The starting lineup for Saturday’s $50,000-to-win USA Nationals at the Cedar Lake Speedway would be determined by two sets of heat races held on Friday night at the New Richmond, Wisconsin facility. Passing points were used to decide which drivers were to secure a guaranteed place on the starting grid for the crown jewel race.
The top-16 in passing points earned a spot in the feature with the top-8 going to a Dash race to set the first four rows. Those outside the top-16 will have to make their way into the main event via the Last Chance Showdown races held on Saturday.
When all was said and done, it was Jonathan Davenport and Chris Madden who earned front row starting positions. The top-16 starters are listed below.
Round 1
Heat 1 Lineup– 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Ryan Gustin, 3. Thomas Hunzicker, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Dennis Erb Jr., 6. Mike Marlar, 7. Kyle Bronson, 8. Bobby Pierce, 9. Boom Briggs, 10. Jonathan Davenport
Heat 1 Finish– 1. Ryan Gustin, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Mike Marlar, 6. Jonathan Davenport, 7. Kyle Bronson, 8. Dennis Erb Jr., 9. Boom Briggs, 10. Thomas Hunziker
Heat 1 Re-cap– There was a spirited battle for the win between Gustin and Overton with Gustin winning out. Pierce and Davenport proved to be the biggest movers.
Heat 2 Lineup– 1. Ashton Winger, 2. Cade Dillard, 3. Brian Shirley, 4. Tanner English, 5. Chad Mahder, 6. Trevor Gundaker, 7. Ricky Weiss, 8. Shawn Kirwin, 9. Jimmy Mars
Heat 2 Finish– 1. Ashton Winger, 2. Cade Dillard, 3. Tanner English, 4. Brian Shirley, 5. Chad Mahder, 6. Ricky Weiss, 7. Jimmy Mars, 8. Trevor Gundaker, 9. Shawn Kirwin
Heat 2 Re-cap– The top-3 of Winger, English and Dillard pulled away early before English fell back. Mars gained two spots moving from 9th to 7th.
Heat 3 Lineup– 1. Lance Matthes, 2. Kye Blight, 3. Tim Isenberg, 4. Drake Troutman, 5. Shannon Babb, 6. Tyler Erb, 7. Brandon Sheppard, 8. Tyler Bruening, 9. Kyle Strickler
Heat 3 Finish– 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Kye Blight, 4. Lance Matthees, 5. Shannon Babb, 6. Kyle Strickler, 7. Tim Isenberg, 8. Drake Troutman, 9. Tyler Bruening
Heat 3 Re-cap– Tyler Erb got to the lead early on and drove on to the win. Sheppard and Strickler were also big movers.
Heat 4 Lineup– 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Max Blair, 3. Joseph Joiner, 4. Andy Boozel, 5. Matt Furman, 6. Shane Clanton, 7. Brent Larson, 8. McKay Wenger, 9. Gordy Gundaker
Heat 4 Finish– 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Max Blair, 3. Joseph Joiner, 4. Shane Clanton, 5. Matt Furman, 6. Brent Larson, 7. McKay Wenger, 8. Gordy Gundaker, 9. Andy Boozel
Heat 4 Re-cap– Owens maintained the lead from the start while the best battle behind him was between Clanton and Joiner for third.
Heat 5 Lineup– 1. Jeff Massengill, 2. Jake Timm, 3. Jesse Glenz, 4. Frank Heckenast Jr., 5. Paul Parker, 6. Chase Junghans, 7. Garrett Smith, 8. Chris Madden, 9. James Giossi
Heat 5 Finish– 1. Jake Timm, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Frank Heckenast Jr., 4. Jeff Massengill, 5. Chase Junghans, 6. Jesse Glenz, 7. James Giossi, 8. Garrett Smith, 9. Paul Parker
Heat 5 Re-cap– Timm took the lead at the start. Madden was the big mover after starting 8th and finishing 2nd.
