Colton Hardy Captures ASCS eSport Series Victory At Williams Grove Speedway Friday

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – VIRTUAL MECHANICSBURG, PA – Taking on a field of 50 in the inaugural event of the Lucas Oil ASCS eSport Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, Arizona’s Colton Hardy charged from seventh to win the Virtual 11 Oaks Farm Battle at the Grove in the ASCS iRacing Invitational event.

Scoring a win for Swindell Speedlab, Hardy gave a tip of the cap to the team for all of their support in getting him ready.

“We have a great group of guys over at the Swindell Speedlab eSports Team and everyone who’s come on like iRacing and Bell Helmets, they’ve really helped me be able to get in this and be competitive.”

Giving chase the first 16 trips around the Williams Grove Speedway, Hardy steadily applied pressure to early race leader Justyn Cox.

Several times held off by the Bearco Redwood No. 7, Colton was able to take over the position off the second turn working Lap 17 with Cox reclaiming the advantage down the back straightaway the following lap. Able to slide back to the point off the fourth turn, Tony Gualda followed the No. 41 to take over second.

Steadily putting distance on the No. 99, Gualda had Tanner Holmes in pursuit, as well. Caution lights flashing with five to go, Hardy’s night nearly ended as a trio of cars tangled directly in front of the leaders.

Restarting with fuel running light on the Swindell Speedlab/Bell Helmet No. 41, Hardy kept pace over the race for second as Holmes and Gualda traded the position and began their pursuit of Hardy with the No. 99 steering back into the runner-up spot with three laps to run.

To the white flag, the race for the lead was on.

Diving to the bottom off the second turn, Gualda pulled even with the No. 41 in a drag race down the back straightaway. Still wheel-to-wheel into the final two turns, the Modesto, Cali. shoe drifted towards the No. 41 hoping to force Hardy on the brakes, but the pressure was not enough as Hardy buried the throttle off the cushion to win by 0.239 seconds.

“With the iRacing deal, you’re able to check and see how much fuel you have throughout the race and I kind of got nervous with the yellow came out here with five to go,” stated Hardy of the final dash to the finish.

“I was really trying to save a little bit and barely crossed with just enough so it worked out, but Tony [Gualda], Tanner [Holmes], and Justyn [Cox]…they made me work for it.”

Tony Gualda crossed second with Tanner Holmes completing the night’s podium. Justyn Cox slipped to fourth with Washington’s Chance Crum completing the top five.

Having to advance from the D-Feature, Randy Hannagan fought to a sixth-place finish with Kevin Swindell, who missed his Heat due to a prior racing engagement, racing from last in the D-Feature to seventh in the A-Feature. Chase Randall crossed eighth with Garett Williamson coming from C-Feature to grab ninth. From the B-Feature, Matthew Howard completed the top ten.

The Lucas Oil ASCS eSport Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network returns to competition on Friday, April 24, 2020 at Knoxville Raceway. The event is presented in part by Great Southern Bank and Lucas Oil Products. Event details and roster will be released soon.

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS eSport Series
Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg, Penn.)
Friday, April 17, 2020

Car Count: 50

(SCE Gaskets Heat Races – Top 3 from each advance to the A-Feature)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tanner Holmes[5]; 2. 79-Billy Rowlee[4]; 3. 1-Kelby Watt[1]; 4. 25-Kyle Spence[2]; 5. 21-Thomas Kennedy[8]; 6. 94-Dalton Dietrich[9]; 7. 5-Jamie Ball[7]; 8. 98-Clinton Boyles[6]; 9. 08-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 10. 39-Kevin Swindell[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Colton Hardy[4]; 2. 10-Kyle Miller[1]; 3. 211-Kameron Key[5]; 4. 008-Matthew Howard[2]; 5. 240-Kade Higday[7]; 6. 3-Cale Conley[3]; 7. 125-Scott Thomason[6]; 8. 888-Koen Shaw[10]; 9. 14-Jordon Mallett[9]; 10. 27-Carson McCarl[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Garrett Hulsey[1]; 2. 7-Justyn Cox[3]; 3. 9-Chase Randall[4]; 4. 80-Devon Borden[6]; 5. 24-Danny Sams III[8]; 6. 024-Garet Williamson[2]; 7. 021-Ray Allen Kulhanek[10]; 8. 0-JJ Yeley[9]; 9. 8-Alex Sewell[7]; 10. 11-Roger Crockett[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Tony Gualda Jr[5]; 2. 881-Joey Ancona[1]; 3. 011-Austin O’Neal[3]; 4. 97-Tanner Berryhill[2]; 5. 17-Harli White[9]; 6. 51-Matt Ward[8]; 7. 43-Seth Bergman[4]; 8. 15-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 9. 022-Randy Hannagan[7]; 10. 66-Dustin Gates[10]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 009-Daison Pursley[3]; 2. 06-Jett Carney[2]; 3. 83-Chance Crum[5]; 4. 86-Timothy Smith[7]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 6. 28-Ace McCarthy[6]; 7. 037-Michael Faccinto[4]; 8. 212-Kevin Fry[9]; 9. 2-John Carney II[10]; 10. 22-Ryan Leavitt[8]

