Beason Edges Bell in Turnpike Challenge Finale at Port City!
The Wheatley Chronicles
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (March 24, 2019) – The Sixth Annual Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget “Turnpike Challenge” ended in spectacular fashion on Sunday night at Port City Raceway with Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Jonathan Beason edging Christopher Bell in a virtual photo finish that sent Bell tumbling into turn one after contact.
While Beason denied Bell victory by mere inches, the NASCAR Xfinity Series title contender took the meeting of rubber and metal in stride. “It’s to be expected at a place like this,” Bell said of the close-quarters competition atop the 1/8-mile clay oval.
After earning the pole starting position, Bell gunned into the early lead ahead of fellow front row starter Zeb Wise and was looking to add a tenth career Turnpike Challenge triumph after winning Thursday night’s opening leg at Creek County Speedway to kick off this year’s edition of the four-race set.
But, long-time Port City contender Beason had other ideas, moving in to challenge on the low side from the fifth starting position and then surging ahead before the midway point.
Bell battled back into the lead on the 18th circuit and kept Beason and company at bay until a final caution for another errant infield tire set up a two-lap dash to the stripe.
Beason got a strong restart and battled on the low side with Bell ripping the cushion. Beason moved up the track exiting the final corner with the checkered flag in sight and with neither driver offering to lift, Bell was launched at the line as Beason reached the stripe with an advantage of just inches.
“I’m sure not happy how it turned out,” Beason commented after climbing from the Hard Eight Racing Ferguson Superstore No. 8J in victory lane. “I was quite surprised that Christopher left the bottom open, and of course it stuck for me and I got on the gas and it went right there. I’m disappointed in that, I don’t ever want to wreck anybody. It was nice to know that we were as fast as him, but overall I’m not very happy.”
With Bell settling for runner-up honors in the Keith Kunz Motorsports Spectra Premium No. 21, Zeb Wise rounded out the podium in the Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 39bc Driven2SaveLives entry.
“We were good, but I don’t know if we really had anything for them at the end,” Wise said afterward.
Chris Andrews rallied from 13th to capture fourth with Brady Bacon charging from 15th to round out the top five.
The Vitals
Series: POWRi National / POWRi West Midgets
Track: Port City Raceway (Tulsa, OK)
Car Count: 51
Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Jerry Coons, Jr. (2), Christopher Bell (2), Blake Edwards (2), Tucker Klaasmeyer (2), Logan Seavey (2), Zeb Wise (1), Tanner Carrick (1).
Heat Moments: The wildest of moments came on the final lap of the seventh and final heat when Jonathan Beason and Cannon McIntosh got together going into turn three after dicing for the runner-up position throughout. Both got upside down with Beason returning to salvage a fifth-place finish and McIntosh buried deep in a “C” Main.
“C” Main Winner: Brian McClelland.
Qualifying Race Winners (starting position in parentheses): Alex Bright (1), Ace McCarthy (2), Zeb Wise (4), Tanner Carrick (4).
Qualifier Moments: After sweeping the Oklahoma City portion of the Turnpike Challenge, Logan Seavey found Port City troublesome and was “B” Main bound after a qualifier caution; Beason bounced back from the heat race incident to race from 10th to second in the first qualifier, good enough to land the fifth starting position for the “A” Main.
“B” Main Winners (starting position in parentheses): Jake Neuman (1), Trey Marcham (1).
“B” Main Moments: After coming to a stop in turn four, Seavey rallied ack but came up one spot short of a transfer. A provisional awaited.
“A” Main Cautions: Six
Initial Start – Third-starter Tanner Carrick and Beason get together in turn two. Beason motors on while Carrick collects Tyler Thomas and Presley Truedson with Andrew Felker getting upside down.
10 Laps – Errant infield tire number one of the feature.
12 Laps – Ace McCarthy and Alex Bright get together in turn two. It was a reprieve for Beason, who had just surrendered second to Wise and was losing third to Andrews. Beason moved back to second on the restart.
18 Laps – Errant infield tire number two of the feature.
Lap 19 Restart – Truedson, Chance Morton and McCarthy are all tangled up in turn one.
28 Laps – Errant infield tire number three of the feature. Consensus agreement is that the infield tires are an issue in need of remedy.
“A” Main Hard Charger: Jake Neuman advanced the most by climbing 11 positions from 17th to sixth.
