Hein Wins on Controversial Night Diamond Cup Night 1

Hein Wins on Controversial Night

Matt Hein sat on top of the podium at the conclusion of night one, but the focus wasn’t on him at the end of the night.  ASA/NSRA displayed their new side by side restart format last night; drivers and owners alike are already discussing ways to improve the format, making the show run a little smoother.  Fans were getting anxious and jittery by the end of the main event which fired off at 9pm and took and hour and fifteen minutes to complete.  The multiple cautions and two red flags, one for drivers to refuel their cars, made the night seem to drag, but, the restarts were not the only thing the fans were upset about, crowd pleaser Brandon Johnson made contact with the #80 of Mike Murgoitio forcing Murgoitio to the wall, ending his night.  ASA/NSRA officials concluded that Johnson was considered a part of the incident and was sent to the back of the field with seven laps left.  The crowd came unglued with boo’s at the decision, and many were overheard claiming, “He didn’t cause that.”  I caught up with Brandon later and he told me, “The car had a little push out (of the turn) and the last restart he (Murgoitio) got out of it when he saw me push up, that time he was there and we touched.”  Murgoitio agreed that Johnson pushing up did cause the accident, “I can take a little hit on the side, but man, I got slammed.”

Outside of a few isolated incidences there was some spectacular sprint car racing during the main event at Meridian Speedway.  Murgoitio jumped out to an early lead and after three laps Matt Hein had jumped to second with Murgoitio in his sights.  A quick four laps into the main, Matt Mansell spun around in turn two, bringing out the night’s first caution.  Hein restarted on the outside of Murgoitio and took advantage of his front row restart, the next lap coming out of four, Murgoitio touched Hein’s rear tire upsetting Murgoitio’s car and allowing Johnson to slide into second.  Hein went to work on building a lead over the field, but the second caution came out when the man on the move Vern Scevers got a flat right front tire and came to a stop on the backstretch.  Johnson found himself restarting on the outside of Hein, and with a quick jump start that flagman, Donny Gist did not approve of, they were lined back up to try it again.  Johnson got a great jump on the second restart and was able to hold the outside line and completed the pass on Hein.  A few laps later Murgoitio would use the high side to drive around Hein, putting him on Johnson’s tail tank.

Behind the leaders, the man they call ‘The Jet’ Johnny Giesler was picking his way from his sixth starting position up to fourth.  Jeff Montgomery started eighth and with the drop of the first green flag had lost a little ground but was quickly making it up passing cars using the high side of the track.  Crowd favorite Sierra Jackson, who was unable to transfer her position out of the heat race, was force to start in the last row of the 22 car field, but that didn’t detour Jackson from working her way towards the front.  Jackson’s car was glued to the high side of the track allowing her to drive around cars on the outside.

Montgomery and Andy Alberding were battling for the fifth position when the two drivers had to negotiate lapped traffic, coming out of turn four the two drivers split Mitch Holte, Montgomery going low and Alberding staying high, Alberding managed to hold Montgomery off in what was a hairy 3-car wide pass.  On lap 23, the field was bunched back up when Giesler pull off the track from his fourth position due to a flat tire.  Johnson again jumped to the lead, but at the back of the field 5 cars come together bringing out another caution, Mitch Holte had some damage to his nose wing but was able to drive away.  Four other drivers were not so fortunate, Matt Mansell was backed into the wall, and Darren Spiers found himself caught up but was able to get the car going again.  Vern Scevers checked up to avoid hitting anyone, but Wyatt King did not see the may lay and made contact with Scevers sending King on an exciting ride, ultimately ending King’s night.  Officials saw this as a great time to throw the first red, stop the cars and let the driver’s refuel.  During the red, Johnson’s crew discovered he was losing air in his left rear tire, the crew decided to gamble, fill the tire with 15 pounds of air pressure hoping it would hold until the end.

Johnson would again jump out to the front on the restart, holding off Murgoitio again.  Meanwhile behind the leaders, Montgomery moved around Alberding for the fourth spot and Jackson had moved to sixth where she began working on Alberding.  Jackson looked to the outside but Alberding slammed the door to temporarily hold off the charging Jackson, she would not be denied, using a powerful run off turn four she was able to shoot past Alberding on the front stretch.  As the leaders starting catching lapped traffic, disaster struck when Chris Adams was spun around on the backstretch, leaving Spiers with nowhere to go but through Adams, ending both driver’s night.  The leaders were all able to skate by with no harm and would be lined up two by two again.

What was expected to be a seven lap shoot out on the restart became a nightmare for two drivers.  As the cars excelled out of turn four, Johnson’s car slid up to the top of the track where Murgoitio was attempting to make a pass, the two made contact and Murgoitio ended up in the wall.  Montgomery, who was trying to negotiate his path to the front had nowhere to go and drove into the side of Murgoitio, Montgomery had a car that could have given him a real shot at the front, but his night ended early.  The crew went to work on the car and after replacing the front axel he promised to return for night two.  Jackson and Hein dove down to the bottom of the track to steer clear, while Alberding went to the top and somehow skirted between the two cars and the wall before the two came to a halt against the wall in turn one.  This brought out the second red of the night, but crews were not allowed onto the track for adjustments.