D-Feature (Top 4 advance to the C-Feature)

D Feature (12 Laps): 1. 022-Randy Hannagan[8]; 2. 39-Kevin Swindell[10]; 3. 212-Kevin Fry[4]; 4. 0-JJ Yeley[2]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell[7]; 6. 2-John Carney II[9]; 7. 22-Ryan Leavitt[14]; 8. 888-Koen Shaw[1]; 9. 66-Dustin Gates[13]; 10. 11-Roger Crockett[12]; 11. 08-Cannon McIntosh[5]; 12. 27-Carson McCarl[11]; 13. 15-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 14. 14-Jordon Mallett[6]

C-Feature (Top 4 advance to the B-Feature)

C Feature (12 Laps): 1. 022-Randy Hannagan[11]; 2. 3-Cale Conley[1]; 3. 024-Garet Williamson[2]; 4. 39-Kevin Swindell[12]; 5. 43-Seth Bergman[8]; 6. 125-Scott Thomason[6]; 7. 212-Kevin Fry[13]; 8. 98-Clinton Boyles[10]; 9. 0-JJ Yeley[14]; 10. 5-Jamie Ball[5]; 11. 021-Ray Allen Kulhanek[7]; 12. 51-Matt Ward[3]; 13. 28-Ace McCarthy[4]; 14. 037-Michael Faccinto[9]

BMRS B-Feature (Top 7 advance to the A-Feature)

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 25-Kyle Spence[1]; 2. 022-Randy Hannagan[12]; 3. 008-Matthew Howard[2]; 4. 39-Kevin Swindell[15]; 5. 80-Devon Borden[3]; 6. 86-Timothy Smith[5]; 7. 024-Garet Williamson[14]; 8. 97-Tanner Berryhill[4]; 9. 94-Dalton Dietrich[11]; 10. 21-Thomas Kennedy[6]; 11. 24-Danny Sams III[8]; 12. 52-Blake Hahn[10]; 13. 240-Kade Higday[7]; 14. 3-Cale Conley[13]; 15. 17-Harli White[9]

Sawblade.com A-Feature

A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 41-Colton Hardy[7]; 2. 99-Tony Gualda Jr[5]; 3. 18-Tanner Holmes[8]; 4. 7-Justyn Cox[1]; 5. 83-Chance Crum[15]; 6. 022-Randy Hannagan[17]; 7. 39-Kevin Swindell[19]; 8. 9-Chase Randall[13]; 9. 024-Garet Williamson[22]; 10. 008-Matthew Howard[18]; 11. 011-Austin O’Neal[14]; 12. 211-Kameron Key[12]; 13. 06-Jett Carney[10]; 14. 1-Kelby Watt[11]; 15. 86-Timothy Smith[21]; 16. 10-Kyle Miller[2]; 17. 25-Kyle Spence[16]; 18. 88-Garrett Hulsey[6]; 19. 80-Devon Borden[20]; 20. 79-Billy Rowlee[3]; 21. 881-Joey Ancona[9]; 22. 009-Daison Pursley[4]

Lap Leaders: Justyn Cox 1-16; Colton Hardy 17-35
Hard Charger: Garett Williamson +13
Provisionals: N/A