Seth Bergman Excels At Lakeside Speedway With The ASCS Sprints

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – KANSAS CITY, KS – The first repeat winner of the 2018 season with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com, Washington’s Seth Bergman tracked down his first career Lakeside Speedway triumph to become the fifth National Tour winner in just as many events at the Kansas oval.

“This was a tough field. I was trying to conserve my tires there at the beginning because the track was wearing tires all night, but we got to a point where [Brian] Brown lid me and I knew I had to get going,” stated Seth who went slide for slide with Brown following a Lap 9 restart.

“That race was a workout. I don’t know if I’ve ever driven that hard, but Brown made me get up on the wheel and I think I caught Tony because he was out front and just didn’t know where the track was going. He was leaning on the cushion the whole race, and when you’re leading, it’s hard to move around and search. I was just fortunate enough to be able to mix it up and found a lane that worked.”

The third driver to lead the way in Thursday’s McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic A-Feature, Seth found the center line coming into play as the race approached Lap 20. With Stewart railing the cushion at both ends of the four-tenths mile oval, Seth began quickly cutting down his advantage. Setting up for the run with 19 laps complete, Bergman was able to race to the lead on the following lap.

“When you’re the leader, it’s hard to search and know if rubber comes in. The guy behind you are able to search around and find it, and the two guys that finished ahead of us are really good Racecar drivers and really good Sprint Car drivers,” stated Stewart who ended up third for the second night in a row as Brian Brown worked by Stewart’s Rush Truck Centers No. 14 on Lap 21.

Chasing Jack Dover the first round, Stewart stuck the right rear to the cushion and grabbed the lead on the second lap with both crossing the line at the same time. Caution on Lap 9 for Harli White who slowed off the second turn, the restart was short lived as Robbie Price and Paul Nienhiser tangled in the first turn with Nienhiser keeping his No. 9 rolling, and thus, keeping the fifth position. Falling to sixth as the field rolled again on the next restart, Paul’s night ended with mechanical issues on Lap 12.

Coming to a stop on Lap 14 with Jamie Ball and Chris Martin tangling on the backstretch, the race resumed with Stewart leading over Dover, Bergman, Brown, and Hafertepe in the top-five. Immediately pulling away as Bergman slide Jack Dover to second, the center groove in play put Seth able to run down the No. 14 and lead the final six laps.

Brian Brown in second advanced nine positions to pick up the night’s CP-Carrillo Hard Charger.

“My team, Chad, Michael, Dad, everybody on the Casey’s General Store/FVP car did good. I just didn’t do my job in the Heat Race and got us buried and really at one point, I passed Seth a couple times so I’m kind of kicking myself for not being able to secure that spot because that could have been me standing there, but Seth did a great job.”

Jack Dover slipped to fourth in the closing laps with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. making the top-five. From 10th, Wayne Johnson came up to finish sixth with Blake Hahn coming to seventh from 12th. Scott Bogucki grabbed eighth with Terry McCarl ninth. Johnny Herrera from 16th completed the top-ten.

A field of 30 drivers was on hand for the McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic. Into four Heat Races, wins went to Mason Daniel, Seth Bergman, Scott Bogucki, and Tony Stewart. The night’s B-Feature went to Ayrton Gennetten. Three provisional starts were used. On National Tour owner points, Roger Crockett and Matt Covington entered with Curtis Evans qualifying for a Regional Provisional.

The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com races next at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. on Saturday, May 12. Gates open at 4:00 P.M. with racing at 7:30 P.M. (CT).

Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Region
McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Car Count: 30

Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points advance to the A-Feature. Top 8 Redraw)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33M-Mason Daniel, [3]; 2. 9-Paul Nienhiser, [2]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [4]; 4. 81-Jack Dover, [7]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, [5]; 6. 21P-Miles Paulus, [8]; 7. 95-Matt Covington, [6]; 8. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 3. 24-Terry McCarl, [2]; 4. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [4]; 5. 4-Evan Martin, [5]; 6. 11-Roger Crockett, [7]; 7. 5J-Jamie Ball, [8]; 8. 1P-Curtis Evans, [3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki, [1]; 2. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 3. 44-Chris Martin, [2]; 4. 11W-Wyatt Burks, [5]; 5. 21-Robbie Price, [6]; 6. 92J-J.R. Topper, [7]; 7. 6A-Aidan Roosevans, [3]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Tony Stewart, [1]; 2. 1-Logan Seavey, [3]; 3. 21B-Brian Brown, [4]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn, [6]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [7]; 6. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [5]; 7. 27-Danny Thoman, [2]

BMRS B-Feature (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [8]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 3. 21P-Miles Paulus, [1]; 4. 4-Evan Martin, [3]; 5. 5J-Jamie Ball, [7]; 6. 21-Robbie Price, [2]; 7. 11-Roger Crockett, [6]; 8. 1P-Curtis Evans, [12]; 9. 27-Danny Thoman, [10]; 10. 6A-Aidan Roosevans, [9]; 11. 77X-Alex Hill, [11]; 12. 92J-J.R. Topper, [5]; (DNS) 14K-Kyle Bellm, ; (DNS) 95-Matt Covington,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [4]; 2. 21B-Brian Brown, [11]; 3. 14-Tony Stewart, [3]; 4. 81-Jack Dover, [1]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 6. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [10]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn, [12]; 8. 28-Scott Bogucki, [5]; 9. 24-Terry McCarl, [13]; 10. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [16]; 11. 1-Logan Seavey, [7]; 12. 33M-Mason Daniel, [8]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee, [18]; 14. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [17]; 15. 21P-Miles Paulus, [19]; 16. (DNF) 1P-Curtis Evans, [25]; 17. (DNF) 5J-Jamie Ball, [21]; 18. (DNF) 44-Chris Martin, [14]; 19. (DNF) 9-Paul Nienhiser, [9]; 20. (DNF) 17W-Harli White, [6]; 21. (DNF) 4-Evan Martin, [20]; 22. (DNF) 21-Robbie Price, [22]; 23. (DNF) 11W-Wyatt Burks, [15]; 24. (DNF) 11-Roger Crockett, [24]; (DNS) 95-Matt Covington,

Lap Leader(s): Jack Dover 1; Tony Stewart 2-19; Seth Bergman 20-25

CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Brian Brown +9
FSR High Point Driver: Sam Hafertepe, Jr.

Provisional(s): Matt Covington / Roger Crockett / Curtis Evans (Regional)

2018 ASCS National Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Seth Bergman 975; 2. Wayne Johnson 946; 3. Johnny Herrera 919; 4. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 914; 5. Blake Hahn 903; 6. Matt Covington 812; 7. Scott Bogucki 793; 8. Roger Crockett 790; 9. Skylar Gee 788; 10. Jamie Ball 751; 11. Robbie Price 721; 12. Harli White 692; 13. Tony Stewart 642; 14. Chris Martin 642; 15. Alex Hill 640;