The score sheets will show the #52 at the top of all thirty laps, but the flag-to-flag win was far from easy for Blake Hahn as the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour made its first ever visit to 34 Raceway in Burlington in fine fashion Friday night.
An impressive field of thirty-seven cars and drivers filled the pits as the event was also a show up points race for the Sprint Invaders and the ASCS Warrior Region and while the 3/8th-mile high banks were somewhat narrow during the five qualifying heats, the track was smooth, wide and racy come feature time with drivers jockeying for position throughout the field.
As one of the top four in passing points from heat race action Blake Hahn drew the pole position with Austin McCarl, driving a second entry from the Jimmie Davies racing stable, to his outside. Currently ranked second in ASCS points, Hahn would race out to the early lead with McCarl chasing. By lap six the leaders had caught the back of the pack and when Brayden Gaylord tagged the wall exiting turn four, Hahn would clear him while McCarl had to go to the apron to get past the damaged car of Gaylord as he limped to the infield.
This allowed Scott Bogucki to make his move to second, but when slower traffic squelched his momentum both McCarl and the eight starter Seth Bergman hustled by on the back stretch. With Hahn pulling away a bit the crowd was now treated to a torrid battle for second with McCarl, Bogucki and Bergman racing three wide in turn three just before the caution waved for Dustin Selvage who had spun off the top of turn two.
McCarl would lineup second for the lap thirteen restart and he would try to throw a slider at Hahn in turns one and two only to instead give up the second spot to Bogucki as that three car battle for second picked up where it had left off. Only four more laps were counted though before Kelby Watt also took a tour over the top of turn two and on this restart it would be Bogucki taking his best shot at Hahn.
The Sapulpa, Oklahoma driver was sharp on the cushion though and maintained the lead only to have the caution wave again for Roger Crockett who had stopped in turn two on lap seventeen. On this restart Bergman would take over the second position and pick up the chase of Hahn waiting for lapped traffic to present a challenge for the leader, but when another caution waved on lap twenty-two, this time for a slowing Alex Hill, it just might have been what the leader was hoping for.
With eight laps remaining Bergman made a run at Hahn on the restart only to lose ground as he slid up the track in turn two and when the leader did not reach the back of the field until two laps remained that did not leave Bergman much time to catch up. As the white flag waved though, with Hahn showing some patience with the lapped car of Ben Brown, Bergman closed quickly and as they came off of turn four to the checkers Hahn went low under Brown as Bergman tried to ride the cushion to the win only to have Brown slide up in front of him as Blake Hahn won by just over a car length in a thriller.
Bergman who was a winner on his last visit to 34 Raceway during last September's Fall Haul had to settle for second on this night with Scott Bogucki in third. Robbie Price made a nice charge coming from the tenth starting spot to finish fourth, but even more impressive was the current ASCS point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. who started seventeenth after winning a B-Main and then finishing fifth in the feature. Hall of Famer Terry McCarl chased Hafterepe through the field going from sixteenth to sixth, Matt Covington got as high as fourth before fading to seventh, Austin McCarl dropped to eighth at the checkers, Kaley Gharst finished ninth and after mechanical issues forced him to use a provisional John Carney II started twenty-third and finished tenth.
From seeing the movement through the field you can tell that this was a great race track tonight and now the track crew needs to go right back to work and get it ready for Saturday night's show featuring the Lucas Oil POWRi Wingless Auto Racing (WAR) Sprint Cars. They will be joined by the Late Models and the 305 c.i. Winged Sprint Cars in what should be another great night of racing at 34 Raceway.
Oh yes, and what a show put on by the Mini Hauler Trucks tonight as their twelve lap feature provided a great appetizer for the headliner. Despite starting from fourth and sixth, Drake Fenton and Brian Tipps charged to the front entering turn one on the opening lap and the battle was on. Tipps first tried low, and then high actually taking the lead coming off turn four with just three laps remaining. Fenton came charging back though and would regain the lead on lap ten and as the white flag waved the leaders were now racing around the lapped truck of Jacob Ruble.
With Fenton going to his outside Ruble drove it deep into turn one making contact with the leader and forcing him up the race track. Tipps tried to seize the opportunity pulling even with Fenton down the back stretch and as Tipps tried to complete the pass for the win he would spin in turn four with Fenton taking the win. Colton Bowman would come home second followed by track champion John Helenthal as Tipps recovered to take fourth ahead of Jerad Ruble.
Doubleheader weekend racing continues on Saturday night at 34 Raceway and I hope to see you there!
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