Photos courtesy of TWC Photos.
Gardner Crowned I-30’s Wingless Short Track
Nationals King in Thriller!
Lonnie
Wheatley, LITTLE ROCK,
Ark. (March 5, 2022) – I-30
Speedway’s Second Annual Wingless Short
Track Nationals presented by KNP Painting
lived up to all expectations and then some,
with local ace Cody Gardner prevailing with
a last-lap pass to take the $5,000 victory
atop the high-banked, 1/4-mile clay oval in
Saturday night’s 30-lap event finale.
After surrendering
the point to Illinois shoe Shane Cockrum on
the 22nd circuit, the duo
exchanged sliders in the closing circuits
with Benton’s Gardner earning a popular win
among the hometown crowd in the ASCS Elite
Non-Wing Sprint Car Series sanctioned event
aboard the Tiny’s Trucking Service/Brewer
Trucking/Fitz Service Corporation No. g6
360-ci powered Sprint Car.
“This is pretty
awesome, we never do this wingless stuff,”
Gardner explained afterward.
“We were pretty decent last year,
that’s the only reason we decided to give it
another try. Maybe we
need to do more of this kind of stuff.”
While Gardner gridded
the feature field inside the third row, it
was Cockrum leading the way to the green
flag after accumulating the most points in
Friday’s preliminary event and Saturday’s
heat race action.
But after leading the
way into the first corner, it was Friday
night winner Justin Zimmerman battling into
the lead from second to pace the opening
pair of laps.
Fourth-starter Kory
Schudy of Battlefield, MO, entered the mix
from fourth, working the low side to battle
into the lead on the third round and held
off the duo of Zimmerman and Cockrum until
Zimmerman looped it into the infield on the
back stretch without stopping on the fifth
round and fell back to 13th
before charging back into action.
With Zimmerman out of
the lead picture for the moment, Gardner was
working the topside of the track and traded
the runner-up slot a pair of times with
Cockrum before securing the position prior
to a caution after nine laps when Zach
Pringle slid to a stop in turn one.
Gardner wasted no
time rallying past Schudy on the 11th
round and following one final caution for a
disabled car in turn four, the battle was on
for the final 19 circuits.
Cockrum kept the
pressure on and finally slid into and past
Gardner in turn two on the 22nd
lap. Gardner worked to
close the gap and when Cockrum bobbled
exiting turn four with just two laps to go,
the door was open.
Gardner slid past
Cockrum in turns one and two on the white
flag lap, only to have Cockrum counter the
move. Gardner gave it one
last charge in the same corner on the final
lap and when Cockrum got loose trying to
counter, it was enough for Gardner to slip
away to a 0.612-second victory.
While Gardner and
Cockrum slipped away from the field for
their own personal battle, Zimmerman sliced
through the pack to salvage a third-place
finish after his early excursion through the
infield.
Schudy settled for
fourth at the stripe with Anthony Nicholson
advancing a half-dozen positions to round
out the top five.
Riley Kreisel rallied
from 16th to sixth with
14-year-old Landon Crawley, 15th-starter
Caden McCreary, Paul White and Reece Wommack
completing the top ten.
Kreisel, Gardner,
Cockrum and Crawley topped Saturday night’s
heat races with points added to Friday’s
preliminary total to establish the feature
lineups.
Second Annual
Wingless Short Track Nationals presented by
KNP Painting Championship Finale Results
Saturday - March 5,
2022
Heat Races (Top 14 in
Combined Friday Night Points and Saturday
Heat Finishing/Passing Points Advance to “A”
Main, balance to “B” Main):
First Heat (8 Laps):
1. 91k-Riley Kreisel (3), 2. 52-J.D.
Fry (2), 3. 28-Kory Schudy (4), 4. #1-Justin
Zimmerman (8), 5. 04-Kyle Jones (1), 6.
15J-Jeremy Middleton (5), 7. 12m-Greg
Merritt (6).
Second Heat (8 Laps):
1. G6-Cody Gardner (2), 2. 80-Josh
Hawkins (1), 3. 16-Anthony Nicholson 97), 4.
13-Chase Howard (5), 5. 19-Jason Long (6),
6. 73-Josh Baker (3), 7. 38-Rick Pringle
(4).
Third Heat (8 Laps):
1. 66-Shane Cockrum (3), 2. 91p-Zach
Pringle (6), 3. 33-Reece Wommack (2), 4.
44c-Cody Price (4), 5. 21ks-Kobe Simpson
(5), 6. 47ak-Knick Stewart (1), 7. 21k-Kevin
Hinkle (DNS).
Fourth Heat (8 Laps):
1. 187-Landon Crawley (2), 2.
48-Caden McCreary (1), 3. 31-Mason Smith
(3), 4. 1-Paul White (5), 5. 11a-Blake
Jenkins (6), 6. 63-Chris Williams (4).
“B” Feature – Top 6
Advance to “A:
“B” Feature (12
Laps): 1. 48-Caden
McCreary (2), 2. 91k-Riley Kreisel (8), 3.
04-Kyle Jones (1), 4. 13-Chase Howard (3),
5. 52-J.D. Fry (5), 6. 15J-Jeremy Middleton
(10), 7. 80-Josh Hawkins (9), 8. 47ak-Knick
Stewart (4), 9. 12m-Greg Merritt (7), 10.
63-Chris Williams (6), 11. 73-Josh Baker
(12), 12. 38-Rick Pringle (11), 13.
21k-Kevin Hinkle (DNS).
“A” Feature
A Feature (30 Laps –
Starting position in parentheses):
1. G6-Cody Gardner (5), 2. 66-Shane
Cockrum (1), 3. #1-Justin Zimmerman (2), 4.
28-Kory Schudy (4), 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson
(11), 6. 91k-Riley Kreisel (16), 7.
187-Landon Crawley (3), 8. 48-Caden McCreary
(15), 9. 1-Paul White (6), 10. 33-Reece
Wommack (12), 11. 31-Mason Smith (8), 12.
15J-Jeremy Middleton (20), 13. 21ks-Kobe
Simpson (10), 14. 44c-Cody Price (14), 15.
91p-Zach Pringle (7), 16. 19-Jason Long
(13), 17. 13-Chase Howard (18), 18. 52-J.D.
Fry (19), 19. 11a-Blake Jenkins (9), 20.
04-Kyle Jones (17).
Lap Leaders:
Justin Zimmerman 1-2, Kory Schudy
3-10, Cody Gardner 11-21, Shane Cockrum
22-29, Gardner 30.