After the cars were pushed off and lined up, officials announced over the race-ceivers that Johnson was to go to the rear for his involvement in the incident.  “I wasn’t sure if I had anything for him, but I thought I might be able to carry my momentum on the outside on the restart.  Then I heard them say #14 to the back and I thought, ok.”  Hein said upon hearing about Johnson’s misfortune.  Officials decided to restart the race single file with seven laps remaining.  Hein, Jackson, Alberding, Warf and Ratterree would start as the top five, and finish the top five.  Hein, Jackson and Alberding checked out, Brian Warf, who started ninth, was able to maintain a clean nose all night and held off the fast qualifier Chris Ratterree for the fourth position. 

Cody Veenstra would finish just outside of the top five in sixth from his seventh starting position.  Giesler was able to fix the flat tire and returned to finish seventh.  Robert Beck battled with Giesler the last few laps of the race and would settle for eighth.  Randy Dubois was not happy with his car at the end of the night, and took a beating in the middle of the pack but was able to hold on for a top ten finish, locking in ninth spot.  Chris Schmelzle rounded out the top, with Scevers and Johnson in tow.  The main event saw 22 cars start but only had 12 cars finished the race.  Greg Middendorf, Mike Murgoitio, Jeff Montgomery, Chris Adams, Ron Larson, Darren Spiers, Wyatt King, Matt Mansell, Mitch Holte and Ryan Newman were all drivers that did not finish the race.

Springfield native Rick Brown brought the Wholesale Auto Parts entry, but the night was short live for Brown and his crew when they seized some valves in the motor during a practice session.  Fans waited with great anticipation to see if any driver would finally break the 10 second barrier, but cool track conditions and a lack of rubber being laid down kept the cars in the mid 11 second range.  Current track record holder, Andy Alberding and fellow Roseburg native Matt Hein were two favorites to break the barrier, but both drivers battled a pushing car.  Brandon ‘Smoke’ Johnson, Sierra Jackson, Cody Veenstra and Chris Ratterree were some local favorites to give it a shot, Ratterree would be the fast qualifier with a smooth 11.344.  Jeff Montgomery looked fast in practice and gave it his best shot, but came up short with second fast time.  Fellow Canadian Matt Mansell looked sharp, but finished just behind Montgomery with an 11.488.  After the completion of the dashes, flagman Donny Gist announced he was adding money to make the bounty a cool $2,000, if drivers didn’t have motivation, they do now.

Heat #1 was led to the line by local drivers Ryan Newman and Darren Spiers, Spiers tried anticipating Newman’s jump but mistimed it leading to a caution and full restart.  Spiers waited on the second start and timed it perfectly, jumping to an early lead, with Warf trailing from his second row outside spot.  On lap five Warf made his move to the outside of turns one and two and completed the pass down the backstretch, leaving Spiers the fend of the charging Johnny Giesler, a lap later Giesler followed Warf’s lead and made his move to the outside of turns one and two.  Newman fell to fifth and was able to hold off former champion Matt Hein and Matt Mansell.  Scevers would battle with Spiers for the third spot but couldn’t complete the pass and finished fourth.

In heat #2 Robert Beck led the field to the line in the #3 Millennium Motorsports machine with Greg Middendorf to his right, but it was Randy Dubois for his second row inside spot that Beck had to hold off.  Dubois made a fast move to the bottom of the track, going three wide for a brief second into turn one.  Beck held his ground forcing Dubois to back out and settle for second, while Middendorf settled into third with Ron Larson and Andy Alberding in tow, Larson and Alberding ran side by side for two laps, before Larson bested Alberding.  The cars ran single file for four laps before Alberding attempted another move to the inside but Larson was able to slam the door.  Crowd favorite Sierra Jackson ran seventh and could never get the car going the right direction, Jeff Montgomery was able to keep the young girl at bay and hold onto the last transfer spot.  Beck would go onto win the heat with Dubois, Middendorf, Larson, Alberding, Montgomery and Jackson in tow.

The front row in heat #3 shot out of turn four to take the green and never looked back.  Schmelzle barreled down the front stretch showing Wyatt King his tail tank and never looked back.  King would follow in second holding off Chris Adams and Brandon Johnson.  Johnson slipped into fourth when Mike Murgoitio pushed up through turns one and two, Murgoitio tried to regain his position but Johnson held off the charge.  Chris Ratterree was never able to gain any ground after starting in the back with Mitch Holte.  Ratterree did tap the wall down the front stretch but was able to maintain control of the car.  Schmelzle would go onto win the heat followed by King, Adams, Johnson, Murgoitio, Veenstra, Ratterree and Holte.   

The B dash started with some excitement and anxiety as local favorite Wyatt King and Oregon driver Vern Scevers came together on the back stretch, Scevers showed King his nose but King stood tall and forced Scevers to back out.  King’s right rear drove over the top of Scevers’ left front, upsetting King’s car and sending it sideways.  Due to the damage King was unable to finish, Greg Middendorf capitalized on King’s misfortune and entered the race as the alternate.  From his pole position Middendorf jumped out front and never looked back.  Scevers was forced to the back for being involved, Scevers made a great pass on Randy Dubois down the front stretch, but Middendorf’s lead was too much to overcome.

            The A dash pitted Cody Veenstra and Matt Mansell on the front row, and after a lap of wheel to wheel racing Mansell bested Veenstra and ran away with the A dash victory, with Veenstra, Montgomery and Ratterree in town.  Mansell was presented a trophy on the front stretch which he gave to a young girl, leaving her with the biggest smile on her face.  Matt also promised the young girl a shirt upon her visit to his pit stale tonight.  Proving that ASA/NSRA drivers are a classy bunch that loves their fans and enjoying putting on a show for everyone.