I-30 Speedway
Ashley completes SUPR sweep at Little Rock
By Bryan Wimberley
DirtonDirt.com correspondentLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (June 19) — Polesitter David Ashley of Zachary, La., completed a series sweep at I-30 Speedway on Saturday, driving away from Kevin Sitton in the final laps for a $2,500 victory on the O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing tour.
Ashley, who led every lap of the Friday and Saturday features, negotiated lapped traffic better than the sixth-starting Sitton late in Saturday’s 50-lapper, helping him the checkers four seconds head of the runner-up.
Current SUPR points leader Rob Litton of Alexandria, La., took third, followed by Jeff Chanler of Minden, La., and Kyle Cummings of Sibley, La.
Ashley’s first career SUPR victories at I-30 increased his overall career victory total to 39 on the Louisiana-based series.
"I would have never dreamed it,” Ashley said of his weekend sweep. "We have come here for years and years and never won a race here, we have ran second a bunch, but to come back after a three-year absence and win two nights in a row — right now it is hard to put into words
"It is an awesome feeling. We never gave up. (Crew member) Jimmy Nolan has been helping me and then to have nothing more than kids for a crew and then come here to redeem ourselves from what we have been doing lately is a miracle it seems. Pretty cool right now.”
In a near carbon-copy of the opening night feature, everybody was chasing Ashley’s No. 14 from the green flag on. He led Litton, Chanler, Jon Mitchell and Cummings on the first lap while Sitton raced around Cummings and into the top five early in the race.
After the race’s only two cautions — for the lost wheel of Lee Davis (lap seven) and for a slowing Clay Fisher on the frontstretch (lap 14) — Sitton continued his march to the front, taking third from Chanler on lap 17 and starting a duel with Litton for second. The pair made the duel three-wide with a lapped car on lap 24, and after contact that pushed sheetmetal onto Litton’s right-rear tire, Sitton took the spot and tried to chase down Ashley.
The frontrunners negotiated heavy traffic for several laps with Sitton pulling within a length of Ashley on lap 41. But that was as close as the Texas could get to grabbing the lead. Ashley took the checkers more than three seconds ahead at the quarter-mile oval.
Notes: Ashley's GRT Race Car is powered by Wall 2 Wall Performance Engines and sponsored by B&K Underground Directional Boring, J&J Motorsports, X-Treme Graphics, Serco, Ohlins Shocks and Hawk Performance. ... Ashley’s back-to-back victories were his first on the SUPR tour since 2006. ... The 21-minute feature ended at 11:25 p.m. ... Nine cars finished on the lead lap. ... A week after being involved in a serious rolling accident at Greenville (Miss.) Speedway in Mississippi, Clay Fisher of Dewitt, Ark., and his repaired No. 99 was part of a two-car incident with Allen Tippen in a heat race. The safety crew lifted Fisher's car off of the nose of Tippen during a red flag. ... Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Texas, took his No. 5 to GRT Race Cars in Greenbrier, Ark., on Saturday morning to make chassis changes. Mitchell finished a disappointing 19th Friday; with the chassis adjustments, Mitchell won a heat Saturday and started the feature third. He finished seventh. ... Seventh-starting Lee Davis of Greenwood, La., had a left-front wheel fall off during feature pace laps. Davis rejoined the lineup after repairs but the same wheel came off again on the seventh lap of the feature. ... I-30 Speedway owner Tracey Clay said the event drew 110 race cars in five divisions. ... Next up for O’Reilly SUPR is July 2-3 events at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas, and Champion Park Speedway in Minden, La.
O'Reilly SUPR @ I-30: (1) David Ashley, (2) Kevin Sitton, (3) Rob Litton, (4) Jeff Chanler, (5) Kyle Cummings, (6) Allen Tippen, (7) Jon Mitchell, (8) Ronny Adams, (9) Shane Harris, (10) Alex Ashley, (11) Darin Patrick, (12) Jody Prince, (13) Gary Christian, (14) Jon Kirby, (15) Chris Holley, (16) Josh Danzy, (17) Dustin Hyde, (18) Eddie Provence, (19) Paul Joyner, (20) Mark McWilliams, (21) Clay Fisher, (22) Lee Davis, (23) Wesley Crutchfield. Heat race winners (among 23 cars): Litton, Mitchell, Chanler.
