CONCORD, N.C. – Race report, audio and photo by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online – Leave it to Gregory Lang to stir the Jack in the Box Summer Shootout Series pot late in the season.
On a steamy evening which saw an ahead-of-schedule program for most of the night, weekly Shootout favorites returned to Victory Lane in all but the Pro class, where Lang took his Racing Electronics #54 machine right to the front and right to a dominant Daniel Hemric. The veteran held the two-time Shootout champion and 23-time race winner to the outside groove on a mid-race restart and powered away on the inside to cap off a dominating performance with his first win of the 2014 summer, ending Hemric’s three-race win streak.
“Anytime you can beat (Hemric and the 48 team) you’ve done something pretty big,” Lang said with a smile in Victory Lane following the event. “We had a great car tonight; it takes everything being perfect to win one of these races against the kind of competition that’s here at Charlotte and we just had that tonight.”
Lang also ended a five-race win streak by Hemric in last year’s Summer Shootout.
Two cautions slowed the 25-lap feature, one for a spin by Michael Torres on Lap 9 and one for an incident on Lap 14 involving Steven Cantrell and Trey Jarrell. Both times Hemric chose the outside lane and lined up outside of Lang, but both times he was shuffled back before working his way forward again.
Hemric ran his fastest lap of the race on the final lap, but simply ran out of time.
“Sometimes that’s the way it goes,” Hemric said following the event. “We just didn’t have enough laps there. (Greg) ran a good race, so congrats to him. We’ll come back even stronger next week.”
In one of the most chaotic features of the night, Carson Ferguson grabbed his fifth Legends Car Young Lions division win of the season, and ninth career at Charlotte, after driving around Shootout rookie Matt Thomas just before a caution came out on Lap 19 and ended the race due to the time limit.
Thomas took the lead on Lap 7 from Riley Herbst and held the top spot for most of the event despite a total of six cautions, one involving a multi-car incident and a massive amount of fluid down in turns 1 and 2 which drew a lengthy red flag for track cleanup.
The ensuing restart allowed Alex Murray to slide into third while Ferguson made the race-winning move before the caution flew when Stevie Johns pounded the frontstretch SAFER barrier. The finish saw Ferguson ultimately extend his championship lead due to Stefan Parsons’ involvement in one of the myriad of cautions over the course of the event.
“Good night for us; I always enjoy racing the 87 (of Thomas) and he does a great job of racing me clean,” Ferguson said in Victory Lane. “We had to work hard for this one, but this Ladyga Motorsports team gave me a great car and I wasn’t about to give up tonight.”
Jensen Jorgensen dominated the Bandolero Outlaw feature, leading 17 of the race’s 20 laps en route to his second win of the season. Jorgensen overhauled points leader Ashton Winger on a lap 3 restart and cruised home after recording the fastest lap of the race, an 18.739 second sizzler on lap 5.
Chase Purdy came home in second, 1.094 seconds in arrears of the win, with Austin Powell, Miguel Cesar Jr. and Winger rounding out the top-five. Winger and Cesar unofficially leave the event tied for the points lead.
In Semi-Pro action, Dillon Faggart avenged a near-miss in Week Five with a bump-and-run Tuesday night, shunting class points leader Devin O’Connell out of the top spot in turn 4 of the final lap to pick up his second victory of the season. O’Connell hung on to finish second, with Josh Brimecombe completing the podium in third. Tyler Truex and John Holleman completed the top five, with Holleman rebounding from a scary flip a week prior to grab the pole and run up front for most of the event.
In the Faster Pastor bus race, Don Newman drove away from the field in the final laps after a battle between Jeff Bates of Elevation Church and Donnie Icenhour of Rocky River Church. Bryon Alexander of May’s Chapel United Methodist Church, Buddy Compton of Sons of Thunder Ministry, Alex Kennedy of Carmel Baptist Church and Jack Homesly of Christ Community Church rounded out the top 5.
Other winners included Tom Pistone in the Security Force Legend Car Masters division and Chandler Smith in the LiveWell Homes Bandolero Bandits, who both picked up their sixth straight Shootout victories and kept their perfect summer records alive; and Bryson Ruff, of Indian Trail, N.C., in the Bandolero Beginner Bandits.