Round 2
Heat 1 Lineup– 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Shane Clanton, 4. Paul Parker, 5. Dennis Erb Jr., 6. Brian Shirley, 7. Kye Blight, 8. Jimmy Owens, 9. Shawn Kirwin
Heat 1 Finish– 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Shane Clanton, 4. Dennis Erb Jr., 5. Brian Shirley, 6. Jimmy Owens, 7. Kye Blight, 8. Paul Parker, 9. Shawn Kirwin
Heat 1 Re-cap– Davenport and Sheppard had a good early battle for the lead before Davenport staked claim.
Heat 2 Lineup– 1. James Giossi, 2. Boom Briggs, 3. Ricky Weiss, 4. Tyler Erb, 5. Matt Furman, 6. Frank Heckenast Jr., 7. Jason Feger, 8. Cade Dillard, 9. Lance Matthees
Heat 2 Finish– 1. Ricky Weiss, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. James Giossi, 4. Frank Heckenast Jr., 5. Jason Feger, 6. Matt Furman, 7. Lance Matthees, 8. Cade Dillard,9. Boom Briggs
Heat 2 Re-cap– Weiss took the lead onlap 5 while Tyler Erb moved up from 4th to 2nd.
Heat 3 Lineup– 1. Gordy Gundaker, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Trevor Gundaker, 5. Shannon Babb, 6. Andy Boozel, 7. Jesse Glenz, 8. Thomas Hunzicker, 9. Ashton Winger
Heat 3 Finish– 1. Chris Madden, 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Gordy Gundaker, 4. Shannon Babb, 5. Ashton Winger, 6. Trevor Gundaker, 7. Jesse Glenz, 8. Thomas Hunziker, 9. Andy Boozel
Heat 3 Re-cap– Madden quickly went to the early lead leaving Pierce and Gundaker to fight for the runner-up spot.
Heat 4 Lineup– 1. Kyle Strickler, 2. McKay Wenger, 3. Garrett Smith, 4. Kyle Bronson, 5. Chad Mahder, 6. Joseph Joiner, 7. Jake Timm, 8. Ryan Gustin, 9. Drake Troutman
Heat 4 Finish– 1. Garrett Smith, 2. Kyle Strickler, 3. Chad Mahder, 4. Kyle Bronson, 5. Jake Timm, 6. McKay Wenger, 7. Ryan Gustin, 8. Joseph Joiner, 9. Drake Troutman
Heat 4 Re-cap– Smith got to the lead early on with Strickler and Mahder fighting for second behind him.
Heat 5 Lineup– 1. Jimmy Mars, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Brent Larson, 4. Chase Junghans, 5. Mike Marlar, 6. Tanner English, 7. Tim Isenberg, 8. Max Blair, 9. Jeff Massengille, 10. Brandon Overton
Heat 5 Finish– 1. Jimmy Mars, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Tanner English, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Brent Larson, 6. Max Blair, 7. Brandon Overton, 8. Chase Junghans, 9. Tim Isenberg, 10. Jeff Massingill
Heat 5 Re-cap– Mars led all the way while English moved from 6th to 3rd and Overton moved from 10th to 7th.
USA Nationals Dash
Dash Lineup– 1. Jake Timm, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Tanner English, 4. Chris Madden, 5. Bobby Pierce, 6. Tyler Erb, 7. Ashton Winger, 8. Brandon Sheppard
Dash Finish– 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Jake Timm, 4. Tyler Erb, 5. Brandon Sheppard, 6. Bobby Pierce, 7. Tanner Englsih, 8. Ashton Winger
USA Nationals Partial Starting Lineup:
1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Jake Timm, 4. Tyler Erb, 5. Brandon Sheppard, 6. Bobby Pierce, 7. Tanner Englsih, 8. Ashton Winger, 9. Frank Heckenast Jr., 10. Ricky Weiss, 11. Jimmy Owens, 12. Shane Clanton, 13. Kyle Strickler, 14. Ryan Gustin, 15. Max Blair, 16. Chad Mahder
The remainder of the starting grid will be determined by Last Chance Showdowns held on Saturday.
Please consider also reading:
Mike Marlar grabs USA Nationals preliminary victory at Cedar Lake
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