BRL Oval Tour wraps it up!

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Mike Garrison

0 April 19, 2012, 5:10 a.m.

The first racing action of the weekend was the Friday night Twin 75 qualifying races for the Novak All Star Challenge. The first round of the All Star Challenge featured 2 heats with 18 of the best carpet oval racers in the country. The top 4 finishers from each of these heats would transfer to Saturday night’s Novak All Star Challenge Final. The remaining 10 racers would compete in a 75 lap Last Chance race to fill the final 2 spots in Saturday’s Final. Qualifiers for the 2012 Novak All Star Challenge were Monti Panzica, Brain Deel, Corey Heft, Mike Makus, Anthony Searles, Jeremy Reilley, Travis Russell, Dave Hoaglin, Chris Clayton, Chuck Kleinhagen, William Gibson, Scott Rance, Tyler Kleiner, Aaron Mitchell, Ken Bajdek, Jason Haines, Ean Reilley and Mike Carson.

In the first of the Twin 75 Lap qualifiers, Travis Russell grabbed the early lead from the 4th starting spot followed by Jeremy Reilley while pole sitter Mike Makus and pre race favorite Monti Panzica got shuffled to the back of the 9 car field. Makus charged back through the field to take 3rd while Dave Hoaglin ran a steady race to lock down the 4th and final transfer spot. Panzica didn’t make it back into the top 4 and would have to wait for the Last Chance race to see if he can get into Saturday night’s Novak All Star Challenge.

The second Twin 75 Lap qualifier saw Corey Heft lead the first 14 laps from the pole until passed by Brian Deel for the lead. Heft holds onto the second spot running less than a second behind Deel until Anthony Searles took over the spot with about 30 laps to go after initially being shuffled back to the 6th spot. Chris Clayton would take the 4th and final transfer spot after running 3rd for much of the race.

The final racing action for Friday night was the Novak All Star Challenge Last Chance qualifier; the 10 remaining All Star drivers racing heads up for 75 to determine the last 2 to transfer to the Saturday night final. Kleinhagen is on the pole followed by Gibson, Mitchell and Panzica to fill out the top 4 starting spots. Kleinhagen and Gibson get good starts and hold onto the top 2 spots while Ean Reilley blasts from the 7th spot to 3rd followed by Scott Rance in 4th from the 8th spot. Panzica is involved in a second lap mishap and falls to the back of the field. Kleinhagen holds the lead for the first 52 laps until Panzica’s charge from the back of the pack brings him to the front. This drops Gibson, who has run second up to this point to 3rd and out of a transfer spot. The final 20 laps are relatively uneventful and Panzica and Kleinhagen transfer to the Saturday night finals of the 2012 Novak All Star Challenge,

Saturday brought lots of practice in all 4 classes being contested; SMC 17.5 Sportsman Truck, Lefthander RC 17.5 Stock, Thunder Power 13.5 Stock Spec and Tekin 13.5 Super Stock.  Beginning Saturday afternoon, racers completed 3 rounds of qualifying. Then it was time for the Novak All Star Challenge Final. All 10 competitors would race for 50 laps at which point the 9th and 10th cars would be eliminated. The winner of the 50 lap segment would receive a $50 bonus and would pull a number to determine how many cars would be inverted for the final 75 lap segment. Deel and Russell made up the front row of the first segment with Searles and Reilley in the second row. Row 3 was Heft and Makus with Clayton and Hoaglin making up Row 4. Panzica and Kleinhagen filled out Row 5. Deel jumped into the lead at the tone followed by Searles, Russell, Reilley. On lap 8, Heft and Makus get around Reilly and are now running 4th and 5th. Meanwhile, at the back of the pack, Panzica has begun a march through the field and is up to 5th by lap 21 while Heft and Makus take over 3rd and 4th pushing Russell to the 6th spot. Kleinhagen has problems hitting the wall and is the first one out on lap 4. By lap 35 the order is Deel, Searles, Panzica and Heft. Lap 38 brings some drama as Reilley drops out and Makus takes over 4th from Heft. On lap 44 Deel slows due to a bad receiver pack as Searles takes over the lead followed by Panzica, Makus and Heft. The first 50 lap segment would end with the top 4 in that order and Reilley and Kleinhagen parking their cars for the final segment.

Searles pulls number 6 for the inversion putting him in the 6th starting spot after winning segment 1. The order for the final 75 laps will be Russell and Clayton in row 1; Heft and Makus in row 3, Panzica and Searles in row 3 and Hoaglin and Deel in row 4. Russell and Clayton jump off at the start and run 1,2 until a mishap on lap 11 sidelines them both. Makus and Heft then swap the lead back and forth for several laps until Makus takes firm hold of the top spot on lap 20. Searles and Panzica are running 3rd and 4th. Searles takes over the 2nd spot from Heft on lap 32 with Heft 3rd and Panzica 4th. They run in this order until lap 68 when Searles makes a pass for the lead. They’ll finish in this order with Searles taking the win from the 6th starting spot followed by Makus, Panzica and Heft. Searles takes home $550 for his win plus his win of the first 50 lap segment and the other participants in Saturday night’s final spolit a total purse of $1250.

  

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