The 21st annual Jack in the Box Summer Shootout Series continues Tuesday, July 15, with the First Responders School Bus Race, in addition to regular Legend Car and Bandolero racing divisions.
RESULTS: 21st Annual Jack in the Box Summer Shootout; Round Six; Charlotte Motor Speedway; July 8, 2014
Bandolero Beginner Bandits Feature (21 laps): 1. Bryson Ruff; 2. Carson Poindexter; 3. George Hayes; 4. Ashley Pantoulas; 5. Autumn Weaver; 6. Roy Hayes; 7. Jackson Moore; 8. Adam Levin; 9. Tommy Good; 10. Isabella Robusto; 11. Brandon Gantz; 12 Dylan Notaro; 13. Tyler Adams.
LiveWell Homes Bandolero Bandits Feature (20 laps): 1. Chandler Smith; 2. Daniel Wilk; 3. DJ Canipe; 4. Eddie Fatscher; 5. Ryleigh Lemonds; 6. Mini Tyrell; 7. Cameron Bolin; 8. William Robusto; 9. Elijah Todd; 10. Austin Geer; 11. Brayde Miranda; 12. Josh Kossek; 13. Mark Durgin Jr.; 14. Blake Cisneros; 15. Ashton Higgins; 16. Liz Montgomery; 17. Connor Younginer; 18. Ryan Israel.
Bandolero Outlaws Feature (20 laps): 1. Jensen Jorgensen; 2. Chase Purdy; 3. Austin Powell; 4. Miguel Cesar Jr.; 5. Ashton Winger; 6. Justin Taylor; 7. Kamera McDonald; 8. Eric Brown; 9. Nate Tretow; 10. Kayla Lyons; 11. Hannah Bell; 12. Nick MacMillon; 13. Matt Mead; 14. Jack Fread; 15. Matthew Davey; 16. Daniel Bedford; 17. Kevin Hubbard; 18. Ashton Tucker; 19. Zack St. Onge; 20. Matthew Emery; 21. Trevor Rizzo; 22. Dylan Rumboldt; 23. Jordan Plummer.
Legend Car Young Lions Feature (19 laps): 1. Carson Ferguson; 2. Matt Thomas; 3. Alex Murray; 4. Christian Eckes; 5. Noah Gragson; 6. Ryan Millington; 7. Riley Herbst; 8. Stefan Parsons; 9. Austin Green; 10. Scott Joy; 11. AJ Davis; 12. Stevie Johns Jr.; 13. Walter Thomas; 14. Dawson Cram; 15. Michael Womack; 16. Amber Burchette; 17. Seth Werner; 18. Alex Reece; 19. Mason Diaz.
Security Force Legend Car Masters Feature (25 laps): 1. Tom Pistone; 2. Scott Whitaker; 3. Mark Green; 4. Bruce Silver; 5. Chip Ferguson; 6. Jan Ingram; 7. Robbie Woodall; 8. Robby Faggart; 9. Shawn Geisel; 10. Jamie Smith; 11. Michael Delaney.
Quaker Steak & Lube Legend Car Semi-Pro Feature (25 laps): 1. Dillon Faggart; 2. Devin O’Connell; 3. Josh Brimecombe; 4. Tyler Truex; 5. John Holleman; 6. Jordan Stillwell; 7. Josh Turner; 8. Jake Tretow; 9. Casey Brown; 10. Craig Biryla; 11. Robby Lyons; 12. Austin Langenstein; 13. Connor Pyle; 14. Ryan Demartini; 15. Tyler Clary; 16. Courtney Lefcourt; 17. Sheldon Crouse; 18. Tyler Audie; 19. Enrique Limon.
Legend Car Pro Feature (25 laps): 1. Gregory Lang; 2. Daniel Hemric; 3. William Byron; 4. Kason Plott; 5. Jared Irvan; 6. Jordan Black; 7. Zane Smith; 8. Joey Padgett; 9. Trey Jarrell; 10. Evan Swilling; 11. Dakota Baggette; 12. Michael Torres; 13. Christopher Hogan; 14. Steven Cantrell.