The Box Score…
Heat 1: 1. 25-Jerry Coons Jr, 05:16.215[2]; 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 05:16.593[8]; 3. 84M-Alex DeCamp, 05:17.735[1]; 4. 21KS-Karter Sarff, 05:18.257[3]; 5. 71-Jesse Colwell, 05:18.681[7]; 6. 7M-Chance Morton, 05:19.200[4]; 7. 15D-Andrew Deal, 05:19.577[6]; 8. 19J-Sam Johnson, 05:19.877[5]
Heat 2: 1. 21-Christopher Bell, 03:06.620[2]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman, 03:08.542[1]; 3. 28-Ace McCarthy, 03:09.005[4]; 4. 32-Trey Marcham, 03:10.190[5]; 5. 14X-Jody Rosenboom, 03:11.555[7]; 6. 3H-Mitchell Davis, 03:26.258[8]; 7. 91-Kevin Bayer, 03:28.954[6]; 8. 9H-Emilio Hoover, 03:15.084[3]
Heat 3: 1. 17E-Blake Edwards, 07:00.315[2]; 2. 47BC-Andrew Layser, 07:00.784[6]; 3. 44-Wesley Smith, 07:00.907[3]; 4. 10-Matt Sherrell, 07:01.041[7]; 5. 21T-Ty Hulsey, 07:02.094[1]; 6. 9X-Tyler Shoemaker, 07:02.657[4]; 7. 56X-Mark Chisholm, 07:03.101[5]
Heat 4: 1. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, 02:24.494[2]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell, 02:26.701[4]; 3. 17-Austin Brown, 02:27.857[5]; 4. 44S-Andrew Felker, 02:28.016[3]; 5. 35-Sterling Cling, 02:29.027[7]; 6. 4C-Luke Howard, 02:31.240[1]; 7. 15L-Merril Lamb, 02:32.570[6]
Heat 5: 1. 67-Logan Seavey, 02:28.686[2]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum, 02:30.981[4]; 3. 42-Hank Davis, 02:32.953[1]; 4. 67K-Holley Hollan, 02:33.266[6]; 5. 17Z-Zac Moody, 02:33.578[3]; 6. 11B-Kaylee Bryson, 02:33.822[7]; 7. 9-Daison Pursley, 02:34.292[5]
Heat 6: 1. 39BC-Zeb Wise, 02:50.613[1]; 2. 20G-Noah Gass, 03:03.141[3]; 3. 95-Chris Andrews, 02:53.076[4]; 4. 56-Alex Bright, 02:53.817[6]; 5. 5T-Presley Truedson, 02:56.031[7]; 6. 75-Brian McClelland, 02:56.075[2]; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 02:56.658[5]
Heat 7: 1. 71K-Tanner Carrick, 01:28.941[1]; 2. 15-Cole Bodine, 05:18.943[4]; 3. 21H-Brady Bacon, 05:19.363[5]; 4. 8M-Kade Morton, 05:19.876[6]; 5. 8J-Jonathan Beason, 05:20.275[3]; 6. 19S-Garrett Stout, 05:20.633[7]; 7. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 01:28.941[2]
C Feature 1: 1. 75-Brian McClelland, 04:33.888[1]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal, 04:34.189[3]; 3. 91-Kevin Bayer, 04:34.577[4]; 4. 9-Daison Pursley, 04:35.438[7]; 5. 19J-Sam Johnson, 04:35.726[10]; 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 04:36.932[8]; 7. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 04:37.239[9]; 8. 4C-Luke Howard, 04:37.480[2]; 9. 56X-Mark Chisholm, 04:38.205[6]; 10. 9H-Emilio Hoover, 04:39.788[11]; 11. 15L-Merril Lamb, 04:41.177[5]
Qualifier 1: 1. 56-Alex Bright, 09:34.172[1]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason, 13:21.685[10]; 3. 3N-Jake Neuman, 13:21.796[2]; 4. 5D-Zach Daum, 13:22.040[4]; 5. 17E-Blake Edwards, 13:22.369[5]; 6. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 13:22.548[6]; 7. 20G-Noah Gass, 13:23.604[3]; 8. 35-Sterling Cling, 13:23.137[8]; 9. 3H-Mitchell Davis, 13:23.713[9]; 10. 84M-Alex DeCamp, 13:23.978[7]
