – Merced Speedway); Andy Forsberg – 1 (3/8 – Petaluma Speedway); Harli White – 1 (7/11 – Riverside International Speedway); Austin McCarl – 1 (8/6 – Knoxville Raceway); Lynton Jeffrey – 1 (8/7 – Knoxville Raceway); Kerry Madsen – 1 (8/8 – Knoxville Raceway); Brian Brown – 1 (8/9 – Southern Iowa Speedway); Mark Smith – 1 (9/17 – Lucas Oil Speedway);