Qualifier 2: 1. 28-Ace McCarthy, 06:03.320[2]; 2. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, 06:05.987[5]; 3. 5T-Presley Truedson, 06:06.405[8]; 4. 47BC-Andrew Layser, 06:06.415[6]; 5. 21T-Ty Hulsey, 06:06.970[10]; 6. 15-Cole Bodine, 06:07.205[4]; 7. 11B-Kaylee Bryson, 06:07.651[9]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton, 06:08.009[1]; 9. 42-Hank Davis, 06:08.218[7]; 10. 17-Austin Brown, 01:19.608[3]
Qualifier 3: 1. 39BC-Zeb Wise, [4]; 2. 95-Chris Andrews, [2]; 3. 21H-Brady Bacon, [3]; 4. 25-Jerry Coons Jr, [6]; 5. 7M-Chance Morton, [10]; 6. 44-Wesley Smith, [1]; 7. 71-Jesse Colwell, [7]; 8. 67-Logan Seavey, [5]; 9. 21KS-Karter Sarff, [8]; 10. 19S-Garrett Stout, [9]
Qualifier 4: 1. 71K-Tanner Carrick, [4]; 2. 21-Christopher Bell, [6]; 3. 32-Trey Marcham, [1]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 5. 44S-Andrew Felker, [8]; 6. 10-Matt Sherrell, [3]; 7. 14X-Jody Rosenboom, [7]; 8. 17Z-Zac Moody, [9]; 9. 9X-Tyler Shoemaker, [10]; 10. 67K-Holley Hollan, [2]
B Feature 1: 1. 3N-Jake Neuman, 10:04.574[1]; 2. 10-Matt Sherrell, 10:05.377[4]; 3. 15-Cole Bodine, 10:05.705[2]; 4. 84M-Alex DeCamp, 10:06.055[11]; 5. 21T-Ty Hulsey, 10:06.056[3]; 6. 91-Kevin Bayer, 10:06.806[14]; 7. 20G-Noah Gass, 10:06.989[5]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton, 10:07.177[8]; 9. 21KS-Karter Sarff, 10:07.499[10]; 10. 9X-Tyler Shoemaker, 10:08.033[12]; 11. 75-Brian McClelland, 10:08.277[13]; 12. 71-Jesse Colwell, 06:58.251[6]; 13. 11B-Kaylee Bryson, 01:07.766[7]; 14. 42-Hank Davis, [9]
B Feature 2: 1. 32-Trey Marcham, 11:53.806[1]; 2. 44S-Andrew Felker, 11:55.005[2]; 3. 7M-Chance Morton, 11:56.006[3]; 4. 67-Logan Seavey, 11:56.454[4]; 5. 3H-Mitchell Davis, 11:56.593[10]; 6. 35-Sterling Cling, 11:56.576[7]; 7. 17Z-Zac Moody, 11:57.083[8]; 8. 67K-Holley Hollan, 11:57.921[11]; 9. 9-Daison Pursley, 11:58.347[14]; 10. 14X-Jody Rosenboom, 08:08.381[6]; 11. 44-Wesley Smith, 04:12.086[5]; 12. 19S-Garrett Stout, 04:14.819[12]; 13. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:01.294[13]; 14. 17-Austin Brown, 00:01.294[9]
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason, 26:02.125[5]; 2. 21-Christopher Bell, 26:02.145[1]; 3. 39BC-Zeb Wise, 26:03.238[2]; 4. 95-Chris Andrews, 26:03.691[13]; 5. 21H-Brady Bacon, 26:04.198[15]; 6. 3N-Jake Neuman, 26:04.892[17]; 7. 47BC-Andrew Layser, 26:04.512[6]; 8. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, 26:05.166[4]; 9. 10-Matt Sherrell, 26:05.731[19]; 10. 5D-Zach Daum, 26:06.278[14]; 11. 25-Jerry Coons Jr, 26:07.314[8]; 12. 44S-Andrew Felker, 26:07.087[20]; 13. 8-Alex Sewell, 26:06.813[12]; 14. 67-Logan Seavey, 26:07.852[23]; 15. 42-Hank Davis, 26:07.897[24]; 16. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 26:07.892[11]; 17. 15-Cole Bodine, 26:08.716[21]; 18. 17E-Blake Edwards, 26:09.142[16]; 19. 71K-Tanner Carrick, [3]; 20. 7M-Chance Morton, 26:09.300[22]; 21. 5T-Presley Truedson, 26:10.363[9]; 22. 56-Alex Bright, 04:32.579[10]; 23. 28-Ace McCarthy, 16:01.796[7]; 24. 32-Trey Marcham, 04:32.579[18]
